Taskbar Thumbnail Layout for Shorter Desktop Window Navigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing desktop management systems require users to perform back-and-forth operations over large distances to manage multiple applications, control centers, and notification centers, which is inconvenient for user experience.
Innovation Solution
A terminal device desktop management method that minimizes windows into icons on a taskbar and expands the taskbar to display thumbnails of windows and control center functions, allowing users to manage multiple applications and centers within a reduced movement distance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If windows and control centers are managed on the desktop, then application functionality is accessible, but user movement distance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a new spatial dimension by adding a taskbar at the bottom of the screen, separate from the traditional desktop area. This taskbar provides a compact one-dimensional strip where window icons and control center functions can be accessed, eliminating the need for users to move the pointer across the entire desktop area while maintaining full access to application and system functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a simplified copy of the desktop management interface in the taskbar. Instead of managing full windows on the desktop, the taskbar displays iconic representations (copies) of window thumbnails and control center functions, allowing users to interact with these copies for quick access without requiring the full desktop real estate.
2Ease of operation
If all window management functions are placed on the desktop, then complete control is available, but operation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the window management interface into two distinct parts: the desktop area for full window viewing and the taskbar for quick access controls. The taskbar specifically segments out commonly used functions like window switching and control center access, presenting them in a simplified, condensed format that reduces overall interface complexity while maintaining functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The taskbar dynamically adapts its content based on user needs, displaying relevant window thumbnails and control center functions in a compact format. This dynamic presentation allows the interface to remain simple for common operations while providing access to complete functionality when needed, effectively managing operation complexity.
Data Source
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Figure 3
Figure 4a
AI summary
The present application provides a terminal device desktop management method and a terminal device, to help a user manage windows of a plurality of applications, a control center, and a notification center at the same time, and shortens a movement distance operated by a user, thereby helping improve user experience. The method includes: detecting, by a terminal device, a first operation performed by a user on a first window, where the first operation is used to minimize the first window, the first window is a window of an application or a window of a notification center, and an icon of a first application corresponding to the first window is displayed in a first taskbar; minimizing, by the terminal device, the first window into the icon of the first application in response to the first operation; detecting, by the terminal device, a second operation performed by the user on the first taskbar, where the second operation is used to expand the first taskbar; and expanding, by the terminal device, the first taskbar in response to the second operation, to obtain a second taskbar, where the second taskbar includes a thumbnail of the first window.