Terminal device and method for displaying an associated window thereof

Abstract

A method for displaying an associated window of a terminal device is provided. The method includes for a current window displayed, determining an associated window of the current window among at least a subset of all windows of the terminal device, and displaying the associated window together with the current window, wherein content displayed in the associated window is related to content displayed in the current window. When examples of the present disclosure are employed, windows associated with each other can be displayed simultaneously, interaction between a user and the device can be reduced, and system resources of the device can be saved.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for displaying an associated window of a terminal device, the method comprising:
 for a current window displayed, determining an associated window of the current window among at least a subset of all windows of the terminal device; and   displaying the associated window together with the current window;   wherein content displayed in the associated window is related to content displayed in the current window.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a capability label and an association label for each window;   wherein the capability label identifies capability information of each window, and the association label identifies capability information of an associated window of each window;   wherein the determining of the associated window of the current window comprises:
 extracting an association label of the current window; and 
 selecting, from other windows, a window for which a capability label matches the association label as the associated window of the current window. 
   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the determining of the capability label for each window comprises at least one of:
 configuring the capability label according to a property of a system control called by each window;   customizing, by a user, the capability label of each window; and   writing the capability label of each window into an application in which each window resides.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the determining of the association label for each window comprises at least one of:
 customizing, by a user, the association label of each window;   writing the association label of each window into an application in which each window resides;   configuring the capability label according to a property of a system control called by each window; and   automatically generating the association label of each window according to an operation of the user.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a parameter value corresponding to the content displayed in the associated window is the same as a parameter value corresponding to the content displayed in the current window. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the content displayed in the associated window is determined according to at least one of:
 determining the association label of the current window associated with the associated window;   extracting, from the content displayed in the current window, a parameter corresponding to the association label; and   organizing the content displayed in the associated window according to the parameter.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the displaying the associated window together with the current window comprises one of:
 simultaneously displaying the associated window and the current window according to a stitching mode according to which the associated window and the current window do not overlap each other; and   displaying the associated window and the current window in a manner of covering the current window with the associated window.   
     
     
         8 . A terminal device comprising:
 an associated window determining module configured to determine, for a current window displayed, an associated window of the current window among at least a subset of all windows of the terminal device; and   a window displaying module configured to display the associated window together with the current window;   wherein content displayed in the associated window is related to content displayed in the current window.   
     
     
         9 . The terminal device of  claim 8 , wherein the associated window determining module comprises a label determining sub-module and an association matching sub-module,
 wherein the label determining sub-module is configured to determine a capability label and an association label for each window;   wherein the capability label identifies capability information of each window, and the association label identifies capability information of an associated window of each window; and   wherein the association matching sub-module is configured to extract an association label of the current window, and to select, from other windows, a window for which a capability label matches the association label as the associated window of the current window.   
     
     
         10 . The terminal device of  claim 8 , wherein the window displaying module comprises an associated window content organizing sub-module and a displaying sub-module,
 wherein the associated window content organizing sub-module is configured to extract, from the content displayed in the current window, a parameter corresponding to the association label, and to organize the content displayed in the associated window according to the parameter, and   wherein the displaying sub-module is configured to display the organized content in the associated window together with the current window.   
     
     
         11 . A device for managing the multi-task application programs, the device comprising:
 a resource allocating module configured to allocate running resources and window resources to each application program in the associated program group when any one application program in the associated program group is started; and   a running module configured to run each application program in the associated program group in the corresponding window region according to the window resources, wherein the window region comprises a visible region and a non-visible window of a display screen.   
     
     
         12 . The device of  claim 11 , wherein the running module is configured to at least one of
 when the window region in which the application program runs is the visible region,
 run the application program according to the preset information, or 
 run the application program according to operation information of the user; and 
   when the window region in which the application program runs is the non-visible window,
 run the application program according to information output by the application program running in the visible region, 
 run the application program according to a mode of the application program when running in the visible region, or 
 run the application program according to the preset information. 
   
     
     
         13 . The device of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 an associating module configured to at least one of:
 set at least two application programs as an associated program group according to the choice of the user; or 
 set at least two application programs as an associated program group according to a predefined rule. 
   
     
     
         14 . The device of  claim 11 , wherein the running module is further configured to run the application programs in the associated program group in the corresponding window regions in a combined mode according to the window resources. 
     
     
         15 . The device of  claim 14 , wherein the running module is further configured to at least one of:
 run information of at least two levels in one application program running in the corresponding window region, wherein the information of at least one level runs outside the visible region of the display screen; and   run at least two application programs in the associated program group in the corresponding window regions, wherein the window region of each application program is equal to the visible region of the display screen in size.   
     
     
         16 . The device of  claim 14 , wherein the running module is further configured to, when used for running the at least two application programs in the associated program group in the corresponding window regions,
 run the at least two application programs in the associated program group in an independent mode; or   run the at least two application programs in the associated program group in a cooperative mode.   
     
     
         17 . The device of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 a setting module configured to:
 set at least two application programs to run in a cooperative mode; and 
 set at least one application program as an output application program of providing input data, set at least one piece of associated information as the input data, and set at least one application program as a cooperative application program of receiving the input data, wherein when the application programs run in a cooperative mode, the cooperative application program correspondingly runs according to the change of the input data. 
   
     
     
         18 . The device of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 a switching module configured to at least one of:
 switch the application program running in the non-visible window to run in the visible region of the display screen according to the operation of the user or the running state of the system; and 
 switch the application program running in the visible region to run in the non-visible window according to the operation of the user or the running state of the system. 
   
     
     
         19 . The device of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 an updating module configured to update location parameters of the window regions of the application programs when the window regions of the application programs change.   
     
     
         20 . The device of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 a recording module configured to record a running state of each application program in the associated program group.