Electronic device and method for configuring display thereof

Abstract

An electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a rectangular display, at least one sensor, a processor electrically connected to the display and the at least one sensor, and a memory electrically connected to the processor, wherein the memory stores an application program including a first layout to be displayed when the display is substantially oriented in a horizontal orientation and a second layout displayed when the display is substantially oriented in a vertical orientation, and the memory stores instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes the process to perform operations including: displaying a window including one of the first and second layouts on a part of the display, detecting a change in the orientation of the electronic device by using the at least one sensor, rotating the window about 90 degrees based on the detected orientation change, and continuously maintaining one of the first and second layout in the window.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An electronic device comprising:
 a display;   at least one sensor;   a processor; and   a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to perform operations comprising:
 displaying, on the display, a multi window split into a first window and a second window such that a first application being executed is displayed on the first window and a second application being executed is displayed on the second window; 
 while the multi window split into the first window and the second window is displayed, changing a size of the first window and the second window, based on a touch input on the display; and 
 while the multi window split into the first window and the second window is displayed, changing a layout of the first application from one of a first layout or a second layout to the other of the first layout or the second layout, based on the changing of the size of the first window relative to the size of the second window, 
   wherein the first layout is a landscape layout having a first user interface with a first number of user selectable inputs, and the second layout is a portrait layout having a second user interface with a second number of user selectable inputs.   
     
     
         2 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions stored in the memory executed by the processor cause the electronic device to perform operations comprising:
 in a state in which the display is oriented in a horizontal orientation, initially splitting the multi window into the first window and the second window, the first application being displayed in the first window using the second layout; and   while the display is oriented in the horizontal orientation and the multi window is split into the first window and the second window, changing the layout of the first application from the second layout to the first layout based on a horizontal length of the first window relative to a vertical length thereof increasing beyond a threshold.   
     
     
         3 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions stored in the memory executed by the processor cause the electronic device to perform operations comprising:
 in a state in which the display is oriented in a horizontal orientation, initially splitting the multi window into the first window and the second window; and   while the display is oriented in the horizontal orientation and the multi window is split into the first window and the second window, changing the layout of the first application from the one of the first layout or the second layout to the other of the first layout or the second layout based on a horizontal length of the first window relative to a vertical length thereof increasing beyond a threshold.   
     
     
         4 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the changing of the layout of the first application from the one of the first layout or the second layout to the other of the first layout or the second layout comprises:
 changing the layout of the first application from the first layout to the second layout, based on a horizontal length of the first window increasing beyond a threshold.   
     
     
         5 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the first application is configured to change the layout of the first application based on an orientation of the display being changed or a size of at least one window of the multi window being changed. 
     
     
         6 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions stored in the memory executed by the processor cause the electronic device to perform operations comprising:
 determining whether to change a layout of the first application based on configuration information of the first application.   
     
     
         7 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the first layout of the first application includes more keys than the second layout of the first application. 
     
     
         8 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the second application is partially displayed in the second window when the size of the second window decreases. 
     
     
         9 . The electronic device of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the first application is a calculator application, and   wherein the instructions stored in the memory executed by the processor cause the electronic device to perform operations comprising:
 displaying, on the first window or the second window, the calculator application with the portrait layout including a plurality of UI items of a basic calculator, when entering to a multi window mode while the electronic device is oriented horizontally; and changing layout of the calculator application to the landscape layout including a plurality of UI items of a scientific calculator, when a size of the first window or the second window displaying the calculator application increases beyond a threshold while the electronic device is oriented horizontally. 
   
     
     
         10 . The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the changing of the layout of the first application from the one of the first layout or the second layout to the other of the first layout or the second layout occurs while the orientation of the display stays the same. 
     
     
         11 . An electronic device comprising:
 a display;   a processor; and   a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to perform operations comprising:
 displaying, on the display, a first window for displaying a first application being executed and a second window for displaying a second application being executed, adjacent to each other; and 
 based on a touch input on the display received while the first window and the second window are displayed adjacent to each other:
 changing a size of the first window, 
 changing a size of the second window according to the changing of the size of the first window, and 
 changing a layout of the first application displayed in the first window from one of a first layout or a second layout to the other of the first layout or the second layout according to the changing of the size of the first window, 
 
   wherein the first layout has a first user interface (UI) with a first number of selectable UI items, and the second layout has a second UI with a second number of selectable UI items.   
     
     
         12 . The electronic device of  claim 11 , wherein the layout of the first application is changed from one of the first layout and the second layout to the other of the first layout and the second layout based on a horizontal length of the first window relative to a vertical length thereof. 
     
     
         13 . The electronic device of  claim 11 , wherein the touch input comprises a drag input, wherein as a touch of the drag input moves on the display, the size of the first window and the size of the second window are changed together. 
     
     
         14 . The electronic device of  claim 11 , wherein the first layout of the first application is associated with a horizontal orientation of the electronic device, and the second layout of the first application is associated with a vertical orientation of the electronic device. 
     
     
         15 . The electronic device of  claim 11 , wherein the first application is configured to change the layout of the first application based on an orientation of the display being changed. 
     
     
         16 . The electronic device of  claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining whether to change the layout of the first application based on configuration information of the first application.   
     
     
         17 . The electronic device of  claim 11 , wherein the selectable UI items comprise keys. 
     
     
         18 . The electronic device of  claim 11 , wherein a portion of the second application is displayed in the second window without a layout of the second application being changed when the size of the second window decreases. 
     
     
         19 . The electronic device of  claim 11 ,
 wherein the first application is a calculator application, and   wherein the instructions stored in the memory executed by the processor cause the electronic device to perform operations comprising:
 displaying, on the first window or the second window, the calculator application with a portrait layout including a plurality of UI items of a basic calculator, when entering to a multi window mode while the electronic device is oriented horizontally; and 
 changing layout of the calculator application to a landscape layout including a plurality of UI items of a scientific calculator, when a size of the first window or the second window displaying the calculator application increases beyond a threshold while the electronic device is oriented horizontally. 
   
     
     
         20 . The electronic device of  claim 11 , wherein the changing of the layout of the first application from the one of the first layout or the second layout to the other of the first layout or the second layout occurs while the orientation of the display stays the same.