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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to an automatic positioning and resizing of
application windows on secondary monitor screen of a computer display system with one
or more monitors connected with a central processing unit (CPU). In particular the
invention relates to automatic launching of an application directly on a secondary monitor
and positioning and resizing of application windows on the secondary monitor of a
computer display system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In a computer display system more than one monitor can be connected with a central
processing unit (CPU). The first monitor connected to the CPU is called the primary
monitor. The other connected monitors are called secondary monitor and so on. In
order to view an application on the secondary monitor, one has to drag application
window from the primary monitor to the secondary monitor. More than one applications
on the secondary monitor will be overlapped.

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Document WO 03050669 provides a method and a system for automatic resizing of a
window displayed in a display area. After detecting that a part of the window is dragged
between a region inside and outside of the display area, the window is resized and
redrawn such that the resized frame is displayed inside the display area.
According to the method steps when the application window is dragged such that a part
of it goes out of the boundary of the monitor and becomes invisible to the user, the
window will get automatically resized so that no part of it remains invisible to the user.
According to this document the size of the application window simply gets reduced to fit
the display area when the window is dragged outside and some part of it becomes
invisible to the user. It does not automatically send the application on secondary monitor
nor it considers other applications existing on the display area while resizing.

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US Patent 7, 036, 089 discloses a method for distributing application windows in a
computing device. In response to a keyboard input at least two opened windows are
distributed so that the opened windows are resized and located to be reviewed by the
user.
This document relates to computing devices and in particular to graphical user interfaces
running on computing devices. Computing devices, like desktop computers, laptops, and
handheld computers, personal digital assistants, palm computers, and telephone
handsets incorporating a display are becoming very popular due to the wide availability of
operating systems employing graphical user interfaces. These graphical user interfaces
use desktops and file folders that make computing devices increasingly more intuitive to
manipulate. With graphical user interface, a user can open files and / or programs as
application windows enabling a drag and drop operation for copying or moving an icon
from one application to another.

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The word 'drag' in the context of a graphical user interface means the movement of an
icon like a computing device file, computing device program, or any other desktop object
or image on a display screen. The icon can be selected by a mouse button for dragging
an icon across the display screen, and moving the screen while the mouse button is
depressed.
Dragging may also refer to an operation where the mouse button is helped down while
the mouse is moved, like for example dragging the mouse to select a text block.
Display of a number of application windows on the desktop computing device are
permitted at the same time with both WINDOWS™ and MACINTOSH™ operating
systems. The division of the computing device display screen comprising a rectangular
area is referred to here as an 'application window'.

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The application windows in a graphical user interface can be opened, closed and moved
within the area of the screen. The size and shape of the windows can be controlled by
the user. Overlapping windows can be viewed by the user by bringing the hidden portion
to the front or sending it to the back.
The user may also simultaneously display several application windows on a computing
device display, manipulating the windows so that the entire contents of the display can
be viewed. When a large number of files or applications are opened at the same time it
may be difficult for the user to select windows between which an icon has to be dragged.
In such a case it may be necessary to resize and re-locate multiple windows for
accomplishing the task.
In the method and system disclosed in document US 7, 036, 089 a configuration filed
accessible to the operating system may be used to inform the system regarding the user-
defined rules about the distribution of the application windows.

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Such rules may comprise arrangement of the windows, amount of display area occupied
by windows etc. Any number or a combination of user inputs can be used for distribution
of the windows depending on key assignments made in the configuration file. This
document however, relates to a method for a single desktop device and not to a multi-
monitor display system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One of the main object of the present invention therefore, is to write an application in
such a way that whenever the application is launched, it should be opened on the
secondary monitor automatically instead of requiring the user to drag the application
windows from primary monitor to secondary monitor.
Another object of the present invention is to automatically resize and reposition
subsequent application, when any application is already running on a secondary monitor,
so that the display area can be shared among all application for better viewing by the
user.

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In a preferred embodiment the present invention provides a method for viewing an
application on a secondary monitor screen of a computer display system comprising the
steps of: configuring said computer application such that said application can be directly
launched on a specified secondary monitor screen of the computer system; and opening
the application in the specified secondary monitor screen, after taking into consideration
other applications running on the screen, if any.
The user can configure application window size and their alignment by dragging
boundary lines of application window to view each application window properly. User can
specify applications to open in minimized mode on secondary monitor. User can deny
applications to open on secondary monitor.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The invention can now be described in detail with the help of the figures of the
accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 illustrates the prior art system for resizing windows in the GUI.

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Figures 2 (a)
and 2 (b) show the method of distributing windows in a prior art: computing device.
Figure 3 shows the computer display system where the
present application can be applied.
Figure 4 shows resizing and repositioning of application
in the secondary monitor display area.
Figures 5 (a)
and 5 (b) show the alignment of the application in the secondary monitor.
Figure 6 shows a flow diagram for the process of the present invention.
Figure 7 shows three applications launched on a monitor one by one.

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Figure 8 shows possible alignments of three applications on a monitor.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Figure 1 shows in a block diagram form the prior art system for resizing windows in a
graphical user interface. This system simply reduces the size of the application/s
windows for feeding a display area. This system cannot automatically send the
application on to a secondary monitor which can only be done by dragging. The system
also does not consider the existing of other applications on the display area, while
resizing.
Figures 2 (a) and 2 (b) illustrate the method for distributing windows in a computing
device desktop of disclosed in US 7, 036, 089. The launching of an application windows
directly on a secondary monitor of the present invention is illustrated in Figure 3. The
system of the present invention is useful for multi-monitor display.

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Figure 3 shows a central processing unit (CPU) A, a primary monitor screen B and a
secondary monitor screen C, which can be attached with DSUB, DVI, USB or any other
cable. The figure shows application directly launched on secondary monitor C.
The problems associated with prior art systems are resolved making the computer system
able to launched applications directly on a secondary monitor. Subsequent applications
can be resized and repositioned using available secondary monitor display area, as shown
in Figures 4 and 7.
If two applications are already running on a monitor and a third application is launched
on the same monitor, they can be accommodated on the monitor screen by one of the
ways depicted in Figure 8.

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Whenever a new application is launched, the system will compute following parameters:
1. Name of the monitor on which it will be launched.
2. Number of applications running on that monitor.
3. Compute current positions X, Y coordinates and sizes of all the applications
running on that monitor.
Using these parameters and the configurations specified by the user as shown in Figure 8
(c) and 8 (d), new positions and sizes of all the application windows will be calculated in
such a way that no application window will be overlapped by other application windows
and all of them must be clearly visible to the user.
In a multi-monitor setup the user can specify on which monitor he wants to open the
application. The monitor can be specified by manufacturer name, monitor number,
monitor model name / number, the port through which the monitor is connected (DSUB,
DVI, USB, wireless USB or any other means) or any other way by which a monitor can be
specified or any combination of the above.

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The user can also specify if he wants to exclude an application from being considered for
any of the features of this invention. As well as he can specify size of application
windows this will be viewed on secondary monitor. For example: if he wants to give
more importance to any application then he can use 50 % of the display area and the
rest will be divided for other applications.
The user can also specify preferred alignment of the applications. For example, if there
are just two applications on secondary monitor then alignment can be done by at least
two ways as illustrated in Figures 5 (a) and 5 (b). If there are three applications running
on a monitor, the possible alignments can be those shown in Figure 8.
Referring to Figure 8 (c) and 8 (d), user can drag red lines using mouse to configure how
much space he wants to give for each application and their alignments. Few possible
alignment and size of three applications have been shown in Figure 8 (c) and 8 (d). User
can do similar configurations for any number of applications. He can also mention if
some specific application should never be considered for this feature and will be opened
normally on the primary monitor as well as specification can be provided to open an
application in minimized mode.

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There can be similar combinations using described methods for any number of
applications.
The operation of the method of the present invention is illustrated in the flow diagram of
Figure 6. The user can configure the application by specifying the particular monitor on
which the application can be opened. The particular monitor can be specified by its
model type, by its number, or by a combination thereof or any other criteria.
The application can then be launched on the specified monitor. Thus the application can
be opened on the specified monitor normally.
In the event of any other application already running on the monitor specified by the
user, the user can resize and reposition the existing applications so that all the
applications including the new one occupy substantial equal area and are visible on the
monitor taking all configured parameters into account. The application can then be
opened after taking into consideration the other applications from previous operations.

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Thus one advantage of the present invention is that applications which run on specific
monitors can be launched on their own monitor directly without dragging them to the
particular monitor.
This feature is extremely useful when a user is working in such scenario where he needs
continuous referred of more than one application.
The present invention has been described with reference to its implementation on the
secondary monitor. However the invention can also be applied to any monitor in a
computer system.

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WE CLAIM
1. A method for viewing an application on a secondary monitor screen of a computer
display system comprising the steps of:
- configuring said computer application such that said application can be
directly launched on a specified secondary monitor screen of the computer
system; and
- opening the application in the specified secondary monitor screen, after
taking into consideration other applications running on the screen, if any,
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the secondary monitor can be specified by
name of manufacturer; monitor model names / numbers; port names like DSUB, DVI
HDMI, USB, etc; or any combinations thereof or by any other way.

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3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said launched application on the
secondary monitor can be automatically resized and / or repositioned when any other
application/s are already running therein, so that all the applications can use / share
the display area optimally for better viewing.
4. The method as claimed in claim 3 wherein all the applications running on said
specified secondary monitor are listed out before resizing and / or repositioning the
applications.
5. The method as claimed in claim 3 wherein position or coordinates of the application
can be calculated and provided to the specified monitor.
6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the size or position of an application can
be dynamically adjusted taking into consideration the monitor on which it is going to
be launched.

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7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the size or position of an application is
dynamically adjusted taking into consideration other applications already existing on
the monitor.
8. The method as claimed in claims 6 or 7, wherein for dynamically adjusting the size or
position of an application some application(s) may be excluded, or priority regarding
display area can be given to some other applications.
9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said application can be viewed on the
screen of any specified monitor of a computer display system.
10.The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the window size of the application and
their alignment can be configured by the user by dragging boundary lines of the
application window for properly viewing each application window.

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11.The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the user can specify applications to open
in minimized mode on the secondary monitor.
12.The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the user can deny applications to open on
the secondary monitor.
13. A method for viewing an application on a secondary monitor screen of a computer
display system, substantially as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.

One of the main object of the present invention therefore, is to write an application in
such a way that whenever the application is launched, it should be opened on the
secondary monitor automatically instead of requiring the user to drag the application
windows from primary monitor to secondary monitor.
Another object of the present invention is to automatically resize and reposition
subsequent application, when any application is already running on a secondary monitor,
so that the display area can be shared among all application for better viewing by the
user. In a preferred embodiment the present invention provides a method for viewing an
application on a secondary monitor screen of a computer display system comprising the
steps of: configuring said computer application such that said application can be directly
launched on a specified secondary monitor screen of the computer system; and opening
the application in the specified secondary monitor screen, after taking into consideration
other applications running on the screen, if any.
The user can configure application window size and their alignment by dragging
boundary lines of application window to view each application window properly. User can
specify applications to open in minimized mode on secondary monitor. User can deny
applications to open on secondary monitor.