System and method for dynamic space management of a display space

Abstract

A method for space management of a workspace provided on a display includes defining a first data structure of full-space rectangles present on the workspace, wherein at least a portion of the full-space rectangles are permitted to overlap. A second data structure of largest empty-space rectangles available on the workspace is also defined to complete the representation of the workspace. The methods include performing an operation on at least one full-space rectangle on the workspace and redefining the first data structure and the second data structure in accordance with the workspace resulting from the operation performed. The operations can include adding a new full-space rectangle, moving an existing full-space rectangle and deleting an existing full full-space rectangle from the workspace. Generally, the workspace is a display device coupled to an electronic device such as a personal computer, personal digital assistant, electronic book viewer and the like.

1 . A method for space management of a workspace comprising:
 allocating at least one full-space rectangle of the workspace;   defining a first data structure for representing at least a portion of the at least one full-space rectangle to be present on the workspace, and permitting representation thereof in an overlapping configuration;   defining a second data structure for one or more empty-space rectangles available on the workspace;   performing an operation on the workspace involving the at least one full-space rectangle to define an updated workspace; and   redefining the first data structure and the second data structure in accordance with the updated workspace.   
     
     
         2 . The method of space management according to  claim 1 , wherein the operation performed on at least one full-space rectangle is selected from the group consisting of adding a new full-space rectangle, deleting an existing full-space rectangle and moving an existing full-space rectangle. 
     
     
         3 . The method of space management according to  claim 1 , wherein the operation performed includes adding a new full-space rectangle to the workspace, and the redefining further comprises:
 adding an entry representing the new full-space rectangle to the first data structure;   removing entries from the second data structure representing largest empty space rectangles which are intersected by the new full space rectangle; and   adding entries to the second data structure representing the set of new largest empty-space rectangles resulting from the placement of the new full space rectangle.   
     
     
         4 . The method of space management according to  claim 1 , wherein defining the second data structure comprises defining the second data structure for one or more largest empty-space rectangles available on the workspace. 
     
     
         5 . The method of space management according to  claim 1 , wherein the redefining further comprises removing entries which are intersected by a full space rectangle following performing the operation. 
     
     
         6 . The method of space management according to  claim 2 , wherein the operation comprises the addition of a new full-space rectangle which is manually placed by a user. 
     
     
         7 . The method of space management according to  claim 2 , wherein the operation comprises the addition of a new full-space rectangle which is automatically placed in a final position on the workspace. 
     
     
         8 . The method of space management according to  claim 6 , wherein the operation of automatically placing the full-space rectangle further comprises:
 querying the second data structure to identify candidate largest empty space rectangles which satisfy at least one user defined placement parameter;   selecting one of the candidate largest empty space rectangles; and   placing the full-space rectangle within the selected candidate largest empty space rectangle.   
     
     
         9 . The method of space management according to  claim 7 , wherein the placement parameter includes a minimum area for the full-space rectangle being placed. 
     
     
         10 . The method of space management according to  claim 7 , wherein the placement parameter includes a minimum linear dimension for the full-space rectangle being placed. 
     
     
         11 . The method of space management according to  claim 7 , wherein the placement parameter includes an aspect ratio for the full-space rectangle being placed. 
     
     
         12 . The method of space management according to  claim 7 , wherein if a plurality of candidate largest empty-space rectangles are available, the selecting operation is performed in accordance with at least one user defined quality measure. 
     
     
         13 . The method of space management according to  claim 11 , wherein the quality measure is the empty-space rectangle which is closest in position to an initial placement of the full-space rectangle. 
     
     
         14 . The method of space management according to  claim 11 , wherein the quality measure is the empty-space rectangle which is the smallest candidate empty space rectangle. 
     
     
         15 . The method of space management according to  claim 7 , wherein the size of the full-space rectangle to be added is reduced by an amount up to a predetermined scaling factor and wherein the candidate largest empty-space rectangles include those empty-space rectangles which are at least as large as the original size reduced by the scaling factor. 
     
     
         16 . The method of space management according to  claim 1 , wherein the workspace comprises a three dimensional workspace. 
     
     
         17 . The method of space management according to  claim 15 , wherein the workspace comprises a physical workspace. 
     
     
         18 . A method of operating a display device in a computer system, the method comprising:
 providing a display workspace on the display device wherein content to be displayed to a user is defined in at least one full-space rectangle positioned on the workspace and permitting representation thereof in an overlapping configuration;   storing in computer readable media a first data structure representing at least a portion of the at least one full-space rectangle present on a workspace of the display device;   storing in computer readable media a second data structure for one or more empty-space rectangles available on the workspace, the largest empty space rectangles being defined, at least in part, by the placement of the portion of the at least one full-space rectangle stored in the first data structure;   performing a user operation on the workspace involving the at least one full-space rectangle to define an updated workspace; and   redefining the first data structure and the second data structure stored in the computer readable media in accordance with the updated workspace.   
     
     
         19 . A method for space management of a workspace provided on a display comprising:
 defining a first data structure for representing at least a portion of at least one full-space rectangle to be present on the workspace, and permitting representation thereof in an overlapping configuration;   defining a second data structure for one or more empty-space rectangles available on the workspace;   initiating an operation to be performed on the workspace involving the at least one full-space rectangle to be added to the first data structure; and   querying the second data structure to determine candidate empty-space rectangles on the workspace to accommodate the operation to be performed;   selecting one of the candidate empty-space rectangles based on at least one selection parameter;   performing the operation to define an updated workspace; and   redefining the first data structure and the second data structure in accordance with the updated workspace.