Foreground/background assortment of hidden windows

Abstract

Graphical navigation of foreground and background applications running on a mobile computing device across multiple active user environments, even when graphics information for background applications is not maintained by a mobile operating system of the mobile computing device. A last graphical representation of an application screen may be captured as the application state is transitioned from the foreground state to the background state. The last graphical representation may be associated with a position in an application activity stack representing foreground and background mobile operating system applications. The navigation techniques may be used in a computing environment with multiple active user environments. A first active user environment may be associated with the mobile operating system. A second active user environment may be associated with the mobile operating system or a desktop operating system running concurrently with the mobile operating system on the mobile computing device.

1 . A method comprising:
 running a first application on a first operating system of a mobile computing device;   displaying a first application screen associated with the first application on an active display device;   receiving an application interaction state change event indicating that a current interaction state of the first application is to be changed from a foreground state to a background state;   generating a bitmap image corresponding to a graphical representation of the first application screen;   changing the current interaction state of the first application from the foreground state to the background state;   associating the bitmap image with a position within an application activity stack corresponding to the application;   receiving a user input command related to the application activity stack; and   displaying a representation of the bitmap image within a graphical representation of the application activity stack.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a user command indicative of a selection of the bitmap image within the graphical representation of the application activity stack; and   changing the current interaction state of the first application from the background state to the foreground state.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the mobile computing device comprises a first user environment, and wherein the graphical representation of the application activity stack is presented on a display of a second user environment, the second user environment associated with a second operating system running concurrently with the first operating system on a shared kernel of the mobile computing device. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein an application model manager maintains the application activity stack, the application activity stack including applications that have been started by the user and not actively closed by the user. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a process associated with the first application screen is suspended in response to the change in the current interaction state of the first application from the foreground state to the background state. 
     
     
         6 . A method comprising:
 running a first application and a second application concurrently on a first operating system of a mobile computing device;   displaying the first application on an active display device;   receiving an application interaction state change event indicating that a current interaction state of the first application is to be changed from a foreground state to a background state;   generating a bitmap image corresponding to a graphical representation of an application screen associated with the first application;   changing the current interaction state of the first application from the foreground state to the background state;   associating the bitmap image with a position within an application activity stack corresponding to the application; and   displaying a graphical representation of the application activity stack on a display device associated with a secondary terminal environment, the secondary terminal environment connected to the mobile computing device via a communications interface, the graphical representation of the application activity stack including the bitmap image.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the secondary terminal environment is associated with a second operating system, the second operating system running concurrently with the first operating system on a shared kernel. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the displaying of the graphical representation of the application activity stack is in response to a user initiated event within the secondary terminal environment. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the displaying of the graphical representation of the application activity stack is in response to a dock event, the dock event comprising connecting the mobile computing device with the secondary terminal environment via the communications interface. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the bitmap image is generated from graphical information maintained by a bitmap server within a surface manager of the first operating system. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the bitmap server provides an application level interface to the bitmap image data. 
     
     
         12 . A mobile computing device, comprising:
 a first application running on a first operating system of the mobile computing device, the first application in a foreground state, wherein a first application screen associated with the first application includes a first set of surface information, the first application screen actively displayed on a display device of the mobile computing device;   an activity manager service of the first operating system that maintains a list of currently active applications;   an application model manager of the first operating system that receives application state information from the activity manager service; and   a bitmap server module of the first operating system that maintains references to active surfaces of the first application,   wherein, responsive to an application interaction state change event indicating that a current interaction state of the first application is to be changed from the foreground state to a background state, the bitmap server module stores a copy of the surface information of the first application screen.   
     
     
         13 . The mobile computing device of  claim 12 , wherein, responsive to the application interaction state change event, the first operating system displays a transition animation based on the copy of the surface information of the first application screen. 
     
     
         14 . The mobile computing device of  claim 13 , wherein the transition animation is displayed by an application space component of the first operating system. 
     
     
         15 . The mobile computing device of  claim 12 , wherein the first operating system comprises a mobile operating system. 
     
     
         16 . The mobile computing device of  claim 15 , wherein the mobile operating system includes a surface manager, and wherein the bitmap server module is implemented as a class in the surface manager. 
     
     
         17 . The mobile computing device of  claim 16 , wherein the bitmap server module provides references to the copy of the surface information of the first application screen to the framework layer of the mobile operating system. 
     
     
         18 . The mobile computing device of  claim 12 , wherein the bitmap server module creates a bitmap image from the copy of the surface information of the first application screen.