The present invention relates to an electronic device, a computer-implemented system, and an application display control method therefor, and more particularly, to a technical field of displaying on a first software platform a screen image of an application executed on a second software platform.
Generally speaking, an operating system may be considered as a combination of an operating system kernel and a software platform. The operating system kernel generally includes a memory management module, a process execution control module, various kinds of peripheral hardware device drive modules, a power management module, and so on. One of the functions of the operating system kernel is to allow the software platform to be successfully executed on electronic hardware via the operating system kernel. The software platform generally includes a window manager, an activity manager, a notification monitor, and an application terminator, and functions mainly to manage the executed condition and display the condition of different applications executed thereon.
Currently, most computers use a Microsoft Windows operating system (OS), while other computers use a Linux operating system. Meanwhile, with the popularization of various kinds of mobile Internet devices, such as smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and the like, there are more and more electronic devices that use an operating system other than the Microsoft Windows and the Linux operating system. Every operating system has its own advantages and disadvantages. Some of the currently available operating systems provide powerful functions but require more resources and the electronic devices using these operating systems consume more electric power, while other operating systems require fewer resources but provide only limited functions. Besides, many firms have respectively developed their own software platforms based on the same operating system kernel.
Different operating systems or software platforms use different window managers, and software firms will develop application programs specific to different window managers. However, many application programs may not execute across different window managers. For example, an application particularly developed for a first window manager may not be executed on a second window manager. Therefore, according to prior art, a user who wants to experience the advantages of several different applications at the same time, such as to use an application with powerful functions under an operating system consuming less resources, would have to wait until related software firms have developed an application satisfying such conditions. This would no doubt bring a lot of inconveniences to the user.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an electronic device, a computer-implemented system, and an application display control method therefor, so that a user is given increased flexibility in using different applications.
To achieve the above and other objects, the electronic device according to the present invention includes a display unit, a storage unit, and a process unit. The storage unit stores an operating system kernel, a first software platform, a second software platform, a first application, and a second application. The first software platform includes a first window manager, and the second software platform includes a second window manager. The process unit executes the operating system kernel, and then executes the first and the second software platform via the operating system kernel. When the first application is executed on the first software platform, the first window manager controls a screen area of the display unit within which the first application being executed is displayed. Meanwhile, the first application notifies the second software platform for the latter to execute the second application, and the second window manager will then display in the screen area a screen image that is generated by the second application being executed.
In the present invention, the first application, when notifying the second software platform, also sends parameters related to the screen area to the second window manager.
The electronic device may further include an input unit. The first application, when receiving an operation instruction from the input unit, sends the received operation instruction to the second application, and the second application executes an action according to the operation instruction.
The operation instruction may be a cursor position data, a click instruction, a drag instruction, or a text input instruction.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first and the second software platform are executed via the operating system kernel with multi-thread processes.
According to the present invention, the second software platform is executed in background processing.
The computer-implemented system according to the present invention is applicable to an electronic device, and includes a first software platform, a second software platform, and an operating system kernel. The first software platform includes a first window manager, and the second software platform includes a second window manager. The operating system kernel controls the first and the second software platform to execute on the electronic device. When a first application is executed on the first software platform, the first window manager controls a screen area within which the first application being executed is displayed. Meanwhile, the first application notifies the second software platform to execute a second application, and the second window manager will then display in the screen area a screen image that is generated by the second application being executed.
In the present invention, the first application, when notifying the second software platform, also sends parameters related to the screen area to the second window manager.
In the present invention, the first application, when receiving an operation instruction, further sends the received operation instruction to the second application, and the second application executes an action according to the operation instruction.
The operation instruction may be a cursor position data, a click instruction, a drag instruction, or a text input instruction.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first and the second software platform are executed via the operating system kernel with multi-thread processes.
According to the present invention, the second software platform is executed in background processing.
The application display control method according to the present invention includes the following steps: (1) executing an operating system kernel; (2) executing a first and a second software platform via the operating system kernel, wherein the first software platform includes a first window manager and the second software platform includes a second window manager; (3) executing a first application on the first software platform, and the first window manager controlling a screen area within which the first application being executed is displayed; (4) notifying the second software platform via the first application to execute a second application; and (5) displaying in the screen area a screen image via the second window manager, and the screen image is generated by the second application being executed.
In the step of notifying the second software platform, the first application further sends parameters related to the screen area to the second window manager.
The application display control method further includes the following step after the notifying step when the first application receives an operation instruction: sending the received operation instruction via the first application to the second application, and executing an action via the second application according to the operation instruction.
The operation instruction may be a cursor position data, a click instruction, a drag instruction, or a text input instruction.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first and the second software platform are executed via the operating system kernel with a multi-thread process.
According to the present invention, the second software platform is executed in background processing.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects may be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein
Please refer to
The first application 17 is developed for the first software platform 15 and may only be executed on the first software platform 15. Similarly, the second application 18 may only be executed on the second software platform 16. The input unit 19 allows a user to enter an operation instruction 192 for controlling the applications, and is preferably a cursor control device, a keyboard, a keypad, or a touch control device. The operation instruction 192 may be a cursor position data; a click instruction, such as a single left mouse click, a single right mouse click, a double left mouse click, or a double right mouse click; a drag instruction; or a text input instruction.
When the electronic device 1 is booted, the process unit 13 reads the operating system kernel 14 from the storage unit 11 and executes the operating system kernel 14, and then executes the first software platform 15 and the second software platform 16 via the operating system kernel 14. Preferably, the first software platform 15 and the second software platform 16 are executed with a multi-thread processes, so that the first and the second software platform 15, 16 may be executed concurrently and there is a communicating interface between multiple threads to allow mutual notification of messages and data sharing between the two software platforms. The second software platform 16 is executed in background processing. As may be seen in
When the first application 17 is executed on the first software platform 15, the first window manager 151 controls the first application 17 being executed to display in a screen area 171 of the display unit 11. After being executed, the first application 17 issues a notification to the second software platform 16. When the notification issued by the first application 17 is received by the second notification manager 164, the second application 18 starts executing. When the first application 17 issues the notification to the second software platform 16, parameters of the screen area 171 are, also sent to the second window manager 161. When the second application 18 is executed, a screen image 181 is generated. The second window manager 161 displays the screen image 181 in the screen area 171 according to the received parameters of the screen area 171. When the second application 18 executes some actions and brings changes in the screen image 181, the screen image 181 is updated in the screen area 171.
As may be seen in
The first and the second software platform may be executed when the electronic device 1 is booted, so as to shorten the time needed to launch the applications later. Alternatively, the first software platform 15 is executed first when the electronic device 1 is booted, and the second software platform 16 is executed later when the user has launched the first application 17. Thereafter, the second application 18 is launched.
The operating system kernel 14, the first software platform 15 and the second software platform 16 together form a computer-implemented system, an architecture of which is shown in
Please refer to
At the second software platform, it is determined in a step 561 whether any application launch notification has been received. If an application launch notification, such as that issued in the step 53 is received, the second application is executed in a step 57. Then, in a step 58 the second window manager displays in the screen area the screen image generated by the second application being executed. Therefore, as shown in
In the case of being executed in background, the second software platform is not able to receive any operation instruction directly from an input device. Therefore, at the first software platform, it is determined in the step 54 whether any operation instruction has been input to the first application. If yes, the operation instruction is sent to the second software platform in a step 55. Meanwhile, at the second software platform, in the step 562, it is determined whether there is any input operation instruction. If yes, the second application executes an action according to the received operation instruction in the step 58. As shown in
The first and the second software platform may be executed when an electronic device is booted, so as to shorten the time needed to launch the applications later. Alternatively, the first software platform may be executed first when the electronic device is booted, and the second software platform is executed later when the user has launched the first application. Thereafter, the second application is launched.
In a step 64, the second software platform is executed via the operating system kernel; and in a step 65, execute a second application on the second software platform. In practical implementation of the application display control method of the present invention, the first application, when being launched, will issue a notification to the operating system kernel, so that the operating system kernel executes the second software platform with a multi-thread processes, and the second software platform is executed in background processing. In this way, the user would not see any image of the second software platform being executed and become confused. Further, when the second software platform is enabled, the first application will send parameters related to the screen area to a second window manager of the second software platform. Finally, in a step 66 the second window manager displays in the screen area a screen image that is generated by the second application being executed.
Preferably, the operating system kernel is a Linux kernel. Since many firms have developed different software platforms based on the Linux kernel, such as X-window platform and Android platform, these firms will also develop specific applications based on these software platforms. With the electronic device, the computer-implemented system, and the application display control method of the present invention, a user may use the applications of multiple software platforms on the same one electronic device. For example, the user may select a software platform that enables quick booting but has fewer applications to serve as the first software platform, and another software platform that supports more applications to serve as the second software platform. Therefore, when using the electronic device of the present invention, the user may enjoy the advantage of quick booting without facing the embarrassing condition of insufficient applications or insufficient functions.
The present invention has been described with some preferred embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiments may be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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098119839 | Jun 2009 | TW | national |