Patent ID: 9606725
Date: 2017-03-28
CPC Classifications: G06F,G09G

Claim:
1. An apparatus comprising a computer processor and a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions that, when executed by the computer processor, cause the apparatus to carry out the steps of: identifying one or more active elements of a first user interface for a first application including examining source code for the first user interface to identify elements that are used to receive input; selecting a location within a second user interface for a second application to place the identified one or more active elements of the first user interface for the first application; determining an importance value for each active element of the first user interface for the first application representing a ranking of the relative importance of each active element of the first user interface for the first application; displaying, in dependence upon the importance value for each active element of the first user interface, the one or more active elements of the first user interface at the selected location within the second user interface by iteratively displaying an active element with a highest importance value until there is no additional space available on the second user interface for overlaying the one or more active elements of the first user interface for the first application; detecting within the second user interface, a plurality of selections of the one or more active elements of the first user interface for the first application and a plurality of selections of one or more active elements of the second user interface for the second application; and in response to detecting within the second user interface, the selection of the one or more active elements of the first user interface for the first application, initiating a first action associated with the first application and in response to detecting within the second user interface, the selection of the one or more active elements of the second user interface for the second application, initiating a second action associated with the second application, wherein the second user interface including the one or more active elements of the first user interface for the first application and the one or more active elements of the second user interface for the second application consumes the entire display area of the computing device, and the user controls the operations of both the first application and the second application on the computing device by initiating the actions associated with each of the one or more active elements of the first user interface for the first application and the one or more active elements of the second user interface for the second application on one display area of the computing device.