Patent ID: 7350154
Filing Date: 2008-03-25
Classification: G06F,G09G

Abstract:
1. A method for providing a desktop switcher to switch among multiple virtual desktops in a graphical user interface being presented on a display of a computer system, each virtual desktop having a background image similar to or different from the background image of another virtual desktop, the method comprising: displaying a set of thumbnails, each thumbnail representing a full-size virtual desktop of the multiple virtual desktops, and each thumbnail having a background image that corresponds to the background image of the full-size virtual desktop represented by the thumbnail; displaying one or more shadows in each thumbnail if the full-size virtual desktop represented by the thumbnail has one or more application windows that are opened on the full-size virtual desktop, each shadow being a faint representation of an application window that is opened on the full-size virtual desktop; and without switching from one full-size virtual desktop to another full-size virtual desktop when the user clicks on a thumbnail from the set of thumbnails to access an application window running in the another full-size virtual desktop, clicking on a task button, which is not a shadow, coupled to the application window to switch the application window from the another full-size virtual desktop in which the application window was located to the one full-size virtual desktop.