Patent ID: 7404147

Claim:
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 full-space rectangles to be present on the workspace, and permitting representation of said at least a portion of the full-space rectangles in an overlapping configuration; defining a second data structure of largest empty-space rectangles available on the workspace; performing an operation on the workspace involving at least one full-space rectangle; and redefining the first data structure and the second data structure in accordance with the workspace resulting from the performing step 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 wherein the operation is the addition of a new full-space rectangle which is automatically placed in a final position on the workspace 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, wherein if not largest empty space rectangles satisfy the user defined placement parameter, the user can optionally place the full space rectangle on the workspace.