Task switching on mobile devices

US10631246B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC · US

Inventors

• Rachel Jiang · Redmond, US
• Rhoniel Villano Manlapaz · Fullerton, US
• Megan Donahue · Seattle, US
• Amy E. Alberts · Redmond, US
• Jan Karachale · Sammamish, US
• Ashwini Varma · Renton, US
• Vijayendra Gopalrao Vasu · Redmond, US
• Alan Bush · Redmond, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 16, 2011
• Grant date: Apr 21, 2020
• Expiry date: Jun 16, 2031

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02D30/70
• WIPO field: Audio-visual technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

The subject disclosure is directed towards a task switching technology on a computing device such as a Smartphone. An application is comprised of one or more tasks. When a user requests that another task be executed, information about the previously executing task (e.g., including a screenshot) is preserved to a stack. If the user invokes a task switcher program, the user is presented with a view of the stack, e.g., containing the screenshots (and representative text) of the tasks that previously executed. The user may navigate among those presented task representations to arbitrarily select any one, with the selected task resumed upon selection.