Developing an Automatic Window Manipulation System Considering Content on Application Windows and User’s Behavior

  • Keisuke Yoshida Nagoya Institute of Technology
  • Tadachika Ozono Nagoya Institute of Technology
  • Toramatsu Shintani Nagoya Institute of Technology
Keywords: edge detection, eye-movements, user’s work behavior, window management

Abstract

Manual window managements become increased with PCs gaining larger display areas, greater processing power, and more applications. Therefore, manipulating windows accordingly and automatically helps us to perform tasks on PCs. In this study, we explored a prototype window management system called FoXpace. FoXpace uses content on application windows and user’s behavior in order to move background windows to optimal positions according to an active window. FoXpace employs edges in a desktop and user’s work history to evaluate content on application windows and user’s behavior, respectively. The edges can be obtained by using image-processing technique. The user’s work history consists of mouse clicks, keyboard inputs, and application-switches. We developed an algorithm to determine the optimal position of each windows based on edge detection and the user’s work behavior. This paper shows the development of FoXpace and its evaluations. We conducted experiments on our algorithm with questionnaires and an eye-tracking device. We concluded that our window manipulating system can reduce the cost of window manipulation while performing tasks on PCs.

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Published
2017-09-30