SPACE ALLOCATION AND POSITIONING METHOD FOR SCREEN DISPLAY REGIONS IN A VARIABLE WINDOWING SYSTEM

In display screen or system technology, a window is a viewing area on the video display. It may be the full screen region or a smaller region represented within a border of typically rectangular shape into which data from application programs and the like may be written for display. One or more windows may appear on the face of a video display screen. In the context of the present invention, the window areas are of variable size selected by the operator and resizing of the regions or areas within each variable window must be modified to suit the newly selected window size. Attributes associated with the regions to be placed within a given window include those for relative priority of display within the window, location within the window and the minimum dimensions of each region to be included within the window. Program controlled operations examine the minimum specifications for the regions to be displayed within a window in comparison with the operator-selected window size in which the regions are to be displayed, and aportion the available window space among the regions to be displayed in accordance with their relative priority and location in the window and their specified minimum sizes, and generate the control parameters necessary for recreating the window display with the appropriate regional spaces allocated and located within the window.