WO2016018270A1

WO2016018270A1 - Paste data during display of source application

Info

Publication number: WO2016018270A1
Application number: PCT/US2014/048731
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ying-Tzu Chen
Original assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
Priority date: 2014-07-29
Filing date: 2014-07-29
Publication date: 2016-02-04

Abstract

Examples disclosed herein relate to a paste command to paste selected data into a destination application during display of the source application. Examples include generation of paste pop-up menu to identify a destination application for the selected text. Selected data is pasted into the destination application in response to selection of the destination application from the paste pop-up menu. Examples include generation of an execution pop-up menu to identify execution options according to a data type of the selected data and destination application.

Description

PASTE DATA DURING DISPLAY OF SOURCE APPLICATION

BACKGROUND

[0001 ] Various computing devices may provide a cut, copy, and paste functionality. A copy or cut command may move selected data into a clipboard in the computing device via a key combination, pulldown menus, pop-up menus, toolbar buttons, etc. Thereafter, a user may navigate to the location in the computing device where the selected data is to be pasted and paste the selected data from the clipboard to the navigated to location. The clipboard may remain hidden from a user during execution of the cut, copy, and paste functionality.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0002] The following detailed description references the drawings, wherein:

[0003] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example computing device to provide a paste popup menu;

[0004] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example system to provide a paste pop-up menu and an execution pop-up menu; and

[0005] FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example method for providing a paste pop-up menu and an execution pop-up menu.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0006] As used herein, a "computing device" or "device" may be a desktop computer, laptop (or notebook) computer, workstation, tablet computer, mobile phone, smart device, or any other processing device or equipment. A "note taking application" may be any application to accept data to be pasted. For example, the note taking application may be a word processing application, an email application, and Short Message Service (SMS), a calendar application, an image editing application, a game application, etc.

[0007] A "copy command" (or "copy") is an instruction (i.e., command) executable by a computing device to copy selected data and store it in a clipboard. A "cut command" (or "cut") is an instruction (i.e., command) executable by a computing device to copy selected data and store it in a clipboard and delete the selected text from its original location. A "paste command" (or "paste") is an instruction (i.e., command) executable by a computing device to copy data in a clipboard and reproduce the data at a location specified in the command. For example, data may be selected in a first application (or "source application") and pasted into a second application (or "destination application"). In some examples, the selected data may be copied from a source application and pasted into a different location in the source application. The selected data may be any type of data, such as, text data, image data, video data, etc., and may include a format or other meta-data associated with the selected data.

[0008] In some examples, a screen size of a display of the computing device may be limited and more than one application may not be displayed at the same time. In such examples, pasting data selected from a source application into a destination application may include exiting or minimizing the source application to launch or maximize the destination application. However, minimizing or exiting the source application may not be convenient if the user seeks to continue using the source application. Even if more than one application may be displayed at the same time on the computing device, switching between a source application and a destination application to perform the paste function may cumbersome and time consuming.

[0009] To address these issues, in the examples described herein, a paste functionality may paste data into the destination application without minimizing or exiting from the source application. In such examples, a paste pop-up menu may be generated when a copy or cut command is executed in the computing device. The paste pop-up menu may identify a destination application into which the selected data may be pasted. In some examples, selecting a destination application from the paste pop-up menu may result in generation of an execution pop- menu to provide paste options or execution options which the destination application may implement with the paste functionality. In this manner, examples described herein may significantly simplify a paste command in a computing device.

[0010] Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example computing device 100 to provide a paste pop-up menu. In the example of FIG. 1 , computing device 100 includes a processing resource 110 and a machine-readable storage medium 120 comprising (e.g., encoded with) instructions 122, 124, 126, and 128 executable by processing resource 1 10. In some examples, storage medium 120 may include additional instructions. In some examples, instructions 122, 124, 126, and 128, and any other instructions described herein in relation to storage medium 120, may be stored on a machine-readable storage medium remote from but accessible to computing device 100 and processing resource 1 10 (e.g., via a computer network). In some examples, instructions 122, 124, 126, and 128 may be instructions of a computer program, computer application (app), agent, or the like, of computing device 100. In other examples, the functionalities described herein in relation to instructions 122, 124, 126, and 128 may be implemented as engines comprising any combination of hardware and programming to implement the functionalities of the engines, as described below.

[0011] In examples described herein, a processing resource may include, for example, one processor or multiple processors included in a single computing device (as shown in FIG. 1 ) or distributed across multiple computing devices. A "processor" may be at least one of a central processing unit (CPU), a semiconductor-based microprocessor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) to retrieve and execute instructions, other electronic circuitry suitable for the retrieval and execution of instructions stored on a machine-readable storage medium, or a combination thereof. Processing resource 110 may fetch, decode, and execute instructions stored on storage medium 120 to perform the functionalities described below. In other examples, the functionalities of any of the instructions of storage medium 120 may be implemented in the form of electronic circuitry, in the form of executable instructions encoded on a machine- readable storage medium, or a combination thereof.

[0012] As used herein, a "machine-readable storage medium" may be any electronic, magnetic, optical, or other physical storage apparatus to contain or store information such as executable instructions, data, and the like. For example, any machine-readable storage medium described herein may be any of Random Access Memory (RAM), volatile memory, non-volatile memory, flash memory, a storage drive (e.g., a hard drive), a solid state drive, any type of storage disc (e.g., a compact disc, a DVD, etc.), and the like, or a combination thereof. Further, any machine-readable storage medium described herein may be non-transitory.

[0013] In the example of FIG. 1 , instructions 122 may actively acquire (e.g., retrieve, etc.) or passively acquire (e.g., receive, etc.) in computing device 100 a selection of data 105 (hereinafter "selected data 105") from a source application to be pasted in a destination application. In some examples, the selected data 105 may be acquired in a clipboard in response to a copy command or cut command. In some examples, the selected data 105 may include format information or other meta-data associated with the selected data 105. The source application may be any application operating on the computing device from which data may be copied or cut. The selected data 105 may be any type of data, such as, one or more of text data, image data, video data, etc. The selected data 105 may be received via any method to select data, such as by a keyboard shortcut, a mouse input, an input received through a graphical user interface, etc. For example, in a tablet device, data from a source application may be selected by a touch command received through a graphical user interface of the tablet device. In such examples, the selected data may be copied or cut via a pop-up menu (hereinafter "copy-cut" pop-up menu) generated by the device in response to the selection of the data.

[0014] In instructions 124, the computing device 100 may generate a paste pop-up menu. The paste pop-up menu may identify a destination application. A destination application may be any note taking application which may accept the selected data 105 for pasting. The computing device 100 may determine which note taking applications in the computing device may be a destination application based on a data type of the selected data 105. For example, the selected data 105 may be text data, and the destination application may be any application on computing device 100 which may accept a paste command for text data. In another example, the selected data 105 may be image data, such as a picture captured by a camera of computing device 100, and the destination application may be an email application, a messaging application, an image editing application etc. In another example, the selected data may be text data and image data and the destination application may be any note taking application which may accept text data and image data, such as an SMS application, etc. In some examples, the destination application may be a new window or new tab of the source application. For example, the source application may be a web browser, and the destination application may be a new window or new tab of the web browser. In some examples, the paste pop-up menu may include more than one destination application. In some examples, the paste pop-up menu may be a sub-menu of the copy-cut popup menu. In other examples, the paste pop-up menu may be displayed adjacent to the copy-cut pop-up menu or the selected data 105. In such examples, the paste pop-up menu may be displayed to overlay a portion of the selected data 105.

[0015] In instructions 126, computing device 100 may acquire a selection of a destination application 107 via the paste pop-up menu.

[0016] In instructions 128, in response to selection of the destination application 107, computing device 100 may paste the selected data 105 in the destination application during display of the source application on the display of the computing device 100. In such examples, the source application remains visible on the display of the computing device while the paste command is executed in the destination application. In some examples, the destination application is not visible to a user while the source application is displayed on the computing device 100. In other examples, a portion of the destination application may be visible in a background of the display of computing device 100 while the source application is displayed.

[0017] In some examples, instructions 122, 124, 126, and 128 may be part of an installation package that, when installed, may be executed by processing resource 110 to implement the functionalities described herein in relation to instructions 122, 124, 126, and 128. In such examples, storage medium 120 may be a portable medium, such as a CD, DVD, flash drive, or a memory maintained by a computing device from which the installation package can be downloaded and installed. In other examples, instructions 122, 124, 126, and 128 may be part of an application, applications, or component already installed on computing device 100 including processing resource 110. In such examples, the storage medium 120 may include memory such as a hard drive, solid state drive, or the like. In some examples, functionalities described herein in relation to FIG. 1 may be provided in combination with functionalities described herein in relation to any of FIGS. 2-3.

[0018] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example system 210 to provide a paste pop-up menu 237 and an execution pop-up menu 239. System 210 may be in computing device 200. Computing device 200 may include a display 220. In the example of FIG. 2, system 210 includes at least engines 212, 214, and 216, which may be any combination of hardware and programming to implement the functionalities of the engines. In examples described herein, such combinations of hardware and programming may be implemented in a number of different ways. For example, the programming for the engines may be processor executable instructions stored on a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium and the hardware for the engines may include a processing resource to execute those instructions. In such examples, the machine-readable storage medium may store instructions that, when executed by the processing resource, implement engines 212, 214, and 216. In such examples, system 210 may include the machine-readable storage medium storing the instructions and the processing resource to execute the instructions, or the machine-readable storage medium may be separate but accessible to system 210 and the processing resource.

[0019] In some examples, the instructions can be part of an installation package that, when installed, can be executed by the processing resource to implement at least engines 212, 214, and 216. In such examples, the machine-readable storage medium may be a portable medium, such as a CD, DVD, or flash drive, or a memory maintained by a computing device from which the installation package can be downloaded and installed. In other examples, the instructions may be part of an application, applications, or component already installed on system 210 including the processing resource. In such examples, the machine-readable storage medium may include memory such as a hard drive, solid state drive, or the like. In other examples, the functionalities of any engines of system 210 may be implemented in the form of electronic circuitry.

[0020] In the example of FIG. 2, selection engine 212 may acquire a selection of data 235 ("selected data 235") from a source application 230 to be pasted. In the example of FIG. 2, the source application 230 may be displayed to occupy a portion of the display area of display 220. In some examples, source application 230 may occupy all or a substantial portion of the display 220 not occupied by an icon area. In such examples, the source application may overlaid on all or a substantial portion of other applications displayed on the display 220.

[0021] In some examples, menu engine 214 may generate the paste pop-up menu 237. Paste pop-menu may identify a destination application 240. Destination application 240 may be any application described above with reference to FIG. 1. The destination application 240 may be determined according to a data type of the selected data. In some examples, the paste popup menu 237 may be overlaid over a portion of selected data 235. [0022] In some examples, in response to the selection of destination application 240 from the paste pop-up menu, menu engine 214 may generate an execution pop-up menu 239. Execution pop-up menu 239 may include one or more of a paste option, an execution option, a combination thereof. As used herein, a "paste option" refers to any command that allows the format of the selected data 233 to be specified as part of the paste command. For example, a paste option may include the option to paste selected data 235 without any formatting, merge the formatting of selected data 235 with the formatting of destination application 240, maintain the formatting of selected data 235 from source application 230, etc. As used herein, an "execution option" refers to a command that may be executed by destination application 240 in response to the receipt of the selected data 235 via the paste operation. For example, where selected data 235 is text data and the destination application 240 is a web browser, an execution option may be the option to load a uniform resource locator (URL) associated with the text data or perform a search on the text data via a search engine in the web browser. In some examples, the execution pop-up menu may be a sub-menu of the paste pop-up menu 237. In other examples, the execution pop-up menu 239 may be displayed adjacent to the paste pop-up menu 237 or the selected data 235. In such examples, the execution pop-up menu 239 may be displayed to overlay a portion of the paste pop-up menu 237 and/or the selected data 235.

[0023] In response to the selection of a destination application 240 from paste pop-up menu 237, paste engine 216 may paste the selected text 235 into destination application 240 during display of source application 230 on the display 220. In some examples, destination application 240 may be launched by computing device 200 in a background screen of display 220 to paste the selected data 235. A background screen of display 220 may be a screen disposed behind source application 230 such that source application 230 is overlaid on all or a portion of the background screen. In such examples, the source application 230 remains visible on the display 220 while paste engine 216 pastes the selected data 235 in destination application 240. In some examples, paste engine 216 may provide the selected text 235 to a clipboard associated with destination application 240 without launching destination application 240 in computing device 200.

[0024] In some examples, in response to the selection of a paste option or an execution option via execution pop-up menu 239, the paste engine 216 may provide modified data 209 to destination application 240. Modified data 209 may include the selected data 235 and additional instructions (e.g., commands) to perform the paste option or the execution option selected. For example, modified data 209 may include instructions to merge the formatting of selected data 235 with a format of destination application 240 when pasted. In other examples, the modified data 209 may include instructions to perform an internet search on the selected data 235 via a search engine when the destination application is a web browser. In another examples, the modified data 209 may include instructions to reduce the duration of the video data. In yet another example, the modified data 209 may include instructions to enter the selected data 235 into a game application to unlock hidden game features.

[0025] FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example method 300 for providing a paste pop-up menu and an execution pop-up menu. Although execution of method 300 is described below with reference to computing device 100 described above, other suitable systems (system 210) for the execution of method 300 can be utilized. Additionally, implementation of method 300 is not limited to such examples.

[0026] At 302 of method 300, computing device 100 may acquire a selection of data to be pasted from a source application displayed on computing device 100. The selected data may be any type of data discussed above with respect to FIG. 1. In the example of FIG. 3, the selected data may be text data in the form of a URL and the source application may be a web browser.

[0027] At 304, computing device 100 may generate a paste pop-up menu identifying a destination application according to a data type of the selected data. In the example of FIG. 3, the destination application may be any note taking application in computing device 100 which may accept text data. For example, the destination application may be a new window of the web browser.

[0028] At 306, in response to selection of the destination application via the paste pop-up menu, computing device 100 may generate an execution pop-up menu identifying one or more of a paste option, an execution option, or a combination thereof. The paste option and the execution option may be any paste option or execution option discussed above with reference to FIG. 2. In the example of FIG. 3, the execution option may be to load the URL associated with the text data in the new window of the web browser.

[0029] At 308, in response to selection of the execution option, the computing device 100 may paste the selected data into the destination application according to the execution option during display of the source application on the computing device 100. In the example of FIG. 3, the computing device 100 may paste the text data into the new window of the web browser while continuing to display the source application (i.e., the original window of the web browser) on the computing device 100. In such an example, computing device 100 may also provide instructions to load a URL associated with the text data in the new window of the web browser.

[0030] Although the flowchart of FIG. 3 shows a specific order of performance of certain functionalities, method 300 is not limited to that order. For example, the functionalities shown in succession in the flowchart may be performed in a different order, may be executed concurrently or with partial concurrence, or a combination thereof. In some examples, functionalities described herein in relation to FIG. 3 may be provided in combination with functionalities described herein in relation to any of FIGS. 1-2.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions executable by a processing resource to: acquire a selection of data from a source application to be pasted in a computing device; generate a paste pop-up menu identifying a destination application; acquire a selection of the destination application via the paste pop-up menu; and in response to the selection of the destination application, paste the selected data into the destination application during display of the source application in the computing device.

2. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the source application is a web browser.

3. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the destination application is a note taking application.

4. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the paste pop-up menu comprises a plurality of destination applications to accept the paste of the selected data according to a data type of the selected data.

5. The storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the paste pop-up menu may be displayed adjacent to a copy-cut pop-up menu, or may be a sub-menu of the copy-cut pop-up menu.

6. A system comprising: a selection engine to acquire a selection of data from a source application to be pasted in a computing device; a menu engine to generate a paste pop-up menu identifying a destination application and to display the paste pop-up menu adjacent to the selected data on a display of the computing device; and a paste engine to paste the selected data into the destination application in response to the selection of the destination application via the paste pop-up menu during display of the source application on the display of the computing device.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the paste pop-up menu comprises a plurality of destination applications.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the menu engine determines the destination application according to a type of data in the selected data and the data type of selected data is one or more of text data, image data, and video data.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the source application remains displayed on all or a substantial portion of the display.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the menu engine is further to generate an execution popup menu in response to the selection of the destination application in the paste pop-up menu.

1 1. The system of claim 8, wherein execution pop-up menu comprises one or more of a paste option, an execution option, or a combination thereof.

12. A method for copying and pasting data, comprising: acquiring a selection of data to be pasted from a source application displayed on a computing device; generating a paste pop-up menu identifying a destination application according to a data type of the selected data; in response to selection of the destination application via the paste pop-up menu, generating an execution pop-up menu identifying an execution option according to the destination application and data type of the selected text; and in response to selection of the execution option, pasting the selected data into the destination application according to the execution option during display of the source application on the computing device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the type of selected data is two or more data types selected from text data, image data, and video data.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the source application is a web browser, the data type of the selected data is text, and the execution option is to load a webpage located at the location specified by the text data.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the second application is a new window of the source application.