System and method for using selective soft focus as a user interface design element

1 . A method, comprising:

providing a display operating within a computing system;

selecting at least one display characteristic to represent respective activity statuses of a plurality of windows present in said display, said at least one display characteristic including at least resolution; and

displaying said windows employing values of said at least one selected display characteristic corresponding to said windows' respective activity statuses.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein said at least one display characteristic further includes at least one characteristic selected from the group consisting of: contrast, brightness, color balance, and saturation.

3 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

increasing a value of said at least one display characteristic for a given one of said windows when an activity status of said given window transitions from inactive to active.

4 . The method of claim 3 wherein said increasing comprises:

gradually increasing said value of said at least one display characteristic.

5 . The method of claim 3 wherein said increasing said value of said at least one display characteristic comprises providing a high-resolution display of said given window.

6 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

reducing a value of said at least one display characteristic for a given one of said windows when an activity status of said given window transitions from active to inactive.

7 . The method of claim 6 wherein said reducing comprises gradually reducing said value of said at least one display characteristic for said given one of said windows.

8 . The method of claim 6 wherein said reducing comprises providing a low-resolution display of said given window.

9 . The method of claim 6 wherein said providing a low-resolution display of said given window lowers a computational burden on said computing system imposed by said displaying.

10 . A method, comprising:

providing a display operating within a computing system;

displaying a plurality of windows on said display, at least one of said windows being an active window;

making said at least one active window inactive;

reducing a display resolution of said at least one window upon said making said at least one window inactive.

11 . The method of claim 10 further comprising:

maintaining said at least one window at said lowered resolution for as long as said at least one window is inactive.

12 . The method of claim 10 wherein said reducing comprises gradually reducing said display resolution of said at least one window.

13 . The method of claim 10 wherein said plurality of windows includes at least one initially inactive window.

14 . The method of claim 13 further comprising:

making one of said at least one initially inactive window active; and

increasing a display resolution of said one window.

15 . The method of claim 14 wherein said increasing comprises gradually increasing said display resolution of said one window.

16 . The method of claim 10 further comprising:

discontinuing processing in an application program controlling said at least one deactivated window.

17 . An apparatus, comprising:

a computing system having a display,

wherein said computing system is operable to

select at least one display characteristic to represent respective activity statuses of a plurality of windows present in said display, said at least one display characteristic including at least resolution; and

display said windows employing values of said at least one selected display characteristic corresponding to said windows' respective activity statuses.

18 . The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said at least one display characteristic further includes at least one characteristic selected from the group consisting of: contrast, brightness, color balance, and saturation.

19 . The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said computing system is further operable to:

increase a value of said at least one display characteristic for a given one of said windows when an activity status of said given window transitions from inactive to active.

20 . The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said computing system is further operable to:

reduce a value of said at least one display characteristic for a given one of said windows when an activity status of said given window transitions from active to inactive.