Smart flip operation for grouped objects

• US 10,176,148 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2015
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Dhaundiyal, Rahul
• Primary Examiner(s): Stork, Kyle R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, Sookil J
• Application Number:
  US14/837,723
• Publication Number:
  US 20170060817A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,230 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/242 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/20 Linear translation of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/68 of symmetry
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/224 of printed characters having additional code marks or containing code marks

Abstract

Technologies are described to provide smart flipping of groups of objects. According to some examples, a graphics module within an application may determine whether an object within a group of objects to be flipped is flippable, that is can be flipped without resulting in loss of object context after the flip operation. Then, the graphics module may flip the group of objects translating all objects (moving their locations to appropriate new locations based on the flip operation), flipping the Objects that can be flipped, and not flipping the object deemed not flippable, thereby preserving the displayed context of the object.

Claims

1. A computing device to provide smart flip operations for grouped objects, the computing device comprising:

a memory;

one or more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processors executing an application in conjunction with instructions stored in the memory, wherein the application includes;

a document processing module configured to;

process a document that includes one or more objects; and

a graphics module configured to;

receive a request to perform a flip operation for selected objects within the document;

determine one of the selected objects to be not flippable by determining a confidence level based on a comparison of the one of the selected objects to one or more images and comparing the confidence level to a predefined confidence threshold, wherein the predefined confidence threshold is adjustable based on a computing capacity, and wherein an object is not flippable if a displayed context of the object is lost after the flip operation;

perform the flip operation by translating locations of the selected objects around a flip axis, not mirroring the object deemed not to be flippable, and mirroring remaining objects of the selected objects;

adjust one or more locations of the selected objects based on a size and shape of a canvas of the document, where the one or more locations of the selected objects are adjusted by at least one of a shrink action and an enlargement action; and

display the selected objects with the flip operation performed.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one of the selected objects is determined to be not flippable through a search operation.

3. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the search operation includes a comparison of the one of the selected objects to images at one or more of a local data store, a networked data store, and the Internet.

4. The computing device of claim 3, wherein the search operation further includes performing one of an image recognition and an optical character recognition on the one of the selected objects.

5. The computing device of claim 3, wherein the search operation is performed by a search module associated with the application.

6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the flip operation is around one of a horizontal axis and a vertical axis.

7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one of the selected objects is one of a logo and an image that contains textual elements.

8. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the flip operation further includes a shift action on the selected objects.

9. The computing device of claim 1, wherein one or more of the shrink action and the enlargement action preserve proportions of the one of the selected objects.

10. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the application is one of a local application and a component of a hosted service.

11. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the application is one of a word processing application, a presentation application, a graphics application, a web page design / display application, a chart processing application, and a spreadsheet application.

12. A method executed at one or more computing devices to provide smart flip operations for grouped objects, the method comprising:

receiving a request to perform a flip operation for selected objects within a document being processed by an application;

determining one of the selected objects to be flippable by determining a confidence level based on a comparison of the one of the selected objects to one or more images and comparing the confidence level to a predefined confidence threshold;

adjusting the predefined confidence threshold based on a computing capacity;

determining one of the selected objects to be not flippable based on the adjusted predefined confidence threshold, wherein an object is not flippable if a displayed context of the object is lost after the flip operation;

performing the flip operation by;

translating locations of the selected objects around a flip axis,

not mirroring the object deemed not to be flippable, and

mirroring remaining objects of the selected objects;

adjusting one or more locations of the selected objects based on a size and shape of a canvas of the document, where the one or more locations of the selected objects are adjusted by at least one of a shrink action and an enlargement action; and

displaying the selected objects with the flip operation performed.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining one of the selected objects to be not flippable comprises:

performing one of an image recognition and an optical character recognition on the one of the selected objects; and

comparing the one of the selected objects to images at one or more of a local data store, a networked data store, and the Internet.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

performing an analysis of metadata of one or more of similar images, file names, alternative texts for images, and keywords in web pages containing the similar images.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

prompting a user to identify the one of the selected objects to be not flippable.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the confidence threshold is further adjustable based on a user preference.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the flip operation further includes a shift action on the selected objects.

18. A computer readable memory device with instructions stored thereon to provide smart flip operations for grouped objects, the instructions comprising:

receiving a request to perform a flip operation for selected objects within a document being processed by an application;

determining one of the selected objects to be not flippable by;

performing one of an image recognition and an optical character recognition on the one of the selected objects; and

determining a confidence level based on comparing the one of the selected objects to images at one or more of a local data store, a networked data store, and the Internet and comparing the confidence level to a predefined confidence threshold, wherein the predefined confidence threshold is adjustable based on a computing capacity, and wherein an object is not flippable if a displayed context of the object is lost after the flip operation;

performing the flip operation by;

translating locations of the selected objects around a flip axis,

not mirroring the object deemed not to be flippable, and

mirroring remaining objects of the selected objects;

adjusting one or more locations of the selected objects based on a size and shape of a canvas of the document, where the one or more locations of the selected objects are adjusted by at least one of a shrink action and an enlargement action; and

displaying the selected objects with the flip operation performed.

19. The computer readable memory device of claim 18,

wherein the confidence threshold is further adjustable based on a user preference.

20. The computer readable memory device of claim 18, wherein the flip operation is around a user selected flip axis.