METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMIC TEXT RESIZING

• US 20010055020A1
• Filed: 01/25/1999
• Published: 12/27/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Icras, Inc.
• Inventors: HERTZFELD, ANDY
• Granted Patent: US 6,441,824 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/472
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/109 Font handling; Temporal or kinetic typography

Abstract

A method and apparatus for determining a format for displaying information in a display area coupled to a computer system, the format being based on the size of the display area and the amount of information to display. As a user continues to enter information in the display area, software program instructions update the format of the information when the amount of information to display changes. This includes reducing the size of the font as additional information is entered and enlarging the size of the font when enough information is deleted to create available space. The font type and/or the font size may be changed to allow the information to fit within the available display area. The size of the text may be reduced to a minimum level and, and as more information is entered, the display is scrolled so the user may view the most recently entered data. A scale also be determined to reduce or enlarge graphics information so that it fits within the available display area.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

a display device having a limited display area for displaying information;

a user input device; and

a memory having a set of program instructions stored therein, the program instructions being operable to determine a format for displaying the information based on the size of the display area and the amount of information, and to update the format when the amount of information to display changes.

2. The computer system, as set forth in

claim 1

, wherein determining the format for displaying information includes determining a text font size.

3. The computer system, as set forth in

claim 2

, wherein determining the format for displaying information includes determining a text font type.

4. The computer system, as set forth in

claim 1

, wherein the program instructions are further operable to display text in the largest font which allows all of the text to be displayed in the display area.

5. The computer system, as set forth in

claim 1

, wherein the program instructions are further operable to limit the format for displaying the information to a minimum size and to scroll the information when the program instructions determine that the format for displaying the information is smaller than the minimum size.

6. The computer system, as set forth in

claim 1

, wherein the program instructions are further operable to determine a scale for including all of the information in the display area, and to apply the scale to display graphical information.

7. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium storing program instructions, the program instructions being operable to determine a format for displaying information in a display area, the format being based on the size of the display area and the amount of information to display, the program instructions being further operable to update the format when the amount of information to display changes.

8. The computer program product, as set forth in

claim 7

, wherein determining the format for displaying information includes determining a text font size.

9. The computer program product, as set forth in

claim 7

, wherein determining the format for displaying information includes determining a text font type.

10. The computer program product, as set forth in

claim 7

, wherein the program instructions are further operable to display text in the largest font which allows all of the text to be displayed in the display area.

11. The computer program product, as set forth in

claim 7

, wherein the program instructions are further limit the format for displaying the information to a minimum size and to scroll the information when the program instructions determine that the format for displaying the information is smaller than the minimnum size.

12. The computer program product, as set forth in

claim 7

, wherein the program instructions are further operable to determine a scale for including all of the information in the display area, and to apply the scale to display graphical information.

13. A method for determining a format for displaying information in a computer system display area wherein a data entry field is displayed, the method comprising:

formatting the data entry field with the largest text style;

accepting information input by a user;

determining whether the information fits within the data entry field; and

formatting the information in the data entry field with the largest text style that allows the information input by the user to be displayed in the data entry field when the information does not fit within the data entry field using a larger text style.

14. The method, as set forth in

claim 13

, wherein formatting the data entry field with the largest text style includes determining a text font size.

15. The method, as set forth in

claim 13

, wherein formatting the data entry field with the largest text style includes determining a text font type.

16. The method, as set forth in

claim 13

, further comprising limiting the text style to a minimum size.

17. The method, as set forth in

claim 16

, further comprising scrolling the information when the text style reaches a minimum size.

18. The method, as set forth in

claim 13

, wherein the information in the data entry field includes graphical information, the method further comprising:

determining a scale for including all of the information in the display area; and

applying the scale to display the graphical information.