System and method for creating and editing documents

• US 20030097640A1
• Filed: 07/25/2002
• Published: 05/22/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Leonard, Neil III, Smith, Joseph Charles, Fuhrer, Robert Mack, Boulanger, Richard Charles, Abrams, Steven B., Rendish, Michael, Oppenheim, Daniel Vincent, Wright, James Lawton, Mash, David Stefan, Bellofatto, Ralph E.
• Application Number:
  US10/201,914
• Publication Number:
  US 20030097640A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/255
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

A system for creating and editing documents may include a reference view function which allows a user to quickly and easily refer to data that may not be included in a document. The inventive system may also include a function for saving and restoring view configurations to ensure that valuable ideas may be stored and recalled, and/or a function for tracking of motivic re-use of data.

Claims

1. A system for creating and editing a document, said system comprising:

a memory device for storing software for associating hypernote data with a point-of-reference in said document, said hypernote data being separately stored from said point-of-reference in said document; and

a processor for using said software to generate a view of said document, said view of said document comprising a view of said hypernote data associated with said point-of-reference in said document.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said view of said document further comprises a view of the document including said point-of-reference, and said hypernote data is visually related to said point-of-reference in said view of said document.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein said view of said hypernote data is displayed in a read-only manner.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein said view of said hypernote data comprises a pinned view which appears visually anchored to an anchor point in said document related to said point-of-reference, and said pinned view moves with said document as the user scrolls through said document.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein said view of said hypernote data comprises a floating view which appears visually unanchored to said document and remains in a fixed location on the screen as a user scrolls through said document.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein said hypernote data comprises data from a source external to said document.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein said hypernote data comprises data from said document, said data having a source location in said document different from said point-of-reference.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein said document comprises a musical composition.

13. The system according to claim 1, wherein said document comprises a word processing document.

14. The system according to claim 1, wherein said document comprises a picture document.

15. The system according to claim 1, wherein said document comprises a spreadsheet document.

16. The system according to claim 1, wherein said hypernote data comprises one of textual data, image data, musical data, tabular data, and hypertext markup language (HTML) data.

17. The system according to claim 1, wherein said hypernote data is implemented as a bundle which refers to other content.

8. A system for creating and editing a document, said system comprising:

a memory device for storing software for representing and displaying said document;

a processor for using said software to generate a view of said document; and

a display device for displaying said view of said document, said view of said document comprising a window to show data related to said document, said window comprising a visual characteristic which indicates a property of said data displayed in said window.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein said visual characteristic comprises at least one of a beveled edge, a color, and a shadowed background.

10. The system according to claim 8, wherein said visual characteristic indicates that said data displayed in said window comprises hypernote data.

11. The system according to claim 8, wherein said visual characteristic indicates that said view of said document comprises a pinned view and a floating view.

18. A system for incorporating views of hypernote data in a document, said system comprising:

a means for representing a point-of-reference in said document;

a means for representing said hypernote data associated with said point-of-reference in said document; and

a means for identifying that said hypernote data is incorporated by reference and not included in said document at said point-of-reference.

19. The system according to claim 18, further comprising:

a means for displaying said hypernote data so as to visually identify it as hypernote data.

20. The system according to claim 18, further comprising:

a means for selectively ignoring hypernote data during final output preparation.

21. A method for creating and editing documents, comprising:

associating hypernote data with a point-of-reference in said document, said hypernote data being separately stored from said point-of-reference in said document; and

generating a view of said document, said view of said document comprising a view of said hypernote data associated with said point-of-reference in said document.

22. A programmable storage medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method for creating and editing documents, said method comprising:

associating hypernote data with a point-of-reference in said document, said hypernote data being separately stored from said point-of-reference in said document; and

generating a view of said document, said view of said document comprising a view of said hypernote data associated with said point-of-reference in said document.

23. A system for creating and editing documents comprising:

a memory device for storing software for automatically tracking a window configuration; and

a processor accessing said software, for identifying a stable window configuration and, prior to responding to a user request to change from said stable window configuration, recording a state of said window configuration in said memory device.

24. A method for creating and editing documents comprising:

automatically tracking a window configuration;

identifying a stable window configuration; and

prior to responding to a user request to change from said stable window configuration, recording a state of said window configuration in said memory device.

25. A programmable storage medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method for creating and editing documents, said method comprising:

automatically tracking a window configuration;

identifying a stable window configuration; and

prior to responding to a user request to change from said stable window configuration, recording a state of said window configuration in said memory device.

26. A system for creating and editing documents comprising:

a memory device for storing software for automatically tracking window configurations;

a processor accessing said software, for identifying a relevant window event, determining if a predetermined time has elapsed before a next relevant window event and, if so, recording the state of said window configuration in said memory device.

27. A method for creating and editing documents comprising:

automatically tracking a window configuration;

identifying a relevant window event; and

determining if a predetermined time has elapsed before a next relevant window event and, if so, recording a state of said window configuration.

28. A programmable storage medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method for creating and editing documents, said method comprising:

automatically tracking a window configuration;

identifying a relevant window event; and

determining if a predetermined time has elapsed before a next relevant window event and, if so, recording a state of said window configuration.

29. A system for creating and editing documents comprising:

a display screen for displaying a workspace configuration log which comprises at least one window configuration, each window configuration shown as a graphical image, each graphical image being associated with a set of data structures containing data necessary to restore a window configuration;

a selector for allowing a user to select a window configuration; and

a processor for obtaining a set of data structures associated with a selected window configuration, and restoring said selected window configuration on said display device.

30. The system according to claim 29, wherein said graphical image is a reduced scale image of said display screen.

31. A method for creating and editing documents comprising:

displaying at least one window configuration, each window configuration shown as a graphical image, each graphical image being associated with a set of data structures containing data necessary to restore a window configuration;

selecting a window configuration;

obtaining a set of data structures associated with a selected window configuration; and

restoring said selected window configuration.

32. A programmable storage medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method for creating and editing documents, said method comprising:

displaying at least one window configuration, each window configuration shown as a graphical image, each graphical image being associated with a set of data structures containing data necessary to restore a window configuration;

selecting a window configuration;

obtaining a set of data structures associated with a selected window configuration; and

restoring said selected window configuration.

33. A system for creating and editing documents comprising:

a memory device for storing software for automatically tracking copies of data used in said document; and

a processor for accessing said software for creating a record of copying of content, said record indicating from where said data was copied, and to where said data was copied.

34. The system according to claim 33, wherein said record is stored in an ancestry tree data structure comprising a tree node which is a reference to content in a document, said tree node comprising a child link which indicates that a copy was made of said content from a content location referred to by said tree node, to a content location referred to by said child node.

35. The system for according to claim 33, wherein said processor automatically maintains said ancestry tree data structure whenever content is selected and copied.

36. The system according to claim 34, further comprising:

a display device for displaying, in a graphical form, links of an ancestry tree superimposed over an overview of said document.

37. The system according to claim 34, wherein said data comprises musical fragments and said document comprises a musical composition.

38. The system according to claim 34, wherein said data comprises textual content and said document comprises a text document.

39. A method for creating and editing documents comprising:

automatically tracking copies of data used in said document; and

creating a record of copying of content, said record indicating from where said data was copied, and to where said data was copied.

40. A programmable storage medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method for creating and editing documents, said method comprising:

automatically tracking copies of data used in said document; and

creating a record of copying of content, said record indicating from where said data was copied, and to where said data was copied.

41. A method for creating and editing documents comprising:

storing an ancestry tree data-structure wherein a tree node is a reference to content in a document, and a child link of a tree indicates that a copy was made of said content from a content location referred to by a parent node, to a content location referred to by a child node; and

accessing said ancestry tree data-structure in order to automatically track a re-use of materials in said document.

42. A programmable storage medium tangibly embodying a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method for creating and editing documents, said method comprising:

storing an ancestry tree data-structure wherein a tree node is a reference to content in a document, and a child link of a tree indicates that a copy was made of said content from a content location referred to by a parent node, to a content location referred to by a child node; and

accessing said ancestry tree data-structure in order to automatically track a re-use of materials in said document.

43. A system for creating and editing documents, comprising:

an input device;

a monitoring system for monitoring said input device and capturing input presented to peripherals, without requiring a user instruction.

44. The system according to claim 43, further comprising:

an annotation device for annotating captured input with contextual information about a system state at a time of capture, said information comprising one of calendar date, wall-clock time, and current scroll position in the document.

45. The system according to claim 43, further comprising:

a storage facility for storing said captured data.

46. The system according to claim 43, further comprising:

a search mechanism for retrieving captured data based on a property of a system state at a time that said input was captured.

47. The system according to claim 46, wherein said property comprises one of a time/date captured, and a current document position when captured.