Content segments

• US 20040003349A1
• Filed: 12/18/2002
• Published: 01/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hillberg, Michael J., Mogilevsky, Alex, Kramer, Nicholas, Ostertag, Peter Francis
• Application Number:
  US10/323,087
• Publication Number:
  US 20040003349A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/514
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/322 Trees
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]

Abstract

A span of data in content having an associated hierarchical representation can be specified as a content segment. The span of data can be specified without modifying the hierarchical representation for the content. Events and properties can be specified for the content segment. If desired, content segments can be stacked on top of one another, and they can overlap. Disjoint (e.g., non-contiguous) content segments can be designated, and sub-segments can be processed. A variety of operations can be performed for the content segments, and a user interface service can provide a variety of services for content segments.

Claims

1. A method of specifying a span of data within a representation of content associated with a hierarchical representation for the content, the method comprising:

receiving a designation of the span within the content; and

creating a representation of a content segment associated with the span without modifying the hierarchical representation for the content.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the span within the content spans sequential data.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the content comprises sequential text; and

the designation of the span indicates a span of the sequential text.

4. A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the hierarchical representation is stored in a tree data structure.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the hierarchical representation comprises nodes representing formatting directives for the content.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the hierarchical representation comprises nodes representing markup tags for the content.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the hierarchical representation comprises at least one node representing a markup language bold tag.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the designation comprises a beginning location and an ending location of the span.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the representation of the content stores the beginning location and the ending location as references to a linking data structure, wherein the linking data structure refers to locations within the content.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the hierarchical representation comprises at least one node associated with the content via the linking data structure.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the linking data structure comprises a splay tree.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the content segment is associated with the content via a linking data structure having nodes referring to locations within the content.

14. The method of claim 13 the linking data structure comprises a splay tree.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the designation comprises a content segment type.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

upon request, enumerating segments having the segment type.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the span comprises non-contiguous content.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the content segment comprises a plurality of sub-segments.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein at least two of the sub-segments have different properties associated therewith.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein at least two of the sub-segments have different event handlers associated therewith.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein:

the plurality of sub-segments comprises contiguous sub-segments; and

spans of the contiguous sub-segments are represented with respective single boundaries.

22. The method of claim 1 further comprising performing an operation on the content segment.

23. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing a copy of the span associated with the content segment without modifying the hierarchical representation for the content.

24. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

depicting the span visually with a presentation of the content as highlighted.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein the hierarchical representation comprises formatting directives for the content.

26. The method of claim 1 wherein the hierarchical representation comprises user interface elements to be presented in conjunction with the content.

27. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an indication of a specified function to be performed upon detection of an event for the span; and

upon detection of the event for the span, invoking the specified function.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein:

the content segment spans a node in the hierarchical representation; and

the specified function takes precedence over an other function, wherein the other function is associated with the node in the hierarchical representation.

29. The method of claim 27 wherein the event comprises a change to a property associated with the span.

30. The method of claim 27 wherein the event comprises inputting data into the span.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the data is input via a keyboard.

32. The method of claim 27 wherein the event comprises receiving a command via speech recognition.

33. The method of claim 27 wherein the event comprises a change to a portion of the hierarchical representation relating to the span.

34. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an indication of a property for the span; and

storing the indication as associated with the span.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein:

the content segment spans a node in the hierarchical representation; and

the property takes precedence over an other property, wherein the other property is associated with the node in the hierarchical representation.

36. The method of claim 34 wherein the property is inheritable.

37. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a z-order for the content segment.

38. The method of claim 37 further comprising:

processing the content segment as stacked on top of another content segment having a lower z-order.

39. The method of claim 37 further comprising:

visually depicting the content segment as on top of another content segment having a lower z-order.

40. The method of claim 37 further comprising:

sending an indication of a detected event to the content segment before sending the event to another content segment having a lower z-order.

41. A method of specifying a span of data within a representation of text associated with a hierarchical representation for the content, wherein the hierarchical representation comprises a plurality of nodes representing markup language tags associated with the text, the method comprising:

receiving a designation of the span within the text, wherein the designation comprises a starting location and an ending location;

creating nodes in a linking data structure for the starting location and the ending location, wherein the linking data structure is a splay tree linking the hierarchical representation to the text; and

creating a representation of a content segment associated with the span, without modifying the hierarchical representation for the content, wherein the representation comprises references to the created nodes in the linking data structure.

42. A computer-readable medium having encoded thereon a data structure comprising:

content;

a hierarchical representation associated with the content; and

a designation of a span of the content, wherein the designation does not modify the hierarchical representation.

43. The method of claim 42 wherein the hierarchical representation is stored as a tree data structure.

44. The method of claim 42 wherein

hierarchical representation and the span of content are linked to the content via a linking data structure.

45. A user-interface service comprising:

code for receiving a designation of a span of data within content having an associated hierarchical representation; and

code for storing the designation without modifying the associated hierarchical representation.

46. The user-interface service of claim 45 wherein the hierarchical representation comprises formatting directives implemented when rendering the content.

47. A user-interface service comprising:

a function for accepting a designation of a span of content having an associated hierarchically-arranged representation, wherein at least a portion of the content is rendered in a presentation to a user, and the span corresponds to visual locations within the presentation over which an action can be performed;

a function for accepting a designation of functionality to be invoked when an action is performed over the presentation; and

an event-monitor for detecting when an action occurs within the visual locations, and responsive to such detecting, invoking the functionality.

48. The user-interface service of claim 47 wherein the action is positioning a mouse.

49. A user-interface service comprising:

means for accepting a designation of a span of content having an associated hierarchically-arranged representation, wherein at least a portion of the content is rendered in a presentation to a user, and the span corresponds to visual locations within the presentation over which an action can be performed;

means for accepting a designation of functionality to be invoked when an action is performed over the presentation; and

means for detecting when an action occurs within the visual locations, and responsive to such detecting, invoking the functionality.

50. A method of specifying a span of content within content represented by a tree structure having a hierarchy, the method comprising:

receiving a designation of a beginning and an ending of the span, wherein the span crosses a boundary in the hierarchy; and

designating the span as crossing the boundary in the hierarchy without modifying the tree structure having a hierarchy.

51. The method of claim 50 wherein the tree structure having a hierarchy comprises formatting directives for the content.

52. The method of claim 50 wherein the tree structure having a hierarchy comprises nodes representing user interface elements.

53. In a user interface service, a method of defining an arbitrary property for a span of content, the method comprising:

receiving a designation of a beginning and an ending of the span;

receiving a designation of the property for the span, wherein the property is a custom property not recognized by the user interface service; and

storing the designation of the property.