User interface systems and methods for viewing and manipulating digital documents

• US 20040194014A1
• Filed: 03/29/2004
• Published: 09/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Picsel Technologies Limited
• Inventors: Anwar, Majid
• Granted Patent: US 7,576,730 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/276
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04805 Virtual magnifying lens, i.e. window or frame movable on top of displayed information to enlarge it for better reading or selection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04806 Zoom, i.e. interaction techniques or interactors for controlling the zooming operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/114 Pagination

Abstract

Systems, including handheld computing devices that include system code stored within the memory and adapted to be executed by the processor. The system code can process an input byte stream that is representative of contents to be displayed on the touch sensitive display and can generate a content document file representative of an internal representation of the content. A tool document file may also be stored in the memory and may provide an internal representation of a document providing an image that is representative of a graphical tool. Associated with a tool document can be tool code that is capable of processing the content document file to create an internal representation of the contents that presents the content in a manner that achieves a display effect associated with the tool. The device will also include parsing code that processes the content document file, the tool document file, and the processed internal representation to generate a screen document for display on the touch sensitive display in a manner that portrays the display effect.

Claims

1-38. -38 (Canceled)

39. A method for providing a user-interface, comprising

i. providing a content document file having an internal representation of a document, which describes the document as a collection of document objects and parameters defining properties of instances of the objects within the document;

ii. providing a tool document file, representative of a graphical tool that performs a user interface function, having an internal representation expressed in the same object and parameter based representation;

iii. providing tool code associated with the tool document file;

iv. generating a screen document for display that is an aggregation of the content document file and the tool document file;

v. parsing the aggregated internal representation of the screen document; and

vi. rendering the screen document to create a single output display that integrates the content document with the graphical tool that performs the user interface function.

40. A method according to claim 39 wherein providing the content document file includes providing a document file representative of a plurality of source documents.

41. A method according to claim 40 wherein the plurality of source documents comprise different data formats.

42. A method according to claim 39, wherein the tool code comprises a script.

43. A method according to any one of claims 39 to 42, wherein the tool document file is selected from the group of a user interface control tool or window/desktop furniture.

44. A method according to any one of claims 39 to 42, wherein the tool document file is representative of interactive objects selected from the group consisting of a button, an icon, a pull down menu, a switch, and a slider control.

45. A method according to any one of claims 39 to 42, wherein the tool document file includes information representative of a graphical tool selected from the group consisting of a magnifying glass, a ruler, a text entry cursor, a thumbnail navigation control, and a query tool.

46. A method according to claim 39, wherein:

i. the tool code associated with the tool document file is capable of processing the content document file or the tool document file to create a derived document which forms part of the screen document;

ii. the processed internal representation of the derived document presents the content in a manner that achieves a display effect associated with the tool; and

iii. the display effect is portrayed in a rendered screen document.

47. A method according to claim 46, wherein the processed internal representation of the derived document changes according to a contextual relationship among the graphical tool, the content document file, and an application program in which the tool document file is used.

48. A method according to claim 47, wherein the contextual relationship is selected from the group consisting of a relative position of the graphical interface tool and the rendered content, a time at which the graphical interface tool acts on the rendered content, and a state of the rendered content.

49. A method according to claim 39, further comprising:

i. providing a means to move the graphical tool to a selected position over the rendered document on the screen, and

ii. directing the tool code to process a portion of the content document file associated with a selected position.

50. A method according to claim 39, wherein providing the tool code comprises providing the tool code for creating a display effect by altering document objects and parameters describing an internal representation of a document.

51. A method according to claim 50, wherein altering document objects and parameters comprises modifying the internal representation to add a content to the screen document.

52. A method according to claim 39, wherein rendering the screen document comprises generating a view of the screen document expressed in terms of primitive figures and parameters.

53. A method according to claim 52 wherein the primitive figures are defined in terms of a bounding box, a shape, a transparency, and a data content of the figure.

54. A method according to claims 39 or 52, wherein providing the tool code comprises providing the tool code that processes the generated view of the screen document to create a display effect by altering the parameters of the primitive figures that make up the view of the screen document.

55. A method according to claim 54 wherein altering the parameters of the primitive figures comprises altering parameters selected from the group consisting essentially of a scale, a transparency, and a color of selected figures within the screen document.

56. A method according to claim 54 wherein processing the generated view of the screen document comprises clipping selected figures within the view of the screen document to a clipping area associated with the tool document file.

57. A method according to claim 39 wherein rendering the screen document comprises receiving a view control input that defines a viewing context and related temporal parameters to generate a context-specific view of the screen document.

58. A method according to claim 57 wherein the context-specific view is selected from the group consisting of all of the document objects within the screen document, a whole document object, parts of one or some of the document objects within the screen document.

59. The method according to claim 57 wherein the view control input is interpreted to determine which parts of the internal representation of the screen document are required for the context-specific view.

60. A method according to claim 57 wherein the view control input is interpreted to determine how, when and for how long the view is to be displayed.

61. A method according to claim 39 wherein

i. the graphical tool is presented on the display by means of a tool button that may be activated by a user, and

ii. activation of the tool button by the user results in processing of the tool document file to create an image of the graphical tool within the display.

62. A method according to claim 61, wherein:

i. the tool code associated with the tool document file is capable of processing the content document file or the tool document file to create a derived document which forms part of the screen document,

ii. the processed internal representation of the derived document presents the content in a manner that achieves a display effect associated with the tool, and

iii. the display effect is portrayed in the rendered screen document when the user activates the tool button.

63. A method according to claim 39 wherein the objects of the internal representation of the content document file and the tool document file are selected from the group consisting essentially of a text object, a bitmap graphic object, and a vector graphic object.

64. A method according to claim 63, wherein the object is animated.

65. A method according to claim 63, wherein the object is not animated.

66. A method according to claim 63, wherein the object is two-dimensional.

67. A method according to claim 63, wherein the object is three-dimensional.

68. A method according to claim 39, wherein the object is selected from the group consisting of a video object, an audio object, and an interactive object.

69. A method according to claim 39, wherein the object is selected from the group consisting of a button, an icon, a pull down menu, a switch, and a slider control.