System and method for scaling and repositioning drawings

• US 20040205624A1
• Filed: 08/01/2001
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lui, Charlton E., Altman, Dan, Pichaiah, Shenbagalakshmi, Smith, Anthony Scott, Tee, Cynthia
• Granted Patent: US 7,168,038 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/525
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191

Abstract

A computer system and method relating to editing an electronic document having both text and drawings is disclosed. Drawings may be rescaled and/or repositioned responsive to a change in line height or font size of text. The resealing may be done in proportion to the change in line height or font size, and the repositioning may be performed to avoid overlapping of the rescaled drawings. A document may be divided into a plurality of adjacent regions, and drawings within the document may each have an offset value representing a distance between the drawing and a reference axis of one of the regions.

Claims

1. A method for editing an electronic document containing drawings, comprising the steps of:

dividing said document into a plurality of regions, each region having a reference axis, and wherein positions of said drawings are identified with respect to said axes;

receiving a request to modify a line size of said document; and

rescaling said drawings in accordance with said modification in line size and said axes.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining if said rescaled drawings overlap with one another;

if said rescaled drawings are determined to overlap, repositioning one or more of said drawings such that said overlap no longer exists.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

determining if a size of said repositioned drawings exceeds a predetermined limit; and

if said size is determined to exceed said limit, resealing the repositioned drawings such that said size no longer exceeds said limit.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said predetermined limit is a page width.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said predetermined limit is a distance between a right margin and a left margin of said document.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of rescaling said drawings further comprises the step of resealing offset distances between reference points of said drawings and said axes.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of regions includes a left margin region, a body region, and a right margin region.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said reference axes are horizontally-located in the center of said regions.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said drawings each include an anchor point.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said anchor point is a center of said drawing.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said anchor point is a corner of said drawing.

12. A computer-readable medium, having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 1.

13. A method for editing an electronic document containing text and drawings, comprising the steps of:

receiving a request to modify a line height of said text;

rescaling said text in proportion to said modified line height; and

resealing said drawings responsive to said request to modify said line height.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether said rescaled drawings overlap one another; and

if said rescaled drawings are determined to overlap one another, repositioning one or more of said drawings to avoid said overlap.

15. A computer-readable medium, having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 13.

19. A computer-readable medium, having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 13.

16. A method for editing an electronic document containing drawings, comprising the steps of:

dividing said electronic document into a plurality of adjacent regions;

assigning a reference axis for each of said regions;

identifying one or more drawings in said document, and assigning each of said drawings to one of said regions;

for each of said drawings, determining a distance to one of said reference axes; and

responsive to a change in a line size of said document, rescaling each of said drawings in accordance with a proportion of said change in said line size, and said distance to said one of said reference axes.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

responsive to said change in said line size of said document, repositioning one or more of said drawings, such that a portion of said drawing is displayed on a first page of said document, and a portion of said drawing is displayed on a second page of said document.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of displaying one or more indicators on said first page indicating the existence of said portion of one or more of said drawings displayed on said second page.

20. A method for editing an electronic document containing drawings, comprising the steps of:

determining a bounding box for a new drawing to be added to said document;

identifying an anchor point for said new drawing;

dividing said document into a plurality of adjacent regions, each region having a reference axis; and

storing an offset value representing a distance between said new drawing and one of said reference axes.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said bounding box encompasses an existing drawing and a newly-added drawing.

22. A computer-readable medium, having computer-executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 20.

23. A portable computing device, comprising:

a display screen, wherein at least a portion of an electronic document is displayed on said display screen, said document containing one or more drawings; and

a computer-readable medium, having computer-executable instructions for performing the following steps;

dividing an electronic document into a plurality of regions, each region having a reference axis, and wherein positions of said one or more drawings are identified with respect to said axes;

receiving a request to modify a line size of said electronic document; and

rescaling said one or more drawings in accordance with said modification in line size and said axes.

24. The device of claim 23, wherein said computer-readable medium further includes computer-readable instructions for repositioning said rescaled one or more drawings in proportion to said modification in line size.

25. The device of claim 23, wherein said computer-readable medium further includes computer-readable instructions for, responsive to said change in said line size of said document, repositioning one or more of said drawings, such that a portion of said drawing is displayed on a first page of said document, and a portion of said drawing is displayed on a second page of said document.

26. The device of claim 23, wherein said computer-readable medium further includes computer-readable instructions for determining if said rescaled drawings overlap with one another;

and if said rescaled drawings are determined to overlap, repositioning one or more of said drawings such that said overlap no longer exists.

27. The device of claim 23, wherein said computer-readable medium further includes computer-readable instructions for determining whether a bounding box for a new drawing overlaps a bounding box of an existing drawing, and if said overlap exists, defining a new bounding box containing both said new drawing and said existing drawing.