Positioning screen elements

• US 20070057965A1
• Filed: 09/15/2005
• Published: 03/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Burago, Andrei, Genkin, Sergey, Kozyrev, Victor
• Granted Patent: US 7,576,749 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/619
• 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

An approach for positioning screen elements on a display screen is disclosed herein. The screen elements represent expressions in a formula and may include one or more glyphs. Optimal positions are determined for the screen elements based on analyzing positional characteristics associated with displaying the screen elements at the resolution supported by the display screen against positional characteristics based on an optimal resolution. This analysis indicates whether the degree of displacement between display of a screen element at the actual resolution and display of the screen element at the optimal resolution would exceed a predetermined threshold level. If not, the screen element is output for display on the display screen based on the positional characteristics associated with the display screen resolution. Otherwise, the positional characteristics based on the actual resolution are modified such that the degree of displacement conforms to the threshold level.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method for positioning screen elements on a display screen, the computer process comprising:

in response to receiving a request to display a screen element on the display screen, determining a first set of positioning characteristics for displaying the screen element on the display screen based on a first resolution;

determining a second set of positioning characteristics for displaying the screen element on the display screen based on a second resolution;

analyzing the first set of positioning characteristics against the second set of positioning characteristics to determine a degree of displacement therebetween; and

modifying the first set of positioning characteristics if the degree of displacement exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

2. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the analyzing act, displaying the screen element on the display screen based on the first set of positioning characteristics if the degree of displacement does not exceed the predetermined threshold value.

3. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 2, further comprising:

in response to the modifying act, displaying the screen element on the display screen based on the modified first set of positioning characteristics if the degree of displacement exceeds the predetermined threshold value.

4. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 1, wherein the first resolution is the actual resolution of the display screen and the second resolution is associated with an optimal resolution.

5. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 4, wherein the act of determining the second set of positioning characteristics comprises:

determining a ratio of the actual resolution to the optimal resolution; and

calculating the second resolution by scaling down the optimal resolution based on the determined ratio.

6. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 5, wherein the degree of displacement represents a number of pixels that would exist between a point on the screen element if displayed on the display screen based on the first set of positioning characteristics and a substantially common point on the screen element if displayed on the display screen based on the second set of positioning characteristics.

7. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 6, wherein the predetermined threshold value represents a maximum number of pixels that may exist between a point on the screen element if displayed on the display screen based on the first set of positioning characteristics and a substantially common point on the screen element if displayed on the display screen based on the second set of positioning characteristics, the modifying act comprising:

modifying the first set of positioning characteristics such that the number of pixels represented by the degree of displacement equals the maximum number of pixels represented by the predetermined threshold value.

8. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 1, wherein the screen element represents a formula expression.

9. A computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method for positioning a first screen element relative to a second screen element on a display screen, the computer process comprising:

in response to receiving a request to display the first screen element adjacent to the second screen element, determining a first set of positioning characteristics for displaying the first screen element relative to the second screen element based on an actual resolution of the display screen;

if the first set of positioning characteristics indicates that the first screen element would be separated from the second screen element by at least a predetermined amount of empty space, then

determining a second set of positioning characteristics for displaying the first screen element relative to the second screen element based on an optimal resolution; and

displaying the first screen element on the display screen based on a vertical position determined from the first set of positioning characteristics and a horizontal position determined from the second set of positioning characteristics.

10. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 9, further comprising:

if the first set of positioning characteristics indicates that the first screen element would not be separated from the second screen element by at least the predetermined amount of empty space, evaluating the first set of positioning characteristics against the second set of positioning characteristics to determine whether the first set of positioning characteristics should be modified.

11. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 10, wherein the evaluating act comprises:

determining the second set of positioning characteristics based on the optimal resolution;

analyzing the first set of positioning characteristics against the second set of positioning characteristics to determine a degree of displacement therebetween; and

modifying the first set of positioning characteristics if the degree of displacement exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

12. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 11, further comprising:

in response to the analyzing act, displaying the first screen element on the display screen based on the first set of positioning characteristics if the degree of displacement does not exceed the predetermined threshold value.

13. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 12, further comprising:

in response to the modifying act, displaying the first screen element on the display screen based on the modified first set of positioning characteristics if the degree of displacement exceeds the predetermined threshold value.

14. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 11, wherein the act of determining the second set of positioning characteristics comprises:

determining a ratio of the actual resolution to the optimal resolution; and

calculating the second set of positioning characteristics using on a scaled-down optimal resolution defined by multiplying the optimal resolution by the determined ratio.

15. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 14, wherein the degree of displacement represents a number of pixels that would exist between a point on the first screen element if displayed on the display screen based on the first set of positioning characteristics and a substantially common point on the first screen element if displayed on the display screen based on the second set of positioning characteristics.

16. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 15, wherein the predetermined threshold value represents a maximum number of pixels that may exist between a point on the first screen element if displayed on the display screen based on the first set of positioning characteristics and a substantially common point on the first screen element if displayed on the display screen based on the second set of positioning characteristics, the modifying act comprising:

modifying the first set of positioning characteristics such that the number of pixels represented by the degree of displacement equals the maximum number of pixels represented by the predetermined threshold value.

17. A computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method for positioning a first screen element relative to a second screen element displayed on a display screen, the computer process comprising:

determining a first set of positioning characteristics for displaying the first screen element relative to the second screen element on the display screen based on a first resolution;

determining a second set of positioning characteristics for displaying the screen element relative to the second screen element on the display screen based on a second resolution;

analyzing the first set of positioning characteristics against the second set of positioning characteristics to determine a degree of displacement specified for the first screen element therebetween; and

if the degree of displacement exceeds the predetermined threshold value, displaying the first screen element on the display screen based on modified positioning characteristics determined by shifting coordinates specified in the first set of positioning characteristics toward coordinates specified in the second set of positioning characteristics.

18. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 17, further comprising:

in response to the analyzing act, displaying the first screen element on the display screen based on the first set of positioning characteristics if the degree of displacement does not exceed the predetermined threshold value.

19. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 18, wherein the second screen element comprises a plurality of glyphs.

20. A computer readable medium as defined in claim 19, wherein the second screen element represents a base exponential expression for a formula and the first screen element represents a superscript to the second screen element.