Listing and Modifying Groups of Blocks in the Editing of a Document

• US 20080040664A1
• Filed: 10/22/2007
• Published: 02/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bera, Rajendra
• Granted Patent: US 8,122,349 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/272
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting

Abstract

Grouping blocks of text according to user-defined contexts, and editing group specific blocks can be used to improve document consistency during editing and revising of electronic documents. A change made in one block often requires appropriate changes to be made in other blocks that are contextually related to the changed block. Such changes are made to ensure this consistency. Commands that deal with block groups (such as, create group, add block to group(s), delete block from group(s), edit group, merge group, etc.) are provided to assist a user in editing documents.

Claims

1-28. -28. (canceled)

29. A method of editing an electronic document comprising symbols, the method comprising the steps of:

a) presenting a block-selecting command by a computer system to a user for selecting and defining blocks in the document;

b) receiving, by the computer system, user selections of blocks via the block-selecting command, wherein responsive to the computer system receiving a user selection defining a first block having none of the symbols then the first block has no symbols, and responsive to the computer system receiving a user selection defining a second block having one of the symbols then the second block has one symbol, and responsive to the computer system receiving a user selection defining a third block having a contiguous sequence of more than one of the symbols then the third block has a contiguous sequence of more than one of the symbols;

c) presenting a group-defining command by the computer system to the user for selecting and defining groups of the blocks, wherein the groups comprise respective sets of the blocks;

d) receiving, by the computer system, user selections of such groups via the group-defining command;

e) presenting group commands by the computer system to the user for listing or modifying one or more of the groups;

f) receiving, by the computer system, user selections of one or more of the group commands and one or more of the groups to which the one or more of the selected group commands shall apply;

g) modifying one or more of the selected groups by the computer system in response to the received selections of f) if a received one of the group commands is for modifying; and

h) presenting a list to the user by the computer system in response to the received selections of f) if a received one of the group commands is for listing, wherein the list sets out one or more of the selected groups.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

presenting a block command by the computer system to the user for pasting a copy of at least a partial block;

receiving, by the computer system, a user selection of only a partial one of the blocks and the block command for pasting a copy of only the selected partial one of the blocks, the selected partial block being a portion of an associated entire block, and responsively pasting the copy of the selected partial block by the computer system, wherein the pasting includes pasting a pair of innermost tags associated with delimiting the associated entire block, but not pasting unpaired tags inside the selected partial block.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the method further comprises the step of:

deleting by the computer system, responsive to a group having first and second blocks in common as members and the computer system receiving a user command attempting to create an overlap between the first and second blocks, all block tags for the first and second blocks that would otherwise appear between an opening tag at one extreme of the first and second blocks and a closing tag at another extreme of the first and second blocks.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein the method further comprises the step of:

deleting by the computer system, responsive to receiving a user command attempting to assign both a first and second block to membership in a common group, all block tags for the first and second blocks that would otherwise appear between an opening tag at one extreme of the first and second blocks and a closing tag at another extreme of the first and second blocks.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein responsive to the computer system receiving a user command in f) attempting to generate text including multiple instances of a unique pair of group tags, the modifying in g) comprises:

generating, by the computer system, only one instance of the unique tag pair.

34. The method of claim 29, wherein the method further comprises the step of:

altering the document by the computer system in response to the received selections of b) and d), wherein the altering incorporates into the document identifications of the user-selected groups and blocks including incorporating respective opening and closing tags to delimit the user-selected blocks and to define membership of the blocks in user-selected groups, the altered document being stored on a computer-readable storage medium.

35. A computer system for editing a text-based electronic document, the computer system comprising:

a processor and a storage device, wherein the storage device stores certain computer software on a medium readable by the computer system and the processor is operable to access the computer software from the storage device to perform steps comprising;

a) presenting a block-selecting command by a computer system to a user for selecting and defining blocks in the document;

b) receiving, by the computer system, user selections of blocks via the block-selecting command, wherein responsive to the computer system receiving a user selection defining a first block having none of the symbols then the first block has no symbols, and responsive to the computer system receiving a user selection defining a second block having one of the symbols then the second block has one symbol, and responsive to the computer system receiving a user selection defining a third block having a contiguous sequence of more than one of the symbols then the third block has a contiguous sequence of more than one of the symbols;

c) presenting a group-defining command by the computer system to the user for selecting and defining groups of the blocks, wherein the groups comprise respective sets of the blocks;

d) receiving, by the computer system, user selections of such groups via the group-defining command;

e) presenting group commands by the computer system to the user for listing or modifying one or more of the groups;

f) receiving, by the computer system, user selections of one or more of the group commands and one or more of the groups to which the one or more of the selected group commands shall apply;

g) modifying one or more of the selected groups by the computer system in response to the received selections of f) if a received one of the group commands is for modifying; and

h) presenting a list to the user by the computer system in response to the received selections of f) if a received one of the group commands is for listing, wherein the list sets out one or more of the selected groups.

36. The computer system of claim 35, wherein the steps further comprise:

presenting a block command by the computer system to the user for pasting a copy of at least a partial block;

receiving, by the computer system, a user selection of only a partial one of the blocks and the block command for pasting a copy of only the selected partial one of the blocks, the selected partial block being a portion of an associated entire block, and responsively pasting the copy of the selected partial block by the computer system, wherein the pasting includes pasting a pair of innermost tags associated with delimiting the associated entire block, but not pasting unpaired tags inside the selected partial block.

37. The computer system of claim 35, wherein the steps further comprise:

deleting by the computer system, responsive to a group having first and second blocks in common as members and the computer system receiving a user command attempting to create an overlap between the first and second blocks, all block tags for the first and second blocks that would otherwise appear between an opening tag at one extreme of the first and second blocks and a closing tag at another extreme of the first and second blocks.

38. The computer system of claim 35, wherein the steps further comprise:

deleting by the computer system, responsive to receiving a user command attempting to assign both a first and second block to membership in a common group, all block tags for the first and second blocks that would otherwise appear between an opening tag at one extreme of the first and second blocks and a closing tag at another extreme of the first and second blocks.

39. The computer system of claim 35, wherein responsive to the computer system receiving a user command in f) attempting to generate text including multiple instances of a unique pair of group tags, the modifying in g) comprises:

generating, by the computer system, only one instance of the unique tag pair.

40. The computer system of claim 35, wherein the steps further comprise:

altering the document by the computer system in response to the received selections of b) and d), wherein the altering incorporates into the document identifications of the user-selected groups and blocks including incorporating respective opening and closing tags to delimit the user-selected blocks and to define membership of the blocks in user-selected groups, the altered document being stored on a computer-readable storage medium.

41. The computer system as claimed in claim 35, wherein h) further comprises:

presenting, responsive to a first one of the received group commands, a list of blocks in a selected one of the groups; and

presenting, responsive to a second one of the received group commands, a list of groups in which a selected one of the blocks is included.

42. Computer software, recorded on a medium readable by a computer system, for editing a text-based electronic document, wherein the computer software is operable to enable computer system to perform steps comprising:

a) presenting a block-selecting command by a computer system to a user for selecting and defining blocks in the document;

b) receiving, by the computer system, user selections of blocks via the block-selecting command, wherein responsive to the computer system receiving a user selection defining a first block having none of the symbols then the first block has no symbols, and responsive to the computer system receiving a user selection defining a second block having one of the symbols then the second block has one symbol, and responsive to the computer system receiving a user selection defining a third block having a contiguous sequence of more than one of the symbols then the third block has a contiguous sequence of more than one of the symbols;

c) presenting a group-defining command by the computer system to the user for selecting and defining groups of the blocks, wherein the groups comprise respective sets of the blocks;

d) receiving, by the computer system, user selections of such groups via the group-defining command;

e) presenting group commands by the computer system to the user for listing or modifying one or more of the groups;

f) receiving, by the computer system, user selections of one or more of the group commands and one or more of the groups to which the one or more of the selected group commands shall apply;

g) modifying one or more of the selected groups by the computer system in response to the received selections of f) if a received one of the group commands is for modifying; and

h) presenting a list to the user by the computer system in response to the received selections of f) if a received one of the group commands is for listing, wherein the list sets out one or more of the selected groups.

43. The computer software of claim 42, wherein the steps further comprise:

presenting a block command by the computer system to the user for pasting a copy of at least a partial block;

receiving, by the computer system, a user selection of only a partial one of the blocks and the block command for pasting a copy of only the selected partial one of the blocks, the selected partial block being a portion of an associated entire block, and responsively pasting the copy of the selected partial block by the computer system, wherein the pasting includes pasting a pair of innermost tags associated with delimiting the associated entire block, but not pasting unpaired tags inside the selected partial block.

44. The computer software of claim 42, wherein the steps further comprise:

deleting by the computer system, responsive to a group having first and second blocks in common as members and the computer system receiving a user command attempting to create an overlap between the first and second blocks, all block tags for the first and second blocks that would otherwise appear between an opening tag at one extreme of the first and second blocks and a closing tag at another extreme of the first and second blocks.

45. The computer software of claim 42, wherein the steps further comprise:

deleting by the computer system, responsive to receiving a user command attempting to assign both a first and second block to membership in a common group, all block tags for the first and second blocks that would otherwise appear between an opening tag at one extreme of the first and second blocks and a closing tag at another extreme of the first and second blocks.

46. The computer software of claim 42, wherein responsive to the computer system receiving a user command in f) attempting to generate text including multiple instances of a unique pair of group tags, the modifying in g) comprises:

generating, by the computer system, only one instance of the unique tag pair.

47. The computer software of claim 42, wherein the steps further comprise:

altering the document by the computer system in response to the received selections of b) and d), wherein the altering incorporates into the document identifications of the user-selected groups and blocks including incorporating respective opening and closing tags to delimit the user-selected blocks and to define membership of the blocks in user-selected groups, the altered document being stored on a computer-readable storage medium.

48. The computer software as claimed in claim 42, wherein h) further comprises:

presenting, responsive to a first one of the received group commands, a list of blocks in a selected one of the groups; and

presenting, responsive to a second one of the received group commands, a list of groups in which a selected one of the blocks is included.