Electronic publishing system

• US 5,142,662 A
• Filed: 02/22/1991
• Issued: 08/25/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/1986
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ProQuest Business Solutions, Inc. (Snap-On Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Bell & Howell LLC (Böwe Systec AG)
• Inventors: Gardner, Donald H., Gump, David F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Eng, David Y.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Harrell, Robert B.
• Application Number:
  US07/660,243
• Time in Patent Office: 550 Days
• Field of Search: 364/200 MS File, 364/900 MS File, 364/518, 364/519, 364/520, 364/521, 364/188, 340/747, 340/723, 340/724, 340/705, 340/708, 340/710, 358/102, 395/DIG. 1 MS File, 395/DIG. 2 MS File, 395/100, 395/800, 395/118, 395/119, 395/133, 395/144, 395/145, 395/147, 395/149
• US Class Current: 715/255
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

An electronic publishing system stores interrelated illustrations and items of text data, establishes data linking such items of text data to correlated locations in the illustrations, and stores such linking data in the recording part of the system. Records of interrelated illustrations and items of text data fixed in tangible media for reproduction by user-operated electronic equipment may be produced in this manner. One of the stored illustrations may thus be retrieved, and a display may be provided of that retrieved illustration. The user then selects a desired location in the displayed illustration, and the electronic equipment employs the stored linking data for retrieving any stored item of data correlated to the desired location in the displayed illustration. The item of text data thus retrieved may be displayed, preferably in conjunction with the illustration to which it pertains. Data linkage may also be between illustration and interrelated illustration.

Claims

1. An electronic parts catalog system comprising:

an illustration memory means for storing electronic representations of a plurality of pictorial illustrations, each illustration showing a plurality of parts with each of the parts being associated with a corresponding coordinate location of the pictorial illustration, each of the electronic illustration representations being identified by an illustration identification;

a text memory means for storing electronic text representations of descriptive text of the parts of each of the plurality of illustrations, each electronic text representation being identified by the illustration identification of the illustration in which it appears and by the corresponding coordinate location associated with the corresponding part;

a selecting means with which a human user inputs a selection of one of the illustrations for display, the selecting means being connected with the illustration memory means for conveying a selected illustration identification thereto;

a monitor means for converting the electronic illustration representation corresponding to the selected illustration identification into a human-readable pictorial display in which each of the plurality of displayed parts is displayed in association with its corresponding coordinate location, the monitor means being connected with the illustration memory means for receiving the electronic illustration representations therefrom;

a user input means for designating a desired coordinate on the human-readable pictorial display;

a microprocessor means for (i) determining a distance between the designated desired coordinate and each of the corresponding coordinate locations of the text representations corresponding to the selected illustration identification and (ii) determining which one of the corresponding coordinate locations is closest to the designated desired coordinate, the microprocessor means being connected with the text memory means for causing the text representation that is identified by the determined closest corresponding coordinate location to be converted into a human-readable text display.

2. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the user input means includes a touch sensitive screen which is responsive to a structure immediately adjacent the screen for generating the desired coordinate.

3. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the illustration memory means includes an optical disk drive and the text memory means includes a magnetic disk drive.

4. A method of electronic publishing comprising:

storing electronic representations of pictorial illustrations in an illustration memory means, each illustration being defined by a multiplicity of pixel values corresponding to unique pixel location coordinates, each representation being identified by an illustration identification code;

storing a plurality of electronic text item representations of text descriptions of portions of the pictorial illustrations and corresponding call out symbols in a text memory means, each text item representation being identified by the corresponding callout symbol, each callout symbol being identified by a preselected corresponding pixel location coordinates of the corresponding pictorial illustration, the text item representations, the callout symbols, and the preselected corresponding pixel location coordinates being much smaller in number than the multiplicity of unique pixel location coordinates, such that there are no text item representations corresponding to many of the pixel location coordinates;

after storing a plurality of electronic text representations, text item representations, and callout symbols, addressing the illustration memory means with a selected one of the illustration identification codes to retrieve the corresponding electronic illustration representation;

converting each pixel value of the retrieved corresponding electronic illustration representation into an element of a human-readable pictorial display on a video monitor, each element of the pictorial display being displayed at a corresponding one of the multiplicity of pixel location coordinates;

selecting a desired location on the pictorial display displayed on the video monitor;

with a microprocessor, determining a distance between the selected desired location and the location coordinates of each callout symbol that corresponds to the displayed pictorial display on the video monitor to determine the most proximate one of the preselected location coordinates to the selected desired location and determining the callout symbol identified by the location coordinate most proximate to the selected location; and

,

retrieving from the text memory means the text representation corresponding to the callout symbol whose preselected location coordinate is most proximate to the selected location and converting the retrieved text representation into a human-readable text display.

5. A method of electronic publishing comprising:

storing electronic image data records in an illustration memory means, each record representing a pictorial illustration made up of a multiplicity of pixels at pixel coordinates, each illustration being identified by an illustration identification;

storing items of text data in a text memory means;

generating linking data for linking the stored text data items to correlated locations within the pictorial illustrations by;

inputting the illustration identification code identifying a desired pictorial illustration into the illustration memory means;

retrieving the image data record corresponding to the input illustration identification code from the illustration memory means;

converting the retrieved image data record, from the illustration memory means into a human-readable display of the corresponding pictorial illustration on a human-readable display means which illustration includes callout symbols, each callout symbol being associated with a corresponding feature of the displayed illustration and being associated with at least one corresponding stored text item;

retrieving a text data item from the text memory means associated with each callout character of the displayed pictorial illustration;

converting the retrieved text data items into a human-readable display of corresponding text;

determining a callout symbol coordinate on the displayed pictorial illustration over which each callout symbol is displayed; and

,

storing each callout symbol coordinate in logical association with the corresponding callout symbol;

selecting a desired image record from the plurality of stored image records and converting the selected image record into a display on the human-readable display means of the corresponding pictorial illustration including the plurality of callout symbols at the determined callout symbol coordinates;

selecting a location on the displayed illustration;

determining a one of the callout symbol coordinates that is a closest distance to the selected location;

retrieving a one of the stored text data items which corresponds to the displayed callout symbol that corresponds to the determined closest one of the callout symbol coordinates; and

,

converting the retrieved text data item into a human-readable text display on the human-readable display means.

6. A method of operating an electronic publishing system having a storage medium for storing a plurality of illustrations as image data records, a plurality of textual information sets having items of text data, each text data item being addressed by a corresponding one of a multiplicity of coordinates of a human-readable display, a human readable display means connected with the storage medium for converting the image and text data records to the human-readable displays, the method comprising the steps of:

retrieving an image data record corresponding to a selected illustration from the storage medium;

converting the retrieved image data record into a pictorial illustration on the human-readable display;

determining a one of the multiplicity of coordinates which corresponds to a selected location on the human-readable display;

determining with an electronic processor means which one of the coordinates corresponding to the text data items is closest to the selected one of the multiplicity of coordinates of the human-readable display means;

retrieving a stored text data item from the storage medium which corresponds to the; and

,

displaying the retrieved item of text data on the human-readable display means.

7. The method as set forth in claim 6, wherein the displayed image data record includes callout symbols each located at a corresponding one of the text data item coordinates and further comprising the step of:

displaying an operator prompt along with the displayed illustration soliciting selection of one of a plurality of callout characters corresponding to desired features of the displayed illustration.

8. An electronic catalog system comprising:

a human-readable display means for converting (1) a selected electronic illustration representations and (2) electronic text representations into human-readable displays, each of the human-readable displays having a multiplicity of coordinate locations;

an illustration memory means for storing a plurality of the electronic illustration representations, each of the electronic illustration representations being identified by an illustration identification, the illustration memory means being connected with the human-readable display means for conveying one of the electronic illustration representation to the human-readable display means to be converted into the human-readable display;

a text memory means for storing a plurality of the electronic text representations corresponding to each electronic image representation, each electronic text representation being identified by a corresponding one of the multiplicity of coordinate locations, the multiplicity of coordinate locations being larger in number than the plurality of text representations such that only a first fraction of the multiplicity of coordinate locations correspond to one of the text representations and a second fraction of the multiplicity of coordinate locations correspond to no text representation, the text memory means being connected with the human-readable display means for conveying text representations thereto to be converted into the human-readable display;

a user selection means with which a human user selects one of the electronic illustration representations and one of the multiplicity of coordinate locations, the selection means being operatively connected with the illustration memory means for conveying the illustration representation selection thereto to cause the corresponding electronic illustration representation to be conveyed to the human-readable display;

a means for determining distances between the selected coordinate location and the first fraction of the multiplicity of coordinate locations and identifying a one of the first fraction of coordinate locations which is a closest distance to the selected coordinate location, the text memory means being connected with the determining means to be addressed by the closest coordinate location to cause the corresponding electronic text representation of the selected illustration representation to be conveyed to the human-readable display.