Method and apparatus for generic form generation
First Claim
1. In a computer system having a display screen, a method for dynamically altering a generic form characterized as a two-dimensional space partitioned into a plurality of bordered areas, each of said bordered areas having a size represented by an adjustable height and an adjustable width, and one or more of said bordered areas including text, said text including none, one, or more lines of characters, and each said character of said text having adjustable font attributes, said adjustable font attributes including font type, font style, or font size, said method comprising the steps of:
- for one of said bordered areas of said generic form, changing said size of said bordered area by adjusting said adjustable height or said adjustable width of said bordered area so that said adjusted bordered area overlaps one or more bordered areas of said generic form and said overlapped bordered areas are adjacent to said adjusted bordered area, andfor one or more of said adjacent bordered areas of said generic form for which overlapping by said adjusted bordered area has occurred, dynamically changing said size of said one or more adjacent and overlapped bordered areas by adjusting said adjustable height or said adjustable width and, if necessary said adjustable font attributes of said text of said one or more adjacent and overlapped bordered areas, in order to remove said overlapping.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method for incorporating a topological two-dimensional partitioning procedure for dynamically creating, revising, storing, displaying and printing generic forms. The generic form comprises a plurality of bordered areas. Each of the bordered areas may be included within a larger bordered area, and each of the bordered areas may contain a plurality of nonoverlapping smaller bordered areas, text or graphics. The text includes none, one or more lines of characters and the smaller bordered areas are arranged either vertically or horizontally with relation to each other.
48 Citations
40 Claims
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1. In a computer system having a display screen, a method for dynamically altering a generic form characterized as a two-dimensional space partitioned into a plurality of bordered areas, each of said bordered areas having a size represented by an adjustable height and an adjustable width, and one or more of said bordered areas including text, said text including none, one, or more lines of characters, and each said character of said text having adjustable font attributes, said adjustable font attributes including font type, font style, or font size, said method comprising the steps of:
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for one of said bordered areas of said generic form, changing said size of said bordered area by adjusting said adjustable height or said adjustable width of said bordered area so that said adjusted bordered area overlaps one or more bordered areas of said generic form and said overlapped bordered areas are adjacent to said adjusted bordered area, and for one or more of said adjacent bordered areas of said generic form for which overlapping by said adjusted bordered area has occurred, dynamically changing said size of said one or more adjacent and overlapped bordered areas by adjusting said adjustable height or said adjustable width and, if necessary said adjustable font attributes of said text of said one or more adjacent and overlapped bordered areas, in order to remove said overlapping. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. In a computer system having a display screen, an apparatus for dynamically altering a generic form characterized as a two-dimensional space partitioned into a plurality of bordered areas, each of said bordered areas having a size represented by an adjustable height and an adjustable width, and one or more of said bordered areas including text, said text including none, one, or more lines of characters, and each said character of said text having adjustable font attributes, said adjustable font attributes including font type, font style, or font size, said apparatus comprising:
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for one of said bordered areas of said generic form, means for changing said size of said bordered area by adjusting said adjustable height of said adjustable width of said bordered area so that said adjusted overlaps one or more bordered areas of said generic form and said overlapped bordered areas are adjacent to said adjusted bordered area, and for one or more of said adjacent bordered areas of said generic form for which overlapping by said adjusted bordered areas has occurred, means for dynamically changing said size of said one or more adjacent and overlapped bordered areas by adjusting said adjustable height or said adjustable width and, if necessary or said adjustable font attributes of said text of said one or more adjacent and overlapped bordered areas, in order to remove said overlapping. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. In a computer system having a display screen and a memory, a method for revising the layout of a generic form stored within said memory of said computer system, by iteratively adjusting the sizes of one or more bordered areas contained within said generic form, said size of each of said bordered areas represented by a width and a height, said bordered areas arranged by said size such that all bordered areas are included within said generic form, in a non-overlapping manner and each of said bordered areas none, one, or more smaller non-overlapping bordered areas of text, said text comprising none, one, or more lines of characters, said method comprising the steps of:
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generating, in response to operator control, a command for selecting one of said bordered areas for adjustment of said size, and adjusting said size of said selected bordered area by changing said width or said height of said selected bordered area, such that said selected and adjusted bordered area overlaps one or more bordered areas, and said overlapped bordered areas are adjacent to said selected and adjusted bordered area, generating, in response to operator control, a command for iteratively adjusting said sizes of said one or more adjacent and overlapped bordered areas so that said overlapping is removed, and generating, in response to operator control, a command for storing said adjusted bordered areas of said generic form in said memory of said computer system. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An apparatus for revising the layout of a generic form within a computer system having a display screen and a memory, by iteratively adjusting the sizes of one or more bordered area contained within said generic form, said size of each of said bordered areas represented by a width and a height, said bordered areas arranged by said size such that all bordered areas are included within said generic form, in a non-overlapping manner and each of said bordered areas includes none, one, or more smaller non-overlapping bordered areas or text, said text comprising none, one, or more lines of characters, said apparatus comprising:
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means for generating, in response to operator control, a command for selecting one of said bordered areas for adjustment of said size, and adjusting said size of said selected bordered area by changing said width of said height of said selected bordered area, such that said selected and adjusted bordered area overlaps one or more bordered areas, and said overlapped bordered areas are adjacent to said selected and adjusted bordered area, means for generating, in response to operator control, a command for iteratively adjusting said sizes of said one or more adjacent and overlapped bordered areas so that said overlapping is removed, and means for generating, in response to operator control, a command for storing said adjusted bordered areas of said generic form in said memory of said computer system. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification