Image editor zoom function

• US 5,187,776 A
• Filed: 06/16/1989
• Issued: 02/16/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/1989
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Yanker, Peter C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Herndon, Heather R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Application Number:
  US07/367,159
• Time in Patent Office: 1,341 Days
• Field of Search: 364/521, 364/518, 340/721, 340/731, 340/726, 340/724, 382/47, 395/157, 395/161, 395/155, 395/139, 395/147, 395/146
• US Class Current: 715/800
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/40 Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting

Abstract

An Image Editor includes a ZOOM function wherein other Image Editor actions are invokable and operable in whatever zoom level is currently in effect. The zoom mode is a state of the Image Editor in that invoked actions are performed in a normal 1X pel size image but are displayed to an operator in an enlarged, flat pel, zoom equivalent. Whe the ZOOM function is invoked a displayed zoom window is automatically centered upon a present position of a cursor as is also a selectively displayable viewport, the viewport showing the relative position of the cursor within the 1X image.

Claims

1. In a system having image display means comprising a plurality of physical pels, a method of operating an image editor in response to input from a user of the system, the method comprising the steps of:

displaying a magnified portion of a first image as a second image comprised of a plurality of logical pels having a size that is a function of a magnification level in effect, the second image having a first cursor positioned therein;

displaying within the second image a viewport containing a portion of the first image, the portion corresponding to the magnified portion, the viewport having a vertical and a horizontal dimension corresponding to a plurality of physical pels of the first image and further having a second cursor having a position that corresponds to the position of the first cursor;

responsive to the user repositioning the first cursor such that the first cursor would be located outside of the displayed second image,

shifting the second image in increments of logical pels in unison with movement of the first cursor; and

responsive to the second cursor reaching a first edge of the viewport in response to the movement of the first cursor,

shifting the viewport by a plurality of physical pels that correspond to the vertical or the horizontal dimension of the viewport such that the second cursor is positioned substantially adjacent to a second edge of the viewport that is oppositely disposed to the first edge.