Method for manipulating notes on a computer display

• US 5,590,256 A
• Filed: 12/14/1994
• Issued: 12/31/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Capps, Stephen P., Tchao, Michael C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Herndon, Heather R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fetting, Anton W.
• Application Number:
  US08/357,707
• Time in Patent Office: 748 Days
• Field of Search: 395/144, 395/155-157, 345/123, 382/202
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A method for manipulating notes on a screen of a computer display is provided. Each note area may include graphical, text, and data objects. An initial note area is provided with a header bar which includes the date of creation, the note number, and/or other indicia. When a user desires to make a new note, a division gesture is made on the computer display by moving a stylus horizontally across the screen. Once a division gesture is detected, the height of the preceding note is determined, and the height of the new note is considered to be indefinite or infinite. Each new division gesture creates a new header bar for the new note indicating the date of creation, the note number, and/or other pertinent information.

Claims

1. A method for manipulating notes on a screen of a computer display comprising:

generating an initial note area on the screen of the computer display;

dividing said initial note area into a plurality of note areas in response to at least one division gesture implemented by moving a pointer across the width of the screen such that a left edge of the division gesture is within a first defined distance of a left side of said computer display and a right edge of the division gesture is within a second defined distance of a right side of said computer display, wherein the division gesture is made in a horizontal motion having a slope of less than a predefined slope value, and wherein each division gesture creates divider indicia in the form of a header bar on said screen which visually separates two adjacent note areas; and

scrolling in response to one or more scrolling commands such that for note areas having heights of less than the screen'"'"'s length, scrolling to a new note area for each new scroll command, and, for note areas having heights of greater than the screen'"'"'s length, scrolling to the next successive portion of the note area for each new scroll command until the end of the note area is reached.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said step of generating an initial note area on the computer screen includes creating a first data structure including a note number and a note height dimension.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said step of dividing said initial note area comprises:

detecting a theoretical line drawn on said display by said pointer;

determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture; and

generating a header bar on said computer display for a new note area if said theoretical line is determined to be a division gesture.

4. A method as recited in claim 3 wherein said step of detecting a theoretical line comprises:

collecting a plurality of sample points corresponding to a movement of said pointer across said display; and

forming said theoretical line from at least two of said plurality of sample points.

5. A method as recited in claim 3 wherein said step of determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture includes one or more of the following steps:

determining whether there is a sample point farther from said theoretical line than a predetermined maximum distance value;

determining whether the absolute value of a sum of the signed distances of said plurality of sample points from said theoretical line is greater than a predetermined maximum sum value;

determining whether the absolute value of a slope of said theoretical line differs from a predetermined header bar slope by more than a predetermined maximum slope value; and

determining whether either end of said theoretical line is separated from an edge of said screen by more than a predetermined maximum margin value,

wherein when one of the determining steps fails, said theoretical line is not a division gesture.

6. A method for moving divider indicia in the form of a header bar displayed on a computer display as a linear region which separates two adjacent note areas on a screen of the computer display, the header bar containing information corresponding to at least one of the adjacent areas, said method comprising:

detecting the selection of the header bar by a pointer;

detecting a sizing gesture made with said pointer on said header bar;

moving said header bar as indicated by said sizing gesture; and

scrolling in a scroll direction through said adjacent note areas in response to one or more scrolling commands such that when an end of a note area is reached, the header bar of the next successive note area is displayed at the top of the computer screen in response to a scrolling command, said scrolling including

scrolling, in response to said scrolling command, in the scroll direction to display a remaining undisplayed area of a displayed one of the note areas as well as at least a portion of an adjacent note area when the remaining undisplayed area of the displayed one of the note areas in the scroll direction has an undisplayed length that is greater than zero but less than the height of the computer screen,

scrolling, in response to said scrolling command, in the scroll direction to display a next successive portion of a remaining undisplayed area of a displayed one of the note areas as well as to not display any portion of an adjacent note area when the remaining undisplayed area of the displayed one of the note areas in the scroll direction has an undisplayed length that is greater than the height of the computer screen, and

scrolling, in response to said scrolling command, in the scroll direction to display a least a portion of an adjacent note area with the header bar associated therewith displayed at the top of the computer screen when the end of the displayed one of the note areas and a portion of the adjacent note area are displayed.

7. A method as recited in claim 6 wherein said pointer comprises stylus means contacting a screen of a pen-based computer system.

8. A method as recited in claim 7 wherein the header bar includes a sizing button, the sizing button being operative to adjust a length of the note area associated with the header bar, and

wherein said sizing gesture is made to the sizing button, and said sizing gesture comprises contacting said stylus with said screen over the sizing button of said header bar and moving said stylus without lifting said stylus from said screen.

9. A method as recited in claim 6 wherein said step of moving said header bar comprises:

changing a height dimension of a note associated with said header bar; and

re-drawing at least said note on the computer screen.

10. A method for scrolling a computer generated image including a plurality of note areas, where adjacent note areas have an immediately preceding note area and an immediately subsequent note area and are separated by divider indicia in the form of a header bar, the header bar containing information corresponding to the immediately subsequent note area, at least one of the note areas has a length greater than the height of a computer screen on which one or more of the note areas and the respective header bars are displayed, said method comprising:

detecting a scrolling command; and

scrolling through said adjacent note areas in a scroll direction indicated by said scrolling command using discrete jumps, said scrolling including

scrolling, in response to said scrolling command, in a discrete jump in the scroll direction to display a remaining undisplayed area of a displayed one of the note areas as well as at least a portion of an adjacent note area when the remaining undisplayed area of the displayed one of the note areas in the scroll direction has an undisplayed length that is greater than zero but less than the height of the computer screen,

scrolling, in response to said scrolling command, in a discrete jump in the scroll direction to display a next successive portion of a remaining undisplayed area of a displayed one of the note areas as well as to not display any portion of an adjacent note area when the remaining undisplayed area of the displayed one of the note areas in the scroll direction has an undisplayed length that is greater than the height of the computer screen, and

scrolling, in response to said scrolling command, in a discrete jump in the scroll direction to display a least a portion of an adjacent note area with the header bar associated therewith displayed at the top of the computer screen when the displayed one of the note areas and a portion of the adjacent note area are displayed and the displayed one of the note areas does not have any remaining undisplayed area in the scroll direction.

11. A method as recited in claim 10 wherein said detecting step detects an up-scroll command, and wherein said step of scrolling comprises:

decrementing a current note number counter when an end of one of said note areas is reached; and

drawing a new note corresponding to said decremented current note number counter such that the new note'"'"'s header bar is displayed at the top of the computer screen.

12. A method as recited in claim 10 wherein said detecting step detects a down-scroll command, and wherein said step of scrolling comprises:

incrementing a current note number counter when an end of one of said note areas is reached; and

drawing a new note corresponding to said incremented current note number counter such that the new note'"'"'s header bar is displayed at the top of the computer screen.