Method and apparatus for entering and manipulating spreadsheet cell data

• US 5,717,939 A
• Filed: 11/17/1995
• Issued: 02/10/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Compaq Computer Corporation (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Friend, John, Lynch, William T., Bricklin, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph H.
• Application Number:
  US08/558,248
• Time in Patent Office: 816 Days
• Field of Search: 345/139-151, 345/155, 345/156-183, 345/127-131, 382/177, 382/179, 382/181-182, 382/186-189, 382/199-200, 382/201-203, 382/286-301, 382/310-311, 395/764-765, 395/769, 395/350, 395/358, 395/804, 395/167-169, 395/171-172
• US Class Current: 715/212
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/373 using a special pattern or subpattern alphabet

Abstract

A method for entering and manipulating spreadsheet cell data is described. The present invention provides a method for determining the target cell for written information and for scaling the information to fit within the boundaries of the target cell. A multi-tiered character recognition scheme is used to improve the accuracy and speed of character recognition and translation of handwritten data. The original handwritten data is preserved so that either the translated data or original data may be displayed. The present invention also provides for improved editing of cell entries by allowing a plurality of editing tools to be selected. Manipulation of blocks of data can be accomplished with simple gestures. Arithmetic, statistical and logical functions can be invoked with a single command.

Claims

1. A method for entering and manipulating data for a spreadsheet cell comprising the steps of:

displaying a spreadsheet comprising said cell on a display;

entering a graphic element on said spreadsheet with an input device and a position indicator;

sampling said graphic element at a plurality of points;

generating descriptors for describing said graphic element in terms of relative change of position for each of said plurality of points at which said graphic element is sampled;

identifying positions of said descriptors;

automatically determining that said graphic element is associated with said cell based upon at least one of said positions of said descriptors; and

storing said descriptors of said graphic element in memory as data for said cell.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said graphic element comprises at least one handwritten character.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said display comprises a display screen of a personal computer.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said input device comprises a mouse.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said input device comprises a position sensing screen for sensing the location of said position indicator.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said position indicator comprises a hand-held stylus.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said display comprises a position sensing screen for sensing the location of said position indicator.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said input device comprises a touch sensitive panel for sensing the position of a person'"'"'s finger in contact therewith.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said graphic element comprises at least one stroke comprising a beginning point, an end point, and a curvilinear line connecting said beginning point and said end point.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said descriptors comprise positional coordinates of said beginning point and descriptors of vectors between said beginning point and a first intermediate point along said curvilinear line and between successive intermediate points along said curvilinear line.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said descriptors of said vectors comprise descriptors of horizontal components of said vectors and descriptors of vertical components of said vectors.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said memory contains previously inputted data for said cell and wherein said descriptors are appended to said previously inputted cell data.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein said descriptors comprise descriptors having relative units of measure based on a reference measurement.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said reference measurement comprises the area of a cell.

15. A method for treating a handwritten graphic element as data for a spreadsheet cell comprising the steps of:

sampling said graphic element at a plurality of points;

creating descriptors for describing said graphic element in terms of relative change of position for each of said plurality of points at which said graphic element is sampled;

automatically identifying a cell from said spreadsheet as a target cell for said graphic element; and

storing said descriptors for said graphic element in memory as data from said spreadsheet.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said graphic element comprises at least one stroke comprising a beginning point, an end point, and a curvilinear line connecting said beginning point and said end point.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said graphic element comprises at least one handwritten character.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said descriptors of said graphic element comprise positional coordinates of said beginning point and descriptors of vectors between said beginning point and a first intermediate point along said curvilinear line and between successive intermediate points along said curvilinear line.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said descriptors comprise descriptors of horizontal components and descriptors of vertical components of said vectors.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein said graphic element is created using a mouse.

21. The method of claim 15 wherein said graphic element is created using a handheld stylus.

22. The method of claim 15 wherein said graphic element is displayed on a display screen and said target cell is identified by a location at which said graphic element is displayed on said display screen.

23. The method of claim 15 wherein said memory contains previously inputted data for said cell and wherein said descriptors are appended to said previously inputted cell data.

24. The method of claim 15 wherein said descriptors comprise descriptors having relative units of measure based on a reference measurement.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein said reference measurement comprises a vertical dimension of said cell.

26. A method for scaling a handwritten graphic element as data for a spreadsheet cell comprising the steps of:

sampling said graphic element at a plurality of points;

creating descriptors for describing said graphic element in terms of relative change in position for each of said plurality of points at which said graphic element is sampled;

determining a first dimension of said graphic element;

determining a first dimension of a display area of said cell;

determining a first scale factor for scaling said descriptors of said graphic element; and

creating a scaled copy of said graphic element using said first scale factor, said scaled copy having a first dimension equal to or less than said first dimension of said display area of said cell.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising the step of:

storing said descriptors and said first scale factor as data for said cell.

28. The method of claim 27 further comprising the steps of:

scaling said descriptors by said first scale factor; and

displaying said scaled copy of said graphic element in said display area of said cell.

29. The method of claim 26 wherein said first dimension of said graphic element comprises a first dimension of bounds of said graphic element and said first dimension of said display area of said cell comprises a first dimension of bounds of said display area of said cell.

30. The method of claim 29 further comprising the steps of:

determining a second dimension of said graphic element;

determining a second dimension of a display area of said cell; and

determining a second scale factor for scaling said descriptors of said graphic element; and

creating said scaled copy of said graphic element using also said second scale factor, said scaled copy having a second dimension equal to or less than said second dimension of said display area of said cell.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein said second dimension of said graphic element comprises a second dimension of bounds of said graphic element and said second dimension of said display area of said cell comprises a second dimension of bounds of said display area of said cell.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein said descriptors comprise descriptors of horizontal components of said graphic element and descriptors of vertical components of said graphic element.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein said descriptors of said horizontal and vertical components of said graphic element are scaled by essentially the same factor so as to preserve an aspect ratio of said graphic element.

34. The method of claim 26 wherein said graphic element comprises at least one stroke comprising a beginning point, an end point, and a curvilinear line connecting said beginning point and said end point.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein said descriptors of said graphic element comprise positional coordinates of said beginning point and descriptors of vectors between said beginning point and a first intermediate point along said curvilinear line and between successive intermediate points along said line.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein said positional coordinates are specified relative to a first predetermined reference point.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein bounds of said graphic element comprise a first rectangular box having a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension and wherein bounds of said display area of said cell comprise a second rectangular box having a vertical dimension and a horizontal dimension.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein said first reference point comprises a corner of said rectangular box.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein a scaled copy of said stroke is displayed in said display area of said cell at scaled positional coordinates of said beginning point relative to a second reference point for said display area of said cell, said scaled copy being displayed by displaying line segments corresponding to scaled descriptors of said vectors beginning at said scaled positional coordinates of said beginning point.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein said line segments comprising said graphic element are displayed at a predetermined thickness independent of a factor by which said descriptors of said graphic element are scaled.

41. The method of claim 26 wherein said first scale factor is determined by a ratio of a vertical dimension of bounds of said display area of said cell to a vertical dimension of bounds of said graphic element.

42. The method of claim 26 wherein said first scale factor is determined by the lesser of a ratio of a horizontal dimension of bounds of said display area of said cell to a horizontal dimension of bounds of said graphic element and a ratio of a vertical dimension of bounds of said display area of said cell to a vertical dimension of bounds of said graphic element.

43. With respect to a spreadsheet displayed on a display screen, a method for determining a target cell to which a handwritten graphic element, also displayed on said display screen, is directed, comprising the steps of:

identifying a display reference point for said graphic element;

determining a cell of said spreadsheet within which said display reference point is located; and

designating said cell of said spreadsheet within which said display reference point is located as said target cell for said graphic element.

44. The method of claim 43 wherein said graphic element comprises at least one handwritten character.

45. The method of claim 43 wherein said graphic element comprises a plurality of handwritten characters.

46. The method of claim 43 wherein said display reference point comprises a center of area of said graphic element.

47. The method of claim 43 wherein said display reference point comprises a center of area of bounds of said graphic element.

48. The method of claim 43 wherein bounds of said graphic element comprise a rectangular box having a horizontal dimension and a vertical dimension.

49. The method of claim 48 wherein said display reference point comprises a point along a horizontal centerline of said rectangular box.

50. The method of claim 49 wherein said display reference point comprises a point at a center of said horizontal centerline.

51. The method of claim 49 wherein said display reference point comprises a point located to one side of a center of said horizontal centerline.

52. The method of claim 43 wherein a position of said display reference point relative to said graphic element varies according to a relative size of said graphic element.

53. A method for processing and storing a handwritten graphic element generated on a display at a first level of magnification as data for a spreadsheet cell comprising the steps of:

sampling said graphic element at a plurality of points;

generating descriptors for describing said graphic element in terms of relative change in position for each of said plurality of points at which said graphic element is sampled;

determining a first reference measurement for said first magnification level;

converting said descriptors to relative descriptors comprising relative units of measure based on said first reference measurement; and

storing said relative descriptors as data representing said graphic element for said spreadsheet cell.

54. The method of claim 53 wherein said first reference measurement comprises a vertical dimension of said cell.

55. The method of claim 53 further comprising the steps of:

determining a second reference measurement at a second magnification level;

converting said relative descriptors to scaled descriptors based on said second reference measurement; and

displaying a scaled graphic element described by said scaled descriptors on said display.

56. A method for processing and storing a handwritten graphic element generated on a display at a first level of magnification as data for a spreadsheet cell comprising the steps of:

sampling said graphic element at a plurality of points;

generating descriptors for describing said graphic element in terms of relative change in position for each of said plurality of points at which said graphic element is sampled;

determining a magnification level identifier for said first level of magnification; and

storing said descriptors and said magnification level identifier as data representing said graphic element for said cell.

57. The method of claim 56 wherein said magnification level identifier comprises a reference measurement.

58. The method of claim 57 wherein said reference measurement is a vertical dimension of said cell at said first level of magnification.

59. The method of claim 57 wherein said reference measurement is an area of said cell at said first level of magnification.

60. The method of claim 56 wherein said magnification level identifier comprises a magnification factor determined by a ratio of said first level of magnification to a base level of magnification.

61. The method of claim 56 wherein said data comprising said descriptors and said magnification level identifier is appended to existing cell data.

62. The method of claim 61 wherein said existing cell data comprises descriptors and a second magnification level identifier for a second graphical element generated at a second magnification level.

63. A method for displaying a handwritten graphic element generated on a display at a first level of magnification as data for a spreadsheet cell at a second level of magnification, comprising the steps of:

sampling said graphic element at a plurality of points;

generating descriptors for describing said graphic element in terms of relative change in position for each of said plurality of points at which said graphic element is sampled;

determining a display factor representing a ratio of said second level of magnification to said first level of magnification;

generating scaled descriptors by scaling said descriptors by said display factor; and

displaying a scaled graphic element described by said scaled descriptors on said display at said second level of magnification.

64. The method of claim 63 wherein said display factor is determined by a ratio of a first magnification level identifier for said first level of magnification to a second magnification level identifier for said second level of magnification.

65. The method of claim 64 wherein said first magnification level identifier comprises a reference measurement for said first level of magnification and said second magnification level identifier comprises a second reference measurement for said second level of magnification.