Apparatus and method for implementing visual animation illustrating results of interactive editing operations

• US 5,880,743 A
• Filed: 11/24/1997
• Issued: 03/09/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Melle, William Van, Kurtenbach, Gordon, Chiu, Patrick, Moran, Thomas P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen S.
• Application Number:
  US08/976,907
• Time in Patent Office: 470 Days
• Field of Search: 707/530, 707/531, 707/536, 707/541, 707/540, 345/473, 345/474, 345/348, 345/349, 345/358
• US Class Current: 345/473
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites

Abstract

An apparatus and method for animating editing changes on a display device is provided. The invention is designed to operate preferably with a graphical editing system that permits both handwritten and typewritten data entry. Both the primary changes made by the user and the contextual changes resulting from the primary changes are animated at a visually apparent rate in multiple steps to permit a user and other viewers of the display device to understand the effects of an editing change on surrounding objects. The number of steps in which the changes are animated depends on the number of changes which must be made and the operation performed.

Claims

1. A display-oriented graphical editing system comprising:

a display device for displaying data;

a gesture-based graphical editing system wherein the displayed data on the display device is entered as strokes which are amenable to stroke operations, wherein there are no pre-defined structural groupings of the strokes upon entry, and wherein the gesture-based editing system can, on demand, interpret a set of the strokes as anyone of several different kinds of structures;

means for selecting at least a portion of the displayed data to be a particular kind of structure;

means for selecting at least a portion of displayed data for an editing operation; and

means for performing said editing operation on said selected display data, including means for animating a prime change to said selected displayed data and means for animating contextual changes to said displayed data not selected by said selecting means, said contextual changes resulting from said prime changes, said prime and contextual changes resulting from said editing operation occurring at a visually apparent rate, and said animation being performed automatically subsequent to said selection of said editing operation to be performed on said selected display data.

2. The display-oriented graphical editing system of claim 1 wherein said animating means comprises means for animating at least one of said changes in more than one step.

4. The display-oriented graphical editing system of claim 1 wherein said animating means comprises means for animating at least one of said changes in a time period of approximately 1 second or less but greater than 0 second.

5. The display-oriented graphical editing system of claim 1 wherein said animating means comprises means for animating said changes in steps.

6. The display-oriented graphical editing system of claim 1 wherein said animating means comprises means for animating each of said changes in sequence.

7. The display-oriented graphical editing system of claim 1 wherein at least one of said changes comprises movement of said displayed data and wherein said animating means comprises means for animating the movement of said displayed data in a straight-line from a source location at which said displayed data is originally to a destination location.

8. The display-oriented graphical editing system of claim 1 wherein at least one of said changes comprise movement of said displayed data and wherein said animating means comprises means for animating the movement of said displayed data in a non-linear move from a source location at which said displayed data is originally to a destination location.

9. The display-oriented graphical editing system of claim 1 wherein said animating means comprises means for animating at least one of said changes on said display device at a rate that varies during an animation.

10. The display-oriented graphical editing system of claim 9 wherein said at least one change is a movement of a displayed object and wherein said means for animating at least one of said changes at a rate that varies accelerates said movement until reaching a top speed when approaching a destination and thereafter decelerates said movement until finally reaching its destination.

3. The display-oriented graphical editing system of claim I wherein said animating means comprises means for animating at least one of said changes within an amount of time selectable by a user of said system.

11. A method for illustrating editing changes to data on a display device of a computer system operating under a gesture-based graphical editing environment, wherein the data entered into the computer system consists of strokes which are amenable to stroke operations, wherein there are no pre-defined structural grouping of the strokes by the gesture-based graphical editing system, and wherein the gesture-based editing system can, on demand, interpret a set of strokes as any one of several different kinds of structures, the method comprising:

inputting a gesture command in association with a selected portion of the displayed data so as to temporarily regard the selected portion of the displayed data as a particular kind of structure;

selecting an editing operation to be performed on said selected displayed data; and

performing said editing operation on said selected displayed data in accordance with the kind of structure the selected data is defined, including,

animating a prime change to said selected displayed data and any contextual changes to said displayed data not selected but which result from said prime change, said prime and contextual changes resulting from said editing operation occurring at a visually apparent rate, and said animation being performed automatically subsequent to said selection of said editing operation to be performed on said selected displayed data.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said step of animating comprises animating at least one of said changes in more than one step.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein said step of animating comprises animating at least one of said changes to said displayed data within an amount of time selectable by a user of said system.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein said step of animating comprises animating at least one of said changes to said displayed data in a time period of approximately 1 second or less but greater than 0 second.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein said step of animating comprises animating said changes to said displayed data substantially simultaneously in steps.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein said step of animating comprises animating each of said changes to said displayed data in sequence.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein said changes comprise movement of said displayed data and wherein said step of animating comprises animating the movement of said displayed data in a straight-line from a source location at which said displayed data is originally to a destination location.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein said changes comprise movement of said displayed data and wherein said step of animating comprises animating the movement of said displayed data in a non-linear move from a source location at which said displayed data is originally to a destination location.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein said step of animating comprises animating at least one of said changes on said display device at a rate that varies during an animation.

20. The display-oriented graphical editing system of claim 19 wherein said at least one change is a movement of a displayed object and wherein said step of animating at least one of said changes at a rate that varies comprises accelerating said movement until reaching a top speed when approaching a destination and thereafter decelerating said movement until finally reaching its destination.

21. A display-oriented graphical editing system for use with a large scale display which allows for informal handwritten input with an input device, the large scale display being viewed by a plurality of observers other than a user inputting data via the input device, the system comprising:

a data interface surface;

an interacting device for entering gestures on said data interface surface to select at least a portion of displayed data and to select an editing operation to be performed on selected display data; and

computer processing circuitry coupled to and responsive to said interacting device which is programmed to perform said editing operation on said selected displayed data and to animate said editing operation on said displayed data including animating a prime change to said displayed data and animating contextual changes resulting from said prime change of said editing operation at a visually apparent rate, said animation being performed automatically subsequent to said selection of an editing operation to be performed on selected display data.

22. The display-oriented graphical editing system of claim 21 wherein said data interface surface is a touch screen.

23. The display-oriented graphical editing system of claim 21 wherein said interacting device is a stylus or mouse.

24. The display-oriented graphical editing system of claim 21 wherein said computer processing circuitry comprises a Read-Only Memory device.

25. The display-oriented graphical editing system of claim 21 wherein said computer processing circuitry comprises a data storage device in which a computer program for performing said editing operation and said contextual changes is stored and a processing unit which performs instructions provided in said computer program.

26. A method for animating editing changes to a plurality of objects displayed on a display device of a computer comprising the steps of:

operating the computer under a gesture-based graphical editing environment, wherein the objects entered into the computer consist of strokes which are amenable to stroke operations, wherein there are no pre-defined structural groupings of the strokes by the gesture-based graphical editing system, and wherein the gesture-based editing system can, on demand, interpret a set of the strokes as any one of several different kinds of structures;

inputting a gesture command in association with a selected portion of the objects on the display device, the gesture causing the selected objects to temporarily be regarded as any one of a handwritten list, handwritten outline, handwritten text, handwritten tables, border lines, handwritten diagrams, mixed structure and free-form commands and table alignment;

selecting which of said plurality of objects are to be edited on said display device in response to entry of an editing command by a user of said computer, said editing being appropriate for the structure of the selected objects, and said editing including a prime change to said selected objects and any contextual changes to said objects not selected but which occurs due to said prime change;

determining one or more parameters for each of said changes to be animated;

determining in how many iterations N an animation should occur; and

performing said animation for said prime change and any of said contextual changes, in iterations including at least, for each of said iterations, erasing each of said objects which are to be manipulated and displaying each of said objects which are to be manipulated an additional 1/N of a total change set by said one or more parameters over a preceding of said iterations, said animation being performed automatically at a visually apparent rate.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein all of said iterations occur in a time period of 1 second or less but greater than 0 second.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein all of said plurality of objects which are to be manipulated are manipulated simultaneously.

29. The method of claim 26 wherein each of said plurality of objects which are to be manipulated are manipulated in sequence.

30. A method for animating editing changes to a plurality of objects on a display device of a computer comprising the steps of:

operating the computer under a gesture-based graphical editing environment, wherein the objects entered into the computer consist of strokes which are amenable to stroke operations, wherein there are no pre-defined structural groupings of the strokes by the gesture-based graphical editing system, and wherein the gesture-based editing system can, on demand, interpret a set of the strokes as any one of several different kinds of structures;

inputting a gesture command in association with a selected portion of the objects on the display device, the gesture causing the selected objects to temporarily be regarded as a particular kind of structure;

selecting which of said plurality of objects are to be edited on said display device in response to entry of an editing command by a user of said computer, said editing being appropriate for the structure of the selected objects, and said editing including a prime change to said selected objects and any contextual changes to said objects not selected by said editing command but which occur due to said prime change;

determining one or more parameters for each of said changes to be animated;

determining in how many iterations N an animation should occur; and

performing said animation for said prime change and any of said contextual changes, in iterations including at least, for each of said iterations, erasing each of said plurality of objects which are to be manipulated and displaying each of said plurality of objects which are to be manipulated a distance further along said total change, said distance varying for a first of said iterations from said distance for a second of said iterations, said animation being performed automatically at a visually apparent rate.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein said objects which must be manipulated are animated as changing at a constantly accelerating rate until reaching a top speed as said objects approach their destinations, and thereafter said objects are animated as constantly decelerating until said objects finally reach their destinations.

32. The method of claim 30 wherein all of said iterations occur in a time period of 1 second or less but greater than 0 second.

33. The method of claim 30 wherein all of said plurality of objects which are to be manipulated are manipulated simultaneously.

34. The method of claim 30 wherein each of said plurality of objects which are to be manipulated are manipulated in sequence.