Electronic publishing system
First Claim
1. An electronic publishing system for preparation and/or editing of one or more publications via a computer, the system including a database which defines at least the following:
- at least one publication to be prepared and/or edited, the publication having a plurality of sections, each of which includes at least one newshole;
at least one layout style for each section such that each layout style comprises a plurality of different layouts;
the layouts in each layout style forming one or more layout families, the layout families defining layout variations of publication elements such as text and images;
the one or more layout families structured so as to include layout children, wherein each layout child within a layout family is genetically consistent in format with all other children within the layout family and pertains to a different size newshole from all other children within the layout family.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention has application in electronic and printed media such as newspapers, magazines and computer text systems. The present invention relates to a mechanism by which text and images for publishing can be prepared and/or edited. The invention has particular application in the layout of newsholes.
The present application discloses an electronic media publishing system comprising a data base in which there is stored, inter alia, a layout style, a layout family, layout children and layout cousins. There is also disclosed a method of preparing a layout of information in which a newshole is selected and resized if necessary in accordance with user definable rules.
73 Citations
16 Claims
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1. An electronic publishing system for preparation and/or editing of one or more publications via a computer, the system including a database which defines at least the following:
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at least one publication to be prepared and/or edited, the publication having a plurality of sections, each of which includes at least one newshole; at least one layout style for each section such that each layout style comprises a plurality of different layouts; the layouts in each layout style forming one or more layout families, the layout families defining layout variations of publication elements such as text and images; the one or more layout families structured so as to include layout children, wherein each layout child within a layout family is genetically consistent in format with all other children within the layout family and pertains to a different size newshole from all other children within the layout family. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An electronic publishing system for preparation and/or editing of one or more publications via a computer, the system including a database storing a plurality of layouts according to the following structure:
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the plurality of layouts are associated with at least one publication to be prepared and/or edited; the one publication is divided into a plurality of sections each containing at least one newshole, with each section being associated with at least one layout style; each layout style comprises a plurality of layouts; the layouts in each layout style are arranged into layout families wherein the layout families define variations of publication elements; the layout families are structured to include layout children, wherein each layout child within a layout family is genetically consistent in format with all other children within the layout family; and resizing means for defining a geometric relationship between the publication elements of each layout child to fit within a designated newshole. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. A method of preparing and/or editing one or more publications via an electronic publishing system in a computer, the method including the steps of:
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defining a plurality of sections for one or more publications; defining at least one layout style for each section wherein each layout style is made up of a plurality of different layouts; arranging the different layouts in each layout style into one or more layout families, such that the layout families define layout variations of publication elements such as text or images; defining layout children for the layout families, wherein each layout child within a layout family is genetically consistent in format with all other children within the layout family, and pertains to a different size newshole from all other children within the layout family; designating a newshole in a section to be prepared; designating a layout style to which the section to be prepared is to conform; searching the layout families within the designated section and layout style for appropriate layout children which correspond to the designated newshole; displaying the appropriate layout child or children; and selecting one of the displayed layout children to be used as the format for the page. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for preparing a publication, comprising the steps of:
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storing in a database a plurality of layout families, each representing a different format for elements of a newshole, each layout family including a plurality of layout children which pertain to newsholes of respectively different sizes; displaying one child for at least some of said plurality of layout families; designating one of the displayed layout children; resizing the designated layout child to fit a specified newshole size; determining whether the resized layout child exceeds limits of the newshole size to which it corresponds; replacing the designated layout child with a different layout child from the same layout family whose associated size corresponds to the specified newshole size, if said limits are determined to have been exceeded; and generating a newshole in accordance with the designated layout child or replacement layout child, as appropriate. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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Specification