Freeform graphics system having meeting objects for supporting meeting objectives

• US 6,018,346 A
• Filed: 01/12/1998
• Issued: 01/25/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Moran, Thomas P., van Melle, William J., Chiu, Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell, James P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROSEN, NICHOLAS D
• Application Number:
  US09/005,974
• Time in Patent Office: 743 Days
• Field of Search: 705/8, 705/9, 705/12, 705/1, 345/334, 345/348, 345/433, 345/358
• US Class Current: 715/863
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

Meeting support objects for supporting meeting objectives for use in a freeform graphics system. Meeting support objects are representations of dynamic information that is used to support various common activities performed in meetings, such as decision making, assigning action items, agenda tracking, etc. Meeting support objects are defined by a domain object class. The domain object class defines attributes, a set of action rules and layouts. The attributes describe the information or data associated with the meeting support object. Further, the underlying attribute values represented by the icon may change, based on predefined spatial parameters, as the result of user actions performed on the icon (e.g. via a gesture) or upon the occurrence of a system event. The set of action rules map user actions and system events to operations that may be performed on the meeting support object. The layouts define how meeting support object information is displayed as an icon.

Claims

1. A system for supporting meetings comprising:

a freeform graphics system having a display for displaying graphic objects on a work surface, an input device for editing graphic objects on said work surface, and a graphics editing application defining a plurality of editing actions for editing graphic objects on said work surface using said input device, and meeting support objects having functionality for supporting a meeting objective, said meeting support objects defined by an object definition class, said object definition class comprising;

a list of attributes and information as to how the attributes obtain a value;

a set of action rules, each of said action rules capable of defining an editing action of said graphics editing application and a corresponding operation to be performed responsive to said editing action; and

one or more layouts for indicating how an instance of said meeting support object is displayed as an icon on said work surface.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said meeting objective is to manage meeting agenda items and said list of attributes includes a topic attribute, a person attribute and a time allocation attribute.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said meeting objective is to manage action items and said list of attributes includes a description of the action, an action assignee and a due date.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said meeting objective is to identify attendees and said list of attributes includes information identifying an attendee.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said meeting objective is decision making and said list of attributes includes vote count information.

6. The system as recited in claim 5 wherein said set of action rules includes a first rule wherein a first editing action causes said vote count information to increase and a second rule wherein a second editing action causes said vote count information to decrease.

7. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said meeting objective is budget allocation and a first meeting support object having a list of attributes includes item name and cost.

8. The system as recited in claim 7 wherein a second meeting support object having an object class definition includes as attributes a budget name, budget target and sum of cost items.

9. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said meeting objective is notetaking and said list of attributes includes note contents and author.

10. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said meeting objective is timekeeping and said list of attributes includes a time value.

11. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said editing actions are gestures performed by a user using said input device.

12. The system as recited in claim 11 wherein a tap gesture has a corresponding action rule that causes an icon to be selected.

13. The system as recited in claim 11 wherein one of said layouts is a description layout that describes said meeting object class definition and wherein a hold gesture has a corresponding action rule that causes said description layout to be displayed.

14. The system as described in claim 11 wherein a first of said layouts causes display of more attribute information then a second of said layouts and wherein a right gesture has a corresponding action rule that causes said first layout to be used for display and a left gesture has a corresponding action rule that cause said second layout to be used for display.

15. The system as described in claim 14 wherein when said second layout is being used for display and wherein a double tap gesture has a corresponding action rule that causes said first layout to be used for display.

16. The system as recited in claim 11 wherein a box gesture about valid graphical objects has a corresponding action rule that causes a new domain object to be created.

17. A method for operating a freeform graphics system for supporting a meeting objective comprising the steps of:

a) said system creating and displaying a plurality of icons representing meeting objects for supporting said meeting objective, each of said meeting objects being defined by a meeting object class, said meeting object class defining attributes capable of having computed values, a list of action rules, and layouts for defining information presented in the icons representing said meeting objects;

b) said system detecting a user performing a user action on one of said plurality of icons, said user action identified in an action rule in said list of action rules of said meeting object class;

c) said system performing an operation associated with said action rule;

d) said system recomputing any attributes having computed values based on attribute values changed on performance of said operation associated with said action rule.

18. The method as recited in claim 17 wherein said meeting objective is decision making and said list of attributes includes vote count information.

19. The method as recited in claim 18 wherein said set of action rules includes a first rule wherein a first user action causes said vote count information to increase and a second rule wherein a second user action causes said vote count information to decrease.

20. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for supporting a meeting objective, said method comprising the steps of:

a) said system creating and displaying a plurality of icons representing meeting objects for supporting said meeting objective, each of said meeting objects being defined by a meeting object class, said meeting object class defining attributes capable of having computed values, a list of action rules, and layouts for defining information presented in the icons representing said meeting objects;

b) said system detecting a user performing a user action on one of said plurality of icons, said user action identified in an action rule in said list of action rules of said meeting object class;

c) said system performing an operation associated with said action rule;

d) said system recomputing any attributes having computed values based on attribute values changed on performance of said operation associated with said action rule.