Method and system for automatically adding graphics to a document to illustrate concepts referred to therein

• US 6,021,412 A
• Filed: 04/02/1996
• Issued: 02/01/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Parker, Robert, Ho, Rosanna
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph H.
• Application Number:
  US08/624,353
• Time in Patent Office: 1,400 Days
• Field of Search: 395/776, 395/777, 395/784, 395/759, 395/615, 707/104, 707/514, 707/515, 707/522, 707/3-6, 707/500, 345/302
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A method and system for automatically adding graphics to a document to illustrate concepts referred to therein is provided. The method and system selects an instance of graphics illustrating concepts expressed by an input word in the document from among instances of graphics, at least a portion of which have associated with them one or more words characterizing their subject. The method and system further utilizes a list of words, each representing a concept. The method and system first determines whether the input word is among the list of words that each represent a concept. If the input word is among the list of words that each represent a concept, the method and system identifies an instance of graphics having associated with it the input word. The method and system then selects the identified instance of graphics.

Claims

1. A method in a computer system for selecting a graphic image from a plurality of graphic images, the selected graphic image illustrating a concept expressed by a portion of text contained in a document, so that the selected graphic image can be inserted into the documents the method comprising the steps of:

(a) automatically identifying a concept expressed by the portion of text in the document that corresponds to a concept represented by at least one of the plurality of graphic images;

(b) automatically indicating specific graphic images corresponding to said concept identified in step (a); and

(c) enabling a user to select a graphic image from the specific graphic images to be inserted into the document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

(a) step (b) includes the step of displaying a visual representation of each of the specific graphic images; and

(b) step (c) includes the step of receiving a selection request from the user specifying one of the displayed visual representations to indicate the specific graphic image to be inserted into the document.

3. The method of claim 1,

wherein the specific graphic images are each represented by a thumbnail image.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of automatically identifying said concept comprises the step of parsing the portion of the text to identify words that correspond to words in a list of concept words.

5. The method of claim 4, further including the steps of:

(a) displaying the words that were identified;

(b) receiving input from a user selecting one of the words that were identified, wherein the step of indicating specific graphic images is based on the word that was selected by the user.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising the steps of:

(a) mapping words that were identified to representative synonyms; and

(b) identifying specific graphic images with which the representative synonyms are associated.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected graphic image is a video clip.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

(a) detecting an idle period within the computer system; and

(b) in response to detecting the idle period, automatically executing steps (a) and (b) of claim 1 to indicates specific graphic images from which the user selects the graphic image to be inserted into the document.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the document is divided into one or more slides, one of the slides being a slide that is currently being edited, the method further comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a request to change the slide currently being edited to another slide or a new slide; and

(b) in response to the request to change the slide, automatically executing steps (a) and (b) of claim 1 to indicates specific graphic images from which the user selects the graphic image to be inserted into the document.

10. A method in a computer system for selecting a multimedia artifact from a plurality of multimedia artifacts, the selected multimedia artifact illustrating a concept expressed by a portion of text contained in a document, so that the selected multimedia artifact can be inserted into the document, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) automatically identifying a concept expressed by the portion of the text in the document that corresponds to a concept represented by at least one of the plurality of multimedia artifacts;

(b) automatically indicating specific multimedia artifacts corresponding to said concept identified in step (a); and

(c) enabling a user to select a multimedia artifact from the specific multimedia artifacts to be inserted into the document.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

(a) step (b) includes the step of displaying a visual representation of each of the specific multimedia artifacts; and

(b) step (c) includes the step of receiving a selection request from the user specifying one of the displayed visual representations to indicate the specific multimedia artifact to be inserted into the document.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of automatically identifying said concept comprises the step of parsing the portion of the text to identify words that correspond to words in a list of concept words.

13. The method of claim 12, further including the steps of:

(a) displaying the words that were identified; and

(b) receiving input from a user selecting one of the words that were identified, wherein the step of indicating specific multimedia artifacts is based on the word that was selected by the user.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

(a) mapping words that were identified to representative synonyms; and

(b) identifying a specific multimedia artifact with which the representative synonyms are associated.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the selected multimedia artifact is an audio sequence.

16. A method in a computer system for using a list of concept words to select and add a graphic image to a presentation document from among a plurality of graphic images said graphic image being associated with at least one concept in said list, the method including the steps of:

(a) enabling a user to enter additional words into the presentation document; and

(b) evaluating each additional word upon its entry to determine if it occurs in the list of concept words; and

if a word that was entered occurs in the list of concept words;

(i) identifying a graphic image associated with the word that occurs in said list, and

(ii) adding the graphic image that was identified to the document.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein step (i) includes the steps of:

(a) identifying a plurality of graphic images, each of which has associated with it the word that occurs in said list;

(b) displaying a visual indication of each of the plurality of graphic images that was identified;

(c) receiving a selection request specifying one of the visual indications that was displayed; and

(d) in response to the selection request, identifying the graphic image indicated by the displayed visual indication specified.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the graphic image that was identified is a video clip.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein the identified instance of graphics is a visual image.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the graphic image that was identified is an audio sequence.

21. An apparatus for automatically assisting a user to select and insert a graphic image in a presentation document, said graphic image thus inserted being relevant to a concept expressed by text within the presentation document, the apparatus comprising:

(a) a presentation document generation module for inserting textual and multimedia content into a presentation document in response to user input;

(b) a graphics library query module for retrieving graphics images that are relevant to a concept expressed by the text from a graphics library comprising a plurality of graphic images, each graphic image being associated with a concept, the graphics library query module, in response to a request, providing one or more graphic images based on their associated concept, to a requesting module; and

(c) a conceptual graphic insertion module for detecting that textual content in the presentation document includes a conceptual word, and in response thereto, submitting a request to the graphics library query module for one or more graphic images associated with the conceptual word based on the concept associated with such graphic images, and enabling a user to select a graphic image from said one or more graphic images provided by the graphics library module in the response to the submitted request, to be inserted in the presentation document.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein for detecting that the presentation document generation module has received user input for inserting a conceptual word in the presentation document, the conceptual graphic insertion module includes:

(a) a concept memory for storing a list of words that represent concepts; and

(b) a word comparator for comparing words inserted by the presentation document generation module into the presentation document in response to user input to the list of words stored in the concept memory.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, further including a concept memory modification module for modifying the contents of the concept memory in accordance with user input.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the graphics library query module includes:

(a) a graphic identification submodule for identifying all graphic images in the graphics library that are associated with the concept; and

(b) a user graphic selection submodule for displaying a visual indication of each of the graphic images identified by the graphic identification submodule and enabling a user to select one of the graphic images identified by the graphic identification submodule.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, further including a graphics library modification module for modifying the contents of the graphics library in response to user input.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the graphics library modification module contains a graphics addition submodule for adding to the graphics library a graphic image having one or more concepts associated with it, in response to user input.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the graphics library modification module contains an associated word modification submodule for modifying the concept associated with a graphic image in the graphics library, in response to user input.

28. A computer-readable medium upon which is stored a presentation creation program comprising machine instructions that can be executed on a computer system to create a presentation document and that enables a user to select a graphic image representing a concept expressed by text contained in the presentation document from a graphics library, the graphics library comprising a plurality of graphic images, each being associated with at least one concept keyword, the computer-readable medium further comprising a list of concept words, each corresponding to a concept keyword, execution of the machine instructions on the computer system causing the program to perform the steps of:

(a) parsing the document to identify any words that correspond to the words in the list of concept words;

(b) querying the graphics library for graphic images that are associated with concept keywords corresponding to any words that were identified in step (a);

(c) displaying any graphic images from the graphics library that satisfy the query; and

(d) enabling the user to select a graphic image from the graphic images that are displayed, to be inserted in the presentation document.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the presentation creation program automatically parses the presentation document on a page-by-page basis.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the presentation creation program performs steps (a)-(c) in response to input from a user.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the presentation creation program maps each word in the list of concept words to a corresponding lemma form of the word such that a plurality of words in the list of concept words may be mapped to the same lemma form, execution of the machine instructions further causing the presentation creation program to perform the steps of:

(a) displaying a list of the lemma forms to which the identified words are mapped; and

(b) receiving user input selecting one of the displayed lemma forms, and wherein the querying step of the presentation creation program includes the step of querying the graphics library for graphic images that are associated with the lemma form that was selected.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the presentation creation program initially maps from each word in the list of concept words to a corresponding lemma form of the word such that a plurality of words in the list of concept words may be mapped to the same lemma form, and wherein the presentation creation program further maps from each lemma form to a representative synonym such that a plurality of lemma forms may be mapped to the same representative synonym, and wherein execution of the machine instructions further causes the presentation creation program to perform the steps of:

(a) displaying a list of the lemma forms to which the identified words are initially mapped; and

(b) receiving user input selecting one of the displayed lemma forms, and wherein the querying step of the presentation creation program includes the step of querying the graphics library for graphic images that have associated with them a concept keyword corresponding to the representative synonym to which the selected lemma form is further mapped.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the presentation creation program maps from each word in the list of concept words to a representative synonym such that a plurality of words may be mapped to the same representative synonym, and wherein the querying step of the presentation creation program includes the step of querying the graphics library for graphic images that have associated with them a concept keyword corresponding to the representative synonym to which the selected word is mapped.

34. A computer-readable medium upon which is stored a system resource comprising machine instructions that can be executed on a computer system to, in response to a request from an application program, automatically identify graphic images representing a concept expressed by text contained in a document being created by the application program from a graphics library, the graphics library comprising a plurality of graphic images, each being associated with at least one concept keyword, the computer-readable medium further comprising a list of concept words, each corresponding to a concept keyword, execution of the machine instructions on the computer system causing the program to perform the steps of:

(a) parsing the document to identify any words that correspond to the words in the list of concept words;

(b) querying the graphics library for graphic images that are associated with concept keywords corresponding to any words identified in step (a); and

(c) returning a representation of each of the graphic images that satisfies the query to the application program.