Gap-based style-run array mechanism
First Claim
1. Apparatus for use with a computer system having a memory, the apparatus associating character style information with each character stored in a data structure in the memory and comprising:
- an array generator which generates in the memory an array having a plurality of elements, some of the elements storing character style information arranged as a style run and an array gap including at least one empty element;
a mechanism located in each element which associates the element with a contiguous group of characters in the data structure, each character within the contiguous group having the same character style; and
an editor which modifies character style information in an array element by moving the array elements in the array gap to a location adjacent to the array element being modified.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Character style information is stored in an array, in parallel with character information stored within another data structure. The style information array has more memory allocated to it than would be required to store the style information. This surplus memory is employed to form a "gap" in the array at a location corresponding to the point at which characters are being modified. The gap permits rapid revisions to character style information, while the array storage mechanism permits rapid random access to the style information of any character. Character style information may be mapped to corresponding characters using a run--array mechanism which associates a style with characters through use of an offset which indicates a starting character to which the style applies and a run length which indicates the number of characters to which the style applies. Additionally, the offset may be related to the beginning or to the end of the document, depending upon whether the associated style run falls before or after the memory gap.
20 Citations
22 Claims
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1. Apparatus for use with a computer system having a memory, the apparatus associating character style information with each character stored in a data structure in the memory and comprising:
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an array generator which generates in the memory an array having a plurality of elements, some of the elements storing character style information arranged as a style run and an array gap including at least one empty element; a mechanism located in each element which associates the element with a contiguous group of characters in the data structure, each character within the contiguous group having the same character style; and an editor which modifies character style information in an array element by moving the array elements in the array gap to a location adjacent to the array element being modified. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of associating character style information with each character stored in a data structure in memory, comprising the steps of:
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(a) generating an array in the memory having a plurality of elements, some of the elements storing character style information arranged as style runs, and an array gap including at least one empty element; and (b) modifying the style run associated with a character of interest after moving the gap adjacent to the style run containing style information associated with a character of interest. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A computer program product for storing and modifying character style information associated with character information stored in a data structure, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer program code embodied thereon, the program code comprising:
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computer program code configured to generate an array in a memory, the array having a plurality of elements, some of the elements storing character style information arranged as style runs, and to form an array gap including at least one empty element; and computer program code configured to modify the style run associated with a character of interest after moving the gap adjacent to the style run containing style information associated with a character of interest then. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification