Information processing in which grouped information is processed either as a group or individually, based on mode

• US 6,320,601 B1
• Filed: 09/08/1998
• Issued: 11/20/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Takasu, Eiji, Sakaguchi, Katsuhiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayerl, Raymond J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): BAUTISTA, XIOMARA L
• Application Number:
  US09/148,471
• Time in Patent Office: 1,169 Days
• Field of Search: 345/145, 345/173, 345/179, 345/334, 345/339, 345/342, 345/348, 345/352-353, 345/356, 345/358
• US Class Current: 715/764
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

The present invention is based on an observation that a range of information desired to select, may differ, according to a mode selected (for example, in a case where a plurality of information pieces are grouped, an erasing operation might be performed only on part of the group). The present invention determines, where appropriate, an automatic changeover to designate either a single piece of information or a whole group of pieces of information as a range of information to be selected as a processed object, according to a mode selected.

Claims

1. An information processing method comprising the steps of:

storing a plurality of information pieces with grouping information, which indicates whether the information piece belongs to an information group;

displaying the plurality of information pieces on a display screen;

determining a changeover to designate either a single information piece or a plurality of information pieces belonging to one group as information to be edited, according to an edit mode selected by a user; and

editing the single information piece or the plurality of information pieces designated in response to a position on the screen instructed by user, wherein the grouping information is maintained.

2. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein a single information piece is designated as the information to be edited when the edit mode selected by user is an erase mode to erase information displayed at said position of the instruction.

3. The information processing method according to claim 2, wherein the designated single information piece is erased, and the grouped information including the designated single information pieces is erased.

4. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the single information piece is edited, and the grouping information for the edited single information piece is reconstructed based on the edited information piece.

5. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of information pieces displayed include a plurality of information pieces belonging to a plurality of information groups.

6. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the information pieces include locus information.

7. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein said edit mode indicates a kind of an edit.

8. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the information to be edited is information displayed near said position input.

9. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein said edit mode is an edit mode selected at the time of input of said position of the instruction.

10. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein said information displayed is information to be displayed as overlaid on a text.

11. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein said information is locus information, which is information to store data from a pen down operation to a next pen up operation, as one single data.

12. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein said information is information to store data entered between an input of a data input start instruction and an input of a data input end instruction, as data belonging to one group.

13. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein said grouping information is information to store data based on such an operation that a plurality of information pieces are designated to be selected on said display screen and that an instruction of grouping said plurality of information pieces thus designated to be selected is provided, as data belonging to one group.

14. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein a frame surrounding the information piece designated in response to a position on the screen instructed by a user is displayed.

15. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein a display form of the information piece designated in response to a position in the screen instructed by user changes to a display form that can be discriminated from the other information.

16. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein said position of the instruction is entered in the form of coordinate information.

17. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein said information pieces include voice information.

18. The information processing method according to claim 1, wherein said grouped information is layered structure including said information pieces.

19. A program for causing an information processing apparatus to execute the steps of an information processing method according to claim 1.

20. An information processing apparatus comprising:

storage, that stores a plurality of information pieces with grouping information, which indicates whether the information piece belongs to an information group;

a display control that performs such a control as to display a plurality of information pieces on a display screen;

a control that determines a changeover to designate either a single information piece or a plurality of information pieces belonging to one group as information to be edited, according to an edit mode selected by a user; and

an editor, which edits the single information piece or the plurality of information pieces designated in response to a position on the screen instructed by user, wherein the grouping information is maintained.

21. The information processing apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said control performs such a control as to designate a single information piece as the information to be selected when an erase mode to erase information displayed at said position of the instruction is selected.

22. The information processing apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the designated single information piece is erased, and the grouped information including the designated single information pieces is erased.

23. The information processing apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the single information piece is edited, and the grouping information for the edited single information piece is reconstructed based on the edited information piece.

24. The information processing apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said plurality of information pieces displayed include a plurality of information pieces belonging to a plurality of information groups.

25. The information processing apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the information pieces include locus information.

26. The information processing apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said edit mode indicates a kind of an edit.

27. The information processing apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said display control performs such a control that a display form of the information selected is changed to a display form that can be discriminated from the other information not selected and that the information is displayed in that display form.

28. The information processing apparatus according to claim 20, further comprising a tablet as an input unit.

29. The information processing apparatus according to claim 28, wherein said tablet is overlaid on said display screen.

30. The information processing apparatus according to claim 20, further comprising a coordinate input unit.

31. The information processing apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said edit mode is a mode selected at the time of input of said position of the instruction.

32. The information processing apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said display control displays the information as overlaid on a text.

33. The information processing apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the information is locus information, which is information to store data from a pen down operation to a next pen up operation, as one single unit of data.

34. The information processing apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the information is information to store data entered between an input of a data input start instruction and an input of a data input end instruction, as data belonging to one group.

35. The information processing apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the grouping information is information to store data based on such an operation that a plurality of information pieces are designated to be selected on said display screen and that an instruction of grouping said plurality of information pieces thus designated to be selected is provided, as data belonging to one group.

36. The information processing apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said display control displays a frame surrounding the information piece designated in response to a position on the screen instructed by a user is displayed.

37. A storage medium that can be read by a computer, said storage medium storing:

control program for storing a plurality of information pieces with grouping information, which indicates whether the information piece belongs to an information group;

a control program for displaying the plurality of information pieces on a display screen;

a control program for determining a changeover to designate either a single information piece or a plurality of information pieces belonging to one group as information to be edited, according to an edit mode selected by a user; and

a control program for editing the single information piece or the plurality of information pieces designated in response to a position on the screen instructed by user, wherein the grouping information is maintained.