Hypermedia document authoring using a goals outline and a presentation outline

• US 6,374,271 B1
• Filed: 09/26/1997
• Issued: 04/16/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.), Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.), Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Shimizu, Takeshi, Smoliar, Stephen W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): HUYNH, CONG LAC T
• Application Number:
  US08/938,973
• Time in Patent Office: 1,663 Days
• Field of Search: 707/515, 707/501, 707/104, 707/2, 707/100, 707/512, 707/523, 707/524, 707/501.1, 707/500.1, 345/302
• US Class Current: 715/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/748 Hypervideo linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object in the context of video distribution systems H04N21/858
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/94 Hypermedia Hyperlinking G06F40/134
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A hypermedia authoring system enables an author to generate a document using a goals outline and a presentation outline. The goals outline is generated by instantiating document prototypes. A display of the goals outline permits the author to select a prototype document from a directory of prototype documents and instantiate the selected prototype document that corresponds to a node of the goals outline. The instantiated document prototype is linked to cards in a card database. The presentation outline is displayed as Bento-boxes. Each Bento-box includes spacer objects which are defined spatially and temporally. The spacer objects may be linked to cards. The goals outline is related to the presentation outline based on commonly linked cards. The Bento-boxes may be linked to each other in a stack or hyperlinked to other Bento-boxes v a anchors. A display of all the Bento-boxes of a hypermedia document shows a linkage path established by the hyperlinks between Bento-boxes/Bento-box stacks. If both the presentation outline and the goals outline are displayed, selecting a Bento-box or a node of the goals outline causes related nodes or Bento-boxes, respectively, to be highlighted. If a complete goals/presentation outline is selected, the highlighting shows a measure of completeness between the presentation outline and the goals outline. A navigation facility is also provided such as a kitchen, an office or a studio.

Claims

1. A document authoring device, comprising:

a user interface;

a memory;

a controller coupled to the user interface and the memory, wherein the controller links a goals outline and a presentation outline together based on an input received through the user interface and data stored in the memory,

wherein the user interface includes a display device, the controller displaying a goals outline display on the display device and generating the goals outline based on the input that relates to the goals outline display;

the memory contains at least one document prototype, the controller generating a logical structure of the goals outline by instantiating the document prototype selected by the input; and

wherein the document prototype is a template that includes;

at least one slot type, the slot type having a name that indicates a content corresponding to the slot type; and

a link type corresponding to the slot type, the link type specifying that the slot type is linked to a card, the link type being one of mandatory, optional, and user defined.

2. A document authoring device, comprising:

a user interface;

a memory;

a controller coupled to the user interface and the memory, wherein the controller links a goals outline and a presentation outline together based on an input received through the user interface and data stored in the memory,

wherein the user interface includes a display device, the controller displaying a goals outline display on the display device and generating the goals outline based on the input that relates to the goals outline display;

the memory contains at least one document prototype, the controller generating a logical structure of the goals outline by instantiating the document prototype selected by the input;

wherein the document prototype is a template that includes;

at least one slot type, the slot type having a name that indicates a content corresponding to the slot type; and

a link type corresponding to the slot type, the link type specifying that the slot type is linked to a card, the link type being one of mandatory, optional, and user defined;

wherein the controller displays a directory of document prototypes and a structure of a document prototype selected from the directory, the structure including a matrix of values, wherein each row of the matrix includes at least four columns, each of the columns including values that correspond to an inherit flag, a link type, a slot name and a document prototype name.

3. A document authoring device, comprising:

a user interface;

a memory; and

a controller coupled to the user interface and the memory, wherein the controller links a goals outline and a presentation outline together based on an input received through the user interface and data stored in the memory;

wherein the user interface includes a display device, the controller displaying a goals outline display on the display device and generating the goals outline based on the input that relates to the goals outline display;

the memory contains at least one document prototype the controller generating a logical structure of the goals outline by instantiating the document prototype selected by the input; and

the controller receives external information and generates an imported card based on the external information and links the imported card to the goals outline based on the input.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the external information is in a desired card structure, the controller incorporating the card structure in the goals outline when linking the imported card to the goals outline.

5. The device of claim 3, wherein the external information is not in a desired card structure, the controller translating the external information into a desired card structure and incorporating the card structure in the goals outline when linking the imported card to the goals outline.

6. A document authoring device comprising:

a user interface;

a memory; and

a controller coupled to the user interface and the memory wherein the controller links a goals outline and a presentation outline together based on an input received through the user interface and data stored in the memory, and

wherein the user interface includes a display device, the controller displaying the presentation outline on the display device as at least one Bento box.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the Bento-box includes at least one spacer object, the spacer object being structured in the Bento-box in at least one of logically, spatially and temporally.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the spacer object is linked to a card.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the controller receives external information and generates an imported card based on the external information and links the imported card to the spacer object based on the input.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the external information is in a desired card structure, the controller incorporating the card structure in the spacer object when linking the imported card to the spacer object.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the external information is not in a desired card structure, the controller translating the external information into a desired card structure and incorporating the card structure in the spacer object when linking the imported card to the spacer object.

12. The device of claim 6, wherein the Bento-box is related to another Bento-box at least one of sequentially and in a hyperlinked manner.

13. The device of claim 6, wherein the controller generates a Bento-box display of a plurality of Bento-boxes and at least one link among the Bento-boxes.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the controller displays the goals outline display and the presentation outline as linked Bento-boxes, when a node of the goals outline is selected, at least one corresponding Bento-box in the presentation outline being highlighted, when a Bento-box in the presentation outline is selected, at least one corresponding node of the goals outline being highlighted.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the controller generates a measure of completion based on parameters specified by the input.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the parameters include a first number of cards linked to a selected Bento-box and a second number of cards linked to a node of the goals outline, the measure of completeness being a ratio of the second over the first numbers of cards.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the parameters include a third number of cards linked to a selected node of the goals outline and a fourth number of cards linked to a Bento-box, the measure of completeness being a ratio of the fourth over the third numbers of cards.

18. The device of claim 16, wherein the controller displays the ratio when displaying at least one of the Bento-box display and the goals outline display.

19. The device of claim 13, wherein a portion of the Bento-boxes are linked sequentially into a Bento-box stack, a plurality of Bento-box stacks being linked to each other.

20. A document authoring device, comprising:

a user interface;

a memory; and

a controller coupled to the user interface and the memory, wherein the controller links a goals outline and a presentation outline together based on an input received through the user interface and data stored in the memory,

wherein the controller comprises a hypermedia link engine, the hypermedia link engine performing the linking between at least one of cards, Bento boxes and Bento box stacks.

21. A document authoring device, comprising:

a user interface;

a memory; and

a controller coupled to the user interface and the memory, wherein the controller links a goals outline and a presentation outline together based on an input received through the user interface and data stored in the memory,

wherein the user interface includes a display device, the controller displaying on the display device a meta-level display of the goals outline and the presentation outline.

22. A method of authoring a document, comprising:

storing data in a memory;

receiving inputs through a user interface;

linking a goals outline to a presentation outline based on the and the data;

receiving external information by the controller;

generating a card based on the external information;

storing the card as data in the memory;

displaying the presentation outline on the display device as at least one Bento box; and

structuring a spacer object in the Bento box in at least one of logically, spatially and temporally.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

linking the spacer object to a card.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

relating one Bento-box to another Bento-box at least one of sequentially and in a hyperlinked manner.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

generating a Bento-box display of a plurality of Bento-boxes and at least one link among the Bento-boxes.

26. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

generating displays of the goals outline and the presentation outline, the presentation outline being displayed as linked Bento-boxes, when a node of the goals outline is selected, at least one corresponding Bento-box in the presentation outline being highlighted, when a Bento-box in the presentation outline is selected, at least one corresponding node of the goals outline being highlighted.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

generating a measure of completeness based on parameters specified by the input.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the parameters include a first number of cards linked to a selected Bento-box and a second number of cards linked to a node of the goals outline, the measure of completeness being a ratio of the second over the first numbers of cards.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

displaying the ratio when displaying at least one of the presentation outline and the goals outline.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the parameters include a third number of cards linked to a selected node of the goals outline and a fourth number of cards linked to a Bento-box, the measure of completeness being a ratio of the fourth over the third numbers of cards.