Apparatus and method for supporting the implicit structure of freeform lists, outlines, text, tables and diagrams in a gesture-based input system and editing system
First Claim
1. A display-oriented graphical editing system which allows for inputting and editing of data in the form of informal scribbling in handwriting and sketches, and inputting and editing of ASCII characters, the system comprising:
- a substantially uniformed unlined display;
means for entering the data, which is unstructured freeform data, anywhere on said unlined display;
wherein the structure of said displayed data is undetermined at the time of their entry;
means for selecting an editing operation from among a plurality of editing operations to be performed on at least a portion of said displayed data, the editing operations capable of being performed including selectively editing of script, ASCII and diagrams;
means for designating said portion of said displayed data as at least one particular data structure before performing said editing operation;
wherein the at least one particular data structure of said selected portion of said displayed data may be changed after performing said editing operation; and
means for performing said editing operation on said selected portion of said displayed data;
wherein the operability of said editing operation is independent of the location of said selected portion of said displayed data, and said editing operations include line-wrapping of the script and ASCII characters entered on the unlined display when the one particular data structure is a text data structure.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system features a data input scheme in which the nature of the entered data is irrelevant until the requirement made to perform a function with respect to that data. It is only when it becomes necessary to perform a function with respect to the data that the determination of the nature of the data become important. The desired function, which may include editing, rearranging, moving, etc., then results in a determination of the nature of the data in order to enable implementation of that specific function. The nature of the data can be determined to be in the form of a list, table, or diagram. To this end, a screen oriented display processing system is provided for the entry of informational data including a display means, a data entry means for entering informational data on the display means, a gesture entering means for entering handwritten gestural data on the display, the gestural data representing a gesture associated with at least a portion of the informational data on the display, an assignment means responsive to the entry of the gesture for assigning a function representative of the gesture to the portion of the informational data, and an implementing means responsive to the assignment means for implementing the function on the said portion of the informational data.
-
Citations
47 Claims
-
1. A display-oriented graphical editing system which allows for inputting and editing of data in the form of informal scribbling in handwriting and sketches, and inputting and editing of ASCII characters, the system comprising:
-
a substantially uniformed unlined display;
means for entering the data, which is unstructured freeform data, anywhere on said unlined display;
wherein the structure of said displayed data is undetermined at the time of their entry;
means for selecting an editing operation from among a plurality of editing operations to be performed on at least a portion of said displayed data, the editing operations capable of being performed including selectively editing of script, ASCII and diagrams;
means for designating said portion of said displayed data as at least one particular data structure before performing said editing operation;
wherein the at least one particular data structure of said selected portion of said displayed data may be changed after performing said editing operation; and
means for performing said editing operation on said selected portion of said displayed data;
wherein the operability of said editing operation is independent of the location of said selected portion of said displayed data, and said editing operations include line-wrapping of the script and ASCII characters entered on the unlined display when the one particular data structure is a text data structure.- View Dependent Claims (44, 47)
-
-
2. A graphical editing method for a system including an unlined data interface surface configured without pre-set boundaries which define predetermined entry areas for selected data types, and user controllable means for generating unstructured freeform information anywhere on said unlined data interface surface which allows for informal scribbling in handwriting and sketches, and inputting of ASCII characters, wherein the structure of said information is undetermined at the time of its generation, the method comprising the steps of:
-
drawing a gesture on the unlined data interface surface for performing an operation on at least a portion of said information, selectively determining a data structure, in response to said drawing of said gesture, for at least a subportion of said information on said unlined interface surface in accordance with said operation;
wherein said data structure may vary in accordance with said operation and said data structure is selectively each of a list, text, outline, table and diagram located at any location on the unlined data interface surface, and wherein the operation associated with the gesture is the same, irrespective of a location on the display where the gesture is located;
identifying said information affected by said operation with respect to said data structure;
computing structural parameters for said operation as a function of information identified; and
implementing said operation on said information.
-
-
3. A method for editing data on a display of a graphical editing system comprising the steps of:
-
entering unstructured freeform data anywhere on said display;
wherein said display has a substantially uniform blank unlined presentation, prior to inputting of the data;
designating at least a portion of said displayed data as at least one particular data structure;
wherein said at least one particular data structure may be changed; and
performing an editing operation on at least a subportion of said designated portion of said displayed data after said designation;
wherein the operability of said editing operation is independent of the location of said designated portion of said displayed data, and wherein when the data is designated as text data entered on the unlined display a line-wrapping procedure is made available to a user.- View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 45)
-
-
32. A method for editing data on a substantially blank unlined input area of a display of a graphical editing system which allows for informal scribbling in handwriting, sketches, and inputting ASCII characters with an input device, the method comprising the steps of:
-
entering the data, which is unstructured freeform data, anywhere on said unlined input area of the display;
wherein the structure of said displayed data is undetermined at the time of their entry;
designating at least a portion of said displayed data, which has been entered as freeform data, as at least one particular data structure and said data structure is selectively each of a list, text, outline, table and diagram, wherein said at least one particular data structure may be changed from time to time depending upon said designation, thereby creating a structured selection so that, if desired, an editing operation appropriate to said at least one data structure may be performed on at least a subportion of said designated portion of said displayed data after said designation, wherein an editing operation which may be performed includes a line wrapping editing procedure for the data designated as text, in of the unlined input area which is also configured to receive data designated as a diagram. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34)
generating a line image on said display; searching through said memory in response to said line image generation to determine if said line image is a command gesture; and
if said line image is a command gesture, performing said editing operation in accordance with of a command selected by said command gesture and displaying said displayed data after said editing operation has been performed.
-
-
34. The method of claim 32 further comprising selecting said portion of said displayed data to which said data structure is assigned with a first gesture and selecting said editing operation to be performed on said subportion of said displayed data with a second gesture before performing said editing operation and wherein said designation of at least a portion of said displayed data as at least one data structure is implicitly identified by at least one of the gestures from the group consisting of a said first and second gestures.
-
35. A method for editing data on a substantially uniform unlined input area of a display of a graphical editing system which allows for informal scribbling in handwriting and sketches, and inputting ASCII characters with an input device, the method comprising the steps of:
-
entering unstructured freeform data anywhere on said substantially uniform unlined input area of the display;
wherein the structure of said displayed data is undetermined at the time of their entry;
selecting at least a portion of said displayed data by entering a gesture on said display;
selecting one of a plurality of editing operations configured to be performed on at least a subportion of said selected portion of said displayed data, at least one of the editing operations including text editing operations;
designating said selected portion of said displayed data as at least one particular data structure, thereby creating a structured selection and said data structure is selectively each of a list, text, outline, table and diagram;
wherein said at least one particular data structure may vary depending upon each said designation; and
performing said editing operation on at least a subportion of said structured selection;
wherein the operability of said editing operation is independent of the location of said selected portion of said displayed data, such that data entered at a drawing/text area of the uniform unlined input area can be edited in accordance with both text editing procedures and graphical editing procedures.- View Dependent Claims (36, 46)
-
-
37. In a graphical editing system having a substantially uniform unlined display and a plurality of available data structures, a method for editing data which allows for informal scribbling in handwriting and sketches as well as ASCII characters at any location on the display and for selection of appropriate text based editing for editing of the handwriting and ASCII characters and appropriate graphics based editing for the editing of the sketches independent of the location of the handwriting ASCII characters, and sketches on the display, the method comprising:
-
entry of data in an unstructured freeform manner anywhere on said display, wherein said data is not assigned any of the plurality of available data structures at the time of their entry;
selection of at least a portion of said data with a selection command to indicate on which data to perform an editing operation; and
interpretation by said system of said selected data to associate with said selected data one of said plurality of available data structures which is selective each of a list, text, outline, table and diagram, whereby the system implicitly determines which of said plurality of available data structures is appropriate based upon said selected data and either said selection command or on said editing operation to be performed;
wherein said selected data may be associated with different said available data structure depending upon said editing operation to be performed and wherein, when the selected editing operation is a text editing operation a line wrapping operation is available for text located on the unlined display.- View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
-
-
43. In a graphical editing system having a substantially uniform unlined display and a plurality of available data structures, a method for editing data which allows for informal scribbling in handwriting and sketches as well as entry of ASCII characters at any location on the display and for selection of appropriate text based editing for editing of the handwriting and ASCII characters, and appropriate graphics based editing for the editing of the sketches independent of the location of the handwriting and sketches on the display, the method comprising:
-
entry of data in an unstructured freeform manner anywhere on said display, wherein the structure of said data is undetermined at the time of their entry;
entry of an editing command, and interpretation by said system of said data to associate with said data one of said plurality of available data structures which is selective each of a list, text, outline, table and diagram, whereby the system implicitly determines which of said plurality of data structures is appropriate based upon said data and said editing command;
wherein said data may be associated with different said plurality of available data structures depending upon said editing command to be performed and said editing command remains the same irrespective of where on the unlined display the editing command is located.
-
Specification