Automatic adaptive document printing help system

• US 6,582,475 B2
• Filed: 09/09/1998
• Issued: 06/24/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Graham, Jamey, Hart, Peter E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bashore, William L.
• Application Number:
  US09/149,920
• Publication Number:
  US 20020004807A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,749 Days
• Field of Search: 707/513, 707/4, 707/104, 707/3, 707/2, 707/526, 707/512, 382/306
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/216 using statistical methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00204 with a digital computer or a digital computer system, e.g. an internet server programmed control between transmitter and receiver or between image input and image output device H04N1/32561
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00411 the display also being used for user input, e.g. touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00416 Multi-level menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00424 using a list of graphical elements, e.g. icons or icon bar
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00427 using a menu list H04N1/00421, H04N1/00424, H04N1/00429 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0044 for image preview or review, e.g. to help the user position a sheet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0045 vertically
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00458 Sequential viewing of a plurality of images, e.g. browsing or scrolling
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00482 outputting a plurality of job set-up options, e.g. number of copies, paper size or resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0081 Image reader H04N2201/0091 - H04N2201/0094 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0082 Image hardcopy reproducer H04N2201/0091 - H04N2201/0094 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation

Abstract

An automatic printing assistant application for documents in electronic form is provided by virtue of the present invention. In certain embodiments, an elongated thumbnail image of all or part of an electronically stored document is displayed. A section of the document of interest to the reader is emphasized. Movement of the emphasized area in the elongated thumbnail image assists the user with the selection of sections or pages of the document for printing. The operation of the assistant is personalizable for a particular user by setting of a sensitivity level and selection of relevant topics of interest. Some embodiments of the assistant are also capable of improved performance over time by both automatic and manual feedback. The assistant is usable with many popular electronic document formats.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for controlling printing of an electronically stored document comprising:

accepting user input indicating a plurality of user-specified concepts of interest;

determining, from said user input indicating a plurality of user specified concepts of interest, at least one of a plurality of keywords relating said concepts of interest to contents of said electronically stored document;

analyzing said electronically stored document to identify locations of discussion of said plurality of user-specified concepts of interest in said electronic document, wherein the identified locations comprise a first location of discussion corresponding to a first user-specified concept of interest and a second location of discussion corresponding to a second user-specified concept of interest;

displaying visual indications of said identified locations;

receiving user input requesting printing the locations of discussion of said plurality of user-specified concepts of interest in said electronic document; and

in response to the user input, printing portions of said electronic document comprising the locations of discussion of said plurality of user-specified concepts of interest in said electronic document, wherein the printed portions of said electronic document comprise the first location of discussion and the second location of discussion.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying visual indications of said identified locations comprises:

displaying an elongated thumbnail image of said electronically stored document in a viewing area of a display, said thumbnail image having at least one of a plurality of indications of locations of discussion of said concepts of interest.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

emphasizing an area of said thumbnail image, said area corresponding to a section of said electronically stored document of interest to the user, to form an emphasized area; and

accepting user input controlling sliding of said emphasized area through said thumbnail image indicating at least one of a plurality of sections of said electronically stored document to print.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein analyzing comprises exploiting a probabilistic inference method to identify said locations.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said probabilistic inference method comprises a Bayesian belief network.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving user input requesting printing the locations of discussion further comprises:

providing a “

sensitivity meter”

input device; and

receiving user input through said “

sensitivity meter”

input device, said input indicating a relative number of sections of said electronically stored document to print.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving user input requesting printing the locations of discussion further comprises:

providing a “

print most relevant”

input device; and

receiving user input through said “

print most relevant”

input device.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving user input requesting printing the locations of discussion further comprises:

providing a mechanism to select at least one of a plurality of sections of the electronically stored document for printing; and

receiving user input specifying particular sections of the electronically stored document for printing.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein printing portions of said electronically stored document further comprises:

printing an annotated paper version of said electronically stored document.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying a level of relevance of said electronically stored document to said concepts of interest.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the user input comprises a single command to request printing the portions of said electronic document.

12. A computer-implemented method for dynamically controlling printing of an electronically stored multi-page document said method comprising:

accepting user input indicating a plurality of user-specified concepts of interest;

determining, from said user input indicating a plurality of user specified concepts of interest, at least one of a plurality of keywords relating said concepts of interest to contents of said electronically stored document;

analyzing said electronically stored document to identify locations of discussion of said plurality of user-specified concepts of interest in said electronic document;

displaying a single elongated thumbnail image of said electronically stored multi-page document in a viewing area of a display, said single elongated thumbnail image displaying contents of multiple pages of said electronically stored multi-page document in a continuous form, wherein the identified locations of discussion are visually highlighted in the thumbnail image;

displaying a viewing window covering a first area of said single elongated thumbnail image, said viewing window capable of being slidably positioned over an area of said single elongated thumbnail image;

moving said viewing window to a first area of said single elongated thumbnail image in response to a user input; and

printing a portion of said electronically stored multi-page document corresponding to said first area of said single elongated thumbnail image.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising highlighting portions of said single elongated thumbnail image corresponding to said locations of discussion of said plurality of user-specified concepts of interest in said electronic document.

14. A computer program product for controlling printing of an electronically stored document comprising:

code for accepting user input indicating a plurality of user-specified concepts of interest;

code for determining, from said user input indicating a plurality of user specified concepts of interest, at least one of a plurality of keywords relating said concepts of interest to contents of said electronically stored document;

code for analyzing said electronically stored document to identify locations of discussion of said plurality of user-specified concepts of interest in said electronic document, wherein the identified locations comprise a first location of discussion corresponding to a first user-specified concept of interest and a second location of discussion corresponding to a second user-specified concept of interest;

code for displaying visual indications of said locations;

code for receiving user input requesting printing the locations of discussion of said plurality of user-specified concepts of interest in said electronic document;

in response to the user input, code for printing portions of said electronic document comprising the locations of discussion of said plurality of user-specified concepts of interest in said electronic document, wherein the printed portions of said electronic document comprise the first location of discussion and the second location of discussion; and

a computer-readable storage medium for storing the codes.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein said code for displaying visual indications of said identified locations comprises:

code for displaying an elongated thumbnail image of said electronically stored document in a viewing area of a display, said thumbnail image having at least one of a plurality of indications of locations of discussion of said plurality of concepts of interest.

16. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein said code for receiving user input requesting printing the locations of discussion further comprises:

code for emphasizing an area of said thumbnail image corresponding to a section of said electronically stored document of interest; and

code for accepting user input controlling sliding of said emphasized area through said electronically stored document indicating sections of said electronically stored document to print.

17. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein said code for analyzing comprises code for exploiting a probabilistic interference method to identify said locations.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein said probabilistic interference method comprises a Bayesian belief network.

19. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein said code for receiving user input requesting printing the locations of discussion further comprises:

code for providing a “

sensitivity meter”

input device, said sensitivity meter input device having a visual indication of relevance coupled to a selectable relevance level; and

code for receiving user input through said “

sensitivity meter”

input device, said input indicating, said selectable relevance level, and thereupon converting said selectable relevance level into a relative number of sections of said electronically stored document to print.

20. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein said code for receiving user input requesting printing the locations of discussion further comprises:

code for providing a “

print most relevant”

input device; and

code for receiving user input through said “

print most relevant”

input device.

21. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein said code for receiving user input requesting printing the locations of discussion further comprises:

code for providing a mechanism to select sections of the electronically stored document for printing; and

code for receiving user input specifying particular sections of the electronically stored document for printing.

22. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein said code for printing portions of said electronically stored document further comprises:

code for printing an annotated paper version of said electronically stored document.

23. The computer program product of claim 14 further comprising code for displaying a level of relevance of said electronically stored document to said plurality of concepts of interest.

24. A computer-implemented method for displaying and printing an electronic multi-page document comprising:

displaying a single thumbnail image of said electronic multi-page document in a first viewing area of a display, said thumbnail image displaying contents of said electronic multi-page document in a continuous form, wherein at least part of the contents are visually highlighted in the thumbnail image;

emphasizing an area of said thumbnail image;

displaying a section of said electronic multi-page document corresponding to said emphasized area in a second viewing area of said display;

accepting user input controlling sliding said emphasized area over said thumbnail image;

scrolling said displayed section in said second viewing area responsive to said sliding so that the section of the electronic multi-page document displayed in said second viewing area continues to correspond to said emphasized area;

responsive to user input invoking print functionality, displaying a user interface displaying said single thumbnail image of said electronic multi-page document, and displaying a prompt for receiving a print preference;

accepting at said prompt user input indicating a print preference for printing portions of said electronic multi-page document identified in the single thumbnail image; and

printing portions of said electronic multi-page document corresponding to said print preference.

25. A computer-implemented method for displaying and printing an electronic document comprising:

displaying contents of said electronic document in a first viewing area of a display according to a first viewing scale;

emphasizing an area of said first viewing area;

displaying a section of said electronic document corresponding to said emphasized area of said first viewing area in a second viewing area of said display;

changing said first viewing scale in said first viewing area;

changing said displayed section in said second viewing area responsive to said change in first viewing scale such that the section of the electronic document displayed in said second viewing area continues to correspond to said emphasized area;

accepting user input indicating a plurality of user-specified concepts of interest;

analyzing said electronically stored document to identify locations of discussion of said plurality of user-specified concepts of interest in said electronic document, wherein the identified locations comprise a first location of discussion corresponding to a first user-specified concept of interest and a second location of discussion corresponding to a second user-specified concept of interest;

displaying visual indications of said identified locations in said first viewing area and said second viewing area of said display;

receiving user input requesting printing portions of the electronic document comprising the locations of discussion of said plurality of user-specified concepts of interest; and

printing said portions of said electronic document wherein the printed portions of said electronic document comprise the first location of discussion and the second location of discussion.

26. A computer-implemented method for annotating and printing an electronically stored document comprising:

accepting user input indicating a user-specified concept of interest;

determining, from said user input, at least one of a plurality of keywords relating said user-specified concept of interest to contents of said electronically stored document;

analyzing said electronic document to identify locations of discussion of said user-specified concept of interest based on said at least one of a plurality of keywords, wherein the identified locations comprise a first location of discussion corresponding to a first user-specified concept of interest and a second location of discussion corresponding to a second user-specified concept of interest;

displaying said electronic document with visual indications of said identified locations;

displaying marginal notation identifying said locations whose relevance level to said user-specified concept of interest exceeds a threshold relevance level value;

receiving user input requesting printing portions of the electronic document comprising the locations of discussion of said user-specified concept of interest; and

printing said portions of said electronic document, wherein the printed portions of said electronic document comprise the first location of discussion and the second location of discussion.

27. A computer-implemented method for annotating and printing an electronically stored document comprising:

accepting user input indicating a user-specified concept of interest;

accepting user input indicating a plurality of subconcepts for said user-specified concept of interest, each subconcept having a probability value associated wit it indicating probability of existence of said user-specified concept of interest given the presence of said subconcept;

determining, from said user input, at least one of a plurality of keywords relating said subconcepts to contents of said electronically stored document;

analyzing said electronic document to identify locations of discussion of said user-specified subconcepts, wherein the identified locations of discussion comprise a first location of discussion corresponding to a first user-specified subconcept and a second location of discussion corresponding to a second user-specified subconcept;

displaying said electronic document with visual indications of said identified locations;

accepting user input requesting printing portions of the electronic document comprising the locations of discussion of said plurality of user-specified subconcepts; and

printing said portions of said electronic document, wherein the printed portions of said electronic document comprise the first location of discussion and the second location of discussion.

28. A computer-implemented method for controlling printing of an electronically stored document comprising:

accepting user input indicating a plurality of user-specified concepts of interest;

determining, from said user input indicating a plurality of user specified concepts of interest, at least one of a plurality of keywords relating said concepts of interest to contents of said electronically stored document;

analyzing said electronically stored document to identify locations of discussion of said plurality of user-specified concepts of interest in said electronic document, wherein the identified locations comprise a first location of discussion corresponding to a first user-specified concept of interest and a second location of discussion corresponding to a second user-specified concept of interest;

displaying visual indications of said identified locations;

receiving a single user input requesting printing the locations of discussion of said plurality of user-specified concepts of interest in said electronic document; and

in response to the single user input, printing a plurality of sub-portions of said electronic document comprising the locations of discussion of said plurality of user-specified concepts of interest in said electronic document, wherein the plurality of sub-portions of said electronic document comprise the first location of discussion and the second location of discussion.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the plurality of sub-portions comprise at least one a first sub-portion and a second sub-portion that are non-contiguous.