Applying operations to selected data of different types
First Claim
1. A method of binding an implementation of an operation to data, comprising:
- receiving a selection of data from a user through a user interface of a computer program running on a computer;
recognizing a single type of the selected data; and
creating a type-specific specifier object according to the recognized single type, where the specifier object specifies implementations of one or more operations, each of the specified imiplementations being operable only on data of the recognized single type.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus implementing a technique for applying suites of operations to selected data through a user interface. In response to a selection of data from a user through a user interface, the user interface creates a specifier object which binds implementations of operations provided by the user interface to the selected data according to the type of the data. In general, the technique includes receiving a selection of data having a type from a user through a user interface of a computer program running on a computer; recognizing the type of the selected data; and creating a specifier object according to the type, where the specifier object specifies an implementation of an operation.
13 Citations
48 Claims
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1. A method of binding an implementation of an operation to data, comprising:
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receiving a selection of data from a user through a user interface of a computer program running on a computer;
recognizing a single type of the selected data; and
creating a type-specific specifier object according to the recognized single type, where the specifier object specifies implementations of one or more operations, each of the specified imiplementations being operable only on data of the recognized single type. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
a specifier interface for accessing the specifier object;
a selector interface for accessing the selected data; and
at least one suite interface for accessing a corresponding suite of implementations, where each suite of implementations corresponds to a suite of operations.
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10. The method of claim 1, where the specifier object is a COM (Component Object Model) object.
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11. The method of claim 1, where the implementation is one of a number of implementations of the operation, and where each implementation is applicable to a different type of data.
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12. The method of claim 1, where the specifier object specifies an implementation for each operation provided by the user interface for the type of the specifier object.
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13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
providing a corresponding implementation of the operation for each type of data.
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14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
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providing a first implementation of the operation for a first type of data;
providing a second implementation of the operation for a second type of data;
if the selected data is the first type, binding the first implementation to the selected data by creating a specifier object specifying the first implementation; and
if the selected data is the second type, binding the second implementation to the selected data by creating a specifier object specifying the second implementation.
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15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
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receiving a selection of an operation to be applied to the selected data from the user through the user interface; and
if an implementation of the selected operation is specified by the specifier object, invoking the implementation.
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16. The method of claim 15, where the user interface sends a query to a specifier object to determine whether an implementation of the selected operation is specified by the specifier object.
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17. The method of claim 1, where the specifier object is defined in a separate software component from the user interface.
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18. A method of binding operations to data, comprising:
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receiving a selection of data from a user through a user interface of a computer program running on a computer;
recognizing a single type of the selected data;
creating a type-specific specifier object based on the recognized single type of the selected data;
binding the selected data to the type-specific specifier object; and
binding a type-dependent implementation of an operation to the type-specific specifier object according to the recognized single type of the selected data, the type-dependent implementation being operable only on data of the recognized single type. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
receiving a selection of an operation to be applied to the selected data from the user through the user interface; and
if an implementation of the selected operation is bound to the specifier object, invoking the implementation.
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20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:
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invoking the operation through the user interface, where the user interface sends a type-independent request to the specifier object to invoke the operation; and
invoking the type-dependent implementation through the specifier object, where the specifier object invokes the type-dependent implementation in response to the type-independent request from the user interface.
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21. A computer program stored on a computer-readable medium, for binding operations to data, including instructions operable to cause a computer to:
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receive a selection of data having a type from a user through a user interface;
recognize the type of the selected data; and
create a specifier object according to the type, where the specifier object specifies an implementation of an operation that can be performed on data of the type. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
a specifier interface for accessing the specifier object;
a selector interface for accessing the selected data; and
at least one suite interface for accessing a corresponding suite of implementations, where each suite of implementations corresponds to a suite of operations.
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30. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the specifier object is a COM (Component Object Model) object.
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31. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the implementation is one of a number of implementations of the operation, and where each implementation is applicable to a different type of data.
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32. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the specifier object specifies an implementation for each operation provided by the user interface for the type of the specifier object.
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33. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising instructions operable to cause a computer to:
provide a corresponding implementation of the operation for each type of data.
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34. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising instructions operable to cause a computer to:
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provide a first implementation of the operation for a first type of data;
provide a second implementation of the operation for a second type of data;
if the selected data is the first type, bind the first implementation to the selected data by creating a specifier object specifying the first implementation; and
if the selected data is the second type, bind the second implementation to the selected data by creating a specifier object specifying the second implementation.
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35. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising instructions operable to cause a computer to:
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receive a selection of an operation to be applied to the selected data from the user through the user interface; and
if an implementation of the selected operation is specified by the specifier object, invoke the implementation.
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36. The computer program product of claim 35, where the user interface sends a query to a specifier object to determine whether an implementation of the selected operation is specified by the specifier object.
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37. The computer program product of claim 21, where the specifier object is defined in a separate software component from the user interface.
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38. A computer program plug-in stored on a computer-readable medium, for binding operations to data, including instructions operable to cause a computer to:
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create a specifier object corresponding to a type of data, where the specifier object defines;
a selector interface for accessing a selection of data of the type, selected through a user interface, and an operation interface for accessing an implementation of an operation to be applied to the selected data of the type, where the specifier object is created in response to a user selecting the selection of data through the user interface. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A computer program stored on a computer-readable medium, including instructions operable to cause a computer to:
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provide a plurality of types of data;
provide an operation in a user interface, where the operation is type-independent;
provide at least one implementation of the operation, where each implementation is type-dependent and corresponds to a type of data;
provide a selection interface for selecting data through the user interface; and
provide an object generator which, in response to a selection of data through the selection interface, generates a specifier object bound to the selected data, where the specifier object specifies an implementation of the operation according to the type of the selected data. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45)
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46. A computer program stored on a computer-readable medium, for binding operations to data, including instructions operable to cause a computer to:
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receive a selection of data from a user through a user interface of a computer program running on a computer;
recognize a single type of the selected data;
create a type-specific specifier object based on the recognized single type of the selected data;
bind the selected data to the type-specific specifier object; and
bind a type-dependent implementation of an operation to the type-specific specifier object according to the recognized single type of the selected data, the type-dependent implementation being operable only on data of the recognized single type. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48)
receive a selection of an operation to be applied to the selected data from the user through the user interface; and
if an implementation of the selected operation is bound to the specifier object, invoke the implementation.
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48. The computer program product of claim 46, further comprising instructions operable to cause a computer to:
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invoke the operation through the user interface, where the user interface sends a type-independent request to the specifier object to invoke the operation; and
invoke the type-dependent implementation through the specifier object, where the specifier object invokes the type-dependent implementation in response to the type-independent request from the user interface.
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Specification