Table editing apparatus

• US 6,687,875 B1
• Filed: 02/18/2000
• Issued: 02/03/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Akira
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen S.
• Application Number:
  US09/506,748
• Time in Patent Office: 1,446 Days
• Field of Search: 715/503, 715/504, 715/505, 715/506, 715/507, 715/509, 715/510
• US Class Current: 715/212
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174

Abstract

A table editing apparatus spares users wasteful editing work in determining relative positional relations between cell boundaries of a table. The apparatus includes a cell boundary movement designating unit, a cell boundary position coincidence judging unit, and a cell boundary moving unit. The cell boundary movement designating unit designates a cell boundary to be moved and a direction in which to move the cell boundary. The cell boundary position coincidence judging unit checks cell boundaries retained by the cell boundary holding unit to see whether there is any cell boundary which is also a vertical (horizontal) cell boundary and which has the same horizontal (vertical) position as the designated cell boundary. Given the judgment from the cell boundary position coincidence judging unit, the cell boundary moving unit moves the designated cell boundary in the cell boundary holding unit to a position such that the structure of the table is changed. This eliminates wasteful cell moving operations that can leave the tabular structure unchanged.

Claims

1. A table editing apparatus comprising:

cell boundary holding means for retaining cell boundaries;

cell boundary movement designating means for designating a cell boundary to be moved and a direction in which to move the cell boundary;

cell boundary position coincidence judging means that is used if the cell boundary designated by the cell boundary movement designating means is a vertical cell boundary, the judging means thereupon judging whether or not there exists in the cell boundary holding means any other cell boundary which is vertical in direction and which has the same horizontal position as the designated cell boundary; and

cell boundary moving means for moving the cell boundary designated by the cell boundary movement designating means;

wherein, if the cell boundary position coincidence judging means has judged that there exists another cell boundary having the same position within the cell boundary holding means and if the cell boundary designated by the cell boundary movement designating means is a vertical cell boundary, then the cell boundary movement designating means moves the vertical cell boundary to a half-way point between a pre-movement position and the vertical cell boundary position of the next closest cell in the moving direction.

2. A table editing apparatus comprising:

cell boundary holding means for retaining cell boundaries;

cell boundary movement designating means for designating a cell boundary to be moved and a direction in which to move the cell boundary;

cell boundary position coincidence judging means that is used if the cell boundary designated by the cell boundary movement designating means is a vertical cell boundary, the judging means thereupon judging whether or not there exists in the cell boundary holding means any other cell boundary which is vertical in direction and which has the same horizontal position as the designated cell boundary; and

cell boundary moving means for moving the cell boundary designated by the cell boundary movement designating means;

wherein, if the cell boundary position coincidence judging means has judged that there is no other cell boundary having the same position within the cell boundary holding means and if the cell boundary designated by the cell boundary movement designating means is a vertical cell boundary, then the cell boundary movement designating means moves the vertical cell boundary until the vertical cell boundary coincides with the vertical cell boundary of the next closest cell in the moving direction.

3. A table editing apparatus comprising:

cell boundary holding means for retaining cell boundaries;

cell boundary movement designating means for designating a cell boundary to be moved and a direction in which to move the cell boundary;

cell boundary position coincidence judging means that is used if the cell boundary designated by the cell boundary movement designating means is a horizontal cell boundary, the judging means thereupon judging whether or not there exists in the cell boundary holding means any other cell boundary which is horizontal in direction and which has the same vertical position as the designated cell boundary; and

cell boundary moving means for moving the cell boundary designated by the cell boundary movement designating means;

wherein, if the cell boundary position coincidence judging means has judged that there exists another cell boundary having the same position within the cell boundary holding means and if the cell boundary designated by the cell boundary movement designating means is a horizontal cell boundary, then the cell boundary movement designating means moves the horizontal cell boundary to a half-way point between a pre-movement position and the horizontal cell boundary position of the next closest cell in the moving direction.

4. A table editing apparatus comprising:

cell boundary holding means for retaining cell boundaries;

cell boundary movement designating means for designating a cell boundary to be moved and a direction in which to move the cell boundary;

cell boundary position coincidence judging means that is used if the cell boundary designated by the cell boundary movement designating means is a horizontal cell boundary, the judging means thereupon judging whether or not there exists in the cell boundary holding means any other cell boundary which is horizontal in direction and which has the same vertical position as the designated cell boundary; and

cell boundary moving means for moving the cell boundary designated by the cell boundary movement designating means;

wherein, if the cell boundary position coincidence judging means has judged that there is no other cell boundary having the same position within the cell boundary holding means and if the cell boundary designated by the cell boundary movement designating means is a horizontal cell boundary, then the cell boundary movement designating means moves the horizontal cell boundary until the horizontal cell boundary coincides with the horizontal cell boundary of the next closest cell in the moving direction.