Method and system for maintaining alternates in association with recognized words

• US 6,801,660 B1
• Filed: 08/22/2000
• Issued: 10/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lui, Charlton E., Altman, Dan W., Williamson, Peter H.
• Primary Examiner(s): MARIAM, DANIEL G
• Application Number:
  US09/643,414
• Time in Patent Office: 1,505 Days
• Field of Search: 382/181, 382/186-189, 382/202, 382/229, 382/231, 382/309-311, 704/10, 707/9, 715/530, 715/532, 715/533
• US Class Current: 382/187
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/171 by use of digital ink
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1423 the instrument generating sequences of position coordinates corresponding to handwriting preprocessing or recognising digital ink G06V30/32

Abstract

In a computing device that receives handwritten data, a method and system that maintains an association between alternates for a given ink word, regardless of the handwritten or text state of the word, and regardless of the position of the word as it may be edited in a document. Handwritten data is maintained in an ink word data structure, and once the word is recognized and an alternate is selected for it, the first character of the word remains as an ink word (in a text buffer) pointing to the data structure, with a flag set in the data structure indicating that the word is now recognized as text. In this state, the first character is displayed to the user as a recognized text letter instead of as the handwritten word. The other characters that make up the recognized word are inserted as text into the text buffer. Any alternates returned by the recognizer are thus stored with the ink word data structure displayed as this first character of a recognized word, which also maintains the ink data, e.g., the stroke information entered by a user or the like. Then, if the user edits the word, e.g., moves it, the alternates and also the ink data move with the word. Other alternatives for associating the alternates with the recognized text are also described.

Claims

1. In a computing device, a method comprising:

receiving ink data of a first word;

maintaining recognition state information in association with the ink data of the first word that indicates that the first word is in an unrecognized state so that additional ink or text corresponding to a second word can be received independent of when the first word is recognized; and

upon recognition of the first word,

a) receiving data representing a set of at least one alternate recognized as corresponding to the ink data of the first word;

b) storing the set in association with the ink data of the first word such that the set remains associated with the ink data of the first word; and

c) modifying the recognition state information that is in association with the ink data of the first word to indicate that the ink data of the first word has been recognized and has the set associated therewith.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the set in association with the ink data includes appending information of the set to an ink word data structure that maintains information of the ink data.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the set in association with the ink data includes appending a pointer to an ink word data structure that maintains information of the ink data, the pointer pointing to a data structure for storing information of the set.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein modifying the recognition state information that is in association with the ink data includes setting a flag in an ink word data structure that maintains information of the ink data of the first word.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising, receiving information corresponding to a selected alternate of the set.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising storing information corresponding to the selected alternate in association with the ink data of the first word such that the selected alternate remains associated with the ink data of the first word when the ink data is moved.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising modifying information corresponding to the ink data to indicate that the ink data has a selected alternate associated therewith.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, determining whether the ink data of the first word has a selected alternate associated therewith, and if so, inserting information corresponding to the selected alternate into a buffer.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising, determining that the ink data of the first word has a selected alternate associated therewith, and inserting at least some text corresponding to the alternate into a buffer.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the selected alternate corresponds to a text word, and wherein inserting at least some text corresponding to the alternate into a buffer includes inserting text characters other than a first character of the text word into the buffer.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising, interpreting the ink data as the first character of the text word.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising, receiving information corresponding to a selected alternate of the set, storing information corresponding to the selected alternate in association with the ink data of the first word, and interpreting the ink data of the first word as the selected alternate.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein interpreting the ink data of the first word as the selected alternate includes displaying the ink as the selected alternate instead of in a handwritten form.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein interpreting the ink data of the first word as the selected alternate includes treating at least some of the ink data of the first word as not visible for purposes of display.

15. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions which when executed perform the method of claim 1.

16. In a computing device configured to recognize handwritten words, a system comprising,

at least one ink word data structure, each ink word data structure having data therein corresponding to a handwritten word;

a buffer configured to maintain the locations of characters relative to the handwritten words, the buffer including an indicator and associated pointer to each ink word data structure having data therein corresponding to a handwritten word in the buffer; and

an alternates handling mechanism, the mechanism configured to associate a set of alternates recognized for the handwritten word with the ink word data structure having data for that handwritten word, the alternates handling mechanism configured to operate in conjunction with a background recognition process without halting for user instruction, such that another handwritten word can be entered while the alternates handling mechanism operates.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the alternates handling mechanism stores the set of alternates in an ink word data structure having data therein corresponding to the handwritten word.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the alternates handling mechanism modifies information in a header of the ink word data structure to indicate that the set of alternates is associated therewith.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the alternates handling mechanism receives selection of a selected alternate of the set.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the alternates handling mechanism modifies information in the ink word data structure to identify the selected alternate within the set.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the alternates handling mechanism inserts at least some characters corresponding to the selected alternate into the text buffer.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the selected alternate corresponds to a text word, and wherein the alternates handling mechanism inserts characters other than a first character of the text word into the buffer.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the alternates handling mechanism interprets the ink word data structure having an alternate selected therefore as the first character of the text word.

24. The system of claim 19 wherein the alternates handling mechanism inserts information corresponding to the selected alternate into a buffer.

25. The system of claim 19 wherein the alternates handling mechanism interprets the ink word data structure having the selected alternate to display the ink word data structure as at least one text character instead of as a handwritten word.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein the alternates handling mechanism inserts text corresponding to the selected alternate into the text buffer, and interprets the ink word data structure as invisible for purposes of display.

27. The system of claim 25 wherein the alternates handling mechanism interprets the ink word data structure as invisible by changing the indicator thereof to a token indicating invisibility.

28. The system of claim 25 wherein the alternates handling mechanism interprets the ink word data structure as invisible by determining that the ink word data structure has the selected alternate associated therewith.

29. In a computer system, a method comprising:

receiving data representing a set of alternates corresponding to ink data;

storing the set in association with the ink data such that the set is associated with the ink data;

receiving selection of a selected alternate from the set for the ink data;

storing the selected alternate in association with the ink data such that the selected alternate is associated with the ink data;

following selection of the selected alternate, interpreting the ink data as representing at least one part of the selected alternate, wherein interpreting the ink data includes, encountering a pointer to an ink word data structure containing the ink data, and locating the at least one part of the selected alternative via the pointer; and

wherein locating the at least one part of the selected alternate includes locating a first text character corresponding to the selected alternate.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising, storing at least one other part of the selected alternate as text in a buffer.

31. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions which when executed perform the method of claim 29.