Implicit page breaks for digitally represented handwriting

• US 6,816,615 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2001
• Issued: 11/09/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tee, Cynthia C., Feldman, Evan M., Smith, Anthony S., Lui, Charlton E., Altman, Dan W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mariam, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US09/795,983
• Publication Number:
  US 20020057836A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,350 Days
• Field of Search: 382/176, 382/181, 382/186-189, 382/195, 382/218, 382/229, 382/313, 382/175, 178/18.01, 178/19.01, 345/173, 345/179, 715/506-508, 715/525
• US Class Current: 382/187
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03545 Pens or stylus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/114 Pagination
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1423 the instrument generating sequences of position coordinates corresponding to handwriting preprocessing or recognising digital ink G06V30/32

Abstract

A logical separation between pages, such as an implicit page break, is introduced to separate text entered during one handwriting session from text entered during another handwriting session. If the user leaves more than a threshold amount of blank space at the bottom of the page immediately preceding the new page, then an implicit page break may be inserted at the beginning of the new page. The amount of blank space left at the end of the preceding page may be combined with other criteria to determine whether to insert an implicit page break. The amount of time elapsed since ink has been captured on the previous page is another factor that may be used by itself or combined with other factors to determine whether to insert an implicit page break into the new page. A change in context, such as a different date or different recognized subject matter labels, is also a factor that may be considered in determining whether to insert an implicit page break.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for logically separating a first page of digitally represented handwriting from a second page of digitally represented handwriting by performing the steps comprising:

determining whether at least a predetermined amount of blank space is present substantially at a bottom of the first page;

storing an indication that the first page and the second page are logically separate if there is more than the predetermined amount of blank space present substantially at the bottom of the first page;

determining whether a drawing is located substantially at a top of the second page;

responsive to determining that a drawing is located substantially at the top of the second page, storing an indication that the first page and the second page are logically separate if there is more than a second amount of blank space present at the bottom of the first page, wherein the second amount of blank space is greater than the predetermined amount of blank space.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 having further computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of:

responsive to determining that a drawing is located substantially at the top of the second page, determining a height of the drawing; and

setting an amount by which the second amount of blank space is greater than the predetermined amount of blank space based upon the height of the drawing.

3. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for logically separating a first page of digitally represented handwriting from a second page of digitally represented handwriting by performing the steps of:

determining whether a context change occurred between handwriting recognized on the first page and handwriting recognized on the second page;

storing an indication that the first page and the second page are logically separate if it is determined that a context change occurred between handwriting recognized on the first page and handwriting recognized on the second page; and

determining whether a context change has occurred between the first page and the second page by

recognizing a first handwritten date on the first page to produce a first recognized date and

recognizing a second handwritten date on the second page to produce a second recognized date, wherein the second recognized date is different than the first recognized date.

4. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for logically separating a first page of digitally represented handwriting from a second page of digitally represented handwriting by performing the steps of:

determining whether a context change occurred between handwriting recognized on the first page and handwriting recognized on the second page;

storing an indication that the first page and the second page are logically separate if it is determined that a context change occurred between handwriting recognized on the first page and handwriting recognized on the second page; and

determining whether a context change has occurred between the first page and the second page by

recognizing handwritten text of a first label on the first page to produce recognized text of the first label, and

recognizing handwritten text of a second label on the second page to produce recognized text of the second label, wherein the recognized text of the second label is different than the recognized text of the first label.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 4 wherein the first page and the second page are adjacent.

6. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for logically separating a first page of digitally represented handwriting from a second page of digitally represented handwriting by performing steps comprising:

determining whether at least a predetermined amount of blank space is present substantially at a bottom of the first page;

determining whether at least a predetermined amount of time elapsed between capturing ink on the first page and capturing ink on the second page;

determining whether a context change occurred between recognized handwriting on the first page and recognized handwriting on the second page; and

storing an indication that the first page and the second page are logically separate if at least one condition is satisfied, the at least one condition being selected from the group consisting of;

there is more than the predetermined amount of blank space present substantially at the bottom of the first page,

more than the predetermined amount of time elapsed between capturing ink on the first page and capturing ink on the second page, and

a context change is determined to exist between recognized writing on the first page and recognized writing on the second page.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 6 having further computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of:

displaying, on a display surface, either handwriting entered on the first page or handwriting entered on the second page, but not both handwriting entered on the first page and handwriting entered on the second page, based upon the stored indication of a logical separation between the first and second pages, even when there is sufficient display surface area to display simultaneously both handwriting entered on the first page and handwriting entered on the second page.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 having further computer-executable instructions for performing the steps of:

detecting when a new page is inserted between a first existing page of digitally represented handwriting and a second existing page of digitally represented handwriting;

storing an indication of a logical separation between the first existing page and the new page; and

storing an indication of a logical separation between the new page and the second existing page.

9. A method of inserting an implicit page break into digitally represented inked text, the method comprising the steps of:

upon capturing inked text on a new page of inked text, determining whether at least a threshold amount of blank space is present substantially at a bottom of a page of inked text immediately preceding the new page of inked text;

inserting an implicit page break substantially at the beginning of the new page of inked text if there is more than the threshold amount of blank space present substantially at the bottom of the page of inked text immediately preceding the new page of inked text;

determining whether a drawing is located substantially at a top of the new page; and

responsive to determining that a drawing is located substantially at the top of the new page, inserting an implicit page break substantially at the beginning of the new page if there is more than a second threshold amount of blank space present at the bottom of the page immediately preceding the new page, wherein the second threshold amount of blank space is greater than the threshold amount of blank space.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising the steps of:

responsive to determining that a drawing is located substantially at the top of the new page, determining a height of the drawing; and

setting an amount by which the second threshold amount of blank space is greater than the threshold amount of blank space based upon the height of the drawing.

11. A method of inserting an implicit page break into digitally represented inked text, the method comprising the steps of:

upon capturing inked text on a new page of inked text, determining whether a context change occurred between text recognized on a page of inked text preceding the new page of inked text and text recognized on the new page;

inserting an implicit page break substantially at the beginning of the new page if a context change occurred between text recognized on the page of inked text preceding the new page of inked text and text recognized on the new page; and

determining whether a context change has occurred between the new page and the page preceding the new page by

recognizing a first inked date on the page preceding the new page to produce a first recognized date and

recognizing a second inked date on the new page to produce a second recognized date, wherein the second recognized date is different than the first recognized date.

12. A method of inserting an implicit page break into digitally represented inked text, the method comprising the steps of:

upon capturing inked text on a new page of inked text, determining whether a context change occurred between text recognized on a page of inked text preceding the new page of inked text and text recognized on the new page;

inserting an implicit page break substantially at the beginning of the new page if a context change occurred between text recognized on the page of inked text preceding the new page of inked text and text recognized on the new page; and

determining whether a context change has occurred between the new page and the page preceding the new page by

recognizing inked text of a first label on the page preceding the new page to produce recognized text of the first label, and

recognizing inked text of a second label on the new page to produce recognized text of the second label, wherein the recognized text of the second label is different than the recognized text of the first label.

13. A method of inserting an implicit page break into digitally represented inked text, the method comprising the steps of:

upon capturing inked text on a new page of inked text, determining whether at least a threshold amount of blank space is present substantially at a bottom of a page of inked text immediately preceding the new page of inked text;

determining whether at least a threshold amount of time elapsed between capturing ink on the page of inked text immediately preceding the new page of inked text and capturing ink on the new page;

determining whether a context change occurred between recognized text on a page of inked text preceding the new page of inked text and recognized text on the new page; and

inserting an implicit page break substantially at the beginning of the new page if at least one condition is satisfied, the at least one condition being selected from the group consisting of;

there is more than the threshold amount of blank space present substantially at the bottom of the immediately preceding page,

more than the threshold amount of time elapsed between capturing ink on the immediately preceding page and capturing ink on the new page, and

a context change is determined to exist between recognized text on the page of inked text preceding the new page of inked text and recognized text on the new page.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the page of inked text preceding the new page of inked text is adjacent the new page.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising the steps of:

detecting when a page is inserted, thereby producing an inserted page, between a first existing page of inked text and a second existing page of inked text;

inserting an implicit page break substantially at the beginning of the inserted page; and

inserting an implicit page break substantially at the beginning of the second existing page.

16. A method of inserting an implicit page break into digitally represented inked text, the method comprising the steps of:

upon capturing inked text on a new page of inked text, determining whether a context change occurred between text recognized on a page of inked text preceding the new page of inked text and text recognized on the new page;

inserting an implicit page break substantially at the beginning of the new page if a context change occurred between text recognized on the page of inked text preceding the new page of inked text and text recognized on the new page; and

displaying, on a display surface, either the inked text entered on the new page or inked text entered on a preceding page, but not both inked text entered on the new page and inked text entered on the page preceding the new page, based upon the inserted implicit page break, even when there is sufficient display surface area to display simultaneously both inked text entered on the new page and inked text entered on the page preceding the new page.