Systems, methods and apparatus for magnifying portions of a display

• US 7,062,723 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2002
• Issued: 06/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Gateway Incorporated (Acer, Inc.)
• Inventors: Smith, Kim C., Pollman, Sandie E., D'Souza, Melroy E.
• Primary Examiner(s): YANG, RYAN R
• Application Number:
  US10/151,594
• Publication Number:
  US 20030214519A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,485 Days
• Field of Search: 345/660, 345/470, 345/471, 345/472, 345/472.1, 345/472.2, 345/472.3, 345467-4691, 715/526, 715/860, 715/808, 715/865
• US Class Current: 715/860
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04805 Virtual magnifying lens, i.e. window or frame movable on top of displayed information to enlarge it for better reading or selection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/04 Changes in size, position or resolution of an image
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/045 Zooming at least part of an image, i.e. enlarging it or shrinking it
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/14 Solving problems related to the presentation of information to be displayed
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T

Abstract

Systems, methods and apparatus are provided through which meaningful or semantic portions of displayed visual information, are modified in order to improve their visual perception by a user. In some embodiments, the meaningful portion is limited to a word, a plurality of words, a phrase, a sentence, or a paragraph of text of the information. In some embodiments, the meaningful portion is predefined. In some embodiments, the meaningful portion is dynamically modified based on context of the text, and/or prior use. In some embodiments, the modification includes modifying an attribute of the text, such as size, color, and/or font.

Claims

1. A method of displaying information, the method comprising:

displaying a document;

determining a cursor position relative to the display of the document;

identifying a semantically-coherent portion of the document relative to the cursor position by;

identifying a coherent portion of the document that encompasses the cursor position and is within a predefined scope for the semantically-coherent portion;

limiting the coherent portion to a threshold number of letters to produce a limited coherent portion; and

semantically parsing the limited coherent portion to produce the semantically-coherent portion of the document; and

displaying a visually enhanced version of the semantically-coherent portion.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the document is displayed in a first window, and the visually enhanced semantically-coherent portion of the document is displayed in a second window.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the second window is positioned to minimize overlapping of text in the document corresponding to the semantically-coherent portion.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the semantically-coherent portion is visually enhanced by magnification.

5. A computer-accessible medium having executable instructions to cause a computer to perform a method of displaying information, the method comprising:

displaying a document;

determining a cursor position relative to the display of the document;

identifying a semantically-coherent portion of the document relative to the cursor position by;

identifying a coherent portion of the document that encompasses the cursor position and is within a predefined scope for the semantically-coherent portion;

limiting the coherent portion to a threshold number of letters to produce a limited coherent portion; and

semantically parsing the limited coherent portion to produce the semantically-coherent portion of the document; and

displaying a visually enhanced version of the semantically-coherent portion.

6. The computer-accessible medium of claim 5, wherein the semantically-coherent portion is visually enhanced by magnification.

7. A display of a semantically-coherent portion of information to facilitate visual perception of the portion by a human user, produced by the process comprising:

receiving a cursor position in a document displayed by an application, the cursor position being within a first window;

transmitting the cursor position to a software application;

obtaining an address pointer of a semantically-coherent portion of the document that includes the cursor position from the software application, wherein the software application determines the semantically-coherent portion by;

identifying a coherent portion of the document that encompasses the cursor position and is within a predefined scope for the semantically-coherent portion;

limiting the coherent portion to a threshold number of letters to produce a limited coherent portion; and

semantically parsing the limited coherent portion to produce the semantically-coherent portion of the document; and

displaying the semantically-coherent portion with visual attributes that facilitate visual perception of the semantically-coherent portion by a human user.

8. The display of claim 7, wherein the receiving further comprises receiving a cursor position in a document displayed by an application in a first window with a first point size, the cursor position being within the first window;

and wherein the displaying further comprises displaying the semantically-coherent portion in a second widow with a point size that is larger than the first point size.

9. The display of claim 7, wherein method further comprises:

transmitting an indication of the type of semantically-coherent portion of the document to the software application.

10. A method of facilitating visual perception of information by a human user, the method comprising:

identifying a position in a document, said identification based on a cursor position;

obtaining a semantically-coherent portion of the document by;

identifying a coherent portion of the document that encompasses the cursor position and is within a predefined scope for the semantically-coherent portion;

limiting the coherent portion to a threshold number of letters to produce a limited coherent portion; and

semantically parsing the limited coherent portion to produce the semantically-coherent portion of the document; and

displaying the semantically-coherent portion of the document in a manner that facilitates visual perception of the semantically-coherent portion by a human user.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the semantically-coherent portion of the document is selected from the group consisting of a word, a plurality of words, a phrase, a sentence, a paragraph, or a plurality of paragraphs.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the method further comprises:

dynamically modifying the semantically-coherent portion based on the context of the text.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the method further comprises:

modifying dynamically the semantically-coherent portion based on prior use of the text by a human user.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the displaying further comprises:

displaying the semantically-coherent portion of the document with an attribute that facilitates visual perception of the semantically-coherent portion by a human user.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the displaying further comprises:

displaying a semantically-coherent portion of the document in a point size that facilitates visual perception of the semantically-coherent portion by a human user.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the displaying further comprises:

displaying the semantically-coherent portion of the document in a color that facilitates visual perception of the semantically-coherent portion by a human user.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the displaying further comprises:

displaying the semantically-coherent portion of the document in a font that facilitates visual perception of the semantically-coherent portion by a human user.

18. A system to facilitate visual perception of information by a user, the system comprising:

means for displaying a document;

means for determining a cursor position relative to the display of the document;

means for identifying a semantically-coherent portion of the document relative to the cursor position by;

identifying a coherent portion of the document that encompasses the cursor position and is within a predefined scope for the semantically-coherent portion;

limiting the coherent portion to a threshold number of letters to produce a limited coherent portion; and

semantically parsing the limited coherent portion to produce the semantically-coherent portion of the document; and

means for displaying a magnified version of the semantically-coherent portion.

19. A system to facilitate visual perception of information by a human user, comprising:

a processor;

a display device to visually display the information, the display device operably coupled to the processor;

a pointing device to visually identify a portion of the information, the pointing device operably coupled to the processor;

an application program, to manage thc information, the application program operable on the processor for identifying a semantically-coherent portion of the information that includes the identified portion of the information by;

identifying a coherent portion of the information that encompasses the identified portion of the information and is within a predefined scope for the semantically-coherent portion of said information;

limiting the coherent portion to a threshold size to produce a limited coherent portion; and

semantically parsing the limited coherent portion to produce the semantically-coherent portion of the information; and

software means operative on the processor to receive the identification of the portion of the information, to transmit the identification to the application program, to receive the semantically-coherent portion of the information, and to display the semantically-coherent portion of the information with at least one visual attribute that facilitates visual perception of the semantically-coherent portion of the information by a human user.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the pointing device further comprises a mouse.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the application program further comprises an application program to modify the at least one visual attribute of the semantically-coherent information to facilitate the visual perception of the semantically-coherent information by the human user.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the at least one visual attribute further comprises a point size.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the modifying further comprises increasing the point size.

24. An apparatus to facilitate visual perception of a document by a human user, comprising:

a processor;

a display device to visually display the document, the display device operably coupled to the processor;

a pointing device to visually identify a portion of the document, the pointing device operably coupled to the processor;

a word processor application program operable on the processor for identifying a semantically-coherent portion of the document that includes the identified portion of the document by;

identifying a coherent portion of the document that encompasses the identified portion of the document and is within a predefined scope for the semantically-coherent portion of said document;

limiting the coherent portion to a threshold number of letters to produce a limited coherent portion; and

semantically parsing the limited coherent portion to produce the semantically-coherent portion of the document; and

a software component operable on the processor to receive the identification of the portion of the document, to transmit the identification to the word processor application program, to receive the semantically-coherent portion that includes the identified portion of the document, and to display the semantically-coherent portion with at least one visual attribute that facilitates visual perception of the semantically-coherent portion by a human user.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the pointing device further comprises a mouse.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the word processor application program further comprises a word processor application program to modify the at least one visual attribute of the semantically-coherent portion to facilitate the visual perception of the semantically-coherent portion by the human user.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one visual attribute further comprises a point size.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the modifying further comprises increasing the point size.