Document object membranes

• US 7,296,240 B1
• Filed: 05/22/2003
• Issued: 11/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Pratley, Christopher, Yalovsky, Mark, Braun, Owen C., Simmons, Alex
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo; Weilun
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chuong; Truc T.
• Application Number:
  US10/444,317
• Time in Patent Office: 1,636 Days
• Field of Search: 715/710, 715/711, 715/715, 715/724, 715/770, 715/780, 715/821, 715/822, 715/823, 715/859, 715/769
• US Class Current: 715/770
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting

Abstract

Displaying a membrane, or container, around a document object on an electronic document page. In response to placing the insertion point (IP) on the page, a ghost membrane can be displayed on an output screen at the IP. After content is added at the IP, a membrane around the content can be displayed. This membrane can be continually displayed, even when an IP is not in the document object. One or more handles may be displayed around the membrane of a document object containing an IP or underlying a cursor. An IP can also be placed within a hit region associated with a membrane of a document object, allowing a user to add content to that document object at the IP. Similarly, selected text can be dragged from one document object to another document object and added to that document object when the selected text contacts a hit region of the document object.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for creating a new document object with a boundary around the new document object for an electronic document page comprising the steps of:

placing an insertion point on the electronic document page and outside a boundary for each existing document object on the electronic document page;

in response to the placing of the insertion point on the electronic document page, displaying a ghost membrane at the insertion point, wherein the displayed ghost membrane comprises a shape with a color that contrasts with a color for the electronic document page;

creating the new document object by adding content at the insertion point; and

continuously displaying a membrane around the new document object to define a boundary for the content of the new document object, wherein the membrane is associated with a first and second hit region, wherein the first hit region causes content associated with the hit region to be positioned in a first location of the new document object, wherein the second hit region causes content associated with the hit region to be positioned in a second location of the new document object.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of displaying a ghost membrane comprises displaying a geometric shape comprising a rectangle.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein a vertical height of the displayed rectangle is equal to one line height for a default font for the electronic document page and a horizontal width of the rectangle is greater than the height of the rectangle.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of displaying a membrane comprises displaying a geometric shape comprising a rectangle around the document object.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the rectangle comprises a horizontal width greater than the greatest length in the horizontal direction of any content in the document object and a vertical height greater than the greatest height in the vertical direction of the content in the new document object.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of displaying a membrane around the new document object comprises displaying the membrane around the new document object as long as the insertion point is within the new document object.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of displaying a membrane around the new document object further comprises displaying the membrane around the new document object when the insertion point is outside the document object and a cursor is over the new document object.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of displaying the membrane comprises displaying the membrane along the contours of the content of the new document object.

9. A computer-readable storage device storing a set of computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

10. A computer-implemented method for identifying a boundary for at least one document object of an electronic document page comprising the steps of:

displaying at least a portion of the electronic document page on an output screen;

continuously displaying a membrane around each document object on the portion of the electronic document page visible on the output screen, each membrane operative to visibly define the boundary for content of a corresponding document object; and

associating a first and second hit region with the membrane, wherein the first hit region causes content associated with the first hit region to be associated with content of a document object of the membrane at a first location, wherein the second hit region cause content associated with the second hit region to be associated with content of the document object of the membrane at a second location.

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

placing an insertion point into any of the document objects on the displayed electronic document page; and

displaying one or more handles associated with the document object containing the insertion point.

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

placing an insertion point onto the displayed electronic document page and outside any of the document objects;

in response to the placing of the insertion point on the electronic document page, displaying a ghost membrane at the insertion point, wherein the displayed ghost membrane comprises a shape with a color that contrasts with a color for the electronic document page;

creating a new document object at the insertion point location; and

displaying at least one handle and a membrane around the new document object created at the insertion point location.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of displaying a ghost membrane comprises displaying a geometric shape comprising a rectangle.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein a vertical height of the displayed rectangle is equal to one line height for a default font for the electronic document page and a horizontal width of the rectangle is greater than the height of the rectangle.

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

moving a cursor around the displayed electronic document page; and

displaying at least one handle associated with each document object when the document object underlies the cursor.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of displaying a membrane around each document object comprises displaying a geometric shape comprising a rectangle.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the rectangle has a horizontal width greater than the greatest length in the horizontal direction of content in the document object and a vertical height greater than the greatest height in the vertical direction of the content in the document object.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of displaying the membrane comprises displaying the membrane along the contours of the content of each document object.

19. A computer-readable storage device storing a set of computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 10.

20. A computer-implemented method for adding content to a document object, comprising the steps of:

placing an insertion point on an electronic document page; and

when the insertion point is within a first hit region of any of the document objects on the electronic document page, incorporating any content entered at the insertion point into a first position of the document object associated with the first hit region, wherein the first hit region is outside of the boundaries of the document object as defined by a membrane and is associated with the membrane; and

when the insertion point is within a second hit region of any of the document objects on the electronic document page, incorporating any content entered at the insertion point into a second position of the document object associated with the second hit region, wherein the second hit region is outside of the boundaries of the document object as defined by a membrane and is associated with the membrane.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the first hit region is located at the bottom of the document object and the second hit region is location at the top of the document object.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the height of the first and second hit regions are set by an electronic document editor.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the height of the first and second hit regions are equal to one and one-half line heights for a default font for the electronic document page.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein the height of the first and second hit region is set by a user.

25. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of continuously displaying a membrane around the content of the document object including any content added at the insertion point.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising the step of displaying at least one handle associated with the membrane of the document object.

27. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of positioning the insertion point outside of the hit region and document object when the insertion point is placed into the first or second hit region while navigating out of the document object.

28. A computer-readable storage device storing a set of computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 20.

29. A computer-implemented method for adding content to a first document object from a second document object on an electronic document page, comprising the steps of:

selecting content from the second document object on the electronic document page;

dragging the selected content towards the first document object on the electronic document page, wherein the first document object is defined by a membrane;

providing a first and second hit region;

incorporation the selected content into a first location of the first object when the first hit region is contacted with the selected content from the second document object, wherein the first hit region is outside of the boundaries of the first document object as defined by the membrane and is associated with the membrane; and

incorporation the selected content into a second location of the first object when the second hit region is contacted with the selected content from the second document object, wherein the second hit region is outside of the boundaries of the first document object as defined by the membrane and is associated with the membrane.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the first hit region is located at the bottom of the first document object and the second hit region is located at the top of the first document object.

31. A computer-readable storage device storing a set of computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 29.