Aligning content in an electronic document

• US 7,360,157 B1
• Filed: 09/19/2003
• Issued: 04/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Yalovsky, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore; William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; MaiKhanh
• Application Number:
  US10/664,500
• Time in Patent Office: 1,670 Days
• Field of Search: 715/530, 715/517, 715/519, 715/520, 715/200, 715/228, 715/234, 715/244, 715/245, 715/246, 715/251, 715/253, 715/255, 715/256, 715/273, 715/856, 715/857, 715/858, 707/100
• US Class Current: 715/256
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• 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

Aligning the contents of document objects on an electronic document page. Organizing a page of document objects so textual content is aligned to natural eye scanning patterns promotes readership and usability. When a user creates a new island of text, the new text can be snapped into alignment with an existing island of text. Invisible guidelines that emanate from textual features in a document object can provide a relative alignment reference that floats with the position of the object on the page. In response to placing a content insertion point (“IP”) on an electronic page with an existing document object, the IP can be automatically aligned to the content of the existing document object. A page with several arbitrarily positioned document objects can be automatically rearranged so that the contents of the document objects are each aligned to one another.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for inserting input into an electronic document page comprising:

placing a pointer on the electronic document page;

scanning the electronic document page for existing objects,

determining a dominant existing object;

identifying content guidelines of the dominant existing object;

selecting a content-based guideline of the dominant existing object that is adjacent to the pointer, the content-based guideline being selected from a plurality of content-based guidelines by applying rules to determine which one of the plurality of content-based guidelines is dominant, the plurality of content-based guidelines comprising the following;

a gravity parameter defining a distance beyond which the plurality of content-based guidelines are suppressed, vertical lines and horizontal lines defined by an equation of a line, the vertical lines being attached to content features of the dominant existing object and the horizontal lines being aligned to text comprising the dominant existing object, wherein at least one of the vertical lines intersects substantially perpendicularly with at least one of the horizontal lines, wherein applying the rules to determine which one of the plurality of content-based guidelines is dominant comprises one of the following;

using guideline hierarchy and applying the rules with guideline dominance being a function of page position and the plurality of content-based guidelines move with the dominant existing object when the dominant existing object is moved;

aligning the pointer to the content-based guideline for inserting the input; and

creating a new object wherein the content of the new object is aligned with the selected content guideline of the dominant existing object,

wherein the input comprises an input document object, wherein the content-based guideline is an existing content-based guideline, and wherein the input document object comprises content, and wherein the method further comprises the step of identifying an input content-based guideline of the input document object, and wherein the aligning step comprises positioning the content of the input document object on the page so that the input content-based guideline is aligned to the existing content-based guideline.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the input document object comprises a graphic.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the input document object further comprises textual content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the input comprises text.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the dominant existing object comprises text and the content-based guideline is horizontally aligned with the text.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the dominant existing object comprises text and the content-based guideline is a vertical guideline that is aligned to a format feature of the text.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the dominant existing object comprises text and the content-based guideline is aligned to a reflow bar of the existing object.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

if no existing object is detected in the scanning step, inserting input at the placement of the pointer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the existing dominant object comprises existing text;

the input comprises input text;

the content-based guideline is aligned with a feature of the existing text; and

the aligning step further comprises aligning the input text to the content-based guideline.

10. A computer-readable storage device storing a set of instructions for inserting input in an electronic page, the instructions when executed by a computer performing:

placing a pointer on the electronic page;

scanning the electronic page for existing objects;

determining a dominant existing object;

identifying content guidelines of the dominant existing object;

selecting a content-based guideline of the dominant existing object that is adjacent to the pointer, the content-based guideline being selected from a plurality of content-based guidelines by applying rules to determine which one of the plurality of content-based guidelines is dominant, the plurality of content-based guidelines comprising the following;

a gravity parameter defining a distance beyond which the plurality of content-based guidelines are suppressed, vertical lines and horizontal lines defined by an equation of a line, the vertical lines being attached to content features of the dominant existing object and the horizontal lines being aligned to text comprising the dominant existing object, wherein at least one of the vertical lines intersects substantially perpendicularly with at least one of the horizontal lines, wherein applying the rules to determine which one of the plurality of content-based guidelines is dominant comprises one of the following;

using guideline hierarchy and applying the rules with guideline dominance being a function of page position and the plurality of content-based guidelines move with the dominant existing object when the dominant existing object is moved;

aligning the pointer to the content-based guideline for inserting the input;

creating a new object wherein the content of the new object is aligned with the selected content guideline of the dominant existing object,

wherein the input comprises an input document object, wherein the content-based guideline is an existing content-based guideline, and wherein the input document object comprises content, and wherein the method further comprises the step of identifying an input content-based guideline of the input document object, and wherein the aligning step comprises positioning the content of the input document object on the page so that the input content-based guideline is aligned to the existing content-based guideline.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the determining step comprises determining a dominant existing object on the basis of position on the electronic page.

12. The device of claim 10, wherein the determining step comprises determining that the existing object that is closest to the left side of the electronic page is the dominant existing object.

13. The device of claim 10, wherein the determining step comprises determining that the existing object that is closest to the top side of the electronic page is the dominant existing object.

14. The device of claim 10, wherein the determining step further comprises identifying the existing object that is closest to the top left corner of the electronic page.

15. A system for inserting input into an electronic document page, the system comprising:

a memory storage for maintaining a database; and

a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operative to;

place a pointer on the electronic document page;

scan the electronic document page for existing objects,

determine a dominant existing object;

select a content-based guideline of the dominant existing object that is adjacent to the pointer, the content-based guideline being selected from a plurality of content-based guidelines by applying rules to determine which one of the plurality of content-based guidelines is dominant, the plurality of content-based guidelines comprising the following;

a gravity parameter defining a distance beyond which the plurality of content-based guidelines are suppressed, vertical lines and horizontal lines defined by an equation of a line, the vertical lines being attached to content features of the dominant existing object and the horizontal lines being aligned to text comprising the dominant existing object, wherein at least one of the vertical lines intersects substantially perpendicularly with at least one of the horizontal lines, wherein applying the rules to determine which one of the plurality of content-based guidelines is dominant comprises one of the following;

using guideline hierarchy and applying the rules with guideline dominance being a function of page position and the plurality of content-based guidelines move with the dominant existing object when the dominant existing object is moved;

align the pointer to the content-based guideline for inserting the input; and

create a new object wherein the content of the new object is aligned with the selected content guideline of the dominant existing object,

wherein the input comprises an input document object, wherein the content-based guideline is an existing content-based guideline, and wherein the input document object comprises content, and wherein the method further comprises the step of identifying an input content-based guideline of the input document object, and wherein the aligning step comprises positioning the content of the input document object on the page so that the input content-based guideline is aligned to the existing content-based guideline.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processing unit being operative to align further comprises the processing unit being operative to align before text has been received for the input.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the processing unit being operative to align further comprises the processing unit being operative to align after text has been received for the input.