Magnifying the text of a link while still retaining browser function in the magnified display

• US 7,437,670 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2001
• Issued: 10/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dutta, Rabindranath, Day, Don Rutledge
• Primary Examiner(s): Hutton; Doug
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Maikhanh
• Application Number:
  US09/820,511
• Publication Number:
  US 20020143826A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,756 Days
• Field of Search: 715/526, 715/513, 715/517, 715/501.1, 715/500, 715/230, 715/234, 715/273, 715/760, 715/770, 715/808, 715/834, 345/760, 345/800, 345/698, 345/428, 345/427, 345/612, 345/660, 345/661, 345/675, 382/114, 348/63
• US Class Current: 715/273
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• 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

Abstract

A web browser magnifies the content of the whole page in memory and displays the relevant portion in a magnifier with hyperlinks. The web browser then maps the magnified display to the original document. Thus, manipulation of the mouse in the magnified display may result in an action with respect to the original document. The user may then select a link for navigation within the magnified display. Alternatively, the web browser may analyze the original web page and construct magnifier contents on the basis of either the document object model, extensible markup language (XML), or hypertext markup language (HTML) representation of the magnified portion.

Claims

1. A method for magnifying text associated with a link in a magnified display while retaining browser functionality in the magnified display, comprising:

presenting an original document in a first display in a browser on a client;

generating a magnified display of the original document in memory at the client to form a magnified version of the original document, wherein generating the magnified display of the first document comprises;

creating a magnifier window with an expanded field, wherein the magnifier window has a magnified display space based on a magnification factor;

reading pixels from video memory for the selected portion of the magnified display in a normal display space for the first document; and

populating pixels in the magnifier window to form a magnified display, wherein for each pixel of the normal display space, adjacent pixels are populated based on the magnification factor;

receiving a selection of a portion of the magnified display of the original document to form a selected portion of the magnified display;

displaying, in the magnifier window in the first display, the selected portion of the magnified display, wherein the magnifier window is a second display that is displayed within the first display;

mapping the selected portion of the magnified display in the magnifier window to a display space of the selected portion of the first document, wherein the magnifier window retains full browser functionality for the selected portion of the magnified display, wherein mapping the magnified display to the display space comprises;

mapping the magnified display space for the selected portion of the magnified display to corresponding pixels in the normal display space for the first document, wherein the selected portion of the magnified display in the second display is mapped to the original document to form an imagemap, wherein the imagemap is separated into areas, and wherein the areas are used to select options corresponding to the original document; and

mapping mouse events occurring in the magnified display to corresponding coordinates in the normal display space associated with the first document in the first display;

responsive to receiving a selection of a link within the selected portion of the magnified display in the second display, retrieving a second document corresponding to the link and displaying the second document in the first display; and

responsive to receiving a selection of a portion of text within the selected portion of the magnified display in the second display to be copied and pasted into a third document associated with a different application, copying the portion of the text selected within the selected portion of the magnified display and pasting the portion of the text into the third document associated with the different application, wherein an action within the selected portion of the magnified display in the second display results in performing an action with respect to the original document.