Positioning screen elements

• US 7,576,749 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2005
• Issued: 08/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Burago, Andrei, Kozyrev, Victor E., Genkin, Sergey
• Primary Examiner(s): Tung; Kee M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Amini; Javid A
• Application Number:
  US11/228,961
• Publication Number:
  US 20070057965A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,433 Days
• Field of Search: 345/619, 345/581
• US Class Current: 345/581
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191

Abstract

An approach for positioning screen elements on a display screen is disclosed herein. The screen elements represent expressions in a formula and may include one or more glyphs. Optimal positions are determined for the screen elements based on analyzing positional characteristics associated with displaying the screen elements at the resolution supported by the display screen against positional characteristics based on an optimal resolution. This analysis indicates whether the degree of displacement between display of a screen element at the actual resolution and display of the screen element at the optimal resolution would exceed a predetermined threshold level. If not, the screen element is output for display on the display screen based on the positional characteristics associated with the display screen resolution. Otherwise, the positional characteristics based on the actual resolution are modified such that the degree of displacement conforms to the threshold level.

Claims

1. A computer storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

receive a request to display a screen element on a display screen;

in response to receiving the request, determine a first set of positioning characteristics that indicates pixels that provide a first pixilated representation of the screen element at a first resolution;

determine a second set of positioning characteristics that indicates pixels that provide a second pixilated representation of the screen element at the first resolution at least in part by scaling a third pixilated representation of the screen element at a second resolution to conform to the first resolution, wherein the second resolution is different than the first resolution;

analyze the first set of positioning characteristics against the second set of positioning characteristics to determine a degree of displacement, wherein the degree of displacement represents an approximate number of pixels that would exist between a first point and a second point, wherein the first point is a point on the display screen that would be at a given point within the screen element when the screen element is displayed on the display screen based on the first set of positioning characteristics, and wherein the second point is a point on the display screen that would be at the given point within the screen element when the screen element is displayed on the display screen based on the second set of positioning characteristics;

determine whether the degree of displacement exceeds a predetermined threshold value that represents a number of pixels; and

automatically modify the first set of positioning characteristics when it is determined that the degree of displacement exceeds the predetermined threshold value.

2. A computer storage medium as defined in claim 1,

wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to display the screen element on the display screen based on the first set of positioning characteristics if the degree of displacement does not exceed the predetermined threshold value, and

wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to display the screen element after the instructions cause the one or more processors to analyze the first set of positioning characteristics against the second set of positioning characteristics.

3. A computer storage medium as defined in claim 2,

wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to display the screen element on the display screen based on the modified first set of positioning characteristics if the degree of displacement exceeds the predetermined threshold value, and

wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to display the screen element after the instructions cause the one or more processors to modify the first set of positioning characteristics.

4. A computer storage medium as defined in claim 1, wherein the first resolution is the actual resolution of the display screen and the second resolution is associated with an optimal resolution.

5. A computer storage medium as defined in claim 4, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to determine the second set of positioning characteristics at least in part by causing the one or more processors to:

determine a ratio of the actual resolution to the optimal resolution; and

determine the second set of positioning characteristics by applying the ratio to a third set of positioning characteristics that indicate pixels that provide the third pixilated representation of the screen element.

6. A computer storage medium as defined in claim 1,

wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to modify the first set of positioning characteristics such that the number of pixels represented by the degree of displacement equals the number of pixels represented by the predetermined threshold value.

7. A computer storage medium as defined in claim 1, wherein the screen element represents a formula expression.

8. A computer storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

receive a request to display a first screen element adjacent to a second screen element;

in response to receiving the request, determine a first set of positioning characteristics that indicates locations of pixels that provide a first pixilated representation of the first screen element at an actual resolution of a display screen relative to the second screen element;

determine whether the first set of positioning characteristics indicates that the first screen element would be separated from the second screen element by at least a predetermined amount of empty space; and

if the first set of positioning characteristics indicates that the first screen element would be separated from the second screen element by at least the predetermined amount of empty space, the instructions cause the one or more processors to;

determine a second set of positioning characteristics that indicate locations of pixels that provide a second pixilated representation of the first screen element relative to the second screen element at least in part by scaling a third pixilated representation of the first screen element at an optimal resolution to conform to the actual resolution of the display screen; and

display the first screen element on the display screen based on a vertical position determined from the first set of positioning characteristics and a horizontal position determined from the second set of positioning characteristics.

9. A computer storage medium as defined in claim 8,

wherein if the first set of positioning characteristics indicates that the first screen element would not be separated from the second screen element by at least the predetermined amount of empty space, the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to evaluate the first set of positioning characteristics against the second set of positioning characteristics to determine whether the first set of positioning characteristics should be modified.

10. A computer storage medium as defined in claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to evaluate the first set of positioning characteristics against the second set of positioning characteristics at least in part by causing the one or more processors to:

analyze the first set of positioning characteristics against the second set of positioning characteristics to determine a degree of displacement, wherein the degree of displacement represents an approximate number of pixels that would exist between a first point and a second point, wherein the first point is a point on the display screen that would be at a given point within the screen element when the screen element is displayed on the display screen based on the first set of positioning characteristics, and wherein the second point is a point on the display screen that would be at the given point within the screen element when the screen element is displayed on the display screen based on the second set of positioning characteristics;

determine whether the degree of displacement exceeds a predetermined threshold value that represents a number of pixels; and

modify the first set of positioning characteristics when it is determined that the degree of displacement exceeds the predetermined threshold value.

11. A computer storage medium as defined in claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to display the first screen element on the display screen based on the first set of positioning characteristics when it is determined that the degree of displacement does not exceed the predetermined threshold value.

12. A computer storage medium as defined in claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to display the first screen element on the display screen based on the modified first set of positioning characteristics when it is determined that the degree of displacement exceeds the predetermined threshold value.

13. A computer storage medium as defined in claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to determine the second set of positioning characteristics at least in part by causing the one or more processors to:

determine a ratio of the actual resolution to the optimal resolution; and

determine the second set of positioning characteristics by applying the ratio to a third set of positioning characteristics that indicate pixels that provide the third pixilated representation of the first screen element.

14. A computer storage medium as defined in claim 10,

wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to modify the first set of positioning characteristics at least in part by causing the one or more processors to modify the first set of positioning characteristics such that the number of pixels represented by the degree of displacement equals the number of pixels represented by the predetermined threshold value.

15. A computer storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

determine a first set of positioning characteristics that indicate locations of pixels that provide a first pixilated representation of the first screen element relative to a location of the second screen element, wherein the first pixilated representation is at a first resolution;

determine a second set of positioning characteristics that indicate locations of pixels that provide a second pixilated representation of the first screen element relative to a location of the second screen element at least in part by scaling a third pixilated representation of the first screen element at a second resolution to conform to the first resolution, wherein the second resolution is different than the first resolution;

analyze the first set of positioning characteristics against the second set of positioning characteristics to determine a degree of displacement specified for the first screen element, wherein the degree of displacement represents an approximate number of pixels that would exist between a first point and a second point, wherein the first point is a point on a display screen that would be at a given point within the screen element when the screen element is displayed on the display screen based on the first set of positioning characteristics, and wherein the second point is a point on the display screen that would be at the given point within the screen element when the screen element is displayed on the display screen based on the second set of positioning characteristics;

determine whether the degree of displacement exceeds a predetermined threshold value that represents a number of pixels; and

if the degree of displacement exceeds the predetermined threshold value, display the first screen element on the display screen based on modified positioning characteristics determined by shifting coordinates specified in the first set of positioning characteristics toward coordinates specified in the second set of positioning characteristics.

16. A computer storage medium as defined in claim 15, wherein after causing the one or more processors to analyze the first set of positioning characteristics against the second set of positioning characteristics, the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to display the first screen element on the display screen based on the first set of positioning characteristics if the degree of displacement does not exceed the predetermined threshold value.

17. A computer storage medium as defined in claim 16, wherein the second screen element comprises a plurality of glyphs.

18. A computer storage medium as defined in claim 17, wherein the second screen element represents a base exponential expression for a formula and the first screen element represents a superscript to the second screen element.