Document display system and method

• US 7,581,176 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2002
• Issued: 08/25/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Redbank Manor Pty Limited
• Original Assignee: Eric Cameron Wilson
• Inventors: Wilson, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): RIES, LAURIE ANNE
• Application Number:
  US10/499,687
• Publication Number:
  US 20050097458A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,441 Days
• Field of Search: 715/517, 715/526, 715/523, 715/521, 715/273, 715/243, 715/244, 715/247, 715/249, 715/251, 715/252
• US Class Current: 715/243
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging

Abstract

A document presentation system is disclosed. The document presentation system includes a rendering unit that can analyse user or publisher preferences to determine content layout and navigation by examining the dimensions of the available viewing area to determine a suitable document layout and navigation system, a formatting unit that resizes and rearranges content according to the content layout and navigation determined by the rendering unit, a display unit that presents content to a user and responds to user interaction, and a cache unit that stores reformatted content for display by the display unit.

Claims

1. A document presentation system comprising:

a rendering unit which determines content layout and navigation suitable for both small and large display areas of a display device by analysing publisher or end-user preferences or device characteristics in order to render the content layout and navigation in dimensions or magnification which are a near match to or according to the end-user or publisher preferences or device characteristics;

a formatting unit that resizes and rearranges content according to the content layout and navigation determined by the rendering unit by measuring and manipulating the content, said manipulating including at least one of blank space reduction, blank space insertion, text condensing, margin adjustment, and tab stop adjustment;

a display unit that presents content to the end-user and responds to end-user interaction; and

a cache unit that stores reformatted content for display by the display unit;

wherein the content resizing and rearranging includes at least one of identifying wrapping graphic elements and repositioning said graphic elements to avoid wrapping, identifying section breaks and inserting blank space to push content to a next column, and identifying bleeding graphic elements and repositioning said graphic elements to avoid bleeding; and

wherein the said formatting unit may optionally satisfy at least one of document originator preferences or content mark up.

2. The document presentation system of claim 1 wherein the rendering unit examines the dimensions of the available viewing area to determine a suitable document layout and navigation system.

3. The document presentation system of claim 2, where a basic layout of columns is used to measure content for dividing documents into smaller sections for easier on-screen viewing.

4. The document presentation system of claim 2, where a basic layout of columns is used to manipulate content for dividing documents into smaller sections for easier on-screen viewing.

5. The document presentation system of claim 2 implemented as a word processor companion, with a formatting unit screen paginating documents into columns.

6. The document presentation system of claim 1 wherein the rendering unit determines content layout and navigation according to set increments of size or magnification.

7. The document presentation system of claim 1 wherein the rendering unit establishes device characteristics such as the presence or absence of external buttons joysticks or speech recognition, altering the on-screen navigational features accordingly.

8. The document presentation system of claim 1 wherein the formatting unit performs said content manipulation including all of blank space reduction, blank space insertion, text condensing, margin adjustment, and tab stop adjustment.

9. The document presentation system of claim 8, where a basic layout of columns is used to measure content for dividing documents into smaller sections for easier on-screen viewing.

10. The document presentation system of claim 8, where a basic layout of columns is used to manipulate content for dividing documents into smaller sections for easier on-screen viewing.

11. The document presentation system of claim 8, implemented as a word processor companion, with a formatting unit screen paginating documents into columns.

12. The document presentation system of claim 1 wherein the formatting unit divides content into sections for easier on-screen viewing.

13. The document presentation system of claim 1 wherein the formatting unit creates progress reports published to multiple end-user displays.

14. The document presentation system of claim 1 wherein the formatting unit performs document splitting understood by the display unit.

15. The document presentation system of claim 14, where a basic layout of columns is used to measure content for dividing documents into smaller sections for easier on-screen viewing.

16. The document presentation system of claim 14, where a basic layout of columns is used to manipulate content for dividing documents into smaller sections for easier on-screen viewing.

17. The document presentation system of claim 14 implemented as a word processor companion, with a formatting unit screen paginating documents into columns.

18. The document presentation system of claim 1 wherein the display unit incorporates processes for detecting system misuse, such as attempted unauthorized access or denial of service through repeated use.

19. The document presentation system of claim 1 wherein the display unit is optimized for viewing or control via remote display protocols with filtering of end-user commands or requests likely to have been made in error due to network delays.

20. The document presentation system of claim 19, where a basic layout of columns is used to measure content for dividing documents into smaller sections for easier on-screen viewing.

21. The document presentation system of claim 19, where a basic layout of columns is used to manipulate content for dividing documents into smaller sections for easier on-screen viewing.

22. The document presentation system of claim 19 implemented as a word processor companion, with a formatting unit screen paginating documents into columns.

23. The document presentation system of claim 1 wherein the formatting unit converts content to a frame structure.

24. The document presentation system of claim 1 further comprising means for locating and loading a printable version of displayed content for printing or for sending a printable version to a printer or for instructing an other application to do so on behalf of an end user.

25. The document presentation system of claim 1, where a basic layout of columns is used to measure content for dividing documents into smaller sections for easier on-screen Viewing.

26. The document presentation system claim 1, where a basic layout of columns is used to manipulate content for dividing documents into smaller sections for easier on-screen viewing.

27. The document presentation system of claim 1 implemented as a word processor companion, with the formatting unit screen paginating documents into columns.

28. A document presentation system comprising:

a rendering unit which determines content layout and navigation suitable for both small and large display areas by analysing end-user or publisher preferences or device characteristics;

a formatting unit that resizes and rearranges content according to the content layout and navigation determined by the rendering unit, wherein the rendering unit may optionally satisfy at least one of document originator preferences or content mark up;

a display unit that presents content to an end-user and responds to end-user interaction;

a cache unit that stores reformatted content for display by the display unit; and

wherein the said display unit is responsive to pre-defined copy-zones, wherein users are otherwise prohibited from selecting and copying content to their clipboard.

29. The document presentation system of claim 28, where a basic layout of columns is used to measure content for dividing documents into smaller sections for easier on-screen viewing.

30. The document presentation system of claim 28, where a basic layout of columns is used to measure content for dividing documents into smaller sections for easier on-screen viewing.

31. The document presentation system of claim 28, where a basic layout of columns is used to manipulate content for dividing documents into smaller sections for easier on-screen viewing.

32. The document presentation system of claim 28 implemented as a word processor companion, with a formatting unit screen paginating documents into columns.

33. A method of reformatting content for display on a display device including the steps of:

retrieving content from a repository;

determining characteristics of a display device that is to display the content including the area available for display of the content and also any associated control structures on the display;

rendering one or more content areas and any associated control structures to suit the display characteristics;

reformatting content for display of the content in the said content areas by measuring and manipulating the content, said manipulating including at least one of blank space reduction, blank space insertion, text condensing, margin adjustment, and tab stop adjustment, said reformatting including resizing and rearranging;

whereby the content resizing and rearranging includes at least one of identifying wrapping graphic elements and repositioning said graphic elements to avoid wrapping, identifying section breaks and inserting blank space to push content to a next column, and identifying bleeding graphic elements and repositioning said graphic elements to avoid bleeding; and

whereby the said rendering and reformatting is suitable for smaller and larger screens as the case may be.

34. The method of claim 33 whereby the content resizing and rearranging includes all the steps of:

identifying wrapping graphic elements and repositioning said graphic elements to avoid wrapping;

identifying section breaks and inserting blank space to push content to a next column or screen page; and

identifying bleeding graphic elements and repositioning said graphic elements to avoid bleeding.

35. The method of claim 33 further including the step of encrypting information pertaining to end-user interactions.

36. The method of claim 33 further including the step of checking content for graphical elements that bleed off the bottom of a display area of the display device and:

a. If element is marked-up as ‘

un-movable’

then do nothing, or

b. If text above element is of the same attributes as the text next to and below it, move element up the page to fit it on the screen if possible, or

c. Move the element to the next screen page or column, inserting blank space or moving any text after the shape into the preceding column if appropriate.

37. The method of claim 33 further including the step of selecting a navigation system for display of content according to one or more of the following:

a. Display area restrictions;

b. Publisher compulsory preferences;

c. End-user preferences; and

d. Publisher'"'"'s default display preferences.

38. The method of claim 37, where reformatting includes paginating documents into screen-columns.

39. The method of claim 38, where content is copied into a an end user specific cache for populating columns with content.

40. The method of claim 39, where reformatting is activated to provide a document at a different magnification.

41. The method of claim 38, where reformatting is activated to provide a document at a different magnification.

42. The method of claim 33 further including the step of document splitting.

43. The method of claim 42, where reformatting includes paginating documents into screen-columns.

44. The method of claim 43, where content is copied into a an end user specific cache for populating columns with content.

45. The method of claim 44, where reformatting is activated to provide a document at a different magnification.

46. The method of claim 43, where reformatting is activated to provide a document at a different magnification.

47. The method of claim 33 further including the step of outputting content to a repository storing information according to the specific display dimensions or magnification levels to which the content has been formatted.

48. The method of claim 33, where reformatting includes paginating documents into screen-columns.

49. The method of claim 48, where content is copied into a an end user or current session cache for populating columns with content.

50. The method of claim 49, where reformatting is activated to provide a document at a different magnification.

51. The method of claim 48, where reformatting is activated to provide a document at a different magnification.

52. A document presentation system comprising:

one or more rendering unit(s) that determine the boundaries into which content is to be reformatted according to display area restrictions, in order to render the content layout and navigation in dimensions or magnification which are a near match to or according to publisher or end-user preferences or device characteristics;

one or more formatting units for;

resizing and rearranging content by measuring and manipulating according to a layout of one or more-columns, said manipulating including at least one of blank space reduction, blank space insertion, text condensing, margin adjustment, and tab stop adjustment, and said manipulation also reducing one or more graphical elements if larger than a column'"'"'s width;

dividing documents into smaller sections for easier on-screen viewing; and

moving elements into the next screen page or column and appropriately moving text after said elements into the previous column and/or inserting blank space therein;

a display unit that presents content to an end-user and responds to end-user interaction including column and/or screen-page document navigational commands;

a cache unit where content is copied into a an end-user and/or current session cache for populating said one or more columns with content;

wherein the said formatting unit may optionally satisfy at least one of document originator preferences or content mark up.

53. The system of claim of 52 with the formatting unit grouping graphical elements to maintain their relative position.

54. The system of claim 52 interfacing a management system accepting logon information for determining access to documents.

55. The system of claim 52 with monitoring of any of time or session charges or content revenue monitoring such as advertising or content usage exposures.

56. The system of claim 52 with rendering unit(s) respecting originator preference(s) for document display within a word processor as traditionally scrolling content.