Figure sizing and positioning on dynamic pages

• US 8,166,390 B2
• Filed: 02/15/2006
• Issued: 04/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Fortes, Filipe, Hermann, Gregory A., Zygmunt, Grzegorz A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hutton, Jr., Doug
• Assistant Examiner(s): SMITH, BENJAMIN J
• Application Number:
  US11/354,675
• Publication Number:
  US 20070192686A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,260 Days
• Field of Search: 715/238
• US Class Current: 715/238
• 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

Various technologies and techniques are disclosed that provide ways to position, size, and/or anchor page elements for display on varying output devices. A user can assign rendering specifications to both text and graphic elements. Rendering specifications include, but are not limited to width, height, anchor(s), and/or offset(s) to one, some, or all page elements. Page elements will appear in the positions and relationships to each other as specified in the source document.

Claims

1. A method for displaying one or more elements on a page, comprising:

receiving a request to display a particular page on a particular target output device;

retrieving a rendering specification value for an attribute of a first element in the particular page, the rendering specification value retrieved from a settings file for the particular page, the settings file comprising a name tag specifying the first element and a value tag specifying the rendering specification value, the rendering specification value comprising one or more of;

a value for a height attribute of the first element;

a value for a width attribute of the first element;

a value for an anchor attribute for the first element; and

a value for an offset attribute for the first element;

determining whether the retrieved rendering specification value for the first element is relative or absolute;

determining if the rendering specification value is valid based on whether the particular page comprises a maximum allowable value for the first element that is smaller than the rendering specification value;

determining a rendering specification for the attribute corresponding to the rendering specification value, comprising;

if the rendering specification value for the first element is relative and valid, determining the rendering specification by applying the rendering specification value to a dynamic page size for the particular page, the dynamic page size is a size of the particular page when rendered on the particular target output device;

if the rendering specification value for the first element is relative and not valid, determining the rendering specification by applying the maximum allowable value to the dynamic page size instead of applying the rendering specification value;

if the rendering specification value for the first element is absolute and valid, using the rendering specification value as the rendering specification; and

if the rendering specification value for the first element is absolute and not valid, using the maximum allowable value as the rendering specification instead of using the rendering specification value; and

providing an output, based on the rendering specification, for displaying the first element on the particular page on the particular target output device.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising providing a user interface (UI) configured to allow a user to specify one or more rendering specifications for an element by allowing the user to specify one or more respective values for one or more attributes of the element.

3. The method of claim 2, the UI configured to allow the user to specify one or more of:

a value for an anchor attribute for the element;

a value for a height attribute of the element;

a value for a width attribute of the element; and

a value for an offset attribute for the element.

4. The method of claim 1, the particular page comprising a particular document.

5. The method of claim 1, the settings file comprising an extensible application markup language format.

6. The method of claim 1, the first element comprising one of:

a graphical element in the particular page;

a table element in the particular page; and

a text-based element in the particular page.

7. The method of claim 1, determining whether the retrieved rendering specification value for the first element is relative comprising one or more of:

determining whether the rendering specification value is based on a percentage of a second size of the particular page; and

determining whether the rendering specification value is based on relative units that are comprised in the particular page.

8. The method of claim 1, the first element comprising a particular portion of text in the particular page.

9. The method of claim 1, the anchor attribute related to a reference point selected from a group consisting of a particular column, a particular content, and a second particular page.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising retrieving the rendering specification value from a storage location identified by the settings file.

11. A system for displaying one or more elements on a page, comprising:

a request receiving component configured to receive a request to display a particular page on a particular target output device;

a rendering specification retrieval component operably coupled with the request receiving component and configured to retrieve a rendering specification value for an attribute of a first element in the particular page from a settings file for the particular page, the settings file comprising a name tag specifying the first element and a value tag specifying the rendering specification value, the rendering specification value comprising one or more of;

a value for a height attribute of the first element;

a value for a width attribute of the first element;

a value for an anchor attribute for the first element; and

a value for an offset attribute for the first element;

a relative value determination component operably coupled with the rendering specification retrieval component, and configured to determine whether the rendering specification value for the first element is relative or absolute, and configured to determine if the rendering specification value is valid based on whether the particular page comprises a maximum allowable value for the first element that is smaller than the rendering specification value;

a rendering specification determination component operably coupled with the relative determination component, and configured to determine a rendering specification for the attribute corresponding to the rendering specification value by;

if the rendering specification value for the first element is relative and valid, determining the rendering specification by applying the rendering specification value to a dynamic page size for the particular page, the dynamic page size is a size of the particular page when rendered on the particular target output device;

if the rendering specification value for the first element is relative and not valid, determining the rendering specification by applying the maximum allowable value to the dynamic page size instead of applying the rendering specification value;

if the rendering specification value for the first element is absolute and valid, using the rendering specification value as the rendering specification; and

if the rendering specification value for the first element is absolute and not valid, using the maximum allowable value as the rendering specification instead of using the rendering specification value; and

a display value outputting component operably coupled with the rendering specification determination component, and configured to provide an output, based on the rendering specification, for displaying the first element on the particular page on the particular target output device, at least some of the system implemented at least in part via a processing unit.

12. The system of claim 11, comprising a user interface (UI) configured to allow a user to specify one or more rendering specifications for an element by allowing the user to specify one or more respective values for one or more attributes of the element.

13. The system of claim 11, the rendering specification determination component configured to:

if the rendering specification value provides for the first element to be three columns wide but the particular page merely comprises a number of columns less than three, use the number of columns less than three as the rendering specification instead of three columns.

14. The system of claim 11, the rendering specification determination component configured to:

if the rendering specification value provides for the first element to be three columns wide and the particular page comprises a number of columns greater than three, use three columns as the rendering specification instead of the number of columns greater than three.

15. The system of claim 11, the rendering specification value associated with a position of the first element in the particular page, the position comprising a reference point selected from a group consisting of a top position, a bottom position, a left position, a right position, and a center position.

16. The system of claim 11, comprising a rendering specification storing component configured to provide for storing the rendering specification value for the first element in a manner that associates the rendering specification value with a settings file for the first element.

17. The system of claim 11, the relative value determination component configured to determine the rendering specification of the attribute of the first element relative to page units if the rendering specification value is based on relative units that are comprised in the particular page.

18. The system of claim 11, the particular page comprising a particular document.

19. The system of claim 16, the rendering specification retrieval component configured to retrieve the rendering specification value for the first element from a location identified by the settings file for the first element.

20. A computer storage media comprising instructions that when executed via a processing unit perform a method for displaying one or more elements on a page, the method comprising:

receiving a request to display a particular page on a particular target output device;

retrieving a rendering specification value for an attribute of a first element in the particular page, the rendering specification value retrieved from a settings file for the particular page, the settings file comprising a name tag specifying the first element and a value tag specifying the rendering specification value, the rendering specification value comprising one or more of;

a value for a height attribute of the first element;

a value for a width attribute of the first element;

a value for an anchor attribute for the first element; and

a value for an offset attribute for the first element;

determining whether the retrieved rendering specification value for the first element is relative or absolute;

determining if the rendering specification value is valid based on whether the particular page comprises a maximum allowable value for the first element that is smaller than the rendering specification value;

determining a rendering specification for the attribute corresponding to the rendering specification value by;

if the rendering specification value for the first element is relative and valid, determining the rendering specification by applying the rendering specification value to a dynamic page size for the particular page, the dynamic page size is a size of the particular page when rendered on the particular target output device;

if the rendering specification value for the first element is relative and not valid, determining the rendering specification by applying the maximum allowable value to the dynamic page size instead of applying the rendering specification value;

if the rendering specification value for the first element is absolute and valid, using the rendering specification value as the rendering specification; and

if the rendering specification value for the first element is absolute and not valid, using the maximum allowable value as the rendering specification instead of using the rendering specification value; and

providing an output, based on the rendering specification, for displaying the first element on the particular page on the particular target output device