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

• US 8,826,121 B2
• Filed: 01/27/2012
• Issued: 09/02/2014
• 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 R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Maikhanh
• Application Number:
  US13/360,297
• Publication Number:
  US 20120131429A1
• Time in Patent Office: 949 Days
• Field of Search: 715/234, 715/273, 715/770, 715/796, 345/660, 345/698
• US Class Current: 715/234
• 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 computer implemented method of magnifying a portion of a document in a browser on a client, comprising:

presenting, by a processor of a data processing system, a first document in a first display in the browser on the client;

generating, by the processor, a magnified display of the first document in memory at the client;

displaying, by the processor, in a second display in the browser a selected portion of the magnified display corresponding to a selected portion of the first document, wherein the second display is a magnifier window within the first display;

mapping, by the processor, the selected portion of the magnified display in the second display to a display space of the selected portion of the first document; and

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

responsive to receiving, by the processor, 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, by the processor, and pasting the portion of the text into the third document associated with the different application, by the processor, wherein an action within the selected portion of the magnified display in the second display results in performing an action, by the processor, with respect to the original document, wherein the selected portion of the magnified display displayed, by the processor, in the magnifier window retains full browser functionality.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the step of mapping, by the processor, the magnified display to a display space further comprises:

mapping the selected portion of the magnified display to the first document, by the processor, to form an imagemap.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating, by the processor, a magnified display of the first document comprises:

creating the second display, by the processor, wherein the second display has a magnified display space based on a magnification factor;

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

populating pixels in the second display, by the processor, to form a magnified display.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 3, wherein the step of populating pixels in the second display, by the processor, comprises for each pixel of the normal display space, populating adjacent pixels, by the processor, based on the magnification factor.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the step of mapping, by the processor, the selected portion of the magnified display comprises mapping a magnified display space for the selected portion of the magnified display, by the processor, to corresponding pixels in a normal display space for the first document.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein mapping,. by the processor, the selected portion of the magnified display in the second display to a display space of the selected portion of the first document comprises:

mapping mouse events occurring in the second display, by the processor, to corresponding coordinates in a normal display space associated with the first document in the first display.