Text reflow in a structured document

• US 8,836,729 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2011
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Ayers, Robert M., Sites, Richard L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zarka, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chu, David H
• Application Number:
  US13/095,351
• Publication Number:
  US 20130191734A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,238 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 345/660
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/189 Automatic justification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/191 Automatic line break hyphenation

Abstract

A method and computer program product for reflowing a PDL page without using the original application used to create the PDL page. The method and computer program product include receiving a page represented in a page description language, the page including a plurality of page objects, and changing one or both of a size of the page and a size of one or more of the page objects, while maintaining spatial relationships between the page objects.

Claims

1. A method for reflowing a page, comprising:

receiving, in a processor, a page represented in a page description language, the page including a plurality of page objects that include one or more textual elements and one or more graphical elements;

changing at least one of i) a size of the page and ii) a size of the page objects;

creating one or more new pages;

creating a map containing positions of the page objects in the page, and adding to the map updated positions of the page objects in the one or more new pages to produce a relationship for each page object between the position of the page object in the page and the updated position of the page object in the one or more new pages;

adding the page objects to the one or more new pages according to the updated positions in the map, including adding a particular graphical element to the one or more new pages based on updated positions of one or more particular textual elements in the one or more new pages as listed in the map, the particular graphical element being anchored to the one or more particular textual elements; and

scaling the particular graphical element based on a difference between a distance between two particular textual elements in the page and a corresponding distance between the particular two textual elements in the one or more new pages.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the particular graphical element is anchored to a particular textual element that is nearest to the particular graphical element.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

scaling the page objects prior to adding to the one or more new pages.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more textual elements are words.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

scaling the page objects to produce scaled page objects that include one or more scaled textual elements and one or more scaled graphical elements; and

adding a particular scaled graphical element to the one or more new pages based on updated positions of one or more particular scaled textual elements in the one or more new pages as listed in the map, wherein the particular scaled graphical element is anchored to a particular scaled textual element that is nearest to the particular scaled graphical element.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the positions of the page objects in the page and the updated positions of the page objects in the one or more new pages, as contained in the map, are provided with respect to a reference axis; and

the method further comprises;

scaling the particular graphical element based on an updated position of one of the particular textual elements contained within the map, as provided with respect to the reference axis.

7. A computer program product, tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage device, for reflowing a page, comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

receive a page represented in a page description language, the page including a plurality of page objects that include one or more textual elements and one or more graphical elements; and

change at least one of i) a size of the page and ii) a size of the page objects, wherein changing includes;

creating one or more new pages,

creating a map containing positions of the page objects in the page, and adding to the map updated positions of the page objects in the one or more new pages to produce a relationship for each page object between the position of the page object in the page and the updated position of the page object in the one or more new pages,

adding the page objects to the one or more new pages according to the updated positions in the map, including adding a particular graphical element to the one or more new pages based on updated positions of one or more particular textual elements in the one or more new pages as listed in the map, the particular graphical element being anchored to the one or more particular textual elements; and

scaling the particular graphical element based on a difference between a distance between two particular textual elements in the page and a corresponding distance between the particular two textual elements in the one or more new pages.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the two particular textual elements in the page are organized as words.

9. The computer program product of claim 7 further comprising instructions to scale the page objects prior to adding to the one or more new pages.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein:

the positions of the page objects in the page and the updated positions of the page objects in the one or more new pages, as contained in the map, are provided with respect to a reference axis; and

the instructions are further operable to cause the programmable processor to;

scale the particular graphical element based on an updated position of one of the particular textual elements contained within the map, as provided with respect to the reference axis.

11. A computer system comprising:

a memory for storing instructions; and

a processor for executing the stored instructions to;

receive a page represented in a page description language, the page including a plurality of page objects that include one or more textual elements and one or more graphical elements; and

change at least one of i) a size of the page and ii) a size of the page objects, wherein changing includes;

creating one or more new pages,

creating a map containing positions of the page objects in the page, and adding to the map updated positions of the page objects in the one or more new pages to produce a relationship for each page object between the position of the page object in the page and the updated position of the page object in the one or more new pages,

adding the page objects to the one or more new pages according to the updated positions in the map, including adding a particular graphical element to the one or more new pages based on updated positions of one or more particular textual elements in the one or more new pages as listed in the map, the particular graphical element being anchored to the one or more particular textual elements; and

scaling the particular graphical element based on a difference between a distance between two particular textual elements in the page and a corresponding distance between the particular two textual elements in the one or more new pages.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the two particular textual elements in the page are organized as words.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to scale the page objects prior to adding to the one or more new pages.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the positions of the page objects in the page and the updated positions of the page objects in the one or more new pages, as contained in the map, are provided with respect to a reference axis; and

the instructions further;

scale the particular graphical element based on an updated position of one of the particular textual elements contained within the map, as provided with respect to the reference axis.

15. A method for reflowing a page, comprising:

receiving, in a processor, a page represented in a page description language, the page including a plurality of page objects;

changing at least one of i) a size of the page and ii) a size of the page objects;

creating one or more new pages;

creating a map containing positions of the page objects in the page, and adding to the map updated positions of the page objects in the one or more new pages to produce a relationship for each page object between the position of the page object in the page and the updated position of the page object in the one or more new pages;

scaling the page objects to produce scaled page objects that include one or more scaled textual elements and one or more scaled graphical elements;

adding a particular scaled graphical element to the one or more new pages based on updated positions of one or more particular scaled textual elements in the one or more new pages as listed in the map, wherein the particular scaled graphical element is anchored to the one or more particular scaled textual elements; and

scaling the particular graphical element based on a difference between a distance between two particular textual elements in the page and a corresponding distance between the particular two textual elements in the one or more new pages.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the page objects include one or more textual elements and one or more graphical elements.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the two particular textual elements in the page are words.

18. A computer program product, tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage device, for reflowing a page, comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

receive a page represented in a page description language, the page including a plurality of page objects; and

change at least one of i) a size of the page and ii) a size of the page objects, wherein changing includes;

creating one or more new pages,

creating a map containing positions of the page objects in the page, and adding to the map updated positions of the page objects in the one or more new pages to produce a relationship for each page object between the position of the page object in the page and the updated position of the page object in the one or more new pages,

scaling the page objects to produce scaled page objects that include one or more scaled textual elements and one or more scaled graphical elements,

adding a particular scaled graphical element to the one or more new pages based on updated positions of one or more particular scaled textual elements in the one or more new pages as listed in the map, wherein the particular scaled graphical element is anchored to the one or more particular scaled textual elements, and scaling the particular graphical element based on a difference between a distance between two particular textual elements in the page and a corresponding distance between the particular two textual elements in the one or more new pages.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the page objects include one or more textual elements and one or more graphical elements.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein:

the two particular textual elements in the page are words.