Method and apparatus for providing access to and working with architectural drawings on a personal digital assistant

• US 9,053,080 B2
• Filed: 02/15/2013
• Issued: 06/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Autodesk, Inc.
• Inventors: Look, Douglas G., Felser, Lawrence David, Wallace, John Rogers
• Primary Examiner(s): SAX, STEVEN PAUL
• Application Number:
  US13/768,293
• Publication Number:
  US 20130159833A1
• Time in Patent Office: 844 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2111/02 CAD in a network environment, e.g. collaborative CAD or distributed simulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2111/12 Symbolic schematics
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/13 Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture provide access to architectural documents in a network based on-line web based system. Servers that are accessible from the Internet maintain persistent multiple architectural documents of different media types. An online user is provided, from the servers via the Internet, a set of basic virtual design tools that have persistent properties and may be copied. The virtual design tools may also be utilized to work with the architectural documents. A workspace is also provided for viewing, accessing, and modifying the architectural documents.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing access to architectural documents comprising:

displaying a graphical virtual hand held computing device on a display of a desktop computer;

associating one or more architectural documents with the virtual hand held computing device by graphically adding the architectural documents to the virtual hand held computing device using an input device;

annotating the one or more architectural documents on the actual hand held computing device when the actual hand computing device is not communicatively coupled to the desktop computer;

synchronizing the virtual hand held computing device with an actual hand held computing device wherein the synchronization provides that the information displayed on the virtual hand held computing device matches information displayed on the actual hand held computing device, wherein the synchronizing is performed when the actual hand held computing device is communicatively coupled to the desktop computer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the hand held computing device comprises a personal digital assistant (PDA).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical virtual hand held computing device is displayed via a website accessed by the desktop computer.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

moving the graphical virtual hand held computing device within a display area of the display on the desktop computer, wherein the moving is performed by dragging the graphical virtual hand held computing device using an input device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

annotating the one or more architectural documents on the virtual hand held computing device independently of the actual hand held computing device; and

wherein the synchronizing is performed when the actual hand held computing device is communicatively coupled to the desktop computer.

6. A computer-implemented apparatus for providing access to architectural documents comprising:

a graphical virtual hand held computing device that is displayed on a display of a desktop computer;

one or more architectural documents associated with the virtual hand held computing device, wherein the association is established by graphically adding the architectural documents to the virtual hand held computing device using an input device;

wherein the one or more architectural documents are annotated on the actual hand held computing device when the actual hand computing device is not communicatively coupled to the desktop computer;

wherein the hand held computing device is synchronized with an actual hand held computing device wherein a synchronization process ensures that information displayed on the virtual hand held computing device matches information displayed on the actual hand held computing device, wherein the synchronizing is performed when the actual hand held computing device is communicatively coupled to the desktop computer.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the hand held computing device comprises a personal digital assistant (PDA).

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the graphical virtual hand held computing device is displayed via a website accessed by the desktop computer.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

the graphical virtual hand held computing device is moved within a display area of the display on the desktop computer, wherein the moving is performed by dragging the graphical virtual hand held computing device using an input device.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

the one or more architectural documents are annotated on the virtual hand held computing device independently of the actual hand held computing device; and

the synchronizing is performed when the actual hand held computing device is communicatively coupled to the desktop computer.

11. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory program storage device readable by a computer, tangibly embodying at least one program of instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps of providing access to architectural documents, the method steps comprising:

displaying a graphical virtual hand held computing device on a display of a desktop computer;

associating one or more architectural documents with the virtual hand held computing device by graphically adding the architectural documents to the virtual hand held computing device using an input device;

annotating the one or more architectural documents on the actual hand held computing device when the actual hand computing device is not communicatively coupled to the desktop computer;

synchronizing the virtual hand held computing device with an actual hand held computing device wherein the synchronization provides that the information displayed on the virtual hand held computing device matches information displayed on the actual hand held computing device, wherein the synchronizing is performed when the actual hand held computing device is communicatively coupled to the desktop computer.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein the hand held computing device comprises a personal digital assistant (PDA).

13. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein the graphical virtual hand held computing device is displayed via a website accessed by the desktop computer.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 11, the method steps further comprising:

moving the graphical virtual hand held computing device within a display area of the display on the desktop computer, wherein the moving is performed by dragging the graphical virtual hand held computing device using an input device.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 11, the method steps further comprising:

annotating the one or more architectural documents on the virtual hand held computing device independently of the actual hand held computing device; and

wherein the synchronizing is performed when the actual hand held computing device is communicatively coupled to the desktop computer.

16. A computer-implemented method for capturing a screen image comprising:

displaying, on a display device via a desktop computer, a virtual desktop comprised of one or more windows;

activating a command to capture an image;

in response to the command;

changing a cursor to a capture cursor;

defining, via the capture cursor, an area of the virtual desktop to be captured;

capturing the defined area; and

inserting the captured defined area into a workspace as a bitmap image.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the workspace is minimized in response to the activating.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein:

the defining comprises displaying a transparent browser wherein the one or more windows can be viewed through the transparent browser; and

the defined area comprises an area being viewed through the transparent browser.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising annotating the bitmap image in the workspace.