User interface systems and methods for manipulating and viewing digital documents

• US 20020011990A1
• Filed: 04/16/2001
• Published: 01/31/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Picsel (Research) Limited
• Inventors: Anwar, Majid
• Granted Patent: US 7,450,114 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04804 Transparency, e.g. transparent or translucent windows
• 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
• 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 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1203 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. print management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1206 resulting in increased flexibility in input data format or job format or job type
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1208 resulting in improved quality of the output result, e.g. print layout, colours, workflows, print preview
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1228 Printing driverless or using generic drivers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1245 by conversion to intermediate or common format
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1256 User feedback, e.g. print preview, test print, proofing, pre-flight checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1292 Mobile client, e.g. wireless printing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/00 3D [Three Dimensional] image rendering
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/005 General purpose rendering architectures
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/10 Mixing of images, i.e. displayed pixel being the result of an operation, e.g. adding, on the corresponding input pixels

Abstract

Systems, including handheld computing devices that include system code stored within the memory and adapted to be executed by the processor. The system code can process an input byte stream that is representative of contents to be displayed on the touch sensitive display and can generate a content document file representative of an internal representation of the content. A tool document file may also be stored in the memory and may provide an internal representation of a document providing an image that is representative of a graphical tool. Associated with a tool document can be tool code that is capable of processing the content document file to create an internal representation of the contents that presents the content in a manner that achieves a display effect associated with the tool. The device will also include parsing code that processes the content document file, the tool document file, and the processed internal representation to generate a screen document for display on the touch sensitive display in a manner that portrays the display effect.

Claims

1. A computer device having a system for simulating tactile control over a document, comprising

a processor, memory, and a display,

system code stored within the memory and adapted to be executed by the processor, said system code for providing a digital representation of a document including data content and a page structure representative of a page layout of the document,

a rendering engine for rendering at least a portion of the page layout of the digital representation on the display,

a screen monitor for monitoring the screen to detect movement of an object across an image presented on the display,

an interface process for processing the detected movement to detect a motion representative of a command to alter the rendered page structure of the digital representation, and

a navigation module responsive to the interface process for changing the rendered portion of the page layout, wherein altering the rendered portion of the page layout allows a user to navigate through the digital representation of the document.

2. A computer device according to claim 1, wherein the display comprises a touch-sensitive display, and

the screen monitor monitors a touch-sensitive screen for detecting movement across a surface of the touch sensitive display.

3. A computer device according to claim 1, wherein the display comprises a computer display capable of depicting a cursor moving across a screen of the display, and wherein

the screen monitor detects movement of the cursor across a surface of the display.

4. A computer device according to claim 1, wherein the display comprises a display and a tactile input device selected from the group consisting of a touch-pad, a joystick, a mouse, a trackball and a thumb wheel device and wherein

the screen monitor detects movement indicated by the tactile device.

5. A computer device according to claim 1, wherein the processor, memory, and a display are arranged as a data processing platform for a device selected from the group consisting of a hand-held computer, a telephone, mobile data terminal, a set top box, an embedded processor, a notebook computer, a computer workstation, a printer, a copier, a facsimile machine, in-car systems, domestic appliances, audio players, microwave, washing machines, fridges.

6. A computer device according to claim 1, further including

a velocity detector for determining a velocity vector associated with motion detected across the surface of the touch-sensitive display.

7. A computer device according to claim 6, further comprising means for applying a velocity characteristic to a document within a display.

8. A computer device according to claim 1, wherein the interface process includes a page-flip detector for detecting a motion across the surface of a tactile input device at a location presenting a portion of the page layout graphically representative of a portion of a document.

9. A computer device according to claim 8, wherein the tactile input device includes an input device selected from the group consisting of a touch-sensitive display, a touch-pad, a joystick, a mouse, a trackball and a thumb wheel device.

10. A computer device according to claim 1, wherein the navigation module responds to the page-flip detector for rendering a portion of the page layout representative of a portion of the page layout adjacent a currently rendered portion.

11. A computer device according to claim 10, wherein the rendered portion of the page layout has a selected adjacency to the currently rendered portion.

12. A computer device according to claim 1, wherein the navigation module includes a page curl detector for rendering a portion of the page layout representative of a portion adjacent a currently rendered portion.

13. A computer device according to claim 12, wherein the rendered portion of the page layout has a selected adjacency to the currently rendered portion.

14. A computer device according to claim 1, wherein the interface process includes a gesturing process for detecting a predefined movement representative of a command for selecting a portion of the page layout to be rendered.

15. A computer device according to claim 1, wherein the interface process includes a gesturing process for detecting a predefined movement representative of a command for altering data content of the digital representation of the document.

16. A computer device according to claim 1, wherein the interface process includes a page-zoom detector for detecting a predefined movement and a velocity characteristic of the redefined movement, wherein the predefined movement is representative of a command for changing the scale of a display as a function of the velocity characteristic.

17. A computer device according to claim 1, wherein the navigation module further includes means for rendering a display as a function of an underlying display, for providing context responsive rendering of content.

18. A computer device according to claim 17, wherein the means for rendering includes means for rendering display features and user interface controls while in an active state.

19. A computer device according to claim 1, further including a tool document file stored in the memory and providing an internal representation of a document providing an image that is representative of a graphical tool, tool code associated with the tool document file and capable of processing the digital representation of the document to present the digital representation in a manner that achieves a display effect associated with the tool.

20. A computer device according to claim 19, wherein the tool document file includes information representative of a graphical tool selected from the group consisting of a magnifying tool, a ruler, a text entry cursor, a thumbnail navigation column, a thumbnail view of linked content and a query tool.

21. A computer device according to claim 19, further including

means for controlling a transparency characteristic of a document presented on the display.

22. A computer process according to claim 21, further including

means for controlling a transparency characteristic of selected portions of the document for adjusting visibility of the selected portions relative to other portions of the document.

23. A mobile computing device, comprising a housing which supports a processor, memory, and a touch-sensitive display,

system code stored within the memory and adapted to be executed by the processor, said system code for processing an input byte stream representative of content to be displayed on said touch-sensitive display to generate a content document file representative of an internal representation of the content,

a tool document file stored in the memory and providing an internal representation of a document providing an image that is representative of a graphical tool,

tool code associated with the tool document file and capable of processing the content document file to create an internal representation of the content that presents the content in a manner that achieves a display effect associated with the tool, and

parsing code that processes the content document file, the tool document file, and the processed internal representation to generate a screen document for display on the touch-sensitive display in a manner that portrays the display effect.

24. A mobile computer device according to claim 23, comprising

a motion engine for monitoring the touch-sensitive display and for detecting motion across a surface of the touch-sensitive display.

25. A mobile computer device according to claim 24, further comprising

a velocity detector for determining a velocity vector associated with motion detected across the surface of the touch-sensitive display.

26. A mobile computer device according to claim 25, further comprising means for applying a velocity characteristic to a document within a display.

27. A mobile computer device according to claim 23, wherein the tool document file includes information representative of a graphical tool selected from the group consisting of a magnifying tool, a ruler, a text entry cursor, a thumbnail navigation column, and a query tool.

28. A mobile computer device according to claim 23, further comprising a gesture stroke engine for detecting a plurality of strokes.

29. A mobile computer according to claim 28, further comprising a character recognition system for processing detected strokes and mapping said strokes to an alpha-numeric character.

30. A mobile computer according to claim 28, further comprising a command recognition system for processing detected strokes and mapping said strokes to a set of predetermined display commands.

31. A computer device having a context sensitive graphical interface tool, comprising

a processor, memory, and a touch-sensitive display,

a content document file stored in the memory and being representative of an internal representation of the content,

a tool document file stored in the memory and providing an internal representation of a document providing an image that is representative of the graphical interface tool,

tool code capable of running of the processor and being associated with the tool document file and capable of processing the content document file to create an internal representation of the content that when rendered presents the content in a manner that achieves a display effect associated with the tool,

parsing code that processes the content document file, the tool document file, and the processed internal representation to generate a screen document for display on the touch-sensitive display, and

interface code capable of running on the processor for allowing a user to arrange the image of the graphical interface tool into a selected contextual relationship over the rendered content and for directing the tool code to process a portion of the content document file associated with the selected position.

32. A computer device according to claim 31, wherein the interface code includes means for detecting a contextual relationship between the graphical interface tool and the rendered content, wherein the contextual relationship is selected from the group consisting of the relative position of the graphical interface tool and the rendered content, the time at which the graphical interface tool acts on the rendered content, and the state of the rendered content.

33. A computer device according to claim 31, wherein the processor, memory, and a display are arranged as a data processing platform for a device selected from the group consisting of a hand-held computer, a telephone, mobile data terminal, a set top box, an embedded processor, a notebook computer, a computer workstation, a printer, a copier and a facsimile machine.

34. A method for providing interface tools for manipulating a document on a display, comprising

processing an input byte stream representative of the document to generate a content document file representative of an internal representation of the content,

providing a tool document file providing an internal representation of a document providing an image that is representative of a graphical tool,

providing tool code associated with the tool document file and capable of processing the content document file to create an internal representation of the content that presents the content in a manner that achieves a display effect associated with the tool, and

processing the content document file, the tool document file, and the processed internal representation to generate a screen document for display on the touch-sensitive display in a manner that portrays the display effect.

35. A method according to claim 34, wherein providing tool code includes providing a set of script instructions for processing information in said content document file.

36. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for a process comprising

processing an input byte stream representative of the document to generate a content document file representative of an internal representation of the content,

providing a tool document file providing an internal representation of a document providing an image that is representative of a graphical tool,

providing tool code associated with the tool document file and capable of processing the content document file to create an internal representation of the content that presents the content in a manner that achieves a display effect associated with the tool, and

processing the content document file, the tool document file, and the processed internal representation to generate a screen document for display on the touch-sensitive display in a manner that portrays the display effect.

37. A method for providing a user-interface, comprising

providing a content document file having an internal representation of a document,

providing a tool document file having an internal representation of a graphical tool,

providing tool code associated with the tool document file,

having the tool code modify the content document file to include the graphical tool within the an internal representation of the content, and

rendering the modified content to generate a screen document for display.

38. A method according to claim 37, wherein the tool code comprises a script.