BALANCING MULTIPLE COLUMN LAYOUT

• US 20120084642A1
• Filed: 09/30/2010
• Published: 04/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Konica Minolta Laboratory U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Konica Minolta Systems Lab Incorporated (Konica Minolta Inc.)
• Inventors: Grams, Jason James, Plummer, Todd Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,954,842 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/243
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/183 Tabulation, i.e. one-dimensional positioning

Abstract

A method for managing multiple columns in a document. The method includes obtaining a text stream from the document; obtaining a current fill limit associated with an initial column of the multiple columns; placing, using a layout engine, the text stream within the multiple columns according to the current fill limit; identifying, after placing the text stream, a first fill level of a final column of the multiple columns; calculating a first difference between the current fill limit and the first fill level of the final column; calculating, in response to the first difference exceeding a tolerance, a revised fill limit based on the current fill limit; placing, using the layout engine, the text stream within the multiple columns according to the revised fill limit.

Claims

1. A method for managing a plurality of columns in a document, comprising:

obtaining a text stream from the document;

obtaining a current fill limit associated with an initial column of the plurality of columns;

placing, using a layout engine, the text stream within the plurality of columns according to the current fill limit;

identifying, after placing the text stream, a first fill level of a final column of the plurality of columns;

calculating a first difference between the current fill limit and the first fill level of the final column;

calculating, in response to the first difference exceeding a tolerance, a revised fill limit based on the current fill limit; and

placing, using the layout engine, the text stream within the plurality of columns according to the revised fill limit.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, after placing the text stream according to the revised fill limit, a second fill level of the final column;

calculating a second difference between the revised fill limit and the second fill level of the final column; and

generating, in response to the second difference being within the tolerance, a page of the document comprising the plurality of columns and the text stream placed within the plurality of columns according to the revised fill limit.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the revised fill limit comprises:

calculating, in response to the first fill level of the final column exceeding the current fill limit, an average of the current fill limit and a previous fill limit,

wherein the revised fill limit is the average.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

setting the previous fill limit to the current fill limit after calculating the average.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the revised fill limit comprises:

calculating, in response to the current fill limit exceeding the first fill level of the final column, a product by multiplying the current fill limit by a scaling factor, wherein the revised fill limit is the product.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the scaling factor is 0.5.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

setting the current fill limit to a height of the initial column of the plurality of columns; and

setting the previous fill limit to zero.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of columns have a plurality of different widths.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein placing the text stream according to the current fill limit comprises:

filling the initial column until the current fill limit is reached with a first portion of the text stream;

filling an intermediary column of the plurality of columns until the current fill limit is reached with a second portion of the text stream; and

filling the final column with a third portion of the text stream.

10. A method for managing a plurality of columns in a document, comprising:

obtaining a text stream from the document;

identifying a total area of the plurality of columns;

calculating an area covered by the text stream by placing, using a layout engine, the text stream within the plurality of columns;

calculating a ratio by dividing the area covered with the total area;

calculating a line limit based on a product of the ratio and a number of lines per column; and

placing, using the layout engine, a first portion of the text stream in the initial column until the line limit is reached and a second portion of the text stream in the final column.

11. A system for managing a plurality of columns in a document, comprising:

a conversion module configured to generate an intermediate format of a document comprising a text stream and the plurality of columns;

a layout engine configured to consume the intermediate format and place the text stream within the plurality of columns according to a current fill limit associated with an initial column of the plurality of columns; and

a constraint calculation module (CCM) configured to;

calculate a first difference between the current fill limit and a first fill level of the final column, wherein the first fill level results from placement of the text stream according to the current fill limit; and

calculate, in response to the first difference exceeding a tolerance, a revised fill limit based on the current fill limit,

wherein the layout engine is further configured to place the text stream within the plurality of columns according to the revised fill limit.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the CCM is further configured to

calculating a second difference between the revised fill limit and a second fill level of the final column, wherein the second fill level results from placement of the text stream according to the revised fill limit.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the conversion module, the layout engine, and the CCM are located on a page rendering device (PRD) configured to:

generate, in response to the second difference being within the tolerance, a page of the document comprising the plurality of columns and the text stream placed within the plurality of columns according to the revised fill limit.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the document is defined using an extensible markup language (XML).

15. The system of claim 11, wherein calculating the revised fill limit comprises:

calculating, in response to the first fill level of the final column exceeding the current fill limit, an average of the current fill limit and a previous fill limit,

wherein the revised fill limit is the average.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein calculating the revised fill limit comprises:

calculating, in response to the current fill limit exceeding the first fill level of the final column, a product by multiplying the current fill limit by 0.5, wherein the revised fill limit is the product.

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for managing a plurality of columns in a document, the instructions comprising functionality to:

obtain a text stream from the document;

obtain a current fill limit associated with an initial column of the plurality of columns;

place, using a layout engine, the text stream within the plurality of columns according to the current fill limit;

identify, after placing the text stream, a first fill level of a final column of the plurality of columns;

calculate a first difference between the current fill limit and the first fill level of the final column;

calculate, in response to the first difference exceeding a tolerance, a revised fill limit based on the current fill limit; and

place, using the layout engine, the text stream within the plurality of columns according to the revised fill limit.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions to calculate the revised fill limit comprise functionality to:

calculate, in response to the first fill level of the final column exceeding the current fill limit, an average of the current fill limit and a previous fill limit,

wherein the revised fill limit is the average.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions to calculate the revised fill limit comprise functionality to:

calculate, in response to the current fill limit exceeding the first fill level of the final column, a product by multiplying the current fill limit by a factor, wherein the revised fill limit is the product.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 17, the instructions further comprising functionality to:

identify, after placing the text stream according to the revised fill limit, a second fill level of the final column;

calculate a second difference between the revised fill limit and the second fill level of the final column; and

generate, in response to the second difference being within the tolerance, a page of the document comprising the plurality of columns and the text stream placed within the plurality of columns according to the revised fill limit.