Selecting Document Content

• US 20120185765A1
• Filed: 05/17/2011
• Published: 07/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Mansfield, Philip Andrew, Levy, Michael Robert, Clegg, Derek B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,549,399 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/131 Fragmentation of text files, e.g. creating reusable text-blocks; Linking to fragments, e.g. using XInclude; Namespaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/137 Hierarchical processing, e.g. outlines

Abstract

For a document with content that has been structured into a set primitive areas, a novel method for performing contiguous selection of document content across different primitive areas in the document is disclosed. The method defines a contiguous section in the ordered list by identifying the first and last primitive elements of the contiguous selection. The first primitive element is identified as the primitive element that is closest in reading flow to a start selection point on the page, while the last primitive element is identified as the primitive element that is closest in reading flow to an end selection point on the page.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by one or more processing units, the computer program for identifying a selection of primitive areas in a page of a document, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving a ordered list of primitive areas in the page;

receiving a selection point specifying a location in the page;

identifying a primitive area that is closest to the location specified by the selection point; and

assigning a selection index based on a position of the closest primitive area in the ordered list of primitive areas.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the selection point is a first selection point, the identified selection index is a first selection index, and the identified primitive area that is closest to the first selection point is a first primitive area, the computer program further comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving a second selection point specifying a second location in the page;

identifying a second primitive area that is closest to the second selection point; and

assigning a second selection index based on the position of the second primitive area in the ordered list of primitive areas.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2 further comprising a set of instructions for defining the selection of primitive areas that starts at the first selection index and ends at the second selection index.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for identifying the primitive area that is closest to the selection point comprises a set of instructions for comparing displacement values from a set of primitive areas to the selection point.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for identifying the primitive area that is closest to the selection point comprises a set of instructions for comparing a set of primitive areas according to a set of comparison criterions, wherein a lower priority comparison criterions is used when a higher priority comparison criterion is unable to identify the primitive area that is closest to the selection point.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the primitive area closest to the selection point is determined based on reading flow.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the set of instructions for assigning a selection index based on the position of the closest primitive area comprises a set of instructions for identifying an index associated with an element in the closest primitive area.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the element in the closest primitive area is a character in the primitive area.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the element is a paragraph and the index is a last index associated with the paragraph.

10. A method comprising:

receiving an array of primitive elements of a document content, wherein the primitive elements are structured into a plurality of primitive areas;

receiving a first selection point specifying a first location in the page;

identifying a first primitive element in a first primitive area that is closest to the location specified by the first selection point;

receiving a second selection point specifying a second location in the page;

identifying a second primitive element in a second primitive area that is closest to the location specified by the second selection point, wherein the first primitive area and the second primitive area are different primitive areas; and

selecting all primitive elements that are between the first primitive element and the second primitive element in the ordered list.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first primitive area is a layout area, wherein the first primitive element is a character glyph in the layout area.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein identifying the first primitive element that is closest to the location specified by the first selection point comprises identifying a first primitive area that comprises a primitive element that is closest to the first selection point in reading flow of the first primitive area.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein identifying the first primitive element comprises comparing displacement values from a set of primitive areas to the first selection point.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein identifying the first primitive element comprises comparing a set of primitive areas according to a set of comparison criterions, wherein a lower priority comparison criterions is used when a higher priority comparison criterion is unable to identify the primitive area that is closest to the first selection point.

15. The method of claim 10 further comprising outputting the selected primitive elements.

16. A computer readable medium storing a computer program for execution by one or more processing units, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:

receiving an array of primitive areas, wherein each of the primitive areas comprises at least one primitive element;

receiving a first selection point specifying first a location in the page;

identifying a first primitive area that is closest to the location specified by the first selection point;

receiving a second selection point specifying a second location in the page;

identifying a second primitive area that is closest to the location specified by the second selection point, wherein the first primitive area and the second primitive area are different primitive areas; and

identifying all primitive elements that are between the first primitive element and the second primitive element in the ordered list.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the first primitive area is a layout area, wherein the first primitive element is a character glyph in the layout area.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the set of instructions for identifying the first primitive element that is closest to the location specified by the first selection point comprises a set of instructions for identifying a first primitive area that comprises a primitive element that is closest to the first selection point in reading flow of the first primitive area.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the set of instructions for identifying the first primitive element comprises a set of instructions for comparing displacement values from a set of primitive areas to the first selection point.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the set of instructions for identifying the first primitive element comprises a set of instructions for comparing a set of primitive areas according to a set of comparison criterions, wherein a lower priority comparison criterions is used when a higher priority comparison criterion is unable to identify the primitive area that is closest to the first selection point.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 16 further comprising outputting the selected primitive elements.