PREVIEWING PORTIONS OF ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS

• US 20170068442A1
• Filed: 11/18/2016
• Published: 03/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kawamura, Tateo, Watanabe, Shoichiro
• Granted Patent: US 10,228,845 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04804 Transparency, e.g. transparent or translucent windows
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/20 Natural language analysis semantic analysis of natural language G06F40/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis

Abstract

A computer device displays some amount of an electronic document which includes an object. The object correlates with both a first and second portion of the electronic document. The first and second portions are different. The device detects a first input gesture which is located within a predetermined distance of the object. The first portion is determined to correlate with both the object and the first input gesture. In response to determining this correlation, the first portion is displayed. After displaying the first portion, the device detects a second input gesture. The second input gesture is within the predetermined distance of the same object. The second input gesture includes a different motion than the first input gesture. The device determines that the second portion correlates with both the object and the second gesture. In response to this determination, the second portion is displayed.

Claims

1. A method of previewing electronic documents on a computing device, the method comprising:

displaying an object within an electronic document, wherein the object correlates with both a first portion of the electronic document and a second portion of the electronic document, wherein the first portion and the second portion are different;

detecting a first input gesture located within a predetermined distance of the object;

determining that the first portion of the electronic document correlates with both the object and the first input gesture;

displaying the first portion of the electronic document in response to detecting the first input gesture within the predetermined distance of the object;

detecting a second input gesture located within the predetermined distance of the object, wherein the second input gesture includes a different motion than the first input gesture;

determining that the second portion of the electronic document correlates with both the object and the second input gesture; and

displaying the second portion of the electronic document in response to detecting the second input gesture.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein correlations of the object are stored in metadata.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein correlations of the object are determined using natural language processing techniques.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the object correlates with a third portion of the electronic document, the method further comprising:

detecting a third input gesture located within the predetermined distance of the object, wherein the third input gesture includes a different motion than either the first input gesture or the second input gesture;

determining that the third portion of the electronic document correlates with both the object and the third input gesture;

displaying a first subset of the third portion of the electronic document in response to detecting the third input gesture within the predetermined distance of the object, wherein the first subset is less than the third portion;

detecting a continuation of the third input gesture; and

scrolling to a second subset of the third portion in response to detecting the continuation of the third input gesture, wherein the second subset is different than the first subset and less than the third portion.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the first input gesture comprises detecting a physical object placed upon a touch screen of the computing device, the method further comprising:

determining a blocked section of the touch screen which is obscured by the physical object; and

displaying the first portion in a section of the touch screen which does not overlap with the blocked section.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the first input gesture and the second input gesture each comprises detecting a physical object placed upon a touch screen of the computing device within the predetermined distance of the object;

and

in response to detecting that the physical object is no longer placed upon the touch screen within the predetermined distance of the object while displaying the first portion, closing the displayed first portion; and

in response to detecting that the physical object is no longer placed upon the touch screen within the predetermined distance of the object while displaying the second portion, closing the displayed second portion.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the first portion includes displaying the first portion such that some of the object is still visible.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the displayed first portion is at least partially transparent.