Document display system for organizing and displaying documents as screen objects organized along strand paths
First Claim
1. An apparatus for displaying documents, comprising:
- a computer controlled display device;
means for displaying a strand of documents on said display device, said strand having a parent document and one or more child documents, said parent document represented on said display device by a screen object, each one of said child documents represented on said display device by a screen object displayed on a strand path, said strand path consisting of a two dimensional line through a three dimensional virtual display space in which said parent document and said child documents are arranged;
said parent document including a strand function, said strand function being an attribute having a value equal to a script representation of a mathematical equation which when interpreted and executed outputs the coordinates of said strand path; and
each one of said child documents identified by an entry in a child document list contained within said parent document, each entry in said child document list containing a unique identifier for one of said child documents.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system for displaying documents on a computer controlled display device is disclosed. The system displays documents either in a completely free-form, user controlled configuration or as strands, such that documents in a strand follow a strand path. The strand path is a two dimensional line through a three dimensional display space. The documents displayed on the strand are known as child documents, and each strand also has a parent document. Various constraints defining the strand are associated with the parent document, including a strand function defining the strand path, minimum and maximum separation constraints defining the distance between the child documents on the strand, and an origin constraint defining the positional relationship of the strand path to the screen object of the parent document.
350 Citations
22 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for displaying documents, comprising:
-
a computer controlled display device; means for displaying a strand of documents on said display device, said strand having a parent document and one or more child documents, said parent document represented on said display device by a screen object, each one of said child documents represented on said display device by a screen object displayed on a strand path, said strand path consisting of a two dimensional line through a three dimensional virtual display space in which said parent document and said child documents are arranged; said parent document including a strand function, said strand function being an attribute having a value equal to a script representation of a mathematical equation which when interpreted and executed outputs the coordinates of said strand path; and each one of said child documents identified by an entry in a child document list contained within said parent document, each entry in said child document list containing a unique identifier for one of said child documents. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. An apparatus for displaying documents, comprising:
-
a processor; display memory means coupled with said processor; a display device, coupled with said display memory means, for displaying screen objects described in screen coordinates stored in said display memory means; document memory means, coupled with said processor, for holding one or more documents; one or more child documents stored in said document memory means; a parent document stored in said document memory means, said parent document having a strand function, said strand function being an attribute having a value equal to a script representation of a mathematical equation which when interpreted and executed outputs the coordinates of a strand path; one or more screen objects representing each one of said one or more child documents and displayed on said display device on said strand path; script interpreter means, coupled with said document memory means, for interpreting and executing said strand function and outputting three dimensional world space coordinates of said strand path; and perspective function means, coupled with said processor, said display memory means, and said document memory means, and responsive to said three dimensional world space coordinates, for translating said world space coordinates into two dimensional screen space coordinates, and storing said screen space coordinates into said display memory means. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
Specification