Pointing gesture based computer note pad paging and scrolling interface

• US 5,581,681 A
• Filed: 06/07/1995
• Issued: 12/03/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Capps, Stephen P., Tchao, Michael C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Herndon, Heather R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fetting, Anton W.
• Application Number:
  US08/474,744
• Time in Patent Office: 545 Days
• Field of Search: 395/144, 395/155-157, 395/161, 345/123, 382/202
• US Class Current: 715/234
• 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

Abstract

A computer system for manipulating notes on a screen of a computer display is provided. Each note area may include graphical, text, and data objects. An initial note area is provided with a header bar which includes the date of creation, the note number, and/or other indicia. When a user desires to make a new note, a division gesture is made on the computer display by moving a stylus horizontally across the screen. Once a division gesture is detected, the height of the preceding note is determined, and the height of the new note is considered to be indefinite or infinite. Each new division gesture creates a new header bar for the new note indicating the date of creation, the note number, and/or other pertinent information.

Claims

1. A method for manipulating notes on the screen of a computer display comprising:

generating an initial note area on a screen of a computer display;

dividing said initial note area into a plurality of note areas in response to at least one division gesture implemented by moving a pointer across the width of the screen such that a left edge of the division gesture is within a first defined distance of a left side of said computer display and a right edge of the division gesture is within a second defined distance of a right side of said computer display, wherein the division gesture is made in a horizontal motion having a slope of less than a predefined slope value, and wherein each division gesture creates divider indicia in the form of a header bar said screen which visually separates an immediately preceding note-area and an immediately having a slope of less than a predefined slope value, and wherein each division gesture creates divider indicia in the form of a header bar on said screen which visually separates an immediately preceding note area and an immediately subsequent note area, the header bar being associated with the immediately subsequent note area, the header bar including a sizing button, the sizing button being operative to adjust a height of the immediately subsequent note area without adjusting the immediately preceding note area;

modifying the size of a selected note area, the selected note area including a specific header bar having an associated text heading and an associated sizing button, the size modification performed in response to a sizing gesture made to the associated sizing button;

in response to a down-scroll command received for a given note area having an associated header bar, performing one of the following;

(a) when the given note area has a subsequent area that is not displayed on the screen and the associated header bar is displayed but is not positioned at an upper portion of the screen, scrolling down and displaying the associated header bar at the upper portion of the screen thereby displaying at least a portion of the subsequent area;

(b) when the given note area has the subsequent area that is not displayed on the screen and the associated header bar is either displayed positioned at the upper portion of the screen or not displayed, scrolling down and displaying the subsequent area positioned beginning at the upper portion of the screen; and

(c) when the given note area has no subsequent area not displayed and a subsequent note is available for display, displaying the subsequent note such that the subsequent note'"'"'s header bar is located on the upper portion of the screen; and

in response to an up-scroll command received for the given note area, performing one of the following;

(d) when the given note area has a preceding area which is not displayed on the screen and the preceding area'"'"'s height is larger than a height of the screen, displaying a bottom most portion of the preceding area;

(e) when the given note area has the preceding area which is not displayed on the screen and the preceding area'"'"'s height is less than or equal to a height of the screen, displaying the given note area such that the associated header bar is positioned at the upper portion of the screen; and

(f) when the given note area has no preceding area not displayed and a preceding note is available for display, displaying the preceding note area such that the preceding note area'"'"'s header bar is located on the upper portion of the screen.

2. A computer readable medium containing computer program instructions for:

generating an initial note area on the screen of the computer display;

dividing said initial note area into a plurality of note areas in response to at least one division gesture implemented by moving a pointer across the width of the screen such that a left edge of the division gesture is within a first defined distance of a left side of said computer display and a right edge of the division gesture is within a second defined distance of a right side of said computer display, wherein the division gesture is made in a horizontal motion having a slope of less than a predefined slope value, and wherein each division gesture creates divider indicia in the form of a header bar on said screen which visually separates an immediately preceding note area and an immediately subsequent note area, the header bar being associated with the immediately subsequent note area, the header bar including a sizing button, the sizing button being operative to adjust a height of the immediately subsequent note area without adjusting the immediately preceding note area;

in response to a down-scroll command received for a given note area, performing one of the following;

(a) when the given note area has a subsequent area that is not displayed on the screen and the associated header bar is displayed but is not positioned at an upper portion of the screen, scrolling down and displaying the associated header bar at the upper portion of the screen thereby displaying at least a portion of the subsequent area;

(b) when the given note area has the subsequent area that is not displayed on the screen and the associated header bar is either displayed positioned at the upper portion of the screen or not displayed, Scrolling down and displaying the subsequent area positioned beginning at the upper portion of the screen; and

(c) when the given note area has no subsequent area not displayed and a subsequent note is available for display, displaying the subsequent note such that the subsequent note'"'"'s header bar is located on the upper portion of the screen; and

in response to an up-scroll command received for the given note area, performing one of the following;

(d) when the given note area has a preceding area which is not displayed on the screen and the preceding area'"'"'s height is larger than a height of the screen, displaying a bottom most portion of the preceding area;

(e) when the given note area has the preceding area which is not displayed on the screen and the preceding area'"'"'s height is less than or equal to a height of the screen, displaying the given note area such that the associated header bar is positioned at the upper portion of the screen; and

(f) when the given note area has no preceding area not displayed and a preceding note is available for display, displaying the preceding note area such that the preceding note area'"'"'s header bar is located on the upper portion of the screen.

3. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 2 wherein said computer program instruction for generating an initial note area on the computer screen includes creating a first data structure including a note number and a note height dimension.

4. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 2 wherein said computer program instruction for dividing said initial note area comprises computer program instructions for:

detecting a theoretical line drawn on said display by said pointer;

determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture; and

generating a new header bar on said computer display for a new note area if said theoretical line is determined to be a division gesture.

5. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 4 wherein said computer program instruction or detecting a theoretical line comprises computer program instructions for:

collecting a plurality of sample points corresponding to a movement of said pointer across said display; and

forming said theoretical line from at least two of said plurality of sample points.

6. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 4 wherein said computer program instruction for determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture includes one or more of the following computer program instructions for:

determining whether there is a sample point further from said theoretical line than a predetermined maximum distance value;

determining whether the absolute value of a sum of the signed distances of said plurality of sample points from said theoretical line is greater than a predetermined maximum sum value;

determining whether the absolute value of a slope of said theoretical line differs from a predetermined header bar slope by more than a predetermined maximum slope value; and

determining whether either end of said theoretical line is separated from an edge of said screen by more than a predetermined maximum margin value

wherein when one of the determining steps fails, said theoretical line is not a division gesture.

7. A computer readable medium having a computer program executable to move divider indicia in the form of a header bar displayed on a computer display as a linear region which separates a first note area from an adjacent second note area on a screen of the computer display, the header bar being associated with the second note area and including a sizing button, the computer program comprising the computer instructions for:

detecting the selection of the header bar by a pointer;

detecting a sizing gesture made with said pointer on said header bar, the sizing gesture engaging the sizing button;

moving said header bar as indicated by said sizing gesture, the movement of the header bar adjusting a height of the second note area without adjusting the first note area;

in response to a down-scroll command received for a given note area, performing one of the following;

(a) when the given note area has a subsequent area that is not displayed on the screen and the associated header bar is displayed but is not positioned at an upper portion of the screen, scrolling down and displaying the associated header bar at the upper portion of the screen thereby displaying at least a portion of the subsequent area;

(b) when the given note area has the subsequent area that is not displayed on the screen and the associated header bar is either displayed positioned at the upper portion of the screen or not displayed, scrolling down and displaying the subsequent area positioned beginning at the upper portion of the screen; and

(c) when the given note area has no subsequent area not displayed and a subsequent note is available for display, displaying the subsequent note such that the subsequent note'"'"'s header bar is located on the upper portion of the screen; and

in response to an up-scroll command received for the given note area, performing one of the following;

(d) when the given note area has a preceding area which is not displayed on the screen and the preceding area'"'"'s height is larger than a height of the screen displaying a bottom most portion of the preceding area;

(e) when the given note area has the preceding area which is not displayed on the screen and the preceding area'"'"'s height is less than or equal to a height of the screen, displaying the given note area such that the associated header bar is positioned at the upper portion of the screen; and

(f) when the given note area has no preceding area not displayed and a preceding note is available for display, displaying the preceding note area such that the preceding note area'"'"'s header bar is located on the upper portion of the screen.

8. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 7 wherein said pointer comprises stylus means contacting a screen of a pen-based computer system.

9. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 8 wherein said sizing gesture detected by a computer instruction comprises contacting said stylus with said screen over said header bar and moving said stylus without lifting said stylus from said screen.

10. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 7 wherein said computer program instruction for moving said header bar comprises:

changing a height dimension of a note associated with said divider bar; and

re-drawing at least said note on said screen.

11. A pointer-based computer system comprising:

a central processing unit;

a memory accessible by said central processing unit;

a computer display having a screen;

a pointer;

means for generating an initial note area on the screen of the computer display;

means for dividing said initial note area into a plurality of note areas in response to at least one division gesture implemented by moving the pointer across the width of the screen such that a left edge of the division gesture is within a first defined distance of a left side of said computer display and a right edge of the division gesture is within a second defined distance of a right side of said computer display, wherein the division gesture is made in a horizontal motion having a slope of less than a predefined slope value, and wherein each division gesture creates divider indicia in the form of a header bar on said screen which visually separates an immediately preceding note area and an immediately subsequent note area, the header bar being associated with the immediately subsequent note area, the header bar including a sizing button, the sizing button being operative to adjust a height of the immediately subsequent note area without adjusting the immediately preceding note area; and

a quantized scrolling mechanism operative to respond to a down-scroll command received for a given note area by performing one of the following;

(a) when the given note area has a subsequent area that is not displayed on the screen and the associated header bar is displayed but is not positioned at an upper portion of the screen, scrolling down and displaying the associated header bar at the upper portion of the screen thereby displaying at least a portion of the subsequent area;

(b) when the given note area has the subsequent area that is not displayed on the screen and the associated header bar is either displayed positioned at the upper portion of the screen or not displayed, scrolling down and displaying the subsequent area positioned beginning at the upper portion of the screen; and

(c) when the given note area has no subsequent area not displayed and a subsequent note is available for display, displaying the subsequent note such that the subsequent note'"'"'s header bar is located on the upper portion of the screen,

the quantized scrolling mechanism further operative to respond to an up-scroll command received for the given note area by performing one of the following;

(d) when the given note area has a preceding area which is not displayed on the screen and the preceding area'"'"'s height is larger than a height of the screen, displaying a bottom most portion of the preceding area;

(e) when the given note area has the preceding area which is not displayed on the screen and the preceding area'"'"'s height is less than or equal to a height of the screen, displaying the given note area such that the associated header bar is positioned at the upper portion of the screen; and

(f) when the given note area has no preceding area not displayed and a preceding note is available for display, displaying the preceding note area such that the preceding note area'"'"'s header bar is located on the upper portion of the screen.

12. A pointer-based computer system as recited in claim 11 wherein said means for generating an initial note area on the computer screen includes means for creating a first data structure including a note number and a note height dimension.

13. A pointer-based computer system as recited in claim 11 wherein said means for dividing said initial note area comprises:

means for detecting a theoretical line drawn on said display by said pointer;

means for determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture; and

means for generating a header bar on said computer display for a new note area if said theoretical line is determined to be a division gesture.

14. A pointer-based computer system as recited in claim 13 wherein said means for detecting a theoretical line comprises:

means for collecting a plurality of sample points corresponding to a movement of said pointer across said display; and

means for forming said theoretical line from at least two of said plurality of sample points.

15. A pointer-based computer system as recited in claim 14 wherein said means for determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture includes one or more of the following:

means for determining whether there is a sample point further from said theoretical line than a predetermined maximum distance value;

means for determining whether the absolute value of a sum of the signed distances of said plurality of sample points from said theoretical line is greater than a predetermined maximum sum value;

means for determining whether the absolute value of a slope of said theoretical line differs from a predetermined header bar slope by more than a predetermined maximum slope value; and

means for determining whether either end of said theoretical line is separated from an edge of said screen by more than a predetermined maximum margin value

wherein when one of the determining means fails, said theoretical line is not a division gesture.

16. A computer readable medium having a computer program for manipulating notes on the screen of a computer display, the computer program comprising the computer instructions for:

generating an initial note area on a screen of a computer display;

dividing said initial note area into a plurality of note areas in response to at least one division gesture implemented by moving a pointing means across the width of the screen such that a left edge of the division gesture is within a first defined distance of a left side of said computer display and a right edge of the division gesture is within a second defined distance of a right side of said computer display, wherein the division gesture is made in a horizontal motion having a slope of less than a predefined slope value, and wherein each division gesture creates divider indicia in the form of a header bar on said screen which visually separates two adjacent note areas, said header bar being displayed on said computer display as a horizontal region having indicia pertaining to a note including a creation date;

modifying the height of a selected note area in response to a gesture made on said header bar associated with said selected note area; and

scrolling at least one note area in response to a scrolling command.

17. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 16 wherein said computer instruction for generating an initial note area on a computer screen includes creating a first data structure including a note number designation and a note height dimension.

18. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 16 wherein said computer program instruction for dividing said initial note area comprises:

detecting a theoretical line drawn on said display by said pointing means;

determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture; and

generating a header bar on said computer display for a new note area if said theoretical line is determined to be a division gesture.

19. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 18 wherein said computer program instruction for detecting a theoretical line comprises:

collecting a plurality of sample points corresponding to a movement of said pointing means across said display; and

forming said theoretical line from at least two of said plurality of sample points.

20. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 18 wherein said computer program instruction for determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture includes the following computer instructions for:

determining whether there is a sample point farther from said theoretical line than a predetermined maximum distance value;

determining whether the absolute value of a sum of the signed distances of said plurality of sample points from said theoretical line is greater than a predetermined maximum sum value;

determining whether the absolute value of a slope of said theoretical line differs from a predetermined header bar slope by more than a predetermined maximum slope value; and

determining whether either end of said theoretical line is separated from an edge of said screen by more than a predetermined maximum margin value;

wherein when one of the determining steps fails, said theoretical line is not a division gesture.

21. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 16 wherein said computer program instruction for modifying the size of a selected note area comprises:

detecting said gesture; and

moving said divider indicia in response to said gesture.

22. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 16 wherein said computer program instruction for scrolling at least one note area comprises:

detecting said scrolling command; and

scrolling said at least one note area in a direction indicated by said scrolling command such that divider indicia on said screen move in discrete jumps such that data input on said at least one note area appears in approximately the same position at which it was originally input.

23. A computer readable medium storing a computer program for generating divider indicia on a computer display, the computer program comprising computer instructions for:

detecting a division gesture implemented by moving a pointing means across the width of a screen such that a left edge of the division gesture is within a first defined distance of a left side of said computer display and a right edge of the division gesture is within a second defined distance of a right side of said computer display, wherein the division gesture is made in a horizontal motion having a slope of less than a predefined slope value; and

generating divider indicia in the form of a header bar on said screen as positioned by said division gesture said header bar being displayed on said computer display as a horizontal region having indicia pertaining to a note including a creation date.

24. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 23 wherein said computer program instruction for detecting a division gesture comprises:

creating a theoretical line from a gesture made on said screen by said pointing means;

comparing said theoretical line to predetermined criteria; and

recognizing a division gesture if said theoretical line meets said predetermined criteria.

25. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 24 wherein said computer program instruction for creating a theoretical line comprises:

collecting a plurality of sample points along a gesture path;

forming said theoretical line including at least two of said plurality of sample points.

26. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 25 wherein said theoretical line is created from two sample points selected at or near opposing ends of said gesture path.

27. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 25 wherein said theoretical line is created from three or more sample points.

28. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 27 wherein said theoretical line is created from at least a majority of said sample points by a least-mean-square (LMS) computer readable medium.

29. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 25 wherein said computer program instruction for comparing said theoretical line to said predetermined criteria comprises:

determining whether any sample point is further from said theoretical line than a predetermined amount.

30. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 25 wherein said computer program instruction for comparing said theoretical line to said predetermined criteria comprises:

determining whether the absolute value of a sum of the signed distances of said plurality of sample points from said theoretical line is greater than a predetermined amount.

31. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 25 wherein said computer program instruction for comparing said theoretical line to said predetermined criteria comprises:

determining whether the absolute value of a slope of said theoretical line differs from a predetermined slope by more than a predetermined amount.

32. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 25 wherein said computer program instruction for comparing said theoretical line to said predetermined criteria comprises:

determining whether either end of said theoretical line is separated from an edge of said screen by more than a predetermined amount.

34. A pointer-based computer system as recited in claim 32 wherein said means for generating an initial note area on the computer screen includes means for creating a first data structure including a note number and a note height dimension.

36. A pointer-based computer system as recited in claim 34 wherein said means for detecting a theoretical line comprises:

means for collecting a plurality of sample points corresponding to a movement of said pointer across said display; and

means for forming said theoretical line from at least two of said plurality of sample points.

37. A pointer-based computer system as recited in claim 34 wherein said means for determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture includes one or more of the following:

means for determining whether there is a sample point farther from said theoretical line than a predetermined maximum distance value;

means for determining whether the absolute value of a sum of the signed distances of said plurality of sample points from said theoretical line is greater than a predetermined maximum sum value;

means for determining whether the absolute value of a slope of said theoretical line differs from a predetermined header bar slope by more than a predetermined maximum slope value; and

means for determining whether either end of said theoretical line is separated from an edge of said screen by more than a predetermined maximum margin value

wherein when one of the determining means fails, said theoretical line is not a division gesture.

33. A pointer-based computer system comprising:

a central processing unit;

a memory accessible by said central processing unit;

a computer display having a screen;

a pointer;

means for generating an initial note area on the screen of the computer display;

means for dividing said initial note area into a plurality of note areas in response to at least one division gesture implemented by moving the pointer across the width of the screen such that a left edge of the division gesture is within a first defined distance of a left side of said computer display and a right edge of the division gesture is within a second defined distance of a right side of said computer display, wherein the division gesture is made in a horizontal motion having a slope of less than a predefined slope value, and wherein each division gesture creates divider indicia in the form of a header bar on said screen which visually separates two adjacent note areas; and

means for scrolling operable to scroll at least one note area in response to a scrolling command.

35. A pointer-based computer system as recited in claim 33 wherein said means for dividing said initial note area comprises:

means for detecting a theoretical line drawn on said display by said pointer;

means for determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture; and

means for generating a header bar on said computer display for a new note area if said theoretical line is determined to be a division gesture.