Method and apparatus for viewing electronic documents

• US 5,634,064 A
• Filed: 08/02/1996
• Issued: 05/27/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: McCoy, William H., Cohn, Richard J., Warnock, John E., Padgett, Allan P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph H.
• Application Number:
  US08/693,489
• Time in Patent Office: 298 Days
• Field of Search: 395/145-148, 395/155-161, 364/419.1, 364/419.17, 434/118
• US Class Current: 715/208
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning

Abstract

A reader for displaying an electronic document stored in a predetermined format and allowing articles of the document to be read in the direction of their content information flow. The reader includes a selector to select an article of the document to be read. A displayer displays a first portion of the article in a manner which promotes comfortable viewing, and a navigator permits the display of the next and remaining sequential portions of the article in content flow (or reverse content flow) order. Preferably, the displayer pans and zooms, as necessary, to position the article portion in an article viewing window. A method for viewing electronic documents on a digital computer includes the steps of storing in the memory of the digital computer an electronic document, selecting an article to be displayed on an output device of the digital computer in an article view, displaying at least a portion of the article in the article viewing mode on the output device, and using an input device of the digital computer to cause a display of additional portions of the article to be displayed on the output device in the article viewing mode. These additional portions of the article are determined, at least in part, by predefined article sections and section links of the document so that the thread of the article can be followed in forward and reverse directions.

Claims

1. An electronic document viewer comprising:

a digital computer system including a digital processor, memory which includes memory storage locations accessible by said digital processor, a visual output device to generate a visual output derived, at least in part, from said digital processor, and an input device to generate an input that can be acted upon by said digital processor;

an electronic document stored in said memory and including at least one article, said document having a predetermined final format defining a particular appearance for said document and said article within said document, said document including article section information and section link information describing an ordering of article sections of an article such that said article sections can be accessed in a consecutive fashion;

mode means implemented on said digital computer system for determining one of a plurality of view modes including at least a normal view mode and an article view mode, wherein said view mode is selectable by a user of said digital computer system, and wherein said article view mode is a distinct, different view mode from said normal view mode;

normal view means implemented on said digital computer system for displaying at least a portion of said document on said visual output device in a normal view that displays the particular appearance of said document defined by said predetermined final format and provides document scrolling commands for scrolling the display of said document as a whole; and

article view means implemented on said digital computer system for displaying at least a portion of a selected article on said visual output device in an article view that displays the particular appearance of said selected article defined by said predetermined final format and provides article scrolling commands for the sequential viewing of consecutive article sections of said selected article based upon said section link information, said sequential article viewing being implemented only when said view mode is said article view mode, and said sequential article sections being accessed by said user entering an article scrolling command to view a consecutive article section.

2. An electronic document viewer as recited in claim 1 wherein said document further includes at least one additional item, wherein said additional item may be viewed in said normal view mode, but is not viewed in said article view mode.

3. An electronic document viewer as recited in claim 2 wherein said normal view means displays at least a portion of said document in a window on said output device, and is responsive to said input device to permit other portions of said document to be viewed within said window.

4. An electronic document viewer as recited in claim 1 wherein said document includes a plurality of articles, each of which comprises a plurality of article sections and associated section links.

5. An electronic document viewer as recited in claim 1 wherein said article view means displays at least a portion of said selected article in a window on said output device, and is responsive to said input device to permit other portions of said article to be viewed within said window.

6. An electronic document viewer as recited in claim 5 wherein said portion of said selected article is automatically sized to said window by said article view means to enhance the readability of said portion.

7. An electronic document viewer as recited in claim 6 further comprising a visual indicator to indicate a starting point for reading in said portion, said starting point being a point at an end of the previously displayed portion of said selected article.

8. An electronic document viewer as recited in claim 6 wherein said portion is automatically sized by adjusting the size of said article such that a width of said article is sized towards a width of said window.

9. An electronic document viewer as recited in claim 8 wherein said portion is automatically sized such that any increase in size of said portion is limited to a maximum increase.

10. An electronic document viewer as recited in claim 6 wherein a length of said portion that is displayed in said window is determined by said automatic sizing.

11. An electronic document viewer as recited in claim 10 wherein said additional portions of said selected article are displayed consecutively with said portion of said article that is displayed in said window.

12. An electronic document viewer as recited in claim 11 wherein a first article section is linked to a last article section of an article such that said first article section is displayed consecutively with a second article section and said last article section, and said last article section is displayed consecutively with a penultimate article section and said first article section.

13. An electronic document viewer as recited in claim 1 further comprising article view exit means implemented on said digital computer system for returning to said normal view mode upon an exit from said article view mode.

14. An electronic document viewer as recited in claim 13 wherein said article view exit means restores about said normal view that was displayed just prior to entering said article view mode.

15. A method for viewing electronic documents on a digital computer comprising the steps of:

storing in a memory of a digital computer an electronic document including at least one article having article sections and section links between article sections such that said article sections can be accessed in a consecutive fashion regardless of a physical positioning of an article section within said document;

accepting a selection by a user of an article to be displayed on an output device of said digital computer;

accepting a selection by a user of a view mode from a plurality of view modes including a normal view mode and said article view mode;

displaying with said output device at least a portion of said article;

accepting an input action by a user from an input device of said digital computer; and

interpreting said input action as a first command to display a portion of the document if said normal view mode was selected, and interpreting the same input action as a second, different to enter a command to cause the display of additional portions of said article with said output device by accessing said article sections and said section links if said article view mode was selected.

16. A method as recited in claim 15 wherein said step of selecting an article comprises selecting an article from a list of articles with said input device.

17. A method as recited in claim 15 wherein said step of selecting an article comprises the use of a hyperlink or macro to launch said article view mode.

18. A method as recited in claim 15 wherein said step of selecting an article comprises selecting an article from a view of said document that includes at least a portion of said article.

19. A method as recited in claim 18 wherein said step of selecting an article comprises pressing a button associated with a pointing system, and wherein said article portion will begin at one of the top of an article section currently displayed in said view or at the top of the article so selected.

20. A method as recited in claim 15 wherein said step of displaying includes displaying at least said portion of said article within a window on said output device of said digital computer.

21. A method as recited in claim 20 wherein said step of displaying further causes said portion to be automatically sized to said window to enhance the readability of said portion.

22. A method as recited in claim 21 wherein said portion is automatically sized by adjusting the size of said article such that a width of said article is sized towards a width of said window.

23. A method as recited in claim 22 wherein said portion is automatically sized such that any increase in size of said portion is limited to a maximum increase.

24. A method as recited in claim 23 wherein a length of said portion that is displayed in said window is determined by said automatic sizing.

25. A method as recited in claim 24 wherein additional portions of said selected article are displayed consecutively with said portion of said article that is displayed in said window.

26. A method as recited in claim 25 wherein a first article section is linked to a last article section for an article such that said first article section is displayed consecutively with a second article section and said last article section, and said last article section is displayed consecutively with a penultimate article section and said first article section.

27. A method as recited in claim 21 wherein said electronic document has a predetermined final format defining a particular appearance for said electronic document and said article in said electronic document, where the displaying of said article displays said article in its predetermined final format.

28. A method as recited in claim 15 wherein said displaying step further includes displaying a visual pointer indicating reading position within said article portion as determined by an end of a previously displayed article portion.

29. A method as recited in claim 15 wherein said step of accepting a selection by a user of an article includes selecting an image of said article displayed on said screen along with other portions of said document.

30. A method as recited in claim 15 wherein said electronic document has a predetermined final format defining a particular appearance for said electronic document and said article in said electronic document, where the displaying of said article displays said article in its predetermined final format.

31. An electronic document system comprising:

a document generator for creating an electronic document in a predetermined final format, said document including at least one article having a plurality of article sections, said document including article section information and section link information that describes links between consecutive and related article sections of an article, where said document and article are each created by the generator to have a particular appearance defined by said final format for readers of said document, and where said article sections appear physically separated within said document; and

a document reader for displaying said document in a plurality of view modes including at least a normal view mode in which said document as a whole including said article is displayed in its final format appearance and in which document scrolling operations are provided to scroll a page of said document as a whole, and an article view mode, where said normal view mode does not require the use of said article section information and section link information, and where said article view mode makes use of said article section information and said link information to display in their final format appearance at least portions of said article sections, such that in the article view mode, article scrolling operations scroll the entirety of said article for display as logically consecutive sections regardless of the physical arrangement of any article section within said document only after said article view mode has been entered.

32. An electronic document system as recited in claim 31 wherein said document generator comprises:

a visual display to display at least a portion of said documents; and

a pointer mechanism for selecting article sections within said display of at least said portion of said document.

33. An electronic document system as recited in claim 32 wherein after a newly selected article section is selected by said pointer mechanism it is automatically linked to a previously selected article section.

34. An electronic document system as recited in claim 32 wherein said pointer mechanism is used to manually link and unlink article sections.

35. A reader for displaying an electronic document having a predetermined format, said document including an article having content flow information, said article including a plurality of sequential portions, said reader comprising:

a selector to select from an electronic document having a predetermined final format an article of said document to be read, said article having a predetermined final format within said formatted document, having content flow information, and having a plurality of sequential portions physically separated within the final format of the document;

a displayer to display a portion of said document in a manner for easy viewing and comprehension; and

a navigator operating in one of a plurality of modes including a normal view mode and an article view mode, said navigator interpreting an input event received from an input device as a first command to display a portion of said document in said predetermined final format of said document when said navigator is in said normal view mode, and interpreting the same input event as a second, different command to display a portion of said article in said predetermined final format of said article by accessing said content flow information to navigate among the sequential portions of said article when said navigator is in said article view mode.

36. A reader as recited in claim 35 wherein said displayer implements at least one of a pan and a zoom of said first, next, and remaining portions of said article, as required for easy viewing and comprehension.

37. A reader as recited in claim 35 further comprising a visual indicator for indicating a reading position in a portion of said article being displayed, said reading position being the position of a next line of text to be read by a user after a previously displayed portion of said article.