System for converting scrolling display to non-scrolling columnar display

• US 6,389,437 B2
• Filed: 01/07/1998
• Issued: 05/14/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
• Original Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
• Inventors: Stoub, Everett W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ROSSI, JEFFREY A
• Application Number:
  US09/003,972
• Publication Number:
  US 20010011364A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,588 Days
• Field of Search: 707/523, 707/517, 707/521, 345/302, 345/901, 345/342, 345/784, 345/788, 345/760
• US Class Current: 715/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/114 Pagination

Abstract

A computer system for automatically converting a scrollable electronic document, including text, graphics, tables and combinations, from a scrollable format to a non-scrollable format, the system comprising a page-forming mechanism configured to operatively and automatically arrange the scrollable electronic information document into a plurality of non-scrollable pages, each having one or more columns wherein each of the columns has a width corresponding to a number of characters per line within a predetermined range of characters per line, a content formatter mechanism configured to be operatively responsive to embedded formatting commands, either common word-processing commands or html commands or both; a font-sizing mechanism configured to operatively permit a user to selectively alter the size of the characters comprising the non-scrollable pages; an image sizing mechanism configured either to automatically alter the widths of graphic images and tables in the electronic document to proportionately conform to the width of the columns, or to reduce the graphic images and tables to selectively expandable icons positioned in the display; a screen having a display window configured to entirely display a selected one of the non-scrollable pages; and a page-turning mechanism configured to selectively, sequentially and individually display the plurality of non-scrollable pages in the display window. A method is provided for practicing the system.

Claims

1. A system for generating a source in a non-scrolling format for display in a display window having a user-selectable dimension using a processor comprising:

a screen page formatting mechanism configured to form a screen page dimensioned to fit the display window, to calculate a number of columns that will fit within the screen page, each column having a width characteristic, and to format the screen page for the number of columns; and

a display page formatting mechanism configured to format the source as a display document having a base font characteristic and a plurality of display pages each non-scrollably displayable for the screen page and to dynamically reformat the display document for a plurality of other display pages upon selection of a user selected font characteristic and the user-selected dimension each of the other display pages non-scrollably displayable for the screen page.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the width characteristic comprises a range of a number of characters per line.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the display document comprises text.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the display page formatting mechanism further is configured to identify an in-line command in the source and to format the display document according to the in-line command.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising an image resizing mechanism configured to resize a graphic image from the source to fit within at least one column of the display document.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising an image resizing mechanism configured to convert a graphic image from the source to an icon displayable within at least one column of the display document.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the image resizing mechanism further is configured to expand the icon to an original size of the graphic image when the icon is selected.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising a formatting mechanism configured to be responsive to a formatting command embedded in the source to format a portion of at least one display page according to the formatting command.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the formatting command comprises a hypertext markup language tag-based formatting instruction.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the display page is generated for display as a hypertext markup language page.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the display page is generated for display as a web-based page.

12. The system of claim 1 further comprising a table resizing mechanism configured to convert a table from the source to an icon displayable within at least one column of the display document.

13. The system of claim 1 further comprising a table resizing mechanism configured to reduce a table from the source to be displayable within at least one column of the display document.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the number of columns comprises one.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein the number of columns comprises more than one.

16. A system for generating a source in a non-scrolling format for display in a display window having a user-selectable dimension using a processor comprising:

a screen page formatting mechanism configured to form a screen page dimensioned to fit the display window; and

a display page formatting mechanism configured to format the source as a display document having a base font characteristic an a plurality of display pages each non-scrollably displayable for the screen page and to dynamically reformat the source for a plurality of other display pages upon selection of a user selected font characteristic and the user-selected dimension, each of the other display pages non-scrollably displayable for the screen page.

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising a column formatting mechanism configured to determine a number of columns having a width characteristic that can fit within the display window and to format the screen page for the number of columns.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the display document comprises text.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the display page formatting mechanism further is configured to identify an in-line command in the source and to format the display document according to the in-line command.

20. The system of claim 16 further comprising a formatting mechanism configured to be responsive to a formatting command embedded in the source to format a portion of at least one display page according to the formatting command.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the formatting command comprises a hypertext markup language tag-based formatting instruction.

22. The system of claim 16 wherein the display page is generated for display as a hypertext markup language page.

23. The system of claim 16 wherein the display page is generated for display as a web-based page.

24. A system for generating a source in a non-scrolling format for display in a display window having a user-selectable dimension using a processor comprising:

a screen page formatting mechanism configured to form a screen page dimensioned to fit the display window; and

a display page formatting mechanism configured to format the source as a display document having a base font characteristic and a plurality of display pages each non-scrollably displayable for the screen page and to fill the screen page with at least one display page, to dynamically reformat the display document for a plurality of other display pages upon selection of a user selected font characteristic and the user-selected dimension, each of the other display pages non-scrollably displayable for the screen page, and to fill the screen page with at least one of the other display pages.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the screen formatting mechanism further is configured to determine a display capability of a display window.

26. The system of claim 24 further comprising a column formatting mechanism configured to determine a number of columns having a width characteristic that can fit within the display window and to format the screen page for the number of columns.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the width characteristic comprises a range of a number of characters per line.

28. The system of claim 26 wherein the number of columns comprises one.

29. The system of claim 26 wherein the number of columns comprises more than one.

30. The system of claim 24 further comprising a font sizing mechanism configured to enable selectively increasing or decreasing a selected font size of the display document.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein the screen page formatting mechanism further is configured to recalculate a new number of columns having the width characteristic that will fit within the screen page when the font size is changed and to reformat the screen page for the new number of columns.

32. The system of claim 30 wherein the screen page formatting mechanism further is configured to recalculate a new number of columns having the width characteristic when the font size is changed, to reformat the screen page for the new number of columns, and to determine an amount of the display document to be displayed in each column.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein the page formatting mechanism further is configured to re-format the display document into a new display document having a plurality of new display pages.

34. The system of claim 24 wherein the display document comprises text.

35. The system of claim 24 wherein each of the display pages comprises a portion of the display document that partially or totally fills the screen page.

36. The system of claim 24 wherein the display page formatting mechanism further is configured to identify an in-line command in the source and to format the display document according to the in-line command.

37. The system of claim 24 further comprising an image resizing mechanism configured to resize a graphic image from the source to fit in at least one display page.

38. The system of claim 24 further comprising an image resizing mechanism configured to convert a graphic image from the source to an icon displayable within at least one display page.

39. The system of claim 38 wherein the image resizing mechanism further is configured to expand the icon to an original size of the graphic image when the icon is selected.

40. The system of claim 24 further comprising a page turning mechanism configured to generate for display, without scrolling, another page in a sequence of display pages.

41. The system of claim 24 wherein the dimension of the screen page comprises a dimension of an entire viewable area of a screen.

42. The system of claim 24 wherein the dimension of the screen page comprises a dimension less than a viewable area of a screen.

43. The system of claim 24 further comprising a screen printing mechanism configured to generate for display the screen page having the at least one display page of the display document in the display window.

44. The system of claim 24 further comprising a formatting mechanism configured to be responsive to a formatting command embedded in the source to format a portion of at least one display page according to the formatting command.

45. The system of claim 44 wherein the formatting command comprises a hypertext markup language tag-based formatting instruction.

46. The system of claim 24 wherein the display page is generated for display as a hypertext markup language page.

47. The system of claim 24 wherein the display page is generated for display as a web-based page.

48. The system of claim 24 further comprising a table resizing mechanism configured to convert a table from the source to an icon displayable within at least one display page.

49. The system of claim 24 further comprising a table resizing mechanism configured to reduce a table from the source to be displayable within at least one display page.

50. The system of claim 24 further comprising a screen printing mechanism configured to screen print the screen page to the display window.

51. A method for generating a source in a non-scrolling format for display in a display window having a user-selectable dimension using a processor comprising:

forming a screen page dimensioned to fit the display window;

calculating a number of columns having a width characteristic that will fit in the screen page;

formatting the screen page for the number of columns;

formatting the source as a display document having a base font characteristic and a plurality of display pages each non-scrollably displayable for the screen page; and

dynamically reformatting the display document for a plurality of other display pages upon selection of a user selected font characteristic and the user-selected dimension, each of the other display pages non-scrollably displayable for the screen page.

52. The method of claim 51 wherein the width characteristic comprises a number of characters per line.

53. The method of claim 51 further comprising generating for display at least one of the display pages.

54. A method for generating electronic information in a non-scrolling format for display in a display window having a user-selectable dimension using a processor comprising:

forming a screen page dimensioned to fit the display window;

sizing the electronic information to a base font;

formatting the electronic information to form a display document having display pages wherein each display page is wholly displayable in the screen display;

generating for non-scrollable display at least one display page; and

dynamically reformatting the display document for a plurality of other display pages upon selection of a user selected font characteristic and the user-selected dimension, each of the other display pages non-scrollably displayable for the screen page.

55. The method of claim 54 wherein the user selected font comprises a second base font.

56. The method of claim 54 wherein the electronic information comprises an image and further comprising sizing the image to fit within the display page.

57. The method of claim 54 wherein the electronic information comprises an image and further comprising converting the image to an icon for display in the display page.

58. The method of claim 54 further comprising enabling changing the selected font.

59. The method of claim 54 wherein the selected font is changed and further comprising re-formatting the electronic information to new display pages wherein each new display page is wholly displayable in the screen display.

60. The method of claim 54 wherein at least one display page is generated for display as a hypertext markup language page.

61. The method of claim 54 wherein at least one display page is generated for display as a web-based page.

62. A method for generating a source in a non-scrolling format for display in a display window having a user-selectable dimension using a processor comprising:

forming a screen page dimensioned to fit the display window;

formatting the source as a display document having a base font characteristic and a plurality of display pages each non-scrollably displayable for the screen page; and

dynamically reformatting the source for a plurality of other display pages upon selection of a user selected font characteristic and the user-selected dimension, each of the other display pages non-scrollably displayable for the screen page.

63. The method of claim 62 further comprising:

determining a number of columns having a width characteristic that can fit within the display window; and

formatting the screen page for the number of columns.

64. The method of claim 62 wherein the display document comprises text.

65. The method of claim 62 further comprising:

identifying an in-line command in the source; and

formatting the display document according to the in-line command.

66. The method of claim 62 further comprising being responsive to a formatting command embedded in the source to format a portion of at least one display page according to the formatting command.

67. The method of claim 66 wherein the formatting command comprises a hypertext markup language tag-based formatting instruction.

68. The method of claim 62 further comprising generating the display page for display as a hypertext markup language page.

69. The method of claim 62 further comprising generating the display page for display as a web-based page.

70. A method for generating a source in a non-scrolling format for display in a display window having a user-selectable dimension using a processor comprising:

forming a screen page dimensioned to fit the display window;

formatting the source as a display document having a base font characteristic and a plurality of display pages each non-scrollably displayable for the screen page;

filling the screen page with at least one display page; and

dynamically reformatting the display document for a plurality of other display pages upon selection of a user selected font characteristic and the user-selected dimension, each of the other display pages non-scrollably displayable for the screen page, and to fill the screen page with at least one of the other display pages.

71. The method of claim 70 further comprising:

determining a number of columns having a width characteristic that can fit within the display window; and

formatting the screen page for the number of columns.

72. The method of claim 70 wherein the display document comprises text.

73. The method of claim 70 further comprising:

identifying an in-line command in the source; and

formatting the display document according to the in-line command.

74. The method of claim 70 further comprising being responsive to a formatting command embedded in the source to format a portion of at least one display page according to the formatting command.

75. The method of claim 70 wherein the formatting command comprises a hypertext markup language tag-based formatting instruction.

76. The method of claim 70 further comprising generating the display page for display as a hypertext markup language page.

77. The method of claim 70 further comprising generating the display page for display as a web-based page.