Displaying text on a limited-area display surface

• US 6,452,597 B1
• Filed: 08/24/1999
• Issued: 09/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: DeSpain, Stuart N., Zuberec, Sarah E., Rabelos, Benjamin N., Cullen, Timothy J., Goldberg, Jossef
• Primary Examiner(s): Brier, Jeffery
• Assistant Examiner(s): YANG, RYAN R
• Application Number:
  US09/382,358
• Time in Patent Office: 1,120 Days
• Field of Search: 345/472, 345/689, 345/660, 707/517, 707/519, 707/540, 340/7.43, 340/7.47, 340/7.55, 382/298, 382/301
• US Class Current: 345/472
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/04 Changes in size, position or resolution of an image
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/145 related to small screens
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T

Abstract

The size of information being display by a computer is automatically adjusted in order to make the information easily readable, while at the same time leaving most (or all) of the information displayed on a single screen. Any one or more of the font point size, the font type, the number of lines used, and the caption used can be adjusted in order to determine the manner in which the information is displayed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving data that includes a caption and corresponding text;

determining if truncating the caption would allow the data with a truncated caption to be displayed on a number of lines using a first font point size; and

displaying the data with the truncated caption at the first font point size if truncating the caption would allow the data with the truncated caption to be displayed on the number of lines using the first font point size.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the number of lines comprises one line.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the displaying comprises displaying the data within a display area of a display device, the display area comprising an entire display surface of the display device.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

if truncating the caption would not allow the data with the truncated caption to be displayed on a single line using the first font point size, then increasing the number of lines that are used to display the data.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

if truncating the caption would not allow the data with the truncated caption to be displayed on a single line using the first font point size, then reducing the font point size to a second font point size that is less than the first font point size.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising truncating the caption to generate the truncated caption, the truncating comprising removing characters from the caption until the caption is small enough so that the data can be displayed on a single line using the first font point size.

7. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the removing of characters from the caption comprises removing characters one at a time.

8. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the removing of characters from the caption comprises removing characters according to a predetermined list of alternate captions.

9. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the removing of characters from the caption comprises applying a set of rules to determine which characters are removed, wherein the set of rules includes removing one or more vowels before removing any consonants.

10. One or more computer-readable memories containing a computer program that is executable by a processor to perform the method recited in claim 1.

11. A vehicle computer programmed to perform the method as recited in claim 1.

26. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein truncating the caption comprises removing the caption.

29. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising displaying, with the data, an indication that the caption has been truncated.

12. A method for displaying user-selectable control information within a display area of a display device, the method comprising:

receiving data to be displayed;

determining, based on the amount of data and a number of lines available for data display, a font point size to use to display the data; and

determining, based on the amount of data and a number of lines available for data display, a font type to use to display the data.

13. An apparatus comprising:

a display device having a display area in which information can be displayed to a user; and

a size adjuster, coupled to the display device, to adjust the size of the data to be displayed to the user based on both the amount of data and a size of the display area, the size adjuster including,

a truncator to truncate a caption portion of the data based at least in part on the amount of data in a non-caption portion of the data, and

a font point size adjuster to change the point size of the font used to display the data.

14. An apparatus as recited in claim 13, wherein the font point size adjuster is to change the point size of the font by reducing the point size of the font.

15. An apparatus as recited in claim 13, wherein the display area comprises less than an entire display surface of the display device.

17. An apparatus as recited in claim 13, wherein the size adjuster further comprises a display line adjuster to change the number of lines used to display the data.

27. An apparatus as recited in claim 13, wherein the truncator is to truncate the caption portion by removing the caption portion.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a size adjuster, coupled to the display device, to adjust the size of the data to be displayed to the user based on both the amount of data and a size of the display area, the size adjuster including,

a truncator to truncate a caption portion of the data,

a font point size adjuster to change the point size of the font used to display the data, and

a font adjuster to change the font type used to display the data.

18. A computer comprising:

a bus;

a processor coupled to the bus;

a display device having a display area in which information can be displayed to a user; and

a memory, coupled to the bus, including a program that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to step through a plurality of font point size reductions until a font point size is obtained at which all of the data can be displayed within the display area, wherein the data comprises user-selectable control information.

19. A method comprising:

receiving data, from an application program, including a caption and corresponding text;

adjusting, based on the amount of data and a size of a display area, the font point size to use to display the data;

truncating the caption, based at least in part on both the amount of data in the corresponding text and a size of a display area;

generating display information including the text at the font point size and the truncated caption; and

sending the display information to a video adapter for display on a display device.

20. One or more computer-readable memories containing a computer program that is executable by a processor to perform the method recited in claim 19.

28. A method as recited in claim 19, wherein truncating the caption comprises removing the caption.

30. A method as recited in claim 19, further comprising including, in the display information, an indication that the caption has been truncated.

21. A method comprising:

receiving text to be displayed within a display area; and

determining, based on the amount of text and a number of lines available for text display, a font type to use to display the text.

22. One or more computer-readable memories containing a computer program that is executable by a processor to perform the method recited in claim 21.

23. A method comprising:

receiving data that includes a caption and corresponding text;

determining, based at least in part on the amount of data, a font type to use to display the data;

determining if truncating the caption would allow the data with a truncated caption to be displayed on a number of lines using a first font point size; and

displaying the data with the truncated caption at the first font point size if truncating the caption would allow the data with the truncated caption to be displayed on the number of lines using the first font point size.

24. One or more computer-readable memories containing a computer program that is executable by a processor to perform the method recited in claim 23.

25. A method comprising:

receiving data, from an application program, including a caption and corresponding text;

adjusting, based on the amount of data and a size of a display area, the font point size to use to display the data;

adjusting, based on the amount of data and the size of the display area, a font type to use to display the data;

truncating the caption, based on the amount of data and a size of a display area;

generating display information including the text at the font point size and the truncated caption; and

sending the display information to a video adapter for display on a display device.