Listing and modifying groups of blocks in the editing of a document

• US 8,122,349 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2007
• Issued: 02/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bera, Rajendra Kumar
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, THU V
• Application Number:
  US11/876,213
• Publication Number:
  US 20080040664A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,583 Days
• Field of Search: 715/212, 715/217, 715/255, 715/256, 715/272, 715/200
• US Class Current: 715/255
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting

Abstract

Grouping blocks of text according to user-defined contexts, and editing group specific blocks can be used to improve document consistency during editing and revising of electronic documents. A change made in one block often requires appropriate changes to be made in other blocks that are contextually related to the changed block. Such changes are made to ensure this consistency. Commands that deal with block groups (such as, create group, add block to group(s), delete block from group(s), edit group, merge group, etc.) are provided to assist a user in editing documents.

Claims

1. A method of editing an electronic document comprising symbols, the method comprising:

presenting a block-selecting command by a computer system to a user for selecting and defining blocks in the document;

receiving, by the computer system, user selections of blocks of one or more of the symbols in the document that pre-exist the user selections via the block-selecting command, including user-selections in which one block overlaps another block;

presenting a group-defining command by the computer system to the user for selecting and defining user-named groups of the blocks, wherein the groups comprise respective sets of the blocks;

receiving, by the computer system, user selections and user-defined names of such groups via the group-defining command;

altering the document by the computer system in response to the received, user-selections of blocks and groups, wherein the altering incorporates into the document identifications of the user-selected groups and blocks according to the user-defined names, including incorporating respective opening group name tags at the beginnings and closing group name tags at the endings of the respective user-selected blocks, to delimit the user-selected blocks and to define membership of the blocks in the user-selected and user-named groups, wherein the altered document is stored on a computer-readable storage medium;

presenting group commands by the computer system to the user for listing or modifying one or more of the groups;

receiving, by the computer system, user selections of one or more of the group commands and one or more of the groups to which the one or more of the selected group commands shall apply;

modifying, if a received one of the group commands is for modifying, one or more of the selected groups by the computer system in response to the received selections of one or more of the group commands and one or more of the groups to which the one or more of the selected group commands shall apply; and

presenting a list to the user by the computer system, if a received one of the group commands is for listing, wherein the presenting of the list is in response to the received selections of one or more of the group commands and one or more of the groups to which the one or more of the selected group commands shall apply, wherein the list sets out one or more of the selected groups.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

presenting a block command by the computer system to the user for pasting a copy of at least a partial block;

receiving, by the computer system, a user selection of only a partial one of the blocks and the block command for pasting a copy of only the selected partial one of the blocks, the selected partial block being a portion of an associated entire block, and responsively pasting the copy of the selected partial block by the computer system, wherein the pasting includes pasting a pair of innermost tags associated with delimiting the associated entire block, but not pasting unpaired tags inside the selected partial block.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

deleting by the computer system, responsive to a group having first and second blocks in common as members and the computer system receiving a user command attempting to create an overlap between the first and second blocks, all block tags for the first and second blocks that would otherwise appear between an opening tag at one extreme of the first and second blocks and a closing tag at another extreme of the first and second blocks.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

deleting by the computer system, responsive to receiving a user command attempting to assign both a first and second block having an overlap therebetween to membership in a common group, all block tags for the first and second blocks that would otherwise appear between an opening tag at one extreme of the first and second blocks and a closing tag at another extreme of the first and second blocks.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein responsive to the computer system receiving a user command attempting to generate multiple instances of a unique pair of opening and closing group name tags, the modifying comprises:

generating, by the computer system, only one instance of the unique pair of opening and closing name tags.

6. A computer system for editing a text-based electronic document, the computer system comprising:

a processor and a storage device, wherein the storage device stores certain computer software on a medium readable by the computer system and the processor is operable to access the computer software from the storage device to perform;

presenting a block-selecting command by a computer system to a user for selecting and defining blocks in the document;

receiving, by the computer system, user selections of blocks of one or more of the symbols in the document that pre-exist the user selections via the block-selecting command, including concurrent user-selections in which one block overlaps another block presenting a group-defining command by the computer system to the user for selecting and defining user-named groups of the blocks, wherein the groups comprise respective sets of the blocks;

receiving, by the computer system, user selections and user-defined names of such groups via the group-defining command;

altering the document by the computer system in response to the received, user-selections of blocks and groups, wherein the altering incorporates into the document identifications of the user-selected groups and blocks according to the user-defined names, including incorporating respective opening group name tags at the beginnings and closing group name tags at the endings of the respective user-selected blocks, to delimit the user-selected blocks and to define membership of the blocks in the user-selected and user-named groups, wherein the altered document is stored on a computer-readable storage medium;

presenting group commands by the computer system to the user for listing or modifying one or more of the groups;

receiving, by the computer system, user selections of one or more of the group commands and one or more of the groups to which the one or more of the selected group commands shall apply;

modifying, if a received one of the group commands is for modifying, one or more of the selected groups by the computer system in response to the received selections of one or more of the group commands and one or more of the groups to which the one or more of the selected group commands shall apply; and

presenting a list to the user by the computer system, if a received one of the group commands is for listing, wherein the presenting of the list in response to the received selections of one or more of the group commands and one or more of the groups to which the one or more of the selected group commands shall apply, wherein the list sets out one or more of the selected groups.

7. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the processor is operable to access the computer software from the storage device to perform:

presenting a block command by the computer system to the user for pasting a copy of at least a partial block;

receiving, by the computer system, a user selection of only a partial one of the blocks and the block command for pasting a copy of only the selected partial one of the blocks, the selected partial block being a portion of an associated entire block, and responsively pasting the copy of the selected partial block by the computer system, wherein the pasting includes pasting a pair of innermost tags associated with delimiting the associated entire block, but not pasting unpaired tags inside the selected partial block.

8. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the processor is operable to access the computer software from the storage device to perform:

deleting by the computer system, responsive to a group having first and second blocks in common as members and the computer system receiving a user command attempting to create an overlap between the first and second blocks, all block tags for the first and second blocks that would otherwise appear between an opening tag at one extreme of the first and second blocks and a closing tag at another extreme of the first and second blocks.

9. The computer system of claim 6, wherein the processor is operable to access the computer software from the storage device to perform:

deleting by the computer system, responsive to receiving a user command attempting to assign both a first and second block having an overlap therebetween to membership in a common group, all block tags for the first and second blocks that would otherwise appear between an opening tag at one extreme of the first and second blocks and a closing tag at another extreme of the first and second blocks.

10. The computer system of claim 6, wherein responsive to the computer system receiving a user command attempting to generate text including multiple instances of a unique pair of opening and closing group tags, the modifying comprises:

generating, by the computer system, only one instance of the unique pair of opening and closing tags.

11. The computer system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the presenting of the list to the user further comprises:

presenting, responsive to a first one of the received group commands, a list of blocks in a selected one of the groups; and

presenting, responsive to a second one of the received group commands, a list of groups in which a selected one of the blocks is included.

12. Computer software, recorded on a storage device readable by a computer system, for editing a text-based electronic document, wherein the computer software is operable to enable computer system to perform:

presenting a block-selecting command by a computer system to a user for selecting and defining blocks in the document;

receiving, by the computer system, user selections of blocks of one or more of the symbols in the document that pre-exist the user selections via the block-selecting command, including concurrent user-selections in which one block overlaps another block presenting a group-defining command by the computer system to the user for selecting and defining user-named groups of the blocks, wherein the groups comprise respective sets of the blocks;

receiving, by the computer system, user selections and user-defined names of such groups via the group-defining command;

altering the document by the computer system in response to the received selections of blocks and groups, wherein the altering incorporates into the document identifications of the user-selected groups and blocks according to the user-defined names, including incorporating respective opening group name tags at the beginnings and closing group name tags at the endings of the respective user-selected blocks, to delimit the user-selected blocks and to define membership of the blocks in the user-selected and user-named groups, wherein the altered document is stored on a computer-readable storage medium;

presenting group commands by the computer system to the user for listing or modifying one or more of the groups;

receiving, by the computer system, user selections of one or more of the group commands and one or more of the groups to which the one or more of the selected group commands shall apply;

modifying, if a received one of the group commands is for modifying, one or more of the selected groups by the computer system in response to the received selections of one or more of the group commands and one or more of the groups to which the one or more of the selected group commands shall apply; and

presenting a list to the user by the computer system, if a received one of the group commands is for listing, wherein the presenting of the list in response to the received selections of one or more of the group commands and one or more of the groups to which the one or more of the selected group commands shall apply, wherein the list sets out one or more of the selected groups.

13. The computer software of claim 12, wherein the computer software is operable to enable computer system to perform:

presenting a block command by the computer system to the user for pasting a copy of at least a partial block;

receiving, by the computer system, a user selection of only a partial one of the blocks and the block command for pasting a copy of only the selected partial one of the blocks, the selected partial block being a portion of an associated entire block, and responsively pasting the copy of the selected partial block by the computer system, wherein the pasting includes pasting a pair of innermost tags associated with delimiting the associated entire block, but not pasting unpaired tags inside the selected partial block.

14. The computer software of claim 12, wherein the computer software is operable to enable computer system to perform:

deleting by the computer system, responsive to a group having first and second blocks in common as members and the computer system receiving a user command attempting to create an overlap between the first and second blocks, all block tags for the first and second blocks that would otherwise appear between an opening tag at one extreme of the first and second blocks and a closing tag at another extreme of the first and second blocks.

15. The computer software of claim 12, wherein the computer software is operable to enable computer system to perform:

deleting by the computer system, responsive to receiving a user command attempting to assign both a first and second block having an overlap therebetween to membership in a common group, all block tags for the first and second blocks that would otherwise appear between an opening tag at one extreme of the first and second blocks and a closing tag at another extreme of the first and second blocks.

16. The computer software of claim 12, wherein responsive to the computer system receiving a user command attempting to generate multiple instances of a unique pair of opening and closing group name tags, the modifying comprises:

generating, by the computer system, only one instance of the unique pair of opening and closing name tags.

17. The computer software as claimed in claim 12, wherein the presenting of the list further comprises:

presenting, responsive to a first one of the received group commands, a list of blocks in a selected one of the groups; and

presenting, responsive to a second one of the received group commands, a list of groups in which a selected one of the blocks is included.