Abstract: Methods and systems present commands to a user within a software application program by determining the user's context within the application program and automatically presenting in a user interface commands that pertain to the user's current context. When the user's context changes, the context-sensitive commands are automatically removed from the user interface. In one implementation context blocks and context panes are employed to present the commands.

Abstract: Methods and systems present commands to a user within a software application program by determining the user's context within the application program and automatically presenting in a user interface commands that pertain to the user's current context. When the user's context changes, the context-sensitive commands are automatically removed from the user interface. In one implementation context blocks and context panes are employed to present the commands.

Abstract: A user interface (UI) in the form of a single navigable window enables a user to navigate to and between multiple different functionalities that are provided by a single application program. Novel use is made of a navigation model that manages the user's navigation activities to and between the different functionalities. Navigation instrumentalities enable the user to navigate among the different functionalities and include links to each of the different functionalities as well as browser-like navigation buttons. Context-sensitive command sets can also be provided along with the single navigable window. The context sensitive command sets include commands that automatically change as the user's computing context changes, e.g. as the user moves from functionality to functionality. The single application can be defined as a software platform that is extensible to receive and incorporate different functionalities.

Abstract: Methods and systems present commands to a user within a software application program by determining the user's context within the application program and automatically presenting in a user interface commands that pertain to the user's current context. When the user's context changes, the context-sensitive commands are automatically removed from the user interface. In one implementation context blocks and context panes are employed to present the commands.

Abstract: Methods and systems present commands to a user within a software application program by determining the user's context within the application program and automatically presenting in a user interface commands that pertain to the user's current context. When the user's context changes, the context-sensitive commands are automatically removed from the user interface. In one implementation context blocks and context panes are employed to present the commands.

Abstract: Methods and systems present commands to a user within a software application program by determining the user's context within the application program and automatically presenting in a user interface commands that pertain to the user's current context. When the user's context changes, the context-sensitive commands are automatically removed from the user interface. In one implementation context blocks and context panes are employed to present the commands.

Abstract: Methods and systems present commands to a user within a software application program by determining the user's context within the application program and automatically presenting in a user interface commands that pertain to the user's current context. When the user's context changes, the context-sensitive commands are automatically removed from the user interface. In one implementation context blocks and context panes are employed to present the commands.

Abstract: Methods and systems present commands to a user within a software application program by determining the user's context within the application program and automatically presenting in a user interface commands that pertain to the user's current context. When the user's context changes, the context-sensitive commands are automatically removed from the user interface. In one implementation context blocks and context panes are employed to present the commands.

Abstract: Methods and systems for network-based or Internet-based software delivery are described. In one embodiment, an application program or software platform resides on a client. The program or platform is configured so that it is extensible based on software extensions that are deliverable over a network such as the Internet. Various extensions can be developed by third party developers for incorporation into the program or platform. In the described embodiment, extension files that comprise a software extension are hosted on an Internet server. Additional files are also hosted on the Internet server and describe aspects of the software extension. These additional files include files that describe a logical attachment of the extension to the program or platform, as well as files that describe the location of the extension files. Extensions are incorporated on a client by navigating to a particular Internet site through which the extensions can be accessed.

Abstract: A user interface (UI) in the form of a single navigable window enables a user to navigate to and between multiple different functionalities that are provided by a single application program. Novel use is made of a navigation model that manages the user's navigation activities to and between the different functionalities. Navigation instrumentalities enable the user to navigate among the different functionalities and include links to each of the different functionalities as well as browser-like navigation buttons. Context-sensitive command sets can also be provided along with the single navigable window. The context sensitive command sets include commands that automatically change as the user's computing context changes, e.g. as the user moves from functionality to functionality. The single application can be defined as a software platform that is extensible to receive and incorporate different functionalities.

Abstract: Methods and systems for network-based or Internet-based software delivery are described. In one embodiment, an application program or software platform resides on a client. The program or platform is configured so that it is extensible based on software extensions that are deliverable over a network such as the Internet. Various extensions can be developed by third party developers for incorporation into the program or platform. In the described embodiment, extension files that comprise a software extension are hosted on an Internet server. Additional files are also hosted on the Internet server and describe aspects of the software extension. These additional files include files that describe a logical attachment of the extension to the program of platform, as well as files that describe the location of the extension files. Extensions are incorporated on a client by navigating to a particular Internet site through which the extensions can be accessed.

Abstract: Methods and systems present commands to a user within a software application program by determining the user's context within the application program and automatically presenting in a user interface commands that pertain to the user's current context. When the user's context changes, the context-sensitive commands are automatically removed from the user interface. In one implementation context blocks and context panes are employed to present the commands.

Abstract: Methods and systems present commands to a user within a software application program by determining the user's context within the application program and automatically presenting in a user interface commands that pertain to the user's current context. When the user's context changes, the context-sensitive commands are automatically removed from the user interface. In one implementation context blocks and context panes are employed to present the commands.

Abstract: A processor measures skew of lines in an image by obtaining a first, coarse approximation to skew direction and then using the first approximation to obtain a second, fine approximation that is more precise than the first. A third, even more precise approximation can be obtained using the second approximation, and further successive approximations can be similarly obtained. In an image of text, the first approximation can be obtained by finding the direction in which characters are closest together, since intercharacter distances are typically smaller than interline distances. This direction can be determined by measuring distances from selected pixels at edges of connected components across white pixels to edges of other connected components. The measured distances in each direction can be combined to obtain a central value for the direction, such as an average. The central values form a profile indicating central value as a function of direction.

Abstract: A method of efficiently removing backfacing primitives from the graphics pipeline such that rendering efficiency is increased. In one embodiment of the present invention, a bounding cone of normal vectors of a primitive is first determined during pre-processing. During the rendering process, before the primitive is drawn, the bounding cone is compared with a half-space defined by a viewing vector. Primitives whose bounding cones do not intersect with the half-space will be removed from further processing. In this way, rendering efficiency is increased. In another embodiment, a normal bit-vector is used to represent normal directions of a primitive, and a visibility bit-vector is used to represent visible normal directions. In that embodiment, primitives are culled efficiently by comparing the normal bit-vector with the visibility bit-vector.

Abstract: A method for determining the boundaries of a symbol or word string within an image, including the steps of determining page orientation, isolating symbol strings from adjacent symbol strings, establishing a set of boundaries or references with respect to which measurements about, or further processing of, the symbol string may be made.

Abstract: A method for determining the relative equivalency or match between two or more character strings represented in an array of image data, including the steps of determining page orientation, isolating character strings from adjacent character strings, and establishing a set of boundaries or reference lines about the character strings. Subsequently, the boundaries are used to represent the character string images as word shape contours or signals which are generated from the imaginal data within the boundaries. The word shape contours are then compared using one of the described comparison methods to determine the relative equivalency or similarity of the contours.

Abstract: A method for reducing an image of a character or word string to one or more one dimensional signals, including the steps of determining page orientation, isolating character strings from adjacent character strings, establishing a set of references with respect to which measurements about the character string may be made, and deriving a plurality of measurements with respect to the references in terms of a single variable signal, from which information about the symbol string may be derived.

Abstract: A method for reducing an image of a character or word string to one or more one dimensional signals, including the steps of determining page orientation, isolating character strings from adjacent character strings, establishing a set of references with respect to which measurements about the character string may be made, and deriving a plurality of measurements with respect to the references in terms of one dimensional signal, amenable to identification processing techniques.

Abstract: A method for determining the boundaries of a symbol or word string within an image, including the steps of determining page orientation, isolating symbol strings from adjacent symbol strings, establishing a set of boundaries or references with respect to which measurements about, or further processing of, the symbol string may be made.