Abstract: All two-character chains including two general characters and all three-character chains including one special character between two general characters are detected from a registration character string in which a large number of special characters not having any meaning are frequently arranged, or all two-character chains including two general or symbolic characters are detected from a converted registration character string produced by changing each special character of the registration character string to one type of symbolic character determined in correspondence to one general character adjacent to the special character. Also, occurrence frequencies of the general or symbolic characters of each chain are counted and stored in a recording medium with the registration character chains.

Abstract: A text formatter for a word processor formats text as groups of words, a group being more than a single line at a time. The formatter determines the minimum number of lines required to hold the formatted group. In general, each line contains the maximum number of words that will fit, consistent with the applicable formatting parameters such as margins, font size, etc. However, the formatter may override this and move a word or portion of a word onto a subsequent line, even though it would fit on the original line, provided that the minimum number of lines required to format the group is not thereby exceeded. This is done in order to reduce hyphenation, letter spacing, or other undesirable formatting effects. Preferably, an entire paragraph is formatted as a group. The formatter generates multiple permutations of possible formatted text lines, assigning a weighted value to each permutation, and pruning undesirable permutations.

Abstract: An electronic devices executes from memory an advertising multimedia segment structure that includes a command segment storing multimedia commands that in turn invoke multimedia effects and that is supported by a definition segment that invokes the command segment. The definition segment also includes argument definitions for the tokenized arguments in the command segment. The command segments are protected against alteration by encryption, while the definition segments are alterable to provide locally customized advertisements in accordance with the tokenized arguments in the command segments. A library of downloadable command segments provides predefined advertisements, displays, and the like for the electronic device.

Abstract: A presentation control mechanism allows a user to set presentation attributes for one or more presentation items on a web page. These presentation attributes determine how a presentation item is presented to the user. A user may set global presentation attributes that may serve as the default presentation attributes for each individual presentation item. A user can also setup or change the individual presentation attributes for each presentation item on the web page. In this manner, a user can alter the presentation of items on a web page to suit the user's individual taste.

Abstract: WAN documents are stored locally in cache with a document expiration date. Ideally, content is unchanged prior to the expiration date and has changed after the expiration date. When requesting to view a WAN document while on-line, the document first is displayed from cache for display and verify mode. The web browser then sends a request to the web server to verify whether the document has been modified. If still valid, then the document is already displayed and time has been saved. If invalid, then the document is downloaded from the web server, stored in cache, and optionally or automatically displayed in place of the invalid document. A signal is communicated to the user, for example, to give the option to reload the document. Because document expiration times may be absent or unreliable, a soft and a hard expiration time are derived and adjusted dynamically based upon their reliability.

Abstract: A computer system enables a user to conveniently fill-out, configure, and submit a structure of interrelated data fields, where the order and type of linking between the fields is user selected. A graphical user interface presents a field template having one or more data fields. The user may extend the electronic form by selecting an expand form field; in response to selection of the expand field, the user interface adds a second field template and a connective field to the display. This second template, like the first, includes one or more data fields. Using a connective field, the user identifies a logical relationship between the first field template and the second field template. For instance, the user may select from Boolean or other connective terms to construct a form having a complex format of interrelated fields.