Adding and removing white space from a document
A method, a computer system and a computer-readable medium having instructions for a processor stored thereon are provided for growing a page on a display. Input indicating a first position or designation of content on a page of an electronic document and an amount of white space to be inserted in the page is received. Responsive to the received input, at least some of the content of the page of the electronic document is moved to insert white space. The moving starts from a point based on the first position. The portion of the content being moved is moved a distance based on the amount of white space indicated in the received input. The page is grown by an amount based on the amount of the white space indicated in the received input. A respective size of other pages of the electronic document remains unchanged. Also provided are a method, a computer system and a computer-readable medium having instructions for a processor stored thereon for deleting a portion of a page and reducing a size of the page.
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This application is a divisional of prior U.S. application Ser. No. 10/141,772, filed May 10, 2002, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to maintaining a page layout when adding new blank space to an electronic page that already contains content. More specifically, the present invention relates to growing the size of an electronic page when adding an item to the page, so that all of the items originally appearing in the page remain in that page, rather than being pushed onto a new page, deleted or clipped.
2. Related Art
As hand-held computers are becoming more prevalent, more and more people are note-taking, sketching or diagramming content onto “electronic” paper rather than physical paper. As used herein, the term electronic paper refers to electronic data that can be subsequently rendered on a display so as to resemble a paper document. Like physical paper, electronic paper is conventionally divided into discrete portions or “pages” that allow a user to quickly access specific portions of the electronic paper without having to scroll through the entire document. These pages typically are formatted with same sizes as actual paper (for example, 8½×11 inches). Unlike physical paper, however, electronic paper advantageously allows a user to easily insert additional content anywhere on a page, even if that location already contains content. The existing content is simply “pushed down” the page to allow room for insertion of the new content.
A variety of software applications employ electronic paper, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Windows Journal One application of electronic paper that is particularly useful for users of hand-held computers is electronic ink. Electronic ink allows a user to create data by writing on a digitizer with a stylus. The digitizer records the user's writing as a sequence of strokes, where each stroke is comprised of a sequence of points. The points may be represented using a variety of known techniques including Cartesian coordinates (X, Y), polar coordinates (r, Θ), and other techniques as known in the art. The strokes may be associated with a set of properties such as, for example, color, width, pressure between the stylus and digitizer, and angle between the stylus and digitizer, and pen shape and the like.
As previously noted, a significant advantage to electronic ink, and to electronic paper generally, is the ease with which a user can place and move content around the electronic paper. Various applications of electronic ink, for example, allow a user to open up new white space on the electronic paper simply by “pushing” all of other content down the page. Thus, unlike actual paper, a user can go to a relevant portion of a page that already contains content, insert white space, and then write additional content in the added white space. The value of this feature is limited, however, by the size of the page being used by the electronic paper application. If the user inserts enough space into a page, eventually some of the content on that page will be pushed off the bottom of the page and onto the top of the next page, clipped, or deleted.
Pushing content off of a page onto the subsequent page may create an undesired cascading effect on all following pages. For example, diagrams may become split across pages, labels may become separated from their associated pictures, content may be caused to be regrouped in unexpected ways, and notes may become separated from associated content. This inadvertent cascading may frustrate the ease and convenience offered by the flexibility of electronic paper. Even if a user expected content to be split across pages, it is rarely the case where the system would correctly split the content as there are fewer ways for the system to know where to split the context across pages. Free form input cannot be split as easily as text across multiple pages.
Similarly, electronic paper allows a user to easily remove content or space from an existing document. Conventionally, however, deleting content from one page may “pull” content from a subsequent page onto the page from which the content or space has been removed. This “pulling” may likewise create an undesired effect on the following pages.
SUMMARYIn some aspects, the present invention addresses this disadvantage of conventional electronic paper by allowing a user to grow the size of a page of electronic paper when the user adds white space to the page, such that all of the content originally on the page remains on that page. Some aspects of the invention also allow a user to shrink the size of a page of electronic paper when deleting space or content from the page.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe present invention is described with respect to the accompanying figures, in which like reference numerals identify like elements, and in which:
General Purpose Computer
A basic input/output system 160 (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the computer 100, such as during start-up, is stored in the ROM 140. The computer 100 also includes a hard disk drive 170 for reading from and writing to a hard disk (not shown), a magnetic disk drive 180 for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk 190, and an optical disk drive 191 for reading from or writing to a removable optical disk 192 such as a CD ROM or other optical media. The hard disk drive 170, magnetic disk drive 180, and optical disk drive 191 are connected to the system bus 130 by a hard disk drive interface 192, a magnetic disk drive interface 193, and an optical disk drive interface 194, respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable media provide nonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the personal computer 100. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of computer readable media that can store data that is accessible by the computer 100, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks, Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read only memories (ROMs), and the like, may also be used in the example operating environment.
A number of program modules can be stored on the hard disk drive 170, magnetic disk 190, optical disk 192, ROM 140 or RAM 150, including an operating system 195, one or more application programs 196, other program modules 197, and program data 198. A user can enter commands and information into the computer 100 through input devices such as a keyboard 101 and pointing device 102. Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner or the like. These and other input devices may be connected to the processing unit 110 through a serial port interface 106 that is coupled to the system bus, but may also be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port or a universal serial bus (USB). Further still, these devices may be coupled directly to the system bus 130 via an appropriate interface (not shown). A monitor 107 or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus 130 via an interface, such as a video adapter 108.
In addition to the monitor, personal computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers and printers. A pen digitizer 165 and accompanying pen or stylus 166 may be provided in order to digitally capture freehand input. Although a direct connection between the pen digitizer 165 and the processing unit 110 is shown, in practice, the pen digitizer 165 may be coupled to the processing unit 110 via a serial port, parallel port or other interface and the system bus 130 as known in the art. Furthermore, although the digitizer 165 is shown apart from the monitor 107, one may have the usable input area of the digitizer 165 be co-extensive with the display area of the monitor 107. Further still, the digitizer 165 may be integrated in the monitor 107, or may exist as a separate device overlaying or otherwise appended to the monitor 107.
The computer 100 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 109. The remote computer 109 can be a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer 100, although only a memory storage device 111 has been illustrated in
When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 100 is connected to the local network 112 through a network interface or adapter 114. When used in a WAN networking environment, the personal computer 100 typically includes a modem 115 or other means for establishing a communications over the wide area network 113, such as the Internet. The modem 115, which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus 130 via the serial port interface 106. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the personal computer 100, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device.
It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other techniques for establishing a communications link between the computers can be used. The existence of any of various well-known protocols such as TCP/IP, Ethernet, FTP, HTTP and the like is presumed, and the system can be operated in a client-server configuration to permit a user to retrieve web pages from a web-based server. Any of various conventional web browsers can be used to display and manipulate data on web pages.
Although the
Tablet PC
The stylus 204 may be equipped with one or more buttons or other features to augment its selection capabilities. Thus, the stylus 204 could be implemented as a “pencil” or “pen”, in which one end constitutes a writing portion and the other end constitutes an “eraser” end, and which, when moved across the display, indicates portions of the display that are to be erased. Other types of input devices, such as a mouse, trackball, or the like could additionally or alternately be used to enter, modify or delete data. Further, a user's own finger could be employed as the stylus 204 and used for selecting or indicating portions of the displayed image on a touch-sensitive or proximity-sensitive display. Consequently, the term “user input device”, as used herein, is intended to have a broad definition and encompasses many variations on well-known input devices such as stylus 204. Region 205 shows a feedback region or contact region permitting the user to determine where the stylus 204 has contacted the display surface 202.
Insertion of White Space and Growing a Page
As shown in
Alternatively, the application may use the page structure to decide how the page should grow. For example, in a multiple column layout, inserting space in one column may only insert space in the column and not the other column
When the user has defined the amount of white space to be inserted into the page, the user stops dragging the input device. Stopping the dragging of the input device creates an insertion line 304. With some embodiments of the invention, a downwardly pointing arrow 306 may be displayed in order to confirm for the user that space is being inserted. While
As shown in
Again, various embodiments of the invention may display a rightward pointing arrow 324 to confirm that white space is being horizontally inserted. Also, while
As seen in
In another embodiment, space is added only as needed to keep all content on the page. If the original page was completely full of content, the page may be grown by an amount corresponding to the amount of the white space indicated in the received input. However, if the original page had open white space at the bottom of the page which was equal or greater than the amount of the white space to be inserted, then the page would not grow as space was readily available. Further, if the original page had blank space at the bottom which was some fraction of the size of the white space being inserted, then the page may be grown to the difference between the space inserted and the blank space at the bottom of the page. This approach may also be applied to other sections of the page as, for example, in the case of languages with different directional flow or flows.
Shrinking A Page
In addition to allowing a user to insert white space into a page, various embodiments of the invention may allow a user to delete space from a page in a similar manner. With some embodiments of the invention, for example, deleting space from a page may shrink the page by an amount corresponding to the deleted portion. With alternate embodiments of the invention, the deletion of space or content from a page may cause the page size to shrink, although the page size may never become smaller than the original page size.
To delete space from the page, the user may initiate the deletion process by activating a “delete space” command. As with the “insert space” command, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that this command may take a variety of forms. It may be presented, for example, on a task bar, a purpose-specific user interface menu, or included in a pull down menu. Further, a user may activate the insert space command by depressing a specified combination of buttons on a keyboard, stylus, mouse or other input device.
After the delete space command has been activated, the user may begin the deletion process by creating an origination line 406 marking the first border of the space to be deleted. With some embodiments of the invention, the user may, for example, create the origination line 406 by touching or tapping the screen with the user input device. Next, the user creates a deletion line 408 marking the opposite border of the space to be deleted from the page. The user may, for example, create the deletion line 408 simply by dragging the user input device from the origination line 406 to a position where the user desires to establish the deletion line 408.
With some embodiments of the invention, an upwardly pointing arrow 410 or other cursor may be displayed, to confirm for the user that a delete space operation is to be performed. Of course, while the illustrated embodiment shows an example where space is deleted by dragging an input device in an upward direction, with some embodiments of the invention a user may alternately or additionally delete space from the page by dragging the input device in a downward direction. With these embodiments, a downwardly pointing arrow or other cursor may be displayed to indicate the deletion of space. Thus, the user may establish line 408 as the origination line and line 406 as the deletion line by dragging the user input device downward from line 408 to where the user desires to establish deletion line 406. Further, the application may delete the white space surrounding an indicated deletion point.
As with the previously described embodiment, after activating the delete space command, the user may establish an origination line 414 by touching or tapping the screen with a user input device at the desired point. The user may then establish the deletion line 416 by, for example, dragging the user input device in a leftward direction and stopping the input device at the point where the deletion line 416 is desired. With some embodiments of the invention, the user may alternately or additionally establish line 416 as the origination line and line 414 as the deletion line by dragging the input device from line 416 rightward and stopping where the user desires to establish the deletion line 414. Again, various embodiments of the invention may display an appropriately directed arrow 418 or other cursor to confirm the deletion operation.
In a further embodiment, a page of content may be grown by adding blank space at the bottom of a page and growing the page.
It should be noted that, while the space deletion operation was described above with regard pages that had been previously expanded to contain additional space, the invention is not so limited. As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, some embodiments of the invention may allow a user to shrink the length, width, or both of a page that has not previously been expanded when space is deleted from that page.
Method for Growing a Page
Next, at step P502, a check is performed to determine whether there are any items on the page after the origination line. If there are items on the page that would be moved, then at P504, a check is performed to determine whether this content can be moved to provide the desired white space without causing some of that content to be moved to another page or clipped. If that content can be moved without moving some of the content to another page, then at P506, the content is moved and the space is created.
If the check performed at step P502 determines that there are no items that need to be moved, then, at P508, the page is grown by an amount corresponding to the amount of the space added. For example, if space of width d is being added horizontally, then the page width is similarly grown by width d. If space of length d is being added vertically, then the page length is similarly grown by length d.
If the check at P504 determines that the items cannot be moved without at least some of the items being moved to another page (or clipped), then at P510, the page is grown as much as necessary so that the items may remain on the same page, while leaving unchanged the page size of other pages. If space is being added horizontally, then the page width is grown. If space is being added vertically, then the page length is grown.
Alternative embodiments include various approaches to determining which items to move. For example, if given percentage (e.g. 50%) of an item (for instance, a word or paragraph or character) is below the origination line, then that item may be moved. Other approaches include using a fixed amount of the item is below the origination line to determine if it should be moved. A further approach includes using the structure of the page or document to group items using their relationship to other items. So, for example, a complex path used for the origination line drawn in a paragraph may result in all content below and/or to the right of the line be moved. So, a line drawn through a sentence may move all items after the line.
With some embodiments of the invention, at step P510, before growing the page, a determination can be made as to whether any empty space exists within the area to be moved. If such empty space does exist, the empty space is removed to the extent necessary to prevent or reduce the need for growing the page to contain all of the existing content. Alternatively, the empty space may remain untouched.
Method for Shrinking a Page
Next, at P602, any content on the opposite side of the origination line from the deletion line is moved toward the deletion line in order to close up space. At P604, a check is performed to determine whether the page was expanded previously. If the page was previously expanded, then the page size is decreased. The page size may be decreased by an amount equal to the amount of space between the origination and deletion lines, however, in some implementations; the page size may not be decreased to a size smaller than the original page size. If, at P604, it is determined that the page size is not expanded, then the page size will not be decreased. Here, the user may only close up empty space.
The input receiver 704 receives the above input from input device 702, and provides the received input to the space adder 706 where space is to be added to a page. Space adder 706, in response to the input received by input receiver 704, moves at least some of the content of the electronic page to insert white space, when the received input indicates that white space is to be inserted. The distance that the content is moved is based on the amount of white space to be added, as indicated in the input.
Page grower 708 determines whether, as a result of content movement by space adder 706, content is larger than the existing page. If the moved content may have moved off the bottom of the page, the existing page, then page grower 708 grows the page, either in width or length, such that the original content of the page remains on the page. The grown page is then rendered on the display 714.
If the input received by the input receiver 704 is to delete space from a page, the input receiver 704 provides the received input to the space deleter 710. The space deleter 710, responsive the input received by input receiver 704, moves at least some of the content of the electronic page to delete a portion of the page. The distance that the content is moved is based on the amount of page to be deleted, as indicated by the received input.
The page shrinker 712 determines whether, as a result of content movement by space deleter 710, a page may be reduced either in length or width. If the page may be reduced in size, page shrinker 712 reduces the page. In some embodiments, of the invention the page will not be reduced to a size smaller than the original page size. The reduced page is then rendered on the display 714.
Alternative embodiments of the invention may include a cursor or the like to indicate the origination boundary, insertion boundary, or deletion boundary, instead of using dashed lines as illustrated in the accompanying figures. Also, some embodiments of the invention may grow the page only when needed to maintain content on a same page. Other embodiments may alternately grow the page whenever space is inserted into the document.
Embodiments of the invention may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware or by an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The firmware may be in a read only memory and the software may reside on a medium, such as read only memory, random access memory, floppy disk or compact disk.
Although the above embodiments were described using examples that include electronic ink in electronic documents, the invention is not so limited. For example, the content of an electronic page may include text (including alphabetic, numeric, and punctuation), graphic symbols, images and the like.
Aspects of the present invention have been described in terms of various embodiments thereof. Numerous other embodiments, modifications and variations within the scope and spirit of the appended claims will occur to persons of ordinary skill in the art from a review of this disclosure.
Claims
1. A method of reducing a size of a page in an electronic document on a display by removing an amount of white space, comprising:
- A) receiving input indicating a first designation on a page of an electronic document;
- B) responsive to the input of the step A, moving at least some of content of the page by an amount corresponding to the amount to be removed from the page, said at least some of the content being moved such that an indicated portion of the page is removed and overwritten by at least a portion of said at least some of the content of the page; and
- C) shrinking the size of the page by an amount based on the amount to remove from the page.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the size of the page is reduced such that the size of the page is at least as large as the original size of the page
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step C includes shrinking a width of the page.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first designation is a first position.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first designation is a line or lines separating content.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said input includes the amount of white space to be removed.
7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the amount of white space to be removed is predefined.
8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the amount of white space to be removed is all white space near said first designation.
9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the moved content is determined based at least in part on a structural component on the page.
10. The method according to claim 4, wherein the moved content includes modifying a structural component on the page.
11. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, said instructions relating to removing an amount of white space from a page, such that when the instructions are loaded and executed by a processor, the processor is caused to perform:
- A) receiving input indicating a first designation on a page of an electronic document;
- B) responsive to the input of the step A, moving at least some of content of the page by an amount corresponding to the amount to be removed from the page, said at least some of the content being moved such that an indicated portion of the page is removed and overwritten by at least a portion of said at least some of the content of the page; and
- C) shrinking the size of the page by an amount based on the indicated amount to remove from the page.
12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the size of the page is reduced such that the size of the page is at least as large as the original size of the page.
13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the step C includes shrinking a width of the page.
14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first designation is a line or lines separating content.
15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein said input includes the amount of white space to be removed.
16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the amount of white space to be removed is predefined.
17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the amount of white space to be removed is all white space near said first designation.
18. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the moved content is determined based at least in part on a structural component on the page.
19. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the moved content includes modifying a structural component on the page.
20. A computer system comprising:
- a processor;
- a display to display at least a portion of an electronic document from which an amount will be removed;
- an input device to input at least a first designation of a page of an electronic document, wherein the processor is arranged to:
- A) receive input indicating a first designation on a page of an electronic document;
- B) responsive to the input of the step A, move at least some of content of the page by an amount corresponding to the amount to be removed from the page, said at least some of the content being moved such that an indicated portion of the page is removed and overwritten by at least a portion of said at least some of the content of the page; and
- C) shrink the size of the page by an amount based on the indicated amount to remove from the page.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 10, 2005
Publication Date: Jun 2, 2005
Applicant: Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, WA)
Inventors: Dan Altman (Kirkland, WA), Eric Fox (Seattle, WA), Steve Weil (Bellevue, WA), Marieke Iwema (Seattle, WA), Charlton Lui (Redmond, WA)
Application Number: 11/031,001