CA2188151A1 - A method and apparatus for manipulating graphics - Google Patents
A method and apparatus for manipulating graphicsInfo
- Publication number
- CA2188151A1 CA2188151A1 CA002188151A CA2188151A CA2188151A1 CA 2188151 A1 CA2188151 A1 CA 2188151A1 CA 002188151 A CA002188151 A CA 002188151A CA 2188151 A CA2188151 A CA 2188151A CA 2188151 A1 CA2188151 A1 CA 2188151A1
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- graphics
- display
- identifiers
- manipulation
- text
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 title claims abstract description 16
- 238000013461 design Methods 0.000 claims description 4
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 3
- 238000003780 insertion Methods 0.000 description 3
- 230000037431 insertion Effects 0.000 description 3
- 238000012545 processing Methods 0.000 description 3
- YFONKFDEZLYQDH-OPQQBVKSSA-N N-[(1R,2S)-2,6-dimethyindan-1-yl]-6-[(1R)-1-fluoroethyl]-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine Chemical compound C[C@@H](F)C1=NC(N)=NC(N[C@H]2C3=CC(C)=CC=C3C[C@@H]2C)=N1 YFONKFDEZLYQDH-OPQQBVKSSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 230000000994 depressogenic effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000000203 mixture Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000012544 monitoring process Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000000926 separation method Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000000007 visual effect Effects 0.000 description 1
Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
- G06T11/00—2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
- G06T11/60—Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F40/00—Handling natural language data
- G06F40/10—Text processing
- G06F40/166—Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
- G06F40/174—Form filling; Merging
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Audiology, Speech & Language Pathology (AREA)
- Computational Linguistics (AREA)
- General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Artificial Intelligence (AREA)
- User Interface Of Digital Computer (AREA)
- Ultra Sonic Daignosis Equipment (AREA)
- Information Retrieval, Db Structures And Fs Structures Therefor (AREA)
- Controls And Circuits For Display Device (AREA)
Abstract
The invention provides a method and apparatus for manipulating graphics comprising, providing a first display (2a) of graphics to be manipulated, and a second display (2b) of graphics identifiers, each identifier being associated with a grouping of graphics in the first display, and providing means to enable manipulation of at least some of the identifiers in the second display to cause corresponding manipulation of graphics in the first display associated with the identifier or identifiers characterised in that means are provided to manipulate graphics in the first display such that a spatial relationship between the graphics in a first set of graphics is maintained. This enables the graphics to be more easily and speedily manipulated than would otherwise be possible.
Description
W095129463 ~i8~1~1 P~ ,SV~
A r'-THOD A~l~ APPARATUS FOR ~ LpuL~TlNG t:r~APHlCS
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for manipulating graphics p3rticuiarly, but not exc:usively, for use in designing bills for charging customers 5 for the provision of services or producls.
A bill is quite often the most common form of contact a company has with its customers and the au~ueala~ e of the bill is therefore very important. The bill has to be easy to read and understand, and to convey a clear image of the company to10 its customers. In order to achieve this, the bill is frequently redesigned and in the past this has been achieved by the designer editing tables of values governing the bill printins process. A typical edit screen display is shown in Prior Art figure 1 and it comprises a table of text items having an item number for example, 11100;a text descriptor, for example; "AMOUNT FOR OPERATOR CALLS"; a block width, 15 for example, 00101; space before and after the block, for example, 004 and 000;
and total height of the block, for example, 010.
For the designer to change the bill it was necessary to edit the lines of values and then to cause a bill to be printed according to the updated values. This was a 20 ;u~.L.,.:,u".e and time consuming method and the present invention arose in an attempt to provide a more easily used method and apparatus.
It is known to provide word processing packages which display the text which is to be printed eventually. These provide methods of manipulating the text, for 25 example, by moving blocks of text from one area of the displayed document to another.
Typically, movement of text is achieved by a laborious method of visually scanning the displayed document for the relevant area, I~iyl '~ LillU it by marking the block 30 beginning and block end using the word processor functions, visually scanning the displayed area for a desired place of insertion and then Cullllllall ii"g the word processor to insert the text at the desired place of insertion. This process is laborious enough for short documents but when it involves a bill or other document Wo9~129463 218~15 1 r~ " c.~ ~
of normal size it may require u u~ i le time spent in scrolling the display searching for text and a suitable place of insertion.
It is believed that at least one word processing package enables easier block 5 manipulation by providing a second view of the text to be displayed in which only the outline structure is shown that is to say only block headings are displayed not the fuil text. The block headings may be manipulated on screen causing cu,l~,,uo,,J;,,g manipulation of the full text. Thus there is structure inherent in the second view which is changed in this operation. This view can be thought of as a10 logicai view in that it contains the logical or order structure of the document. A
change in the order of block headings in the logical view causes a re-ordering of the blocks of text in the full view.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of 15 manipulating sraphics Culll,ulia;llu providing a first display of graphics to be manipulated, and a second display of graphics identifiers, each identifier beingassociated with a grouping of graphics in the first display, and providing means to enable manipulation of at least some of the identifiers in the second displav tocause culluauullJil~9 manipulation of graphics in the first display associated with 20 the identifier or identifiers, ~ iae ~ in that, means are provided to manipulate graphics in the first display such that a spatial l~ ~..`iullall;u between graphics in a first set of graphics is ",~ ,i"ed as is the spatial I~I~Liullalliu between graphics in a second set of sraphics as the spatial l~k.:iullallilJ of the first and second set of graphics is varied.
Conveniently, selection of an identifier in the second display resu~ts in the cul,,,a~.u,,Ji,,-J grouping of graphics being displayed in the first display. This enables rapid location of the grouping in a document which extends beyond the display (in the sense that not all the document can be displayed at one time), to be ~0 achieved by selection from the second display of the relevant identifier.
Preferably, the cu,,-i~yu,,Ji,,~ grouping of graphics in centred in the first display.
o 95129~63 ~ i ~3 8 1 S ~
The displays may be shown simultaneously or alternately. By graphics it is meanttext, pictures, symbols or other data, or pictorial i,,~o,,,,aLiun, or a mixture of these .
5 According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided apparatus for manipulating 3raphics comprising means for ~ uuiGLil ~1 a set of graphics identifiers with a set of graphics to be manipulated; means for displaying as a first display the set of graphics and as a second display the set of graphics identifiers;
means for enablin3 manipulation of at least some of the graphics identifiers in the 10 second display to cause cu",,~, ol~,ii"y manipulation of graphics in the first display associated with the identifier or identifiers; ~llalauL~ ed in that the means for enabling manipulation also enables manipulation of graphics in the first displaysuch that a spatial ,~ iu":.l,i,u between the graphics in a first set of graphics is Illailllailla;l, as is the spatial l~lclLiùll~lli,u between graphics in a second set of 15 graphics, as the spatial l~lcLiull:llli,u of the first and second set of graphics is varied.
A specific L.~Ludi~ llL of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings, in which:-Figure 2 shows a bill designing system operating in a~,.. ul.klll~,c with the invention;
Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram of the system shown in figure 2;
Figure 4 is an enlarged view of a video display unit used in the system shown in figure 2;
Figures 5 & 6 show parts of the display shown in figure 4; and Figures 7 & 8 are a~,ul~lllaLuly diagrams showing parts of the displays after manipulabon .
With reference to figure 2, a bill designing system operating in aucu,d~",ce with theinvention comprises a computer ~ulhs~dLiull 1 of known type such as a Sun Wo~ks~d~iull manufactured by Sun Corporation. The wJIks~d~iu~) 1 comprises a visual display unit (VDU) 2, a computer unit 3, a keyboard 4 and a mouse 5.
The ~JIksLdLiull 1 is u,ug,.."""ed to operate in accordance with the invention by loading the program by means of the disc drives 8 located in the from face of the computer unlt 3 or from an internal hard disc (not shown~ located within the computer unit 3 on which the program has been installed. The manner of doing 10 this will be well known to those versed in the art.
The biil designing system is shown in schematic block diagram form in figure 3 and it can be seen to comprise a bill processor engine 7, a keyboard and mouse interface 8, a data base 9, a display driver 10 and an optional constraints database 15 100.
The keyboard 2nd mouse interface 8 monitors the keyboard 4 for the depression by a user of the keys snd also monitors the mouse 5 for movement and actuation by the user. The monitoring is performed in a manner well known in the art and 20 will not be described further but the user input is passed by the keyboard mouse interface 8 to the bill processing engine 7 along a databus 11 of a known type.
The database 9 is located on the computer's hard disc drive Inot shown) and can be accessed by the bill processor engine 7 by means of a databus 12 . The 25 database 9 contains data to be displayed on the bill created by the system user.
The display driver 10 drives the VDU 2 to dispiay processed data from the bill processor engine 7.
30 As shown in figure 4, the processed data is displayed on the VDU 2 in two display area 2a and 2b. The display areas 2a, 2b may be displayed one at a time or simultaneously as the user wishes.
~881 51 WO95129~63 P~,l,~,,,._/~
The first display area 2a comprises a I tu~ Laliul l of the bill being designed including all the graphics, that is, text, figures and other ill~u,,,,aLiul~ that will be printed on the bill once the design has been finalised. This is shown in figure 5.
5 The second display area 2b comprises a logical Itplt~dllLdLiull of the ~tu~ lLaLion shown in the first display area 2a with the various text groupings displayed in tree structures as shown in figure 6. The tree structures comprise a customer tree 51, a bill tree 52 and a logo tree 53. LOGO tree 53 has only one element a root nodebut the other trees are multi-element. Thus, the customer tree 51, comprises 10 elements NUMEER 51 a, NAME 51 b and ADDRESS 51 c and a root node CUSTOMER 60. The bill tree 52 comprises elements PERIOD 52a, RENTAL 52b, UNITS 52c, TOTAL 52d, VAT NO. 52e all branching from a root node BILL 61.
From the figure it will be seen that the elements UNITS 52c and TOTAL 52d have 15 a number of sub-elements. UNITS 52c comprises sub-elements RATE A 52f, RATE B 529 and DISCOUNT 52h. TOTAL 52d comprises sub-elements SUB TOTAL 52i, VAT 52j, and TOTAL PAY 52k.
20 Each of the trees relates to a logical grouping of the text and other graphics shown in display area 2a.
The LOGO tree 53 is a logical ~ c.L.IIelLiull of a trademark 41 shown in displayarea 2a, in this case it is the registered trademark of British Telecommunications 25 plc.
The CUSTOMER tree 51 rel2tes to the customer details 42 with each element relating to specific parts of the customer details 42. Element NUMBER 51a relates to the customer number illrullllaLiul~ 42a. Element NAME 51b relâtes to the 30 customer's name i~rullllclLiull 42b. ADDRESS 51c relates to address illru""~Liu"
42c.
.
Wo 95129463 ~18 81~ 1. F~ . c~
BILL 52 relates to the charging illrullllaLioll 43 with the element PERIOD 52a relating to text 43a concerning the billing period. The RENTAL element 52b relates to text 43b; the UNITS element 52c relates to text 43c with the sub-element RATE A 52f relating to illrulllla~iull concerning the number of units used at a 5 particu~ar rate, text 43d of 43c; the sub-element RATE B 529 relating to the line of text 43e describing the number of units used at another rate; the sub-element DISCOUNT 52h relating to the line of text 43f which details the discount for useabove a certain threshold; and sub-element 52j relating to line of text 439 being the sub total of the cost of the units used less discount.
The TOTAL element 52d of BILL 52 relates to text 43h concerning the total cost of the rental and units, with the sub-element SU8 TOTAL 52i relatin3 to a line of text 43i (relatin3 to the cost less VAT); sub-element VAT 52j relating to the line of text 43j the VAT element of the bill; and sub-element TOTAL_PAY 52k relating to the 15 line of text 43k, the total due from the customer.
Element VAT NO 52e of BILL 52 relates to line of text 431 displayin3 the invoiciny company's VAT number.
20 A cursor 44 is generated by the display driver 10 and can be made to move, by the user, between the display areas 2a, 2b to cause the bill processor en3ine 7 to perform the manipulation operations under control of the keyboard 4 or mouse 5 in the followin3 manner. (The movement being monitored by the keyboard mouse interface 8 and this illru~ a~iul~ bein3 passed on to the bill processor en3ine 7).
Suppose the user wishes to redesi3n the bill shown in display area 2a by .IIallyillg the position of the trademark 41 and the customer details 42. This is achieved by manipulation of the logica~ trees in display area 2b. The cursor 44 is moved into display area 2b by the user moving the mouse 5 until the cursor 44 is30 over CUSTOMER tree root node 60. A button on the mouse 5 is clicked to capture the tree which may then be moved, by moving the mouse, to its new position point x. The button is then released to release the tree. The LOGO tree 53 is then
A r'-THOD A~l~ APPARATUS FOR ~ LpuL~TlNG t:r~APHlCS
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for manipulating graphics p3rticuiarly, but not exc:usively, for use in designing bills for charging customers 5 for the provision of services or producls.
A bill is quite often the most common form of contact a company has with its customers and the au~ueala~ e of the bill is therefore very important. The bill has to be easy to read and understand, and to convey a clear image of the company to10 its customers. In order to achieve this, the bill is frequently redesigned and in the past this has been achieved by the designer editing tables of values governing the bill printins process. A typical edit screen display is shown in Prior Art figure 1 and it comprises a table of text items having an item number for example, 11100;a text descriptor, for example; "AMOUNT FOR OPERATOR CALLS"; a block width, 15 for example, 00101; space before and after the block, for example, 004 and 000;
and total height of the block, for example, 010.
For the designer to change the bill it was necessary to edit the lines of values and then to cause a bill to be printed according to the updated values. This was a 20 ;u~.L.,.:,u".e and time consuming method and the present invention arose in an attempt to provide a more easily used method and apparatus.
It is known to provide word processing packages which display the text which is to be printed eventually. These provide methods of manipulating the text, for 25 example, by moving blocks of text from one area of the displayed document to another.
Typically, movement of text is achieved by a laborious method of visually scanning the displayed document for the relevant area, I~iyl '~ LillU it by marking the block 30 beginning and block end using the word processor functions, visually scanning the displayed area for a desired place of insertion and then Cullllllall ii"g the word processor to insert the text at the desired place of insertion. This process is laborious enough for short documents but when it involves a bill or other document Wo9~129463 218~15 1 r~ " c.~ ~
of normal size it may require u u~ i le time spent in scrolling the display searching for text and a suitable place of insertion.
It is believed that at least one word processing package enables easier block 5 manipulation by providing a second view of the text to be displayed in which only the outline structure is shown that is to say only block headings are displayed not the fuil text. The block headings may be manipulated on screen causing cu,l~,,uo,,J;,,g manipulation of the full text. Thus there is structure inherent in the second view which is changed in this operation. This view can be thought of as a10 logicai view in that it contains the logical or order structure of the document. A
change in the order of block headings in the logical view causes a re-ordering of the blocks of text in the full view.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of 15 manipulating sraphics Culll,ulia;llu providing a first display of graphics to be manipulated, and a second display of graphics identifiers, each identifier beingassociated with a grouping of graphics in the first display, and providing means to enable manipulation of at least some of the identifiers in the second displav tocause culluauullJil~9 manipulation of graphics in the first display associated with 20 the identifier or identifiers, ~ iae ~ in that, means are provided to manipulate graphics in the first display such that a spatial l~ ~..`iullall;u between graphics in a first set of graphics is ",~ ,i"ed as is the spatial I~I~Liullalliu between graphics in a second set of sraphics as the spatial l~k.:iullallilJ of the first and second set of graphics is varied.
Conveniently, selection of an identifier in the second display resu~ts in the cul,,,a~.u,,Ji,,-J grouping of graphics being displayed in the first display. This enables rapid location of the grouping in a document which extends beyond the display (in the sense that not all the document can be displayed at one time), to be ~0 achieved by selection from the second display of the relevant identifier.
Preferably, the cu,,-i~yu,,Ji,,~ grouping of graphics in centred in the first display.
o 95129~63 ~ i ~3 8 1 S ~
The displays may be shown simultaneously or alternately. By graphics it is meanttext, pictures, symbols or other data, or pictorial i,,~o,,,,aLiun, or a mixture of these .
5 According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided apparatus for manipulating 3raphics comprising means for ~ uuiGLil ~1 a set of graphics identifiers with a set of graphics to be manipulated; means for displaying as a first display the set of graphics and as a second display the set of graphics identifiers;
means for enablin3 manipulation of at least some of the graphics identifiers in the 10 second display to cause cu",,~, ol~,ii"y manipulation of graphics in the first display associated with the identifier or identifiers; ~llalauL~ ed in that the means for enabling manipulation also enables manipulation of graphics in the first displaysuch that a spatial ,~ iu":.l,i,u between the graphics in a first set of graphics is Illailllailla;l, as is the spatial l~lclLiùll~lli,u between graphics in a second set of 15 graphics, as the spatial l~lcLiull:llli,u of the first and second set of graphics is varied.
A specific L.~Ludi~ llL of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings, in which:-Figure 2 shows a bill designing system operating in a~,.. ul.klll~,c with the invention;
Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram of the system shown in figure 2;
Figure 4 is an enlarged view of a video display unit used in the system shown in figure 2;
Figures 5 & 6 show parts of the display shown in figure 4; and Figures 7 & 8 are a~,ul~lllaLuly diagrams showing parts of the displays after manipulabon .
With reference to figure 2, a bill designing system operating in aucu,d~",ce with theinvention comprises a computer ~ulhs~dLiull 1 of known type such as a Sun Wo~ks~d~iull manufactured by Sun Corporation. The wJIks~d~iu~) 1 comprises a visual display unit (VDU) 2, a computer unit 3, a keyboard 4 and a mouse 5.
The ~JIksLdLiull 1 is u,ug,.."""ed to operate in accordance with the invention by loading the program by means of the disc drives 8 located in the from face of the computer unlt 3 or from an internal hard disc (not shown~ located within the computer unit 3 on which the program has been installed. The manner of doing 10 this will be well known to those versed in the art.
The biil designing system is shown in schematic block diagram form in figure 3 and it can be seen to comprise a bill processor engine 7, a keyboard and mouse interface 8, a data base 9, a display driver 10 and an optional constraints database 15 100.
The keyboard 2nd mouse interface 8 monitors the keyboard 4 for the depression by a user of the keys snd also monitors the mouse 5 for movement and actuation by the user. The monitoring is performed in a manner well known in the art and 20 will not be described further but the user input is passed by the keyboard mouse interface 8 to the bill processing engine 7 along a databus 11 of a known type.
The database 9 is located on the computer's hard disc drive Inot shown) and can be accessed by the bill processor engine 7 by means of a databus 12 . The 25 database 9 contains data to be displayed on the bill created by the system user.
The display driver 10 drives the VDU 2 to dispiay processed data from the bill processor engine 7.
30 As shown in figure 4, the processed data is displayed on the VDU 2 in two display area 2a and 2b. The display areas 2a, 2b may be displayed one at a time or simultaneously as the user wishes.
~881 51 WO95129~63 P~,l,~,,,._/~
The first display area 2a comprises a I tu~ Laliul l of the bill being designed including all the graphics, that is, text, figures and other ill~u,,,,aLiul~ that will be printed on the bill once the design has been finalised. This is shown in figure 5.
5 The second display area 2b comprises a logical Itplt~dllLdLiull of the ~tu~ lLaLion shown in the first display area 2a with the various text groupings displayed in tree structures as shown in figure 6. The tree structures comprise a customer tree 51, a bill tree 52 and a logo tree 53. LOGO tree 53 has only one element a root nodebut the other trees are multi-element. Thus, the customer tree 51, comprises 10 elements NUMEER 51 a, NAME 51 b and ADDRESS 51 c and a root node CUSTOMER 60. The bill tree 52 comprises elements PERIOD 52a, RENTAL 52b, UNITS 52c, TOTAL 52d, VAT NO. 52e all branching from a root node BILL 61.
From the figure it will be seen that the elements UNITS 52c and TOTAL 52d have 15 a number of sub-elements. UNITS 52c comprises sub-elements RATE A 52f, RATE B 529 and DISCOUNT 52h. TOTAL 52d comprises sub-elements SUB TOTAL 52i, VAT 52j, and TOTAL PAY 52k.
20 Each of the trees relates to a logical grouping of the text and other graphics shown in display area 2a.
The LOGO tree 53 is a logical ~ c.L.IIelLiull of a trademark 41 shown in displayarea 2a, in this case it is the registered trademark of British Telecommunications 25 plc.
The CUSTOMER tree 51 rel2tes to the customer details 42 with each element relating to specific parts of the customer details 42. Element NUMBER 51a relates to the customer number illrullllaLiul~ 42a. Element NAME 51b relâtes to the 30 customer's name i~rullllclLiull 42b. ADDRESS 51c relates to address illru""~Liu"
42c.
.
Wo 95129463 ~18 81~ 1. F~ . c~
BILL 52 relates to the charging illrullllaLioll 43 with the element PERIOD 52a relating to text 43a concerning the billing period. The RENTAL element 52b relates to text 43b; the UNITS element 52c relates to text 43c with the sub-element RATE A 52f relating to illrulllla~iull concerning the number of units used at a 5 particu~ar rate, text 43d of 43c; the sub-element RATE B 529 relating to the line of text 43e describing the number of units used at another rate; the sub-element DISCOUNT 52h relating to the line of text 43f which details the discount for useabove a certain threshold; and sub-element 52j relating to line of text 439 being the sub total of the cost of the units used less discount.
The TOTAL element 52d of BILL 52 relates to text 43h concerning the total cost of the rental and units, with the sub-element SU8 TOTAL 52i relatin3 to a line of text 43i (relatin3 to the cost less VAT); sub-element VAT 52j relating to the line of text 43j the VAT element of the bill; and sub-element TOTAL_PAY 52k relating to the 15 line of text 43k, the total due from the customer.
Element VAT NO 52e of BILL 52 relates to line of text 431 displayin3 the invoiciny company's VAT number.
20 A cursor 44 is generated by the display driver 10 and can be made to move, by the user, between the display areas 2a, 2b to cause the bill processor en3ine 7 to perform the manipulation operations under control of the keyboard 4 or mouse 5 in the followin3 manner. (The movement being monitored by the keyboard mouse interface 8 and this illru~ a~iul~ bein3 passed on to the bill processor en3ine 7).
Suppose the user wishes to redesi3n the bill shown in display area 2a by .IIallyillg the position of the trademark 41 and the customer details 42. This is achieved by manipulation of the logica~ trees in display area 2b. The cursor 44 is moved into display area 2b by the user moving the mouse 5 until the cursor 44 is30 over CUSTOMER tree root node 60. A button on the mouse 5 is clicked to capture the tree which may then be moved, by moving the mouse, to its new position point x. The button is then released to release the tree. The LOGO tree 53 is then
2~ 881~
~ WO 95119~63 r~
picked up under mouse control in a similar manner and deposited in its new position .
The bill processor engine 7 simultaneously moves the customer illrullllatiull 42 and 5 trademark 41 in display are3 2a to produce a bill ~culcacllLcLiun as shown in figure 7. Thus, the 3raphics in the l_~JIc:~cll~aLiOI- displayed in display area 2a are moved en bloc by manipulation of the trees displayed in display area 2b without the need to define the blocks of 3raphics to be moved on the Iculc:,cll~aLion as in conventional bill designins systems.
The 3raphics in the Icul~.,LaL;ùl) may also be manipulated by editing the tree structure of the display area 2b. The designer may for example wish to move the i~lrulllla~iull about the units used 43c to a position between the period ill~llllal;ul) 43a and the rental illru~ aLiol) 43b. In other words the units used i"r~"",aLiun is 15 to appear on the bill above the rental illrulllla~iull. To do this the user moves the cursor 44 over UNITS element 52c actuates the mouse button to capture the element and its sub-elements and moves it vertically to a position between PERIOD
element 52a and the RENTAL element 52b. The bill processor engine 7 simultaneously exchanges the units used illrullllaLiull 43c and rental i~rullllaLiun 20 43b in the l~ c__.lLaLiùll.
Sub-elements of the logical l~ .__.ILatiul~ can also be manipulated in a similarmanner to cause re-ordering of the text shown in the l~ _.lLaLiull. For example,sub-element 52f and 529 may have their position exchanged causin3 the line of 25 text 43e to be displaved above the line of text 43d in display area 2a.
If the user wishes to increase the il~rullllaLiùl) on the bill by, for example, introducing the invoicing company head office address, a tree editing function is used to enter a new tree or, in this case, a new element to the LOGO tree 53. The 30 user places the cursor 44 over LOGO tree 53 and presses a command key on the kevboard 4 to enter a create element mode. A branch from LOGO 53 is created and the user prompted for the element name which is typed and ~ llulLall_~lusly displayed at th~ new branch under logo. A user mi3ht name the element ., .. _ . .. _ . _ ., . . _ . . .. . _ . .. . . . . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ WO 95/29~63 ~ ~ 8 81 S l r~
HEAD_OFFiCE as shown in fi~ure 8. The bill processor engine 7 then produces a flashing cursor beneath the trademark 41 display area 2a and displays a message requesting the user to input text. The user then inputs text via the keyboard 4 which is then simultaneously displayed adjacent the flashing cursor. When the 5 user has finished entering the text a controi key is depressed to exit the create mode and then the flashing cursor is disabled. The resulting ,~v,~s~,,lc~iv,, isshown in figure 8b.
Blocks of text in the display area 2a may be deleted by deleting an element or tree 10 in display area 2b by entering delete mode by selection of a command key with the cursor 44 over the relevant element or tree.
If the designer wishes to vary the spacing between particular blocks of text on the bill, for example by increasing the spacing between the text " TOTAL COST UNITS
15 USED " and the text " TOTAL FOR RENTAL & UNITS USED " he may select a move text option and move the cursor 44 to the first line of text below the separation that is to be increased.
The mouse 5 is " clicked on ~ the line of text and the text moved dv;~ _.v~.
20 When the line of text is released by releasing the button on the mouse 5, thedisplay is refreshed such that the text above the selected line of text remains in its original position with the spacing maintained. The line of text moved is displsyed at its release position and the text originally positioned below the selected text, that is to say, 25 " VAT at 17 1/2% PQ
Total Due KLM
VAT No. GBXYZFJK~
is displayed at a new position below the selected line of text with the spacing between the lines ~"~ L_..~d.
, Jl WO95/29463 ~ ~ 881~1 r~ D ~
g For certain ,,' ~s it may be desirable to provide a de3ree of designer constraint, for example, the designer may wish to change the size of the text insuch a way that it cause difficulty for customers to read. This may be achieved by the bill processor en3ine comparing the designer's input with a set of constraints 5 stored in the optional uul~s~ Ls database 100. The Cu~L~ s could be mandatory in that they prevent the change being made or adYisory warning the designer that the change may cause certain difficulties . Messages could be displayed as t,uu,uu,ic,~u. When the bill design is ~Lisf~uLuly~ sample data may be loaded from the database 9 to change variable areas of the bill, for example, the ~O custom-r d~tail ~nd vari~us cost~
_
~ WO 95119~63 r~
picked up under mouse control in a similar manner and deposited in its new position .
The bill processor engine 7 simultaneously moves the customer illrullllatiull 42 and 5 trademark 41 in display are3 2a to produce a bill ~culcacllLcLiun as shown in figure 7. Thus, the 3raphics in the l_~JIc:~cll~aLiOI- displayed in display area 2a are moved en bloc by manipulation of the trees displayed in display area 2b without the need to define the blocks of 3raphics to be moved on the Iculc:,cll~aLion as in conventional bill designins systems.
The 3raphics in the Icul~.,LaL;ùl) may also be manipulated by editing the tree structure of the display area 2b. The designer may for example wish to move the i~lrulllla~iull about the units used 43c to a position between the period ill~llllal;ul) 43a and the rental illru~ aLiol) 43b. In other words the units used i"r~"",aLiun is 15 to appear on the bill above the rental illrulllla~iull. To do this the user moves the cursor 44 over UNITS element 52c actuates the mouse button to capture the element and its sub-elements and moves it vertically to a position between PERIOD
element 52a and the RENTAL element 52b. The bill processor engine 7 simultaneously exchanges the units used illrullllaLiull 43c and rental i~rullllaLiun 20 43b in the l~ c__.lLaLiùll.
Sub-elements of the logical l~ .__.ILatiul~ can also be manipulated in a similarmanner to cause re-ordering of the text shown in the l~ _.lLaLiull. For example,sub-element 52f and 529 may have their position exchanged causin3 the line of 25 text 43e to be displaved above the line of text 43d in display area 2a.
If the user wishes to increase the il~rullllaLiùl) on the bill by, for example, introducing the invoicing company head office address, a tree editing function is used to enter a new tree or, in this case, a new element to the LOGO tree 53. The 30 user places the cursor 44 over LOGO tree 53 and presses a command key on the kevboard 4 to enter a create element mode. A branch from LOGO 53 is created and the user prompted for the element name which is typed and ~ llulLall_~lusly displayed at th~ new branch under logo. A user mi3ht name the element ., .. _ . .. _ . _ ., . . _ . . .. . _ . .. . . . . . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ WO 95/29~63 ~ ~ 8 81 S l r~
HEAD_OFFiCE as shown in fi~ure 8. The bill processor engine 7 then produces a flashing cursor beneath the trademark 41 display area 2a and displays a message requesting the user to input text. The user then inputs text via the keyboard 4 which is then simultaneously displayed adjacent the flashing cursor. When the 5 user has finished entering the text a controi key is depressed to exit the create mode and then the flashing cursor is disabled. The resulting ,~v,~s~,,lc~iv,, isshown in figure 8b.
Blocks of text in the display area 2a may be deleted by deleting an element or tree 10 in display area 2b by entering delete mode by selection of a command key with the cursor 44 over the relevant element or tree.
If the designer wishes to vary the spacing between particular blocks of text on the bill, for example by increasing the spacing between the text " TOTAL COST UNITS
15 USED " and the text " TOTAL FOR RENTAL & UNITS USED " he may select a move text option and move the cursor 44 to the first line of text below the separation that is to be increased.
The mouse 5 is " clicked on ~ the line of text and the text moved dv;~ _.v~.
20 When the line of text is released by releasing the button on the mouse 5, thedisplay is refreshed such that the text above the selected line of text remains in its original position with the spacing maintained. The line of text moved is displsyed at its release position and the text originally positioned below the selected text, that is to say, 25 " VAT at 17 1/2% PQ
Total Due KLM
VAT No. GBXYZFJK~
is displayed at a new position below the selected line of text with the spacing between the lines ~"~ L_..~d.
, Jl WO95/29463 ~ ~ 881~1 r~ D ~
g For certain ,,' ~s it may be desirable to provide a de3ree of designer constraint, for example, the designer may wish to change the size of the text insuch a way that it cause difficulty for customers to read. This may be achieved by the bill processor en3ine comparing the designer's input with a set of constraints 5 stored in the optional uul~s~ Ls database 100. The Cu~L~ s could be mandatory in that they prevent the change being made or adYisory warning the designer that the change may cause certain difficulties . Messages could be displayed as t,uu,uu,ic,~u. When the bill design is ~Lisf~uLuly~ sample data may be loaded from the database 9 to change variable areas of the bill, for example, the ~O custom-r d~tail ~nd vari~us cost~
_
Claims (10)
1. A method of manipulating graphics comprising providing a first display of graphics to be manipulated, and a second display of graphics identifiers, each identifier being associated with a grouping of graphics in the first display, and providing means to enable manipulation of at least some of the identifiers in the second display to cause corresponding manipulation of graphics in the first display associated with the identifier or identifiers, characterized in that, means are provided to manipulate graphics in the first display such that a spatial relationship between the graphics in a first set of graphics is maintained as is the spatial relationship between graphics in a second set of graphics as the spatial relationship of the first and second set of graphics is varied.
2. A method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the graphics identifiers in the second display are hierarchically interrelated.
3. A method as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the graphics identifiers in the second display are displayed as a tree.
4. A method as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 or 3 wherein selection of an identifier in the second display results in the corresponding grouping of graphics being displayed in the first display.
5. A method as claimed in Claim 4 wherein the corresponding grouping of graphics is centred in the first display.
6. A method as claimed in any preceding claim wherein a constraints database is provided containing a set of design constraints, the constraints database being referred to before accepting a manipulation of the graphics.
7. Apparatus for manipulating graphics comprising means for associating a set of graphics identifiers with a set of graphics to be manipulated; means for displaying as a first display the set of graphics and as a second display the set of graphics identifiers; means for enabling manipulation of at least some of the graphics identifiers in the second display to cause corresponding manipulation of graphics in the first display associated with the identifier or identifiers; characterized in that the means for enabling manipulation also enables manipulation of graphics in the first display such that a spatial relationship between the graphics in a first set of graphics is maintained, as is the spatial relationship between graphics in a second set of graphics, as the spatial relationship of the first and second set of graphics is varied.
8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 including means for hierarchically interrelating the graphics identifiers.
9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 8 wherein the means for displaying displays the graphics as a tree structure,
10. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein a memory is provided which in use includes a database of design constraints the database being accessed to verify that an input manipulation does not conflict with a constraint prior to acceptance of the manipulation.
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| EP94302866 | 1994-04-21 | ||
| EP94302866.2 | 1994-04-21 | ||
| PCT/GB1995/000880 WO1995029463A1 (en) | 1994-04-21 | 1995-04-19 | A method and apparatus for manipulating graphics |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2188151A1 true CA2188151A1 (en) | 1995-11-02 |
Family
ID=8217663
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002188151A Abandoned CA2188151A1 (en) | 1994-04-21 | 1995-04-19 | A method and apparatus for manipulating graphics |
Country Status (5)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| KR (1) | KR970702539A (en) |
| CN (1) | CN1150489A (en) |
| AU (1) | AU691914B2 (en) |
| CA (1) | CA2188151A1 (en) |
| NZ (1) | NZ284109A (en) |
Families Citing this family (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AU710748B2 (en) * | 1995-06-16 | 1999-09-30 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | A system for viewing the structure of computer graphical elements |
Family Cites Families (1)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE69207184T2 (en) * | 1991-05-17 | 1996-05-30 | Sieber Jonathan D | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR THE AUTOMATED SIDE LAYOUT OF TEXT AND GRAPHIC ELEMENTS |
-
1995
- 1995-04-19 CN CN95193545A patent/CN1150489A/en active Pending
- 1995-04-19 NZ NZ284109A patent/NZ284109A/en unknown
- 1995-04-19 AU AU22616/95A patent/AU691914B2/en not_active Ceased
- 1995-04-19 KR KR1019960705957A patent/KR970702539A/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1995-04-19 CA CA002188151A patent/CA2188151A1/en not_active Abandoned
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| KR970702539A (en) | 1997-05-13 |
| AU691914B2 (en) | 1998-05-28 |
| CN1150489A (en) | 1997-05-21 |
| NZ284109A (en) | 1998-04-27 |
| AU2261695A (en) | 1995-11-16 |
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| EEER | Examination request | ||
| FZDE | Dead |