Combining and displaying multiple document areas

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10241977-B2
Application number	US-201715412212-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 23, 2017
Priority date	Oct 21, 2014
Publication date	Mar 26, 2019
Grant date	Mar 26, 2019

Abstract

A method includes storing, in response to marking by a user of an area of a displayed document, information on the marked area; displaying an icon representing the marked area; conducting the storing operation and the displaying operation for a different area; and creating, in response to an operation by the user for arranging two or more icons to be in contact with each other, a joined icon by joining the icons together; and combining marked areas represented by the two or more respective icons, according to a state of contact. A corresponding computer program product and computer system are also disclosed herein.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
storing, in response to a user marking an area of a displayed document, information on the marked area;
displaying an icon representing the marked area;
conducting the storing operation and the displaying operation for a different area; and
forming, in response to an operation by the user for arranging two or more icons to be in contact with each other, a joined icon by joining the icons together;
combining marked areas represented by the two or more respective icons, according to a state of contact; and
changing the joined icon and changing a combining state of the marked areas in response to an operation by the user for separating part of the joined icon or rotating the joined icon.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying the icon includes displaying a created icon even when the marked area is moved out of the display area as a result of an operation such as scrolling a display screen.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying the icon includes determining a shape of the icon on the basis of content of the marked area.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising changing a shape of the icon before and after joining the icon.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the displaying includes displaying, near the icon, part of the information on an area represented by the icon, displaying the area represented by the icon in a reduced size, as an icon, or displaying any text input by the user.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the displayed document is one of a plurality of displayed documents, and wherein the marked area displays at least portions of the plurality of displayed documents.

7. A computer program product comprising:
one or more hardware computer readable recording media and program instructions stored on the one or more hardware computer readable recording media, the program instructions comprising instructions to:
storing, in response to a user marking an area of a displayed document, information on the marked area;
displaying an icon representing the marked area;
conducting the storing operation and the displaying operation for a different area; and
forming, in response to an operation by the user for arranging two or more icons to be in contact with each other, a joined icon by joining the icons together;
combining marked areas represented by the two or more respective icons, according to a state of contact; and
changing the joined icon and changing a combining state of the marked areas in response to an operation by the user for separating part of the joined icon or rotating the joined icon.

8. The computer program product according to claim 7 , wherein the instructions to display the icon include instructions to display a created icon even when the marked area is moved out of the display area as a result of an operation such as scrolling a display screen.

9. The computer program product according to claim 7 , wherein the instructions to display the icon include instructions to determine a shape of the icon on the basis of content of the marked area.

10. The computer program product according to claim 7 , wherein the program instructions comprise instructions to change a shape of the icon before and after joining the icon.

11. The computer program product according to claim 7 , wherein the instructions to display include instructions to display, near the icon, part of the information on an area represented by the icon, displaying the area represented by the icon in a reduced size, as an icon, or displaying any text input by the user.

12. The computer program product according to claim 7 , wherein the displayed document is one of a plurality of displayed documents, and wherein the marked area displays at least portions of the plurality of displayed documents.

13. A computer system comprising:
one or more computers;
one or more computer readable recording media and program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable recording media, the program instructions comprising instructions to:
storing, in response to a user marking an area of a displayed document, information on the marked area;
displaying an icon representing the marked area;
conducting the storing operation and the displaying operation for a different area; and
forming, in response to an operation by the user for arranging two or more icons to be in contact with each other, a joined icon by joining the icons together;
combining marked areas represented by the two or more respective icons, according to a state of contact; and
changing the joined icon and changing a combining state of the marked areas in response to an operation by the user for separating part of the joined icon or rotating the joined icon.

14. The computer system according to claim 13 , wherein the instructions to display the icon include instructions to display a created icon even when the marked area is moved out of the display area as a result of an operation such as scrolling a display screen.

15. The computer system according to claim 13 , wherein the instructions to display the icon include instructions to determine a shape of the icon on the basis of content of the marked area.

16. The computer system according to claim 13 , wherein the program instructions comprise instructions to change a shape of the icon before and after joining the icon.

17. The computer system according to claim 13 , wherein the instructions to display include instructions to display, near the icon, part of the information on an area represented by the icon, displaying the area represented by the icon in a reduced size, as an icon, or displaying any text input by the user.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• MOCHIZUKI Tomoka
• Shioya Tomohiro
• Unno Asuka
• WEN Lianzi

Classifications

• G06F3/04842 Primary

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F40/117

  Tagging; Marking up (details of markup languages G06F40/143); Designating a block; Setting of attributes (style sheets, e.g. eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation [XSLT], G06F40/154) · CPC title

• G06F2203/04803

  Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas · CPC title

• G06F3/04845

  for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour · CPC title

• G06F40/106 Primary

  Display of layout of documents; Previewing · CPC title