Combining and displaying multiple document areas

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11663393-B2
Application number	US-201916275392-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2019
Priority date	Oct 21, 2014
Publication date	May 30, 2023
Grant date	May 30, 2023

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;
forming, in response to an operation by the user for arranging two or more icons to be in a state of contact with each other, a joined icon by joining the icons together; and
displaying marked areas, represented by the two or more respective icons, in an orientation corresponding to an orientation of the two or more icons in the state of contact, wherein the joined icon is displayed overlapping the displayed marked areas.

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. The method of claim 1 , wherein the two or more respective icons is two icons, and wherein the orientation of the two icons is selected from a group consisting of horizontal and vertical.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the orientation of the two icons in the state of contact is horizontal and the marked areas represented by the two icons are displayed in a corresponding horizontal orientation with a joining line therebetween.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
after a period of time, displaying the joined icon at a reduced size.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
moving the joined icon to a position that does not overlap with the marked areas.

11. A computer program product comprising:
one or more non-transitory computer-readable recording media and program instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory computer readable recording media, the program instructions executable by a processor to perform 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;
forming, in response to an operation by the user for arranging two or more icons to be in a state of contact with each other, a joined icon by joining the icons together; and
displaying marked areas, represented by the two or more respective icons, in an orientation corresponding to an orientation of the two or more icons in the state of contact, wherein the joined icon is displayed overlapping the displayed marked areas.

12. The computer program product according to claim 11 , 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.

13. The computer program product according to claim 11 , wherein displaying the icon includes determining a shape of the icon on the basis of content of the marked area.

14. The computer program product according to claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises changing a shape of the icon before and after joining the icon.

15. The computer program product according to claim 11 , 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.

16. The computer program product according to claim 11 , 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.

17. 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 system configured to perform 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;
forming, in response to an operation by the user for arranging two or more icons to be in a state of contact with each other, a joined icon by joining the icons together; and
displaying marked areas, represented by the two or more respective icons, in an orientation corresponding to an orientation of the two or more icons in the state of contact, wherein the joined icon is displayed overlapping the displayed marked areas.

18. The computer system according to claim 17 , 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.

19. The computer system according to claim 17 , 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.

20. The computer system according to claim 17 , 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.

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

• G06F2203/04803

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

• G06F40/166

  Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting · CPC title

• G06F40/106 Primary

  Display of layout of documents; Previewing · CPC title

• G06F3/04817

  using icons (graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34) · CPC title