Supporting Digital Ink in Markup Language Documents

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016232146-A1
Application number	US-201514618303-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 10, 2015
Priority date	Feb 10, 2015
Publication date	Aug 11, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An application on a computing device includes a digital ink system that supports the input and output of digital ink in a markup language document. Digital ink refers to a digital representation of object (e.g., pen or finger) strokes on an input device that can be displayed on an output device. The markup language document can include, for example, an edit box in which the digital ink and optionally other data can be input. As the input object moves over the input device, data identifying the locations of the input object are captured and embedded in a markup language element of the document. The digital ink system also allows documents including digital ink to be displayed, the digital ink system displaying the digital ink along with any other data included in the document.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
receiving, by an application, digital ink user input for a markup language document; generating a digital ink markup language element that includes data describing the digital ink user input; embedding the digital ink markup language element in the markup language document, the markup language document also including in one or more additional elements additional data describing additional content to be displayed when displaying the markup language document; and transmitting the markup language document with the digital ink markup language element to a storage device.

2 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
accessing a service via a data network; and obtaining the markup language document from the service.

3 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a user request to copy a portion of the markup language document, the portion including at least some of the digital ink; and providing, in response to the user request, at least a portion of the digital ink markup language element to a copy and paste system.

4 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a user request to paste content into the markup language document, the content to be pasted including data describing additional digital ink; and embedding the additional digital ink in the markup language document.

5 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising preserving, in the markup language document, the z-order of the digital ink and the additional content.

6 . The method as recited in claim 1 , the application displaying an edit box in which digital ink is to be input, the digital ink user input including both multiple locations within the edit box and multiple locations beyond the edit box, the method further comprising:
including, in the digital ink markup language element, data identifying both the multiple locations within the edit box and the multiple locations beyond the edit box; and displaying, as a digital ink stroke for the digital ink user input, only the multiple locations within the edit box.

7 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
using a first one or more program threads to receive the digital ink user input and display a digital ink stroke for the digital ink user input; and using a second one or more program threads to display the additional content.

8 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, after receiving the digital ink user input, a first user request to undo the digital ink user input; and removing, in response to the first user request, the digital ink markup language element from the markup language document.

9 . The method as recited in claim 8 , further comprising:
receiving, after receiving the first user request to undo the digital ink user input, a second request to redo the digital ink user input; and adding, in response to the second user request, the digital ink markup language element back into the markup language document.

10 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, after receiving the digital ink user input, a user request to erase a portion of the digital ink; and deleting, from the digital ink markup language element, data identifying locations of the digital ink corresponding to the portion.

11 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a user inputs specifying characteristics of the digital ink, the characteristics including one or more characteristics selected from the group including: shape, color, and width; and adding, in the digital ink markup language element, an additional element that identifies the user specified characteristics of the digital ink.

12 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
recognizing one or more characters represented by the digital ink user input; and adding, in the digital ink markup language element, an additional element that identifies the recognized one or more characters, an identification of a user that provided the digital ink user input, and a timestamp of digital ink strokes of the digital ink user input.

13 . A method comprising:
accessing a storage device to obtain a markup language document, the markup language document including a digital ink markup language element as well as one or more additional elements including additional data; extracting, from the digital ink markup language element, data describing digital ink of the markup language document; extracting, from the one or more additional elements, the additional data describing additional content of the markup language document; and displaying, as a visual representation of the markup language document, the digital ink as well as the additional content.

14 . The method as recited in claim 13 , the accessing the storage device comprising accessing the storage device via a data network.

15 . A computing device comprising:
a processing system comprising one or more processors; one or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon multiple instructions that, responsive to execution by the processing system, cause the processing system to perform acts comprising:
receiving, by an application of the computing device, a user input indicating digital ink for a first markup language document;
generating a digital ink markup language element that includes data describing the digital ink;
embedding the digital ink markup language element in the first markup language document, the markup language document also including in one or more additional elements additional data describing additional content to be displayed when displaying the first markup language document; and
transmitting the first markup language document with the digital ink markup language element to a storage device.

16 . The computing device as recited in claim 15 , the acts further comprising:
accessing a service via the Internet; and obtaining the markup language document from the service.

17 . The computing device as recited in claim 15 , the acts further comprising:
accessing the storage device to obtain a second markup language document, the second markup language document including a digital ink markup language element as well as one or more additional elements including additional data; extracting, from the second digital ink markup language element of the second markup language document, data describing digital ink of the second markup language document; extracting, from the one or more additional elements of the second markup language document, the additional data describing additional content of the second markup language document; and displaying, as a visual representation of the second markup language document, the digital ink of the second markup language document as well as the additional content of the second markup language document.

18 . The computing device as recited in claim 15 , the one or more processors executing the application as multiple threads, and the acts further comprising:
using a first one or more program threads of the multiple threads to receive the digital ink user input and display a digital ink stroke for the digital ink; and using a second one or more program threads of the multiple threads to embed the digital ink in the first markup language document.

19 . The computing device as recited in claim 15 , the acts further comprising:
receiving a user request to copy a portion of the first markup language

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Su Fei
• Brown Eric C
• Tu Xiao

Classifications

• G06F3/04883

  for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text · CPC title

• G06F40/171 Primary

  by use of digital ink · CPC title

• G06F3/1454

  involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay · CPC title

• G06F3/03545

  Pens or stylus · CPC title

• G06F40/14 Primary

  Tree-structured documents (parsing G06F40/205; validation G06F40/226) · CPC title