Automatically sized computer-generated workspaces

[0001] The present invention relates to a method and system for providing automatically sizing computer-generated workspaces.

[0002] Computer software applications allow users to create a variety of documents in work, education, and leisure. For example, word processing applications allow users to create letters, articles, books, memoranda, and the like. Spreadsheet programs allow users to store, manipulate, print, and display a variety of alpha-numeric data. Such applications have a number of well-known strengths, including rich editing, formatting and calculation. In recent years, use of such computer software applications has been expanded to include traditional desktop computers, laptop computers, and a variety of handheld electronic devices, including handheld personal computers, and personal digital assistants. Moreover, in recent years, a variety of data input methods have been created to include keyboard entry, voice recognition entry, and handwriting recognition entry. In a typical handwriting recognition entry system, a user is allowed to handwrite data directly onto the display screen of her computing device as a method of data entry.

[0003] Typical software application programs, as described above, present on the display screen of the user's computing device a workspace in which the user may input or manipulate data. Typically for spreadsheet applications, the workspace available to the user may appear as if it includes all space on the display screen of the user's computing device except for areas in which some object is located such as a graphical user interface object. However, in most word processing systems, the actual workspace available to the user is some reduced area displayed on the user's display screen as dictated by a preformatted page size. For example, if the user has a very large computer display screen, such as a 21-inch display screen, the user may think of all of the physically available area on the display screen as an area in which the user may input data. However, if the software application used by the user, for example a word processing application, has a preformatted page size of 8½ inches by 11 inches, once the user's text reaches a margin set by the software application for operation within the confines of that page size, the user's data will wrap to the next line. Therefore, the user's data input experience is confined to pre-determined space limitations based on preformatted page sizes.

[0004] In recent years, more and more software applications are being developed that allow users a free form data input experience. For example, with respect to the handwriting recognition systems, the user may touch a stylus to any location in the available workspace to enter data. Unfortunately, even with such free form methods of data input, the users confinement to a preformatted page size or workspace reduces the free form nature of the user experience. When users handwrite notes or draw images on a sheet of paper using a pen or pencil, users naturally use the entire sheet of paper and often write text or draw images without any particular document structure.

[0005] There is a need in the art for a method and system of automatically sizing computer-generated workspaces to allow a user to input data anywhere in the available workspace according to the size and shape of the user's display device. There is further a need for a method and system of automatically sizing workspaces to allow the workspace to grow in any direction to allow the user to input data to the right, left, above, or below existing data without regard to preformatted margins or page sizes.

[0006] It is respect to these noted considerations that the present invention has been made.

[0007] The present invention provides a method and system for automatically sizing computer-generated workspaces to allow users to enter data anywhere in an available workspace. When a user opens a computer software application having a workspace according to an embodiment of the present invention, a calculation is performed to determine the total available workspace based on the size of the display device in use by the user. Once the total available space is calculated, the space required to display user interface objects, such as toolbars and task panes, is subtracted from the total available workspace, and the remaining available workspace is designated as an area in which data may be input. The workspace is displayed without the use of scroll bars to create a user experience that the displayed workspace is the total available workspace.

[0008] Once the workspace is designated, data may be entered anywhere in the total available workspace without regard to any preformatted page sizes or margins. If the user desires to move above, below, to the right or to the left of the currently displayed workspace, the workspace allows the user to move in any desired direction to place data in the available workspace. As additional content, such as graphical user interfaces is displayed, or when the user's display device changes, the displayed workspace is recalculated. For example, if the user launches a task pane that is displayed by the user's display device, the displayed workspace is recalculated to subtract the space required by the task pane. If text, images, or other data had been displayed in the area now used by the launched task pane, a scroll bar is displayed to indicate that content is available in the direction now taken up by the task pane.

[0009] The total available workspace and the associated display of data and user interfaces contained therein is also recalculated and redisplayed if the user copies all the data to a different device having a larger or smaller total available workspace. For example, if the user has the data on a small handheld device where a portion of the data is not visible on the displayed workspace requiring the inclusion of scroll bars to indicate the data is available off the displayed workspace, and that data is moved to a device having a large display screen such as a 21-inch computer monitor, the total available workspace of the computer monitor will be calculated according to the present invention and the data copied from the small hand-held device will be copied to the larger display device in the same exact proportions it was displayed in the small hand-held device. Accordingly, the scroll bars required by the hand held device will be eliminated, and a much greater displayed workspace will be displayed beyond what appeared to be available on the small hand-held device. Accordingly, the user gets the experience that all unused space on any size display screen is available for data input.

[0010] These and other features, advantages, and aspects of the present invention may be more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the disclosed embodiments and by references to the appended drawings and claims.

[0018] The following description of an embodiment of the present invention is made with reference to the above-described drawings wherein like numerals refer to like parts or components throughout the several figures. The present invention is directed to a method and system for automatically sizing computer-generated workspaces to allow users to use as much workspace as they desire without regard to margins or other preformatted space limitations.

Operating Environment

[0019] FIG. 1 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment in which the invention may be implemented. While the invention will be described in the general context of an application program that runs on an operating system in conjunction with a personal computer, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention also may be implemented in combination with other program modules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, cell phones, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

[0020] With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system for implementing the invention includes a conventional personal computer 20, including a processing unit 21, a system memory 22, and a system bus 23 that couples the system memory to the processing unit 21. The system memory 22 includes read-only memory (ROM) 24 and random access memory (RAM) 25. A basic input/output system 26 (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the personal computer 20, such as during start-up, is stored in ROM 24. The personal computer 20 further includes a hard disk drive 27, a magnetic disk drive 28, e.g., to read from or write to a removable disk 29, and an optical disk drive 30, e.g., for reading a CD-ROM disk 31 or to read from or write to other optical media. The hard disk drive 27, magnetic disk drive 28, and optical disk drive 30 are connected to the system bus 23 by a hard disk drive interface 32, a magnetic disk drive interface 33, and an optical drive interface 34, respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readable media provide non-volatile storage for the personal computer 20. Although the description of computer-readable media above refers to a hard disk, a removable magnetic disk and a CD-ROM disk, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of media which are readable by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks, Bernoulli cartridges, and the like, may also be used in the exemplary operating environment.

[0021] A number of program modules may be stored in the drives and RAM 25, including an operating system 35, one or more application programs 100, a word processor program module 37 (or other type of program module), program data, such as the manifest 38, and other program modules (not shown).

[0022] A user may enter commands and information into the personal computer 20 through a keyboard 40 and pointing device, such as a mouse 42. Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 21 through a serial port interface 46 that is coupled to the system bus, but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a game port or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 47 or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus 23 via an interface, such as a video adapter 48. In addition to the monitor, personal computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers or printers.

[0023] The personal computer 20 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 49. The remote computer 49 may be a server, a router, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described relative to the personal computer 20, although only a memory storage device 50 has been illustrated in FIG. 1. The logical connections depicted in FIG. 1 include a local area network (LAN) 51 and a wide area network (WAN) 52. Such networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet.

[0024] When used in a LAN networking environment, the personal computer 20 is connected to the LAN 51 through a network interface 53. When used in a WAN networking environment, the personal computer 20 typically includes a modem 54 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN 52, such as the Internet. The modem 54, which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus 23 via the serial port interface 46. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the personal computer 20, 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 means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used.

Operation

[0025] FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating steps performed by a method and system of the present invention for displaying the total available workspace available to a user of a computer-generated workspace. For purposes of description, FIG. 2 is described with reference to FIGS. 3 through 7. Referring now to FIG. 2, the method 200 begins at start step 205 and proceeds to step 210 where the user of a computer software application, such as a word processing application opens the application to input data. As described briefly above, the data input method in use by the user may include keyboard entry, voice recognition entry, or handwriting recognition entry. At step 215, once the user opens the application, a calculation of the total available workspace is performed. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the calculation may be performed by a modular software routine or program such as an application programming interface (API) or a dynamically-linked library (DLL) available to the software application. That is, when the software application, such as a word processing application, is launched, the application may call on the separate software module for calculating the total available workspace available to the user. Alternatively, the software for calculating the total available workspace may be integrated with the software application in use by the user.

[0026] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the total available workspace calculated at step 215 is done with reference to the display device in use by the user. The screen resolution of the display device used by the user, for example, a 17-inch screen display, is calculated based on the operating system in use by the user and based on the display characteristics of the user's display. That is, the resolution available by the user's particular device may be calculated in terms of the pixels or dots per inch that are available on the user's device for displaying data and images.

[0027] Once the calculation is performed to determine the total available workspace depending on the user's display device, the method proceeds to step 220, and a determination is made as to the total space required for user interface objects that must be displayed according to the software application opened by the user at step 210. Once the total space required by user interface objects is calculated, that space is subtracted from the total available workspace, and at step 225, the remainder space is designated as displayed available workspace for use by the user. At step 230, the displayed available workspace along with any required user interface objects is displayed without scroll bars indicating additional space to the right, left, above, or below the displayed workspace.

[0028] Referring to FIG. 3, a software application display screen 300 is provided having a tool bar 310 and a workspace 320. According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the display screen 300 is displayed, a calculation of the total workspace less the area required for the tool bar 310 yields the total displayed available workspace 320 for input of data by the user. As shown in FIG. 3, no scroll bars are presented to the user, thus providing the user with an experience that the displayed workspace is the total workspace available to the user and that the user may in fact use all the displayed workspace.

[0029] Referring back to FIG. 2, at step 235, the user is allowed to input content anywhere in the workspace 320 using the user's available data entry method such as keyboard entry, or handwriting recognition entry. As shown in FIG. 3, the user enters the work “hello” in the upper left hand corner of the workspace 320, followed by the word “Jane” in the lower left hand corner of the workspace 320, followed by the word “Joe” in the lower right hand corner of the workspace 320. Referring back to FIG. 2, at step 240, the user is allowed to grow the page based on content. For example, referring back to FIG. 3, if the user decides to include the words “will meet us in the city” after the word “Joe,” the user may simply position an editing insertion point, such as a curser or stylus, after the word “Joe” and begin entering the new text or data to create a sentence of “Joe will meet us in the city.” Thus, a user may use the available workspace in a similar fashion as the user would use an infinitely sized sheet of paper on which the user is making notes. The user is not confined by any particular workspace size based on predetermined page sizes or margins.

[0030] Likewise, the user may add data above, below or left of the displayed workspace. Once the user's data entry has moved beyond the displayed workspace, a scroll bar such as the scroll bar 470, illustrated in FIG. 4, is displayed on the lower side of the display pointing in the direction of content that is no longer visible in the displayed workspace. The scroll bar indicates only that content is available outside the displayed workspace as opposed to indicating that the currently displayed page includes preformatted margins outside the displayed workspace. As described in detail below, if the user copies the text from the current display device to a computing device having a larger display device, the displayed workspace is much larger than the displayed workspace of a smaller device. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the words “hello,” “Jane,” and the newly input text of “Joe” may be displayed in the visible displayed workspace of the larger display device without the use of scroll bars. Accordingly, the total available workspace and visible displayed workspace is never dependent upon preformatted margins or page sizes, but may be any size desired by the user and may be displayed to the user only limited by the size of the display screen on which it is displayed.

[0031] Referring back to FIG. 2, at step 245 a recalculation of the displayed workspace is performed anytime the content to be displayed changes requiring a recalculation of the workspace. As shown in FIG. 4, if the user launches a task pane 460, the task pane requires display space, thus removing display space from the workspace. As shown in FIG. 4, once the task pane 460 is displayed, the word “Joe” is cut off from visible display, and the scroll bar 470 is displayed to indicate that content is available to the right of the visible displayed workspace. Additionally, if the user moves a data object to a different location, the available workspace and the requirement for scroll bars may change. For example, referring to FIG. 4, if the user moves over to the word “Joe” hidden beneath the task pane 460 and moves that word to the left into the displayed workspace 420, the scroll bar 470 will be eliminated to once again present to the user that the available workspace is the displayed workspace visually available on the display.

[0032] At step 250, a recalculation of the available workspace is performed anytime the data is moved to a different computing device having a different display device for displaying the data. As described above, if the data is displayed on a device having one size display device, such as a 15-inch screen display, where part of the data input by the user is off the displayed workspace to one side or another, and a scroll bar such as the scroll bar 470 is displayed, the displayed workspace is recalculated if that data is moved to and is displayed by a computing device having a larger display device, for example, a 21-inch screen display, as illustrated in FIG. 5. As illustrated in FIG. 5, once the data illustrated in FIG. 4 is moved to a computing device having a larger display device, the word “Joe” is now visible in the recalculated displayed workspace 520 available on the larger screen display 500. Likewise, referring to FIG. 6, if the data displayed in FIG. 5 is moved to a computing device such as laptop computer having a smaller vertical screen display, the text in a lower part of the document including the word “Jane” and the word “Joe” is no longer displayed in the displayed workspace 620. A vertical scroll bar 670 is introduced to the right side of the workspace 620 to indicate that content is available beneath the bottom portion of the displayed workspace.

[0033] Referring to FIG. 7, if the data displayed on the display screen 500 is moved to a computing device having yet another size display screen, such as the hand-held computing device display screen 700, illustrated in FIG. 7, the text on the right hand side of the display screen including the word “Joe” is eliminated from the displayed workspace, and a scroll bar 770 is introduced to indicate that content is available to the right side of the displayed workspace. As described above with reference to FIGS. 3-7, scroll bars are added or removed to indicate content location and content changes without regard to preformatted page sizes or margins, but only to indicate that content is available above, below, to the right, or to the left of the displayed workspace.

[0034] As described, a method and system of the present invention allow for automatically resizing workspaces to allow a user to use as large a workspace as is needed by the user without regard to predetermined or preformatted page sizes or margins. Accordingly, the displayed workspace and the inclusion or elimination of scroll bars is interactive with the device on which it is displayed as opposed to predetermined page sizes or margins. According to embodiments of the present invention, the user is never provided the appearance of unavailable workspace beyond a set of margins or page limits by showing the user scroll bars to indicate space that may be used beyond the current space. Scroll bars are only presented to the user to indicate that content is included beyond the presently displayed workspace. According to an embodiment of the present invention, in an effort to provide as much data as possible in the visible displayed workspace, data may be zoomed down slightly to fit within the displayed workspace. For example, if a portion of the data is slightly larger than the displayed workspace, rather than truncating a portion of the data and including a scroll bar to indicate the existence of that data beyond the displayed workspace, the data may be zoomed down slightly to fit all the data in the displayed workspace.

[0035] If a user moves all the data displayed in the displayed workspace to an area above, below, to the right, or to the left of the current displayed workspace, the displayed workspace moves with the data, and after the data is moved, the new displayed workspace visually available to the user is the workspace in which the data has been moved. That is, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the data is not moved outside the visible displayed workspace followed by the inclusion of a scroll bar to indicate the existence to the data outside the displayed workspace, but the displayed workspace simply becomes a different area of the page where the data has now been moved.

[0036] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art of the various modifications or variations may be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein.