System for automatic adjustment and editing of handwritten text image

A data input and display system comprising:

• x-y tablet means having an input stylus for inputting a handwritten image comprising a series of words and converting into coordinate signals as said words are input;
• display means to portray said handwritten image on a display screen;
• and
• means for formatting said handwritten image as it is input prior to display to modify said handwritten image in accordance with predetermined rules thereby uniformly separating and aligning word portions of said handwritten image with our word portions, and comprising means for completing a line of said handwritten image with succeeding words;
• and
• means for determining when a word begins a new paragraph and for either indenting or outdenting said word on a new line or skipping a line and beginning a new sentence with that word, said means for determining comprising,
• detector means for determining, based on coordinate signals, extremity positions of new words as they are input to said X-Y tablet, extremity store means to store extremity values representing maximum left, right and bottom positions of input words;
• means to store extremity values of a prior input word;
• and
• comparison means for determining whether an input word follows a preceding word on the same line, starts a new line without indenting, skips a line or starts a new line horizontally displaced with respect to prior lines.