US 6,587,587 B2 · System and methods for spacing, storing and recognizing electronic representations of handwriting, printing and drawings

Abstract

A system for spacing, storing and recognizing electronic representations of handwriting and printing comprises a central processing unit that couples with a display device, an input device, and a memory. The memory includes means for spacing ink stroke representations, means for recognizing outline elements, means for performing deferred recognition, means for highlighting drawing areas and means for storing and displaying ink stroke representations. These means operate together to provide a pen-based or graphics oriented computer system with improved performance and added functionality for manipulating the space between ink stroke representations. The preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises several novel methods that provide this functionality including: a method for managing space between ink stroke representations, a method for displaying drawing elements in a visually distinct manner, a method for recognizing bullets and dashes, a method for storing ink stroke representations, a method for displaying and printing ink stroke representations, and a method for performing deferred character or word recognition.

Claims6

Dependent claims

In a computer system, a method for processing and storing ink stroke representations, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a first ink stroke representation of substantially uniform width represented by a plurality of ordered points, wherein adjacent points of the ordered points represent at least one line segment of the first ink stroke representation;
creating a bit map having a bit for each ordered point forming the first ink stroke representation;
creating a second ink stroke representation by removing a selected point from said plurality of ordered points while retaining the ordered position of the removed point in the bitmap such that the removed selected point can be later restored based upon its status as having been removed;
and
one of storing, printing and displaying the second ink stroke representation and storing the bit map.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application

09/542,198Filed 5 Apr 2000 · division

Priority

20 May 1993

Published

US 2002/0064308 A130 May 2002

Granted

1 Jul 2003

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

G06F 3/04883
Using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures: for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
G06F 40/166
Text processing: editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
G06V 30/262
Techniques for post-processing, e.g. correcting the recognition result: using context analysis, e.g. lexical, syntactic or semantic context
G06V 30/40
Character recognition; Recognising digital ink; Document-oriented image-based pattern recognition: document-oriented image-based pattern recognition

Family

Application08/064,954Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 20 May 1993

Application08/253,546Parent of this division · filed 3 Jun 1994

Application08/744,517Parent of this division · filed 6 Nov 1996

US 2002/0064308 A1Pre-grant publication · published 30 May 2002

US 5,613,019 AParent of this division

Application08/253,546Parent of this continuation-in-part

US 5,517,578 AParent of this continuation-in-part

US 6,587,587 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

System and methods for spacing, storing and recognizing electronic representations of handwriting, printing and drawings

Life of this patent

System and methods for spacing, storing and recognizing electronic representations of handwriting, printing and drawings

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims6