Method and system for placing an insertion point in an electronic document

A computer-implemented method for displaying a cursor in an electronic document, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) determining whether a location of a cursor in the electronic document is positioned over existing text;
• (b) collecting context information regarding the location of the cursor by:
• if the location of the cursor is positioned over existing text, then collecting context information associated with the existing text;
• if the location of the cursor is not positioned over existing text, collecting context information associated with existing text that is proximate to the location of the cursor,
• wherein collecting context information comprises:
• examining an alignment of a the line over which the cursor is positioned, examining whether there is text on the line over which the cursor is positioned, examining whether tab stops exist on the line over which the cursor is positioned, determining a horizontal position of the cursor on the line, determining a vertical position of the cursor in the document, determining the formatting of text above the cursor location when there is no text on the line over which the cursor is positioned, and determining the formatting of text below the cursor location when there is no text on the line over which the cursor is positioned and when there is no text above the cursor location;
• (c) determining whether the collected context information matches a trigger corresponding to a rule in a database of rules, wherein the rule is associated with a cursor to be displayed;
• (d) if the collected context information matches a trigger, selecting the cursor associated with the rule that corresponds to the trigger, wherein the cursor indicates the type of formatting to be applied to text and objects inserted at the location of the cursor, and
• (e) displaying the selected cursor such that text and objects inserted at the location of the cursor are formatted based on the type of formatting indicated by the cursor.

For an electronic system for creating and editing an electronic file, a method for adjusting the location of an insertion point in an electronic file to match the location of a cursor, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) determining whether a location of a cursor in the electronic file is positioned over existing text;
• (b) collecting context information regarding a location of a cursor in the electronic file by:
• if the location of the cursor is positioned over existing text, then collecting context information associated with the extisting text;
• if the location of the cursor is not positioned over existing text collecting context information associated wit existing text that is proximate to the location of the cursor,
• wherein collecting context information comprises examining an alignment of a line over which the cursor is positioned, examining whether there is text on the line over which the cursor is positioned, examining whether tab stops exist on the line over which the cursor is positioned, determining a horizontal position of the cursor on the line, determining a the vertical position of the cursor in the document, determining the formatting of text above the cursor location when there is no text on the line over which the cursor is positioned, and determining the formatting of text below the cursor location when there is no text on the line over which the cursor is positioned and when there is no text above the cursor location;
• (c) determining whether the collected context information matches a trigger corresponding to a rule in a database of rules, wherein the rule is associated with formatting properties for adjusting the location of the insertion point in the electronic file;
• (d) if the collected context information matches a trigger, then adjusting the location of the insertion point to the location of the cursor based upon the formatting properties;
• and
• (e) displaying the cursor at the insertion point such that the cursor indicates the type of formatting to be applied to text objects inserted at the insertion point.

For an electronic system for creating and editing an electronic document, a method for placing an insertion point in the electronic document, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) determining whether a location of a cursor in the electronic document is positioned over an existing line;
• (b) collecting context information regarding the location of the cursor in the electronic document by:
• if the location of the cursor is positioned over the existing line, then collecting context information associated with the existing line;
• if the location of the cursor is not positioned over the existing line, collecting context information associated with an existing line that is proximate to the location of the cursor,
• wherein collecting context information comprises:
• examining an alignment of a the line over which the cursor is positioned, examining whether there is text on the line over which the cursor is positioned, examining whether tab stops exist on the line over which the cursor is positioned, determining a horizontal position of the cursor on the line, determining a vertical position of the cursor in the document, determining the formatting of text above the cursor location when there is no text on the line over which the cursor is positioned, and determining the formatting of text below the cursor location when there is no text on the line over which the cursor is positioned and when there is no text above the cursor location;
• (c) determining whether the collected context information matches a trigger corresponding to a rule in a database of rules, wherein the rule is associated with formatting steps for placing the insertion point in the electronic document;
• (d) if the collected context information matches a trigger, changing a presentation of the cursor to indicate the type of formatting to be applied to text and objects inserted at the location of the cursor;
• (e) determining whether an indication has been received to place the insertion point in the electronic document;
• and
• (f) if an indication has been received, then performing formatting based on the formatting steps to place the insertion point in the electronic document at the location of the cursor.

A computer-implemented method for editing an electronic document comprising:

• displaying a cursor at a location in the electronic document, wherein the cursor indicates the type of formatting to be applied to text and objects inserted at the cursor location;
• receiving a notification of an intent to create an insertion point at the cursor location;
• if the cursor location corresponds to no existing text, collecting context information associated with existing text that is proximate to the cursor location, wherein collecting context information comprises:
• examining an alignment of a line over which the cursor is positioned, examining whether there is text on the line over which the cursor is positioned, examining whether tab stops exist on the line over which the cursor is positioned, determining a horizontal position of the cursor on the line, determining a vertical position of the cursor in the document, determining the formatting of text above the cursor location when there is no text on the line over which the cursor is positioned, and determining the formatting of text below the cursor location when there is no text on the line over which the cursor is positioned and when there is no text above the cursor location;
• determining whether the collected context information matches a trigger, wherein the trigger is associated with formatting adjustments;
• and
• if the collected context information matches the trigger, automatically implementing the formatting adjustments to create the insertion point at the cursor location.