US5889523A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and apparatus for dynamically grouping a plurality of graphic objects
Assignee: Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp
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Filing: 1997-11-25
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Granted: 1999-03-30
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Expires: 2017-11-25
Abstract
Abstract When dynamically grouping a plurality of graphic objects, such as displayed on a graphic input display apparatus, a cluster tree is formed for the plurality of graphic objects. The cluster tree is based on a plurality of different types of distance measures. These include a time distance and a spatial distance. These distances are combined to form a distance metric indicting a distance between a pair of the graphic objects. Each level of the cluster tree defines a new cluster of the graphic objects. At least one of the graphic objects is selected. The different cluster levels of the cluster tree containing the selected graphic object are displayable. The displayed cluster of the graphic objects can be modified to increase or decrease the cluster level of the cluster containing the selected graphic object.
Inventors
- 👤 Lynn D. Wilcox
- 👤 Patrick Chiu
- 👤 Gene Golovchinsky
- 👤 William N. Schilit
- 👤 Joseph W. Sullivan
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-28 14:15
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F3/00; G06F3/01; G06F3/048; G06F3/0487; G06F3/0488; G06F3/04883; G06F3/0484; G06F3/04842; G06F3/04845; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S715/00; Y10S715/978
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 43
Claim 1
Independent Claim
72 words
A method for dynamically grouping a plurality of graphic objects displayed on a graphic input display device, comprising: determining at least one distance, each distance being between a pair of graphic objects and based on a plurality of different types of distance measures; and forming a cluster tree for the graphic objects based upon each determined distance, each cluster level of the cluster tree defining one new cluster of the graphic objects.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
72 words
A method for dynamically grouping a plurality of graphic objects displayed on a graphic input display device, comprising: determining at least one distance, each distance being between a pair of graphic objects and based on a plurality of different types of distance measures; and forming a cluster tree for the graphic objects based upon each determined distance, each cluster level of the cluster tree defining one new cluster of the graphic objects.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of claim 1, further comprising: selecting at least one graphic object; displaying a graphic object group including the selected at least one graphic object, based on an associated cluster level on the graphic input display device.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 2, further comprising: selecting another cluster level of the cluster tree whose corresponding cluster contains the selected at least one graphic object; and displaying on the graphic input display device another graphic object group based on the selected cluster level.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
62 words
The method of claim 3, wherein selecting another cluster level includes at least one of: using an up/down interface to select the cluster level; using a gesture recognition device to select the cluster level; using a voice response device to select the cluster level; and determining the cluster level based on a duration of selection of the at least one graphic object.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
12 words
The method of claim 2, wherein the associated cluster level is predetermined.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 5, wherein the predetermined cluster level corresponds to one of a graphic object, a word, a line, a paragraph or a page.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
56 words
The method of claim 2, wherein selecting at least one graphic object includes at least one of: using an up/down interface to select the at least one graphic object; using a gesture recognition device to select the at least one graphic object; and using a voice response device to select the at least one graphic object.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
28 words
The method of claim 1, wherein forming the cluster tree comprises: selecting one of the graphic objects; and forming the cluster tree based on the selected graphic object.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of claim 1, wherein each distance is a function of a time distance and a spatial distance.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 9, further comprising scaling the spatial distance based on relative sizes of the plurality of graphic objects.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
54 words
The method of claim 9, wherein, for each pair of graphic objects X and Y the distance is: D=D.sub.T (X,Y)+αD.sub.S (X,Y) where: D is the pairwise distance; D T is the pairwise time distance; D S is the pairwise spatial distance; and α is a constant relating the time distance to the spatial distance.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
67 words
The method of claim 11, wherein: D.sub.S =d.sub.x +βd.sub.y, where d x is a distance between the graphic object X and the graphic object Y along the horizontal coordinate direction; d y is a distance between the graphic object X and the graphic object Y in the vertical coordinate direction; and β is a constant specifying a relative importance of the d x and d y distances.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
85 words
The method of claim 11, wherein: ##EQU9## where: X L is the length of the graphic object X in a horizontal coordinate direction; Y L is the length of the graphic object Y in the horizontal coordinate direction; X H is the height of the graphic object X in the vertical coordinate direction; Y H is the height of the graphic object Y in the vertical coordinate direction; and β is a constant defining a relative importance of the d x and d y distances.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
60 words
The method of claim 11, wherein: D.sub.T =M, Y.sub.s -X.sub.e >M,=Y.sub.s -X.sub.e, otherwise, where: M is a constant defining a limiting time between the creation of graphic object X and graphic object Y; X e is the end time for the creation of graphic object X; and Y s is the start time for the creation of graphic object Y.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
99 words
A method for dynamically grouping a plurality of graphic objects displayed on a graphic input display device, comprising: initially grouping each of the plurality of graphic objects as its own cluster; determining at least one pairwise distance, each pairwise distance being between a pair of the clusters and based on a combination of a time distance between creation of the pair of clusters and a spatial distance between the pair of clusters; and merging the pair of clusters closest to each other based on the at least one pairwise distance to form a single cluster and a cluster level.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
99 words
A method for dynamically grouping a plurality of graphic objects displayed on a graphic input display device, comprising: initially grouping each of the plurality of graphic objects as its own cluster; determining at least one pairwise distance, each pairwise distance being between a pair of the clusters and based on a combination of a time distance between creation of the pair of clusters and a spatial distance between the pair of clusters; and merging the pair of clusters closest to each other based on the at least one pairwise distance to form a single cluster and a cluster level.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 15, further comprising repeating, for each successive cluster level, the determining and the merging steps until at most one cluster exists after the merging step.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 15, further comprising scaling the spatial distance based upon relative sizes of the plurality of graphic objects.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
54 words
The method of claim 15, wherein, for each pair of graphic objects X and Y the distance is: D=D.sub.T (X,Y)+αD.sub.S (X,Y) where: D is the pairwise distance; D T is the pairwise time distance; D S is the pairwise spatial distance; and α is a constant relating the time distance to the spatial distance.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of claim 18, further comprising: selecting at least one graphic object; displaying a graphic object group including the selected at least one graphic object, based on an associated cluster level on the graphic input display device.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 19, further comprising: selecting another cluster level of the cluster tree whose corresponding cluster contains the selected at least one graphic object; and displaying on the graphic input display device another graphic object group based on the selected cluster level.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
12 words
The method of claim 19, wherein the associated cluster level is predetermined.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 21, wherein the predetermined cluster level corresponds to one of a graphic object, a word, a line, a paragraph or a page.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of claim 15, further comprising: selecting at least one graphic object; displaying a graphic object group including the selected at least one graphic object, based on an associated cluster level on the graphic input display device.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 23, further comprising: selecting another cluster level of the cluster tree whose corresponding cluster contains the selected at least one graphic object; and displaying on the graphic input display device another graphic object group based on the selected cluster level.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
62 words
The method of claim 24, wherein selecting another cluster level includes at least one of: using an up/down interface to select the cluster level; using a gesture recognition device to select the cluster level; using a voice response device to select the cluster level; and determining the cluster level based on a duration of selection of the at least one graphic object.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
74 words
The method of claim 23, wherein selecting the at least one graphic object includes at least one of: using an up/down interface to select the at least one graphic object; using a gesture recognition device to select the at least one graphic object; using a voice response device to select the at least one graphic object; and determining the cluster level based on a duration of selection of the at least one graphic object.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
78 words
The method of claim 15, further comprising: selecting one of the graphic objects from the plurality of graphic objects, and wherein the determining step determines a pairwise distance between a cluster including the selected graphic object and each other graphic object to determine the graphic object closest to the cluster including the selected graphic object, and wherein the merging step merges the cluster containing the selected graphic object and the closest graphic object to define a single cluster.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 27 further comprising repeating, for each successive cluster level, the determining and the merging steps until at most one cluster exists after the merging step.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
54 words
The method of claim 27, wherein, for each pair of graphic objects X and Y the distance is: D=D.sub.T (X,Y)+αD.sub.S (X,Y) where: D is the pairwise distance; D T is the pairwise time distance; D S is the pairwise spatial distance; and α is a constant relating the time distance to the spatial distance.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 29, further comprising scaling the spatial distance based upon relative sizes of the plurality of graphic objects.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of claim 29, further comprising: selecting at least one graphic object; and displaying a graphic object group including the selected at least one graphic object, based on an associated cluster level on the graphic input display device.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 31, further comprising: selecting another cluster level of the cluster tree whose corresponding cluster contains the selected at least one graphic object; and displaying on the graphic input display device another graphic object group based on the selected cluster level.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
62 words
The method of claim 32, wherein selecting another cluster level includes at least one of: using an up/down interface to select the cluster level; using a gesture recognition device to select the cluster level; using a voice response device to select the cluster level; and determining the cluster level based on a duration of selection of the at least one graphic object.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
74 words
The method of claim 31, wherein selecting the at least one graphic object includes at least one of: using an up/down interface to select the at least one graphic object; using a gesture recognition device to select the at least one graphic object; using a voice response device to select the at least one graphic object; and determining the cluster level based on a duration of selection of the at least one graphic object.
Claim 37
Independent Claim
83 words
A system for dynamically grouping a plurality of graphic objects, comprising: a graphic input display device for at least displaying the plurality of graphic objects; a control system communicating with the graphic input display device, the control system forming a cluster tree of the plurality of graphic objects by combining different types of distance measures between at least one pair of graphic objects to form each level of the cluster tree; and a memory for storing the graphic objects and the cluster tree.
Claim 38
Independent Claim
83 words
A system for dynamically grouping a plurality of graphic objects, comprising: a graphic input display device for at least displaying the plurality of graphic objects; a control system communicating with the graphic input display device, the control system forming a cluster tree of the plurality of graphic objects by combining different types of distance measures between at least one pair of graphic objects to form each level of the cluster tree; and a memory for storing the graphic objects and the cluster tree.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
92 words
The system of claim 35, wherein the control system comprises: a distance metric generator that determines a distance metric for at least one pair of graphic objects based on the different types of distance measures; a cluster level generator that generates the cluster levels of the cluster tree based on at least one distance metric generated by the distance metric generator; a cluster generator that generates the cluster tree; and a display generator that generates a display of the graphic objects on the graphic input display device based on the cluster tree.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
28 words
The system of claim 36, further comprising a selector usable to select a graphic object and usable to select a cluster level associated with the selected graphic object.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
51 words
The system of claim 37, wherein the selector includes at least one of: an up/down interface; a gesture recognition device; a voice response device; and a selecting device, wherein the cluster level is determined based on a duration of selection of the at least one graphic object by the selection device.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
36 words
The system of claim 36, wherein the distance metric generator determines the distance metric between each pair of the graphic objects, the pairwise distance metric being a combination of a time distance and a spatial distance.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
56 words
The system of claim 39, wherein, for each pair of graphic objects X and Y, the distance metric is: D=D.sub.T (X,Y)+αD.sub.S (X,Y) where: D is the pairwise distance metric; D T is the pairwise time distance; D S is the pairwise spatial distance; and α is a constant relating the time distance to the spatial distance.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2002-03-29 | 2002-09-28 | 2003-03-30 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2006-03-29 | 2006-09-28 | 2007-03-30 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2010-03-29 | 2010-09-28 | 2011-03-30 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |