Patent · US Expired

Method for automatic field width expansion in a text processing system during interactive entry of displayed record selection criterium

US4507753A · kind A · utility

8Cited by
8References
8Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 21, 1984
Grant dateMar 26, 1985
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 21, 2004

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06T1/0014
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An improved method is disclosed for entering record selection criteria into an interactive text processing system which also processes spatially related data that is stored in vector formatted record. A qualifying frame is displayed consisting of a header row and, for example, three qualifying rows. The header row includes the field names and the qualifying rows are blank, except for the vertical lines depicting field boundaries. Selection criteria are entered into the system by positioning the cursor to the appropriate row/column intersection and entering the selection data for that field. Criterium entered in different fields in one row represent a "logical AND" selection, while criterium in different rows represent a "logical OR" situation. The improvement involves the automatic expansion of the left and right field boundaries of the selected field in both the header row and qualifying rows when more space is required to enter lengthy qualifiers, a number of qualifiers which are ORed together, or different spellings of the same qualifier. The expansion results automatically in accordance with the relationship of the end of data position to the right field boundary marker positio…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.