System and method of processing documents with document proxies

Claim 1

A framework for creating, displaying and managing a proxy associated with a document on a computer system having a memory, a display, a pointing device, an event handler for detecting hit events, mouse down events, and mouse up events and for generating coordinate data associated with each event, and a view manager including a means for registering a target view, indicating the coordinates where on the display the target view is displayed, the framework comprising: (a) class information stored in the memory defining a proxy object, which includes first program code means for associating the proxy object with a first document; graphic data indicative of the proxy object; (b) class information stored in the memory defining a draggable proxy object, which includes second program code means for associating the draggable proxy object with the proxy object; a list of candidate types supported by the first document; third program code means, responsive to a mouse up event and cooperating with the view manager, for determining whether the coordinate data of the mouse up event is over a registered target view and for issuing a drop message having the list of candidate types; and graphic data indicative of the draggable proxy object; (c) class information stored in the memory defining a second document as a document container object from which a second document is created, the second document including a data structure for containing content data of the second document, fourth program code means for displaying a view of the content data on the display, fifth program code means for displaying a view of the proxy object, using the graphic data of the proxy object, sixth program code means, responsive to a hit event on the proxy view and a mouse down event, for creating a draggable proxy object from the class information defining a draggable proxy object and for displaying a view of the draggable proxy, using the graphic data of the draggable proxy object; and (d) class information stored in the memory defining a target object, which includes seventh program code means for displaying a view of the target object and for registering the target view with the view manager; eighth program code means, responsive to the drop message from the third program code means, for choosing a preferred type from the list; ninth program code means, responsive to the drop message from the third program code means, for performing a predetermined operation on the document associated with the proxy object utilizing the chosen type.

Claim 5

An apparatus for document processing in a computer system having a processor, storage means attached to the processor, a display and a pointing device for manipulating views displayed on the display means, the apparatus comprising: (a) a plurality of document objects resident in the storage means, each of the plurality of document objects containing content data and means for displaying on the display a view of content data; (b) means controlled by the pointing means for causing means for displaying of one of the plurality of document objects to display a first view of the content data of the one document; (c) means for creating a proxy object in the storage means, the proxy object having means for displaying a proxy view and means for associating the proxy object with any one of the plurality of document objects and having data representing a list of methods for accessing the content data of the document associated with the proxy object; (d) means for causing the means for displaying a proxy view to display the proxy view embedded within the first view; (e) a drop acceptor object having a member function responsive to manipulation of the proxy view by the pointing device, for selecting a preferred access method from the proxy object list; and (f) processing means for accessing the document associated with the proxy object using the preferred access method, and processing content data contained therein.

Claim 6

An apparatus for document processing in a computer system having a processor, storage means attached to the processor, a display and a pointing device for manipulating views displayed on the display means, the apparatus comprising: (a) a plurality of document objects resident in the storage means, each of the plurality of document objects containing content data and means for displaying on the display a view of content data; (b) means controlled by the pointing means for causing means for displaying of one of the plurality of document objects to display a first view of the content data of the one document; (c) means for creating a proxy object in the storage means, the proxy object having means for displaying a proxy view and means for associating the proxy object with any one of the plurality of document objects and having data representing a list of methods for accessing the content data of the document associated with the proxy object; (d) means for causing the means for displaying a proxy view to display the proxy view embedded within the first view; (e) a drop acceptor object having a member function responsive to manipulation of the proxy view by the pointing device, for selecting a preferred access method from the proxy object list; and (f) processing means for accessing the document associated with the proxy object using the preferred access method, and processing content data contained therein.

Claim 16

A method for document processing in a computer system having a processor, a storage attached to the processor, a display and an input device, the method comprising the steps of: (a) creating a first document object and a second document object in the storage, each of the first and second document objects containing content data, a list of data types characterizing the content data, display program code for displaying on the display a view of the content data and acceptance program code for determining an acceptable data type which can be displayed; (b) opening the first document object by executing the display program code in the first document object to display a content data view under control of the input device; (c) creating in the storage a proxy object having program code for displaying a proxy image on the display, a reference to the second document object content data and a list of data types characterizing the second document content data; (d) executing, under control of the input device, acceptance program code in the first document object to determine whether a data type in the proxy object list of data types is acceptable; and (e) executing the proxy image display code to display a proxy image embedded within the first document object content data view when a data type in the proxy object list of data types is acceptable.

Claim 17

A method for document processing in a computer system having a processor, a storage attached to the processor, a display and an input device, the method comprising the steps of: (a) creating a first document object and a second document object in the storage, each of the first and second document objects containing content data, a list of data types characterizing the content data, display program code for displaying on the display a view of the content data and acceptance program code for determining an acceptable data type which can be displayed; (b) opening the first document object by executing the display program code in the first document object to display a content data view under control of the input device; (c) creating in the storage a proxy object having program code for displaying a proxy image on the display, a reference to the second document object content data and a list of data types characterizing the second document content data; (d) executing, under control of the input device, acceptance program code in the first document object to determine whether a data type in the proxy object list of data types is acceptable; and (e) executing the proxy image display code to display a proxy image embedded within the first document object content data view when a data type in the proxy object list of data types is acceptable.