Text acquisition and organizing system

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1 further including: a manual format control switch mounted in the housing, actuation of which provides a format control signal; wherein the processor is responsive to the format control signal to alter the predetermined order of application of formatting commands within the selected format structure to a subsequently acquired text string.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the manual format control switch comprises a switch mounted on the scanner for providing the format control signal.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising: a comments switch mounted on the housing for providing a comments signal; wherein the processor is responsive to the comments signal to automatically place a subsequently acquired text string within a border and to automatically adjust the size of the border to accommodate the entirety of the subsequently acquired text string and to automatically place the bordered text string at a predetermined position.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising: a comments switch mounted on the housing for providing a comments signal; and a signal switch mounted on the housing for providing a control signal; wherein the processor is responsive to the comments signal followed by the control signal to automatically place a predetermined text string within a border and to automatically adjust the size of the border to accommodate the entirety of the text string accompanied by a number automatically assigned to identify that bordered text string, the processor also automatically placing the bordered and numbered text string at a predetermined position.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 5 wherein processor automatically increases the number assigned to subsequent bordered text strings to uniquely identify each bordered text.

Claim 8

The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising: a footnote switch for providing a footnote signal; wherein the processor is responsive to the footnote signal to automatically connect subsequently acquired discrete strings of text with predetermined punctuation and to automatically locate the acquired and punctuated text strings in a predetermined position in relation to other text.

Claim 9

The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the processor is responsive to the footnote signal to provide a prompt comprising a footnote panel containing the names of a plurality of discrete text strings to be acquired in a predetermined order to be connected together to form a footnote.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the footnote panel further comprises a display of the discrete acquired text strings as they are acquired permitting a review of the acquired text string before leaving the footnote panel.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising an additional panel from which a discrete data string for the footnote may be acquired, said panel including numeric text.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 1 further including: text attribute control means mounted in the housing for providing text attribute command signals; wherein the processor is responsive to the text attribute command signals to affect the format of a subsequently acquired text string in accordance with the text tribute command signals as the text string is received.

Claim 13

The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising: means for receiving text and displaying the received text on the display; and means for selecting a text string from the displayed text and acquiring the selected text string; wherein the processor is responsive to the retrieved format structure for automatically formatting the text string acquired from the display to position said acquired text string according to the retrieved format structure as the text string is acquired.

Claim 14

A note-taking apparatus for acquiring existing text from an external text source, for organizing the acquired text into a format structure as the text is acquired, and for adding notes to the format structure concerning the acquired text, the apparatus comprising: a housing; a portable scanner connected to the housing, the scanner adapted to scan a single text line at a time to acquire text; manual format structure select means mounted in the housing for providing a structure select signal corresponding to one of a plurality of predetermined selectable format structures; a memory in the housing in which are stored the plurality of format structures each of which comprises a plurality of predetermined formatting controls for assignment to the acquired text in a predetermined order as the text is acquired to position acquired text in relation to other acquired text in a predetermined order; a manual format control switch mounted in the housing, actuation of which provides a format control signal; a processor mounted in the housing, wherein the processor is: responsive to the structure select signal to retrieve the corresponding format structure from the memory; responsive to the retrieved format structure for automatically formatting the acquired text to position said acquired text according to the retrieved format structure as the text is acquired; responsive to the format control signal to alter the predetermined order of application of formatting controls within the selected format structure to subsequently acquired text; a memory mounted in the housing for storing the text after having been formatted by the processor in accordance with the selected text format structure; and a display mounted on the housing for displaying the formatted text in the selected format structure.

Claim 15

A note-taking apparatus for acquiring existing text from an external text source, for organizing the acquired text into a format structure as the text is acquired, and for adding notes to the format structure concerning the acquired text, the apparatus comprising: a housing; a portable scanner connected to the housing, the scanner adapted to scan a single text line at a time to acquire text; manual format structure select means mounted in the housing for providing a structure select signal corresponding to one of a plurality of predetermined selectable format structures; a memory in the housing in which are stored the plurality of format structures each of which comprises a plurality of predetermined formatting controls for assignment to the acquired text in a predetermined order as the text is acquired to position acquired text in relation to other acquired text in a predetermined order; a manual format control switch mounted in the housing, actuation of which provides a format control signal; a processor mounted in the housing, wherein the processor is: responsive to the structure select signal to retrieve the corresponding format structure from the memory; responsive to the retrieved format structure for automatically formatting the acquired text to position said acquired text according to the retrieved format structure as the text is acquired; responsive to the format control signal to alter the predetermined order of application of formatting controls within the selected format structure to subsequently acquired text; a memory mounted in the housing for storing the text after having been formatted by the processor in accordance with the selected text format structure; and a display mounted on the housing for displaying the formatted text in the selected format structure.

Claim 16

The note-taking apparatus of claim 13 further comprising: a comments switch mounted on the housing for providing a comments signal; wherein the processor is responsive to the comments signal to automatically place subsequently acquired text within a border and to automatically adjust the size of the border to accommodate the entirety of the subsequently acquired text and to automatically place the bordered text at a predetermined position.

Claim 17

The note-taking apparatus of claim 13 further comprising: a comments switch mounted on the housing for providing a comments signal; and a signal switch mounted on the housing for providing a control signal; wherein the processor is responsive to the comments signal followed by the control signal to automatically place a predetermined text within a border and to automatically adjust the size of the border to accommodate the entirety of the text accompanied by a number automatically assigned to identify that bordered text, the processor also automatically placing the bordered and numbered text at a predetermined position.

Claim 18

The note-taking apparatus of claim 15 wherein processor automatically increases the number assigned to subsequent bordered text strings to uniquely identify each bordered text.

Claim 19

The note-taking apparatus of claim 13 further comprising: a footnote switch for providing a footnote signal; wherein the processor is responsive to the footnote signal to automatically connect subsequently acquired discrete strings of text with predetermined punctuation and to automatically locate the acquired and punctuated text strings in a predetermined position in relation to other text.

Claim 20

The note-taking apparatus of claim 17 wherein the processor is responsive to the footnote signal to provide a prompt comprising a footnote panel containing the names of a plurality of discrete text strings to be acquired in a predetermined order to be connected together to form a footnote.

Claim 21

The note-taking apparatus of claim 18 wherein the footnote panel further comprises a display of the discrete acquired text strings as they are acquired permitting a review of the acquired text string before leaving the footnote panel.

Claim 22

The note-taking apparatus of claim 19 further comprising an additional panel from which a discrete data string for the footnote may be acquired, said panel including numeric text.

Claim 23

The note-taking apparatus of claim 13 further including: text attribute control means mounted in the housing for providing text attribute command signals; wherein the processor is responsive to the text attribute command signals to affect the format of subsequently acquired text in accordance with the text attribute command signals as the text is received.

Claim 24

The note-taking apparatus of claim 13 further comprising: means for receiving text and displaying the received text on the display; and means for selecting a text string from the displayed text and acquiring the selected text string; wherein the processor is responsive to the retrieved format structure for automatically formatting the text string acquired from the display to position said acquired text string according to the retrieved format structure as the text string is acquired.

Claim 25

The note-taking apparatus of claim 13 wherein the housing is of a size small enough to be portable.