Patent
1996-05-29
1998-02-17
Nguyen, Phu K.
G06F 1500
Patent
active
057200238
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to an apparatus for storing data for use in displaying diagrams and also to a method of storing diagram data and using the stored data for displaying diagrams.
When storing data for use in displaying diagrams, it is desirable that the data can both be stored and retrieved in an efficient manner. In particular, it is desirable to be able to store data representing a particular diagram entity so that the diagram entity can be displayed in more than one diagram.
In EP-A-0 415 796 there is described an object-oriented display system which allows the creation of graphic diagrams. In this system, each diagram is created independently and there is no disclosure of using data representing a particular diagram entity in more than one diagram.
According to one aspect of this invention there is provided a computer apparatus for storing data for use in displaying diagrams, each diagram comprising a plurality of entities, said apparatus comprising:
means for entering data for use in displaying diagrams;
means for storing data describing an individual diagram entity as a software object having a set of attributes which includes an identifier for the software object;
means for storing general data relating to an individual diagram as a software object whose attributes include an identifier for the software object;
means for storing data relating to the location of an individual entity on a diagram as a software object whose attributes include the location of the entity on the diagram and a pointer to the software-object which describes the entity;
means for retrieving data describing the individual entities of a diagram; and
means for using the retrieved data for displaying a diagram.
The present invention provides the advantage that data describing a particular diagram entity can be used in displaying that diagram entity in more than one diagram.
The entities may include graphical shapes and flow lines connecting the graphical shapes together.
When the entities include graphical shapes and flow lines connecting the graphical shapes together, data describing an entity in the form of a graphical shape may be stored as a software object belonging to a software object class for graphical shapes, and data describing an entity in the form of a flow line may be stored as a software object belonging to a software object class for flow lines whose attributes include a pair of pointers which point to the identifiers of the two software objects which describe, respectively, the entity at one end and the entity at the other end of the flow line.
The apparatus may includes means for operating on the retrieved data in a predetermined manner to produce a desired diagram.
According to a second aspect of this invention, there is provided a computer apparatus including a central processing unit, a memory, means for entering data and a display unit, said memory containing a program for controlling the computer apparatus and which is arranged to:
receive data for use in displaying diagrams;
store data representing an individual diagram entity as a software object having a set of attributes which includes an identifier for the software object;
store general data relating to an individual diagram as a software object whose attributes include an identifier for the software object;
store data relating to the location of an individual entity on a diagram as a software object whose attributes include the location of the entity on the diagram and a pointer to the software object which describes the entity;
retrieve data describing the individual entities of a diagram; and
use the retrieved data for displaying a diagram.
According to a third aspect of this invention, there is provided a method of operating a computer apparatus for storing diagram data and using the stored data for displaying diagrams, each diagram comprising a plurality of entities, said method comprising the steps of:
storing data describing each individual diagram entity as a software object having a set of attributes which includes an identifier for the o
REFERENCES:
patent: 4843569 (1989-06-01), Sawada et al.
patent: 5617523 (1997-04-01), Imazu et al.
Yamamoto et al, "Extraction of Object Features from Image and Its Application to Image Retriever", 9th International Conference on Pattern Recognition, 14-17 Nov. 1988, Rome, Italy, pp. 988-991.
Goers et al, "Definition and Application of Metaclasses in an Object-Oriented Database Model", 1993 IEEE, pp. 373-380, Department of Computer Science, Technical University of Clausthal, Germany.
Putland Paul Anthony
Skevington Peter John
Videlo Ian David Edmund
Wittgreffe John Peter
Yates Martin John
British Telecommnications public limited company
Nguyen Phu K.
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