David A Moon

US Patent:

52512924, Oct 5, 1993

Filed:

Jul 25, 1990

Appl. No.:

7/557946

Inventors:

Joseph Martel - Orem UT
David C. Moon - Alpine UT

Assignee:

WordPerfect Corporation - Orem UT

International Classification:

G06F 1520

US Classification:

395150

Abstract:

A method and apparatus carried out on a digital computer for creating and editing mathematical equations in a printed document is disclosed. This invention allows the user of a wordprocessing program to create and edit mathematical equations in an efficient and flexible manner through use of a user interface which includes an editing window, a display window, and a palette window. The editing window allows the user to input a textual description of the equation, the palette window provides an alternative method of entering the textual description of the equation by displaying the characters and commands that may be used, and the display window displays the equation as it appears in its final printed form. The textual description for an equation is entered by the user through keyboard characters, extended characters, and by selecting editing commands and characters from the palette window, and the method and apparatus of the present invention processes the textual description and provides simultaneous visual representations of both the textual descriptions and the equations as they will appear in the final printed form.