Pointing gesture based computer note pad paging and scrolling interface

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method for manipulating notes on the screen of a computer display comprising:

generating an initial note area on a screen of a computer display;

dividing said initial note area into a plurality of note areas in response to at least one division gesture implemented by moving a pointer across the width of the screen such that a left edge of the division gesture is within a first defined distance of a left side of said computer display and a right edge of the division gesture is within a second defined distance of a right side of said computer display, wherein the division gesture is made in a horizontal motion having a slope of less than a predefined slope value, and wherein each division gesture creates divider indicia in the form of a header bar said screen which visually separates an immediately preceding note-area and an immediately having a slope of less than a predefined slope value, and wherein each division gesture creates divider indicia in the form of a header bar on said screen which visually separates an immediately preceding note area and an immediately subsequent note area, the header bar being associated with the immediately subsequent note area, the header bar including a sizing button, the sizing button being operative to adjust a height of the immediately subsequent note area without adjusting the immediately preceding note area;

modifying the size of a selected note area, the selected note area including a specific header bar having an associated text heading and an associated sizing button, the size modification performed in response to a sizing gesture made to the associated sizing button;

in response to a down-scroll command received for a given note area having an associated header bar, performing one of the following:

(a) when the given note area has a subsequent area that is not displayed on the screen and the associated header bar is displayed but is not positioned at an upper portion of the screen, scrolling down and displaying the associated header bar at the upper portion of the screen thereby displaying at least a portion of the subsequent area;

(b) when the given note area has the subsequent area that is not displayed on the screen and the associated header bar is either displayed positioned at the upper portion of the screen or not displayed, scrolling down and displaying the subsequent area positioned beginning at the upper portion of the screen; and

(c) when the given note area has no subsequent area not displayed and a subsequent note is available for display, displaying the subsequent note such that the subsequent note's header bar is located on the upper portion of the screen; and

in response to an up-scroll command received for the given note area, performing one of the following:

(d) when the given note area has a preceding area which is not displayed on the screen and the preceding area's height is larger than a height of the screen, displaying a bottom most portion of the preceding area;

(e) when the given note area has the preceding area which is not displayed on the screen and the preceding area's height is less than or equal to a height of the screen, displaying the given note area such that the associated header bar is positioned at the upper portion of the screen: and

(f) when the given note area has no preceding area not displayed and a preceding note is available for display, displaying the preceding note area such that the preceding note area's header bar is located on the upper portion of the screen.

2. A computer readable medium containing computer program instructions for:

generating an initial note area on the screen of the computer display;

dividing said initial note area into a plurality of note areas in response to at least one division gesture implemented by moving a pointer across the width of the screen such that a left edge of the division gesture is within a first defined distance of a left side of said computer display and a right edge of the division gesture is within a second defined distance of a right side of said computer display, wherein the division gesture is made in a horizontal motion having a slope of less than a predefined slope value, and wherein each division gesture creates divider indicia in the form of a header bar on said screen which visually separates an immediately preceding note area and an immediately subsequent note area, the header bar being associated with the immediately subsequent note area, the header bar including a sizing button, the sizing button being operative to adjust a height of the immediately subsequent note area without adjusting the immediately preceding note area;

in response to a down-scroll command received for a given note area, performing one of the following:

(a) when the given note area has a subsequent area that is not displayed on the screen and the associated header bar is displayed but is not positioned at an upper portion of the screen, scrolling down and displaying the associated header bar at the upper portion of the screen thereby displaying at least a portion of the subsequent area;

(b) when the given note area has the subsequent area that is not displayed on the screen and the associated header bar is either displayed positioned at the upper portion of the screen or not displayed, Scrolling down and displaying the subsequent area positioned beginning at the upper portion of the screen; and

(c) when the given note area has no subsequent area not displayed and a subsequent note is available for display, displaying the subsequent note such that the subsequent note's header bar is located on the upper portion of the screen; and

in response to an up-scroll command received for the given note area, performing one of the following:

(d) when the given note area has a preceding area which is not displayed on the screen and the preceding area's height is larger than a height of the screen, displaying a bottom most portion of the preceding area;

(e) when the given note area has the preceding area which is not displayed on the screen and the preceding area's height is less than or equal to a height of the screen, displaying the given note area such that the associated header bar is positioned at the upper portion of the screen; and

(f) when the given note area has no preceding area not displayed and a preceding note is available for display, displaying the preceding note area such that the preceding note area's header bar is located on the upper portion of the screen.

3. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 2 wherein said computer program instruction for generating an initial note area on the computer screen includes creating a first data structure including a note number and a note height dimension.

4. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 2 wherein said computer program instruction for dividing said initial note area comprises computer program instructions for:

detecting a theoretical line drawn on said display by said pointer;

determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture; and

generating a new header bar on said computer display for a new note area if said theoretical line is determined to be a division gesture.

5. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 4 wherein said computer program instruction or detecting a theoretical line comprises computer program instructions for:

collecting a plurality of sample points corresponding to a movement of said pointer across said display; and

forming said theoretical line from at least two of said plurality of sample points.

6. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 4 wherein said computer program instruction for determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture includes one or more of the following computer program instructions for:

determining whether there is a sample point further from said theoretical line than a predetermined maximum distance value;

determining whether the absolute value of a sum of the signed distances of said plurality of sample points from said theoretical line is greater than a predetermined maximum sum value;

determining whether the absolute value of a slope of said theoretical line differs from a predetermined header bar slope by more than a predetermined maximum slope value; and

determining whether either end of said theoretical line is separated from an edge of said screen by more than a predetermined maximum margin value

wherein when one of the determining steps fails, said theoretical line is not a division gesture.

7. A computer readable medium having a computer program executable to move divider indicia in the form of a header bar displayed on a computer display as a linear region which separates a first note area from an adjacent second note area on a screen of the computer display, the header bar being associated with the second note area and including a sizing button, the computer program comprising the computer instructions for:

detecting the selection of the header bar by a pointer;

detecting a sizing gesture made with said pointer on said header bar, the sizing gesture engaging the sizing button;

moving said header bar as indicated by said sizing gesture, the movement of the header bar adjusting a height of the second note area without adjusting the first note area;

in response to a down-scroll command received for a given note area, performing one of the following:

(a) when the given note area has a subsequent area that is not displayed on the screen and the associated header bar is displayed but is not positioned at an upper portion of the screen, scrolling down and displaying the associated header bar at the upper portion of the screen thereby displaying at least a portion of the subsequent area;

(b) when the given note area has the subsequent area that is not displayed on the screen and the associated header bar is either displayed positioned at the upper portion of the screen or not displayed, scrolling down and displaying the subsequent area positioned beginning at the upper portion of the screen; and

(c) when the given note area has no subsequent area not displayed and a subsequent note is available for display, displaying the subsequent note such that the subsequent note's header bar is located on the upper portion of the screen; and

in response to an up-scroll command received for the given note area, performing one of the following:

(d) when the given note area has a preceding area which is not displayed on the screen and the preceding area's height is larger than a height of the screen displaying a bottom most portion of the preceding area;

(e) when the given note area has the preceding area which is not displayed on the screen and the preceding area's height is less than or equal to a height of the screen, displaying the given note area such that the associated header bar is positioned at the upper portion of the screen; and

(f) when the given note area has no preceding area not displayed and a preceding note is available for display, displaying the preceding note area such that the preceding note area's header bar is located on the upper portion of the screen.

8. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 7 wherein said pointer comprises stylus means contacting a screen of a pen-based computer system.

9. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 8 wherein said sizing gesture detected by a computer instruction comprises contacting said stylus with said screen over said header bar and moving said stylus without lifting said stylus from said screen.

10. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 7 wherein said computer program instruction for moving said header bar comprises:

changing a height dimension of a note associated with said divider bar; and

re-drawing at least said note on said screen.

11. A pointer-based computer system comprising:

a central processing unit;

a memory accessible by said central processing unit;

a computer display having a screen;

a pointer;

means for generating an initial note area on the screen of the computer display;

means for dividing said initial note area into a plurality of note areas in response to at least one division gesture implemented by moving the pointer across the width of the screen such that a left edge of the division gesture is within a first defined distance of a left side of said computer display and a right edge of the division gesture is within a second defined distance of a right side of said computer display, wherein the division gesture is made in a horizontal motion having a slope of less than a predefined slope value, and wherein each division gesture creates divider indicia in the form of a header bar on said screen which visually separates an immediately preceding note area and an immediately subsequent note area, the header bar being associated with the immediately subsequent note area, the header bar including a sizing button, the sizing button being operative to adjust a height of the immediately subsequent note area without adjusting the immediately preceding note area; and

a quantized scrolling mechanism operative to respond to a down-scroll command received for a given note area by performing one of the following:

(a) when the given note area has a subsequent area that is not displayed on the screen and the associated header bar is displayed but is not positioned at an upper portion of the screen, scrolling down and displaying the associated header bar at the upper portion of the screen thereby displaying at least a portion of the subsequent area;

(b) when the given note area has the subsequent area that is not displayed on the screen and the associated header bar is either displayed positioned at the upper portion of the screen or not displayed, scrolling down and displaying the subsequent area positioned beginning at the upper portion of the screen; and

(c) when the given note area has no subsequent area not displayed and a subsequent note is available for display, displaying the subsequent note such that the subsequent note's header bar is located on the upper portion of the screen,

the quantized scrolling mechanism further operative to respond to an up-scroll command received for the given note area by performing one of the following:

(d) when the given note area has a preceding area which is not displayed on the screen and the preceding area's height is larger than a height of the screen, displaying a bottom most portion of the preceding area;

(e) when the given note area has the preceding area which is not displayed on the screen and the preceding area's height is less than or equal to a height of the screen, displaying the given note area such that the associated header bar is positioned at the upper portion of the screen; and

(f) when the given note area has no preceding area not displayed and a preceding note is available for display, displaying the preceding note area such that the preceding note area's header bar is located on the upper portion of the screen.

12. A pointer-based computer system as recited in claim 11 wherein said means for generating an initial note area on the computer screen includes means for creating a first data structure including a note number and a note height dimension.

13. A pointer-based computer system as recited in claim 11 wherein said means for dividing said initial note area comprises:

means for detecting a theoretical line drawn on said display by said pointer;

means for determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture; and

means for generating a header bar on said computer display for a new note area if said theoretical line is determined to be a division gesture.

14. A pointer-based computer system as recited in claim 13 wherein said means for detecting a theoretical line comprises:

means for collecting a plurality of sample points corresponding to a movement of said pointer across said display; and

means for forming said theoretical line from at least two of said plurality of sample points.

15. A pointer-based computer system as recited in claim 14 wherein said means for determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture includes one or more of the following:

means for determining whether there is a sample point further from said theoretical line than a predetermined maximum distance value;

means for determining whether the absolute value of a sum of the signed distances of said plurality of sample points from said theoretical line is greater than a predetermined maximum sum value;

means for determining whether the absolute value of a slope of said theoretical line differs from a predetermined header bar slope by more than a predetermined maximum slope value; and

means for determining whether either end of said theoretical line is separated from an edge of said screen by more than a predetermined maximum margin value

wherein when one of the determining means fails, said theoretical line is not a division gesture.

16. A computer readable medium having a computer program for manipulating notes on the screen of a computer display, the computer program comprising the computer instructions for:

generating an initial note area on a screen of a computer display;

dividing said initial note area into a plurality of note areas in response to at least one division gesture implemented by moving a pointing means across the width of the screen such that a left edge of the division gesture is within a first defined distance of a left side of said computer display and a right edge of the division gesture is within a second defined distance of a right side of said computer display, wherein the division gesture is made in a horizontal motion having a slope of less than a predefined slope value, and wherein each division gesture creates divider indicia in the form of a header bar on said screen which visually separates two adjacent note areas, said header bar being displayed on said computer display as a horizontal region having indicia pertaining to a note including a creation date;

modifying the height of a selected note area in response to a gesture made on said header bar associated with said selected note area; and

scrolling at least one note area in response to a scrolling command.

17. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 16 wherein said computer instruction for generating an initial note area on a computer screen includes creating a first data structure including a note number designation and a note height dimension.

18. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 16 wherein said computer program instruction for dividing said initial note area comprises:

detecting a theoretical line drawn on said display by said pointing means;

determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture; and

generating a header bar on said computer display for a new note area if said theoretical line is determined to be a division gesture.

19. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 18 wherein said computer program instruction for detecting a theoretical line comprises:

collecting a plurality of sample points corresponding to a movement of said pointing means across said display; and

forming said theoretical line from at least two of said plurality of sample points.

20. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 18 wherein said computer program instruction for determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture includes the following computer instructions for:

determining whether there is a sample point farther from said theoretical line than a predetermined maximum distance value;

determining whether the absolute value of a sum of the signed distances of said plurality of sample points from said theoretical line is greater than a predetermined maximum sum value;

determining whether the absolute value of a slope of said theoretical line differs from a predetermined header bar slope by more than a predetermined maximum slope value; and

determining whether either end of said theoretical line is separated from an edge of said screen by more than a predetermined maximum margin value;

wherein when one of the determining steps fails, said theoretical line is not a division gesture.

21. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 16 wherein said computer program instruction for modifying the size of a selected note area comprises:

detecting said gesture; and

moving said divider indicia in response to said gesture.

22. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 16 wherein said computer program instruction for scrolling at least one note area comprises:

detecting said scrolling command; and

scrolling said at least one note area in a direction indicated by said scrolling command such that divider indicia on said screen move in discrete jumps such that data input on said at least one note area appears in approximately the same position at which it was originally input.

23. A computer readable medium storing a computer program for generating divider indicia on a computer display, the computer program comprising computer instructions for:

detecting a division gesture implemented by moving a pointing means across the width of a screen such that a left edge of the division gesture is within a first defined distance of a left side of said computer display and a right edge of the division gesture is within a second defined distance of a right side of said computer display, wherein the division gesture is made in a horizontal motion having a slope of less than a predefined slope value; and

generating divider indicia in the form of a header bar on said screen as positioned by said division gesture said header bar being displayed on said computer display as a horizontal region having indicia pertaining to a note including a creation date.

24. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 23 wherein said computer program instruction for detecting a division gesture comprises:

creating a theoretical line from a gesture made on said screen by said pointing means;

comparing said theoretical line to predetermined criteria; and

recognizing a division gesture if said theoretical line meets said predetermined criteria.

25. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 24 wherein said computer program instruction for creating a theoretical line comprises:

collecting a plurality of sample points along a gesture path;

forming said theoretical line including at least two of said plurality of sample points.

26. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 25 wherein said theoretical line is created from two sample points selected at or near opposing ends of said gesture path.

27. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 25 wherein said theoretical line is created from three or more sample points.

28. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 27 wherein said theoretical line is created from at least a majority of said sample points by a least-mean-square (LMS) computer readable medium.

29. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 25 wherein said computer program instruction for comparing said theoretical line to said predetermined criteria comprises:

determining whether any sample point is further from said theoretical line than a predetermined amount.

30. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 25 wherein said computer program instruction for comparing said theoretical line to said predetermined criteria comprises:

determining whether the absolute value of a sum of the signed distances of said plurality of sample points from said theoretical line is greater than a predetermined amount.

31. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 25 wherein said computer program instruction for comparing said theoretical line to said predetermined criteria comprises:

determining whether the absolute value of a slope of said theoretical line differs from a predetermined slope by more than a predetermined amount.

32. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 25 wherein said computer program instruction for comparing said theoretical line to said predetermined criteria comprises:

determining whether either end of said theoretical line is separated from an edge of said screen by more than a predetermined amount.

33. A pointer-based computer system comprising:

a central processing unit;

a memory accessible by said central processing unit;

a computer display having a screen;

a pointer;

means for generating an initial note area on the screen of the computer display;

means for dividing said initial note area into a plurality of note areas in response to at least one division gesture implemented by moving the pointer across the width of the screen such that a left edge of the division gesture is within a first defined distance of a left side of said computer display and a right edge of the division gesture is within a second defined distance of a right side of said computer display, wherein the division gesture is made in a horizontal motion having a slope of less than a predefined slope value, and wherein each division gesture creates divider indicia in the form of a header bar on said screen which visually separates two adjacent note areas; and

means for scrolling operable to scroll at least one note area in response to a scrolling command.

34. A pointer-based computer system as recited in claim 32 wherein said means for generating an initial note area on the computer screen includes means for creating a first data structure including a note number and a note height dimension.

35. A pointer-based computer system as recited in claim 33 wherein said means for dividing said initial note area comprises:

means for detecting a theoretical line drawn on said display by said pointer;

means for determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture; and

means for generating a header bar on said computer display for a new note area if said theoretical line is determined to be a division gesture.

36. A pointer-based computer system as recited in claim 34 wherein said means for detecting a theoretical line comprises:

means for collecting a plurality of sample points corresponding to a movement of said pointer across said display; and

means for forming said theoretical line from at least two of said plurality of sample points.

37. A pointer-based computer system as recited in claim 34 wherein said means for determining whether said theoretical line is a division gesture includes one or more of the following:

means for determining whether there is a sample point farther from said theoretical line than a predetermined maximum distance value;

means for determining whether the absolute value of a sum of the signed distances of said plurality of sample points from said theoretical line is greater than a predetermined maximum sum value;

means for determining whether the absolute value of a slope of said theoretical line differs from a predetermined header bar slope by more than a predetermined maximum slope value; and

means for determining whether either end of said theoretical line is separated from an edge of said screen by more than a predetermined maximum margin value

wherein when one of the determining means fails, said theoretical line is not a division gesture.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the manipulation of images on a computer screen, and more particularly to methods for manipulating images on the screen of a pen-based computer system.

A pen-based computer system is a small, often hand-held, computer system where the primary method for inputting data includes a "pen" or stylus. A typical pen-based computer system is housed in a generally rectangular enclosure, and has a dual-function display assembly providing a viewing screen along one of the planar sides of the enclosure. The dual-function display assembly serves as both an input device and an output device. When operating as an input device, the display assembly senses the position of the tip of the stylus on the viewing screen and provides this positional information to the computer's central processing unit (CPU). Some display assemblies can also sense the pressure of the stylus on the screen to provide further information to the CPU. When operating as an output device, the display assembly presents computer-generated images on the screen.

The dual-function display assemblies of pen-based computer systems permit users to operate the computer as a computerized notepad. For example, graphical images can be input into the pen-based computer by merely moving the stylus on the surface of the screen. As the CPU senses the position and movement of the stylus, it generates a corresponding image on the screen to create the illusion that the stylus is drawing the image directly upon the screen. With suitable recognition software, text and numeric information can also be entered into the pen-based computer system in a similar fashion.

Users often want to input more than one screen-full of information into their computer systems. To accomplish this, computer systems of the prior art have adopted two different input and display techniques. With a first technique, the screen images are treated as "pages" of a notepad. Users can then either sequentially access pages by "flipping" back or forth through the notepad, or they can jump to a particular page by page number. A second technique is to consider the screen of the display assembly to be a "window" on a long, continuous scroll of paper. The "scroll" is moved past the imaginary window (or the window is moved along the scroll) to provide a partial display of the contents of the scroll on the computer screen.

Both of these techniques have their advantages and disadvantages. The paging technique has the disadvantage of having a fixed page size which is usually equal to the size of the computer's screen. In consequence, if an image is too big to fit on one page, it must be divided to fit on two or more separate pages. While this is not particularly limiting for text, it makes the handling of large graphical images difficult. On the positive side, "paging" tends to be an intuitive way for users to access multiple screens of information. Users are familiar with the use of conventional books, notebooks, and notepads, all of which are essentially page based artifacts. An example of the intuitive nature of paging involves visually locating an image which was created on a particular page of memory. If, for example, a user knows that he drew a particular image in the lower right-hand corner of a page, he can quickly "flip" through the multiple pages while fixing his eyes on the lower right-hand corner of the screen to quickly spot the appropriate image.

The advantages and disadvantages of the scrolling technique are almost precisely the reverse of the advantages and disadvantages of the paging technique. An advantage of the scrolling technique is that images of virtually any length can be created. A disadvantage of the scrolling technique is that it is less intuitive than the paging technique. Using the previous example, finding a particular image by scrolling tends to be more difficult than finding the image by paging. This is due, in part, to the fact that when scrolling through the images stored in the computer, a particular desired image can be located at any vertical location on the screen, requiring a user to visually search a much larger image area. Also, with the scrolling technique it is more difficult for a user to know his or her relative location in a document. For example, with the paging technique a user might intuitively know that a desired image is about on page twelve, or is about two thirds of the way through the document. This type of intuitive knowledge is more difficult to achieve with the scrolling technique.

A further disadvantage of the scrolling technique is that it is inherently slow since images on the screen must not be moved so fast that they cannot be viewed. This can make the viewing of large amounts of data by scrolling techniques a time consuming process.

Yet another disadvantage of scrolling techniques is that there is no clear division between adjacent but unrelated images. For example, if a user first writes a letter and then makes a sketch, it would be desirable to make a clear division between these two unrelated items. This disadvantage also applies to a lesser extent to paging techniques when two or more unrelated items are placed on a single page.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the present invention, images are grouped into note areas which form part of a continuous scroll. These notes are manipulated by: (a) generating an initial note area on the screen of a computer display; (b) dividing the initial note area into a number of contiguous note areas in response to one or more division gestures implemented by a pointing device, where each division gesture creates a header bar on the screen which visually separates two adjacent note areas; (c) modifying the size of a selected note area in response to a sizing gesture made to a header bar associated with the selected note area; and (d) scrolling within the note areas in response to a scrolling command.

The initial note area is provided with a header bar which preferably includes the date of creation, the note number, and other indicia. This initial note area can be considered to be of indeterminate or infinite height. Graphical, text, and data objects can be created within this initial note area.

When a user desires to make a new note, a division gesture is made on the computer display with a pointing device. For example, in a pen-based computer system a stylus can be moved substantially horizontally across the screen to indicate a division gesture. Once a division gesture is detected, the height of the preceding note is determined, and the height of the new note can be considered to be indefinite or infinite. Preferably, the division gesture creates a new header bar for the new note indicating the date of creation, the note number, and/or other pertinent information.

Preferably, each header bar also includes a "sizing" button. By making a sizing gesture to the sizing button, the height of the associated note can be modified to make the note longer or shorter.

The notes on the display are preferably scrolled in a fashion which is a hybrid between traditional paging and scrolling techniques. The scrolling technique of the present invention can be considered to be a "quantized" scroll where objects displayed on the screen tend to be located in the same area of the screen in which they were created. This is accomplished by scrolling in quantized jumps such that the header bar of a desired note jumps either to the top of the screen or to about its original creation location on the screen.

The note areas and quantized scroll of the present invention overcome many of the aforementioned problems of the prior art. Related objects can be grouped together in a single note, and notes longer than a screen length can be easily generated. The height of individual notes can be modified by the sizing gesture, and the quantized scrolling of the present invention allows for the quick, intuitive scan of a large number of notes.

These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following specification of the invention and a study of the several figures of the drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a pen-based computer system in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a pictorial representation of the screen of a computer display assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates the screen of FIG. 2 after graphical, text and data objects have been added, and after the screen has been divided into two note areas;

FIG. 4 graphically illustrates a number of note areas arranged in a scroll and a "window" representing the screen of the computer display;

FIGS. 5a-5f illustrate six views of the scroll as seen through the window of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 illustrates the viewing of a note which has a height greater than the height of the viewing window;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for manipulating notes on a computer display in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a method for detecting a division gesture on the screen of a computer display assembly;

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate two of many potential gestures which can be made with a stylus, the first of which will be recognized as a division gesture and the second of which will not be recognized as a division gesture;

FIG. 9 illustrates the data structure of a note in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for processing the division gesture detected by the method illustrated in FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for detecting a sizing gesture of a selected note;

FIG. 12, is a flow diagram illustrating a method for processing the sizing gesture detected by the