Document Editing Using Anchors

Abstract

A user edits text in a draft document by providing input including left and right “anchor” text and replacement text. In response, a document editing system identifies an instance of the left anchor text followed by the right anchor text in the draft document, and replaces text between these instances with the replacement text specified by the user. For example, the user may type a string containing the left anchor text followed by the replacement text followed by the right anchor text, in response to which the system may perform the replacement just described. As a result, the user may specify both the location of, and a correction for, text in the draft document without using cursor keys or other navigation commands to navigate to the location of the text to be corrected, thereby increasing correction efficiency by avoiding the delay associated with such manual navigation.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 (A) identifying first anchor text, second anchor text, and replacement text;   (B) determining whether a document contains an instance of the first anchor text and an instance of the second anchor text at a position in the document after the instance of the first anchor text; and   (C) if it is determined that the document contains the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text at the position in the document after the instance of the first anchor text, then replacing text in the document between the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text with the replacement text, without replacing the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein (B) comprises not searching for the text in the document between the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein (C) comprises identifying the text in the document between the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text before said replacing. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 (D) before (A), receiving input from a user specifying the first anchor text, the second anchor text, and the replacement text.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein (D) comprises receiving a text string from the user comprising the first anchor text, the replacement text, and the second anchor text, in that order. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein (D) comprises receiving a text string from the user comprising a plurality of sub-strings, identifying a leftmost one of the plurality of sub-strings as the first anchor text, identifying a rightmost one of the plurality of sub-strings as the second anchor text, and identifying text between the leftmost and rightmost sub-strings as the replacement text. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein (D) comprises receiving the input from the user without changing a position of a text cursor within the document. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether the document contains an instance of the first anchor text and an instance of the second anchor text is performed while receiving input from the user. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein (C) comprises replacing the text in the document with the replacement text at a particular location in the document, and moving a text editing cursor to the particular location in the document. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein (C) comprises replacing all of the text in the document between the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text with the replacement text. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first anchor text consists of a partial word. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the second anchor text consists of a partial word. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the first anchor text consists of a word prefix. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the first anchor text consists of a word suffix. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first anchor text comprises a word. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein (A) and (B) are performed without receiving text cursor navigation commands from the user. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein (B) comprises:
 (B)(1) determining whether the document contains the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text at the position in the document after the instance of the first anchor text; and   (B)(2) receiving user input indicating whether to replace the text in the document between the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text; and   wherein (C) comprises:   (C)(1) replacing the text in the document between the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text with the replacement text only if the user input indicates that the text in the document between the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text is to be replaced.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 (D) if it is determined that the document contains an instance of the first anchor text but not an instance of the second anchor text at a position in the document after the instance of the first anchor text, then inserting the replacement text in the document after the instance of the first anchor text.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein (D) further comprises applying a text formatting rule to the document after inserting the replacement text in the document. 
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer program instructions executable by at least one computer processor to perform a method, the method comprising:
 (A) identifying first anchor text, second anchor text, and replacement text;   (B) determining whether a document contains an instance of the first anchor text and an instance of the second anchor text at a position in the document after the instance of the first anchor text; and   (C) if it is determined that the document contains the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text at the position in the document after the instance of the first anchor text, then replacing text in the document between the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text with the replacement text, without replacing the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text.   
     
     
         21 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 20 , wherein (B) comprises not searching for the text in the document between the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text. 
     
     
         22 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 20 , wherein (C) comprises identifying the text in the document between the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text before said replacing. 
     
     
         23 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 20 , wherein the method further comprises:
 (D) before (A), receiving input from a user specifying the first anchor text, the second anchor text, and the replacement text.   
     
     
         24 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 23 , wherein (D) comprises receiving a text string from the user comprising the first anchor text, the replacement text, and the second anchor text, in that order. 
     
     
         25 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 24 , wherein (D) comprises receiving a text string from the user comprising a plurality of sub-strings, identifying a leftmost one of the plurality of sub-strings as the first anchor text, identifying a rightmost one of the plurality of sub-strings as the second anchor text, and identifying text between the leftmost and rightmost sub-strings as the replacement text. 
     
     
         26 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 23 , wherein (D) comprises receiving the input from the user without changing a position of a text cursor within the document. 
     
     
         27 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 20 , wherein determining whether the document contains an instance of the first anchor text and an instance of the second anchor text is performed while receiving input from the user. 
     
     
         28 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 20 , wherein (C) comprises replacing the text in the document with the replacement text at a particular location in the document, and moving a text editing cursor to the particular location in the document. 
     
     
         29 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 20 , wherein (C) comprises replacing all of the text in the document between the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text with the replacement text. 
     
     
         30 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 20 , wherein the first anchor text consists of a partial word. 
     
     
         31 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 30 , wherein the second anchor text consists of a partial word. 
     
     
         32 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 30 , wherein the first anchor text consists of a word prefix. 
     
     
         33 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 30 , wherein the first anchor text consists of a word suffix. 
     
     
         34 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 20 , wherein the first anchor text comprises a word. 
     
     
         35 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 20 , wherein (A) and (B) are performed without receiving text cursor navigation commands from the user. 
     
     
         36 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 20 , wherein (B) comprises:
 (B)(1) determining whether the document contains the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text at the position in the document after the instance of the first anchor text; and   (B)(2) receiving user input indicating whether to replace the text in the document between the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text; and   wherein (C) comprises:   (C)(1) replacing the text in the document between the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text with the replacement text only if the user input indicates that the text in the document between the instance of the first anchor text and the instance of the second anchor text is to be replaced.   
     
     
         37 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 20 , wherein the method further comprises:
 (D) if it is determined that the document contains an instance of the first anchor text but not an instance of the second anchor text at a position in the document after the instance of the first anchor text, then inserting the replacement text in the document after the instance of the first anchor text.   
     
     
         38 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 37 , wherein (D) further comprises applying a text formatting rule to the document after inserting the replacement text in the document.