Method and apparatus for managing text objects for providing text to be interpreted across computer operating systems using different human languages

摘要

Text objects having a primary data portion in which is stored text characters and associated encoding information, and an annotation portion in which is stored attribute information such as style and language identifiers, is described. The encoding information is stored within a run header in the primary data portion and both the run header and attribute header refer to the text characters to thereby define a text run. Also described are operations for manipulating the text objects of the invention and for creating and deleting annotations. The operations for manipulating the text objects of the invention include installing text within a text object, copying text in a text object, replacing text in a text object, writing text in a text object and imaging text in a text object for display.