US Patent 7098933 Acquiring and unacquiring alignment and extension points

A method, apparatus, and an article of manufacture for acquiring and unacquiring data points of interest in a drawing program. Data points of interest are acquired after a display cursor is positioned over the data point of interest for an acquisition pause time. This technique presents the flashing of superfluous information on the display as the cursor passes over objects in the drawing. Embodiments are presented which implement alignment and extension of objects using acquired data points, and non-symmetric acquisition pause times and snap distances.