Patent Application
20130321617
Many users view web pages via a mobile device (e.g., tablet or cellular phone). However, viewing and interacting with a web page displayed on a mobile device can sometimes be difficult because mobile devices have relatively small screens and therefore a font size of data displayed on the screen is relatively small which makes the data hard to read, especially when reading a document or a web page that contains a large amount of text.
A user often has to hold the mobile device close to their face to clearly see the data displayed on the screen or the user may use some form of magnification assistance such as glasses, a pinch to zoom gesture, or a magnifying glass.
Referring now to
At 101, a distance between a mobile device and a user is determined. The distance may comprise a physical distance between the user and the mobile device. For example, the user may hold the mobile device at a distance away from the user's face and the distance between the mobile device and the user's face may be determined. The distance may be measured in any conventional unit of measurement (e.g., inches, centimeters) and may be measured using a sensor located at the mobile device. In some embodiments, the sensor may comprise a camera, rangefinder, sound propagation sensor, or any other sensor associated with determining a distance.
For illustrative purposes, and to aid in understanding features of the specification, some examples will now be introduced. These examples are not intended to limit the scope of the claims.
In a first example, a user, such as user 202 of
In a second example, a user who normally wears glasses, such as user 202 of
Referring back to
The font size may be adjusted based on a pre-defined set of rules that indicate an optimal font size for each given distance between the mobile device and the user. For example, a first font size may be associated with a first distance between the mobile device and the user, a second font size may be associated with a second distance between the mobile device and the user, a third font size may be associated with a third distance between the mobile device and the user, etc. The font size may steadily increase as a distance from the mobile device to the user increase. However, in other embodiments, the increase may be based on a series of distance plateaus (e.g. ranges of distances) such that a first font size may be associated with a first range of distances between the mobile device and the user (e.g., x inches to y inches, where x and y are real numbers or integers), a second font size may be associated with a second range of distances between the mobile device and the user, a third font size may be associated with a third range of distances between the mobile device and the user, etc. The size of the font may be based on a reference font size at a set distance. For example, a reference font size of 12 at a distance of 3 inches from a user's face may be considered a reference font size. Therefore, font size adjustment may be based on the reference font size (e.g., plus or minus a font size from the reference size).
In another embodiment, adjusting the font size may be further based on an eyeglass prescription of the user. A user may enter his prescription into his mobile device and the mobile phone may use the entered eyeglass prescription to determine a size of the font to display on a screen (i.e. a display) based on the distance between the mobile device and the user. For example, a user may enter in spherical correction values, cylindrical correction values, and axis values associated the user's prescription. In response to receiving the aforementioned values, a system may convert the prescription into a magnification factor that will be used to change a font size such that a font a user sees at a particular distance will be similar to a reference font at a reference distance. The font shape may also be changed by introducing blur or correcting blur to adjust for astigmatism.
In some embodiments, the adjustment to the font size may be determined by the mobile device. In this embodiment, the mobile device may determine the adjustment to font sizes associated with a received web page based at least on a distance from the mobile device to the user. The mobile device may further present an option, such as a soft key, so that the adjustment to font sizes may be based not only on a distance between the mobile device and the user, but also on a previously entered eyeglass prescription. Such an embodiment may facilitate easier viewing of text on a mobile device.
In another embodiment, the distance from the user to the mobile device may be transmitted to the web server and the web server may determine an adjustment to the font size of a web page to be sent to the mobile device. In this embodiment, the mobile device may also present an option, such as a soft key, so that the user's previously entered eyeglass prescription is transmitted to the web server to adjust font sizes based not only on a distance between the mobile device and the user, but also on the previously entered eyeglass prescription. The eyeglass prescription information may have been entered at the mobile device which may then be transmitted to the server to translate the eyeglass prescription into a magnification factor. In some embodiments, using an eyeglass prescription to determine a magnification factor may allow a user who normally wears glasses to be able to more clearly view web pages on a mobile device.
Furthermore, the magnification may also be based on the capability of the device. For example, a web server may query the mobile device to determine a display resolution and the font size may be limited based on what can be displayed on the display of the mobile device. A display resolution may be determined by a media query which returns a screen resolution of the mobile device accessing the web page. The modification of a web page's font size may be associated with a modification of a cascading style sheet (“CSS”).
By modifying a CSS associated with a web page, an application that controls the web page is not affected since the CSS is a layer above the application and the CSS determines what to show or not to show based on data received from the mobile device and in some embodiments, on a role of the user. For example, when the mobile device is moved away from a user's face, only selected information may be enlarged while non-selected material will not be enlarged. The selected information to be enlarged may be based on a user role of the user of the mobile device. Furthermore, selection of the data to be enlarged may be via a CSS.
Continuing with the first example, the mobile device transmits the distance between the mobile device and the user to a web server. The web server, using a lookup table or formula, determines an increase to the font on a currently viewed web page. The webserver, in response to the determination, increases a font size of the currently viewed web page and transmits a web page with the adjusted font size to the mobile device.
Continuing with the second example, the mobile device transmits the distance between the mobile device and the user to a web server. Furthermore, in response to a soft key, or other indicating mechanism being activated, the mobile device transmits an eyeglass prescription (previously entered by the user) to the web server. The web server, using a lookup table or formula, as well as the eyeglass prescription, determines an increase to the font on the currently viewed web page. The webserver, in response to the determination, increases a font size of the currently viewed web page and transmits a web page with the adjusted font size.
Now referring to
Now referring to
The user interface 401 may allow users to interact with the apparatus 400 using text commands or with images/ graphical icons. In some embodiments, the user interface may comprise a keyboard, mouse, or associated port related thereto. Furthermore, the user interface 401 may comprise a display or a touch screen.
The main memory 402 may comprise any type of memory for storing data, such as, but not limited to, a Secure Digital (SD) card, a micro SD card, a Single Data Rate Random Access Memory (SDR-RAM), a Double Data Rate Random Access Memory (DDR-RAM), or a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM). The main memory 402 may comprise a plurality of memory modules.
The processor 403 may include or otherwise be associated with dedicated registers, stacks, queues, etc. that are used to execute program code and/or one or more of these elements may be shared there between. In some embodiments, the processor 403 may comprise an integrated circuit. In some embodiments, the processor 403 may comprise circuitry to perform a method such as, but not limited to, the method described with respect to
The medium 404 may comprise any computer-readable medium that may store processor-executable instructions to be executed by the processor 403. For example, the medium 404 may comprise a non-transitory tangible medium such as, but is not limited to, a compact disk, a digital video disk, flash memory, optical storage, random access memory, read only memory, or magnetic media.
Now referring to
The processor 510 communicates with a storage device 530. The storage device 530 may comprise any appropriate information storage device, including combinations of magnetic storage devices (e.g., a hard disk drive), optical storage devices, and/or semiconductor memory devices. The storage device 530 stores a program 512 and/or navigation platform 514 for controlling the processor 510. The processor 510 performs instructions of the programs 512, 514, and thereby operates in accordance with any of the embodiments described herein. For example, the processor 510 may determine a screen resolution of the apparatus 500.
The programs 512, 514 may be stored in a compressed, uncompiled and/or encrypted format. The programs 512, 514 may furthermore include other program elements, such as an operating system, a database management system, and/or device drivers used by the processor 510 to interface with peripheral devices.
As used herein, information may be “received” by or “transmitted” to, for example: (i) the apparatus 500 from another device; or (ii) a software application or module within the apparatus 500 from another software application, module, or any other source.
In some embodiments (such as shown in
Referring to
The following illustrates various additional embodiments and do not constitute a definition of all possible embodiments, and those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention is applicable to many other embodiments. Further, although the following embodiments are briefly described for clarity, those skilled in the art will understand how to make any changes, if necessary, to the above-described apparatus and methods to accommodate these and other embodiments and applications.
Moreover, while embodiments have been illustrated using particular types of tables and databases, embodiments may be implemented in any other of a number of different ways. For example, some embodiments might be associated with publically available information, such as flight or train schedules available via web sites.
Embodiments have been described herein solely for the purpose of illustration. Persons skilled in the art will recognize from this description that embodiments are not limited to those described, but may be practiced with modifications and alterations limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
