Patent Grant
9223475
A large and growing population of users is enjoying entertainment through the consumption of digital media items, such as music, movies, images, electronic books, and so on. The users employ various electronic devices to consume such media items. Among these electronic devices are electronic book readers, cellular telephones, personal digital assistant (PDA), portable media players, tablet computers, netbooks, and the like. One particular device that is gaining in popularity is the dedicated electronic book (“eBook”) reader device, which attempts to mimic the experience of reading a conventional book through display of electronic information on one or more electronic displays. As the quantity of available media content continues to grow, along with increasing proliferation of such dedicated devices to consume that media content, finding ways to enhance user experience continues to be a priority. As eBook readers continue to evolve, there remains a need for improving a reader's ability to hold and interact with the readers.
The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The use of the same reference numbers in different figures indicates similar or identical components or features.
This disclosure is directed to user interface techniques for a dedicated handheld electronic book (“eBook”) reader device that are designed to facilitate navigation through bookmarked locations as well as chapters in digital content items. To improve user interaction, the display mounted in the eBook reader device is a touch-screen display capable of functioning as both an input and an output component.
For discussion purposes, the bookmark and chapter navigation techniques are described within the context of electronic books being rendered on eBook reader devices. The terms “book”, “electronic document”, and/or “eBook”, as used herein, include electronic or digital representations of printed works, as well as digital content that may include text, multimedia, hypertext, and/or hypermedia. Examples of printed and/or digital works include, but are not limited to, books, magazines, newspapers, periodicals, journals, reference materials, telephone books, textbooks, anthologies, instruction manuals, proceedings of meetings, forms, directories, maps, web pages etc. Accordingly, the terms book, electronic document, and/or eBook may include any content that is in electronic or digital format.
With such eBooks, the content may be structured as virtual frames presented on the device and a user may turn or change from one virtual frame or “page” of electronic content to another. Furthermore, within the context of this discussion, the term “bookmark” refers to a specified location within the eBook, such as a location or page. Through use of the touch-screen display, users are permitted to intuitively navigate through eBooks rendered on the eBook reader device by utilizing bookmarks, chapters, and touch interaction.
Aspects of the bookmark and chapter navigation techniques may be adopted for use in other content items, such as audio items, video items, and multimedia items. The term “chapter” in these scenarios may be more broadly considered as logical separations or transitions within these forms of items, such as tracks, verses, lyrics, scenes, and so forth. Further, the term “bookmark” in these scenarios may be more broadly viewed as marked locations within these forms of items, such as distinct points within tracks, verses, lyrics, frames, scenes, and so forth. It is further noted that various aspects and features described herein may be implemented in other electronic devices or electronic readers besides dedicated eBook reader devices including, for example, portable computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable gaming devices, wireless phones, and the like.
Illustrative eBook Reader Device
The touch-screen display 104 presents content in a human-readable format to a user. The touch-screen display 104 may depict, for example, text of the eBooks, along with illustrations, tables, or graphic elements that might be contained in the eBooks. In some cases, the eBooks may include multimedia components, such as video or audio. In such scenarios, the display 104 (or an additional display) may also be configured to present video, and the device 102 may be equipped with audio output components to play audio files.
For convenience only, the touch-screen display 104 is shown in a generally rectangular configuration. However, the touch-screen display 104 may be implemented in any shape, and may have any ratio of height to width. Also, for stylistic or design purposes, the touch-screen display 104 may be curved or otherwise non-linearly shaped.
In some implementations, the touch-screen display 104 may be implemented using electronic paper display technology. In general, an electronic paper display is one that has a high resolution (150 dpi or better) and is bi-stable, meaning that it is capable of holding text or other rendered images even when very little or no power is supplied to the display. The electronic paper display technology may also exhibit high contrast substantially equal to that of print on paper. Some exemplary electronic paper displays that may be used with the implementations described herein include bi-stable LCDs, MEMS, cholesteric, pigmented electrophoretic, and others. One exemplary electronic paper display that may be used is an E Ink-brand display. The touch sensitive technology may be overlaid or integrated with the electronic paper display technology to enable user input via contact or proximity to the screen.
In the same or different implementations, the touch-screen display 104 may be a flexible display. The flexible display may be positioned above a touch sensor(s). The touch sensor(s) may be a resistive touch sensitive film. The flexible display may also include a protective layer made of a flexible material such as plastic. The flexible display may also include a flexible backplane layer. The backplane may also be made of a flexible material, such as plastic, metal, glass or a polymer based material. A flexible backplane may be bendable, rollable, light-weight, etc. In one configuration, the flexible backplane is a matrix backplane on a plastic substrate.
The eBook reader device 102 has various internal components, which include user interface subsystems 108. Examples of such components may include one or more user input controller(s) 110, a split progress indicator 112, a bookmarking module 114, a bookmark navigation module 116, and a chapter navigation module 118. These components may be implemented in software, firmware, hardware, or a combination. For software of firmware, the components are provided as computer-readable instructions stored in a computer readable medium, such as volatile or non-volatile memory. The device 102 is equipped with memory to store these components and one or more processors on which the components are executed.
The one or more user input controllers 110 capture user input via the touch-screen display 104, the keyboard 106, and any other user input element on the eBook reader device 102. In some implementations, the input controller(s) 110 may include a touch-screen pressure detector 120, which detects not only the presence of pressure against the touch-screen display 104, but also an amount of pressure applied to the touch-screen display 104. By detecting pressure as a continually-variable input rather than simply as an on/off binary input, the touch-screen pressure detector 120 can differentiate between a soft touch and a hard touch in addition to detecting direction and speed of contact with the touch-screen 104.
The touch-screen pressure detector 120 can provide three-dimensional input by detecting where on the screen pressure is applied (i.e., x-dimension and y-dimension) and the amount of pressure applied to that point (i.e., z-dimension). Thus, the same pressure applied to different points on the surface of the touch-screen (e.g., lower-left hand corner or upper-right hand corner) generates different input signals as well as different pressure applied to the same point on the surface of the touch-screen (e.g., hard versus soft pressure on a point on the screen).
User input may be further differentiated by duration. In some implementations, the amount of time that the touch-screen display 104 detects pressure generates a different input signal. Duration or time of contact may be thought of as providing an alternative third dimension (i.e., time of contact is the z-dimension instead of pressure) or time may supply a fourth dimension in addition to pressure (i.e., x-dimension, y-dimension, pressure, and time). For example, pressing a location on the display 104 for a short period of time may signal a page-turn command while pressing the same location for a long period of time may signal a bookmark command. Furthermore, various pressure and durations (e.g., a short, hard pressure; a short, soft pressure; a long, hard pressure; and a long, soft pressure) may all correspond to a different commands or inputs.
In addition to pressure at a single point, a force applied to an area may be discernable by the touch-screen pressure detector 120. In some implementations, the force is calculated by summing the pressure detected at several points. For example, a user's thumb may contact several pressure sensors simultaneously due to the size and shape of a thumb. In this example, the pressure detected by all the sensors contacted by the thumb may be summed to determine an amount of force.
The split progress indicator 112 provides a visual representation on the display 104 of a reader's progress through an eBook or other content item. The split progress indicator 112 includes at least two separate portions that are located and rendered at different parts of the display. These portions may be arranged along the sides, top, and/or bottom of the screen area. One indicator portion represents “preceding” content that comes before the current location in the eBook, while the second indicator portion represents “subsequent” content that comes after the current location. As the reader reads through the eBook, the first indicator portion might also represent the “read” content that the reader has finished and the second indicator portion might represent “unread” content that the reader has yet to read. The portions vary in appearance (e.g., length, color, size, etc.) as the reader progresses through the eBook. Various example implementations of the visual representation are provided below with respect to
The bookmarking module 114 bookmarks a page so that the user may rapidly return to the page after viewing other pages. The bookmarking module 114 enables the user to select one or more pages to bookmark, and then associates a bookmark with these pages. The term “page” as used herein refers to a collection of content that is presented at one time in the touch-screen display 104. Thus, a “page” as described herein may be understood as a virtual frame of the content, or a visual display window presenting the content to the user. “Pages” as described herein are not fixed permanently, in contrast to the pages of published “hard” books. Instead, pages described herein may be redefined or repaginated when, for example, the user chooses a different font for displaying the content in the touch-screen display 104. Further, as noted above for scenarios involving other types of content items that may not have pages (e.g., movies, music, etc.), bookmarks may be applied to other frames, verses, scenes, and so forth.
The bookmark navigation module 116 facilitates navigation among the bookmarks within the eBook or other content item. The bookmark navigation module 116 allows the user to place the eBook reader device into a mode in which visual bookmark indicia are presented on the display 104 to assist in navigation throughout the eBook. The reader can touch one or more of these indicia and the eBook reader device jumps temporarily to the corresponding bookmarked location. The reader then has the choice to stay at this bookmarked location, choose another bookmarked location, or return to the original location. In this way, the navigation module 116 provides a user experience akin to the physical book experience where a reader holds a current place in the book, while flipping to another bookmarked location in the book for temporary reference. Various examples of bookmark navigation are described below with reference to
The chapter navigation module 118 facilitates navigation among chapters in the eBook or other logical sections in different content items. The chapter navigation module 118 provides various UI tactics to facilitate movement from a current location to one or more other chapters in the eBook. For instance, the reader may select (via a tap or touch on the touch-screen display) a predefined visual element on the screen to invoke a chapter navigation menu. As another approach, the chapter navigation module 118 permits the reader to interact with the visual representation of the split progress indicator 112 to jump to various chapters or relative positions within the chapters. In yet another approach, the module 118 supports a pattern or sequence of gestures on the touch-screen display to facilitate transition from chapter to chapter. In each case, the reader has the option to stay at the new chapter location, choose another chapter, or return to the original location. In this way, the chapter navigation module 118 may be configured to provide a user experience akin to the physical book experience where a reader holds a current place in the book, while flipping to other chapters in the book for temporary reference. Various examples of chapter navigation are described below with reference to
Split Progress Indicator UI
Recall from above that a “page” may be understood as a virtual frame of the content, or a visual display window presenting the content to the user. The pages presented and turned on the eBook reader device 102 may not correspond directly to the identical hard pages in the associated physical book. Depending on display capabilities, font size, and other such parameters, any given “page” displayed on the eBook reader device 102 may contain more or less text/graphics than the corresponding hard page. Thus, the pages are turned in the sense of changing from one display frame to another. A visual representation of a “page,” such as a page number or location identifier 202, may assist the user in distinguishing one page from another. Audio and/or haptic feedback may also be used to provide an indication of pages turning. For example, a sound of actual paper pages of a book being turned could be played each time the “page” of an eBook is turned.
The UI 200 further includes a split progress indicator 204 to represent the reader's progress through the content. The split progress indicator 204 may be used in place of, or in addition to, the location identifier 202. The split progress indicator 204 is composed of a first indicator portion 204(1) and a second indicator portion 204(2) arranged at separate and spaced locations on the screen. In
A percentage completion indicator 206 may also be provided in addition to the progress indicator 204 and the location identifier 202. In this example, the percentage completion indicator 206 is at “32%”, and the first indicator portion 204(1) has a height to represent that about one-third of the content precedes the current location and the second indicator portion 204(2) has a height to represent that about two-thirds of the content follows the current location.
The indicator portions 204(1) and 204(2) may be represented in any number of ways, including as elongated bars. In the illustrated implementation, each of the indicator portions 204(1) and 204(2) is formed as groups of individual segments. Each segment 208 represents a predetermined amount of content in the particular eBook. For instance, each segment 208 may represent a certain number of pages of locations, or it may represent a certain percentage of the content (e.g., 1% of the content). The segments 208 are arranged in groups 210 to represent logical sections of the content, such as chapters in an eBook. Thus, as shown in the enlarged view, a lower group 210 has four segments 208, and may be used to represent chapter 1 in an eBook. More generally, the first indicator portion 204(1) has three groups 210—a lower group of four segments to represent chapter 1, a middle group of six segments to represent chapter 2, and an upper group of three segments to represent all or part of chapter 3. In this example, chapter 2 (six segments) is 50% longer than chapter 1 (four segments). In this manner, the reader can glean information at a glance about her overall progress in the eBook, the location within the table of contents (i.e., what chapter she is in), and the relative size of the chapters.
In this example, the groupings of segments are organized around the internal structure of the eBook. In other implementations, the segments may be organized in other ways, such as according to a user centric perspective. For instance, the segments may represent various user interactions with the eBook (e.g., annotations, highlights, etc.) that occur before and after the current page being displayed.
As the reader progresses through the eBook, additional segments are added to the left-side indicator portion 204(1) and removed from the right-side indicator portion 204(2). Conversely, as the reader moves from back toward front of the eBook, additional segments are removed from the left-side indicator portion 204(1) and added to the right-side indicator portion 204(2).
The segments are represented graphically as tiny blocks or squares. Other shapes or indicia may be used. Additionally, rather than using individual segments, small bars may be used to represent each section (e.g., chapter) and the relative length of each bar represents the relative size of the corresponding section.
It should be noted that this visual layout is just one example implementation. The two progress indicator portions may be arranged in other places in the UI 200, such as aligned vertically down from the top of the device (rather than from bottom up). Alternatively, the indicator portions 204 may be arranged horizontally across the bottom and top, where the “read” portion grows across the top and the “unread” portion shrinks along the bottom as the reader progresses through the eBook. Two alternative examples are shown in
A bookmark activation region 212 is provided in the upper right hand corner of the UI 200. The reader may bookmark the current page by touching the region 212, or alternatively place the eBook reader device 102 into bookmark mode by pressing and holding this region 212. Placing bookmarks, and operating in bookmark mode, are described in more detail below with reference to
At 502, content is displayed on a touch-screen display 104 of the eBook reader device 102. The content may be from an eBook, such text, graphics, tables, and the like.
At 504, the split progress indicator is also presented on the display 104 in conjunction with the content. At 504(1), a first or “read” indicator portion is presented at a first location on the display 104. At 504(2), a second or “unread” indicator portion is presented at a second location on the display 104, which is spaced and separated from the first location. In the illustrated example involving UI 200, the “read” indicator portion 204(1) is presented vertically along the left side of the display 104 and the “unread” indicator portion 204(2) is presented vertically along the right side of the display 104. The indicator portions are shown on the eBook reader device 102(T1) at a time T1, where the reader is roughly one-third of the way through the eBook. This is evidenced by the “read” indicator portion 204(1) being roughly half the height of the “unread” indicator portion 204(2). At 504(3), sections of the eBook are represented as individual segments 208, which are arranged into groups to represent chapters or other logical delineations.
At 506, the “read” and “unread” indicator portions are dynamically adjusted in response to movement within the eBook. Thus, as the reader progresses forward through the eBook from front to back, the “read” indicator portion 204(1) grows taller, while the “unread” indicator portion 204(2) shrinks. The indicator portions are shown on the eBook reader device 102(T2) at a time T2, when the reader is much farther though the eBook and nearing the last chapter. This is evidenced by the “read” indicator portion 204(1) being substantially taller than the “unread” indicator portion 204(2), which is nearing the last grouping of segments 208.
Bookmark Navigation
The user interface subsystems 108 further allows the user to place bookmarks and navigate through the bookmarks.
The user may place a bookmark on this page by actuating the bookmark activation region 212 according to a predetermined action. For instance, the reader may briefly touch the region 212 using a finger 602. Other types of contact may be a swiping action, a press and hold, a stronger pressure, a double touch, and so forth, although these actions may be reserved for other operations.
The right-hand instance of the eBook reader device 102(T2) in
The reader may also place the eBook reader device 102 into bookmark navigation mode through another touching action. For instance, the reader may press and hold the bookmark activation region 212 to transition the device to bookmark navigation mode. Alternatively, various forms of pressure or multi-touch input may be used to place the device into the bookmark navigation mode. In yet another implementation, a touch of the region 212 in conjunction with a directional swiping gesture may be used to transition to the bookmark navigation mode. This latter implementation is demonstrated in the following
The right-hand instance of the eBook reader device 102(T2), taken at a time T2, shows a new UI representation 704 that is presented after the reader makes the touch and leftward swipe motion with her finger 602. In response, one or more bookmark indicia 706 are illustrated across the top margin of the display. In this example, the bookmark indicia 706 are represented by triangular icons to represent preceding pages that have been bookmarked. All or some of the preceding bookmarks are revealed, depending upon the number of bookmarks, size of the indicia 706, and the amount of viewable space available. In this illustration, five preceding bookmarks 706 are shown to represent five bookmarked locations prior to the currently displayed page.
The right-hand instance of the eBook reader device 102(T2), taken at a time T2, shows a new UI representation 804 that is presented on display 104 after the reader makes the touch and downward swipe motion with her finger 602. In response, one or more bookmark indicia 806 are illustrated vertically along the right margin of the display. In this example, the bookmark indicia 806 are represented by triangular icons to represent that certain subsequent pages are bookmarked. All or some of the subsequent bookmarks may be shown, depending upon the number of bookmarks, the size of the indicia 806, and the amount of viewable space available. In this illustration, there are five subsequent bookmarks 606 depicted to represent five bookmarked locations that occur in the eBook after the currently displayed page.
In each of the scenarios of
The bookmark indicator 1202 lends an intuitive understanding of preceding bookmarks and the relative distance of those bookmarks from the current page. The reader may move her finger 602 back and forth along the indicator 1202 to select one of the tally marks 1206(1)-(4) and thereby choose a preceding bookmarked location. The UI selects the tally mark closest to where the reader last touches, lifts her finger, applies added pressure, or performs some other action. In other implementations, chapter numbers or location identifiers may be presented in conjunction with the tally marks 1206(1)-(4), similar to those shown in
Although not shown, a similar bookmark indicator may be invoked by the reader moving her finger 602 vertically downward from the region 212. The vertical bookmark indicator will also have spaced tally marks to represent bookmarks that follow the current page, as well as relative distances between the bookmarks and from the current page.
Once the eBook reader device is placed in bookmark navigation mode represented, for example, by UIs 704, 804, and 904, the reader may select bookmarked locations using the bookmark indicia 706 or 806. The reader may choose one or more indicia and jump to various bookmarked locations in the eBook, without losing her current place in the eBook. For purposes of continuing discussion, suppose the eBook reader device 102 is placed into the bookmark navigation mode shown as UI 704 in
Notice also that the split progress indicator 204 has been adjusted. Since the reader selected a preceding bookmark toward the front of the eBook, the left-side indicator portion 204(1) shrunk in height to visually convey that the reader moved forward in the eBook, as there is now less content coming before the currently displayed location. Meanwhile, the right-side indicator portion 204(2) grew taller to visually convey that there is now more content coming after the currently displayed location.
The eBook reader device 102(T3) remains in bookmark navigation mode, and hence the bookmark indicia 706 and 806 remain visible. Thus, the relocation may be only temporary, as if the reader simply wished to reference a bookmarked location. In a sense, this action is akin to the physical scenario of holding one's place in the book, while flipping pages to a preceding bookmarked page. While in this mode, the reader may select one or more other bookmarks represented by the indicia 706 and 806 to move to associated bookmarked locations in the eBook. The eBook reader device 102(T3) remains in the bookmark navigation mode until explicitly instructed to leave the mode, or in some implementations, until a timeout period elapses.
In some implementations, the reader may move around in the content relative to this bookmarked location while the reader device 102 is in the bookmark navigation mode. Further, the reader may select other bookmarked locations by choosing one or more icons of the bookmark indicia 706 and 806.
When the reader wishes to exit the bookmark navigation mode, the reader may elect to return to the original location, as represented by UI 200 in
The discussion above describes various actions in response to touch contact. However, many alternative or additive gesture techniques may be used. For instance, gesture techniques such as press-and-hold, press-and-slide, swipe, application of varying amounts of pressure, tap, sequences of contacts, multi-touch, and the like may be used to operate the device. Further, the number of fingers or simultaneously touch locations used in any given gesture may alter the intended input.
At 1602, content is displayed on a touch-screen display 104 of the eBook reader device 102. The content may be from an eBook, such text, graphics, tables, and the like. The content represents a current location within the eBook, as represented by the UI 200 of the eBook reader device 102 taken at time T1.
At 1604, the eBook reader device is transitioned to the bookmark navigation mode. In one implementation, the reader touches the activation region 212 and then slides directionally from that region (to the left, downward, or diagonally). This touch-and-slide action places the eBook reader device into the bookmark navigation mode and reveals one or more existing bookmarks. One example UI 904 shows bookmark indicia 706 and 806 aligned along the top and right edges of the display, as represented by the eBook reader device 102(T2) from
There are several options for the reader while in the bookmark navigation mode. One option is to jump to one or more bookmarked locations by using the bookmark indicia 706 and 806 as navigation controls. The reader can jump from location to location, while maintaining her place at the current page shown in UI 200. One example of this navigation is described next.
At 1606, responsive to reader selection of a particular bookmark icon, the eBook reader device temporarily jumps to a bookmarked location in the eBook that corresponds with the selected bookmark icon. In one implementation, the reader touches, taps, or otherwise actuates a particular bookmark icon among the indicia 706 and 806. The display is refreshed to temporarily show the content located at the bookmark location. One example is shown by the eBook reader device 102(T3) taken at time T3 in
Another option is for the reader while in bookmark navigation mode is to simply read from the temporary bookmark location. The reader may begin reading and turn pages as if starting from that location. Still another option is that the reader may decide to perform other functions at the bookmarked location, such as refocusing the content. Suppose, for example, the bookmarked location does not show table or graph in its entirety, and hence the reader may adjust the view until all or other portions of the table are shown. One example of this operation is described next.
At 1608, the reader may optionally touch spots within the content. In response to this user input, the eBook reader device refocuses the content. In one implementation, the reader touches or otherwise gestures to a particular spot in the content, as represented by the touch applied mid-page in
The reader may always leave the bookmark navigation mode and return to the normal mode. In one implementation, the reader may simply return to the current page at UI 200 and leave the bookmark navigation mode. In another implementation, the eBook reader device may return to the original page following a timeout period in which the reader did not interact with the eBook reader device. Another option, however, is to remain permanently at the bookmarked location and leave the bookmark navigation mode. This example option is described next.
At 1610, the reader may optionally remain at the bookmarked location permanently, rather than temporarily, but transition back to normal mode. In one implementation, the reader touches the bookmark icon 1302 a second time, as represented by the touch applied in
Chapter Navigation
With reference again to
When the user actuates the control 1702 via a touch or gesture with her finger 602, a chapter navigation panel 1704 is presented on the display 104, as shown by the right-hand instance of the eBook reader device 102(T1) taken at time T2. The chapter navigation panel 1704 may fill the entire display 104, or otherwise illustrated as being overlaid atop the underlying page of the eBook. In this example, the chapter navigation panel 1704 includes a book title 1706 and a table of contents 1708 containing a listing of various chapters and the corresponding locations of the eBook given the current device settings (e.g., font size, screen size, etc.).
To facilitate chapter navigation, the user may simply touch or otherwise gesture to one of the chapters listed in the table of contents 1708. For instance, the user may touch “Chapter 4” in the table of contents 1708 and the eBook reader device jumps to the start of Chapter 4 and depicts this new page on the display 104. In other implementations, other forms of navigation control may be employed. For example, one implementation involves having a controllable focus 1710 that can be maneuvered over the panel 1704 using one or more control elements (e.g., keyboard, joystick, touch, gesture, etc.). The user may move the focus 1710 up and down over the table of contents 1708 to identify a desired chapter to which the user wishes to navigate. In this example, the focus 1710 is positioned over chapter 8 and upon user selection, the eBook reader device 102 will move to the start of Chapter 8 from its current location.
In response to this action, the eBook reader device 102 navigates to chapter 2, either at the beginning of the chapter or somewhere within the chapter. In this example, the user touches somewhere near the middle of the segment grouping in indicator portion 204(1) and hence the eBook reader device 102 interprets that action as a desire to transition to somewhere in the middle of chapter 2 proportional to the contact location within the segment grouping. Thus, right-hand instance of the eBook reader device 102(T2) in
The user may then continue to move to new chapters by touching other parts of the split progress indicator 204. Alternatively, the user may return to the previous page by using a back button control on the device, or a soft key that may be depicted (not shown), or some other predefined action.
The user initiates a chapter navigation operation by tracing a pattern onto the touch-screen display 104. Each pattern consists of a sequence of non-linear strokes that are made contiguously without the user lifting her finger 602 (or stylus) once the sequence is started. In this example, a chapter navigation pattern 1902 is shown as a sequence of orthogonal strokes made vertically and horizontally on the display 104. More specifically, the pattern 1902 includes a leftward horizontal stroke 1904 to an anchor point 1906 represented by the hashed square. This is followed by a downward vertical stoke 1908 to a juncture “A”, which is followed by a rightward horizontal stroke 1910 to another juncture “B”, and finally followed by a downward vertical stroke 1912 to yet another juncture “C”.
The anchor point 1906 indicates the point that separates a normal gesture, such as turning a page by swiping from right-to-left, to a chapter navigation pattern. By pausing and changing directions at the anchor point 1906, the user is instructing the eBook reader device to switch to a chapter navigation mode. Further, the anchor point serves as a place to which the user may return to remain at the same location in the eBook, essentially canceling the previous strokes. That is, retracing the various strokes 1912, 1910, and 1908 without lifting finger 602 would leave the user at the present location in the eBook.
Each subsequent stroke following the anchor point 1906 provides an additional navigation instruction to the device. In this example, vertical strokes move chapter-to-chapter. A downward vertical stroke (e.g., strokes 1908 and 1912) advances one chapter at a time toward the end of the eBook. An upward vertical stroke (not shown) moves one chapter at a time toward the beginning of the eBook. Additionally, horizontal stokes move a single page forward (for a left-to-right motion) and a single page backward (for a right-to-left motion).
Three example outcomes of corresponding chapter navigation patterns are illustrated in
The converse of the patterns results in chapter navigation toward earlier chapters in the book (if any). For instance, after the stroke 1904 to the anchor point 1906, the user may trace a vertically upward stroke to direct the eBook reader device 102(T1) to move to the preceding chapter (i.e., chapter 2). Alternatively, this action may be configured to move to the start of the current chapter (i.e., chapter 3).
Once in the chapter navigation pattern 2000, the four directional strokes 2004-2010 perform various navigation operations. In one implementation, the downward stroke 2004 directs the device to move to the next chapter, and the upward stroke 2008 directs the device to move to the preceding chapter (or start of the current chapter, depending upon configuration). The rightward stroke 2006 and the leftward stroke 2010 direct the device to move one page forward or one page backward, respectively. It is noted, however, that the strokes may perform other functions, such as skipping multiple chapters, or moving to the middle of a chapter, or invoking smaller navigation panels (like the panel 1704 shown in
The chapter navigation pattern 2000 may be cascaded to implement more complex or sophisticated operations. For instance, once the user arrives at point A following the downward stroke 2004, the user may trace along any one of another set of four paths in the secondary pattern 2012. That is, from point A, the user may make one of four additional strokes to initiate further chapter navigation operations, including a downward stroke 2014 to point 1, a rightward stroke 2016 to point 2, an upward stroke 2018 to point 3, and a leftward stroke 2020 to point 4. These secondary strokes, when coupled with the first set of primary strokes in pattern 2000, direct the device to perform an additional operation. For instance, the combination of the primary downward stroke 2004 and the secondary downward stroke 2014 may be configured to direct the eBook reader device to move two chapters forward.
As shown in
It is noted that pattern 2000 is merely one example pattern that may be used to implement chapter navigation on a touch-screen display 104. The example pattern 2000 is not intended to be limiting. Other patterns may be employed, such as an “X” shaped pattern, or other path shapes that have more or less than four stokes. Further, other results may be assigned to the various sequences of strokes.
At 2104, the split progress indicator and chapter navigation control are presented on the display 104 in conjunction with the content.
At 2106, user input via the touch-screen display is received to initiate chapter navigation. There are multiple ways to utilize the touch-screen user interface to facilitate chapter navigation. Three techniques are described for example purposes in
At 2106(2), in another possible way to navigate chapters, the user may select a portion of the split progress indicator to move to a different chapter, as shown and described with reference to
At 2106(3), in yet another possible way to navigate chapters, the device may detect a pattern traced on the touch-screen display. One example set of patterns is shown and described above with respect to
At 2108, following any one of these navigation techniques, the device moves the content to a new chapter. This is represented by the new page 2126 (i.e., chapter 4) being shown on the display of the device 102(T2) at a time T2 after the user input in any of the acts 2106(1)-(3).
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as exemplary forms of implementing the claims.
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