Patent Application
20110115819
The present disclosure relates to the field of mobile wireless communications devices and, more particularly, to the use of rapid serial visual presentation to display content on mobile wireless communications devices.
Wireless communications systems continue to grow in popularity and have become an integral part of both personal and business communications. Mobile wireless communications devices allow users to place and receive voice calls most anywhere they travel. Moreover, as technology has increased, so too has the functionality of mobile wireless communications devices and the different types of devices available to users. For example, many mobile wireless communications devices now incorporate personal digital assistant (PDA) features such as calendars, address books, task lists, etc. Moreover, such mobile wireless communications devices may also allow users to wirelessly send and receive electronic mail (e-mail) messages or other text messages. Mobile wireless communications devices may further enable users to access the Internet via a cellular network and/or a wireless local area network (WLAN), for example.
As a result, users continue to spend more time using their mobile wireless communications devices during the course of a day performing reading e-mails, reading web sites, sending short message service (SMS) messages, etc., as opposed to early mobile wireless communications devices that were used only for voice calls. The use of a mobile wireless communications device for such functions, however, may present certain inconveniences to a user. For example, the display area of a mobile wireless communications device may be limited, which may increase the time spent reading an e-mail or web site, as the user may have to scroll through multiple pages to read the entire e-mail or web site. Additionally, a user with impaired vision or who requires reading glasses may have a difficult time reading smaller text on a display of a mobile wireless communications device. Accordingly, new methods of displaying content on a mobile wireless communications devices are desirable.
Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) is a method of displaying textual content in which each word of the textual content is displayed in sequential order, one at a time, at a certain display rate, at a fixed location on a display. RSVP has been shown to increase a user's reading speed by removing the need for the users to move their eyes. As used herein, however, RSVP does not necessarily connote rapid displays of text or text displayed at any particular display rate. The display rate for text may be slow in some cases, enabling users having impaired vision to see the text.
Due to the limited display area required by RSVP, efforts have been made to adapt RSVP to mobile wireless communications devices to thereby allow a user to view textual content more quickly. “Reading Phone Text One Words at a Time”, by Fried et al. (http://news.cnet.com/2100-1046 3-5785579.html) discloses the use of RSVP to display textual content on the display of a mobile wireless communications device. In addition, this reference suggests the display of different word types for different periods of time, for example, displaying prepositions for a shorter period of time than proper nouns. Ways to take further advantage of the reading speed increase offered by RSVP may, however, be desirable.
U.S. Pat. Pub. 2007/0061720 to Kriger discloses a communications system comprising a network, a content provider, an RSVP server, and a mobile wireless communications device. The user may send a content request to the RSVP server via the mobile wireless communications device. The RSVP server then retrieves the content from the content provider, processes the content, and sends it to the mobile wireless communications device so that the mobile wireless communications device displays the content to the user with RSVP. This communications system, however, connects to a network and uses a RSVP server to format the content appropriately.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,159,172 to Bentley et al. discloses a device to display content to a user in a window using rapid serial visual presentation. To provide contextual information, a thumbnail view of the content is also generated and displayed in a separate window to indicate the location in the section of text of the word currently displayed using RSVP. This contextual information may increase the reading speed obtainable by a user. However, the display of a mobile wireless communications device may lack the size to properly implement the thumbnail views of Bentley et al.
Despite these advances in the adaptation of RSVP to mobile wireless communications devices, a desire remains for new techniques and methods of RSVP that further increase a user's reading speed and that may take advantage of various features of today's cellular phones.
a shows a portion of a keypad of a mobile wireless communications device for dynamically adjusting RSVP playback of the textual content in accordance with the present disclosure.
b shows the control scheme implemented by the keypad of
The present description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which various example embodiments are shown. However, many different example embodiments may be used, and thus the description should not be construed as limited to the example embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these example embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout, and prime notation is used to indicate similar elements or steps in alternative example embodiments.
A mobile wireless communications device may comprise a wireless transceiver, a display having an available display area, and a memory. A processor may cooperate with the wireless transceiver for downloading textual content comprising a plurality of words and storing the textual content in the memory. The processor may also cooperate with the memory for generating successive fragments of the textual content, each fragment comprising at least one word, and searching the successive fragments to locate a longest fragment. The processor may further determine a selected font in which the longest fragment can be displayed on the display area of the display. The processor may use rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) for displaying on the display area of the display the successive fragments of the textual content in the selected font.
The selected font may be a largest font in which the longest fragment can be displayed on the display area of the display. In addition, the selected font may have a font style and a font size. Moreover, the selected font may be a largest font size for a given font style in which the longest fragment can be displayed on the display area of the display.
The mobile wireless communications device may include an orientation sensor such as an accelerometer, a gravity sensor, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, an electronic compass, or other suitable sensor, or combinations thereof. The orientation sensor generates a signal as a function of the orientation of the mobile wireless communications device with respect to the environment. An accelerometer, for example, is a sensor that converts acceleration from motion and gravity, which are detected by one or more sensing elements, into one or more digital or analog electrical signals.
The processor may also determine a physical orientation of the mobile wireless communications device from among a plurality of different physical orientations and based upon the orientation sensor, and may determine the selected font based upon the physical orientation. The different physical orientations may comprise portrait, landscape, and diagonal orientations. The textual content may include at least one of an electronic mail message, short message service (SMS) message, a web page, a web feed, and a document.
A method aspect is directed to a method of displaying textual content comprising a plurality of words on a mobile wireless communications device. The method may comprise downloading the textual content using a wireless transceiver and generating, using a processor, successive fragments of the textual content, each fragment comprising at least one word. The method may further include searching, using the processor, the successive fragments to locate a longest fragment.
Moreover, the method may include determining, using the processor, a selected font in which the longest fragment can be displayed on a display area of a display of the mobile wireless communications device. The method may also include displaying on the display area of the display the successive fragments of the textual content in the selected font and using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP).
With reference to
This disclosure is not limited to any particular mobile device, but may apply to any of several kinds of mobile devices. In addition, a more detailed example of a mobile device will be described with respect to
The processor 17 cooperates with the memory 15 and the wireless transceiver 14 for communicating with a remote server 21. The mobile wireless communications device 21 may also communicate with at least one remote server 21. The remote server 21 illustratively stores textual content comprising a plurality of words. The textual content may be, for example, an electronic mail (e-mail) message, short message service (SMS) message, a web page, a web feed, closed captions of a video file, and/or a document.
The processor 17 cooperates with the wireless transceiver 14 for downloading from the remote server 21, via the wireless network 20, the textual content and storing the textual content in the memory 15. The processor 17 cooperates with the memory 15 for generating successive fragments of the textual content, each fragment typically comprising at least one word. Some fragments may be only one word while other fragments may be two or more words.
In one example embodiment, the processor 17 identifies a longest fragment, from the fragments of the textual content. The processor 17 determines a selected font in which the longest fragment can be displayed on the display area of the display 13 based upon the size of the display area. This may be particularly advantageous because it may be undesirable for a word of the longest fragment to be hyphenated or for a word of the longest fragment to be cut off or displayed in part.
The selected font has a font size and a font style, for example, 18 point Times New Roman. The processor 17 selects a font comprising a font size for a given font style in which the longest fragment can be displayed on the display area of the display 13. In some example embodiments, the processor 17 selects the font style as well. The processor 17 may have access to information about font styles, font sizes and the capabilities of the display 13 that is stored in the memory 15. Using this information, the processor 17 can make calculations or determinations about whether a fragment of text can be fully displayed on the display 13 in a font style, with a font size, and with a device orientation. Different font styles of the same font size may take up a different amounts of space on a display 13. In some applications, a selected font size may be a largest font size for a given font style in which the longest fragment can be displayed on the display area. As will be discussed below, the processor 17 may also be responsive to commands from the user to change aspects of the displayed text, such as the font size.
The processor 17 cooperates with the memory 15 for using RSVP for displaying on the display area of the display 13 the successive fragments of the textual content in the selected font. Displaying the textual content using RSVP advantageously allows a user to read the textual content more quickly, since eye movement is not required. Further, RSVP may be particularly useful when displaying textual content to a user who has less than optimal vision (e.g. a user who typically needs reading glasses) because a much larger font size may be used when displaying one fragment at a time as opposed to displaying the entire textual content simultaneously.
An example of the display of textual content on the display 13 of the mobile wireless communications device 12 is shown in
The processor 17 may receive user input via the input device 16 of a desired RSVP font. The processor 17 may then use the desired RSVP font for the display of textual content using RSVP, but may switch back to a previous font when RSVP is completed. That is, a user may set a desired font to be used only for RSVP and that font setting may not affect display of other textual content when the processor 17 is not using RSVP. As will be describe below, the user may also provide input via the input device 16 that may change an aspect of the font, such as font size, during the display of text fragments using RSVP.
Another example of the display of textual content on the display 13 of the mobile wireless communications device 12 is shown in
A further example of the display of textual content on the display 13 of the mobile wireless communications device 12 is shown in
In this diagonal orientation, a larger size font may be usable to display the longest fragment than was used in either portrait orientation or landscape orientation. For example, if the display 13 has a 4:3 aspect ratio, it has a length of four units, a width of three units, and a diagonal of five units. Fragments of text displayed along a diagonal, therefore, may have significantly more space than the same fragments displayed in landscape mode or in portrait mode. The fragments may therefore be presented in a larger font size, making them easier to read.
In some example embodiments, the processor 17 may display text along a diagonal 19a, 19b of the display 13 regardless of the actual physical orientation of the display. The compact nature of many wireless communications devices 12 enables them to be held in a user's hand and readily maneuvered into a position in which display of text along a diagonal 19a, 19b may be more easily readable. In still further example embodiments, the processor 17 may display text along a first diagonal 19a of display 13 when the mobile wireless communications device 12 is in a first orientation, and may display text along a second diagonal 19b of display 13 when the mobile wireless communications device 12 is in a second orientation.
As depicted in
With reference to the flowchart 30 in
At Block 35, an orientation of the display is detected via an orientation sensor. At Block 36, a selected font in which the longest fragment can be displayed on a display area of a display of the mobile wireless communications device is determined. Typically, selecting the font includes selecting a font style and a font size. In some implementations, the font style may be pre-selected, that is, the font style may be a default font style or a font style previously selected by a user for presentation of text in this fashion. A font may be selected for any number of features. For example, a serif font may be favored as being less likely to confuse the capital “I,” the numeral “1” and the lower case letter “l.” The amount of space available in display area for the longest fragment may therefore be a function of the orientation of the display. A larger font size may be selected when the display is in landscape orientation as opposed to portrait orientation, and a still larger font size may be selected when the display is between landscape orientation and portrait orientation.
At Block 37, the successive fragments of the textual content are displayed on the display area of the display in the selected font and using rapid serial visual presentation. The fragments may be displayed in portrait mode, landscape mode, or along a diagonal. Optionally, the successive fragments of the textual content are displayed based upon the orientation of the display. If display of the textual content is complete at Block 38, the method ends at Block 39. If display of the textual content is incomplete at Block 38, the orientation of the display is against determined at Block 35 and the method continues therefrom until display of the textual content is complete. Block 39 indicates the end of the method.
With reference to flowchart 40 in
This step is performed because studies have shown that not all words are read with equal care. For example, articles, prepositions, and various short words (e.g. “that,” “this,” “is,” “are,” “do”) are read more quickly than other words. At Block 42b, fragments of textual content are generated based upon types of successive words, and at Block 42c, fragments that can be read quickly are identified.
A collection of words that are less carefully read can be stored in a lookup table. In the generation of fragments based upon types of successive words, a regular word may be combined with a word that is less carefully read, such as “a computer.” A fragment, which may be a single word or may be two or more words, may be encountered that includes mostly words that are not carefully read. Such fragments may be used to generate a fragment that can be read very quickly.
As an illustration, the textual content may be the sentence “I am the monarch of the sea.” A first fragment may be generated that comprises three short, quickly readable words, “I am the” and form a first text fragment from these three words. The first fragment may be identified as one that can be read quickly. A second fragment may be generated from a single word, “monarch.” Since monarch is a longer word, and since it is unlikely to be in the table of words that are quickly read, the word “monarch” can be a fragment by itself. A third fragment may be generated from the next two words, “of the,” and may further identify the third fragment as one that can be read quickly. In addition, a fourth fragment may be generated from a single word, “sea.” Although “sea” is a short word, “sea” may be separated into fragment distinct from “of the” because “sea” may not be in the table of easily readable words.
In this way, the successive fragments are generated based upon characteristics of the words in the textual content. Characteristics include word lengths (generally a function of the number of letters in the word or its length when written in a particular font), word frequencies (generally the number of times that a word appears in the textual content, with frequently repeated words often being more capable of being quickly read), and/or whether or not a word or combination of words can be more quickly read than ordinary words. A further characteristic is word occurrence, which is similar to word frequency. In general, word occurrence pertains to the number that a word has been displayed during RSVP. Since a user may learn a word after reading it multiple times (and thus be able to read it more quickly), the display rate of a fragment containing a word that has been displayed a given number of times may be changed. In text content that repeatedly uses the word “computer,” for example, the first occurrence of a fragment comprising “computer” might be displayed at the second, slower, rate, as may the second, third and fourth occurrences of a fragment comprising “computer.” The fifth occurrence, however, may be identified as being quickly readable, because the word “computer” has appeared several times already. As a result, the first, faster, display rate to the fifth occurrence of a fragment comprising “computer,” as well as to subsequent fragments.
At Block 43, the fragments of the textual content are displayed using rapid serial visual presentation. As further shown by Blocks 43a and 43b of
Varying the display rates (or the inverse, the display periods) of successive fragments is particularly advantageous as it allows an even greater increase in reading speed. Words that can be read more quickly are presented more quickly. Further, by combining two or more quickly readable words into a single fragment, reading speed can be increased even further. Accordingly, the RSVP methods of the present example embodiment may allow a user to read textual content even more quickly than would be possible with other RSVP techniques.
Operation of a mobile wireless communications device 12 according to the present disclosure is illustrated in the example of
As illustrated in
In
In some example embodiments, the display of the dialog box 55′ may be omitted, or may be supplemented with a further display, such as a “get-ready” presentation 60′ as shown in
As depicted in
As depicted in
In some example embodiments, the mobile wireless communications device 12′ may interpret a change in orientation as an input. That is, a user may tilt, shake, or otherwise move the mobile wireless communications device 12′ in a given direction and the mobile wireless communications device 12′, using its orientation sensor to sense these movements, may then interpret these movements as a command to change a display characteristic. Such gesture-based inputs may be used to dynamically adjust other display characteristics of the RSVP, for example, to increase or decrease the rate at which fragments are displayed on the display 13′. Additionally, the RSVP may be rewound, advanced, paused, restarted, or stopped in response to these gesture inputs. Moreover, the font style and font size used for RSVP may be adjusted with these gesture inputs.
Instead of or in addition to the gesture-based inputs, the mobile wireless communications device 12′ may receive user input via one or more of the input devices 16a′, 16b′.
For example, as shown in
One potential advantage of the mapping 77 is that keys assigned to related functions are close to one another on the keypad 16a′. Thus, the key commanding the font to be enlarged is above the key commanding the font to be decreased. A further potential advantage is that the functions are mnemonically related to the letters, “S” to “slower,” “F” to “faster, “R” to “rewind,” and so forth. Icons such as the arrows shown in mapping 77 may be printed on the actual keys to further remind the user of the mapping of the functions.
The “rewind” function may, for example, jump backward in the RSVP display by a set time or set number of fragments. Activation of the “rewind” function can typically better serve the user as an “instant replay” of the past few fragments, allowing the user an opportunity to catch text that the user may have missed the first time. Activation of the “rewind” function will not necessarily run the fragments in reverse order. Further, activation of the “wait” function can be adapted to present text fragments according to commands from the user. In other words, the user activates the “wait” function (it may also be mnemonically called the “word” function) to display each fragment, and the mobile wireless communications device 12′ will not present a successive fragment until commanded to do so by the user.
During RSVP, the mobile wireless communications device 12′ may provide a user with audio feedback indicating the rate at which fragments are being displayed with RSVP. For example, the mobile wireless communications device 12′ may cause a speaker to emit a tick or other sound when each fragment is displayed. User feedback may also comprise visual feedback on the display 13′. As illustrated in
With reference to the flowchart 80 of
Those skilled in the art will understand that display of fragments via RSVP may also include displaying an indicator of the display rate, as described above. Display of fragments via RSVP may further include receiving user commands to change a parameter of the RSVP display, and obeying the command, as described above. Display of fragments via RSVP may additionally include detecting an orientation or a change in orientation of the display, and adjusting the presentation of text fragments as a function of the orientation or change in orientation, as was described above.
It should be understood that the RSVP techniques of the aforementioned example embodiments may be used together in combination and that features of these example embodiments are not mutually exclusive. For example, successive fragments may be generated based upon word lengths and/or word types, and a selected font in which the longest fragment may be displayed be determined. RSVP may then be used to display the fragments, and the display periods of successive fragments may be varied based upon associated fragment characteristics.
Exemplary components of a hand-held mobile wireless communications device 1000 that may be used in accordance with the present disclosure are further described in the example below with reference to
The housing 1200 may be elongated vertically, or may take on other sizes and shapes (including clamshell housing structures). The keypad 1400 may include a mode selection key, or other hardware or software for switching between text entry and telephony entry.
In addition to the processing device 1800, other parts of the mobile device 1000 are shown schematically in
Operating system software executed by the processing device 1800 may be stored in a persistent store, such as the flash memory 1160, but may be stored in other types of memory devices, such as a read only memory (ROM) or similar storage element. In addition, system software, specific device applications, or parts thereof, may be temporarily loaded into a volatile store, such as the random access memory (RAM) 1180. Communications signals received by the mobile device may also be stored in the RAM 1180.
The processing device 1800, in addition to its operating system functions, enables execution of software applications 1300A-1300N on the device 1000. A predetermined set of applications that control basic device operations, such as data and voice communications 1300A and 1300B, may be installed on the device 1000 during manufacture. In addition, a personal information manager (PIM) application may be installed during manufacture. The PIM may be capable of organizing and managing data items, such as e-mail, calendar events, voice mails, appointments, and task items. The PIM application may also be capable of sending and receiving data items via a wireless network 1401. The PIM data items may be seamlessly integrated, synchronized and updated via the wireless network 1401 with the device user's corresponding data items stored or associated with a host computer system.
Communication functions, including data and voice communications, are performed through the communications subsystem 1001, and possibly through the short-range communications subsystem. The communications subsystem 1001 includes a receiver 1500, a transmitter 1520, and one or more antennas 1540 and 1560. In addition, the communications subsystem 1001 also includes a processing module, such as a digital signal processor (DSP) 1580, and local oscillators (LOs) 1601. The specific design and implementation of the communications subsystem 1001 is dependent upon the communications network in which the mobile device 1000 is intended to operate. For example, a mobile device 1000 may include a communications subsystem 1001 designed to operate with the Mobitex™, Data TAC™ or General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) mobile data communications networks, and also designed to operate with any of a variety of voice communications networks, such as AMPS, TDMA, CDMA, WCDMA, PCS, GSM, EDGE, etc. Other types of data and voice networks, both separate and integrated, may also be utilized with the mobile device 1000. The mobile device 1000 may also be compliant with other communications standards such as 3GSM, 3G, UMTS, 4G, etc.
Network access requirements vary depending upon the type of communication system. For example, in the Mobitex and DataTAC networks, mobile devices are registered on the network using a unique personal identification number or PIN associated with each device. In GPRS networks, however, network access is associated with a subscriber or user of a device. A GPRS device therefore utilizes a subscriber identity module, commonly referred to as a SIM card, in order to operate on a GPRS network.
When required network registration or activation procedures have been completed, the mobile device 1000 may send and receive communications signals over the communication network 1401. Signals received from the communications network 1401 by the antenna 1540 are routed to the receiver 1500, which provides for signal amplification, frequency down conversion, filtering, channel selection, etc., and may also provide analog to digital conversion. Analog-to-digital conversion of the received signal allows the DSP 1580 to perform more complex communications functions, such as demodulation and decoding. In a similar manner, signals to be transmitted to the network 1401 are processed (e.g. modulated and encoded) by the DSP 1580 and are then provided to the transmitter 1520 for digital to analog conversion, frequency up conversion, filtering, amplification and transmission to the communication network 1401 (or networks) via the antenna 1560.
In addition to processing communications signals, the DSP 1580 provides for control of the receiver 1500 and the transmitter 1520. For example, gains applied to communications signals in the receiver 1500 and transmitter 1520 may be adaptively controlled through automatic gain control algorithms implemented in the DSP 1580.
In a data communications mode, a received signal, such as a text message or web page download, is processed by the communications subsystem 1001 and is input to the processing device 1800. The received signal is then further processed by the processing device 1800 for an output to the display 1600, or alternatively to some other auxiliary I/O device 1060. A device user may also compose data items, such as e-mail messages, using the keypad 1400 and/or some other auxiliary I/O device 1060, such as a touchpad, a rocker switch, a thumb-wheel, track ball, or some other type of input device. The composed data items may then be transmitted over the communications network 1401 via the communications subsystem 1001.
In a voice communications mode, overall operation of the device is substantially similar to the data communications mode, except that received signals are output to a speaker 1100, and signals for transmission are generated by a microphone 1120. Alternative voice or audio I/O subsystems, such as a voice message recording subsystem, may also be implemented on the device 1000. In addition, the display 1600 may also be utilized in voice communications mode, for example to display the identity of a calling party, the duration of a voice call, or other voice call related information.
The short-range communications subsystem enables communication between the mobile device 1000 and other proximate systems or devices, which need not necessarily be similar devices. For example, the short-range communications subsystem may include an infrared device and associated circuits and components, or a Bluetooth™ communications module to provide for communication with similarly-enabled systems and devices.
Many modifications and other example embodiments of the disclosure will come to the mind of one skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed, and that modifications and embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.
