Patent Grant
8700384
Electronic distribution of information has gained in importance with the proliferation of personal computers and has undergone a tremendous upsurge in popularity as the Internet has become widely available. With the widespread use of the Internet, it has become possible to distribute large, coherent units of information using electronic technologies.
Advances in electronic and computer-related technologies have permitted computers to be packaged into smaller and more powerful electronic devices. An electronic device may be used to receive and process information. The electronic device may provide compact storage of the information as well as ease of access to the information. For example, a single electronic device may store a large quantity of information that might be downloaded at any time via the Internet. In addition, the electronic device may be backed up so that physical damage to the device does not necessarily correspond to a loss of the information stored on the device.
In addition, a user may interact with the electronic device. For example, the user may read information that is displayed by the electronic device. Further, the user may instruct the device to display a specific piece of information stored on the electronic device. Benefits may be realized from improved systems and methods for interacting with an electronic device.
A method for displaying a combination of languages for digital content in an electronic device is described. First digital content comprising a plurality of words in a primary language is received. Second digital content comprising a plurality of words in a secondary language is received. A combination of the primary language and the secondary language is determined. The combination of the primary language and the secondary language is displayed.
The electronic device may be a wireless electronic device. In addition, the electronic device may be an eBook reader.
In one configuration, the first digital content may include mapping content. The mapping content may map a word in the first digital content to a translated word in the second digital content. The mapping content may also map a phrase in the first digital content to a translated phrase in the second digital content. Determining the combination of the primary language and the secondary language may include using the mapping content.
In one embodiment, the first digital content and the second digital content may be received at the same time.
An electronic device that is configured to display a combination of languages for digital content is also described. The electronic device includes a processor and memory in electronic communication with the processor. Executable instructions are stored in the memory. The instructions include instructions to access first digital content comprising a plurality of words in a primary language. Instructions to access second digital content comprising a plurality of words in a secondary language are also stored in the memory. Instructions determine a combination of the primary language and the secondary language. The instructions also include instructions to display the combination of the primary language and the secondary language.
A computer-readable medium comprising executable instructions is also described. The instructions include instructions to receive first digital content comprising a plurality of words in a primary language. Instructions to receive second digital content comprising a plurality of words in a secondary language are also stored in the memory. Instructions determine a combination of the primary language and the secondary language. The instructions also include instructions to display the combination of the primary language and the secondary language.
An electronic device that is configured to display a combination of languages for digital content is also described. The electronic device includes means for receiving first digital content comprising a plurality of words in a primary language. Means for receiving second digital content comprising a plurality of words in a secondary language are also included. The device also includes means for determining a combination of the primary language and the secondary language and means for displaying the combination of the primary language and the secondary language.
The language enhanced digital content 106 may reside on the server 102 to be distributed to a device 104 and may include various kinds of electronic books or digital content. Electronic books (“eBooks”) are digital works.
The terms “eBook” and “e-book” are used synonymously and, as used herein, may include any type of content including textual information. By way of illustration, without limitation, eBooks may include all forms of textual information such as books, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, periodicals, journals, reference materials, telephone books, textbooks, anthologies, proceedings of meetings, forms, directories, maps, manuals, guides, references, photographs, articles, reports, documents, etc. It may be stored in any electronic format known in the art that is readable by an electronic device.
The terms “digital work” and “digital content” are used synonymously and, as used herein, may include any type of content which may be stored and distributed in digital form. By way of illustration, without limitation, digital content and digital works may include all forms of content or information that can be stored and/or read by a computing device such as eBooks and all forms of audio and audiovisual works such as music, multimedia presentations, audio books, movies, etc. The digital content itself may be the text of an eBook. It may be stored in any electronic format known in the art that is readable by an electronic device. The term “language enhanced digital content” may be used to describe digital content that includes or is associated with mapping content (discussed below).
The language enhanced digital content 106 may be sent to the electronic device 104 (discussed in detail below). A viewer 108 may reside on the electronic device 104 for displaying, presenting, playing or otherwise reproducing the language enhanced digital content 106. This may involve visually displaying information or playing audio relating to the language enhanced digital content, or a combination of both. For instance, the viewer 108 may display the text of an eBook on a screen for a user to view or play a music file for the user to hear. The viewer 108 may use a language conversion module 110 to process the language enhanced digital content 106 for viewing. For example, in one configuration the language conversion module 110 may operate to transform or convert the display of language enhanced digital content 106 from a primary language into a hybrid of the primary language and a secondary language. The functionality of the language conversion module 110 will be discussed in further detail below.
In addition to the language enhanced digital content 206, the server 202 may include an online shopping interface 214. The online shopping interface 214 may allow one more electronic devices 204 to communicate with the server 202 over a network 211, such as the Internet, and to further interact with the language enhanced digital content 206. This may involve a user of an electronic device 204 viewing, sampling, purchasing, or downloading the language enhanced digital content 206.
As discussed above in relation to
The language A version of language enhanced digital content 318a may include digital content in a first or primary language. The language B version of language enhanced digital content 318b may include digital content in a second or secondary language. In one example, the language A version of language enhanced digital content 318a may include the “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone” eBook in the English language, and the language B version of language enhanced digital content 318b may include the “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone” eBook in the Spanish language.
The language A version of language enhanced digital content 318a may include mapping content 320a. The mapping content 320a may provide mapping information from the language A version of language enhanced digital content 318a to the language B version of language enhanced digital content 318b. The mapping content 320a may link one or more words or phrases in the language A version of language enhanced digital content 318a to their counterpart words or phrases in the language B version of language enhanced digital content 318b. For example, the mapping content 320a may map the simple nouns in the first sentence of the first chapter in the English version to the corresponding simple nouns in the first sentence of the first chapter in the Spanish version. The mapping content 320a may also map groups of words together.
The language B version of language enhanced digital content 318b may also include mapping content 320b. The mapping content 320b in the language B version 318b may provide mapping information from the language B version of language enhanced digital content 318b to the language A version of language enhanced digital content 318a.
In one possible configuration, the different language versions may be included in the same enhanced digital content. For example, in this possible configuration a piece of enhanced digital content may include both a language A version and a language B version. In addition, the mapping content may also be included within the enhanced digital content. Thus, a single encapsulated file or container may include multiple language versions of digital content.
A further configuration may include three or more language versions in the same enhanced digital content. The present systems and methods may also be used with three or more language versions in more than one piece of enhanced digital content. Such configurations may allow a user to select the languages he or she wishes to view. For each additional language version included, additional mapping content may also be included to provide the mapping information for the additional language.
The electronic device 304 may receive the language A version of language enhanced digital content 328a and the language B version of language enhanced digital content 328b from the server 302. This may be in response to a user of the electronic device 304 interacting with the online shopping interface 314 residing on the server 302. As an example, a user of an eBook reader might purchase an eBook from a server 302 and then receive the eBook in the form of language enhanced digital content 328.
The electronic device 304 may include a viewer 308 that displays or presents the language enhanced digital content 328. The viewer 308 may include a language conversion module 310 that transforms or converts the display of language enhanced digital content from the first language into a combination of the first language and the second language using the mapping content 330a from the language A version of language enhanced digital content 328a and using the mapping content 330b from the language B version of language enhanced digital content 328b.
The language conversion module 310 is shown in
The language conversion module 410 may not be part of the viewer 408. In the implementation illustrated in
The server 502 may include two or more digital content files 518: language A version of digital content 518a and language B version of digital content 518b. The server 502 may also include mapping content 520. The mapping content 520 may provide mapping information for linking the different language versions of the digital content files 518.
The electronic device 504 may receive the digital content files 528 and associated mapping content 530 from the server 502. The electronic device 504 may include a viewer 508 that allows viewing of the digital content file 528. The viewer 508 may include a language conversion module 510. The language conversion module 510 may transform or convert the display of the language A version of the digital content 528a to a combination display of the language A version of the digital content 528a and the language B version of the digital content 528b.
If the user input requests a change 608 in display modes, the electronic device 104 may display 610 the digital content 106 as a combination of the primary language and the secondary language according to the mode selected. Various combinations of the primary language and the secondary language may be displayed. The electronic device 104 may receive input from a user to change 612 to a display mode in which only the secondary language is displayed. If the user input requests a change 612 to a secondary language only mode, the electronic device 104 may display 614 the digital content 106 in the secondary language. The device 104 may determine 616 when the next mode change is to occur changing display modes. If it is determined 616 that a change should take place, the device 104 may determine 618 whether the next display mode is a combination 610 display mode or whether the device should return to displaying 606 the primary language.
Some examples of display modes with a combination of different languages will be set forth. As one example, when Display Mode 2 740b is selected, the viewer 108 may display the language A version of the digital content except the viewer 108 may display the simple nouns from the language B version of the digital content in place of the corresponding simple nouns from the language A version of the digital content. In yet another example, when Display Mode 3 740c is selected, the viewer 108 may display the language A version of the digital content except the viewer 108 may display simple numbers, colors, and verbs from the language B version of the digital content in place of the corresponding simple numbers, colors, and verbs from the language A version of the digital content.
In one configuration, each of the progressive display modes 740 may include all of the display exceptions of the previous display modes 740. For example, Display Mode 2 740b may include all of the display exceptions of Display Mode 1 740a along with all the display exceptions of Display Mode 2 740b. Likewise, Display Mode 3 740c may include all of the display exceptions of Display Mode 1 740a and Display Mode 2 740b along with all the display exceptions of Display Mode 3 740c. In another configuration, each of the progressive display modes 740 may include only the display exceptions for that particular display mode 740. For example, Display Mode 2 740b may include only the display exceptions of Display Mode 2 740b.
The language conversion module 710 may include a user interface 750. The user interface 750 may allow input from a user to select the display mode 740 to be displayed on the electronic device 104. For example, the user interface 750 may allow a user to switch between Display Mode 1 740a and Display Mode 2 740b while viewing digital content. The implementation of the user interface 750 will be discussed in more detail below.
The English version of digital content 802 shown has four sentences. The translated Spanish version of digital content 804 has the same four sentences that have been translated into Spanish. For example, the English version of digital content 802 may include a first phrase “The small brown dog barked loudly.” The Spanish version of digital content 804 may include a corresponding phrase “El pequeño perro marrón ladró fuertemente” that is the Spanish translated version of the first phrase.
The word “dog” 806 in the English version and the word “perro” 810 in the Spanish version have been mapped 808 to each other. Similarly, the word “girl” 812 in the English version and the word “chica” 816 in the Spanish version have been mapped 814 to each other. Also, the word “hamburger” 818 in the English version and the word “hamburguesa” 822 have been mapped 820 to each other. Mapping 808, 814, 820 may include a reference to the location of a word or phrase in a file, a physical location in memory, or the like. The mapping content 808, 814, 820 may be used to display a combination of English and Spanish as will be shown in
The text of the digital content may be displayed in the primary language. A display mode 740 may be selected using a user interface 750 on the electronic device. For example, a display mode 740 may be selected using a first button 924 and a second button 926 on the electronic device. The first button 924 may select a display mode 740 that displays fewer replacements of words and phrases from the secondary language. The second button 926 may select a display mode 740 that displays more replacements of words and phrases from the secondary language.
Depending on the display mode 740 selected, words and phrases in the primary language may be replaced with the translated words and phrases that have been previously mapped. The electronic device 902 may display the primary language sentence “The small brown dog barked loudly” except that the word “dog” may be replaced with the word “perro” 910 that has been mapped 808 from the Spanish translated digital content. Likewise, the electronic device 902 may display the primary language sentence “Mark looked around, trying to find the girl in the red shirt” except that the word “girl” may be replaced with the word “chica” 916 that has been mapped 814 from the Spanish translated digital content. Additionally, the electronic device 902 may display the sentence “Mark was hungry so he began to eat his hamburger” except that the word “hamburger” may be replaced with the word “hamburguesa” 922 that has been mapped 820 from the Spanish translated digital content.
The electronic device 902 may also display sentences in which no words have been mapped to the Spanish translated digital content and replaced. The sentence may not have been mapped. Alternatively, the mapped words may only be scheduled to be replaced in a different display mode 740. For example, the electronic device 902 may display the sentence “Her name was Mary and she had ridden off on her bicycle.” Even though a language conversion display mode 740 has been selected, no words in the sentence have been replaced with their Spanish translated word.
As shown, the display mode of
In the example shown in
Likewise, the electronic device 1002 may display the primary language sentence “Mark looked around, trying to find the girl in the red shirt” except that the word “find” may be replaced with the word “encontrar” 1010, the word “girl” may be replaced with the word “chica” 1012 and the phrase “red shirt” may be replaced with the phrase “camisa roja” 1014. These replacements may be due to the words and phrases having been mapped from the Spanish translated digital content.
The electronic device 1002 may display the primary language sentence “Her name was Mary and she had ridden off on her bicycle” except that the phrase “Her name” may be replaced with the phrase “Su nombre” 1016 and the word “bicycle” may be replaced with the word “bicicleta” 1018.
Additionally, the electronic device 1002 may display the sentence “Mark was hungry so he began to eat his hamburger” except that the phrase “began to eat his hamburger” may be replaced with the phrase “comenzó a comer su hamburguesa” 1020 that has been mapped from the Spanish translated digital content.
The computer system 1101 is shown with a processor 1103 and memory 1105. The processor 1103 may control the operation of the computer system 1101 and may be embodied as a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor (DSP) or other device known in the art. The processor 1103 typically performs logical and arithmetic operations based on program instructions stored within the memory 1105. The instructions in the memory 1105 may be executable to implement the methods described herein.
The computer system 1101 may also include one or more communication interfaces 1107 and/or network interfaces 1113 for communicating with other electronic devices. The communication interface(s) 1107 and the network interface(s) 1113 may be based on wired communication technology, wireless communication technology, or both.
The computer system 1101 may also include one or more input devices 1109 and one or more output devices 1111. The input devices 1109 and output devices 1111 may facilitate user input. Other components 1115 may also be provided as part of the computer system 1101.
The eBook reader device 1204 may include a processor 1254 which controls operation of the device 1204. The processor 1254 may also be referred to as a central processing unit (CPU). Memory 1256, which may include both read-only memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM), provides instructions and data to the processor 1254. A portion of the memory 1256 may also include non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM). The processor 1254 typically performs logical and arithmetic operations based on program instructions stored within the memory 1256. The instructions in the memory 1256 may be executable to implement the methods described herein.
The device 1204 may also include a housing 1258 that may include a transmitter 1260 and a receiver 1262 to allow transmission and reception of data between the wireless device 1204 and a remote location. The transmitter 1260 and receiver 1262 may be combined into a transceiver 1264. An antenna 1266 may be attached to the housing 1258 and electrically coupled to the transceiver 1264. The wireless device 1204 may also include (not shown) multiple transmitters, multiple receivers, multiple transceivers and/or multiple antenna.
The wireless device 1204 may also include a signal detector 1268 that may be used to detect and quantify the level of signals received by the transceiver 1264. The signal detector 1268 may detect such signals as total energy, pilot energy per pseudonoise (PN) chips, power spectral density, and other signals. The wireless device 1204 may also include a digital signal processor (DSP) 1270 for use in processing signals.
The wireless device 1204 may also include one or more communication ports 1278. Such communication ports 1278 may allow direct wired connections to be easily made with the device 1204.
Additionally, input/output components 1276 may be included with the device 1204 for various input and output to and from the device 1204. Examples of different kinds of input components include a keyboard, keypad, mouse, microphone, remote control device, buttons, joystick, trackball, touchpad, lightpen, etc. Examples of different kinds of output components include a speaker, printer, etc. One specific type of output component is a display 1274.
The various components of the wireless device 1204 may be coupled together by a bus system 1272 which may include a power bus, a control signal bus, and a status signal bus in addition to a data bus. However, for the sake of clarity, the various busses are illustrated in
As used herein, the term “determining” encompasses a wide variety of actions and, therefore, “determining” can include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database or another data structure), ascertaining and the like. Also, “determining” can include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also, “determining” can include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing and the like.
The phrase “based on” does not mean “based only on,” unless expressly specified otherwise. In other words, the phrase “based on” describes both “based only on” and “based at least on.”
The various illustrative logical blocks, modules and circuits described herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array signal (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core or any other such configuration.
The steps of a method or algorithm described herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in any form of storage medium that is known in the art. Some examples of storage media that may be used include RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM and so forth. A software module may comprise a single instruction, or many instructions, and may be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs and across multiple storage media. An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to a processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor.
The methods disclosed herein comprise one or more steps or actions for achieving the described method. The method steps and/or actions may be interchanged with one another without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is required for proper operation of the method that is being described, the order and/or use of specific steps and/or actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims.
The functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored as one or more instructions on a computer-readable medium. A computer-readable medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, a computer-readable medium may comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-Ray® Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.
Software or instructions may also be transmitted over a transmission medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of transmission medium.
Functions such as executing, processing, performing, running, determining, notifying, sending, receiving, storing, requesting, and/or other functions may include performing the function using a web service. Web services may include software systems designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a computer network, such as the Internet. Web services may include various protocols and standards that may be used to exchange data between applications or systems. For example, the web services may include messaging specifications, security specifications, reliable messaging specifications, transaction specifications, metadata specifications, XML specifications, management specifications, and/or business process specifications. Commonly used specifications like SOAP, WSDL, XML, and/or other specifications may be used.
It is to be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configuration and components illustrated above. Various modifications, changes and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the systems, methods, and apparatus described herein without departing from the scope of the claims.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4764976 | Kallin et al. | Aug 1988 | A |
| 5146552 | Cassorla et al. | Sep 1992 | A |
| 5359514 | Manthuruthil et al. | Oct 1994 | A |
| 5486111 | Watkins | Jan 1996 | A |
| 5649826 | West et al. | Jul 1997 | A |
| 5957693 | Panec | Sep 1999 | A |
| 6370498 | Flores et al. | Apr 2002 | B1 |
| 6438515 | Crawford et al. | Aug 2002 | B1 |
| 6683611 | Cleveland | Jan 2004 | B1 |
| 6816830 | Kempe | Nov 2004 | B1 |
| 6953343 | Townshend | Oct 2005 | B2 |
| 7136877 | Volcani et al. | Nov 2006 | B2 |
| 7270546 | Adams, Jr. et al. | Sep 2007 | B1 |
| 7313513 | Kinder | Dec 2007 | B2 |
| 7386453 | Polanyi et al. | Jun 2008 | B2 |
| 7801721 | Rosart et al. | Sep 2010 | B2 |
| 7818164 | Wood et al. | Oct 2010 | B2 |
| 7905391 | Shilling | Mar 2011 | B1 |
| 7912717 | Galick | Mar 2011 | B1 |
| 8171032 | Herz | May 2012 | B2 |
| 20020120635 | Joao | Aug 2002 | A1 |
| 20020182578 | Rachman et al. | Dec 2002 | A1 |
| 20020199166 | Volcani et al. | Dec 2002 | A1 |
| 20030068603 | Cupp | Apr 2003 | A1 |
| 20030093275 | Polanyi et al. | May 2003 | A1 |
| 20030152894 | Townshend | Aug 2003 | A1 |
| 20040067472 | Polanyi et al. | Apr 2004 | A1 |
| 20040117728 | Gromer | Jun 2004 | A1 |
| 20040253568 | Shaver-Troup | Dec 2004 | A1 |
| 20050039121 | Cleveland | Feb 2005 | A1 |
| 20050131762 | Bharat et al. | Jun 2005 | A1 |
| 20050193335 | Dorai et al. | Sep 2005 | A1 |
| 20070011005 | Morrison et al. | Jan 2007 | A1 |
| 20070067294 | Ward et al. | Mar 2007 | A1 |
| 20070292826 | Goddy et al. | Dec 2007 | A1 |
| 20080070205 | Amick et al. | Mar 2008 | A1 |
| 20080140412 | Millman et al. | Jun 2008 | A1 |
| 20080229190 | Johnson | Sep 2008 | A1 |
| 20090092952 | Schlanger et al. | Apr 2009 | A1 |
| 20090246744 | Lofthus et al. | Oct 2009 | A1 |
| 20090263778 | Berger et al. | Oct 2009 | A1 |
| 20100153889 | Krause | Jun 2010 | A1 |
| 20100299205 | Erdmann et al. | Nov 2010 | A1 |
| 20110175805 | Rottler et al. | Jul 2011 | A1 |
| 20110306023 | Blank et al. | Dec 2011 | A1 |
| 20120030587 | Ketkar | Feb 2012 | A1 |
| 20120047455 | Yuan et al. | Feb 2012 | A1 |
| 20120088211 | Massaro | Apr 2012 | A1 |
| 20120233539 | Reed | Sep 2012 | A1 |
| 20120293529 | Che et al. | Nov 2012 | A1 |
| 20130080881 | Goodspeed et al. | Mar 2013 | A1 |
| 20130097164 | Welinder et al. | Apr 2013 | A1 |
| Entry |
|---|
| Wikipedia article “Computer file” retrieved from the Internet Archive, dated Sep. 15, 2006. |
| U.S. Appl. No. 12/853,038, filed Aug. 9, 2010, Daniel B. Rausch, “Providing Electronic Books According to Reading Capability”. |
| Office action for U.S. Appl. No. 12/853,038, mailed on Dec. 21, 2012, Rausch, “Providing Electronic Books According to Reading Capability”, 15 pages. |
| Office action for U.S. Appl. No. 12/853,076, mailed on Mar. 14, 2013, Rausch, “Determining Reading Levels of Electronic Books”, 13 pages. |
| Final Office Action for U.S. Appl. No. 12/853,038, mailed on May 22, 2013, Rausch, “Providing Electronic Books According to Reading Capability”, 19 pages. |
| Office Action for U.S. Appl. No. 13/345,452, mailed on Nov. 4, 2013, Rainer V. Mager, “Selective Display of Pronunciation Guides in Electronic Books”, 25 pages. |
| Office action for U.S. Appl. No. 12/853,076, mailed on Aug. 22, 2013, Rausch, “Determining Reading Levels of Electronic Books”, 10 pages. |
| Office Action for U.S. Appl. No. 13/308,825, mailed on Sep. 13, 2013, Inventor #1 Mehal H. Shah, “Controlling the Rendering of Supplemental Content Related to Electronic Books” 22 pages. |
| Ribiere, et al., “The sBook: Towards Social and Personalized Learning Experiences”, ACM, 2010, pp. 3-8. |
