Patent Application
20120023462
Touchscreen displays, which aid in simplifying the user experience by providing direct interaction between the user and the displayed content, are being utilized in more and more of today's electronic devices. In particular, electronic reading devices, or e-readers, are popular electronic touchscreen devices used for displaying electronic content of digital books or periodicals using electronic ink technology. Such devices make use of touch-based gestures from a user in order to facilitate on-screen control and navigation of electronic content. For example, a user may navigate through individual pages of a digital book by repeatedly swiping the touchscreen display with a single finger. However, due to the vast number of pages and sections in most digital books and periodicals, current touch-based navigation methods are inefficient for quickly navigating multiple pages and sections of electronic content or text.
The features and advantages of the inventions as well as additional features and advantages thereof will be more clearly understood hereinafter as a result of a detailed description of particular embodiments of the invention when taken in conjunction with the following drawings in which:
b illustrate a touch-based gesture for skipping back to a previous section of electronic content according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The following discussion is directed to various embodiments. Although one or more of these embodiments may be preferred, the embodiments disclosed should not be interpreted, or otherwise used, as limiting the scope of the disclosure, including the claims. In addition, one skilled in the art will understand that the following description has broad application, and the discussion of any embodiment is meant only to be exemplary of that embodiment, and not intended to intimate that the scope of the disclosure, including the claims, is limited to that embodiment.
Touchscreen controls and touch-based gestures are commonly used to simplify and accelerate the input means for a user. These gestures and controls need to be intuitive and easy to remember for future use by the user. Generally, a single finger swipe is the pervasive method for navigating through individual pages of a digital book or digital periodical. Some methods utilize drop down menus for allowing a user to manually select a particular page or section of the electronic book or periodical. However, neither of these solutions enables a user to quickly and efficiently navigate multiple pages or sections of electronic content.
Embodiments of the present invention disclose a system and method for skipping through electronic content of an electronic touchscreen device. According to one embodiment, a multi-touch gesture is received from a user on the electronic touchscreen device. A processing engine associated with the electronic device causes the electronic content to immediately skip ahead to a next section or immediately skip back to a previous section based on the touchscreen gesture of the user. For example, a horizontal two-finger swipe of the touch screen display either from right to left, or from left to right, serves to advance the current chapter to the beginning of the next chapter, or reverse the current chapter to a previous chapter of an electronic book. Accordingly, embodiments of the present allow a user to immediately seek out a particular section of electronic content using a logical and efficient touchscreen gesture.
Referring now in more detail to the drawings in which like numerals identify corresponding parts throughout the views,
The touchscreen display unit 110 should at least be configured to accept and process limited forms of multi-touch, or multiple simultaneous touchpoints. Digital media may be any type of medium that includes electronic content or text such as a digital book, digital magazine, or digital newspaper for example. According to embodiments of the present invention, navigation through sections of the digital media 115 is accomplished via touchscreen gesture by a user's hand 120. As used herein, a section includes multiple pages of an article in an electronic magazine or electronic newspaper, or multiple pages of a chapter in an electronic book.
b illustrate a process flow for skipping ahead to a subsequent section, chapter, or article of electronic content according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in this exemplary embodiment, a touchscreen gesture is received while a user is viewing a current section of digital content. In the present example, the user is viewing chapter two of an electronic book. Upon receipt of the touchscreen gesture, the current chapter 305, the current chapter title 308, and current page number 310 may be displayed on the graphical user interface. More specifically, initial touchpoints 315a and 315b represent the starting location of a multi-touch gesture, or a two-finger touchscreen gesture made by a user for example. As shown, the user's fingers 311 move simultaneously and horizontally from the right side of the display to the left side of the display, ending at touchpoints 320a and 320b. This touchscreen gesture is analyzed and registered by the processing engine, which in turn executes a section advance operation for the electronic content. Although embodiments of the present invention depict a finger as the touchscreen gesture, the invention is not limited therein. For example, the touchscreen gesture may be a stylus or similar object used for touchscreen input. That is, the touchscreen gesture may be any multi-touch input occurring at two different locations on the display screen, either optically (e.g. hover event), or physically (e.g. on-screen touch).
As shown in the exemplary embodiment of
b illustrate a process flow for skipping back to a previous section of the electronic content according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in this exemplary embodiment, a touchscreen action is received while a user is viewing a current section of digital content. As in the previous example, the user is viewing chapter two of an electronic book. Upon receipt of the gesture, the chapter 405, the chapter title 408, and page number 410 may be displayed on the graphical user interface of the electronic touchscreen device. More specifically, initial touchpoints 415a and 415b represent the starting location of the multi-touch gesture. As shown, the user's fingers 411 move simultaneously and horizontally from the left side of the display to the right side of the display, culminating at touchpoints 420a and 420b. This touchscreen gesture is registered in the processing unit, which in turn executes a section reverse operation for the displayed electronic content.
As shown in the exemplary embodiment of
Embodiments of the present invention enable a user of an electronic touchscreen device to use two fingers to skip through entire sections of an electronic book or periodical rather than individual pages. In one embodiment, movement of two fingers from right to left may enable a user to skip from anywhere in the current chapter to the first page of the next chapter. Conversely, a two-finger gesture from left to right may enable the user to skip from the current chapter back to the first page of a preceding chapter, or back to the first page of the current chapter.
Many advantages are afforded by the advanced skipping method for electronic content according to embodiments of the present invention. The skipping method provides an extremely responsive and engaging mechanism for user interaction with digital media. Furthermore, aforementioned two-fingered gesture allows the user to quickly skip through any particular electronic content presently being viewed. Still further, the skipping method of embodiments of the present invention has a relatively simple and quick configuration process, and therefore can be easily adopted into current electronic touchscreen devices. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention provide an efficient and logical touch-based skipping method that can be immediately employed in today's marketplace in order to help resolve user frustration in navigating mass pages of electronic content on an electronic touchscreen device such as an e-reader.
Furthermore, while the invention has been described with respect to exemplary embodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications are possible. For example, although exemplary embodiments depict an electronic reading device as the electronic touchscreen device, the invention is not limited thereto. For example, the electronic touchscreen device may be a netbook, a tablet personal computer, a cell phone, or any other electronic device configured to receive touch-based gestures and display electronic content associated with electronic media.
Furthermore, the touch-based gestures may include more than two fingers and may involve more than one hand of a user. Similarly, the touch-based gestures may move in a direction other than horizontal, such as moving vertically or diagonally across the display. Moreover, in an optical three-dimensional touchscreen environment, the multi-touch gesture may be accomplished without making physical contact with the display screen, or with an object other than a user's finger. Thus, although the invention has been described with respect to exemplary embodiments, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to cover all modifications and equivalents within the scope of the following claims.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US2010/025063 | 2/23/2010 | WO | 00 | 9/23/2011 |
