Controlling the rendering of supplemental content related to electronic books

• US 10,203,845 B1
• Filed: 08/24/2015
• Issued: 02/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shah, Mehal H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Debrow, James J
• Application Number:
  US14/833,687
• Time in Patent Office: 1,268 Days
• Field of Search: 715230
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/147 using display panels
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/14 Electronic books and readers

Abstract

Architectures and techniques are provided to control the rendering of supplemental content associated with electronic books. For example, electronic books may be associated with content that is in addition to the content originally provided to an individual acquiring the electronic book, such as annotations, social networking site information, media outlet information, and the like. Individuals may control the supplemental electronic book content that is rendered via their client devices via actuation of a physical input device or a representation of an input device shown via a touch sensitive display. The amount of supplemental content that is rendered may correspond to information associated with a specified number of categories of supplemental electronic book content based on a supplemental content rendering level. In other implementations, the amount of supplemental electronic book content that is rendered may correspond to an amount of supplemental content to be rendered for each category of supplemental content.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

displaying a first portion of an electronic book via an electronic device;

receiving a first input indicating selection of one of a first level of supplemental content or a second level of supplemental content different from the first level;

displaying a second portion of the electronic book with a particular amount of supplemental content specified by one of the first level or the second level, wherein the first level specifies that the particular amount is zero and the second level specifies that the particular amount is greater than zero;

receiving a second input; and

modifying the particular amount of supplemental content displayed with the second portion of the electronic book based at least in part on the second input.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining one of the first level or the second level while a plurality of pages of the second portion of the electronic book is displayed.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the supplemental content comprises at least one of an email, a notification, a social networking message, or an SMS message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the first input comprises receiving input indicating selection of the first level, the method further comprising:

based at least in part on the first input, temporarily disabling an application on the electronic device, the application operable to provide the supplemental content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the first input comprises receiving input indicating selection of the first level, the method further comprising:

establishing wireless connection between the electronic device and a remote source of the supplemental content;

receiving the particular amount of supplemental content via the wireless connection and based at least in part on the first input; and

based at least in part on the second input, temporarily disabling a wireless connection associated with the electronic device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the first input further comprises receiving input indicating selection of an operating mode associated with enabling display of the supplemental content while the electronic book is not displayed, the method further comprising:

based at least in part on the first input, displaying the supplemental content via the electronic device while the electronic book is not displayed, wherein the supplemental content is not associated with the electronic book.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising

providing an interactive user interface via a display of the electronic device, the user interface including

a first section displaying the second portion of the electronic book,

a second section displaying the particular amount of supplemental content, and

a visual representation of an input device, wherein receiving at least the second input comprises receiving the second input via the visual representation of the input device, the second input modifying the particular amount of supplemental content displayed in the second section.

8. An electronic device, comprising:

one or more processors; and

non-transitory computer-readable media accessible by the one or more processors and storing instructions executable by the one or more processors to;

display a first portion of an electronic book via the electronic device;

receive a first input indicating selection of one of a first level of supplemental content or a second level of supplemental content different from the first level;

display a second portion of the electronic book with a particular amount of supplemental content specified by the one of the first level or the second level, wherein at least one of the first level or the second level specifies that the particular amount is zero;

receive a second input; and

modify the particular amount of supplemental content displayed with the second portion of the electronic book based at least in part on the second input.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to maintain the one of the first level or the second level while a plurality of pages of the second portion of the electronic book is displayed.

10. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the supplemental content comprises at least one of an email, a notification, a social networking message, or an SMS message.

11. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein receiving the first input comprises receiving input indicating selection of the at least one of the first level or the second level, and wherein the instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to:

based at least in part on the first input, temporarily disable an application on the electronic device, the application operable to provide the supplemental content.

12. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein receiving the first input comprises receiving input indicating selection of the at least one of the first level or the second level, and wherein the instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to:

based at least in part on the first input, temporarily disable a wireless connection associated with the electronic device.

13. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein receiving the first input further comprises receiving input indicating selection of an operating mode associated with enabling display of the supplemental content while the electronic book is not displayed, wherein the instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to:

based at least in part on the first input, enable display of the supplemental content via the electronic device while the electronic book is not displayed, wherein the supplemental content is not associated with the electronic book.

14. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to display a visual representation of an input device, and wherein receiving the first input comprises receiving the first input via the visual representation of the input device.

15. A method, comprising:

displaying, by an electronic device, a portion of an electronic book;

receiving, by the electronic device, supplemental content from at least one supplemental content source;

receiving, by the electronic device, a first input indicating selection of a particular level of supplemental content to be displayed, the particular level being one of a plurality of levels of supplemental content;

displaying, by the electronic device, a portion of the supplemental content according to the particular level while displaying the portion of the electronic book;

maintaining, by the electronic device, the particular level while individual pages of a plurality of pages of the electronic book are displayed;

receiving, by the electronic device, a second input; and

modifying an amount of the supplemental content displayed with the individual pages of the plurality of pages based at least in part on the second input.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising displaying the portion of the supplemental content without receiving input indicating selection of text of the portion of the electronic book.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the particular level indicates a threshold rating, the method further comprising:

determining that the portion of the supplemental content is associated with a rating above the threshold rating; and

displaying the portion of the supplemental content.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

identifying a source of the supplemental content based at least in part on the particular level; and

receiving the portion of the supplemental content from the source.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the particular level is a first level, the portion of the supplemental content comprises a first portion of the supplemental content, and the second input indicates selection of a second level of supplemental content different from the first level, the method further comprising:

displaying, at least partially in response to the second input, a second portion of the supplemental content while displaying the portion of the electronic book.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the second portion of the supplemental content includes the first portion of the supplemental content and one or more additional portions of the supplemental content, and the second level of supplemental content specifies a first category of supplemental content and a second category of supplemental content different from the first category.