Computer user interface system and method

• US 20020054121A1
• Filed: 12/31/2001
• Published: 05/09/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/1996
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sino Star Global Ltd.
• Original Assignee: E-BOOK SYSTEMS PTE. LTD.
• Inventors: Seng, Ho Beng
• Granted Patent: US 6,976,225 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/776
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/002 Specific input/output arrangements not covered by G06F3/01 - G06F3/16 other optical apparatus G02B27/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 345/901 Electronic book with display

Abstract

A computer user interface system and method arranges a set of information hosted on a computer into a set of books, where each book includes a subset of the set of information, labels each book with a respective portion of the subset of the set of information, and selects a book from the set of books. Selecting the book from the set of books includes steps of displaying the respective portions of the books as a book document image that includes pages which correspond to the respective portions of the books, generating a command for moving through the pages, displaying an animated image of the pages of the book document being at least one of flipped, scrolled, slid and flashed images, and selecting the book when a selected one AS of the pages containing a selection portion of the book is earlier displayed.

Claims

1. A computer user interface method, comprising the steps of:

arranging a set of information hosted on a computer into a set of books, each book comprising a subset of said set of information;

labeling each book with a respective portion of said subset of said set of information; and

selecting a book from the set of books, said selecting step comprising,

displaying said respective portions of said books as a book document image comprising pages, said pages corresponding to said respective portions of said books,

generating a command for moving through said pages,

displaying an animated image of said pages of said book document being at least one of flipped, scrolled, slid and flashed, and

selecting said book when a selected one of said pages containing a selection portion of said book is displayed in said displaying step.

2. The computer user interface method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

identifying a selected book page of a set of book pages within said selected book, comprising the steps of,

displaying the selected book as the image of the book document,

generating a move command for moving a pointer through a subset of pages of said selected book,

displaying an animated image of said pages in said book document being at least one of flipped, scrolled, slid and flashed, and

selecting said selected book page in said selected book when the selected book page is displayed in said step of displaying an animated image of pages in said book.

3. A method for displaying a computer-based set of information on a display screen controlled by a computer-based information browsing device, comprising the steps of:

displaying a thickness image of said set of information corresponding to an amount of said information on a left side and a right side of said display screen, a left portion of said thickness image displayed on said left side of said screen being proportional to a first amount of the information preceding a point in said set of information currently being displayed and a right portion of said thickness image displayed on said right of side of said display screen being proportional to a second amount information following the point in said set of information currently being displayed;

displaying a finger-bookmark in a first image format on said display screen corresponding to a finger-bookmark position;

displaying a said permanent in a second image format on said display screen corresponding to a permanent bookmark position;

producing a new bookmark corresponding to a currently displayed image;

displaying said new bookmark in at least one of said first image format or said second image format; and

jumping to a jump position in said set of information corresponding to a current position of an instrument on a sensor device of said computer-based information browsing device.

4. A method for browsing a computer-based set of information, comprising the steps of:

generating a command to move a pointer through said set of information;

moving said pointer in at least one of a forward direction and a backward direction through said computer-based set of information in response to said command generated in said generating step;

adjusting a speed of said movement of said pointer through said computer-based set of information corresponding to said command generated in said generating step;

jumping to a selected location in said computer-based set of information, said jumping step comprising the steps of,

receiving a jump command, and

moving said pointer from a current position in said computer-based set information to a user-defined jump position; and

bookmarking a desired portion of said computer-based set of information, said desired portion comprising a selected subset of a text or a graphics information, said bookmarking step comprising the steps of,

receiving a bookmark command via a user-entry, and

marking said desired portion of said computer-based set of information corresponding to said user entry.

5. A computer user interface system, comprising:

a display;

a computer connected to said display, comprising,

means for arranging a set of information hosted on the computer into a set of books, each book comprising a subset of said set of information,

means for labeling each book with a respective portion of said subset of said set of information, and

means for selecting a book from the set of books, comprising,

a first display mechanism that displays on said display said respective portions of said books as a book document image comprising pages, said pages corresponding to said respective portions of said books,

a generating mechanism that generates a command for moving through said pages,

a second display mechanism that displays an animated image of said pages of said book document on said display, said animated image being at least one of flipped, scrolled, slid and flashed, and

a selecting mechanism that selects said book when a selected one of said pages containing a selection portion of said book is displayed by said second display mechanism.