METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRESENTING ELECTRONIC LITERARY MACRAMES ON HANDHELD COMPUTER SYSTEMS

• US 20080028297A1
• Filed: 07/25/2007
• Published: 01/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dana W. Paxson
• Original Assignee: Dana W. Paxson
• Inventors: Paxson, Dana W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,010,897 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/238
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents

Abstract

Handheld computer game-playing systems and similar devices are here adapted for use as electronic readers for literature, specifically supporting complex literary and instructional forms, each a work of literature which is woven and knotted together using many threads of narrative in a nonlinear fashion supported only by programmable electronic systems such as computers. The reader experiences such electronic works on a handheld computing device using conventional Web-browser software supported by said device. The electronic work is adapted to any restrictions or special characteristics of the handheld device to facilitate its proper presentation and use.

Claims

1. A method for presenting a complex electronic literary or instructional work on a specific class of handheld electronic device, comprising the steps of:

compiling a database of device configuration characteristics for each class of said handheld electronic device to be used for presentation of said complex electronic literary or instructional work;

compiling said electronic literary or instructional work into one or more sets of components suitable for storage, retrieval, and presentation on each of said classes of handheld electronic devices;

selecting one set of said sets of components;

installing said set of selected components on said handheld electronic device; and

displaying each of said set of selected components on said handheld electronic device.

2. The method of claim. 1 wherein the step of compiling a database of configuration characteristics for each class of handheld electronic device to be used for presentation of said complex electronic literary or instructional work further comprises the steps of:

determining the usable memory capacity, usable file storage capacity, usable number of browser windows, and presentation features for said each class of handheld electronic devices; and

storing said usable memory capacity, usable file storage capacity, usable number of browser windows, and presentation features of said each class of handheld electronic devices in said database of device configuration characteristics.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of determining the usable memory capacity, usable file storage capacity, usable number of browser windows, and presentation features for said each class of handheld electronic devices further comprises the steps of:

classifying units of said complex electronic literary or instructional work into display classes for display in a browser window assigned to each said display class;

assigning one said browser window to each said display class;

creating a window map condensing a larger plurality of display classes into a smaller plurality of display classes for each said class of handheld device, thereby requiring different classes of said units to be displayed in the same browser window; and

including said window map in said presentation features for each said class of handheld device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of compiling said electronic literary or instructional work into one or more forms suitable for storage, retrieval, and presentation on each of said classes of handheld electronic devices further comprises the steps of:

retrieving device configuration characteristics from said database for each class of handheld electronic device to be targeted;

creating hypertext files of the electronic literary or instructional work based on device configuration characteristics in said database for each class of handheld electronic device;

creating presentation scripts of the electronic literary or instructional work based on device configuration characteristics in said database for each class of handheld electronic device; and

combining said hypertext files and presentation scripts to form a complete, consistent electronic literary or instructional work for each class of handheld electronic device.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of selecting one set of said sets of components further comprises the steps of:

selecting one of said classes of handheld electronic devices;

retrieving said device configuration characteristics of said specific class of handheld electronic devices; and

selecting from said one or more sets of components one of said sets of components of said compiled electronic literary or instructional work compatible with the device configuration characteristics of said selected class of handheld electronic devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying each of said set of selected components on said handheld electronic device further comprises the steps of:

directing units of said compiled electronic literary or instructional work to the browser window specified by said display class and said window map for said display class; and

recovering and displaying said previous contents of said browser window specified by said window map by the use of standard browser controls.

7. An apparatus for presenting a complex electronic literary or instructional work on a handheld electronic device, comprising:

a plurality of publishing computer systems, each further comprising one or more processors (CPUs), a user display interface component, one or more user input interface components, one or more memory components, and one or more external communications components;

a plurality of handheld electronic devices, each further comprising one or more processors (CPUs), a user display interface component, one or more user input interface components, one or more memory components, and one or more external communications components;

a configuration database component of a plurality of classes of handheld device configuration characteristics stored on said plurality of publishing computer systems;

a window map database component of each said class of handheld device configuration characteristics;

a plurality of electronic literary or instructional input files for said electronic literary or instructional work stored on said plurality of publishing computer systems.

a plurality of presentation component files for said electronic literary or instructional work stored on said plurality of publishing computer systems.

a plurality of publishing software applications; and

a plurality of presentation software applications stored on said handheld electronic devices.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the plurality of publishing software applications further comprises:

a first database software application operating on said plurality of publishing computer systems for storing said handheld device configuration characteristics in said configuration database component;

a second database software application operating on said plurality of publishing computer systems for retrieving a plurality of classes of said handheld device configuration characteristics from said configuration database component;

a first software application for compiling configuration characteristics for each class of said handheld electronic device to be used for presentation of said complex electronic literary or instructional work for storage in said configuration database component;

a second software application for compiling said electronic literary or instructional input files into one or more sets of presentation component files suitable for storage, retrieval, and presentation on each of said classes of handheld electronic devices;

a third software application for selecting one set of said sets of presentation component files; and

a fourth software application for installing said set of selected presentation component files on said handheld electronic device.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said first software application further comprises:

a fifth software application for determining the usable memory capacity, usable file storage capacity, usable number of browser windows, and presentation features for said each class of handheld electronic devices; and

a sixth software application for storing said usable memory capacity, usable file storage capacity, usable number of browser windows, and presentation features of said each class of handheld electronic devices in said configuration database component.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said fifth software application further comprises:

a seventh software application for classifying units of said complex electronic literary or instructional work into display classes for display in a browser window assigned to each said display class, and assigning one said browser window to each said display class; and

an eighth software application for creating a window map condensing a larger plurality of display classes into a smaller plurality of display classes for each said class of handheld device and including said window map in said presentation features for each said class of handheld device.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said second software application further comprises:

a ninth software application for retrieving device configuration characteristics from said configuration database component for each class of handheld electronic device to be targeted;

a tenth software application for processing electronic literary or instructional input files into presentation component files of the electronic literary or instructional work;

an eleventh software application for creating presentation scripts of the electronic literary or instructional work; and

a twelfth software application for combining said presentation component files and presentation scripts to produce a complete, consistent electronic literary or instructional work for each class of handheld electronic device.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said third software application further comprises:

a thirteenth software application for selecting one of said classes of handheld electronic devices;

a fourteenth software application for retrieving said device configuration characteristics of said specific class of handheld electronic devices from said configuration database component; and

a fifteenth software application for selecting, from said one or more sets of presentation components, one of said sets of presentation components of said compiled electronic literary or instructional work compatible with the device configuration characteristics of said selected class of handheld electronic devices.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said fourth software application further comprises:

a server software application operating on said plurality of publishing computer systems for sending said set of presentation component files to a plurality of handheld electronic devices in the selected configuration class via one or more of the external communications components;

a client software application operating on each of said plurality of handheld electronic devices in a specific configuration class for receiving and storing said set of presentation component files from the publishing computer system.

14. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the plurality of presentation software applications stored on said handheld electronic devices further comprises a browser software application for displaying each of said set of selected presentation components on said handheld electronic device.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said browser software application further comprises:

a browser software application operating on each handheld electronic device of a specific configuration class;

one or more script interpretation software applications operating on each handheld electronic device of a specific configuration class for interpreting program scripts for said browser software program for presentation of said presentation components to a user of said handheld electronic device.