Zone-Associated Objects

• US 20080295021A1
• Filed: 06/14/2007
• Published: 11/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kim, John T., Yawitz, Mitchell A., Nguyen, Laurent An Minh, Pucket, Jay M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,108,793 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/781
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

Zone-associated objects enable easier consumption of electronic media items that are presented to a user on a screen of a computing device. Zone-associated objects enable displaying electronic content on the screen of the computing device, the screen having multiple zones. Each object presented on the screen may be associated with one or more of the zones. The user may then select one of the multiple zones and, in response, may be allowed to select objects associated with that zone. In some instances, the user may then select one or more of these zone-associated objects to perform the action defined by the object.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying electronic content on a screen having multiple zones;

displaying a cursor to select one or more portions of the electronic content;

receiving a cursor selection of a portion of the electronic content;

identifying a position of the cursor responsive to receipt of the cursor selection; and

mapping the position of the cursor to one of the multiple zones.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein a layout of the multiple zones is predefined.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the multiple zones are configured to dynamically change based upon the displayed electronic content.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising enabling modification of a portion of the displayed electronic content within the one of the multiple zones responsive to the mapping.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising enabling selection of an object located in the one of the multiple zones responsive to the mapping.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising displaying a menu of selectable objects located within the one of the multiple zones responsive to the mapping.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising displaying unique symbols adjacent one or more selectable objects located within the one of the multiple zones responsive to the mapping.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising highlighting one or more selectable objects located within the one of the multiple zones responsive to the mapping.

9. A method comprising:

receiving selection of electronic content displayed upon a screen, the screen having a plurality of zones;

determining a location on the screen of the selected electronic content;

mapping the location to one of the plurality of zones; and

enabling selection of an object located within the mapped zone.

10. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein each of the plurality of zones comprises a horizontal strip of the screen.

11. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein each of the plurality of zones comprises a portion of a grid overlaying the screen.

12. A method comprising:

displaying electronic content on a screen, the screen having a plurality of zones;

enabling selection of one of the plurality of zones; and

responsive to selection of the one of the plurality of zones, enabling selection of an object displayed within the electronic content and associated with the selected zone.

13. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein at least some of the plurality of zones overlap with one another.

14. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of zones is of approximately equal area.

15. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of zones contains an approximately equal byte offset of displayed content.

16. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein enabling selection of the one of the plurality of zones comprises enabling:

(1) alignment of a cursor with a selectable marker corresponding to the selected zone, or (2) alignment of the cursor with the selected zone.

17. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein enabling selection of the one of the plurality of zones comprises enabling selection of a numeral or letter, the numeral or letter corresponding to the selected zone.

18. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein enabling selection of the one of the plurality of zones comprises presenting a symbol corresponding to a zone for each of the plurality of zones.

19. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein enabling selection of the object comprises presenting one or more objects associated with the selected zone in a list.

20. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein the object is a web link, and wherein enabling selection of the object comprises presenting the web link and a corresponding uniform resource locator (URL).

21. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein enabling selection of the object comprises enabling selection of a numeral or letter, the numeral or letter corresponding to the selected object.

22. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein enabling selection of the object comprises presenting, adjacent the selected object, a symbol corresponding to selected object.

23. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein enabling selection of the object comprises highlighting the selected object.

24. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein the screen displays one or more objects, and further comprising associating each of the one or more objects with one or more of the plurality of zones.

25. A method as recited in claim 12, further comprising executing a command defined by the object associated with the selected zone in response to a selection of the object.

26. A method as recited in claim 12, wherein the object associated with the selected zone comprises one of:

a web link, a link to a locally-stored digital item, a link to a location within a currently-displayed digital item, or a link to a store to purchase digital items.

27. An apparatus comprising:

a screen to display content and one or more links within the displayed content, the screen including a plurality of zones;

a zone-association module to enable association of the one or more links with the plurality of zones; and

a selection tool to enable selection of one of the plurality of zones and to enable selection of a link within the selected zone.

28. An apparatus as recited in claim 27, wherein the displayed content comprises a digital item and the one or more links comprise links to locations within the digital item.

29. An apparatus as recited in claim 27, wherein the one or more links comprise one or more of the following:

a web link, a link to a locally-stored digital item, a link to a location within the displayed content, or a link to a store to purchase digital items.

30. An apparatus as recited in claim 27, wherein the selection tool comprises a cursor to enable selection of one or more selectable markers within the displayed content.

31. An apparatus as recited in claim 27, wherein the selection tool comprises a keypad.

32. An apparatus as recited in claim 27, wherein at least some of the plurality of zones overlap with one another such that at least one of the one or more links is associated with at least two zones.

33. A computer program product comprising one or more computer-usable media storing computer-readable program code embodied in the media for:

displaying electronic content on a screen having multiple zones; and

associating each portion of the electronic content with at least one of the multiple zones.

34. The computer program product as recited in claim 33, wherein the multiple zones include a first zone and a second zone, and wherein the first zone overlaps with the second zone.

35. The computer program product as recited in claim 33, wherein at least one portion of the electronic content is associated with at least two of the multiple zones.

36. The computer program product as recited in claim 33, wherein each portion of the electronic content is associated with a zone within which each portion resides.

37. The computer program product as recited in claim 33, wherein the computer-readable program code is further for:

receiving a selection of one of the multiple zones; and

enabling selection of a portion of electronic content associated with the selected zone in response to receiving of the selection.