Vertical Content on Small Display Devices

• US 20100088591A1
• Filed: 10/03/2008
• Published: 04/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Felt, Douglas, Ho, Ching-Lan
• Granted Patent: US 9,087,337 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/247
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0492 Change of orientation of the displayed image, e.g. upside-down, mirrored
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/145 related to small screens
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/246 of ideographic or arabic-like characters

Abstract

A technique, method, apparatus, computer program product, and system are described for vertically displaying text of content items on small display devices. In some implementations, individual characters (e.g., Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters) of text can be displayed vertically in one or more left-hand or right-hand columns of a display. Text strings (e.g., Latin characters, a URL included in the text) can be converted to one or more images, and the images can be rotated for display in a column.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving content items, including text to be displayed on a user'"'"'s mobile browser;

determining whether the mobile browser supports floating text columns;

if the mobile device supports floating text columns, determining whether at least some of the text should be displayed vertically on the mobile browser, including determining if non-Latin characters are included in the text; and

if the text should be displayed vertically, rotating text characters of at least some of the text to display vertically in a floating text column.

2. The method of claim 1, where determining whether at least some of the text should be displayed vertically further comprises:

determining that none of the text should be displayed vertically if the text includes a number of Latin characters that exceeds a first defined value, the text includes a number of consecutive Latin characters that exceeds a second defined value, or if a ratio of Latin characters to all characters in the text exceeds a third defined value.

3. The method of claim 1, where determining whether at least some of the text should be displayed vertically further comprises:

determining that none of the text should be displayed vertically if a vertical display length of the content item would exceed a defined value.

4. The method of claim 1, where the text is displayed as a selectable hyperlink.

5. The method of claim 1, where the at least one column is displayed on a left-hand side or a right-hand side of a display of the mobile browser.

6. The method of claim 1, where the at least some of the text is vertically displayed in at least one column by the browser.

7. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a plurality of content items, including text, to be displayed on a user'"'"'s mobile browser;

determining whether the user'"'"'s browser supports floating image columns;

if the browser supports floating image columns;

mapping the text to one or more images;

rotating the images of individual text characters that should not be displayed vertically; and

displaying the images of rotated text characters that should be displayed vertically and the images of text that should not be displayed vertically in at least one floating image column.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the text that should not be displayed vertically includes an address for a resource associated with the content item.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

mapping the characters of the address for the resource to an image;

rotating the image; and

displaying the rotated image in at least one floating image column.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

for each punctuation character or digit character in the text, determining whether the punctuation character or digit character should be displayed vertically.

11. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a plurality of content items including text;

for at least one of the plurality of content items, determining whether at least some of the text should be displayed vertically including determining if one or more Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters are included in the text; and

if at least some of the text should be displayed vertically, displaying the at least some of the text vertically in at least one column alongside other received content.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, where determining whether at least some of the text should be displayed vertically further comprises:

determining that none of the text should be displayed vertically if the text includes a number of Latin characters that exceeds a first defined value, the text includes a number of consecutive Latin characters that exceeds a second defined value, or if a ratio of Latin characters to all characters in the text exceeds a third defined value.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, where determining whether at least some of the text should be displayed vertically further comprises:

determining that none of the text should be displayed vertically if a vertical display length of the content item would exceed a defined value.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, where determining whether at least some of the text should be displayed vertically further comprises:

determining that at least some of the text should be displayed vertically if the content item was specified for vertical display by a provider of the content item.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, where the text is displayed as a selectable hyperlink.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, where the at least some of the text is vertically displayed in at least one column by a browser.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, where the at least one column is displayed on a left-hand side or a right-hand side of the mobile browser.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, where displaying the at least some of the text vertically in at least one column by a browser further comprises:

determining whether the browser supports floating text columns;

if the browser supports floating text columns;

displaying the at least some of the text vertically in at least one floating text column; and

if the browser does not support floating text columns;

mapping the text to one or more images;

rotating the images of text that should not be displayed vertically; and

displaying the images of text that should be displayed vertically and the rotated images of text that should not be displayed vertically in at least one floating image column.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, where the text includes an address for a resource associated with the content item, and the address for the resource includes Latin characters.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising:

mapping the characters of the address for the resource to an image;

rotating the image; and

displaying the rotated image in at least one floating image column.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, further comprising:

for each punctuation character or digit character in the text, determining whether the punctuation character or digit character should be displayed vertically.

22. A system for vertically displaying text of one or more content items, comprising:

one or more computers operable to perform instructions to;

receive a plurality of content items including text;

for at least one of the plurality of content items, determine whether at least some of the text should be displayed vertically including determining if one or more Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters are included in the text; and

if at least some of the text should be displayed vertically, display the at least some of the text vertically in at least one column alongside other received content.

23. A computer system comprising:

means for receiving content items, including text to be displayed on a user'"'"'s mobile browser;

means for determining whether the mobile browser supports floating text columns;

means for determining whether at least some of the text should be displayed vertically on the mobile browser, including determining if non-Latin characters are included in the text; and

means for rotating text characters of at least some of the text to display vertically in a floating text column.

24. A computer system comprising:

a module for receiving content items, including text to be displayed on a user'"'"'s mobile browser;

a module for determining whether the mobile browser supports floating text columns;

a module for determining whether at least some of the text should be displayed vertically on the mobile browser, including determining if non-Latin characters are included in the text; and

a module for rotating text characters of at least some of the text to display vertically in a floating text column.