SHARED BOOK READING

• US 20110045816A1
• Filed: 03/25/2010
• Published: 02/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Wickman, Marianna, Wang, Winston, Kemery, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,929,887 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/420
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/147 using display panels
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 17/006 with audible presentation of the material to be studied audio and audio-visual teaching apparatus in general G09B5/04, G09B5/06
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/06 with both visual and audible presentation of the material to be studied
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/027 Arrangements and methods specific for the display of internet documents
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/14 Electronic books and readers

Abstract

Techniques for sharing book reading experiences between users of different telecommunications devices are described herein.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying an electronic book on a parent telecommunications device;

accepting navigational inputs from the parent to navigate the electronic book while the parent is reading the electronic book aloud;

transmitting the navigational inputs and the reading of the electronic book to a child telecommunications device;

displaying the electronic book on the child telecommunications device; and

playing the reading of the electronic book on the child telecommunications device while synchronously navigating the electronic book on the child telecommunications device in accordance with the navigational inputs.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the transmitting is performed as the parent is reading the electronic book aloud.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the transmitting is performed after the parent has read the electronic book aloud.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the transmitting comprises establishing a voice call between the parent telecommunications device and the child telecommunications device and transmitting the reading of the electronic book over the voice call as the parent is reading the electronic book aloud.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the transmitting comprises:

establishing a voice call between the parent telecommunications device and the child telecommunications device;

establishing data channel between the parent telecommunications device and the child telecommunications device;

transmitting the reading of the electronic book over the voice call as the parent is reading the electronic book aloud; and

communicating the navigational inputs over the data channel to the child telecommunications device as the parent is reading the electronic book aloud.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the navigational inputs and the reading of the electronic book to a 3^rd party'"'"'s telecommunications device while transmitting the navigational inputs and the reading of the electronic book to the child telecommunications device.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the navigational inputs and the reading of the electronic book to a 3^rd party'"'"'s telecommunications device while transmitting the navigational inputs and the reading of the electronic book to the child telecommunications device; and

playing the reading of the electronic book on the 3^rd party'"'"'s telecommunications device while synchronously navigating the electronic book on the 3^rd party'"'"'s telecommunications device in accordance with the navigational inputs.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the navigational inputs and the reading of the electronic book to a 3^rd party'"'"'s telecommunications device after transmitting the navigational inputs and the reading of the electronic book to the child telecommunications device.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the transmitting comprises:

establishing a multi-party voice call between the parent telecommunications device, the child telecommunications device, and a 3^rd party'"'"'s telecommunications device;

transmitting the reading of the electronic book over the multi-party voice call as the parent is reading the electronic book aloud.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the transmitting comprises:

establishing a multi-party voice call between the parent telecommunications device, the child telecommunications device, and a 3^rd party'"'"'s telecommunications device;

transmitting the reading of the electronic book over the multi-party voice call as the parent is reading the electronic book aloud; and

transmitting the navigational inputs to the 3^rd party'"'"'s telecommunications device as the parent is reading the electronic book aloud.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising recording the navigational inputs and the reading of the electronic book for later transmitting.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

recording the navigational inputs and the reading of the electronic book;

subsequently playing the recorded reading of the electronic book while synchronously navigating the electronic book in accordance with the recorded navigational inputs.

13. A method comprising:

displaying an electronic book on a child telecommunications device during a voice call between the child telecommunications device and a parent telecommunications device; and

receiving navigation signals from the parent telecommunications device during the voice call to navigate the electronic book on the child telecommunications device while the parent reads the electronic book to the child by voice over the voice call.

14. A method as recited in claim 13, further comprising executing an electronic book viewer application on the child telecommunications device during the voice call to display the electronic book and to navigate the electronic book in response to receiving the book navigation signals from the parent telecommunications device.

15. A method as recited in claim 13, further comprising recording the voice call and the navigational signals for later synchronized playback.

16. A method as recited in claim 13, further comprising recording the voice call and the navigational signals for later transmission and synchronized playback on the child telecommunications device.

17. A child telecommunications device, comprising:

wireless communications components capable of simultaneous voice and data communications with a parent telecommunications device;

a visual display;

a viewer module configured to display an electronic book on the visual display during voice communication with the parent telecommunications device; and

the viewer module being further configured to respond to navigational inputs from the parent telecommunications device during the voice communication to navigate the displayed electronic book while the parent reads the electronic book to the child by voice.

18. A child telecommunications device as recited in claim 17, wherein the electronic book has interactive elements, the viewer module being further configured to associate parent utterances recorded at the parent telecommunications device with the interactive features and to play those utterances in response to interactions by the child with the interactive elements of the interactive book.

19. A child telecommunications device as recited in claim 17, further comprising a recording module configured to record the parent reading the electronic book to the child and to simultaneously record the navigational inputs from the parent telecommunications device for later synchronized playback.

20. A parent telecommunications device, comprising:

wireless communications components capable of simultaneous voice and data communications with a child telecommunications device;

a visual display;

a viewer module configured to display an electronic book on the visual display during voice communication with the child telecommunications device;

the viewer module being further configured to receive navigational inputs from the parent during the voice communication to navigate the electronic book on the parent telecommunications device and the child telecommunications device while the parent reads the electronic book to the child by voice.

21. A parent telecommunications device as recited in claim 20, wherein the electronic book has interactive elements, the viewer module being further configured to associate parent utterances with the interactive features and to provide those utterances to the child device for playback in response to interaction with the interactive elements at the child device.

22. A parent telecommunications device as recited in claim 20, further comprising a recording module configured to record the parent reading the electronic book to the child and to simultaneously record the navigational inputs for later synchronized playback.

23. One or more computer-readable media containing instructions that are executable by a processor to perform actions comprising:

displaying an electronic book;

recording a parent reading of the displayed electronic book aloud;

recording navigational inputs from the parent during the reading of the electronic book;

providing the recorded reading and navigational inputs for synchronized rendering along with the electronic book on a child telecommunications device.

24. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 23, the actions further comprising:

establishing a voice call with the child telecommunications device;

providing the recorded reading over the voice call while the parent reads the displayed electronic book aloud.

25. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 23, wherein providing the recorded reading and navigational inputs is performed while the parent reads the displayed electronic book aloud.

26. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 23, wherein providing the recorded reading and navigational inputs is performed after the parent has read the displayed electronic book aloud.

27. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 23, the actions further comprising storing the recorded reading and navigational inputs, wherein providing the recorded reading and navigational inputs is performed after the parent has read the displayed electronic book aloud.

28. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 23, wherein the electronic book has interactive elements, the actions further comprising associating utterances of the parent with the interactive elements and providing those utterances to the child device for playback in response to interaction with the interactive elements at the child device.

29. One or more computer-readable media containing instructions that are executable by a processor to perform actions comprising:

displaying an electronic book;

playing a parent reading of the displayed electronic book;

synchronously navigating the electronic book in accordance with navigational inputs from the parent while playing the parent reading of the displayed electronic book.

30. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 29, the actions further comprising:

establishing a voice call with the parent telecommunications device; and

receiving the parent reading over the voice call while the parent reads the displayed electronic book aloud.

31. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 29, the actions further comprising:

receiving the navigational inputs while the parent reads the displayed electronic book aloud to the child.

32. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 29, wherein the electronic book has interactive elements, the actions further comprising:

receiving parent utterances;

associating the received parent utterances with the interactive elements for playing in response to interactions by the child with the interactive elements of the interactive book.

33. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 29, the actions further comprising:

recording the parent reading the electronic book to the child;

recording the navigational inputs from the parent telecommunications device for later synchronized playback with the reading.

34. A method comprising:

displaying an interactive book on a parent telecommunications device;

recording utterances of the parent corresponding to interactive elements of the interactive book;

delivering the interactive book and recorded utterances to a child telecommunications device;

displaying the interactive book on the child telecommunications device; and

playing the utterances of the parent on the child telecommunications device in response to interactions with the interactive elements of the interactive book by the child.

35. A method as recited in claim 34, wherein the utterances include sound effects corresponding to interactive elements of the interactive book.

36. A method as recited in claim 34, wherein the utterances include phrases corresponding to interactive elements of the interactive book.

37. A method as recited in claim 34, wherein the utterances include pronunciations of words represented by the interactive book.