SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING AND INTERACTING WITH EPERIODICAL SUBSCRIPTIONS

• US 20120290985A1
• Filed: 05/11/2012
• Published: 11/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nook Digital, LLC (f/k/a Barnesandnoble.com LLC) (Bahwan CyberTek Pvt Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Barnes & Noble, Inc. (Elliott Capital Advisors LP)
• Inventors: Tecarro, Jaireh
• Application Number:
  US13/469,597
• Publication Number:
  US 20120290985A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/841
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor

Abstract

A system and method for organizing viewing and reading of electronic periodicals on electronic devices, particularly mobile devices. The user'"'"'s periodicals are arranged on the device'"'"'s User Interface (UI) in visual representations of stacks. Each stack represents a different one of the user'"'"'s periodicals. As a user selects a particular stack representing a particular ePeriodical, the stack is animated to spread out in drawer or in a grid to display thumbnails representing the covers of individual issue of the ePeriodical. The user can scroll the drawer or grid to view the issues. If the user has ePeriodicals stored on remote servers, the user interface has a control that the user can activate to download the thumbnail covers of the remotely stored ePeriodicals. Once the user has found the desired ePeriodical to read, the cover thumbnail can be selected to open and display the ePeriodical.

Claims

1. A method for organizing and presenting periodical digital publications on an electronic device comprising:

accessing a library that contains identifiers related to content available for use on the electronic device;

searching the identifiers and identifying periodical digital publications;

sorting the identified periodical digital publications by title;

displaying first icons representing at least a subset of the sorted titles, each icon representing a different title;

receiving an indication that the icon representing a specific title has been selected;

sorting the selected specific title by issues; and

displaying second icons representing at least a subset of the sorted issues.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of sorting the selected specific title by issues further comprises sorting the issues by date.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising sorting the identified periodical digital publications by a type of periodical digital publication.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the type of periodical digital publication includes newspapers and magazines.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the act of displaying the first icons representing at least the subset of the sorted titles further comprises displaying the first icons as representations of stacks of issues of the subset of the sorted titles.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the act of displaying the first icons as representations of stacks of issues of the subset of the sorted titles further comprises, with respect to a specific stack, displaying a thumbnail image of an issue of the title as a top issue on the specific stack.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second icons representing at least the subset of the sorted issues are thumbnail images.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein if a specific issue is not contained in a memory of the electronic device, the method further comprising displaying a download control element in connection with the second icon representing the specific issue.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

receiving an indication that the download control element has been selected;

contacting a remote server;

requesting a copy of the specific issue from the remote server;

receiving the copy of the specific issue; and

displaying the specific issue on the electronic device.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising

receiving an indication that a second icon representing a specific issue has been selected;

and

displaying the specific issue on the electronic device.

11. A system for organizing and presenting periodical digital publications on an electronic device comprising:

a memory that includes instructions for operating the electronic device and includes a library that contains identifiers related to content available for use on the electronic device;

a display; and

control circuitry coupled to the memory and coupled to the display, the control circuitry executing the instructions and is operable to;

search the identifiers in the library and identify periodical digital publications;

sort the identified periodical digital publications by title;

display first icons on the display, the first icons representing at least a subset of the sorted titles, each first icon representing a different title;

receive an indication that the first icon representing a specific title has been selected;

sort the selected specific title by issues; and

display second icons representing at least a subset of the sorted issues.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further operable to sort the issues by date.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further operable to sort the identified periodical digital publications by a type of periodical digital publication.

14. The system according to claim 11, wherein the first icons are representations of stacks of issues of the subset of the sorted titles.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the control circuitry is further operable to display a thumbnail image of an issue of the title as a top issue on a specific stack.

16. The system according to claim 11, wherein the second icons representing at least the subset of the sorted issues are thumbnail images.

17. A system for organizing and presenting periodical digital publications comprising:

a remote server, the remote server having a server memory, the server memory storing a plurality of the periodical digital publications; and

an electronic device, the electronic device comprising;

a device memory that includes instructions for operating the electronic device and includes a library that contains identifiers related to content available for use on the electronic device,

communication circuitry,

a display; and

control circuitry coupled to the device memory, coupled to the communication circuitry and coupled to the display, the control circuitry executing the instructions and is operable to;

search the identifiers in the library and identify periodical digital publications;

sort the identified periodical digital publications by title;

display first icons on the display, the first icons representing at least a subset of the sorted titles, each first icon representing a different title;

receive an indication that the first icon representing a specific title has been selected;

sort the selected specific title by issues;

display second icons on the display, the second icons representing at least a subset of the sorted issues display a download control element on the display in connection with the second icon representing the specific issue;

receive an indication that the download control element has been selected;

use the communication circuitry to contact the remote server, request a copy of the specific issue from the remote server, and receive the copy of the specific issue from the remote server from the plurality of the periodical digital publications stored thereon; and

display the specific issue on the electronic device.