ELECTRONIC BOOK WITH CHANGEABLE PATHS

• US 20130268880A1
• Filed: 01/27/2011
• Published: 10/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ent Services Development Corporation LP (DXC Technology Company)
• Original Assignee: Ent Services Development Corporation LP (DXC Technology Company)
• Inventors: Kasravi, Kas, Sheridan, William
• Granted Patent: US 9,557,895 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/776
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/14 Electronic books and readers

Abstract

An e-book (112) has navigation controls (124) for accessing the sections (110) of a first path (130) of sections of the e-book. In response to receipt (101) of a path-change command (134), the active path (129) is changed to a second path (132). Concomitantly, the navigation controls are changed so that they provide for navigation along the second path instead of along the first path.

Claims

1. A system (114;

402) comprising computer-readable storage media (120;

408) encoded with code (122;

410) defining an electronic book (e-book) (112;

200) with sections (110;

201-215), navigation controls (124;

432) and a path selector (126;

450) configured to, when executed by a processor (116;

404);

receive (101;

702) a path-change command (134) to change an active path (129;

454) from a first path (130;

300) to a second path (132;

502), each of said paths corresponding to a respective series of sections of said e-book; and

in response to said path-change command, changing (102;

703) said navigation controls so that they provide for navigation along said second path instead of along said first path.

2. A system as recited in claim 1 further comprising said processor.

3. A system as recited in claim 1 wherein said navigation controls include a table of contents (440) that has:

while said first path is said active path, hyperlink entries (462-468) corresponding to sections of said first path; and

while said second path is the active path, at least one hyperlink entry (670) associated with said second path that is not included in said table of contents while said first path is said active path.

4. A system as recited in claim 1 wherein said first path includes a first section (464) followed immediately by a second section (466) and said second path includes said first section followed immediately by a third section (664) different from said second section, said navigation controls having next-page controls configured so that, while a last page of said first section is displayed:

while said first path is said active path, activating a next-page control causes a first page of said second section to be displayed; and

while said second path is said active path, activating a next-page control causes a first page of said third section to be displayed.

5. A system as recited in claim 1 wherein said e-book includes a control (508) that, when activated, presents an interface (220) for creating a new path including at least some of said sections.

6. An e-reader (114;

402) comprising a combination of hardware (116;

404) and software (122;

410) configured to present an electronic book (e-book) (112;

200) in human readable form, said combination providing for changing a currently active path (129;

454) from a first path (130;

300) to a second path (132;

502), each of said paths including a series of sections (110;

261-215) of content configured to be presented in human readable form, the series of sections associated with said first path differing in the sections included therein or the order of sections Included therein from said second path.

7. An reader as recited in claim 6 wherein said combination includes navigation controls (124;

432) for navigating among sections of said active path and not to a section of said e-book that is not included in said active path.

8. An e-reader as recited in claim 6 wherein said combination displays a table of contents (440) specifying sections of said e-book, the sections specified being a function of the active path.

9. An e-reader as recited in claim 6 wherein said combination provides for creating a new path (704) of sections of said e-book.

10. An e-reader as recited in claim 6 wherein said combination provides :

for creating or importing (704) a new path including sections of different e-books.

11. A process (100) comprising:

while a first path (130;

300) is an active path (129;

454) for an electronic book (e-book) (112;

200) displayed on an e-reader (114;

402), a human interacting with sad e-reader so as to select (101;

702) a second path (132;

502) to be the active path, said paths including respective series of sections of said e-book; and

responding to the selection by changing (101;

703) a table of contents (124;

432) of said e-book from a representation of a series of sections for said first path to a representation of a second series of sections for said second path.

12. A process as recited in claim 11 wherein said first and second paths share a common section (208) that is followed by a first section (213) in said first path and a second section (206) in said second path, said responding including changing a navigation control so that a next-page command issued while a last page of said common section is displayed causes a first page of said first section to be displayed while said first path is active and causes a first page of said second section to be displayed while said second path is active.

13. A process as recited in claim 11 further comprising said human interacting with said e-reader to create (706) a new path including a new series of sections of said e-book.

14. A process as recited in claim 13 wherein said interacting with said e-reader to create a new path includes said e-reader displaying (705) a map of all sections of said e-book along with indications of the relative popularity of said sections.

15. A process as recited in claim 14 further comprising said human exporting (707) a path to make it available for import to another e-book