Computer user interface system and method having book image features

• US 6,064,384 A
• Filed: 08/26/1996
• Issued: 05/16/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sino Star Global Ltd.
• Original Assignee: E-BookSystems, Inc
• Inventors: Ho, Seng Beng
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Matthew M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): dela Torre, Crescelle N.
• Application Number:
  US08/703,404
• Time in Patent Office: 1,359 Days
• Field of Search: 345/350, 345/351, 345/349, 345/348, 345/339, 345/901, 707/501, 707/512, 707/530
• US Class Current: 715/839
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/002 Specific input/output arrangements not covered by G06F3/01 - G06F3/16 other optical apparatus G02B27/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 345/901 Electronic book with display

Abstract

A computer user interface system and method arranges a set of information hosted on a computer into a set of books, where each book includes a subset of the set of information, labels each book with a respective portion of the subset of the set of information, and selects a book from the set of books. Selecting the book from the set of books includes steps of displaying the respective portions of the books as a book document image that includes pages which correspond to the respective portions of the books, generating a command for moving through the pages, displaying an animated image of the pages of the book document being at least one of flipped, scrolled, slid and flashed images, and selecting the book when a selected one of the pages containing a selection portion of the book is earlier displayed.

Claims

1. An operating system interface method, comprising the steps of:

arranging a set of operating system related entities hosted on a computer into a book, the book having a subset of said operating system related entities presented on at least one page of said book and/or another book, said arranging step includes arranging said operating system related entities as at least one of

respective labeled computer files,

a collection of hierarchically arranged computer files, and

a software application user interface of a software application;

labeling each book with a respective portion of said subset of said operating system related entities; and

selecting a book from a set of books, said selecting step comprising,

displaying said respective portions of said books as a book document image comprising pages, said pages corresponding to said respective portions of said books,

generating a command for moving through said pages,

displaying an animated image of said pages of said book document being at least one of flipped, scrolled, slid and flashed, and

selecting said book when a selected one of said pages containing a selection portion of said book is displayed in said displaying step.

2. The interface method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

identifying a selected book page of a set of book pages within said selected book, comprising the steps of,

displaying the selected book as the image of the book document,

generating a move command for moving a pointer through a subset of pages of said selected book,

displaying an animated image of said pages in said book document being at least one of flipped, scrolled, slid and flashed, and

selecting said selected book page in said selected book when the selected book page is displayed in said step of displaying an animated image of pages in said book.

3. The interface method of claim 1, wherein said computer file label being at least one of a text name and an icon.

4. The interface method of claim 1, wherein said collection of computer files being presented in a folder, said folder including specific files of said collection of computer files.

5. The interface method of claim 1, wherein said software application user interface includes a window containing a user interface for the software application.

6. The interface method of claim 1, wherein said step of displaying said respective portions of said books comprises displaying said book after a number of said pages has been changed in a changing step by at least one of, adding one or more pages, and deleting one or more pages.

7. The interface method of claim 1, wherein said step of displaying said respective portions of said books comprises,

displaying thickness representation on respective sides of said book,

displaying a bookmark on a selected page of said book,

jumping to said selected page of said book when said bookmark is selected by a user.

8. The interface method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

adding more pages to said book in response to receiving a command to display an additional operating system related entity.

9. The interface method of claim 1, further comprising means for adding and deleting pages.

10. A method for displaying a computer-based set of information on a display screen controlled by a computer-based information browsing device, comprising the steps of:

displaying said set of information as a book image, respective portions of said set of information being displayed as an open page of said book image that overlaps another page that was previously moved from a right side of said book to the left side of said book, and open pages of said book remain at a fixed location with respect to said display screen as different pages of said book image are displayed;

displaying a thickness image of said book image corresponding to an amount of said information on a left side and a right side of said display screen, a left portion of said thickness image displayed on said left side of said screen being proportional to a first amount of the information preceding a point in said set of information currently being displayed and a right portion of said thickness image displayed on said right side of said display screen being proportional to a second amount of information following the point in said set of information currently being displayed;

displaying a finger-bookmark in a first image format on said display screen corresponding to a finger-bookmark position;

displaying a permanent bookmark in a second image format on said display screen corresponding to a permanent bookmark position;

producing a new bookmark corresponding to a currently displayed image;

displaying said new bookmark in at least one of said first image format or said second image format; and

jumping to a jump position in said set of information corresponding to a current position of an instrument on a sensor device of said computer-based information browsing device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

said step of displaying a thickness image includes,

displaying a left-side thickness of said book image while keeping a right vertical edge thereof remaining stationary with respect to the display screen,

displaying a right-side thickness of said book image while keeping a left vertical edge thereof remaining stationary with respect to the display screen; and

further comprising steps of

changing the left-side thickness in response to moving through the set of information and generating a command to cause a left vertical edge of the displayed page to change position, and

changing the right-side thickness in response to moving through the set of information and generating another command to cause a right vertical edge of the displayed page to change position.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein:

said finger-bookmark disappears when a bookmarked page is revisited; and

said permanent bookmark does not disappear when a permanently bookmarked page is revisited.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

displaying on the thickness image a jump cursor,

said jump cursor being user-activated and identifying a location in the set of information in which to effect a jump operation, and

said jump cursor showing a location in the set of information to which the jump operation will be made.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

displaying more than two flipping pages simultaneously, said flipping pages showing information from corresponding parts of said set of information.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of:

displaying increasingly more flipping pages simultaneously as a document browsing speed is increased.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of:

freezing a number of flipping pages in an act of flipping across the computer screen in response to receiving a freeze command issued by a user.

17. An operating system method for browsing a computer-based set of operating system related entities, comprising the steps of:

generating a command to move a pointer through said set of operating system related entities, said operating system entities including at least one of

respective labeled computer files,

a collection of hierarchically arranged computer files, and

a software application user interface of a software application;

displaying said set of operating system related entities in respective book images and organized in groups, a portion of said system related entities being displayed as being graphically contained within a book image for one of the operating system related entities;

moving said pointer in at least one of a forward direction and a backward direction through said computer-based set of operating system related entities in response to said command generated in said generating step;

adjusting a speed of said movement of said pointer through said computer-based set of operating system related entities corresponding to said command generated in said generating step;

jumping to a selected location in said computer-based set of operating system related entities, said jumping step comprising the steps of,

receiving a jump command, and

moving said pointer from a current position in said computer-based set of operating system related entities to a user-defined jump position; and

bookmarking a desired portion of said computer-based set of operating system related entities, said desired portion comprising a selected subset of a text or a graphics information, said bookmarking step comprising the steps of,

receiving a bookmark command via a user-entry, and

marking said desired portion of said computer-based set of operating system related entities corresponding to said user entry.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

displaying said book image with a thickness image indicative of an amount of information content behind a displayed page of book image;

displaying on the thickness image a jump cursor,

said jump cursor being user-activated and identifying another page of the book image in which to effect a jump operation, and

said jump cursor showing the another page to which the jump operation will be made.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising the steps of:

displaying more than one flipping pages of said book image simultaneously, said flipping pages showing information from corresponding parts of said book image.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of:

displaying more flipping pages of said book image simultaneously as a document browsing speed is increased.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of:

freezing a number of flipping pages of said book image in an act of flipping across the computer screen in response to receiving a freeze command issued by a user.

22. An operating system user interface apparatus, comprising:

a display;

a computer connected to said display, comprising,

means for arranging a set of operating system related entities hosted on the computer into a book, the book having a subset of said set of operating system related entities presented on at least one page of said book and/or another book, said operating system entities including at least one of

respective labeled computer files,

a collection of hierarchically arranged computer files, and

a software application user interface of a software application, wherein

said means for arranging includes,

means for labeling each book with a respective portion of said subset of said operating system related entities, and

means for selecting a book from the set of books, comprising,

a first display mechanism that displays on said display said respective portions of said books as a book document image comprising pages, said pages corresponding to said respective portions of said books,

a generating mechanism that generates a command for moving through said pages,

a second display means for displaying an animated image of said pages of said book document on said display, said animated image being at least one of flipped, scrolled, slid and flashed, and

a selecting mechanism that selects said book when a selected one of said pages containing a selection portion of said book is displayed by said second display mechanism.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein said computer file label being at least one of a text name and an icon.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein said collection of computer files being presented as a folder, said folder including specific files of said collection of computer files.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein said software application user interface includes a window containing a user interface for the software application.

26. The system of claim 22, further comprising:

means for displaying a thickness representation on respective sides of said book;

means for displaying a bookmark on a selected page of said book; and

means for jumping to said selected page of said book when said bookmark is selected by a user.

27. The system of claim 22, further comprising:

means for adding more pages to said book in response to receiving a command to display an additional operating system related entity.