Method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text

• US 6,130,968 A
• Filed: 10/03/1997
• Issued: 10/10/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Softology Ideaworks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Peter Mcian, Thomas W. Crosley
• Inventors: McIan, Peter, Crosley, Thomas W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Boudreau, Leo H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mariam, Daniel G.
• Application Number:
  US08/943,766
• Time in Patent Office: 1,103 Days
• Field of Search: 382/309, 382/310, 235/437, 345/56, 345/195, 358/406, 358/504, 364/710.03, 371/2.1, 371/3, 434/179, 434/180, 434/181, 434/182, 434/184
• US Class Current: 382/309
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/109 Font handling; Temporal or kinetic typography

Abstract

A method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text and with rapid apprehension, at a rate which is greater than the maximum unaided reading capability of that subject using the method. The method comprises a rapid and sequential moving of the words of text through a window on a screen of a computer monitor. In accordance with the method, the words are allowed to pass through or be displayed in the display window, one word at a time, and at a rate in which the time for display which is based on the number of characters in a word is related to and a function of the total amount of time required for all of the words in a segment of the text to be displayed. A time for display of each word of average character length is the same, and that certain words in a segment will be displayed for a longer period of time than other of the words. Usually, the words which contain more characters will have a longer display period. The present invention also provides an area on the screen of the monitor in which the previously read words of the segment of the text are printed as a full display, such that the reader may rapidly review the words of that segment previously presented on the window of the monitor, and then also rapidly scan entire portions of the text which have already been displayed. The method also involves the use of a selected color and patterned background, to enhance readability. In accordance with this method, the reading rate is substantially increased, and eye fatigue and strain is substantially reduced.

Claims

1. A method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text by a subject and with a high degree of apprehension, at a rate which is greater than the maximum reading capability of that subject, said method comprising:

a) rapidly and sequentially moving the words of the text through a display window on a monitor, one word at a time;

b) conducting an examination of a segment of the text in which each of the words are to be displayed in order to determine in advance the time of display of each of the words in that segment and a the blanking period between each of the words in which there is no display, prior to the display of words in that segment; and

c) allowing each of the words to be automatically displayed in the display window for a time period in which the number of characters in each word is related to and a function of the total amount of time required for display of all of the words in a segment of the text as determined by said examination and that the time of display of each of the words having a length of an average number of characters is the same and that certain words of this segment will be displayed for longer time periods than other words in this segment.

2. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 1 further characterized in that words in a segment of the text having more characters than other words in that segment are displayed for a longer period of time than words having a length of an average number of characters.

3. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 2 further characterized in that words in a segment of the text having a number of characters which is less than the average number of characters in that segment are displayed for a time period only slightly shorter than or for the same period of time as words having a length of an average number of characters.

4. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 2 further characterized in that words beginning with capital letters not at the beginning of a sentence are displayed for a period of time longer than the display time for each word having a length of an average number of characters.

5. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 4 further characterized in that words beginning with capital letters are displayed for a period of time which is twice as long as those words having a length of an average number of characters.

6. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 2 further characterized in that a delay period in display is created at ends of phrases or sentences and before the beginning of the next sequential phrase or sentence.

7. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 1 further characterized in that the words in the text are displayed at a rate of sixty to eighteen hundred words per minute.

8. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 1 further characterized in that the words of a segment are displayed at a size of two to ten times the character height of text displayed on a computer monitor.

9. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 8 further characterized in that the display size for an entire display is 640 pixels by 480 pixels.

10. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 1 further characterized in that the words are displayed in the display window over a generally constant color background and that the window is present over a background of constantly changing color.

11. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 10 further characterized in that the window is present over a constantly changing background comprised of four different colors.

12. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 11 further characterized in that the window is present over a constantly changing background comprised of four different colors and where one-fourth of the pixels of a color are changed at any point in time to obtain a slowly changed color.

13. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text by a subject and with improved apprehension at a rate which is greater than the maximum reading capability of that subject, said method comprising:

a) rapidly and sequentially moving the words of the text through a display window on a monitor, one word at a time;

b) conducting an examination of the text in which each of the words in a segment are to be displayed in order to determine in advance the time of display of each of the words in that segment and the blanking period between each of the words in which there is no display, prior to the display of the words of that segment;

c) allowing each of the words to be automatically displayed in the display window for a time period in which the number of characters in each word is related to and a function of the total amount of time required for display of all of the words in a segment of the text; and

d) presenting each of the words of that segment in a portion of the text to be presented as a body of the text in an area of the display separated from said window but simultaneously with the presentation of the words of that segment in the display window so that a reader of the text may be reading the text through the rapidly changing display in the window at a high rate of speed and may also scan previously read words or unread words in the body of the text.

14. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 13 further characterized in that the area of the display for that body of the text is located beneath the window.

15. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 13 further characterized in that the presentation of the body of the text is under the control of the reader using the method.

16. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 13 further characterized in that the time of display of each of the words is the same except that certain words of a segment will be displayed for longer time period than other words in this segment.

17. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 13 further characterized in that the method comprises controlling the speed of display of words in the window by the user of the method.

18. A method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text by a subject and with a high degree of apprehension, at a rate which is greater than the maximum reading capability of that subject, said method comprising:

a) generating a monitor background of selected color on a screen of a computer monitor and where the color of the background continuously and slowly changes over time;

b) creating a window on the background of selected color and which window has a star field background with white and gray pixels;

c) rapidly and sequentially displaying the words of the text through a display window on a monitor one word at a time; and

d) automatically changing the color of the monitor background using pixels having four different color values and causing only a selected number of pixels to change at any point in time.

19. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 18 further characterized in that the method comprises assigning any of four different color values to each pixel and initially providing the same color values to all pixels to provide a solid color and changing the background color slowly from one pale hue to another.

20. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 19 further characterized in that only twenty-five percent (25%) of the pixels are changed at any point in time.

21. The method of enhancing the readability of rapidly displayed text of claim 18 further characterized in that the method comprises allowing each of the words to pass through the display window at a rate in which the number of characters of each word is related to and a function of the total amount of time required for display of all of the words in a segment of the text such that the time of display of each of the words is the same except that certain words of this segment will be displayed for longer time periods than other words in this segment.