Computer based browsing computer program product, system and method

• US 6,762,775 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2002
• Issued: 07/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sino Star Global Ltd.
• Original Assignee: E-BOOK SYSTEMS PTE. LTD.
• Inventors: Ho, Seng Beng
• Primary Examiner(s): Luu, Sy D.
• Application Number:
  US10/052,387
• Publication Number:
  US 20020140717A1
• Time in Patent Office: 902 Days
• Field of Search: 345/700-702, 345/739, 345/764, 345/775-779, 345/784, 345/785, 345/835, 345/839, 345/856, 345/473, 345/901, 345/672, 345/684, 345/685, 345/687, 345/688, 345/156, 345/157, 345/173
• US Class Current: 715/776
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/0339 Touch strips, e.g. orthogonal touch strips to control cursor movement or scrolling; single touch strip to adjust parameter or to implement a row of soft keys
• 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: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text

Abstract

A computer based browsing computer program product, system and method arranges a set of information hosted on a computer into a book or 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. A method for displaying a computer-based set of information on a display screen, 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 first side of said book to a second side of said book, and

displaying a division between said open pages of said first side of said book and said second side of said book at a fixed location with respect to said display screen as different pages of said book image are displayed when moved from said first side to said second side of said book,

displaying outer edges of said open pages on said second side of said book as moving away from said division when said different pages are moved from said first side to said second side of said book; and

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

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a permanent bookmark.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a finger-bookmark.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising

jumping to a predetermined jump position in said set of information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of displaying a thickness image comprises:

displaying a left-side thickness of said book image as said first thickness 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 as said second thickness 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.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein:

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

7. The method of claim 3, wherein:

said finger-bookmark disappears when a bookmarked page is revisited.

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

displaying a jump cursor on at least one of the first thickness image and the second thickness image, 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.

9. The method of claim 1, 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.

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

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

11. The method of claim 1, 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.

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

adjusting a document browsing speed in correspondence to a user command.

13. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of:

displaying a flipping of a thickness image of pages skipped over in said jumping step.

14. A computer-readable program product whose contents cause a computer to perform the method recited in any one of claims 1-13.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of:

displaying a jump cursor on at least one of said first thickness image and said second thickness image, corresponding to a selected page that is covered by other pages.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising steps of:

actuating said jump cursor and flipping said other pages in a single flipping operation so as to open said book to said selected page.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising steps of:

flipping and displaying content simultaneously on multiple flipping pages.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising steps of:

increasing a flipping speed and displaying a greater number of flipping pages in response to increasing the flipping speed.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of:

displaying a set of pages as a collapsed fan display.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising steps of:

jumping to a selected page on at least one of said first thickness image and second thickness image, and displaying an animated image of skipped pages as a group of flipping pages moving across the screen, a thickness of said group of flipping pages being proportional to a number of the skipped pages.