Method for flipping pages via electromechanical information browsing device

• US 6,989,815 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2002
• Issued: 01/24/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sino Star Global Ltd.
• Original Assignee: E-BOOK SYSTEMS PTE. LTD.
• Inventors: Liang, Chee Cheng J., Austin, Jason Bradley, Ho, Seng Beng
• Primary Examiner(s): Osorio, Ricardo
• Application Number:
  US10/143,005
• Publication Number:
  US 20030048251A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,352 Days
• Field of Search: 345/901, 345/156, 345/173
• US Class Current: 345/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/014 Force feedback applied to GUI
• 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 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/033 Pointing devices displaced or positioned by the user , e.g. mice, trackballs, pens or joysticks; Accessories therefor digitisers characterised by the transducing means G06F3/041
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0338 with detection of limited linear or angular displacement of an operating part of the device from a neutral position, e.g. isotonic or isometric joysticks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0362 with detection of 1D translations or rotations of an operating part of the device, e.g. scroll wheels, sliders, knobs, rollers or belts
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/038 Control and interface arrangements therefor, e.g. drivers or device-embedded control circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 345/901 Electronic book with display

Abstract

A method for flipping pages of an electronic book via an electromechanical information browsing device that controls page flipping actions of information displayed as an e-book on a display device. The browsing device includes a controller that provides tactile feedback so as to lessen the user-interface differences between conventional books and e-books. Sensors and control mechanisms in the controller generate a series of electrical signals that are interpreted by the computer that displays the e-book to control various browsing operations, such as flipping pages, controlling a rate of page flipping, jumping to pre-set locations in the e-book, etc.

Claims

1. A method for flipping pages of an electronic book hosted on a computer-readable medium for presentation on a display, comprising steps of:

creating at least one of a set of complex page flipping commands with a mechanical browser;

transmitting the at least one of a set of complex page flipping commands from the mechanical browser to a computer that is configured to read data from said computer-readable medium; and

displaying a result from the at least one of a set of complex page flipping commands on the display computer, wherein

the set of complex page flipping commands comprises at least one of

a reverse-direction-of-a-single-last-trailing-page command,

a reverse-direction-of-multiple-last-trailing-pages command,

a reverse-direction-of-a-selected-group-of-flipping-pages command,

an unfreeze-frozen-pages-and-let-pages-all-flip-in-a-same-direction command,

an unfreeze-frozen-pages-and-let-subgroups-of-pages-flip-in-different-directions command,

a launch-flipping-pages-while-a-thick-collection-of-pages-is-flipping command,

a launch-at-least-one-other-thick-collections-of-pages-while-other-pages-are-flipping command,

a move-a-held-single-thick-collection-of-pages-in-a-selected-direction-and-at-a-selected-speed command,

a move-at-least-one-of-a-held-pages-and-a-thick-collection-of-pages-in-a-selected-direction-and-at-a-selected-speed command,

a hold-a-single-page-in-mid-flip-and-collect-other-pages-that-flip-onto-the-single-page-in-mid-flip command,

a hold-a-single-thick-collection-of-pages-in-mid-flip-and-collect-other-pages-that-flip-onto-the-single-thick-collection-of-pages-in-mid-flip command,

a hold-at-least-one-of-a-single-page-and-a-thick-collection-of-pages-in-mid-flip-and-execute-at-least-one-of-the-set-of-page-flipping-commands-between-the-at-least-one-of-a-single-page-and-a-thick-collection-of-pages-in-mid-flip-and-a-thickness-of-a-side-of-a-book-command,

a hold-at-least-one-of-two-pages-and-a-thick-collection-of-pages-in-mid-flip-and-execute-at-least-one-of-the-set-of-page-flipping-commands-between-the-at-least-one-of-two-pages-and-a-thick-collection-of-pages-in-mid-flip command

a hold a single thick collection of pages in mid-flip while releasing one or more pages from the collection command, and

a select a desired split point on a held single thick collection of pages in mid-flip and split the collection of pages into two separate collections of pages.

2. The method for flipping pages of claim 1, wherein:

the mechanical browser comprises

a body having a sensor,

a browsing control device coupled to the sensor and configured to generate a control signal with a first direction component when a force is applied to the sensor in a first direction and a second direction component when the force is applied to the sensor in a second direction, and

an output port configured to output the control signal to a processor that controls which portion of said set of information is presented on a display.

3. The method for flipping pages of claim 2, wherein:

said first direction is at least one of an x-direction, a y-direction, a z-direction and an r-direction and said second direction is another of the at least one of the x-direction, the y-direction, the z-direction and the r-direction.

4. The method for flipping pages of claim 2, wherein:

said browsing control device is configured to provide at least one of a force feedback and a frictional feedback as a reaction to said force.

5. The method for flipping pages of claim 2, wherein:

said control signal being formatted so as to be recognized by said processor as a request to generate at least one of

a flip-a-single-page command,

a continuously-flip-pages command,

a move a-jump-to-cursor-to-a-desired-jump-to-location command,

a select-a-jump-to-position command,

a move-a-bookmark-cursor-to-a-desired-bookmark-location command, and

an insert-a-bookmark command.

6. The method for flipping pages of claim 2, wherein:

said mechanical browser has a right side mounted browsing device,

a left side mounted browsing control device,

a left hand button, and

a right hand button; and

said creating step comprises substeps of

manipulating the right side mounted browsing control device,

manipulating the left side mounted browsing control device,

pressing the left hand button, and

pressing the right hand button.

7. The method for flipping pages of claim 2, wherein:

said transmitting step comprises a substep of operating a pointing device.

8. The method for flipping pages of claim 1, wherein:

said creating step comprises substeps of

quick depressing and releasing of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted controller, and

quick depressing and releasing of another of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted browsing controller, wherein

said substep of quick depressing and releasing of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted controller is configured to flip a set of pages,

said substep of quick depressing and releasing of another of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted browsing controller is configured to change a direction of flipping of the set of pages, and

said substeps of quick depressing and releasing of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted controller and quick depressing and releasing of another of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted browsing controller are configured to simulate an opposing force.

9. The method for flipping pages of claim 1, wherein:

said creating step comprises substeps of

quick depressing and releasing of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted controller, and

of quick depressing of another of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted browsing controller to a maximum depression limit, wherein

said substep of quick depressing and releasing of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted controller is configured to flip a set of pages,

said substep of quick depressing and releasing of another of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted browsing controller to a maximum depression limit is configured to change a direction of flipping of a trailing page of the set of pages, and

said substeps of quick depressing and releasing of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted controller and quick depressing and releasing of another of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted browsing controller to a maximum depression limit are configured to simulate an opposing force penetrating the set of pages to the trailing page and bypassing an intervening page in the set of pages.

10. The method for flipping pages of claim 1, wherein:

said creating step comprises substeps of

quick depressing and releasing of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted controller, and

quick sliding of another of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted browsing controller, wherein

said substep of quick depressing and releasing of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted controller is configured to flip a set of pages,

said substep of quick sliding of another of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted browsing controller is configured to change a direction of flipping of a trailing page of the set of pages, and

said substeps of quick depressing and releasing of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted controller and quick sliding of another of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted browsing controller are configured to simulate an opposing force penetrating the set of pages to the trailing page and bypassing an intervening page in the set of pages.

11. The method for flipping pages of claim 1, wherein:

at least one of said substeps of pressing a left hand button and pressing a right hand button of the mechanical browser is configured to insert a bookmark.

12. The method for flipping pages of claim 1, wherein:

said creating step comprises substeps of

of quick depressing and releasing of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted controller, and

at least one of pressing a left hand button and pressing a right hand button, wherein

said substep of quick depressing and releasing of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted controller and at least one of said steps of pressing a left hand button and pressing a right hand button of the mechanical browser are configured to change a direction of flipping of a trailing page and to simulate an opposing force penetrating the set of pages to the trailing page.

13. The method for flipping pages of claim 1, wherein:

said transmitting step comprises a substep of

using the pointing device to move a pointer on the screen over a region of the electronic book to be opened up.

14. The method for flipping pages of claim 1, wherein:

said creating step comprises at least one of

a substep of simultaneously depressing and holding the right side browsing controller and the left side browsing controller, and

a substep of simultaneously depressing and releasing the right side browsing controller and the left side browsing controller, wherein

the at least one of a substep of simultaneously depressing and holding and a substep of simultaneously depressing and releasing is configured to freeze a flipping page.

15. The method for flipping pages of claim 1, wherein:

said creating step comprises a substep of

sliding one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted browsing controller,

depressing simultaneously with substantially equal force both the left side mounted browsing controller and right side mounted browsing controller, and

increasing pressure on one of the left side mounted browsing controller and right side mounted browsing controller, wherein

said substep of sliding is configured to pick up a page from one side of the electronic book,

said substep of depressing simultaneously is configured to hold the page, and

said substep of increasing pressure is configured to manually move the page back and forth while preventing the page from flipping automatically to another side of the electronic book.

16. The method for flipping pages of claim 1, wherein:

said creating step comprises substeps of

pressing one of the right hand button and the left side hand button,

depressing simultaneously with substantially equal force both the left side mounted browsing controller and right side mounted browsing controller, and

increasing pressure on one of the left side mounted browsing controller and right side mounted browsing controller, wherein

said substep of pressing is configured to pick up a page from one side of the electronic book,

said substep of depressing simultaneously is configured to hold the page, and

said substep of increasing pressure is configured to manually move the page back and forth while preventing the page from flipping automatically to another side of the electronic book.

17. The method for flipping pages of claim 1, wherein:

said creating step comprises substeps of

quick depressing and releasing of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted controller, and

sliding one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted browsing controller, wherein

said substep of quick depressing and releasing of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted controller is configured to flip a set of pages, and

said substep of sliding of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted browsing controller is configured to select and hold one page of the set of pages.

18. The method for flipping pages of claim 1, wherein:

said creating step comprises a substep of

quick depressing and releasing of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted controller, wherein

said substep of quick depressing and releasing of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted controller is configured to flip a set of pages.

19. The method for flipping pages of claim 18, wherein:

said creating step further comprises substeps of

sliding one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted browsing controller, and

selecting a page to be held comprising at least one of,

a substep of quick depressing and releasing of one of the right side mounted browsing controller and the left side mounted controller,

a substep of pressing one of the right hand button and the left side hand button, and

a substep of using the pointing device to move a pointer on the screen, wherein

said substep of sliding is configured to enter a hold-and-flip command.

20. The method for flipping pages of claim 19, wherein:

said creating step comprises a substep of

using the pointing device to activate a hold-and-flip jump cursor on the screen, wherein

said substep of using the pointing device is configured to hold and move at least one collection of pages between a right-hand page and a jump-to page.

21. The method for flipping pages of claim 20, further comprising:

a substep of deactivating the hold-and-flip jump cursor by moving the at least one collection of pages to one of an extreme left side or right side of the electronic book.

22. The method for flipping pages of claim 20, further comprising:

a substep of using the pointing device to split the at least one collection of pages into at least two collections of pages.

23. The method for flipping pages of claim 20, further comprising:

a substep of using the pointing device to select at least one of the at least one collection of pages, wherein

said substep of using the pointing device is configured to create a temporary sub-book and to initiate a browse-and-hold mode of operations.

24. The method for flipping pages of claim 23, further comprising:

a first substep of using the pointing device to select at least one of the at least one collection of pages,

a second substep of using the pointing device to select at least one of a right book side and a left book side, wherein

said first and second substeps are configured to create at least one temporary sub-book and to initiate a sub-book browse-and-hold mode of operations.

25. The method for flipping pages of claim 24, further comprising:

a third substep of using the pointing device to select at least one of the at least one collection of pages,

a fourth substep of using the pointing device to select at least one of a right book side and a left book side, wherein

said third and fourth substeps are configured to exit the sub-book browse-and-hold mode of operations.

26. The method for flipping pages of claim 1, wherein:

the computer comprises a control area activated by at least one of the mechanical browser and a touch-screen.

27. The method for flipping pages of claim 26, wherein:

the control area comprises a plurality of areas assigned to activate and control the set of complex page flipping commands.

28. The method for flipping pages of claim 27, wherein

the plurality of areas comprises at least one of

a left-hand resting page,

a right hand resting page,

a left side thickness,

a right side thickness,

a left bottom thickness,

a right bottom thickness,

a left side jump cursor,

a right side jump cursor,

a left bottom jump cursor, and

a right bottom jump cursor, wherein

an area defined by an outline of the left resting page is configured to be a left side page-launching area,

an area defined by an outline of the right resting page is configured to be a right side page-launching area,

an area defined by an outline of the left side thickness is configured to be a left side jump-control area,

an area defined by an outline of the right side thickness is configured to be a right side jump-control area,

an area defined by an outline of the left bottom thickness is configured to be a left bottom jump-control area, and

an area defined by an outline of the right bottom thickness is configured to be a right bottom jump-control area.

29. The method for flipping pages of claim 28, wherein:

the left side page-launching area, the right side page-launching area, the left side jump-control area, the right side jump-control area, the left bottom jump-control area, and the right bottom jump-control area are configured to be selected and activated by at least one of a cursor on the screen controlled by the pointing device and the touch screen.

30. The method for flipping pages of claim 29, wherein:

said creating step comprises substeps of

placing a cursor in the at least one of the left side page-launching area, the right side page-launching area, the left side jump-control area, the right side jump-control area, the left bottom jump-control area, and the right bottom jump-control area and clicking a button, and

applying pressure on the screen within the at least one of the left side page-launching area, the right side page-launching area, the left side jump-control area, the right side jump-control area, the left bottom jump-control area, and the right bottom jump-control area.

31. The method for flipping pages of claim 30, wherein:

said creating step comprises a substep of

activating at least one of the left and right side page-launching areas to launch a page from a corresponding side in the electronic book to an opposite side of the electronic book.

32. The method for flipping pages of claim 28, wherein:

at least one of the left side page-launching area, the right side page-launching area, left side jump-control area, the right side jump-control area, the left bottom jump-control area, and the right bottom jump-control area is configured to comprise a bookmark.

33. The method for flipping pages of claim 32, wherein:

said creating step comprises

a substep of using at least one of the pointing device and the touch screen, wherein

said substep of using further comprises,

a first substep of pointing at the bookmark

a second substep of selecting the bookmark, and

a third sub step of activating the bookmark, wherein

said third substep is configured to initiate a jump to the bookmark.

34. The method for flipping pages of claim 28, wherein:

the left side page-launching area is configured to be smaller than the right side left-hand resting page, and

the right side page-launching area is configured to be smaller than the right hand resting page.

35. The method for flipping pages of claim 28, wherein:

the plurality of areas further comprises a page-region opening-control area.

36. The method for flipping pages of claim 35, wherein:

said creating step comprises

a sub step of activating the page-region opening-control area, wherein

said substep of activating is configured to reverse direction of at least one of a flipping page and a set of flipping pages.

37. The method for flipping pages of claim 36, wherein:

the page-region opening-control area comprises at least two subordinate page-region opening-control areas, and

at least one of the at least two subordinate page-region opening-control areas is configured to correspond to at least one of a region between one page of the at least two successive flipping pages and another page of the at least two flipping pages and a region between one page of the at least two successive flipping pages, and at least one of the right side resting page and the left side resting page.

38. The method for flipping pages of claim 28, wherein:

said creating step comprises

a substep of tapping one of the left side page-launching area and the right side page-launching area at a tapping rate, and

said tapping rate is configured to correspond to at least one of a number of pages that are flipped simultaneously across the electronic book and a speed of movement of an individual flipping page.

39. The method for flipping pages of claim 28, wherein:

said creating step comprises

a substep of moving a cursor on the screen with the pointing device and clicking one of the left side page-launching area and the right side page-launching area at a clicking rate, and

said clicking rate is configured to correspond to at least one of a number of pages that are flipped simultaneously across the electronic book and a speed of movement of an individual flipping page.

40. The method for flipping pages of claim 28, wherein:

at least one of the left-side page-launching area and the right-side page-launching area comprise a sub-area, and

said creating step comprises

a substep of moving a cursor on the screen with the pointing device and clicking in the sub-area at a clicking rate, wherein

said sub-area is configured to correspond to at least one of a pre-determined number of pages that are flipped simultaneously across the electronic book and a pre-determined speed of movement of an individual flipping page.

41. The method for flipping pages of claim 28, wherein:

at least one of the left side thickness, the right side thickness, the left bottom thickness, and the right bottom thickness comprises a detailed thickness area, and

the detailed thickness area is configured to enable an operation of a fine jump cursor control mechanism.

42. The method for flipping pages of claim 41, wherein:

said creating step comprises substeps of

activating the fine jump cursor control mechanism with at least one of a click of a computer mouse and a predetermined speed of the movement of the jump cursor across the detailed thickness area, and

deactivating the fine jump cursor control mechanism with at least one of another click of a computer mouse and another predetermined speed of the movement of the jump cursor across the detailed thickness area.

43. The method for flipping pages of claim 1, wherein:

said mechanical browser comprises a touch screen.

44. The method for flipping pages of claim 1, wherein:

said mechanical browser is a mouse.

45. The method of flipping pages of claim 1, wherein

the set of complex flipping commands further comprises at least one of

a-launch-multiple-flipping-pages-at-a-specific-interval command,

an unfreeze-frozen-pages-and-some-pages-flip-to-a-left-side-and-some-to-a-right-side-of-book command,

a select-to-hold-a-page command,

a jump-to-a-specified-point-in-a-document-command,

a select-to-hold-a-thick-collection-of-pages command, and

a select-to-hold-at-least-one-of-at-least-two-pages-and-a-thick-collection-of-pages command.

46. A method for flipping pages of an electronic book hosted on a computer-readable medium for presentation on a display, comprising steps of:

creating a set of complex page flipping commands with a mechanical browser;

transmitting the set of complex page flipping commands from the mechanical browser to a computer that is configured to read data from said computer-readable medium; and

displaying a result from the set of complex page flipping commands on the display computer, wherein

the set of complex page flipping commands comprises

a reverse-direction-of-a-single-last-trailing-page command,

a reverse-direction-of-multiple-last-trailing-pages command,

a reverse-direction-of-a-selected-group-of-flipping-pages command,

an unfreeze-frozen-pages-and-let-pages-all-flip-in-a-same-direction command,

an unfreeze-frozen-pages-and-let-subgroups-of-pages-flip-in-different-directions command,

a launch-flipping-pages-while-a-thick-collection-of-pages-is-flipping command,

a launch-at-least-one-other-thick-collections-of-pages-while-other-pages-are-flipping command,

a move-a-held-single-page-in-a-selected-direction-at-a-selected-speed command,

a move-a-held-single-thick-collection-of-pages-in-a-selected-direction-and-at-a-selected-speed command,

a move-at-least-one-of-a-held-pages-and-a-thick-collection-of-pages-in-a-selected-direction-and-at-a-selected-speed command,

a hold-a-single-page-in-mid-flip-and-collect-other-pages-that-flip-onto-the-single-page-in-mid-flip command,

a hold-a-single-thick-collection-of-pages-in-mid-flip-and-collect-other-pages-that-flip-onto-the-single-thick-collection-of-pages-in-mid-flip command,

a hold-at-least-one-of-a-single-page-and-a-thick-collection-of-pages-in-mid-flip-and-execute-at-least-one-of-the-set-of-page-flipping-commands-between-the-at-least-one-of-a-single-page-and-a-thick-collection-of-pages-in-mid-flip-and-a-thickness-of-a-side-of-a-book-command,

a hold-at-least-one-of-two-pages-and-a-thick-collection-of-pages-in-mid-flip-and-execute-at-least-one-of-the-set-of-page-flipping-commands-between-the-at-least-one-of-two-pages-and-a-thick-collection-of-pages-in-mid-flip command

a hold a single thick collection of pages in mid-flip while releasing one or more pages from the collection command, and

a select a desired split point on a held single thick collection of pages in mid-flip and split the collection of pages into two separate collections of pages.