Handheld electronic book reader with annotation and usage tracking capabilities

• US 7,103,848 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2001
• Issued: 09/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Barsness, Eric Lawrence, Santosuosso, John Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid, Kristine
• Assistant Examiner(s): PESIN, BORIS M
• Application Number:
  US09/951,363
• Publication Number:
  US 20040201633A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,818 Days
• Field of Search: 345/711, 345/839, 345/764, 345/731, 707/2, 715/776, 715/802, 715/764
• US Class Current: 715/776
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/34 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

A handheld electronic book reader, program product, and method incorporate enhanced annotation and/or usage tracking capabilities. Support is provided for user creation of “contexts” for defined terms in an electronic document. Moreover, annotation data such as contexts, comments and highlighting may be associated with various users, and displayed in connection with the display of an electronic document so as to indicate that different annotation data has been originated by different users. In addition, from the standpoint of usage tracking, usage statistics for an electronic document displayed in a handheld electronic reader may be generated on a page-by-page basis, and/or in association with term definitions. Moreover, usage statistics for multiple users may be combined and analyzed. Through such analysis, the usage statistics may be used in the conduct of various beneficial actions such as revising an electronic document, revising a lesson plan with which an electronic document is associated, determining whether a user has read a selected portion of an electronic document, or determining whether a user needs supplemental assistance.

Claims

1. A method of annotating with a handheld electronic book reader, the method comprising:

(a) selecting a portion of an electronic document displayed in a handheld electronic book reader in response to user input directed to the portion of the electronic document;

(b) creating a context for a defined term in the electronic document by associating the selected portion of the electronic document with a definition for the defined term, wherein the selected portion that is selected in response to user input and that is associated with the definition for the defined term in the created context includes content other than the defined term to illustrate an exemplary usage of the defined term in practice;

(c) displaying the definition of the defined term in response to user input; and

(d) displaying the context in association with displaying the definition;

wherein the defined term is associated with a plurality of contexts, wherein each of the plurality of contexts includes content selected in response to user input and other than the defined term to illustrate exemplary usages of the defined term in practice, wherein the method further comprises selectively displaying multiple contexts associated with the defined term in association with displaying the definition, wherein each of the plurality of contexts is associated with a user among a plurality of different users that created such context, and wherein selectively displaying multiple contexts includes displaying each of the multiple contexts with a display representation associated with the user that created such context.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the definition of the defined term and displaying the context are performed when a second electronic document is displayed in the handheld electronic book reader.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising exporting the context from the handheld electronic book reader.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising importing the context into a second handheld electronic book reader.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein exporting the context from the handheld electronic book reader includes exporting an annotation file including the context, the annotation file additionally including at least one of highlight data that identifies at least one portion of the electronic document to be highlighted, and comment data that includes at least one user-created comment.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the annotation file is a first annotation file associated with a first user, the method further comprising:

(a) importing the first annotation file into a second handheld electronic book reader;

(b) importing a second annotation file associated with a second user into the second handheld electronic book reader; and

(c) displaying an electronic document on the second handheld electronic book reader, including displaying information from each of the first and second annotation files on the second handheld electronic book reader, with the information from the first and second annotation files displayed so as to indicate from which of the first and second annotation files such information originates.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the context includes storing the context in response to user input received after selecting the selected portion.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the selected portion and creating the context are performed in response to user input received from a reader of the electronic document.

7. A method of displaying an electronic document on a handheld electronic book reader, the method comprising:

(a) displaying at least a portion of an electronic document on a handheld electronic book reader;

(b) displaying in connection with the electronic document first and second annotation data respectively associated with first and second users that created such annotation data, wherein the first and second annotation data is displayed so as to indicate that the first and second annotation data was created by different users, wherein each of the first and second annotation data includes context data that includes at least one context for a defined term in the electronic document, the context for each of the first and second annotation data including content other than the defined term and selected by one of the first and second users, the content for each of the first and second annotation data providing a contextual reference associated with the defined term that illustrates an exemplary usage of the defined term in practice, wherein the context for each of the first and second annotation data is associated with a definition for the defined term that is displayed in association with the context for each of the first and second annotation data.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one of the first and second annotation data includes at least one of highlight data that identifies at least one portion of the electronic document to be highlighted, and comment data that includes at least one user-created comment.

9. A handheld electronic book reader, comprising:

(a) a memory;

(b) a display; and

(c) program code configured to control the display to display at least a portion of an electronic document stored in the memory to a user, the program code further configured to select a portion of the electronic document in response to user input directed to the portion of the electronic document, create a context for a defined term in the electronic document by associating the selected portion with a definition for the defined term, wherein the selected portion that is selected in response to user input and that is associated with the definition for the defined term in the created context includes content other than the defined term to illustrate an exemplary usage of the defined term in practice, display the definition of the defined term in response to user input, and display the context in association with displaying the definition;

wherein the defined term is associated with a plurality of contexts, wherein each of the plurality of contexts includes content selected in response to user input and other than the defined term to illustrate exemplary usages of the defined term in practice, wherein the program code is further configured to selectively display multiple contexts associated with the defined term in association with displaying the definition, wherein each of the plurality of contexts is associated with a user among a plurality of different users that created such context, and wherein the program code is configured to selectively display each of the multiple contexts with a display representation associated with the user that created such context.

10. The handheld electronic book reader of claim 9, wherein the program code is further configured to export the context.

11. The handheld electronic book reader of claim 10, wherein the program code is configured to export the context by exporting an annotation file including the context, the annotation file additionally including at least one of highlight data that identifies at least one portion of the electronic document to be highlighted, and comment data that includes at least one user-created comment.

12. A program product stored on a physical computer readable medium, comprising:

program code configured to be executed by a handheld electronic book reader to cause the handheld electronic book reader to display at least a portion of an electronic document, the program code further configured to select a portion of the electronic document in response to user input directed to the portion of the electronic document, create a context for a defined term in the electronic document by associating the selected portion with a definition for the defined term, wherein the selected portion that is selected in response to user input and that is associated with the definition for the defined term in the created context includes content other than the defined term to illustrate an exemplary usage of the defined term in practice, display the definition of the defined term in response to user input, and display the context in association with displaying the definition;

(b) wherein the defined term is associated with a plurality of contexts, wherein each of the plurality of contexts includes content selected in response to user input and other than the defined term to illustrate exemplary usages of the defined term in practice, wherein the program code is further configured to selectively display multiple contexts associated with the defined term in association with displaying the definition, wherein each of the plurality of contexts is associated with a user among a plurality of different users that created such context, and wherein the program code is configured to selectively display each of the multiple contexts with a display representation associated with the user that created such context.

13. A handheld electronic book reader, comprising:

(a) a memory;

(b) a display; and

(c) program code configured to control the display to display at least a portion of an electronic document stored in the memory to a user, the program code further configured to display in connection with the electronic document first and second annotation data respectively associated with first and second users that created such annotation data, wherein the first and second annotation data is displayed so as to indicate that the first and second annotation data was created by different users, wherein each of the first and second annotation data includes context data that includes at least one context for a defined term in the electronic document, the context for each of the first and second annotation data including content other than the defined term, and selected by one of the first and second users, the content for each of the first and second annotation data providing a contextual reference associated with the defined term that illustrates an exemplary usage of the defined term in practice, wherein the context for each of the first and second annotation data is associated with a definition for the defined term that is displayed in association with the context for each of the first and second annotation data.

14. A program product stored on a physical computer readable medium, comprising:

program code configured to be executed by a handheld electronic book reader to cause the handheld electronic book reader to display at least a portion of an electronic document stored in a memory to a user, the program code further configured to display in connection with the electronic document first and second annotation data respectively associated with first and second users that created such annotation data, wherein the first and second annotation data is displayed so as to indicate that the first and second annotation data was created by different users, wherein each of the first and second annotation data includes context data that includes at least one context for a defined term in the electronic document, the context for each of the first and second annotation data including content other than the defined term, and selected by one of the first and second users, the content for each of the first and second annotation data providing a contextual reference associated with the defined term that illustrates an exemplary usage of the defined term in practice, wherein the context for each of the first and second annotation data is associated with a definition for the defined term that is displayed in association with the context for each of the first and second annotation data.