Method for displaying flipping pages via electromechanical information browsing device

• US 7,330,176 B2
• Filed: 02/10/2006
• Issued: 02/12/2008
• 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, Bradley, Jason, Ho, Seng Beng
• Primary Examiner(s): Osorio, Ricardo
• Application Number:
  US11/350,762
• Publication Number:
  US 20060125802A1
• Time in Patent Office: 732 Days
• Field of Search: 345/156, 345/173, 345/901
• 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 displaying 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 displaying a computer-based set of information on a display screen, comprising:

displaying on said display screen a complex flipping image and a stationary page image, at least one of the complex flipping image and the stationary page image including a portion of the set of information,

wherein said complex flipping image comprises at least one of

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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-display,

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 display,

a-hold-at-least-one-of-two-pages-and-two-thick-collections-or-pages-in-mid-flip-and-displays-at-least-one-of-the-set-of-page-flipping-displays-between-the-at-least-one-of-two-pages-and-two-thick-collections-of-pages-in-mid-flip display,

a select-to-hold-at-least-one-of-at-least-two-pages-and-at-least-two-thick-collections-of-pages display,

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

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

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

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said step of displaying a first 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.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

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.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

jumping to a selected page on at least one of said first thickness image and second thickness image;

displaying an animated image of at least one skipped page flipping; and

displaying a change in at least one of the first thickness image and the second thickness image.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the change in at least one of the first thickness image and the second thickness image is proportional to an amount of skipped pages.

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

displaying said set of information as a book image, said book image including at least a first thickness image and a second thickness image; and

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 to which a jump operation will be made.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying said set of information as a book image;

displaying at least one of a thickness of a variable right-hand book thickness and a thickness of a variable left-hand book thickness, which are proportional to at least one of a disappearance of pages from one of the book right-side and the book left-side and an accumulation of pages on another of the book right-side and the book left-side, respectively.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying said set of information as book image, said book image including a thickness image; and

displaying a bookmark in said thickness image.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the bookmark is one of a permanent bookmark and a finger-bookmark.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying operating system entities on at least one of the displayed complex flipping image and the stationary page image.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said operating system entities include at least one of an icon of a computer file, an icon of a directory, and a window of a software application user interface.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein said operating system entities include at least one of an icon of a computer file, an icon of a directory, and a window of a software application user interface.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying said set of information in a book image, wherein said set of information includes sub-directory and file icons.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

organizing said set of information in a form of a table of contents; and

displaying a book image, said book image including a page displaying the table of contents.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the table of contents includes a hierarchal structure that organizes directories, sub-directories, and files.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying said set of information on the display screen, wherein said set of information includes working areas of a software application.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

displaying said set of information in a book image, wherein the book image includes a page that displays one or more of the working areas of the software application.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

while displaying said complex flipping image, fragmenting a control area into a plurality of fragments;

displaying each of the plurality of fragments on a different page of the electronic book; and

using one of the plurality of fragments to control a region between two successive flipping page or one flipping page and one resting page.