Device specific presentation control for electronic book reader devices

• US 8,423,889 B1
• Filed: 12/11/2008
• Issued: 04/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zagorie, Aviram, Rykov, Michael V., Lattyak, John, Griffin, Craig S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ries, Laurie
• Assistant Examiner(s): Smith, Tionna
• Application Number:
  US12/333,215
• Time in Patent Office: 1,587 Days
• Field of Search: 715/255
• US Class Current: 715/255
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/10 Text processing natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30; processing or translation of natural language G06F40/40

Abstract

Techniques for delivering digital content to be rendered on electronic book (“eBook”) reader devices are described. The eBook reader devices have different technical features, particularly in terms of display capabilities and navigational capabilities. For instance, eBook reader devices may have differing screen sizes, use different types of display technologies, and have varying browser functionality. The techniques described in this disclosure provide for ways to efficiently and effectively deliver content to various types of reader devices, and to control presentation of that content on individual devices.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request for content from an electronic device;

determining, from technical feature information contained in the request, at least one technical feature of the electronic device, wherein the technical feature information comprises a markup language supported by the electronic device;

ascertaining whether any one or more services are associated with the electronic device based on a profile of a user of the electronic device, wherein at least one of the one or more services being other than a subscription service;

processing the request according to the one or more services to generate content to be served to the electronic device;

selecting, using one or more processors, a template that is specific to the electronic device;

populating the template with the content to generate at least one page; and

serving the page to the electronic device for rendering.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the technical feature information further comprises at least one of a screen configuration or a firmware version of the electronic device.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the template is crafted using the markup language that specifies two-dimensional coordinates of pixel locations at which to position one or more elements of the content.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the content comprises at least one element stored locally on the electronic device, and the populating comprises filling the template with a reference to the element stored locally on the electronic device.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is an eBook reader device.

5. A method of handling a request from an electronic device, comprising:

determining, from screen configuration information contained in the request, a screen configuration of the electronic device;

ascertaining whether any one or more services are associated with the electronic device based on a profile of a user of the electronic device, wherein at least one of the one or more services being other than a subscription service;

processing the request according to the one or more services to generate content to be served to the electronic device;

selecting, using one or more processing devices, a device-specific template from a set of templates based, at least in part, on the screen configuration; and

populating the device-specific template with the content to be served in response to the request, wherein the content comprises at least one element stored locally on the electronic device, and the populating comprises filling the template with a reference to the element stored locally on the electronic device.

6. A method as recited in claim 5, further comprising determining, from the request, a firmware version installed on the electronic device, and wherein the selection of the device-specific template is based at least in part on the determined firmware version.

7. A method as recited in claim 5, further comprising determining, from the request, a markup language renderable by a display of the electronic device, and wherein the selection of the device-specific template is based at least in part on the determined markup language.

8. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein determining the screen configuration comprises ascertaining one of a screen size or a screen type.

9. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the device-specific template is written using a markup language that defines a layout structure of content elements when depicted on a display of the electronic device, the markup language specifying pixel locations at which to position the content elements on the display.

27. The method of claim 5, wherein the electronic device is an eBook reader device.

10. A server computing system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory accessible by the one or more processors;

a collection of device-specific templates stored in the memory, the device-specific templates being associated with different types of electronic devices such that individual device-specific templates define layout structures of content elements when depicted on displays of the electronic devices;

a template selector, executable by the one or more processors, to select a particular device-specific template for use in generating pages to be served to one of the electronic devices; and

logic, executable by the one or more processors, to ascertain whether any one or more services are associated with the electronic device based on a profile of a user of the electronic device, wherein at least one of the one or more services being other than a subscription service, the logic further to ascertain technical feature information contained in a received request, wherein the technical feature information comprises a markup language supported by the electronic device.

11. A server computing system as recited in claim 10, wherein one or more of the templates are written in the markup language that specifies pixel locations at which to position the content elements on a display of the electronic device.

12. A server computing system as recited in claim 10, wherein the template selector chooses the particular device-specific template based on a configuration of a display of the electronic device.

13. A server computing system as recited in claim 10, wherein the template selector chooses the particular device-specific template based on a unique identifier of the electronic device.

14. A server computing system as recited in claim 10, wherein the template selector chooses the particular device-specific template based on a type of the electronic device.

15. A server computing system as recited in claim 10, wherein the template selector chooses the particular device-specific template based on a firmware version installed on the electronic device.

16. A server computing system as recited in claim 10, wherein the template selector chooses the particular device-specific template based a markup language renderable by a display of the electronic device.

17. A server computing system as recited in claim 10, further comprising logic to populate the device-specific template selected by the template selector with content elements associated with the service to generate the pages to be served to the electronic device.

18. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, perform acts comprising:

receiving requests from different types of reader devices;

selecting, using the one or more processors, a template, from among multiple templates, to format content to be rendered on a display of a reader device, the selecting being based upon the type of reader device from which each request is received and on screen attributes of the reader device from screen attributes information contained in each request received;

ascertaining whether any one or more services are associated with the reader device based on a profile of a user of the reader device, wherein at least one of the one or more services being other than a subscription service; and

processing the request according to the one or more services to generate content to be served to the reader device.

19. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 18, wherein the requests contain credentials, individual credentials having data pertaining to the reader devices.

20. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 18, wherein the requests contain credentials, individual credentials having data pertaining to users of the reader devices.

21. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 18, wherein one or more of the templates are written in a markup language that specifies pixel locations at which to position content elements on the display of the reader device.

22. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 21, wherein one or more of the templates are written in a hypertext markup language or an extensible markup language.

23. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 18, wherein the requests contain credentials, individual credentials identifying a firmware version installed on the reader devices.

24. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 18, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform additional acts of populating the template with the content to generate one or more pages and serving the pages to the reader device.

25. One or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 18, wherein the selection is further based on a user input mechanism of the reader device.