Touch-screen user interface

• US 8,471,824 B2
• Filed: 09/02/2009
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kim, John T., Hebenstreit, Joseph J., Green, Christopher, Keller, Kevin E.
• Primary Examiner(s): GIESY, ADAM
• Application Number:
  US12/553,078
• Publication Number:
  US 20110050593A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,392 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/0291 for reading, e.g. e-books constructional details of portable computers G06F1/1613
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

A user interface for a touch-screen display of a dedicated handheld electronic book reader device is described. The user interface detects human gestures manifest as pressure being applied by a finger or stylus to regions on the touch-screen display. In one implementation, the touch-screen user interface enables a user to turn one or more pages in response to applying a force or pressure to the touch-screen display. In another implementation, the touch-screen user interface is configured to bookmark a page temporarily by applying a pressure to the display, then allowing a user to turn pages to a new page, but reverting back to a previously-displayed page when the pressure is removed. In another implementation, the touch-screen user interface identifies and filters electronic books based on book size and/or a time available to read a book. In another implementation, the touch-screen user interface converts text to speech in response to a user touching the touch-screen display.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

presenting a list of electronic documents on a touch-screen display;

detecting an object applied to the touch-screen display as an indication of user selection of one of the electronic documents in the list;

filtering the list of electronic documents based on a size of the selected one of the electronic documents to create a filtered list of electronic documents, the filtered list including a subset of the electronic documents in the list; and

presenting the filtered list of electronic documents on the touch-screen display.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the electronic documents comprise electronic books, and the touch-screen display is embodied as part of a dedicated handheld book reader device.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the filtering comprises removing electronic documents larger than the selected one of the electronic documents from the filtered list.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the filtering comprises removing electronic documents smaller than the selected one of the electronic documents from the filtered list.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the object comprises at least one of a stylus or one or more fingers.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the object comprises one or more fingers, and the filtering comprises:

removing electronic documents larger than the selected one of the electronic documents from the filtered list when two fingers are detected; and

removing electronic documents smaller than the selected one of the electronic documents from the filtered list when one finger is detected.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the presenting the filtered list of the electronic documents comprises visually ordering the electronic documents on the touch-screen display according to the size.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising visually conveying an indication of size of each of the electronic documents in the filtered list.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the size of the selected one of the electronic documents comprises an amount of the electronic document that remains unread.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

presenting a user interface that allows a user to enter a time available to read an electronic document;

receiving, via the user interface, the time available to read;

filtering a list of electronic documents based on the time available to read to create a filtered list of electronic documents; and

displaying the filtered list of electronic documents.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the presenting comprises providing a graphical user interface on a touch-screen display.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the presenting comprises depicting at least one of a representation of an analog clock or a representation of a digital clock.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the representation is depicted on a touch-screen display, and further comprising detecting user input via application of an object on the touch-screen display to enter the time available to read.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising calculating a length of an electronic document as a function of the time available and a reading speed of the user, and filtering the list of electronic documents in part due to the calculated length.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, further comprising ordering the electronic documents in the filtered list according to the length.

16. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-readable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by an electronic device, perform acts comprising:

presenting a list of electronic documents;

receiving a selection of one of the electronic documents in the list;

in response to receiving the selection, filtering the list of electronic documents based on a size of the selected one of the electronic documents to create a filtered list of electronic documents, the filtered list including a subset of the electronic documents in the list; and

presenting the filtered list of electronic documents.

17. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the filtered list of electronic documents comprises at least one of:

electronic documents having a size equal to or larger than the size of the selected one of the electronic documents;

or

electronic documents having a size equal to or smaller than the size of the selected one of the electronic documents.

18. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the filtered list of electronic documents is ordered based on size.

19. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the size is measured by at least one of a number of pages, a number of words, or a number of characters.

20. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the size of a particular electronic document is calculated as a function of how long a user would take to read the particular electronic document.

21. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the receiving a selection comprises detecting an object applied to a touch-screen display.

22. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 20, wherein the object comprises at least one of a finger or a stylus.

23. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 20, wherein the object comprises one of one finger or two fingers, the filtering forming different subsets of the list depending upon whether one finger or two fingers are detected.

24. An electronic device comprising:

a processor;

a memory accessible by the processor;

a touch-screen display to receive a gesture indicative of one of (1) selection of an electronic document or (2) entry of a time;

a filter module stored in the memory and executed by the processor to filter, responsive to the gesture, a set of electronic documents according to size to form a filtered list of electronic documents, the filtered list including a subset of the set of electronic documents.

25. The electronic device of claim 24, wherein the gesture is made relative to a representation on a clock on the touch-screen display to enter the time, and the filter module filters the set of electronic documents to identify one or more of the electronic documents that can be read within the time.

26. The electronic device of claim 24, wherein the size is measured by at least one of a number of pages, a number of words, or a number of characters.

27. The electronic device of claim 24, wherein the size of a particular electronic document is calculated as a function of how long a user would take to read a remaining unread portion of the particular electronic document.

28. The electronic device of claim 24, wherein the size of a particular electronic document is calculated as a function of how long a user would take to read the particular electronic document.

29. The electronic device of claim 28, wherein the memory stores a plurality of user accounts, each user account being associated with a respective reading speed.

30. The electronic device of claim 24, further comprising a bookmarking module stored in the memory and executable by the processor to bookmark a first page temporarily in response to continuous pressure being applied to the touch-screen display, while allowing one or more pages to be turned to display a second page, the bookmarking module causing a return to display of the first page upon removal of the pressure.

31. The electronic device of claim 24, further comprising a text-to-speech module to convert to speech a portion of text selected via detection of pressure applied to the touch-screen display.