Surfacing reference work entries on touch-sensitive displays

• US 8,477,109 B1
• Filed: 06/24/2010
• Issued: 07/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Freed, Ian W.
• Primary Examiner(s): HALEY, JOSEPH R
• Application Number:
  US12/823,077
• Time in Patent Office: 1,104 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04105 Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures

Abstract

Techniques for outputting different reference work entries based on an amount of force applied to a touch-sensitive display of a device. For instance, when a user reads an electronic book (eBook) on a device having a touch-sensitive display, the user may make a selection of a word or phrase within the eBook by touching the display at a location of the word or phrase. The techniques may then determine which of multiple different reference work entries to output based on a measured amount of force of the selection. For instance, the device may output a dictionary definition of the selected word in response to measuring a first amount of force, while outputting a thesaurus entry for the word in response to measuring a second, greater amount of force.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

detecting an initial selection of a word being output by a touch-sensitive display and measuring a force of the initial selection on the touch-sensitive display;

causing display of a first reference work entry associated with the word on the touch-sensitive display at least partly in response to the detecting of the initial selection;

detecting a force on the touch-sensitive display that is greater or lesser than the measured force of the initial selection; and

causing display of a second, different reference work entry associated with the word on the touch-sensitive display at least partly in response to the detecting of the greater or lesser force.

2. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the greater or lesser force is detected at an area of the touch-sensitive display that displays the selected word.

3. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the first reference work entry is from a first category of reference work and the second reference work entry is from a second, different category of reference work.

4. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 3, wherein the first or second category of reference work comprises a dictionary, a thesaurus, an almanac, an atlas, an encyclopedia, or a gazetteer.

5. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the first and second reference work entries are both from a same category of reference work.

6. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 5, wherein the first or second reference work entry comprises a science reference work entry, a science-fiction reference work entry, a medical reference work entry, a business reference work entry, a legal reference work entry, a native-language reference work entry, or a non-native-language reference work entry.

7. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the force of the initial selection comprises a first force and the greater or lesser force comprises a second force, and further storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

detecting a third force on the touch-sensitive display that is greater or lesser than both the first and second forces; and

causing display of a third, different reference work entry associated with the word on the touch-sensitive display at least partly in response to the detecting of the third force.

8. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein touch-sensitive display forms a portion of an electronic book reader device, and wherein the selected word forms a portion of an electronic book rendered by the electronic book reader device.

9. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 8, wherein the first or second reference work entry is from a reference work provided by a publisher of the electronic book.

10. A method comprising:

under control of an electronic device configured with specific executable instructions and having a touch-sensitive display,

receiving a first user input selecting a portion of a content item being output by the touch-sensitive display, the first user input being received via the touch-sensitive display;

causing display of a first reference work entry associated with the portion of the content item on the touch-sensitive display at least partly in response to the receiving of the first user input;

receiving a second user input requesting to view a second reference work entry associated with the portion of the content item, the second user input comprising an additional amount of force on the touch-sensitive display;

causing display of a second, different reference work entry associated with the portion of the content item on the touch-sensitive display at least partly in response to the receiving of the second user input; and

measuring an amount force on the touch-sensitive display of the first user input.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein:

the first user input received via the touch-sensitive display is received at a first location on the touch-sensitive display;

the touch-sensitive display is configured to detect multiple coincident touches; and

the second user input comprises a touch input received coincident with the first touch input and at a second location on the touch-sensitive display.

12. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the electronic device further includes a keypad, and wherein the second user input is received via the keypad of the electronic device.

13. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the electronic device further includes a microphone, and wherein the second user input is received via the microphone of the electronic device.

14. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the electronic device further includes a camera, and wherein the second user input comprises a gesture received via the camera of the electronic device.

15. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the first or the second reference work entry is based at least in part on a location of the electronic device when the first or second user input is received.

16. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the causing of the display of the first or second reference work entry comprises (1) accessing the first or second reference work entry from a corresponding reference work stored on the electronic device, or (2) receiving the first or second reference work entry from a corresponding reference work over a network at least partly in response to the receiving of the first or second user input.

17. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the content item comprises an electronic book having text, and the selected portion of the content item comprises at least one word of the electronic book.

18. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the content item comprises a map, and the selected portion of the content item comprises a location on the map.

19. An electronic device, comprising:

one or more processors;

memory coupled to the one or more processors;

a touch-sensitive display communicatively coupled to the one or more processors to render a content item and to detect user inputs of varying force;

a content item stored in the memory; and

a reference entry selection module, stored in the memory and executable on the one or more processors to;

receive an indication that the touch-sensitive display has detected a user input having a particular force;

select one of multiple reference work entries to output on the touch-sensitive display based at least in part on the particular force of the user input;

receive an indication that the touch-sensitive display has detected another user input having a greater amount of force than the particular force; and

select a different one of the multiple reference work entries to output on the touch-sensitive display based at least in part on the greater amount of force of the another user input.

20. An electronic device as recited in claim 19, wherein the user input is received at a particular location on the touch-sensitive display associated with a particular portion of the content item, and wherein the selected reference work entry is associated with the particular portion of the content item.

21. An electronic device as recited in claim 20, wherein the content item comprises an electronic book, and the particular portion of the electronic book comprises a word within the electronic book.

22. An electronic device as recited in claim 19, wherein the selected reference work entry is from a dictionary, a thesaurus, an almanac, an atlas, an encyclopedia, or a gazetteer.

23. An electronic device as recited in claim 19, further comprising a content presentation application, stored in the memory and executable on the one or more processors to cause display of the content item and the selected reference work entry on the touch-sensitive display of the electronic device.

24. An electronic book reader device as recited in claim 19, wherein the electronic device comprises an electronic book reader device, a handheld tablet computing device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, or a kiosk.

25. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

detecting a selection, made by a user, of a portion of a content item being output by a touch-sensitive display;

measuring a force of the selection on the touch-sensitive display;

determining whether the measured amount of force is greater than a threshold amount of force; and

prompting the user to select a reference work entry to output on the touch-sensitive display at least partly in response to determining that the measured amount of force is greater than the threshold amount of force; and

outputting, on the touch-sensitive display, a reference work entry associated with the portion of the content item at least partly in response to determining that the measured amount of force is not greater than the threshold amount of force.

26. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 25, wherein the prompting the user to select a reference work entry comprises prompting the user to select one of multiple different reference work entries.

27. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 26, wherein the multiple different reference work entries each reside within a different respective category of reference work.

28. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 26, wherein the multiple different reference work entries each reside within a same category of reference work.

29. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 28, wherein the multiple different reference work entries within the same category of reference work comprise one or more of a science reference work entry, a science-fiction reference work entry, a medical reference work entry, a business reference work entry, a legal reference work entry, a native-language reference work entry, or a non-native-language reference work entry.

30. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 25, wherein the prompting the user to select a reference work entry comprises outputting on the touch-sensitive display a selectable menu of multiple, different reference work entries.