Selective display of pronunciation guides in electronic books

• US 8,943,404 B1
• Filed: 01/06/2012
• Issued: 01/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mager, Rainer V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Queler, Adam M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Burke, Tionna
• Application Number:
  US13/345,452
• Time in Patent Office: 1,117 Days
• Field of Search: 715/256
• US Class Current: 715/256
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/00 Digital computers in general details G06F1/00 – G06F13/00; Data processing equipment in general
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/00 Teaching not covered by other main groups of this subclass teaching or practice apparatus for gun-aiming or gun-laying F41G3/26
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/06 Foreign languages with audible presentation of material to be studied G09B5/04

Abstract

Techniques for selectively and dynamically determining an amount of pronunciation guides to display within an electronic book based at least in part on an aspect of a user. For instance, an electronic device rendering an electronic book may determine whether to display some, all, or no pronunciation guides for characters within the electronic book based on a reading level of the user, an age of the user, a primary language of the user, or any other aspect that indicates the user'"'"'s proficiency in the language of the electronic book.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

under control of an electronic device that includes a display and is configured with executable instructions,

receiving a request to display an electronic book that includes logographic characters and ruby characters corresponding to respective ones of the logographic characters; and

at least partly in response to receiving the request;

selecting a subset of the logographic characters to display with corresponding ruby characters, wherein the selecting the subset of the logographic characters to display with corresponding ruby characters comprises at least;

selecting a first logographic character to display with corresponding ruby characters for a first number of instances of the first logographic character in the electronic book; and

selecting a second, different logographic character to display with corresponding ruby characters for a second, different number of instances of the second logographic character in the electronic book;

wherein a remainder of the logographic characters are to be displayed without corresponding ruby characters; and

displaying the electronic book on the display of the electronic device in accordance with the selecting.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the request to display the electronic book is received from a user and the selecting of the subset is based at least in part on an aspect of the user.

3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the aspect of the user comprises an age of the user, a reading level of the user, a grade level of the user, or a primary language of the user.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the request to display the electronic book is received from a first user, and further comprising:

after displaying the electronic book, receiving a request from a second, different user to display the electronic book; and

at least partly in response to receiving the request from the second user;

selecting a different subset of the logographic characters to display with corresponding ruby characters; and

displaying the electronic book on the display of the electronic device in accordance with the selecting of the different subset.

5. A method as recited in claim 1,

wherein the first number of instances includes each instance of the first logographic character in the book and the second number of instances includes less than each instance of the second logographic character in the book.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to display additional ruby characters in the electronic book; and

at least partly in response to receiving the request to display additional ruby characters, increasing a number of the logographic characters included in the subset of the logographic characters to display with corresponding ruby characters.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to display fewer ruby characters in the electronic book; and

at least partly in response to receiving the request to display fewer ruby characters, decreasing a number of the logographic characters included in the subset of the logographic characters to display with corresponding ruby characters.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to cease displaying ruby characters corresponding to a particular logographic character in the electronic book; and

at least partly in response to receiving the request to cease displaying the ruby characters corresponding to the particular logographic character, removing the particular logographic character from the subset of the logographic characters to display with corresponding ruby characters, wherein the particular logographic character is included with the remainder of the logographic characters to display without corresponding ruby characters.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to begin displaying ruby characters corresponding to a particular logographic character in the electronic book; and

at least partly in response to receiving the request to begin displaying the ruby characters corresponding to the particular logographic character, including the particular logographic character in the subset of the logographic characters to display with corresponding ruby characters.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to cease display of ruby characters within the electronic book; and

displaying the electronic book on the display of the electronic device free from ruby characters at least partly in response to receiving the request to cease the display of the ruby characters.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to display ruby characters for all logographic characters having corresponding ruby characters within the electronic book; and

displaying the electronic book on the display of the electronic device in accordance with the request.

12. An electronic device, comprising:

a display;

one or more processors;

memory, storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising;

receiving a request to display an electronic book that includes logographic characters and ruby characters corresponding to respective ones of the logographic characters; and

at least partly in response to receiving the request;

selecting a subset of the logographic characters to display with corresponding ruby characters, wherein the selecting the subset of the logographic characters to display with corresponding ruby characters comprises at least;

selecting a first logographic character to display with corresponding ruby characters for a first number of instances of the first logographic character in the electronic book; and

selecting a second, different logographic character to display with corresponding ruby characters for a second, different number of instances of the second logographic character in the electronic book;

wherein a remainder of the logographic characters are to be displayed without corresponding ruby characters; and

displaying the electronic book on the display in accordance with the selecting.

13. An electronic device as recited in claim 12, wherein the request to display the electronic book is received from a user and the selecting of the subset is based at least in part on an aspect of the user.

14. An electronic device as recited in claim 13, wherein the aspect of the user comprises an age of the user, a reading level of the user, a grade level of the user, or a primary language of the user.

15. An electronic device as recited in claim 12, wherein the request to display the electronic book is received from a first user, and wherein the processor-executable instructions further program the one or more processors to:

after displaying the electronic book, receive a request from a second, different user to display the electronic book; and

at least partly in response to receiving the request from the second user;

selecting a different subset of the logographic characters to display with corresponding ruby characters; and

displaying the electronic book on the display in accordance with the selecting of the different subset.

16. An electronic device as recited in claim 12, wherein the first number of instances includes each instance of the first logographic character in the book and the second number of instances includes less than each instance of the second logographic character in the book.

17. An electronic device as recited in claim 12, wherein the processor-executable instructions further program the one or more processors to:

receive a request to display additional ruby characters in the electronic book;

and at least partly in response to receiving the request to display additional ruby characters, increasing a number of the logographic characters included in the subset of the logographic characters to display with corresponding ruby characters.

18. An electronic device as recited in claim 12, wherein the processor-executable instructions further program the one or more processors to:

receive a request to display fewer ruby characters in the electronic book; and

at least partly in response to receiving the request to display fewer ruby characters, decreasing a number of the logographic characters included in the subset of the logographic characters to display with corresponding ruby characters.

19. An electronic device as recited in claim 12, wherein the processor-executable instructions further program the one or more processors to:

receive a request to cease displaying ruby characters corresponding to a particular logographic character in the electronic book; and

at least partly in response to receiving the request to cease displaying the ruby characters corresponding to the particular logographic character, remove the particular logographic character from the subset of the logographic characters to display with corresponding ruby characters, wherein the particular logographic character is included with the remainder of the logographic characters to display without corresponding ruby characters.

20. An electronic device as recited in claim 12, wherein the processor-executable instructions further program the one or more processors to:

receive a request to begin displaying ruby characters corresponding to a particular logographic character in the electronic book; and

at least partly in response to receiving the request to begin displaying the ruby characters corresponding to the particular logographic character, including the particular logographic character in the subset of the logographic characters to display with corresponding ruby characters.

21. An electronic device as recited in claim 12, wherein the processor-executable instructions further program the one or more processors to:

receive a request to begin displaying ruby characters corresponding to a particular logographic character in the electronic book; and

at least partly in response to receiving the request to begin displaying the ruby characters corresponding to the particular logographic character, including the particular logographic character in the subset of the logographic characters to display with corresponding ruby characters.

22. An electronic device as recited in claim 12, wherein the processor-executable instructions further program the one or more processors to:

receive a request to cease display of ruby characters within the electronic book; and

display the electronic book on the display free from ruby characters at least partly in response to receiving the request to cease the display of the ruby characters.

23. An electronic device as recited in claim 12, wherein the processor-executable instructions further program the one or more processors to:

receive a request to display each available ruby character within the electronic book; and

display the electronic book on the display with each available ruby character at least partly in response to receiving the request to display each available ruby character.