Immersive electronic reading

• US 10,699,072 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2016
• Issued: 06/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Monson, Aaron James, Hitchcock, Gregory, Larson, Kevin, McKaughan, Robert Matthew, Jooyandeh, Mohammadreza, Pereira, Alexandre, Petty, Jeffrey Scott, Nielsen, Pelle Haukali, Greaves, Sebastian Michael, Dobre, Valentin, Flores, Mark Frank, Messinger, Dominik, Tholfsen, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Chau T
• Application Number:
  US15/376,550
• Publication Number:
  US 20180046331A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,296 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/109 Font handling; Temporal or kinetic typography
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/232 Orthographic correction, e.g. spell checking or vowelisation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/10 Prosody rules derived from text; Stress or intonation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2013/083 Special characters, e.g. punctuation marks

Abstract

Electronic reading devices provide readers with text on a display, and enhancements to their functionality and efficiency are discussed herein. Text is provided to the reader in an enhanced contrast mode that highlights the active word and line of the text as well as words of interest in the text so as to improve the functionality of the electronic reading device itself as a provider of textual content.

Claims

1. A method for improving functionality and efficiency of an electronic reading device, comprising:

receiving a text to be presented to a reader using the electronic reading device, the text comprising lines, the lines comprising words;

reading back the text to the reader, wherein reading back comprises recursively;

determining an active word in the text;

determining, based on the active word, an active line in the text, the active line including the active word;

displaying words comprising the active line according to a first text luminance;

displaying words not comprising the active line according to a second text luminance;

displaying a background behind the text according to a first background luminance;

displaying a background behind the active word according to a second background luminance, wherein a difference between the first text luminance and first background luminance defines a first contrast, wherein a difference between the first text luminance and the second background luminance defines a second contrast, wherein a difference between the second text luminance and the first background luminance defines a third contrast, and wherein the second contrast is greater than the first contrast and the first contrast is greater than the third contrast;

determining metatext to be displayed for at least one active word, the metatext providing additional information about the at least one active word;

determining a vocalization for the active word; and

in response to the text including a next word after the active word, selecting the next word as the active word for reading back next, wherein a delay between displaying the active word and selecting the next word is based on a vocalization for the active word, the determined metatext, and a pace defined by the reader.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

playing, via an audio device in communication with the electronic reading device, the vocalization associated with the active word.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

parsing the text, wherein parsing comprises identifying punctuation in the text; and

varying the pace of reading back the text based on the punctuation.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving, from the reader, a selected part of speech;

determining matching words in the text that match the selected part of speech and unmatching words in the text that do not match the selected part of speech; and

applying a different chrominance to the matching words than the unmatching words.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein reading back the text further comprises:

determining syllables that comprise the active word; and

when the active word comprises multiple syllables, displaying a spacer between each of the multiple syllables comprising the active word.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the active word is displayed with a larger font size than other words in the active line.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a tracking of the active word is adjusted to eliminate kerns when displaying the active word.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein when a link is associated with the active word in the text, the active word is displayed without indicia of the link.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein when the active word is misspelled, a suggested spelling is displayed as metatext in conjunction with the active word.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein when a font format is applied to the active word in the text, the active word is displayed without the font format, wherein the font format is selected from the group consisting of:

superscript;

sub script;

underline;

italics;

bold;

strikethrough;

or

small caps.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the vocalization for the active word may vary depending on a location of the active word in a sentence.

12. A system for improving functionality and efficiency of an electronic reading device, comprising:

a processing unit;

a memory including instructions that when executed by the processing unit, configure the processing unit to;

receive a text selection comprised of words organized into text lines;

receive a readback speed;

successively select from the text selection, a given word as an active word belonging to an active text line, select a next word from the text selection relative to the active word according to the readback speed until the active word is a last word of the text selection, and determine metatext to be displayed as additional information about at least one active word, wherein the readback speed is varied for the given word based on a number of syllables comprising the given word and the determined metatext; and

apply on a graphical user interface of the electronic reading device;

a first color as a background color to the text selection;

a second color as a text color to the text selection;

a third color as a text color to the active text line of the text selection; and

a fourth color as a background color to the active word of the active text line of the text selection;

wherein a first contrast between the fourth color and the third color is greater than a second contrast between the third color and the first color, and

wherein the second contrast is greater than a third contrast between the first color and the second color.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the readback speed is varied for the given word based on a punctuation proximate to the given word in the text selection.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the readback speed is adjustable by a reader.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the receiver is operable to receive a pause command to pause readback of the text selection.

16. The system of claim 12, where the first color, the second color, the third color, and the fourth color are colors are monochromatic.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the processing unit is configured to divide the text selection into the text lines comprised of subsets of the words comprising the text selection, wherein the text selection is divided into the text lines based on a font size of the words relative to a display size of the electronic reading device.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

parse the text selection to determine and index for each word;

a part of speech, a vocalization, and a syllabication;

in response to a reader selection for part of speech identification, enhance the text according to the part of speech;

in response to a reader selection for syllabication identification, enhance the text according to the syllabication;

in response to a reader selection for vocalization playback, cause the electronic reading device to play back the vocalization for the active word on selection of the active word; and

receive the reader selection for part of speech identification, the reader selection for syllabication identification, and the reader selection for vocalization playback.

19. A method for improving functionality and efficiency of an electronic reading device, comprising:

dividing a text into a plurality of lines comprised of words, wherein a number of words comprising each line is based on a display space of the electronic reading device, a font size for characters comprising the text, and a tracking distance between the characters;

parsing the words to identify a part of speech, a syllabication, and a vocalization for each of the words;

organizing the part of speech, the syllabication, and the vocalization into a metatext index;

providing readback controls in a graphical user interface of the electronic reading device to select text effects of part of speech indicia, syllabication indicia, vocalization playback, and readback;

in response to receiving a selection for part of speech indicia, inserting part of speech indicia for each of the words comprising the text;

in response to receiving a selection for syllabication indicia, inserting syllabication indicia for each of the words comprising the text;

in response to receiving a selection for readback and a selection for vocalization playback;

receiving a readback speed;

selecting an active word from the text according to a reader position in the text;

immersing the text, wherein immersing the text comprises;

retrieving the vocalization associated with the active word;

lowlighting the text on the electronic reading device by applying a first background color to a canvas and a first text color to the text, wherein a first contrast between the first background color and the first text color is low;

highlighting the text in an active line to which the active word belongs by applying a second text color to the words comprising the active line, wherein a second contrast between the first background color and the second text color is greater than the first contrast;

highlighting the active word by applying a second background color to a word box surrounding the active word, wherein a third contrast between the second background color and the second text color is greater than the second contrast; and

playing back the vocalization on the electronic reading device;

determining whether the reader position is at a last word in the text;

when it is determined that the reader position is not at the last word in the text;

pausing for a time based on the readback speed and a duration of the vocalization indexed to the active word;

advancing the reader position to a next word in the text;

selecting the next word as the active word; and

immersing the text; and

in response to receiving the selection for readback and no selection for vocalization playback;

receiving the readback speed;

selecting the active word from the text according to the reader position in the text;

enhancing a contrast of the text, wherein enhancing the contrast of the text comprises;

lowlighting the text on the electronic reading device by applying the first background color to the canvas and the first text color to the text, wherein the first contrast between the first background color and the first text color is low;

highlighting the text in the active line to which the active word belongs by applying the second text color to the words comprising the active line, wherein the second contrast between the first background color and the second text color is greater than the first contrast; and

highlighting the active word by applying the second background color to the word box surrounding the active word, wherein the third contrast between the second background color and the second text color is greater than the second contrast;

determining whether the reader position is at a last word in the text;

when it is determined that the reader position is not at the last word in the text;

pausing for a time based on the readback speed and the syllabication indexed to the active word;

advancing the reader position to the next word in the text;

selecting the next word as the active word; and

enhancing the contrast of the text.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein in response to receiving the selection for readback, the syllabication indicia for each of the words are inserted when each of the words is selected as the active word and removed when the next word is selected as the active word.

21. A method for improving functionality and efficiency of an electronic reading device, comprising:

parsing words comprising a text to identify at least one of a syllabication and a vocalization as text enhancements for each of the words;

displaying indicia relative to the words for the text enhancements in a graphical user interface of the electronic reading device;

determining metatext to be displayed in proximity to at least one of the words in the graphical user interface, the metatext providing additional information about the at least one of the words;

engaging a readback of the text, wherein each of the words comprising the text is selected one at a time as an active word and the readback of each of the words comprising the text is varied based on the syllabication, vocalization, and metatext determined for the active word; and

highlighting the active word, wherein a text color and a text box color for the active word define a greatest contrast in the graphical user interface.

22. The method of claim 21, where highlighting further comprising:

a second text color and a second text box color for an active line in the text to which the active word belongs define a second greatest contrast in the graphical user interface.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein one of the second text color is the same as the text color for the active word or the second text box color is the same as the text box color for the active word.