Systems and Methods for Remote Collaborative Studying Using Electronic Books

• US 20120221937A1
• Filed: 07/14/2011
• Published: 08/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Patterson, James, Moody, Nathan, Dougall, Scott
• Granted Patent: US 9,063,641 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/230
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/60 Rotation of whole images or parts thereof

Abstract

An electronic book system provides interfaces particularly suited to students'"'"' use of textbooks. A finger press on a touch screen produces a contextual menu with user choices that relate to where the finger was pressed or what the user was recently doing with the book. A student provisionally navigates through a book by a specific gesture which, when it stops, returns the user to the previous position in the book. Annotations are displayed and hidden using specific gestures and through selective movement of the reader as sensed by its accelerometer.

Claims

1. An electronic book reader, comprising:

a display for displaying an electronic book;

an input recognition subsystem, configured to create a message automatically addressed to a predetermined moderator assigned to the electronic book in response to user input, and to create a body of the message in response to further user input, wherein the message is not added as an annotation to the electronic book; and

a collaboration subsystem operably connected to the input recognition subsystem via which the message is sent to the predetermined moderator.

2. The electronic book reader of claim 1, wherein the message comprises:

content created by the user; and

an automatically generated indication to the moderator of which portion of the electronic book was being viewed by the user when the message was created.

3. The electronic book reader of claim 1, further comprising an annotation subsystem configured to associate user-authored annotations with corresponding portions of the electronic book, and wherein the user input is entering a predetermined symbol into an annotation.

4. The electronic book reader of claim 1, wherein the user input is a drawn gesture.

5. A computer implemented method for using an electronic book, comprising:

creating a message automatically addressed to a predetermined moderator assigned to the electronic book in response to user input, wherein the message is not added as an annotation to the electronic book;

creating a body of the message in response to further user input; and

sending the message to the predetermined moderator.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the message comprises:

content created by the user; and

an automatically generated indication to the moderator of which portion of the electronic book was being viewed by the user when the message was created.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the user input is entering a predetermined symbol as part of an annotation.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the user input is a drawn gesture.

9. A computer program product that comprises a non-transient computer readable storage medium containing computer executable instructions for using an electronic book, comprising:

instructions to create a message automatically addressed to a predetermined moderator assigned to the electronic book in response to user input, wherein the message is not added as an annotation to the electronic book;

instructions to create a body of the message in response to further user input; and

instructions to send the message to the predetermined moderator.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the message comprises:

content created by the user; and

an automatically generated indication to the moderator of which portion of the electronic book was being viewed by the user when the message was created.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the user input is entering a predetermined symbol as part of an annotation.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the user input is a drawn gesture.

13. An electronic book reader, comprising:

a display;

a collaboration subsystem, configured to provide means of communication about a portion of an electronic book between a user and one or more other users; and

an input recognition subsystem, operably connected with the collaboration subsystem to initiate a real-time chat session with the one or more other users in response to user input, and display the chat session in a portion of the display in conjunction with the electronic book, wherein the chat session is not added as an annotation to the electronic book.

14. The electronic book reader of claim 13, wherein the user input is a drawn gesture.

15. The electronic book reader of claim 13, wherein the collaboration subsystem is further configured to automatically indicate, on the display, which portion of the electronic book is currently being viewed by the one or more other users.

17. The electronic book reader of claim 13, wherein the collaboration subsystem is further configured to indicate, on the display, gestures made by the one or more other users.

16. (canceled)

18. A computer implemented method for using an electronic book, comprising:

initiating a real-time chat session about a portion of an electronic book with a specific person responsive to user input; and

displaying the chat session in a portion of a display in conjunction with the electronic book, wherein the chat session is not added as an annotation to the electronic book.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the user input is a gesture.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising indicating,a display displaying the electronic book, which portion of the electronic book is currently being viewed by the one or more other users.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising providing, on a display displaying the electronic book, an indication of gestures made by the one or more other users.

21. (canceled)

23. A computer program product that comprises a non-transient computer readable storage medium containing computer executable instructions for using an electronic book comprising:

instructions to initiate a real-time chat session about a portion of an electronic book with a specific person responsive to user input; and

instructions to display the chat session in a portion of a display in conjunction with the electronic book.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the user input is a gesture.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising instructions to indicate, on a display displaying the electronic book, which portion of the electronic book is currently being viewed by the one or more other users.

27. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising instructions to provide, on a display displaying the electronic book, an indication of gestures made by the one or more other users.

26. (canceled)