Methods and systems for managing an e-reader interface

• US 8,645,873 B2
• Filed: 03/04/2011
• Issued: 02/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Gupta, Manisha, Ramakrishnan, Raju T., Natarajan, Balamurugan, Joseph, Peter, Tiwari, Soumya, Hwang, James Y., Phutela, Ashish, Bhattacharyya, Manidipa
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOWDHURY, RAYEEZ R
• Application Number:
  US13/041,229
• Publication Number:
  US 20120227001A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,068 Days
• Field of Search: 715/763, 715/722
• US Class Current: 715/863
• 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 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus

Abstract

Exemplary methods and systems for managing an e-reader interface are disclosed herein. An exemplary method includes an e-reader interface management system directing an e-reader device to display a plurality of graphical objects representative of a plurality of segments of an e-publication and arranged in a plurality of overlapping rows, detecting that a user has accessed a particular segment within the plurality of segments and represented by a particular graphical object within the plurality of graphical objects, and dynamically altering at least one display attribute associated with the particular graphical object to indicate that the particular segment has been accessed by the user. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

directing, by an e-reader interface management system, an e-reader device to display a plurality of graphical objects representative of a plurality of segments of an e-publication, wherein the graphical objects are arranged in a plurality of overlapping rows each comprising one or more of the graphical objects;

detecting, by the e-reader interface management system, that a user has accessed a particular segment within the plurality of segments, wherein the particular segment is represented by a particular graphical object within the plurality of graphical objects; and

dynamically altering, by the e-reader interface management system in response to the detecting, at least one display attribute of the particular graphical object to indicate that the particular segment has been previously accessed by the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of overlapping rows is associated with a particular category associated with one or more of the plurality of segments of the e-publication.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical objects are arranged in accordance with one or more predefined parameters specified by a publisher associated with the e-publication.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical objects are arranged in accordance with one or more custom parameters specified by the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one display attribute comprises at least one of a size, a shape, and a color of the particular graphical object.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting that a user has accessed the particular segment comprises detecting a user selection of the particular graphical object.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamic altering of the at least one display attribute is configured to visually distinguish the particular graphical object relative to one or more other graphical objects within the plurality of graphical objects.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamic altering of the at least one display attribute is configured to bring the particular graphical object forward within the display and relative to one or more other graphical objects within the plurality of graphical objects.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical objects are further arranged into a plurality of columns.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the e-publication comprises an e-magazine, and

the plurality of segments comprise one or more articles included in the e-magazine.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a size associated with at least one graphical object within the plurality of graphical objects and representative of at least one segment within the plurality of segments is configured to indicate a relevance of the at least one segment to the user.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising altering, by the e-reader interface management system in accordance with access to the particular segment, at least one display attribute associated with at least one other graphical object.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one other graphical object is included within the plurality of graphical objects.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one other graphical object is representative of at least one other segment of at least one other e-publication.

15. The method of claim 1, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

16. currently amended) A method comprising:

directing, by an e-reader interface management system, an e-reader device to display a plurality of overlapping graphical objects representative of a plurality of segments of an e-publication;

detecting, by the e-reader interface management system, that a user has accessed a particular segment within the plurality of segments, wherein the particular segment is represented by a particular graphical object within the plurality of graphical objects; and

dynamically altering, by the e-reader interface management system in response to the detecting, at least one display attribute of the particular graphical object to indicate that the particular segment has been previously accessed by the user by bringing the particular graphical object forward within the display and relative to one or more other graphical objects within the plurality of graphical objects.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the plurality of overlapping graphical objects are arranged in a plurality of overlapping rows.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising dynamically altering, by the e-reader interface management system in response to the detecting, at least one of a size, a shape, and a color of the particular graphical object.

19. The method of claim 16, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

20. A system comprising:

at least one computing device that comprises

a display facility configured to direct an e-reader device to display a plurality of graphical objects arranged in a plurality of overlapping rows and representative of a plurality of segments of an e-publication;

a detection facility communicatively coupled to the display facility and configured to detect that a user has accessed a particular segment within the plurality of segments, wherein the particular segment corresponds to a particular graphical object within the plurality of graphical objects; and

an e-reader interface management facility communicatively coupled to the detection facility and configured to dynamically alter at least one display attribute of the particular graphical object to indicate that the particular segment has been previously accessed by the user.