Methods and systems for managing an e-reader interface

• US 8,694,903 B2
• Filed: 03/04/2011
• Issued: 04/08/2014
• 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: Tiwari, Soumya, Rodrigues, Ruchir, Gallagher, John F., Ramakrishnan, Raju T., Phutela, Ashish, Joseph, Peter, Gupta, Manisha, Bhattacharyya, Manidipa, Hwang, James Y.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOWDHURY, RAYEEZ R
• Application Number:
  US13/041,223
• Publication Number:
  US 20120227002A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,131 Days
• Field of Search: 715/764, 715/722
• US Class Current: 715/765
• 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 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04855 Interaction with scrollbars
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• 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, detecting a user interaction with a graphical object within the plurality of graphical objects and representative of a segment within the plurality of segments, and directing the e-reader device to remove at least one other graphical object within the graphical objects from the display of the graphical objects, wherein the at least one other graphical object is representative of at least one other segment within the plurality of segments that is unrelated to the segment. 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, within an interface, a plurality of graphical objects representative of a plurality of segments of an e-publication as hanging within the interface from a plurality of graphical strings;

detecting, by the e-reader interface management system, a user interaction with a graphical object within the plurality of graphical objects and representative of a segment within the plurality of segments; and

directing, by the e-reader interface management system in response to the user interaction, the e-reader device to remove at least one other graphical object within the graphical objects from the interface by animating a pulling of the at least one other graphical object up and out of the interface by at least one graphical string included in the plurality of graphical strings, wherein the at least one other graphical object is representative of at least one other segment within the plurality of segments that is unrelated to the segment.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising directing, by the e-reader interface management system in response to the user interaction, the e-reader device to animate a dropping of one or more additional graphical objects representative of one or more additional segments of the e-publication that are related to the segment into the interface by one or more additional graphical strings included in the plurality of graphical strings.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the segment and the one or more additional segments share one or more common attributes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the e-publication comprises an emagazine, and wherein the plurality of segments comprise one or more articles included in the emagazine.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of segments further comprise one or more advertisements from the e-magazine.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising directing the e-reader to emit a sound in accordance with the user interaction with the graphical object.

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

8. A method comprising:

directing, by an e-reader interface management system, an e-reader device to display, within an interface, a plurality of graphical objects representative of a plurality of segments of an e-publication as hanging within the interface from a plurality of graphical strings;

detecting, by the e-reader interface management system, a user interaction with a graphical object within the plurality of graphical objects and representative of a segment within the plurality of segments; and

directing, by the e-reader interface management system in response to the user interaction, the e-reader device to further display one or more additional graphical objects representative of one or more additional segments of the e-publication that are related to the segment in the interface by animating a dropping of the one or more additional graphical objects into the interface by at least one graphical string included in the plurality of graphical strings.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising directing, by the e-reader interface management system in response to the user interaction, the e-reader device to remove at least one other graphical object within the graphical objects from the display of the graphical objects by animating a pulling of the at least one other graphical object up and out of the interface by at least one graphical string included in the plurality of graphical strings, wherein the at least one other graphical object is representative of at least one other segment within the plurality of segments that is unrelated to the segment.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the segment and the at least one or more additional segments share one or more common attributes.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the e-publication comprises an emagazine, and wherein the plurality of segments comprises one or more articles from the emagazine.

12. The method of claim 8, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

13. A method comprising:

directing, by an e-reader interface management system, an e-reader device to display, within an interface, a plurality of wind chime elements representative of a plurality of segments of an e-publication, the plurality of wind chime elements displayed as hanging within the interface from a plurality of graphical strings;

detecting, by the e-reader interface management system, a user interaction with at least one wind chime element within the plurality of wind chime elements and representative of at least one segment within the plurality of segments, the user interaction comprising a touch gesture configured to request a removal of the at least one wind chime element from the display of the wind chime elements; and

directing, by the e-reader interface management system, the e-reader device to animate an adjustment of the display of the at least one wind chime element in accordance with the detected user-interaction by animating a pulling of the at least one wind chime element up and out of the display by at least one graphical string included in the plurality of graphical strings and associated with the at least one wind chime element.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising directing, by the e-reader interface management system, the e-reader device to emit a sound in accordance with the user interaction.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein further comprising:

detecting, by the e-reader interface management system, an additional user interaction with at least one additional wind chime element within the plurality of wind chime elements and representative of at least one additional segment within the plurality of segments, the additional user interaction comprising a touch gesture configured to request a repositioning of the at least one additional wind chime element, and

directing, by the e-reader interface management system, the e-reader device to animate an adjustment of the display of the at least one additional wind chime element in accordance with the additional user interaction by repositioning the at least one additional wind chime element and at least one graphical string included in the plurality of graphical strings and associated with the at least one additional wind chime element within the display of the wind chime elements.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising rearranging, by the e-reader interface management system, a sequential order of the segments of the e-publication in accordance with the repositioning of the at least one additional wind chime element.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

detecting, by the e-reader interface management system, a user request to reset the display of the wind chime elements to a default setting; and

directing, by the e-reader interface management system, the e-reader device to reset the display of the wind chime elements to the default setting.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising directing, by the e-reader interface management system, the e-reader device to display at least one additional wind chime element representative of an advertisement associated with at least one of the segments of the e-publication.

25. The method of claim 13, wherein, in response to user interaction with the graphical string, the plurality of wind chime elements collide with one another in the interface, and wherein the method further comprises emitting, by the e-reader interface management system in response to the plurality of wind chime elements colliding with one another in the interface, one or more sounds representative of the collision.

19. A method comprising:

directing, by an e-reader interface management system, an e-reader device to display, within an interface, a plurality of wind chime elements representative of a plurality of segments of an e-publication, the plurality of wind chime elements displayed as hanging within the interface from a plurality of graphical strings;

detecting, by the e-reader interface management system, a user selection of a wind chime element within the wind chime elements and representative of a segment within the plurality of segments; and

directing, by the e-reader interface management system in response to the user selection, the e-reader device to animate a removal of the plurality of wind chime elements from the interface by the graphical strings and display at least a portion of the segment of the epublication in the interface.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

detecting, by the e-reader interface management system, a user interaction with a particular portion of the segment; and

directing, by the e-reader interface management system in response to the user interaction, the e-reader device to emit a sound associated with the particular portion.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the sound is configured to indicate a position of the particular portion within the segment.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

detecting, by the e-reader interface management system, a user request to post at least a portion of the segment by way of a social media outlet; and

posting, by the e-book reader device by way of the social media outlet, the at least a portion of the segment in response to the user request.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

detecting, by the e-reader interface management system, a user selection of an image from the segment;

directing, by the e-reader interface management system in response to the user selection of the image, the e-reader device to display the image; and

directing, by the e-reader interface management system, the e-reader device to display, in conjunction with the display of the image, one or more additional wind chime elements representative of one or more additional images related to the image.

24. A system comprising:

a display facility, including a display, configured to direct an e-reader device to display a plurality of graphical objects representative of a plurality segments of an e-publication as hanging within the display from a plurality of graphical strings;

a detection facility communicatively coupled to the display facility and configured to detect a user interaction with a graphical object within the plurality of graphical objects and representative of a segment within the plurality of segments; and

an e-reader interface management facility communicatively coupled to the detection facility and configured to direct the e-reader device to remove at least one other graphical object within the graphical objects from the display of the graphical objects by animating a pulling of the at least one other graphical object up and out of the display by at least one graphical string included in the plurality of graphical strings, wherein the at least one other graphical object is representative of at least one other segment within the plurality of segments and that is unrelated to the segment and display one or more additional graphical objects that are representative of one or more additional e-publication segments that are related to the segment in the display by animating a dropping of the one or more additional graphical objects into the display by one or more additional graphical strings included in the plurality of graphical strings.