Questions on highlighted passages

• US 8,832,584 B1
• Filed: 03/31/2009
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Agarwal, Amit D., Kambarov, Zaur, Killalea, Tom
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Matt
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ipakchi, Maryam
• Application Number:
  US12/414,914
• Time in Patent Office: 1,988 Days
• Field of Search: 715/776
• US Class Current: 715/776
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/0283 for data storage and retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning

Abstract

As described herein, passages in a digital work (e.g., eBook, music, movie, picture, etc.) may be highlighted and questions pertaining to those highlights may be developed. The highlights are collected centrally and subsequently supplied to users along with the digital works. Users may further ask questions pertaining to the highlighted passages, and these questions are associated with the highlights. Answers to the questions may also be discovered and provided to the users.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

collecting highlights of a digital work entered by a plurality of different users via digital work presentation devices, individual digital work presentation devices having a display, wherein the plurality of different users includes a first user and a second user, and wherein the highlights of the digital work include (i) a first highlight entered by the first user to highlight a first passage, and (ii) a second highlight entered by the second user to highlight a second passage;

serving the highlights to an individual digital work presentation device for presentation on the display;

providing a user interface to enable the first user to craft questions, wherein the questions include (i) a first question pertaining to the first highlight entered by the first user to highlight the first passage, and (ii) a second question pertaining to the second highlight entered by the second user to highlight the second passage;

storing the questions in association with the highlights to which the questions pertain;

serving the questions in association with the highlights for presentation on the display;

comparing the first question to a plurality of questions that pertain to highlights of the first passage, wherein comparing the first question to the plurality of questions further comprises

comparing one or more words of the first question to the plurality of questions that pertain to the highlights of the first passage;

grouping the first question and the plurality of questions in one or more groups based at least in part on the comparing the first question to the plurality of questions; and

facilitating discovery of answers to the questions.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the digital work comprises an electronic book and one of the digital work presentation devices comprises an electronic book reader device.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the serving of the highlights comprises serving browser-renderable content that, when rendered, lists the highlights on the display.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the providing the user interface comprises providing an entry area proximal to the first highlight for the first user to enter the first question.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the providing the user interface comprises presenting, on an electronic reading device, a question entry panel in association with a highlight of the digital work, and facilitating the first user to enter a question in the question entry panel.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the facilitating discovery of answers comprises enabling users to enter answers to the questions.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising presenting a highlight of the digital work following entry of a user'"'"'s answer to a question pertaining to the highlight.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising measuring a time duration from presentation of a question on the display until entry of an answer to the question.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the facilitating discovery of answers comprises providing an electronic forum to submit answers to the questions.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the facilitating discovery of answers comprises submitting the questions to a mechanical solution network.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the facilitating discovery of answers comprises conducting an electronic search for the answers.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising aggregating the highlights of the digital work from a plurality of highlights entered by the a plurality of different users.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising evaluating the questions to determine whether any two questions are identical.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising evaluating the questions to ascertain whether two or more questions are substantially the same as one another.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising allowing other users to edit the questions.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising enabling a community of people to vote on the questions.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein comparing the first question to the plurality of questions further comprises:

comparing one or more phrases of the first question to the plurality of questions that pertain to the highlights of the first passage.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein grouping the first question and the plurality of questions in one or more groups further comprises:

based on comparing the first question to the plurality of questions, determining that the first question and a particular question of the plurality of questions have a similarity that is greater than a threshold; and

based on determining that the first question and the particular question of the plurality of questions have a similarity that is greater than the threshold, grouping the first question and the particular question in a first group of the one or more groups.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on comparing the first question to the plurality of questions, determining that the first question and a particular question of the plurality of questions have a similarity that is greater than a threshold; and

based on determining that the first question and the particular question have a similarity that is greater than the threshold, deleting one of the first question or the second question.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on comparing the first question to the plurality of questions, determining that the first question and a particular question of the plurality of questions are identical; and

based on determining that the first question and the particular question are identical, deleting one of the first question or the second question.

21. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

collecting highlights of a digital work received from a plurality of digital work presentation devices wherein the highlights of the digital work include a first highlight entered to highlight a first passage;

collecting questions crafted by one or more users, wherein each of the questions pertains to a corresponding highlight of a corresponding passage of the digital work, wherein the questions include a first question pertaining to the first highlight to highlight the first passage;

storing the questions in association with the highlights to which the questions pertain;

comparing the first question to a plurality of questions that pertain to highlights of the first passage, wherein comparing the first question to the plurality of questions further comprises

comparing one or more phrases of the first question to the plurality of questions that pertain to the highlights of the first passage; and

grouping the first question and the plurality of questions in one or more groups based at least in part on the comparing the first question to the plurality of questions.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein comparing the first question to the plurality of questions further comprises:

comparing one or more words of the first question to the plurality of questions that pertain to the highlights of the first passage.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein grouping the first question and the plurality of questions in one or more groups further comprises:

based on comparing the first question to the plurality of questions, determining that the first question and a second question of the plurality of questions have a similarity that is greater than a threshold; and

based on determining that the first question and the second question of the plurality of questions have a similarity that is greater than the threshold, grouping the first question and the second question in a group of the one or more groups.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising:

based on comparing the first question to the plurality of questions, determining that the first question and a second question of the plurality of questions have a similarity that is greater than a threshold; and

based on determining that the first question and the second question have a similarity that is greater than the threshold, deleting one of the first question or the second question.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising:

based on comparing the first question to the plurality of questions, determining that the first question and a second question of the plurality of questions are identical; and

based on determining that the first question and the second question are identical, deleting one of the first question or the second question.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the digital work comprises an electronic book and one of the digital work presentation devices comprises an electronic book reader device.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising:

serving the highlights to an individual digital work presentation device for presentation on a display of the individual digital work presentation device, wherein the serving the highlights comprises serving browser-renderable content that, when rendered, lists the highlights on the display.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising:

providing a user interface to enable a user to craft questions, wherein the providing the user interface comprises presenting, on an electronic reading device, a question entry panel in association with a highlight of the digital work, and facilitating the user to enter a question in the question entry panel.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising facilitating discovery of answers to the first question by enabling users to enter answers to the first question.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising presenting a highlight of the digital work following entry of a user'"'"'s answer to a question pertaining to the highlight.

31. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising measuring a time duration from presentation of a question on a display until entry of an answer to the question.

32. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving a highlighted passage of a digital work, wherein the digital work comprises a plurality of passages that includes the highlighted passage;

receiving a question pertaining to the highlighted passage;

comparing the first question to a plurality of questions that pertain to the highlighted passage, wherein comparing the question to the plurality of questions further comprises

comparing one or more words of the question to the plurality of questions that pertain to the highlighted passage; and

grouping the question and the plurality of questions in one or more groups based at least in part on the comparing the question to the plurality of questions.

33. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, further comprising:

receiving an answer to the question.

34. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, wherein the question is crafted before the highlighted passage is highlighted.

35. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, further comprising generating an audible version of the question.

36. The computer-implemented method of claim 32, wherein the highlighted passage is highlighted by a first user, and the question is crafted by a second user.