Indicators for navigating digital works

• US 9,158,741 B1
• Filed: 10/28/2011
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hansen, Linsey R.
• Primary Examiner(s): HAILU, TADESSE
• Application Number:
  US13/284,446
• Time in Patent Office: 1,446 Days
• Field of Search: 715/781, 715/764, 715/780
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04855 Interaction with scrollbars
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/10 Text processing natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30; processing or translation of natural language G06F40/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D

Abstract

This disclosure describes, in part, a progress gauge used to indicate a user'"'"'s location in a digital work and to associate locations within the digital work with corresponding locations on the progress gauge. For instance, a progress gauge as described herein may comprise a progress bar having numerous segments corresponding to different sections (e.g., chapters, acts, scenes, etc.) within a digital work. Each segment of the progress bar may include a unique visual indicator, while each page within the corresponding section of the digital work may also include the same unique visual indicator or another type of indicator that maps to the visual indicator on the progress bar.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

one or more displays;

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising;

rendering, on the one or more displays, at least a portion of a digital work that includes discrete sections, each of the discrete sections including a plurality of pages and being associated with a respective unique visual indicator, wherein each page of the plurality of pages includes the respective unique visual indicator associated with the respective section of the digital work; and

rendering, on the one or more displays, a progress bar that includes discrete segments corresponding to the discrete sections of the digital work, each of the discrete segments including an image of the respective unique visual indicator corresponding to the respective section of the digital work, wherein;

the unique visual indicators comprise top-level unique visual indicators,

a first section of the discrete sections of the digital work comprises multiple different portions of content, each of the multiple different portions of content including a respective second-level unique visual indicator different from the top-level unique visual indicators, and

the acts further comprise rendering, on the one or more displays, a respective second-level unique visual indicator along with a respective top-level unique visual indicator when the electronic device renders a corresponding portion of content of the first section of the digital work.

2. An electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the visual indicators comprise indicators that are separate from the digital work and have been added to the digital work after publishing of the digital work.

3. An electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the visual indicators are unique to the digital work relative to other digital works.

4. An electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the discrete sections comprise one or more of chapters, acts, stories, scenes, or equal portions of the digital work.

5. An electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the visual indicators comprise one or more of different colors, different patterns, or images of different objects.

6. An electronic device as recited in claim 1, the acts further comprising:

receiving a request to zoom in on a segment of the progress bar corresponding to the first section of the digital work; and

at least partly in response to receiving the request to zoom in;

enlarging the segment of the progress bar corresponding to the first section of the digital work; and

rendering, within or adjacent to the segment of the progress bar and on the one more displays, at least a portion of the second-level unique visual indicators corresponding to the first section of the digital work.

7. An electronic device as recited in claim 1, the acts further comprising:

receiving a request to zoom in on a segment of the progress bar corresponding to the first section of the digital work; and

at least partly in response to receiving the request to zoom in;

enlarging the segment of the progress bar corresponding to the first section of the digital work; and

rendering, within or adjacent to the segment of the progress bar and on the one or more displays, one or more thumbnail views of content within the first section of the digital work, each of the one or more thumbnail views being selectable to render a full view of the corresponding content on the one or more displays.

8. An electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the acts further comprise rendering, on the one or more displays, the progress bar along with the respective unique visual indicator and the content such that the respective unique visual indicator and the image of the respective unique visual indicator are rendered concurrently.

9. An electronic device as recited in claim 1, wherein the acts further comprise:

rendering the image on or in the progress bar at a first location on the one or more displays; and

rendering the respective unique visual indicator on the one or more displays, at a second location on the one or more displays different from the first location, while the image of the respective unique visual indicator is rendered.

10. A method comprising:

under control of an electronic device that includes one or more displays and that is configured with specific executable instructions,

receiving a request to render at least a portion of a digital work, the digital work including a first section associated with a first visual indicator and a second, different section associated with a second, different visual indicator;

at least partly in response to receiving the request;

rendering, on the one or more displays, content from the first section of the digital work, the content from the first section including a first plurality of pages, and each page of the first plurality of pages including;

the first visual indicator corresponding to the first section, and

a respective second-level unique visual indicator different from the first and second visual indicators;

rendering, on the one or more displays and concurrently with the content from the first section, one of the respective second-level unique visual indicators along with the first visual indicator associated with the first section; and

rendering, on the one or more displays and concurrently with the content from the first section and the first visual indicator, a progress gauge separate from the first visual indicator, the progress gauge including a first segment corresponding to the first section of the digital work and a second, different segment corresponding to the second section of the digital work, the first segment including an image of the first visual indicator associated with the first section of the digital work and the second segment including an image of the second visual indicator associated with the second section of the digital work.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the first visual indicator is rendered along with the content of the first section at least partly in response to determining that the content is associated with the first section of the digital work.

12. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the progress gauge represents a user'"'"'s progress through the digital work and is selectable to allow the user of the electronic device to navigate to different locations within the digital work.

13. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein:

the first visual indicator comprises a first color;

the second visual indicator comprises a second, different color;

the rendered content from the first section of the digital work is rendered in or along with the first color; and

the first segment of the progress gauge is rendered in or along with the first color and the second segment of the progress gauge is rendered in or along with the second color.

14. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein:

the first visual indicator comprises an image of a first object;

the second visual indicator comprises an image of a second, different object;

the rendered content from the first section of the digital work is rendered with the image of the first object; and

the image of the first object is rendered in or adjacent to the first segment of the progress gauge and the image of the second object is rendered in or adjacent to the second segment of the progress gauge.

15. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein:

the first visual indicator comprises an image of a first pattern;

the second visual indicator comprises an image of a second, different pattern;

the rendered content from the first section of the digital work is rendered along with the first pattern; and

the first segment of the progress gauge is rendered in or along with the first pattern and the second segment of the progress gauge is rendered in or along with the second pattern.

16. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein:

each section of the digital work is associated with a visual indicator that is unique relative to each other visual indicator associated with a section of the digital work; and

the progress gauge includes a segment for each section of the digital work, each segment including a visual indicator corresponding to the respective section of the digital work.

17. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the first visual indicator, the second visual indicator, or both has been selected and associated with the respective section of the digital work by a user of the electronic device.

18. A method as recited in claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a request to navigate to content within the second section of the digital work;

at least partly in response to receiving the request to navigate to the content within the second section;

rendering, on the one or more displays, the content from the second section of the digital work along with the second visual indicator associated with the second section; and

rendering, on the one or more displays and concurrently with the content from the second section, the progress gauge that includes the first segment including the first visual indicator associated with the first section of the digital work and the second segment including the second visual indicator associated with the second section of the digital work.

19. One or more computing devices comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising;

receiving an indication that a first section of a digital work is to be associated with a first indicator and a second, different section of the digital work is to be associated with a second, different indicator;

at least partly in response to receiving the indication;

associating each page of content from the first section with the first indicator and with a respective second-level unique visual indicator different from the first and second indicators such that a client device renders one of the respective second-level unique visual indicators along with the first indicator whenever a page of content from the first section is rendered;

associating content from the second section with the second indicator such that the client device renders the second indicator when rendering content from the second section; and

associating a first segment of a progress gauge corresponding to the first section with the first indicator and a second segment of the progress gauge corresponding to the second section with the second indicator, the progress gauge to be rendered concurrently with and separate from at least one of the first indicator or the second indicator when at least a portion of the digital work is rendered.

20. One or more computing devices as recited in claim 19, wherein the first and second indicators comprise visual indicators, audible indicators, or combinations thereof.

21. One or more computing devices as recited in claim 19, wherein:

the digital work includes multiple sections in addition to the first and second sections;

the indication indicates that each of the multiple additional sections is to be associated with a respectively unique indicator; and

the acts further comprise associating the multiple additional sections with the respectively unique indicators and associating corresponding segments of the progress gauge with the respectively unique indicators.

22. One or more computing devices as recited in claim 19, wherein the progress gauge includes content dividers to represent sections of the digital work, and wherein the progress gauge indicates a currently rendered location of the digital work relative to the respective sections.

23. A method comprising:

under control of an electronic device that includes a display and that is configured with specific executable instructions,

rendering, on the display, content from a first section of a digital work, the first section comprising a plurality of pages of the digital work, wherein the first section is one of a plurality of sections of the digital work;

rendering, on the display and concurrently with the content from the first section, a progress gauge that includes a plurality of segments, each segment of the plurality of segments corresponding to a respective section of the plurality of sections, wherein the progress gauge is selectable to allow a user of the electronic device to navigate to different locations within the digital work, and wherein the progress gauge indicates the user'"'"'s progress through the digital work;

outputting, via the device, a first indicator indicative of the first section, wherein the first indicator is outputted with each page of the plurality of pages;

associating each page of the plurality of pages with a respective second-level unique visual indicator different from the first indicator such that one of the respective second-level unique visual indicators is outputted by the device along with the first indicator whenever a page of the plurality of pages is rendered;

receiving, at least partially via the progress gauge, a request from the user to render content from a second section of the plurality of sections; and

at least partly in response to receiving the request;

rendering, on the display, content from the second section,

rendering the progress gauge on the display concurrently with the content from the second section, and

outputting, via the device, a second indicator, different from the first indicator and the respective second-level unique visual indicators, indicative of the second section.

24. The method as recited in claim 23, further including:

rendering the first indicator at a first location on the display concurrently with the content from the first section, the first indicator comprising a first visual indicia;

rendering the progress bar, at a second location on the display different from the first location, concurrently with the first indicator, the progress bar including an image of the first indicator at the second location; and

rendering the second indicator on the display concurrently with the content from the second section, the second indicator comprising a second visual indicia different from the first visual indicia, wherein a first segment of the plurality of segments includes the first visual indicia and a second segment of the plurality of segments includes the second visual indicia.

25. The method as recited in claim 23, wherein:

the plurality of segments comprises a first segment corresponding to the first section of the digital work and a second segment corresponding to the second section of the digital work,

the first section includes a first amount of content and the second section includes a second amount of content greater than the first amount, and

the first segment has a first dimension and the second section has a second dimension greater than the first dimension, wherein the first and second dimensions are based on the first and second amounts of content, respectively.

26. The method as recited in claim 23, further including:

receiving, at least partially via the progress gauge, a request to zoom in on content of the digital work within in the first section; and

at least partly in response to receiving the request to zoom in;

rendering, on the display, one or more thumbnail views of content within the first section, each of the one or more thumbnail views being selectable to render a full view of the corresponding content on the display.

27. The method as recited in claim 26, wherein the progress gauge is selectable to allow the user to navigate each of the one or more thumbnail views.