Methods, Systems, and Computer Program Products for Navigating a Sequence of Illustrative Scenes within a Digital Production

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products which enhance the use of digitized content by users are described. The methods, systems, and computer program products include causing portions of the content to be adjusted in size according to dimensions which would best facilitate electronic review of the content. The methods, systems, and computer program products include preparing illustrated content for navigation, specifying dimensions for areas within content collections such as pages and orders for viewing the areas, and correlating the specified dimensions and the specified order with instructions for rendering an enhanced view of the content areas. In some embodiments, the illustrated content comprises a digitized comic book.

1 . A computerized method for automatically navigating a sequence of illustrative scenes within a digital production distributed from a content server to one or more clients over a communications network or accessible from a storage medium coupled to one of the one or more clients, wherein the digital production includes a plurality of panels with at least one panel displaying two or more of the illustrative scenes, the method comprising:
 accessing a navigation control program distributed from a remote source to a first client of the one or more clients, the navigation control program being operable to automate selection and display of the sequence of illustrative scenes; and   launching the navigation control program at the first client to access instructions for displaying the sequence of illustrative scenes in a specified order and to access dimension data and scale parameters that are processed to automatically display each illustrative scene with a visual enhancement that makes each displayed illustrative scene more readily perceived than an adjacent illustrative scene within the specified order.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 displaying a first illustrative scene with visual enhancement that makes the first illustrative scene more readily perceived than adjacent illustrative scenes within the specified order;   detecting a request to view another illustrative scene in a forward order or a reverse order within the sequence; and   displaying a second illustrative scene preceding or succeeding the first illustrative scene in the specified order in response to the request for another illustrative scene with the second illustrative scene having visual enhancement that makes the second illustrative scene more readily perceived than adjacent illustrative scenes within the specified order.   
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying a first panel that includes a plurality of characters engaging in a plurality of activities, the dimension data defining a first illustrative scene to display a first subset of the activities from the first panel, and the dimension data defining a second illustrative scene to display a second subset of the activities from the first panel.   
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying a first panel that includes a plurality of balloons comprising words or thoughts of one or more characters, the dimension data defining a first illustrative scene to display a first subset of the balloons from the first panel, and the dimension data defining a second illustrative scene to display a second subset of the balloons from the first panel.   
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the digital production includes at least one of a digitized comic book, a graphic novel, a comic album, or a comic strip. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more clients include at least one of a cell phone, a personal computer, a personal digital assistant, a portable media player, or a smart phone. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the communications network includes at least one of a wired network, a wireless network, or the Internet. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the digital production is formatted to conform to at least one of a PHP protocol, an XML protocol, an HTML protocol, an HDML protocol, or an HTTP protocol. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein accessing a navigation control program comprises:
 accessing the navigation control program from a storage medium coupled to the client.   
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein accessing a navigation control program comprises:
 accessing the navigation control program from the content server as the remote source or from a third-party server as the remote source.   
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein accessing a navigation control program comprises:
 downloading the display program as an applet at the client or as a plug-in to a browser application operating at the client.   
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing access to audio, video, or multimedia content associated with a displayed illustrative scene during display thereof.   
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 enlarging a view of a displayed illustrative scene to make the displayed illustrative scene more readily perceived during display thereof.   
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a user request to select amongst a first viewing mode and a second viewing mode;   in the first viewing mode, displaying a first page of the digital production so that the first page is visible in its entirety on a display screen without visually distinguishing panels on the first page from one another; and   in the second viewing mode, displaying each of the sequence of illustrative scenes with visual enhancement that makes each displayed illustrative scene more readily perceived than an adjacent illustrative scene within the specified order.   
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 detecting a request to view an illustrative scene without user interaction but from an application program communicatively coupled to the navigation control program.   
   
   
       16 . A computerized method for enabling a content server to automatically navigate a sequence of illustrative scenes within a digital production distributed to a remote client over a communications network, wherein the digital production includes a plurality of panels with at least one panel displaying two or more of the illustrative scenes, the method comprising:
 receiving, from the remote client, a request to view the digital production;   distributing, to the remote client, a navigation control program to automate selection and display of the sequence of illustrated scenes when the navigation control program is undetected at the remote client; and   sending a display object that includes instructions for displaying the sequence of illustrative scenes in a specified order at the remote client, and dimension data and scale parameters that are processed to automatically display each illustrative scene at the remote client with a visual enhancement that makes each displayed illustrative scene more readily perceived than an adjacent illustrative scene within the specified order.   
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 sending, to the remote client, instructions for enabling display of a first illustrative scene with visual enhancement that makes the first illustrative scene more readily perceived than adjacent illustrative scenes within the specified order;   receiving, at the content server, a request to view another illustrative scene in a forward order or a reverse order within the sequence; and   sending, to the remote client, instructions for enabling display of a second illustrative scene preceding or succeeding the first illustrative scene in the specified order in response to the request for another illustrative scene with the second illustrative scene having visual enhancement that makes the second illustrative scene more readily perceived than adjacent illustrative scenes within the specified order.   
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 providing instructions for enabling display of at least one illustrative scene with embedded links to audio, video, or multimedia content.   
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 accessing a user request to select amongst a first viewing mode and a second viewing mode;   in the first viewing mode, sending, to the remote client, instructions for enabling display of a first page of the digital production so that the first page is visible in its entirety on a display screen without visually distinguishing panels on the first page from one another; and   in the second viewing mode, sending, to the remote client, instructions for enabling display of each of the sequence of illustrative scenes with visual enhancement that makes each displayed illustrative scene more readily perceived than an adjacent illustrative scene within the specified order.   
   
   
       20 . A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer readable program code functions embedded in the medium for causing a computer to enable a content server to automatically navigate a sequence of illustrative scenes within a digital production distributed to a remote client over a communications network, wherein the digital production includes a plurality of panels with at least one panel displaying two or more of the illustrative scenes, the computer program product comprising:
 a first computer readable program code function that causes the computer to receive, from the remote client, a request to view the digital production;   a second computer readable program code function that causes the computer to distribute, to the remote client, a navigation control program to automate selection and display of the sequence of illustrated scenes when the navigation control program is undetected at the remote client; and   a third computer readable program code function that causes the computer to send a display object that includes instructions for displaying the sequence of illustrative scenes in a specified order at the remote client, and dimension data and scale parameters that are processed to automatically display each illustrative scene at the remote client with a visual enhancement that makes each displayed illustrative scene more readily perceived than an adjacent illustrative scene within the specified order.