Electronic book with information manipulation features

Abstract

An electronic book having various features for manipulating text or other information. The subscriber may highlight, cut and paste, copy and paste, and annotate information within an electronic book. A multiple page view feature permits the subscriber to simultaneously view any plurality of pages of an electronic book, and a multiple screen feature permits the subscriber to view one or more pages on a viewer having multiple screens. A picture-in-picture feature permits the subscriber to simultaneously view a page of an electronic book along with other content, such as a television program or information from another electronic book. The picture-in-picture feature may display an electronic book page as a main image wrapped around an inset image.

1 . A method for simultaneously displaying on a viewer a selected portion of an electronic book and content from a plurality of separate information sources, comprising:
 receiving a request from a subscriber for displaying at least a portion of the electronic book and, afterward, receiving requests, along with an identification of the plurality of separate information sources, for simultaneously displaying the content from the plurality of separate information sources,   wherein the plurality of separate information sources are different from each other and are selected from a group consisting of an additional electronic book, an electronic atlas, a dictionary, an encyclopedia, a website, a video, a recipe, a collection of measurement conversions, multimedia information, a live television broadcast, a video feed, text from an additional electronic source, and an image from an additional electronic source;   formatting the portion of the electronic book and the content from the plurality of separate information sources for simultaneous display; and   simultaneously displaying the portion of the electronic book and the content from the plurality of separate information sources, wherein the displaying step includes displaying the content from at least one of the plurality of information sources as an inset image, fully inset within the displayed portion of the electronic book.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further including displaying a task bar for use in receiving the request. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further including permitting the subscriber to move a location of the displayed inset image. 
     
     
         4 . A method for simultaneously displaying on a viewer a selected portion of an electronic book and content from a plurality of separate information sources, comprising:
 receiving a request from a subscriber for displaying at least a portion of the electronic book and, afterward, receiving requests, along with an identification of the plurality of separate information sources, for simultaneously displaying the content from the plurality of separate information sources;   formatting the portion of the electronic book and the content from the plurality of separate information sources for simultaneous display; and   simultaneously displaying the portion of the electronic book and the content from the plurality of separate information sources, wherein the displaying step includes displaying the portion of the electronic book as wrapping around the displayed content from at least one of the plurality of information sources,   wherein the plurality of information sources are different from each other and are selected from a group consisting of an additional electronic book, an electronic atlas, a dictionary, an encyclopedia, a website, a video, a recipe, a collection of measurement conversions, multimedia information, a live television broadcast, a video feed, text from an additional electronic source, and an image from an additional electronic source.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the displaying step includes displaying the portion of the electronic book and the content from at least one of the plurality of information sources as side-by-side images. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further including reversing a position of the displayed portion of the electronic book and the content from at least one of the plurality of information sources. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step includes receiving a video signal as the content from at least one of the plurality of information sources. 
     
     
         8 . A method for simultaneously displaying on a viewer a selected portion of an electronic book and content from a plurality of separate information sources, comprising:
 receiving a request from a subscriber for displaying at least a page of an electronic book and the content from the plurality of separate information sources along with an identification of the plurality of separate information sources,   wherein the plurality of separate information sources are different from each other and are selected from a group consisting of an additional electronic book, an electronic atlas, a dictionary, an encyclopedia, a website, a video, a recipe, a collection of measurement conversions, multimedia information, a live television broadcast, a video feed, text from an additional electronic source, and an image from an additional electronic source;   formatting the page of the electronic book and the content from the plurality of separate information sources for simultaneous display including:
 displaying the content from at least one of the plurality of information sources as an inset image, fully inset within the page of the electronic book; and 
 formatting the page of the electronic book to display a portion of the page otherwise concealed by the inset image; and 
 simultaneously displaying the page of the electronic book and the content from the plurality of separate information sources. 
   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further including:
 permitting the subscriber to move the inset image to a new location within the page of the book; and   reformatting the page of the electronic book, upon detecting the new location of the inset image, to display the portion of the page otherwise concealed by the inset image.   
     
     
         10 . An apparatus for simultaneously displaying on a viewer a selected portion of an electronic book and content from a plurality of separate information sources, comprising:
 a command module that receives a request from a subscriber for displaying at least a portion of an electronic book and, afterward, receives a request, along with an identification of the plurality of separate information sources, for simultaneously displaying the content from the plurality of separate information sources,   wherein the plurality of separate information sources are different from each other and are selected from a group consisting of an additional electronic book, an electronic atlas, a dictionary, an encyclopedia, a website, a video, a recipe, a collection of measurement conversions, multimedia information, a live television broadcast, a video feed, text from an additional electronic source, and an image from an additional electronic source;   a format module that formats the portion of the electronic book and the content from the plurality of separate information sources for simultaneous display; and   a display module that simultaneously displays a portion of the electronic book and the content from the plurality of separate information sources, wherein the display module displays the content from at least one of the plurality of separate information sources as an inset image within the displayed portion of the electronic book.   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , further including a task module that displays a task bar for use in receiving the request. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , further including an image move module that permits the subscriber to move a location of the displayed inset image. 
     
     
         13 . An apparatus for simultaneously displaying on a viewer a selected portion of an electronic book and content from a plurality of separate information sources, comprising:
 a command module that receives a request from a subscriber for displaying at least a portion of an electronic book and, afterward, receives a request, along with an identification of the plurality of separate information sources, for simultaneously displaying the content from the plurality of separate information sources,   wherein the plurality of separate information sources are different from each other and are selected from a group consisting of an additional electronic book, an electronic atlas, a dictionary, an encyclopedia, a website, a video, a recipe, a collection of measurement conversions, multimedia information, a live television broadcast, a video feed, text from an additional electronic source, and an image from an additional electronic source;   a format module that formats the portion of the electronic book and the content from the plurality of separate information sources for simultaneous display; and   a display module that simultaneously displays the portion of the electronic book and the content from the plurality of separate information sources, wherein the display module displays the portion of the electronic book as wrapping around the displayed content from at least one of the plurality of separate information sources.   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 10  wherein the display module displays the portion of the electronic book and the content from at least one of the plurality of separate information sources as side-by-side images. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , further including a reverse image module that reverses the position of the displayed portion of the electronic book and the content from at least one of the plurality of separate information sources. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the command module includes a receiving module that receives a video signal as the content from at least one of the plurality of separate information sources. 
     
     
         17 . An apparatus for simultaneously displaying on a viewer a selected portion of an electronic book and content from a plurality of separate information sources, comprising:
 a command module that receives a request from a subscriber for displaying at least a page of an electronic book and content from the plurality of separate information sources, along with an identification of the plurality of separate information sources,   wherein the plurality of separate information sources are different from each other and are selected from a group consisting of an additional electronic book, an electronic atlas, a dictionary, an encyclopedia, a website, a video, a recipe, a collection of measurement conversions, multimedia information, a live television broadcast, a video feed, text from an additional electronic source, and an image from an additional electronic source;   a format module that formats the page of the electronic book and the content from the plurality of separate information sources for simultaneous display, including:
 a first display module that displays the content from at least one of the separate information sources as an inset image, fully inset within a page of the electronic book; 
 a page format module that formats the page of the electronic book to display a portion of the page otherwise concealed by the inset image; and 
 a second display module that simultaneously displays the page of the electronic book and the content from the plurality of separate information sources. 
   
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , further including:
 an image move module that permits the subscriber to move the inset image to a new location within the page of the electronic book; and   a reformat module that reformats the page of the electronic book, upon detecting the new location of the inset image to display the portion of the page otherwise concealed by the inset image