Electronic Book Interface Systems and Methods

Abstract

An electronic book system provides interfaces particularly suited to students' use of textbooks. A finger press on a touch screen produces a contextual menu with user choices that relate to where the finger was pressed or what the user was recently doing with the book. A student provisionally navigates through a book by a specific gesture which, when it stops, returns the user to the previous position in the book. Annotations are displayed and hidden using specific gestures and through selective movement of the reader as sensed by its accelerometer.

1 . An electronic book reader, comprising:
 a display;   an annotation subsystem, configured to associate user-added content with a portion of an electronic book currently displayed on the display; and   a navigation subsystem, operably connected to the annotation subsystem, and configured to provide user controls on the display to select a specific course associated with the electronic book and a user, and further configured to provide user controls on the display for selective access to the electronic book and to materials other than the electronic book and the user-added content, the materials related to the specific course, said selective access being at least in part responsive to the portion of the electronic book currently displayed on the display.   
     
     
         2 . The electronic book reader of  claim 1 , wherein the materials comprise at least one of: course specific commentary corresponding to the electronic book, a syllabus, a problem set, and lecture material. 
     
     
         3 . The electronic book reader of  claim 1 , further comprising an input recognition subsystem configured to provide user tools for selecting a second portion of the electronic book and copying the second portion to an electronic notebook. 
     
     
         4 . The electronic book reader of  claim 2 , wherein the user controls include tabs for selective access to: the syllabus, a user notebook, and the lecture material. 
     
     
         5 . (canceled) 
     
     
         6 . The electronic book reader of  claim 1 , further comprising an input recognition subsystem, configured to create a user annotation responsive to user input and associate the user annotation with a portion of the electronic book via the annotation subsystem. 
     
     
         7 . The electronic book reader of  claim 6 , wherein the annotation subsystem is further configured to perform specific operations responsive to user input of one or more pre-determined symbols as part of the annotation. 
     
     
         8 . The electronic book reader of  claim 7 , wherein the specific operations include one or more of: opening a keyboard panel, deleting a word or diagram, opening a chat panel, and opening an installed add-on. 
     
     
         9 . (canceled) 
     
     
         10 . The electronic book reader of  claim 1 , wherein the user-added content includes annotations. 
     
     
         11 . The electronic book reader of  claim 10 , wherein the annotations are selectively displayed and hidden, and wherein a display symbol indicates whether the annotations are displayed or hidden. 
     
     
         12 . The electronic book reader of  claim 10 , wherein the navigation subsystem further provides a control to attach a comment to an annotation and a control to provide selective access to the comment. 
     
     
         13 . The electronic book reader of  claim 12 , wherein the navigation subsystem further provides an indication on the display of how many comments have been attached to the annotation when the comments are not displayed on the display. 
     
     
         14 . The electronic book reader of  claim 10 , wherein the annotation subsystem is further configured to provide a first control to convert a human input into a machine form and a second control to toggle between display of the human input and display of the machine form. 
     
     
         15 . The electronic book reader of  claim 14 , wherein the human input is handwritten text and the machine form is searchable text. 
     
     
         16 . The electronic book reader of  claim 14 , wherein the human input is a digital image of handwritten text and the machine form is searchable text. 
     
     
         17 . The electronic book reader of  claim 14 , wherein the human input is an audio recording and the machine form is searchable text. 
     
     
         18 . The electronic book reader of  claim 14 , wherein the human input is a hand drawn shape, and the machine form is a standardized geometric shape. 
     
     
         19 . The electronic book reader of  claim 1 , further comprising a collaboration subsystem, configured to provide controls for sharing the user-added content. 
     
     
         20 . The electronic book reader of  claim 19 , wherein a user can selectively share the user-added content with their study group, their class section, their entire class, or every other user worldwide of the electronic book. 
     
     
         21 . The electronic book reader of  claim 1 , wherein the navigation subsystem is further configured to provide an indication on the display that at least some of the user-added content is from one or more third parties via a collaboration subsystem. 
     
     
         22 . (canceled) 
     
     
         23 . The electronic book reader of  claim 22 , further comprising an input recognition subsystem configured to provide a first user tool for selecting a second portion of the electronic book and copying the second portion to a course-specific notebook, and a second user tool for annotating the second portion. 
     
     
         24 . The electronic book reader of  claim 23 , wherein the navigation subsystem is further configured to provide user controls to selectively access the course-specific notebook. 
     
     
         25 . The electronic book reader of  claim 1 , wherein the navigation subsystem is further configured to provide a control to open a browser and perform a search for materials related to at least one of: the specific course and the electronic book. 
     
     
         26 . (canceled) 
     
     
         27 . A computer implemented method of using an electronic book, comprising:
 associating user-added content with a portion of the electronic book;   providing user controls to select a specific course associated with the electronic book and a user; and   providing user controls for selective access to the electronic book and to materials other than the electronic book and the user-added content, the materials related to the specific course, said selective access being at least in part responsive to a portion of the electronic book currently displayed.   
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the materials comprise at least one of: course specific commentary corresponding to the electronic book, a syllabus, a problem set, and lecture material. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising:
 providing user controls for selecting a second portion of the electronic book;   and copying the second portion to an electronic notebook.   
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the user controls include tabs for selective access to: the syllabus, a user notebook, and the lecture material. 
     
     
         31 . (canceled) 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising creating a user annotation responsive to user input and associating the user annotation with a portion of the electronic book. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising performing specific operations responsive to user input of one or more pre-determined symbols as part of the annotation. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the specific operations include one or more of: opening a keyboard panel, deleting a word or diagram, opening a chat panel, and opening an installed add-on. 
     
     
         35 . (canceled) 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the user added content includes user annotations. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the annotations are selectively displayed and hidden, and wherein a display symbol indicates whether the annotations are displayed or hidden. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 36 , further comprising providing a control to attach a comment to an annotation and a control to provide selective access to the comment. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 38 , further comprising providing an indication of how many comments have been attached to an annotation when the comments are not displayed on the display. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 36 , further comprising providing a first control to convert a human input into a machine form and a second control to toggle between display of the human input and display of the machine form. 
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the human input is handwritten text and the machine form is searchable text. 
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the human input is a digital image of handwritten text and the machine form is searchable text. 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the human input is an audio recording and the machine form is searchable text. 
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the human input is a hand drawn shape, and the machine form is a standardized geometric shape. 
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising providing controls for sharing the user-added content with other users. 
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 45 , wherein a user can selectively share the user added content with their study group, their class section, their entire class, or every other user worldwide of the electronic book. 
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising providing an indication that at least some of the user-added content is from one or more third parties. 
     
     
         48 . (canceled) 
     
     
         49 . The method of  claim 48 , further comprising:
 providing a first user tool for selecting a second portion of the electronic book;   copying the second portion to a course-specific notebook; and   providing a second user tool for annotating the second portion.   
     
     
         50 . The method of  claim 49 , further comprising providing user controls to selectively access the course-specific notebook. 
     
     
         51 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising providing a control to open a browser and perform a search for materials related to at least one of: the specific course and the electronic book. 
     
     
         52 . (canceled) 
     
     
         53 . A computer program product that comprises a non-transient computer readable storage medium containing executable computer program instructions for using an electronic book, the computer program instructions comprising:
 associating user-added content with a portion of the electronic book;   providing user controls to select a specific course associated with the electronic book and a user; and   providing user controls for selective access to the electronic book and to materials other than the electronic book and the user-added content, the materials related to the specific course, said selective access being at least in part responsive to a portion of the electronic book currently displayed.   
     
     
         54 . The computer program product of  claim 53 , wherein the materials comprise at least one of: course specific commentary corresponding to the electronic book, a syllabus, a problem set, and lecture material. 
     
     
         55 . The computer program product of  claim 53 , further comprising:
 instructions to provide user controls for selecting a second portion of the electronic book; and   instructions to copy the second portion to an electronic notebook.   
     
     
         56 . The computer program product of  claim 54 , wherein the user controls include tabs for selective access to: the syllabus, a user notebook, and the lecture material. 
     
     
         57 . (canceled) 
     
     
         58 . The computer program product of  claim 53 , further comprising instructions to create a user annotation responsive to user input and associating the user annotation with a portion of the electronic book. 
     
     
         59 . The computer program product of  claim 58 , further comprising instructions to perform specific operations responsive to user input of one or more pre-determined symbols as part of the annotation. 
     
     
         60 . The computer program product of  claim 59 , wherein the specific operations include one or more of: opening a keyboard panel, deleting a word or diagram, opening a chat panel, and opening an installed add-on. 
     
     
         61 . (canceled) 
     
     
         62 . The computer program product of  claim 53 , wherein the user-added content includes user annotations. 
     
     
         63 . The computer program product of  claim 62 , wherein the annotations are selectively displayed and hidden, and wherein a display symbol indicates whether the annotations are displayed or hidden. 
     
     
         64 . The computer program product of  claim 62 , further comprising instructions to provide a control to attach a comment to an annotation and a control to provide selective access to the comment. 
     
     
         65 . The computer program product of  claim 64 , further comprising instructions to provide an indication of how many comments have been attached to an annotation when the comments are not displayed on the display. 
     
     
         66 . The computer program product of  claim 62 , further comprising instructions to provide a first control to convert a human input into a machine form and a second control to toggle between display of the human input and display of the machine form. 
     
     
         67 . The computer program product of  claim 66 , wherein the human input is handwritten text and the machine form is searchable text. 
     
     
         68 . The computer program product of  claim 66 , wherein the human input is a digital image of handwritten text and the machine form is searchable text. 
     
     
         69 . The computer program product of  claim 66 , wherein the human input is an audio recording and the machine form is searchable text. 
     
     
         70 . The computer program product of  claim 66 , wherein the human input is a hand drawn shape, and the machine form is a standardized geometric shape. 
     
     
         71 . The computer program product of  claim 53 , further comprising instructions to provide controls for sharing the user-added content with other users. 
     
     
         72 . The computer program product of  claim 71 , wherein a user can selectively share the user-added content with their study group, their class section, their entire class, or every other user worldwide of the electronic book. 
     
     
         73 . The computer program product of  claim 53 , further comprising instructions to provide an indication that at least some of the user-added content is from one or more third parties via a collaboration subsystem. 
     
     
         74 . (canceled) 
     
     
         75 . The computer program product of  claim 74 , further comprising:
 instructions to provide a first user tool for selecting a second portion of the electronic book;   instructions to copy the second portion to a course-specific notebook; and   instructions to provide a second user tool for annotating the second portion.   
     
     
         76 . The computer program product of  claim 75 , further comprising instructions to provide user controls to selectively access the course-specific notebook. 
     
     
         77 . The computer program product of  claim 53 , further comprising instructions to provide a control to open a browser and perform a search for materials related to at least one of: the specific course and the electronic book. 
     
     
         78 - 202 . (canceled)