Fixed layout electronic publications

Abstract

According to some embodiments, techniques are described herein to assist a publisher to create fixed layout pages of an electronic publication. The techniques are useful for creating cookbooks, travel books, photography books, children's books, other “illustrated books”, or any other electronic publication where a fixed layout for at least some of the pages of the electronic publication is desirable. With the techniques, the publisher may embed fonts, select particular fonts and font sizes, assign visual content to fixed layout pages, and precisely position visual content at fixed positions on fixed layout pages. A scaling mechanism for an electronic reader device is also disclosed for scaling fixed layout pages to fit the size of a display screen of the reader device while maintaining the aspect ratio and assignment of visual content to fixed layout pages specified by the publisher.

1 . A method for rendering a content document of an electronic publication in a fixed layout, the method comprising:
 obtaining an electronic publication comprising a content document, the content document including or referencing at least one visual content element;   determining whether the content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a fixed layout page or (b) a re-flowable document;   in response to determining that the content document is to be treated as a fixed layout page:
 displaying the fixed layout page entirely on a display screen, 
 displaying the at least one visual content element on the fixed layout page, and 
 not allowing the at least one visual content element to re-flow to another page; 
   wherein the method is performed by a computing device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether the content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a fixed layout page or (b) a re-flowable document comprises:
 determining whether the content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a single page fixed layout page or (b) a re-flowable document.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether the content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a fixed layout page or (b) a re-flowable document comprises:
 determining whether the content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a single page fixed layout page, (b) a two-page spread fixed layout page, or (c) a re-flowable document.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether the content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a fixed layout page or (b) a re-flowable document comprises:
 obtaining data associated with or contained in the content document that indicates how the content document is to be treated; and   based on the obtained data, determining whether the content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a fixed layout page or (b) a re-flowable document.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the data is a HTML or XHTML meta element contained in the content document. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether the content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a fixed layout page or (b) a re-flowable document comprises:
 determining whether the content document contains a particularly named HTML or XHTML meta element; and   determining that the content document is to be treated as a fixed layout page based on the presence of the particularly named meta element in the content document.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the fixed layout page is a single page displayed entirely on the display screen. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the fixed layout page is a two-page spread displayed entirely on the display screen. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the content document is an HTML or XHTML formatted document. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one visual content element is a text element. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one visual content element is an image element. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the electronic publication comprises another content document, the other content document including or referencing one or more visual content elements, the method further comprising:
 determining whether the other content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a fixed layout page or (b) a re-flowable document;   in response to determining that the other content document is to be treated as a re-flowable document,
 displaying a re-flowable page, 
 displaying at least one of the one or more visual content elements of the other content document on the re-flowable page, and 
 allowing the at least one visual content element displayed on the re-flowable page to re-flow to another page. 
   
     
     
         13 . A method for rendering a content document of an electronic publication in a fixed layout, the method comprising:
 obtaining an electronic publication comprising a HTML or XHTML formatted content document, the content document including or referencing at least one visual content element;   in response to determining that the content document is to be treated as a fixed layout page:
 displaying the fixed layout page entirely on a display screen, 
 displaying the at least one visual content element on the fixed layout page, and 
 not allowing the at least one visual content element to re-flow to another page; 
   wherein the method is performed by a computing device.   
     
     
         14 . A computing device comprising:
 one or more processors;   one or more computer-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the computing device to perform:
 obtaining an electronic publication comprising a content document, the content document including or referencing at least one visual content element; 
 determining whether the content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a fixed layout page or (b) a re-flowable document; 
 in response to determining that the content document is to be treated as a fixed layout page:
 displaying the fixed layout page entirely on a display screen, 
 displaying the at least one visual content element on the fixed layout page, and 
 not allowing the at least one visual content element to re-flow to another page. 
 
   
     
     
         15 . The computing device of  claim 14 , wherein determining whether the content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a fixed layout page or (b) a re-flowable document comprises:
 determining whether the content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a single page fixed layout page or (b) a re-flowable document.   
     
     
         16 . The computing device of  claim 14 , wherein determining whether the content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a fixed layout page or (b) a re-flowable document comprises:
 determining whether the content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a single page fixed layout page, (b) a two-page spread fixed layout page, or (c) a re-flowable document.   
     
     
         17 . The computing device of  claim 14 , wherein determining whether the content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a fixed layout page or (b) a re-flowable document comprises:
 obtaining data associated with or contained in the content document that indicates how the content document is to be treated; and   based on the obtained data, determining whether the content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a fixed layout page or (b) a re-flowable document.   
     
     
         18 . The computing device of  claim 17 , wherein the data is a HTML or XHTML meta element contained in the content document. 
     
     
         19 . The computing device of  claim 14 , wherein determining whether the content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a fixed layout page or (b) a re-flowable document comprises:
 determining whether the content document contains a particularly named HTML or XHTML meta element; and   determining that the content document is to be treated as a fixed layout page based on the presence of the particularly named meta element in the content document.   
     
     
         20 . The computing device of  claim 14 , wherein the fixed layout page is a single page displayed entirely on the display screen. 
     
     
         21 . The computing device of  claim 14 , wherein the fixed layout page is a two-page spread displayed entirely on the display screen. 
     
     
         22 . The computing device of  claim 14 , wherein the content document is an HTML or XHTML formatted document. 
     
     
         23 . The computing device of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one visual content element is a text element. 
     
     
         24 . The computing device of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one visual content element is an image element. 
     
     
         25 . The computing device of  claim 14 , wherein the electronic publication comprises another content document, the other content document including or referencing one or more visual content elements, the one or more computer-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the computing device to further perform:
 determining whether the other content document is to be treated as one of: (a) a fixed layout page or (b) a re-flowable document;   in response to determining that the other content document is to be treated as a re-flowable document,
 displaying a re-flowable page, 
 displaying at least one of the one or more visual content elements of the other content document on the re-flowable page, and 
 allowing the at least one visual content element displayed on the re-flowable page to re-flow to another page. 
   
     
     
         26 . A computing device comprising:
 one or more processors;   one or more computer-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the computing device to perform:
 obtaining an electronic publication comprising a HTML or XHTML formatted content document, the content document including or referencing at least one visual content element; 
 in response to determining that the content document is to be treated as a fixed layout page:
 displaying the fixed layout page entirely on a display screen, 
 displaying the at least one visual content element on the fixed layout page, and 
 not allowing the at least one visual content element to re-flow to another page.