Systems and methods for manipulating user annotations in electronic books

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.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An electronic book reader, comprising:
 an annotation subsystem, configured to associate user-controlled content with portions of an electronic book; and   a navigation subsystem, operably connected to the annotation subsystem, the navigation subsystem configured to enable user generation of a study guide corresponding to at least some of the portions, and to enable user navigation between a first portion of the study guide and a corresponding first portion of the electronic book.   
     
     
         2 . The electronic book reader of  claim 1 , wherein the navigation system provides a page link in the study guide, the page link configured to cause display of a corresponding page from the electronic book responsive to user selection of the page link. 
     
     
         3 . The electronic book reader of  claim 1 , wherein the navigation system generates the study guide by compiling at least a subset of the portions. 
     
     
         4 . The electronic book reader of  claim 1 , wherein the navigation system generates the study guide by compiling those of the portions corresponding to the user's own annotations. 
     
     
         5 . The electronic book reader of  claim 1 , wherein the navigation system generates the study guide by compiling those portions for which a greatest number of annotations were provided by other users, as determined via communication with a collaboration subsystem. 
     
     
         6 . The electronic book reader of  claim 5 , wherein the navigation system further provides a user control to set a threshold for inclusion of one of the portions responsive to how many other users provided annotations therefor. 
     
     
         7 . The electronic book reader of  claim 6 , wherein the navigation subsystem is further configured to provide a display change responsive to the threshold changing, wherein the display change includes an animated slurping of content into or out of a current field of view. 
     
     
         8 . A computer implemented method for using an electronic book, comprising:
 associating user-controlled content with portions of an electronic book;   generating a study guide corresponding to at least some of the portions; and   providing user controls for navigation between a first portion of the study guide and a corresponding first portion of the electronic book.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the user controls include a page link in the study guide, the page link configured to cause display of a corresponding page from the electronic book responsive to user selection of the page link. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the study guide is generated by compiling at least a subset of the portions. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the study guide is generated by compiling those of the portions that correspond to the user's own annotations. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the study guide is generated by compiling those portions for which a greatest number of annotations were provided by other users. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising providing user controls to set a threshold for inclusion of one of the portions responsive to how many other users provided annotations therefor. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising providing a display change responsive to the threshold changing, wherein the display change includes an animated slurping of content into or out of a current field of view. 
     
     
         15 . A computer program product that comprises a non-transient computer readable storage medium containing computer executable instructions for using an electronic book, comprising:
 instructions to associate user-controlled content with portions of an electronic book;   instructions to generate a study guide corresponding to at least some of the portions; and   instructions to provide user controls for navigation between a first portion of the study guide and a corresponding first portion of the electronic book.   
     
     
         16 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the user controls include a page link in the study guide, the page link configured to cause display of a corresponding page from the electronic book responsive to user selection of the page link. 
     
     
         17 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the study guide is generated by compiling at least a subset of the portions. 
     
     
         18 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the study guide is generated by compiling those of the portions that correspond to the user's own annotations. 
     
     
         19 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the study guide is generated by compiling those portions for which a greatest number of annotations were provided by other users. 
     
     
         20 . The computer program product of  claim 19 , further comprising instructions to provide user controls to set a threshold for inclusion of one of the portions responsive to how many other users provided annotations therefor. 
     
     
         21 . The computer program product of  claim 20 , further comprising instructions to provide a display change responsive to the threshold changing, wherein the display change includes an animated slurping of content into or out of a current field of view.