System and method for managing user e-book collections

Abstract

Examples described herein enable a user to organize and manage e-books on a computing device that utilizes a network-based e-book service. According to some examples, a user e-book collection can be organized so that it can be displayed when archived, as well as in accordance with user-defined lists.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for organizing e-books on a computing device, the method comprising:
 identifying a collection of e-books that are associated with the computing device, including multiple e-books that are stored in a local memory of the computing device;   identifying a graphic representation of each e-book in the collection;   identifying a user-defined list of e-books from the collection;   displaying a library representation of the collection, the library representation including the graphic representation of each e-book in the collection;   enabling the user to specify an input that corresponds to the user-defined list;   in response to detecting the input, filtering the library representation to include only the e-books that are part of the corresponding user-defined list;   archiving a selected e-book from the multiple e-books of the collection by removing the selected e-book from the local memory, wherein an entirety of the selected e-book had been previously downloaded to the local memory; and   for each archived e-book, altering the graphic representation of the e-book in the library representation to indicate that the e-book is archived with respect to the computing device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising enabling the user to create the user-defined list, and to include one or more archived e-books in the user defined list. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising displaying the user-defined list to include a first set of graphic representations and a second set of graphic representations, each graphic representation of the first set corresponding to an e-book that is locally stored on the computing device, and each graphic representation of the second set corresponding to an e-book that is archived on the computing device. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising signaling the user-defined list to a service which associates the user-defined list with an account of the user. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein altering the graphic representation of the e-book includes altering a shading, a coloring or a portion of a content of that graphic representation. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein altering the graphic representation of the e-book includes altering a position of the graphic representation within the library representation. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the graphic representation of each e-book in the collection includes:
 determining, for each e-book, imagery used to package a media on which that e-book is provided from a corresponding publishing source; and   for each of the multiple e-books, generating a graphic representation that replicates the imagery of that e-book.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein determining the imagery includes determining a jacket cover used to package a book corresponding to each of the multiple e-books. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein determining the jacket cover includes accessing, for a literary work corresponding to each e-book, a publisher resource in order to determine the jacket cover for a book that carries the literary work. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, in response to detecting the input, archiving the selected e-book from multiple devices of the user by removing the selected e-book from a local memory of each of the multiple devices. 
     
     
         11 . A method for organizing e-books of a user, the method comprising:
 identifying a collection of e-books that are associated with an account of a user;   identifying a graphic representation of each e-book in the collection;   identifying a user-defined list of e-books from the collection;   making the collection available for display on any of multiple computing devices of a user as a library representation, the library representation including the graphic representation of each e-book in the collection;   enabling the user to specify, on any of the multiple computing devices, an input that corresponds to the user-defined list;   communicating the user-defined list to each of the multiple computing devices of the user; and   enabling the user to separately archive each item that is locally stored on any of the multiple computing devices, so that each device can include a different set of locally stored e-books, wherein an entirety of each said item had been previously downloaded to a local memory of a respective one of the multiple computing devices.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 enabling the collection of e-books to be displayed as a library representation, the library representation including the graphic representation of each e-book in the collection; and   enabling each user-defined list to be displayed as a filtered version of the library representation that includes the graphic representation of each e-book in the user-defined list.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising altering the graphic representation of each e-book in the user-defined list that is archived to communicate that the e-book is not locally stored, but available through a cloud service. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein enabling an appearance of the user-defined list to differ on each of the multiple computing devices based on the e-books of the user-defined list that are archived on individual computing devices of the user. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions for managing e-books on a computing device, the computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
 identifying a collection of e-books that are associated with the computing device, including multiple e-books that are stored in a local memory of the computing device;   identifying a graphic representation of each e-book in the collection;   identifying a user-defined list of e-books from the collection;   displaying a library representation of the collection, the library representation including the graphic representation of each e-book in the collection;   enabling the user to specify an input that corresponds to the user-defined list;   in response to detecting the input, filtering the library representation to include only the e-books that are part of the corresponding user-defined list;   archiving a selected e-book from the multiple e-books of the collection by removing the selected e-book from the local memory, wherein an entirety of the selected e-book had been previously downloaded to the local memory; and   for each archived e-book, altering the graphic representation of the e-book in the library representation to indicate that the e-book is archived with respect to the computing device.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , further comprising instructions for enabling the user to create the user-defined list, and to include one or more archived e-books in the user defined list. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 16 , further comprising instructions for displaying the user-defined list to include a first set of graphic representations and a second set of graphic representations, each graphic representation of the first set corresponding to an e-book that is locally stored on that computing device, and each graphic representation of the second set corresponding to an e-book that is archived on the computing device. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , further comprising instructions for signaling the user-defined list to a service which associates the user-defined list with an account of the user. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions for altering the graphic representation of the e-book includes instructions for altering a shading, a coloring or a portion of a content of that graphic representation. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions for altering the graphic representation of the e-book includes instructions for altering a position of the graphic representation within the library representation.