Serial text display for optimal recognition apparatus and method

Abstract

Various embodiments are disclosed that relate to serially displaying text on an electronic display using techniques for placement of an optimal recognition position of words at a fixed display location. In some embodiments, an optimal recognition position character is displayed at the fixed display location. In other embodiments, an optimal recognition proportionate position is displayed at the fixed display location. Various related techniques for processing and displaying text are further disclosed herein.

1 . A method of displaying text on an electronic display, the text being dividable into a plurality of respective display elements, at least some of the plurality of respective display elements corresponding to respective sets of words, the respective sets of words comprising no more than 20 characters in length, a word comprising a recognizable set of one or more characters, at least some of the respective sets of words having an optimal recognition position, the method comprising:
 serially displaying, on the electronic display, a plurality of respective display elements such that an optimal recognition position of at least some display elements of the plurality of respective display elements is displayed at a substantially same location on the electronic display, referred to as a fixed display location.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least some display elements include display elements having a length of greater than three characters. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the at least some display elements include display elements having a length of greater than four characters. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising providing a visual aid to mark the fixed display location. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the visual aid comprises vertical lines above and below the fixed display location. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4  wherein providing the visual aid comprises using a different color font for a character displayed at the fixed display location than is used for other characters. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein a character is at least one of a group consisting of an alphabetic character, a numeric character, and a symbolic character. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the optimal recognition position is identified as a character within a display element (“an optimal recognition position character”) and the optimal recognition position character is displayed at the fixed display location. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein if a total number of characters in the display element is three, four, or five, then the optimal recognition position character is the second character in the display element. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8  wherein if the total number of characters in the display element is six, seven, eight, or nine, then the optimal recognition position character is the third character in the display element. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8  wherein if the total number of characters in the display element is ten, eleven, twelve, or thirteen, then the optimal recognition position character is the fourth character in the display element. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein if the total number of characters is fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen or twenty, then the optimal recognition position character is the fifth character in the display element. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the optimal recognition character is displayed at the fixed display location prior to display of characters in the display element that are located to the left and right of the optimal recognition character. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the optimal recognition position of a display element of the at least some display elements is located at a position along a reading direction of the display element that is a distance in pixels from a beginning of the display element, the distance in pixels being a proportion of the display element's pixel width (“optimal proportionate position”). 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the proportion of the display element's pixel width is a function of at least the display element's number of characters and an empirically determined recognition position ratio. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the proportion of the display element's pixel width is equal to the empirically determined recognition position ratio added to a quotient of 0.5 divided by the number of characters in the display element. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the empirically determined recognition ratio is an average position ratio of respective optimal recognition position characters for respective display elements from a length of three characters to a length of at least thirteen characters. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17  wherein the average position ratio is equal or substantially equal to 0.265. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the distance in pixels from the beginning of the display element is greater than or equal to 0.20 and less than or equal to 0.45 of the display element's total width. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the optimal proportionate position provides an offset amount for a pixel at the beginning of the display element (“the beginning pixel”), the method further comprising displaying the display element such that the beginning pixel of the display element is at a position that is the offset amount away from the fixed display location. 
     
     
         21 - 85 . (canceled) 
     
     
         86 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the respective sets of words comprise one or two words.