Method for page translation

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/508,372 filed on Oct. 3, 2003, entitled “Method for Page Translation”, which application is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

The present invention relates to electronic books and more particularly, the correlation between the page numbers in a print book and the page number in a digital version of the print book.

An electronic book (hereafter ebook) is an electronic version of a traditional print book that can be read by using a personal computer, personal digital assistant, dedicated reading device, or any other digital appliance with a presentation means. A presentation means can be for example a viewing screen. An ebook reader is generally a digital appliance on which an ebook may be read. An ebook application is a software program executed on a digital appliance that is used for reading an ebook. Examples are Microsoft Reader (www.microsoft.com/reader/default.asp) and Adobe ebook reader (www.adobe.com/products/ebookreader/main.html).

An ebook application user interface is usually comprised of an application window divided into a text area and a functional area. The text area presents the content of the book, and the functional area provides control over the presentation such as buttons for next and previous page.

Although prophesied by some as a replacement for print books, market penetration of ebooks is still relatively low. One reason for this is that traditional print books offer a superior user experience for most people today.

A different approach is not to replace print books, but rather supplement them with digital versions to create an improved user experience. An example of an opportunity for improved user experience is the usage of ebooks in conjunction with print books is in the realm of education and textbooks. An example is the use of a printed history textbook for reading a chapter on the civil war, but then utilizing the ebook version of the same history book for a search function used to find all the information in the book pertaining to the Gettysburg address.

In many cases, ebooks are presented on a digital appliance differently than in print. An example is a print page of 35 lines, each containing around 12-15 words, which displays approximately 500 words. The contents of such a print page may not fit in well on a PC screen due to screen resolution, or a PDA screen due to screen size. As a result, pages in ebooks are usually re-flowed. Re-flowing a page means displaying the amount of information based on screen size, application window size, and font size. For the above print page, a re-flowed page may display only 300 words, or 27 lines of 10-12 words. In the example above, a 100 page print book becomes a 170 page ebook. It is clear to see that the original print page numbers and the digital version page numbers are different.

In order to read and or study effectively using both a print version and a digital version of a book, a user should be able to adroitly switch context between the two formats. For example, after reading several pages in the ebook, the user should easily be able to see what the relevant print page number is for continued reading on the print book. Unfortunately, existing art displays only ebook pagination, disregarding the page numbers of the original print book.

There is clearly an unmet need for a translation of page numbers in an electronic book so that a user reading a print book and a digital version of the print book may easily switch between reading the print version and the digital version of the book.

The above-mentioned problem is addressed by the present invention, which will be understood by reading the following specification. In a preferred embodiment, both ebook page number and print book page number are displayed simultaneously in the text area of an ebook application. User may use a translation function to enter print page number and have the ebook reader jump to and display the corresponding ebook page. User may use a translation function to enter ebook page number and receive the corresponding print page number. A page translation table is attached to an ebook as part of the ebook metadata.

The foregoing and other objects, aspects, and advantages will be better understood from the following description of an embodiment of the invention with reference to the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an ebook reading application wherein both print book and ebook page numbers are displayed

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a routine for translating from print book page number to an ebook page number.

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart of an exemplary routine for translating from ebook page number to print book page number.

In the following description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the drawings that illustrate specific exemplary embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other embodiments may be utilized without departing from the spirit of the present invention; therefore the following detailed description of the invention should not be taken in a limiting sense. In various embodiments, there may be none, one, or more than one of the following described parts.

FIG. 1 is an exemplary embodiment of this invention in which both ebook page number and corresponding print book page number are displayed simultaneously. An ebook page 10 is presented for reading, and on the bottom part of ebook page 10 , the page numbers are displayed. Ebook page number 11 is displayed in a large and bold font, preceded by the letter e for ebook, and surrounded by a solid rectangular perimeter. Corresponding print page number 12 is displayed in a small font, followed by the letter p for print, and surrounded by a dashed perimeter.

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a routine for translating from print book page number to an ebook page number. In step 200 , user initiates a page translation sequence. Initiation may be by pressing a certain key on the keyboard, clicking an application button with a mouse, voice activated, or any other method, this invention is not so limited. In step 201 , user enters the print page number. In step 202 the ebook application uses a pre-prepared page translation table to fetch the corresponding ebook page number. In step 203 the ebook application displays the corresponding ebook page and ebook page number. In some embodiments, the ebook application displays only the corresponding ebook page number, this invention is not so limited.

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart of an exemplary routine for translating from an ebook page number to print page number. In step 300 , user initiates a page translation sequence. Initiation may be by pressing a certain key on the keyboard, clicking an application button with a mouse, voice activated, or any other method, this invention is not so limited. In step 301 , user enters the ebook page number. In step 302 the ebook application uses a pre-prepared page translation table to fetch the corresponding print page number. In step 303 the ebook application displays the corresponding print page number.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various alterations and modifications can be made to the embodiments without in any way departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention.