Apparatus and method of viewing electronic documents

Abstract

A method of generating an e-book document comprises representing some or all of a page of an electronic document as a graphic textures sequence derived from the document page. The sequence comprises successively smaller graphic textures, arranging them to form a first mip-map suitable for use by 3D graphics hardware, and outputting an e-book document comprising the first mip-map representing some or all of the document pages. A method of reading an e-book document includes accessing at least a portion of the mip-map comprising the sequence of graphic textures, constructing a surface in a 3D virtual space comprising one or more polygons, applying to the polygon surface a graphic texture derived from the accessed part of the mip-map responsive to scaling of the polygon surface with respect to an e-book reader display, and displaying the textured polygon surface on the display, thereby displaying some or all of the page.

1 . A method of generating an e-book document, comprising the steps of:
 incorporating metadata including an indication of the placement of features within a digital page of said e-book document;   incorporating metadata including an indication of positions at which to place a viewpoint in said e-book document; and   composing a reading sequence of said positions.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , in which the metadata comprises an extended mark-up language. 
     
     
         3 . A method of displaying an e-book document, comprising the steps of:
 accessing metadata of the e-book document that includes an indication of the placement of features within a digital page of said e-book document, an indication of positions at which to place a viewpoint in the e-book document, and a reading sequence of said positions; and   presenting said e-book document responsive to said reading sequence.   
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 3  in which said features comprise panels of a comic book. 
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 3  in which said metadata comprises an extended mark-up language. 
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 3  in which said metadata forms a separate data stream to the e-book document 
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 3  in which said reading sequence comprises one or more moves selected from the list consisting of:
 i. a pan; 
 ii. a jump; and 
 ii. a zoom. 
 
     
     
         8 . A method of displaying an e-book document, comprising the steps of:
 accessing metadata including an indication of the placement of features within a digital page of said e-book document;   composing a reading pattern of said e-book document according to rules responsive to the structure of said features within said digital page of said e-book document; and   presenting said digital page of said e-book document responsive to the reading pattern.   
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 8  in which said features comprise panels of a comic book. 
     
     
         10 . A method according to  claim 8  in which said metadata comprises an extended mark-up language. 
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 8  in which said reading sequence comprises one or more moves selected from the list consisting of:
 i. a pan; 
 ii. a jump; and 
 iii. a zoom. 
 
     
     
         12 . An e-book reader for reading an e-book document, the e-book reader comprising:
 at least one processor programmed to:   access metadata of said e-book document that includes an indication of the placement of features within a digital page of said e-book document, an indication of positions at which to place a viewpoint in the e-book document, and a reading sequence of said positions; and   present said e-book document responsive to said reading sequence.   
     
     
         13 . An e-book reader for reading an e-book document, the e-book reader comprising:
 at least one processor programmed to:   access metadata including an indication of the placement of features within a digital page of said e-book document;   compose a reading pattern of said e-book document according to rules responsive to the structure of said features within said digital page of said e-book document; and   present said digital page of said e-book document responsive to the reading pattern.   
     
     
         14 . A tangible computer-readable storage medium on which computer readable instructions of a program are stored, the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of method of displaying an e-book document, the method comprising:
 accessing metadata of the e-book document that includes:
 an indication of the placement of features within a digital page of said e-book document, 
 an indication of positions at which to place a viewpoint in the e-book document, and 
 a reading sequence of said positions; and 
 presenting said e-book document responsive to said reading sequence. 
   
     
     
         15 . A tangible computer-readable storage medium on which computer readable instructions of a program are stored, the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of method of displaying an e-book document, the method comprising:
 accessing metadata including an indication of the placement of features within a digital page of said e-book document;   composing a reading pattern of said e-book document according to rules responsive to the structure of said features within said digital page of said e-book document; and   presenting said digital page of said e-book document responsive to the reading pattern.