Digital flash cards including links to digital content | Patent Publication Number 20210240336
US 20210240336 A1Michael Wilson
Techniques are disclosed for creating digital flash cards that include links to content from one or more digital content sources, referred to herein as a flash card mode. The mode allows a user to create a digital flash card by selecting a portion of a digital content source and performing a create command. The created flash card includes at least two virtual sides and a first side of the flash card identifies the location of the selected portion of digital content. The location may be identified, for example, by a canonical fragment identifier (CFI). Text can then be entered for a second side of the flash card. Flash cards can be shared with other users, and because the flash cards only identify locations of content within digital content sources, the mode is well-suited to handle sources including digital rights management (DRM) protection, for example.
1. A method for controlling access to flash cards, the method comprising: causing simultaneous display of (i) a first option to access first one or more flash cards that are accessible without authorization to access digital content that includes answers to one or more questions displayed on the first one or more flash cards, and (ii) a second option to access second one or more flash cards that are pre-viewable, but not fully accessible, without authorization to access the digital content, the digital content being stored separately from the first and second one or more flash cards; in response to a selection of the second option, causing display of a flash card of the second one or more flash cards, the displayed flash card including at least a first virtual side and a second virtual side, the first virtual side displaying a question, wherein an answer to the question is included in the digital content that is stored separately from the first and second one or more flash cards; in response to user access to the digital content not being authorized, causing display of, on the second virtual side of the displayed flash card, an option to gain access to at least a portion of the digital content that includes the answer to the question; and in response to the option to gain access being selected from the second virtual side of the displayed flash card, authorizing user access to at least the portion of the digital content that includes the answer to the question. 8. A computer program product including one or more non-transitory machine-readable mediums encoded with instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause a process to be carried out for controlling access to flash cards, the process comprising: causing simultaneous display of (i) a first option to access first one or more flash cards that are accessible without authorization to access digital content that includes answers to one or more questions displayed on the first one or more flash cards, and (ii) a second option to access second one or more flash cards that are pre-viewable, but not fully accessible, without authorization to access the digital content, the digital content being stored separately from the first and second one or more flash cards; in response to a selection of the second option, causing display of a flash card of the second one or more flash cards, the displayed flash card including at least a first virtual side and a second virtual side, the first virtual side displaying a question, wherein an answer to the question is included in the digital content that is stored separately from the first and second one or more flash cards; in response to user access to the digital content not being authorized, causing display of, on the second virtual side of the displayed flash card, an option to gain access to at least a portion of the digital content that includes the answer to the question; and in response to the option to gain access being selected from the second virtual side of the displayed flash card, authorizing user access to at least the portion of the digital content that includes the answer to the question. 15. A computer program product including one or more non-transitory machine-readable mediums encoded with instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause a process to be carried out for controlling access to flash cards, the process comprising: in response to user input including selecting a portion of digital content and performing a create command, create a flash card having at least two virtual sides, the portion of digital content having a location within the digital content; cause simultaneous display of (1) a link to the location of the selected portion of digital content and (2) a prompt that prompts user to enter a question related to the selected portion of digital content, the link being visually associated with a first virtual side of the flash card, and the question being visually associated with a second virtual side of the flash card.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/935,834, filed Mar. 26, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/333,931, filed Jul. 17, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,927,963, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
This disclosure relates to electronic computing devices, and more particularly, to creating and interacting with digital flash cards including links to the location of digital content.
Electronic computing devices such as tablets, eReaders, mobile phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other such devices are commonly used for displaying digital content. The content may be, for example, an eBook, a web page, an online article or blog, images, a movie or video, a map, just to name a few types. Such devices may also be useful for displaying a user interface that allows a user to interact with one or more applications running on the device. The applications may allow a user to read or browse through digital content, such as electronic books (eBooks), magazines, catalogs, or comics, for example. The computing devices may also include a touch-sensitive surface/interface for receiving user input such as a touch screen or a track pad (e.g., in combination with a non-touch-sensitive display). The user may interact with such touch-sensitive electronic computing devices using fingers and/or a stylus, for example.
Techniques are disclosed for creating (and interacting with) digital flash cards that include links to content from one or more digital content sources, referred to herein as a flash card mode. The mode allows a user to create a digital flash card by selecting a portion of a digital content source and performing a create command. The selected digital content can effectively be treated as the answer portion of the flash card question-answer construct, in accordance with an embodiment. Once a flash card is created in response to selecting a portion of digital content and performing the create command, the user is prompted to type or otherwise enter the question portion of that construct, in accordance with such an embodiment. The created flash card can be saved for later reference, and includes at least two virtual sides. For example, one side may include the user-generated (or otherwise provided) question and the other side may identify the location of the selected portion of content representing the answer to that question. The location of the selected portion of content may be identified using a canonical fragment identifier (CFI), although other suitable content location identifiers can be used, as will be appreciated in light of this disclosure. The cards can also be shared with other users (such as classmates or other students taking the same course), and because the flash cards only include the location of content, the mode is well-suited to handle content including digital rights management (DRM) protection, in accordance with an embodiment. In one such example case, a subsequent user that opens a shared flash card is prompted to buy/rent the protected content source(s) only if that user does not already own (or otherwise have rights to use) that content source(s). In another such example case, the subsequent user may be allowed to buy/rent a subset of the protected content, such as only the content specifically used on the flash card or the block of content from which the selected content was taken (e.g., only a section, chapter, etc.). In still other scenarios, if the subsequent user already has existing rights to access the protected content (e.g., because the subsequent user also owns a copy of the protected content), then no prompting to buy/rent is needed. In any such cases, once it is established that the subsequent user is allowed access to the protected content, the flash card will virtually show that content, in accordance with an embodiment. However, in some such cases, if the subsequent user has no right to access the protected content and does not wish to buy/rent that content, then the flash card will virtually show only the location of that content (and/or an error message, for example), plus the user-generated question. Numerous other configurations and variations will be apparent in light of this disclosure. For instance, the user-generated content may also be treated as protected content that is required to be purchased, if so desired.
General Overview
Flash cards are a way of presenting information and are widely used to aid memorization and learning. A single flash card typically has two sides, each side including information, and multiple flash cards can be organized into a set. Techniques for creating and interacting with digital flash cards exist to simulate the creation of and interaction with non-digital flash cards. However, such conventional techniques do not include the ability to intuitively create flash cards using content from one or more already existing digital content sources, such as electronic books (eBooks) or other electronic documents. Further, such conventional techniques do not have solutions for addressing digital rights management (DRM) and copyright issues that may affect the ability to use content from those digital content sources.
Thus, and in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present invention, techniques are disclosed for creating (and interacting with) digital flash cards that include links to the location of portions of digital content from one or more digital content sources, referred to collectively herein as a flash card mode. In an example embodiment, a digital flash card can be created by selecting a portion of an eBook and performing a create command (e.g., selecting a create button, selecting a create context menu option, performing a create gesture, etc.). The created digital flash card includes at least two virtual sides, where a first side of the flash card includes a link to the location of the selected portion of digital content (or otherwise identifies the location of the selected portion). For example, in the case of an EPUB format eBook, the location of the selected portion may be identified by a canonical fragment identifier (CFI). Further, the location of the selected portion of digital content may be identified by a single CFI including the range of the selected portion or by a beginning and ending CFI. Note that the CFI may identify the eBook source (e.g., using an international standard book number (ISBN) identifier or other suitable identifier). In such an example embodiment, the link to the location of the selected portion may be created on (or otherwise included with) a first side of the flash card. Then, the user may be prompted to type (or otherwise enter) information on a second side of the flash card. For example, in some embodiments, the created flash card may follow a question-answer construct, where the linked-to content on the first side of the flash card represents an answer and the user-generated content on the second side of the flash card represents a question. In some instances, the user may be able to include additional links to content on a desired side of the created flash card, as will be apparent in light of this disclosure.
In some embodiments, one or more flash cards can be created using the flash card mode to form a flash card set. Organizing flash cards into a flash card set may facilitate interacting with the group of flash cards. For example, the flash card mode may be configured to provision a flash card panel accessible from an application (such as an eBook reader application) that allows a user to interact with created flash cards, as will be apparent in light of this disclosure. In some embodiments, flash cards or flash card sets can be shared with or sold to others, or interacted with in other ways (e.g., edited, moved, organized, etc.). Note that a single flash card or a single flash card set may include links to content in multiple digital content sources, such as to multiple eBooks, for example.
As will be apparent in light of this disclosure, the flash card mode as variously described herein is particularly well-suited for use with digital content sources including digital rights management (DRM) technology, copyright protection, or other restrictions on use of content from the digital content sources, because flash cards created using the flash card mode do not include the actual content from those digital content sources. Instead, flash cards created using the flash card mode include links to the location of content from those sources, and therefore, do not include content having DRM or copyright restrictions, or any other restrictions on the use, sharing, selling, etc. of such content. For example, if a user desires to buy a flash card set, the flash card mode may be configured, in some embodiments, to verify whether the user has free access to all of the sources linked-to by the flash card set. Having free access to a digital content source may include owning the source or owning a license to the source, having limited time/scope accessibility to the source (e.g., renting or loaning the source through a virtual library, only having access to the book for one school semester, etc.), or the source being DRM-free, just to name a few examples. If the user has free access to all of the sources, then the user may be able to access the flash card set content for free or for only the price of the flash card set itself (e.g., in cases where the flash card set is sold). However, in cases where the user does not have free access to one or more of the sources linked-to by the flash card set, the flash card mode may be configured, in some embodiments, to require the user to purchase/rent those sources or to just purchase/rent the linked-to content in the flash card set.
In some embodiments, the flash card mode may be configured at a global level (e.g., based on the UI settings of the device) and/or at an application level (e.g., based on the specific application being used to interact with the digital content). For example, the mode may be configured to be enabled for some applications and disabled for others. To this end, one or more of the mode features may be user-configurable, hard-coded, or some combination thereof (e.g., where some aspects are user-configurable and others are hard-coded), as will be apparent in light of this disclosure. Further, the flash card mode may be included initially with the UI (or operating system) of an electronic computing device or be included in a separate program/service/application configured to interface with the UI of such a device to incorporate the functionality of the mode as variously described herein. In some embodiments, the mode may come in the form of a computer program product (one or more non-transient computer readable mediums) that includes a plurality of instructions non-transiently encoded thereon, that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a process to be carried out that includes the functionality of the flash card mode as variously described herein.
As will be apparent in light of this disclosure, the flash card mode may be used on any suitable electronic computing device, such as various smartphones, tablets, and eReaders. In such devices including a touch-sensitive UI, user input may be referred to as contact or user contact for ease of reference. However, direct and/or proximate contact (e.g., hovering within a few centimeters of the touch-sensitive surface) may be used to provide user input to the device, depending on the specific touch-sensitive surface/interface being used. In other words, in some embodiments, a user need not even physically touch the device or its touch-sensitive surface/interface to provide input. Also note that the user contact (whether direct or proximate) may be provided by the user's hand (or another suitable body part) or a stylus (or some other suitable implement), for example. In some embodiments, user input may be provided in various other ways, such as through voice commands or sounds, or through any other suitable method. Numerous variations and configurations will be apparent in light of this disclosure.
Computing Device and Configuration Examples
As can be seen with the example embodiment shown in
Although the computing device shown in
Continuing from
As will be appreciated, the various UI control features and sub-menus displayed to the user are implemented as UI touch screen controls in this example embodiment. Such UI touch screen controls can be programmed or otherwise configured using any number of conventional or custom technologies. In general, the touch screen translates one or more touches (whether direct or proximate and whether made by a user's hand, a stylus, or some other suitable implement) in a particular location(s) into an electrical signal, which is then received and processed by the underlying operating system (OS), system software, and circuitry (processor, etc.) of the computing device. In some instances, note that the user need not actually physically touch the touch-sensitive surface/interface to provide user input (e.g., when the touch-sensitive surface/interface recognizes hovering input). In embodiments where the computing device is not-touch-sensitive, input may be provided using a mouse, joystick, or directional pad, and one or more buttons, for example, to provide input similar to touching a touch screen. In some embodiments, the UI may allow other user interactions, such as voice-commands. Additional example details of the underlying OS and circuitry in accordance with some embodiments will be discussed in turn with reference to
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As can be seen in the example shown in
The right side of the settings sub-menu screen shot shown in
In some embodiments, the flash card may be related or tied to one or more specific applications of the device's UI (or operating system), such that the mode is only available, active, or running when such an application is available, active, or running. For example, the mode may only be available, active, or running when an eBook reader application is active and/or displayed, which may save a computing device's memory and/or power consumption. Any number of applications or device functions may benefit from the flash card mode as variously provided herein, whether user-configurable or not, and the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to any particular application or set of applications.
As can be further seen, a back button UI control feature may be provisioned on the touch screen for any of the menus provided, so that the user can go back to the previous menu, if so desired. Note that configuration settings provided by the user can be saved automatically (e.g., user input is saved as selections are made or otherwise provided). Alternatively, a save button or other such UI feature can be provisioned, which the user can engage as desired. Again, while
Architecture
The touch-sensitive surface (touch-sensitive display or touch screen, in this example) can be any device that is configured with user input detecting technologies, whether capacitive, resistive, acoustic, active or passive stylus, and/or other input detecting technology. The screen display can be layered above input sensors, such as a capacitive sensor grid for passive touch-based input (e.g., with a finger or passive stylus in the case of a so-called in-plane switching (IPS) panel), or an electro-magnetic resonance (EMR) sensor grid (e.g., for sensing a resonant circuit of the stylus). In some embodiments, the touch screen display can be configured with a purely capacitive sensor, while in other embodiments the touch screen display may be configured to provide a hybrid mode that allows for both capacitive input and active stylus input. In any such embodiments, a touch screen controller may be configured to selectively scan the touch screen display and/or selectively report contacts detected directly on or otherwise sufficiently proximate to (e.g., within a few centimeters) the touch screen display. The proximate contact may include, for example, hovering input used to cause location specific input as though direct contact were being provided on a touch-sensitive surface (such as a touch screen). Numerous touch screen display configurations can be implemented using any number of known or proprietary screen based input detecting technology.
Continuing with the example embodiment shown in
The processor can be any suitable processor (e.g., Texas Instruments OMAP4, dual-core ARM Cortex-A9, 1.5 GHz), and may include one or more co-processors or controllers to assist in device control. In this example case, the processor receives input from the user, including input from or otherwise derived from the power button, home button, and touch-sensitive surface. In other embodiments, the processor may be configured to receive input from other input devices, such as from a mouse or keyboard, for example, to determine if such devices are being used to provide input. The processor can also have a direct connection to a battery so that it can perform base level tasks even during sleep or low power modes. The memory (e.g., for processor workspace and executable file storage) can be any suitable type of memory and size (e.g., 256 or 512 Mbytes SDRAM), and in other embodiments may be implemented with non-volatile memory or a combination of non-volatile and volatile memory technologies. The storage (e.g., for storing consumable content and user files) can also be implemented with any suitable memory and size (e.g., 2 GBytes of flash memory).
The display can be implemented, for example, with a 7 to 9 inch 1920×1280 IPS LCD touchscreen touch screen, or any other suitable display and touch-sensitive interface technology. The communications module can be, for instance, any suitable 802.11 b/g/n WLAN chip or chip set, which allows for connection to a local network so that content can be downloaded to the device from a remote location (e.g., content provider, etc., depending on the application of the display device). In some specific example embodiments, the device housing or frame that contains all the various componentry measures about 7″ to 9″ high by about 5″ to 6″ wide by about 0.5″ thick, and weighs about 7 to 8 ounces. Any number of suitable form factors can be used, depending on the target application (e.g., laptop, smart phone, etc.). The device may, for example, smaller for smart phone and eReader applications and larger for tablet computer applications.
The operating system (OS) module can be implemented with any suitable OS, but in some example embodiments is implemented with GOOGLE ANDROID OS or LINUX OS or MICROSOFT OS or APPLE OS. The power management (Power) module can be configured as typically done, such as to automatically transition the device to a low power consumption or sleep mode after a period of non-use. A wake-up from that sleep mode can be achieved, for example, by a physical button press and/or a touch screen swipe or other action. The audio module can be configured, for example, to speak or otherwise aurally present a selected eBook or other textual content. In some example cases, if additional space is desired, for example, to store digital books or other content and media, storage can be expanded via a microSD card or other suitable memory expansion technology (e.g., 32 GBytes, or higher). The UI module can be, for example, based on touch screen technology, and the various example screen shots and example use-cases shown in
Client-Server System
Flash Card Mode Examples
Continuing with the screen shot shown in
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In the example embodiment illustrated in
In some embodiments, the flash card mode may be configured to provision a flash card create command within a context menu (or other suitable menu) accessible after performing an interaction (e.g., a right click, a double tap, a long press, etc.) with selected content. In such an embodiment, for example, the user can select the content that will be included in the flash card (in the form of a link to the location of the content), perform the interaction with the selected content to bring up the context menu, and then select the flash card create command context menu option (to create the flash card). The flash card create commands described herein are provided for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the flash card mode to the specific example provided. The mode may be configured with one or more of the flash card create commands described herein and/or any other suitable flash card create commands (whether the commands are performed prior to content being selected, while content is being selected, and/or after content has been selected).
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In some embodiments, flash card sets may be sold by the creator of the set to other users. In some such embodiments, those who purchase the flash card set may be paying a fee to use the premade set itself and may additionally have to pay to access the linked-to content (e.g., as variously described herein). In this manner, any copyright or DRM issues associated with the linked-to content sources can be circumvented. As may be appreciated, the example primarily used herein for the linked-to content (“Apr. 12, 1861”) is a factual date and thus likely would not be subject to copyright protection (and may not be subject to DRM protection). To this end, it will be further appreciated that this example content was merely selected for ease of description and is not intended to imply or otherwise expand or limit the types of content that may be protectable using the various flashcard techniques provided herein. As will be further appreciated, there are virtually an unlimited number of instances where selected portions of digital content sources may be subject to copyright protection (and/or DRM protection), and the techniques provided herein can be used with any such instances, regardless of whether the content being used to make the flashcard is protectable or not. When flash cards are opened, used, viewed, bought, downloaded, etc., the flash card mode may be configured to pre-retrieve the linked-to content, retrieve the linked-to content while simultaneously viewing the flash card including such linked-to content, or perform any other suitable technique for retrieving the actual content based on the configuration of the flash card mode. As previously described, the content may not be able to be retrieved unless the user has free access to the digital content sources containing the linked-to portions of content. Numerous variations and configurations, and options and features will be apparent in light of the present disclosure.
Methodology
In the example case illustrated in
If the mode is not enabled, then the method continues by reviewing 103 if the digital content is still being displayed. If the content is not still being displayed, the method continues back at diamond 101 to review if digital content is being displayed. If the digital content is still being displayed, the method continues to review until either the mode is enabled or until the digital content is no longer being displayed. Once the mode is enabled (or if it was already enabled), the method continues by determining either 104a if a portion of the digital content has been selected or 104b if a create command has been performed. As described herein, selection of a portion of the digital content may include selecting/highlighting text and/or images, selecting an audio or video file/clip, or some other suitable selection of a portion of the digital content. As was also described, the create command may include selecting a create button (such as is shown in
Once a portion of digital content has been selected or a create command has been performed, the method continues to review if the other of those two has occurred. For example, if at 104a, a portion of digital content has been selected, the method continues by determining 105a if a create command has been performed. Alternatively, if at 104b, the create command is performed before a portion of the digital content has been selected, the method continues by determining 105b if a portion of the digital content has been selected. The review continues until a portion of the digital content has been selected and a create command has been performed to create 106 a digital flash card. As variously described herein, the digital flash card created has at least two virtual sides, where a first side of the flash card identifies the location of the selected portion of digital content (e.g., using a link to the location). The location may be identified in any number of suitable ways, such as with a CFI, as described herein.
Note that, in some instances, if a portion of the digital content is selected at 104a and then that content is unselected prior to performing a create command at 105a, the method continues at 104b with a create command having been performed. In other words, in some instances, the portion of digital content may have to remain selected while performing a create command to create a digital flash card 106. Further note that, in some instances, if a create command has been performed at 104b and then the create command is canceled (or otherwise deactivated) prior to selecting a portion of the digital content at 105a, the method continues at 104a with a portion of the digital content having been selected. In other words, in some instances, the create command may have to remain active while selecting a portion of the digital content to create a digital flash card 106.
After a digital flash card has been created 106, the method continues to review 107 for input until the flash card mode has been exited. Additional input may include entering in content for a second side (and/or any additional sides) of the flash card (such as is shown in
Numerous variations and embodiments will be apparent in light of this disclosure. One example embodiment of the present invention provides an electronic device including a display for presenting digital content to a user and a user interface including a flash card mode. The flash card mode is configured to create a digital flash card having at least two virtual sides in response to user input including selecting a portion of the digital content and performing a create command, wherein a first side of the digital flash card identifies the location of the selected portion of digital content. In some cases, the location of the selected portion of digital content is identified by a canonical fragment identifier (CFI). In some cases, the location of the selected portion of digital content is identified by a beginning canonical fragment identifier (CFI) and an ending CFI. In some cases, the digital content is an electronic book (eBook). In some cases, the digital flash card has a question-answer construct, wherein one side of the flash card represents a question and another side represents an answer. In some such cases, the answer is user-generated content and the question is based on the selected portion of digital content. In some cases, the flash card mode is configured to allow the user to enter text and/or select an additional portion of the digital content for a second side of the digital flash card. In some cases, the create command includes a button selection, a selection from a drop down menu, and/or a gesture. In some cases, one or more created flash cards are shareable and/or sellable. In some cases, one or more previously created flash cards are accessible and/or buyable by the user. In some such cases, prior to allowing the one or more previously created flash cards to be accessed and/or bought by the user, the flash card mode is configured to perform at least one of: allow the user to access and/or buy the flash cards if all digital content identified in the flash card set is freely accessible by the user; prompt the user to buy and/or rent the digital content sources containing the identified content if any digital content identified in the flash card set is not freely accessible by the user; and/or prompt the user to buy and/or rent the identified content if any digital content identified in the flash card set is not freely accessible by the user.
Another example embodiment of the present invention provides a computer program product comprising a plurality of instructions non-transiently encoded thereon that when executed by one or more processors cause a process to be carried out. The computer program product may include one or more computer readable mediums such as, for example, a hard drive, compact disk, memory stick, server, cache memory, register memory, random access memory, read only memory, flash memory, or any suitable non-transitory memory that is encoded with instructions that can be executed by one or more processors, or a plurality or combination of such memories. In this example embodiment, the process is configured to create a digital flash card having at least two virtual sides in response to user input including selecting a portion of digital content and performing a create command, and identify the location of the selected portion of digital content for a first side of the digital flash card. In some cases, the location of the selected portion of digital content is identified by a canonical fragment identifier (CFI). In some cases, the location of the selected portion of digital content is identified by a beginning canonical fragment identifier (CFI) and an ending CFI. In some cases, the digital flash card has a question-answer construct, wherein one side of the flash card represents a question and another side represents an answer, wherein the answer is user-generated content and the question is based on the selected portion of digital content. In some cases, the process is configured to allow the user to enter text and/or select an additional portion of the digital content for a second side of the digital flash card. In some cases, the create command includes a button selection, a selection from a drop down menu, and/or a gesture. In some cases, one or more created flash cards are shareable and/or sellable. In some cases, one or more previously created flash cards are accessible and/or buyable by the user. In some such cases, prior to allowing the one or more previously created flash cards to be accessed and/or bought by the user, the process includes at least one of: allow the user to access and/or buy the flash cards if all digital content identified in the flash card set is freely accessible by the user; prompt the user to buy and/or rent the digital content sources containing the identified content if any digital content identified in the flash card set is not freely accessible by the user; and/or prompt the user to buy and/or rent the identified content if any digital content identified in the flash card set is not freely accessible by the user.
The foregoing description of the embodiments of the present disclosure have been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of this disclosure. It is intended that the scope of the present invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims appended hereto.