APPARATUS AND METHOD OF VIEWING ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS
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.