BOOK LIGHT FOR ELECTRONIC BOOK READER DEVICES

United States 8,348,450 Issued January 8, 2013

A dedicated electronic book ("eBook") reader device and a reading light are described. The reading light may be embedded in a cover for the eBook reader device. The cover may draw power from the eBook reader device and provide that power to the reading light. The reading light may be attached to the cover by a flexible connector that, when withdrawn from the cover, automatically positions the reading light to illuminate an electronic display of the eBook reader device. In one implementation, the flexible connector is made of shape-memory alloy. The reading light may be oriented within the cover such that the reading light extends from a corner of the cover at an approximately 45 degree angle from a spine of the cover.

 

Adaptive Touch Sensor Interface

United States 9,244,604 Issued January 26, 2016

A touch sensor on a device is configured to accept user input in the form of touches. Control areas on the touch sensor may be designated to correspond to keys on a keyboard or other commands. These control areas may be arranged on either side of the touch sensor to allow the user to activate control areas with their thumbs while holding the device. Size and spacing of the keys may vary dynamically in response to environmental conditions, user interactions, and so forth. Thus, the area of a control on the touch sensor may be larger when operated in a high vibration or motion environment, such as on a train, walking, and so forth. Additionally or alternatively, the position of control areas may dynamically change to adjust to the user.

 

FACILITATING RETURN OF A MISSING USER DEVICE TO DEVICE OWNER

United States 8,370,168 Issued February 5, 2013

A server identifies a user device that is missing, communicates with the user device and causes the user device to disable access to content stored on the user device, and to generate a message that includes information facilitating return of the user device to an owner of the user device.

 

DORSAL TOUCH INPUT

United States 8,698,764 Issued April 15, 2014

A back touch sensor positioned on a back surface of a device accepts user input in the form of touches. The touches on the back touch sensor map keys on a virtual keyboard, a pointer input, and so forth. Touches on a touch sensor positioned on a front surface provide additional input while also allowing the user to grasp and hold the device.

 

DORSAL TOUCH INPUT

United States 9,152,185 Issued October 06, 2015

A back touch sensor positioned on a back surface of a device accepts user input in the form of touches. The touches on the back touch sensor map keys on a virtual keyboard, a pointer input, and so forth. Touches on a touch sensor positioned on a front surface provide additional input while also allowing the user to grasp and hold the device.

 

DEPLOYABLE ACCESSORY ASSEMBLIES

United States 8,967,376 Issued March 3, 2015

Described herein is an accessory assembly that includes a deployable arm that is configured to host multiple different removable accessory devices, each of which may include accessory functionality to facilitate or enhance user operation of an electronic device. The accessory functionality of the accessory devices may be far-ranging and may include reading lights, covers, projectors, universal serial bus (USB) drives, cameras, page-turn buttons, audio jacks, expansion headers, Bluetooth devices, biometric sensors, ambient light sensors, speakers, microphones, styli, and more, as discussed in detail below. These accessory devices may complement the operation of any number of electronic devices, including electronic book (eBook) reader devices, tablet computers, laptop computers, or any other mobile or stationary electronic devices.

 

accessory devices configured to display supplemental Content

United States 8,434,685 Issued may 7, 2013

Described herein are accessory devices that are configured to both perform accessory functions for electronic devices, as well as output content that is supplemental or complementary to content being output by the electronic devices. The accessory functionality of the accessory devices may be far-ranging and may include reading lights, covers, projectors, universal serial bus (USB) drives, cameras, page-turn buttons, audio jacks, expansion headers, Bluetooth devices, biometric sensors, ambient light sensors, and more. These accessory devices may complement the operation of any number of electronic devices. For instance, an accessory device may both comprise a reading light to illuminate a display of an electronic book (eBook) reader device, as well as a display to display content that has been deemed supplemental to the content being displayed by the eBook reader device.

 

accessory devices configured to display supplemental Content

United States 8,434,685 Issued may 7, 2013 - 2nd instance

Described herein are accessory devices that are configured to both perform accessory functions for electronic devices, as well as output content that is supplemental or complementary to content being output by the electronic devices. The accessory functionality of the accessory devices may be far-ranging and may include reading lights, covers, projectors, universal serial bus (USB) drives, cameras, page-turn buttons, audio jacks, expansion headers, Bluetooth devices, biometric sensors, ambient light sensors, and more. These accessory devices may complement the operation of any number of electronic devices. For instance, an accessory device may both comprise a reading light to illuminate a display of an electronic book (eBook) reader device, as well as a display to display content that has been deemed supplemental to the content being displayed by the eBook reader device.

 

Electronic device component stack

United States 9,041,686 Issued may 26, 2015

Electronic devices that include reflective displays for rendering content, touch sensors layered atop the reflective displays for detecting touch inputs, front lights layered atop the touch sensors for lighting the reflective displays and antiglare components for reducing glare caused by ambient light. This disclosure also describes techniques for assembling electronic devices including these component stacks.

 

Electronic device component stack

United States 9,041,686 Issued may 26, 2015 - 2nd instance

Electronic devices that include reflective displays for rendering content, touch sensors layered atop the reflective displays for detecting touch inputs, front lights layered atop the touch sensors for lighting the reflective displays and antiglare components for reducing glare caused by ambient light. This disclosure also describes techniques for assembling electronic devices including these component stacks.

 

Adapting display font appearances for reflective displays

United States 9,190,025 B1 Issued november 17, 2015

Techniques for utilizing different versions of a same font when rendering subsequent portions of a content item. For instance, envision that a user requests to open an electronic book. In response to this request, a display controller may display the first page of the electronic book using a flashing update and, therefore, may display the text using a regular weight of a particular font. However, when the user subsequently requests to turn to the second page of the electronic book, the display controller (utilizing a non-flashing update) may update the display using a version of the same font having a lesser weight. Given that some level of bleeding with likely occur when using the non-flashing update, the lesser weight coupled with the bleeding may result in text that approximates the weight of the text of the first page of the electronic book.

 

PATENTS BASED ON MY PATENTS

SELECTING AND CONVEYING SUPPLEMENTAL CONTENT

United States 9,141,257 Issued SEPTEMBER 22, 2015 TO audible, Inc.

Base items of content may be conveyed by a user computing device. These base items of content may be enhanced with enhancement content, such as sounds, songs, video clips, animations, images, multimedia content, and the like. Characteristics and enhancement objects may be identified in a portion of the base item of content, and enhancement content may be assigned to that portion automatically by a content enhancement service. In one embodiment, enhancement sounds or songs may be provided and conveyed to enhance an audiobook or electronic book.