U.S. patent application number 10/952443 was filed with the patent office on 2006-04-06 for user interface for presentation of a document.
Invention is credited to Joe Sriver.
Application Number | 20060075327 10/952443 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 35447816 |
Filed Date | 2006-04-06 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060075327 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Sriver; Joe |
April 6, 2006 |
User interface for presentation of a document
Abstract
A system identifies a document and provides an excerpt page
corresponding to the document. The excerpt page includes a page of
the document and a set of links to sections of the document. One of
the links corresponds to a section containing the page and includes
text associated with the link, a next page element to permit a next
page in the document to be presented, and a previous page element
to permit a previous page in the document to be presented. The next
page element and the previous page element are visually associated
with the text associated with the link.
Inventors: |
Sriver; Joe; (Mountain View,
CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
HARRITY SNYDER, LLP
11350 Random Hills Road
SUITE 600
FAIRFAX
VA
22030
US
|
Family ID: |
35447816 |
Appl. No.: |
10/952443 |
Filed: |
September 29, 2004 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
715/206 ;
707/999.003; 707/E17.111; 715/205; 715/251 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 40/114 20200101;
G06F 16/954 20190101; G06F 3/0482 20130101; G06F 16/951 20190101;
G06F 16/93 20190101 |
Class at
Publication: |
715/501.1 ;
715/525; 707/003; 715/530 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/24 20060101
G06F017/24; G06F 17/21 20060101 G06F017/21; G06F 17/30 20060101
G06F017/30 |
Claims
1. A method, comprising: receiving a search query; identifying a
document based on the search query; and providing an excerpt page
corresponding to the document, the excerpt page comprising: a page
of the document, and a plurality of links to sections of the
document, one of the links corresponding to the page and including
text describing the one link, a next page element to permit a next
page in the document to be presented, and a previous page element
to permit a previous page in the document to be presented, the next
page element and the previous page element being visually
associated with the text describing the one link.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the page comprises an image of
the page.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the page comprises a text version
of the page.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the page comprises substantially
all text of the page.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the links reference at least two
of: a reference page associated with the document, a copyright page
associated with the document, a table of contents associated with
the document, a page associated with the body of the document, or
an index associated with the document.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the page associated with the body
of the document comprises a page currently presented within the
excerpt page or a page previously presented within the excerpt
page.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving selection
of one of the links, and presenting a page associated with the
section corresponding to the selected link.
8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: replacing the
selected link with text associated with the selected link.
9. The method of claim 7, further comprising: providing the next
page element and the previous page element in visual association
with the text associated with the selected link, the next page
element permitting a next page of the document to be presented, the
previous page element permitting a previous page of the document to
be presented.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the next page element visually
indicates whether the next page can be presented, and the previous
page element visually indicates whether the previous page can be
presented.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the next page element visually
indicates whether the next page can be presented, and the previous
page element visually indicates whether the previous page can be
presented.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the links comprise a page link
associated with a page within the body of the document that is
currently presented in the excerpt page or was previously presented
in the excerpt page, the page link identifying the page within the
body of the document by page number.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the document comprises a scanned
document.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein the document comprises one of a
book, a magazine, or a catalog.
15. A graphical user interface embodied in a computer-readable
medium, comprising: an image of a page from a document; a first
link to a first section of the document; and text associated with a
second link to a second section of the document, the page being
included in the second section of the document, a next page element
and a previous page element being visually associated with the text
associated with the second link, the next page element permitting
an image of a next page from the document to be presented and the
previous page element permitting an image of a previous page from
the document to be presented.
16. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein the second
link comprises one of: a link to a reference page associated with
the document, a link to a copyright page associated with the
document, a link to a table of contents associated with the
document, a link to a page within the body of the document, or a
link to an index associated with the document.
17. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein the text
associated with the second link is visually distinguished with
regard to the first link.
18. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein the image of
the page comprises substantially all text of the page.
19. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein the second
link comprises one of: a link to a reference page associated with
the document, a link to a copyright page associated with the
document, a link to a table of contents associated with the
document, or a link to an index associated with the document; and
wherein the first link comprises a link to a page within the body
of the document that was previously presented within the graphical
user interface, the first link identifying the page within the body
of the document by page number.
20. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein the first
link comprises one of: a link to a reference page associated with
the document, a link to a copyright page associated with the
document, a link to a table of contents associated with the
document, or a link to an index associated with the document; and
wherein the second link comprises a link to a page within the body
of the document that is currently presented within the graphical
user interface, the text associated with the second link
identifying the page within the body of the document by page
number.
21. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein the next page
element visually indicates whether the next page can be presented,
and the previous page element visually indicates whether the
previous page can be presented.
22. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein the document
comprises a scanned document.
23. The graphical user interface of claim 15, wherein the document
comprises one of a book, a magazine, or a catalog.
24. A system, comprising: means for identifying a document; and
means for providing an excerpt page corresponding to the document,
the excerpt page comprising: a page of the document, and a
plurality of links to sections of the documents, one of the links
corresponding to a section containing the page and including text
associated with the link, a next page element to permit a next page
in the document to be presented, and a previous page element to
permit a previous page in the document to be presented, the next
page element and the previous page element being visually
associated with the text associated with the link.
25. A method, comprising: identifying a document; and providing an
excerpt page corresponding to the document, the excerpt page
comprising: a page of the document, the page being associated with
one of a reference page, a copyright page, a table of contents, or
an index associated with the document, and a plurality of links to
sections of the documents, one of the links corresponding to one of
the reference page, the copyright page, the table of contents, or
the index, another one of the links corresponding to a page within
the body of the document that was previously presented within the
excerpt page and identifying the page within the body of the
document by page number.
26. A graphical user interface embodied in a computer-readable
medium, comprising: an excerpt window that presents a page from a
document; a first link corresponding to a copyright page associated
with the document, selection of the first link causing an image of
the copyright page to be presented in the excerpt window; a second
link corresponding to a table of contents associated with the
document, selection of the second link causing an image of a page
of the table of contents to be presented in the excerpt window; a
third link corresponding to an index associated with the document,
selection of the third link causing an image of a page of the index
to be presented in the excerpt window; and a fourth link
corresponding to a page within the body of the document, the fourth
link identifying the page within the body of the document by page
number, selection of the fourth link causing an image of the page
within the body of the document to be presented in the excerpt
window.
27. The graphical user interface of claim 26, further comprising: a
next page element visually associated with one of the first,
second, third, or fourth link, the next page element permitting a
next page to be presented in the excerpt window; and a previous
page element visually associated with the one of the first, second,
third, or fourth link, the previous page element permitting a
previous page to be presented in the excerpt window.
28. The graphical user interface of claim 27, wherein the next page
element visually indicates whether the next page can be presented,
and the previous page element visually indicates whether the
previous page can be presented.
29. A computer-readable medium that contains computer-executable
instructions, comprising: instructions for providing an excerpt
window that presents a page from a document; instructions for
providing a first link corresponding to one of a copyright page, a
table of contents, or an index; instructions for providing a second
link corresponding to a page within the body of the document, the
second link identifying the page within the body of the document by
page number; instructions for presenting an image corresponding to
one of the copyright page, the table of contents, or the index in
the excerpt window when the first link is selected; and
instructions for presenting an image of the page within the body of
the document in the excerpt window when the second link is
selected.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the
invention relate generally to information retrieval and, more
particularly, to a user interface for the presentation of
information regarding a document.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] Modern computer networks, and in particular, the Internet,
have made large bodies of information widely and easily available.
Free Internet search engines, for instance, index many millions of
web documents that are linked to the Internet. A user connected to
the Internet can enter a simple search query to quickly locate web
documents relevant to the search query.
[0005] One category of content that is not widely available on the
Internet, however, includes the more traditional printed works of
authorship, such as books and magazines. One impediment to making
such works digitally available is that it can be difficult to
convert printed versions of the works to digital form. Optical
character recognition (OCR), which is the act of using an optical
scanning device to generate images of text that are then converted
to characters in a computer-readable format (e.g., an ASCII file),
is a known technique for converting printed text to a useful
digital form. OCR systems generally include an optical scanner for
generating images of printed pages and software for analyzing the
images.
SUMMARY
[0006] According to one aspect, a method may include receiving a
search query, identifying a document based on the search query, and
providing an excerpt page corresponding to the document. The
excerpt page may include a page of the document and a set of links
to sections of the document. One of the links corresponds to the
page and includes text describing the link, a next page element to
permit a next page in the document to be presented, and a previous
page element to permit a previous page in the document to be
presented. The next page element and the previous page element are
visually associated with the text describing the link.
[0007] According to another aspect, a graphical user interface
embodied in a computer-readable medium may include an image of a
page from a document, a first link to a first section of the
document, and text associated with a second link to a second
section of the document, where the page is included in the second
section of the document. A next page element and a previous page
element are visually associated with the text associated with the
second link. The next page element permits an image of a next page
from the document to be presented and the previous page element
permits an image of a previous page from the document to be
presented.
[0008] According to a further aspect, a system may include means
for identifying a document and means for providing an excerpt page
corresponding to the document. The excerpt page may include a page
of the document and a set of links to sections of the documents.
One of the links corresponds to a section containing the page and
includes text associated with the link, a next page element to
permit a next page in the document to be presented, and a previous
page element to permit a previous page in the document to be
presented. The next page element and the previous page element are
visually associated with the text associated with the link.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and
constitute a part of this specification, illustrate an embodiment
of the invention and, together with the description, explain the
invention. In the drawings,
[0010] FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagram of a network in which systems
and methods consistent with the principles of the invention may be
implemented;
[0011] FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of a client or server of FIG.
1 according to an implementation consistent with the principles of
the invention;
[0012] FIGS. 3A and 3B are flowcharts of exemplary processing for
presenting information regarding a document related to a search
query according to an implementation consistent with the principles
of the invention;
[0013] FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram of a user interface for
presenting search results according to implementations consistent
with the principles of the invention; and
[0014] FIGS. 5 and 6 are exemplary diagrams of pages that may be
presented according to an implementation consistent with the
principles of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0015] The following detailed description of the invention refers
to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in
different drawings may identify the same or similar elements. Also,
the following detailed description does not limit the
invention.
Overview
[0016] More and more types of documents are becoming searchable via
search engines. For example, some documents, such as books,
magazines, and/or catalogs, may be scanned and their text
recognized via OCR. It is beneficial to present information
regarding these and other types of documents in a manner that is
useful to users seeking such information.
[0017] Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the
invention may provide information regarding documents in a manner
that is useful to users interested in the documents.
Exemplary Network Configuration
[0018] FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagram of a network 100 in which
systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention
may be implemented. Network 100 may include multiple clients 110
connected to multiple servers 120-140 via a network 150. Two
clients 110 and three servers 120-140 have been illustrated as
connected to network 150 for simplicity. In practice, there may be
more or fewer clients and servers. Also, in some instances, a
client may perform the functions of a server and a server may
perform the functions of a client.
[0019] Clients 110 may include client entities. An entity may be
defined as a device, such as a wireless telephone, a personal
computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a lap top, or another
type of computation or communication device, a thread or process
running on one of these devices, and/or an object executable by one
of these devices. Servers 120-140 may include server entities that
gather, process, search, and/or maintain documents in a manner
consistent with the principles of the invention.
[0020] In an implementation consistent with the principles of the
invention, server 120 may include a search engine 125 usable by
clients 110. Server 120 may crawl a corpus of documents (e.g., web
documents), index the documents, and store information associated
with the documents in a repository of documents. Alternatively or
additionally, server 120 may analyze a database (or set of
databases) of documents (e.g., books, magazines, newspapers,
articles, catalogs, etc.), obtained electronically by scanning or
otherwise, and store information associated with the documents in
the same or a different repository. Servers 130 and 140 may store
or maintain documents that may be crawled or analyzed by server
120.
[0021] While servers 120-140 are shown as separate entities, it may
be possible for one or more of servers 120-140 to perform one or
more of the functions of another one or more of servers 120-140.
For example, it may be possible that two or more of servers 120-140
are implemented as a single server. It may also be possible for a
single one of servers 120-140 to be implemented as two or more
separate (and possibly distributed) devices.
[0022] Network 150 may include a local area network (LAN), a wide
area network (WAN), a telephone network, such as the Public
Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), an intranet, the Internet, a
memory device, or a combination of networks. Clients 110 and
servers 120-140 may connect to network 150 via wired, wireless,
and/or optical connections.
Exemplary Client/Server Architecture
[0023] FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of a client or server entity
(hereinafter called "client/server entity"), which may correspond
to one or more of clients 110 and/or servers 120-140, according to
an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention.
The client/server entity may include a bus 210, a processor 220, a
main memory 230, a read only memory (ROM) 240, a storage device
250, an input device 260, an output device 270, and a communication
interface 280. Bus 210 may include a path that permits
communication among the elements of the client/server entity.
[0024] Processor 220 may include a conventional processor,
microprocessor, or processing logic that interprets and executes
instructions. Main memory 230 may include a random access memory
(RAM) or another type of dynamic storage device that may store
information and instructions for execution by processor 220. ROM
240 may include a conventional ROM device or another type of static
storage device that may store static information and instructions
for use by processor 220. Storage device 250 may include a magnetic
and/or optical recording medium and its corresponding drive.
[0025] Input device 260 may include a conventional mechanism that
permits an operator to input information to the client/server
entity, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, voice recognition
and/or biometric mechanisms, etc. Output device 270 may include a
conventional mechanism that outputs information to the operator,
including a display, a printer, a speaker, etc. Communication
interface 280 may include any transceiver-like mechanism that
enables the client/server entity to communicate with other devices
and/or systems. For example, communication interface 280 may
include mechanisms for communicating with another device or system
via a network, such as network 150.
[0026] As will be described in detail below, the client/server
entity, consistent with the principles of the invention, may
perform certain document processing-related operations. The
client/server entity may perform these operations in response to
processor 220 executing software instructions contained in a
computer-readable medium, such as memory 230. A computer-readable
medium may be defined as a physical or logical memory device and/or
carrier wave.
[0027] The software instructions may be read into memory 230 from
another computer-readable medium, such as data storage device 250,
or from another device via communication interface 280. The
software instructions contained in memory 230 may cause processor
220 to perform processes that will be described later.
Alternatively, hardwired circuitry may be used in place of or in
combination with software instructions to implement processes
consistent with the principles of the invention. Thus,
implementations consistent with the principles of the invention are
not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and
software.
Exemplary Processing
[0028] FIGS. 3A and 3B are flowcharts of exemplary processing for
presenting information regarding a document related to a search
query according to an implementation consistent with the principles
of the invention. Processing may begin with a user providing a
search term (or a group of search terms) as a search query for
searching a document repository. In one implementation, the
document repository includes documents available from the Internet
and/or a database and the vehicle for searching this repository is
a search engine, such as search engine 125 (FIG. 1). The user may
provide the search query via web browser software on a client, such
as client 110 (FIG. 1).
[0029] The search query may be received by the search engine and
used to identify documents (e.g., books, magazines, newspapers,
articles, catalogs, etc.) related to the search query (acts 305 and
310) (FIG. 3A). A number of techniques exist for identifying
documents related to a search query. One such technique might
include identifying documents that contain the search term or
synonyms of the search term. When the search query includes more
than one search term, then a technique might include identifying
documents that contain the search terms as a phrase, that contain
the search terms but not necessarily together, or that contain less
than all of the search terms. Yet other techniques are known to
those skilled in the art.
[0030] Optionally, the documents may be scored in some manner (act
315). For example, the score for a document may be based on an
information retrieval (IR) score. Several techniques exist for
generating an IR score. For example, an IR score for a document may
be generated based on the number of occurrences of the search terms
in the document text, where the search terms occur within the
document (e.g., title, content, footer, header, etc.), or
characteristics of occurrences of the search terms (e.g., font,
size, color, etc.). Yet other techniques are known to those skilled
in the art.
[0031] Search results may be formed based on the documents and
their optional scores and presented to the user (act 320). In one
implementation, the search results may include information
associated with the documents, such as links to the documents, that
may optionally be sorted based on the document scores. The search
results may be provided as a HTML document, similar to search
results provided by conventional search engines. Alternatively, the
search results may be provided according to another format agreed
upon by the search engine and the client (e.g., Extensible Markup
Language (XML)).
[0032] FIG. 4 is an exemplary diagram of a user interface for
presenting search results according to an implementation consistent
with the principles of the invention. Assume that a user provided a
search query that included the search term "memory" and a search
was performed based on the search query to identify a set of
documents related to the search query.
[0033] In one implementation, as shown in FIG. 4, a search result
410 may include a document title 412, author information 414, an
excerpt 416 from the document, an address 418 associated with the
document, links 420 to other relevant excerpts in the document, and
an image 422 associated with the document. Document title 412 may
include a title associated with the document. Selection of document
title 412 may cause detailed information, possibly in the form of
an excerpt page (described below), associated with the document to
be presented. Author information 414 may include the name(s) of the
author(s) of the document.
[0034] Excerpt 416 may include a portion of the document that
includes a search term of the search query. Optionally, occurrences
of the search term may be visually distinguished (e.g.,
highlighted) in the portion of the document. Excerpt 416 may also
include a page number associated with the excerpt. In one
implementation, selection of the page number (or excerpt 416) may
result in presentation of detailed information, possibly in the
form of an excerpt page (described below), associated with the
document.
[0035] Address 418 may include an address at which the document is
stored. Links 420 may permit one or more other excerpts from the
document to be presented to the user. Image 422 may include an
image of, for example, a front cover (or another portion) of the
document (if available). In one implementation, image 422 includes
a thumbnail version of the front cover of the document. Image 422
may optionally include an embedded link that, when selected, may
result in presentation of detailed information, possibly in the
form of an excerpt page (described below), associated with the
document.
[0036] Returning to FIG. 3A, one of the documents in the search
results may be selected by the user (act 325). In one
implementation, selection of a document may include selection of a
link associated with the document, such as selection of document
title 412 (FIG. 4), excerpt 416, or image 422.
[0037] In one implementation consistent with the principles of the
invention, detailed information regarding a document, possibly in
the form of an excerpt page, may be presented to the user in
response to the user selecting the document (act 330) (FIG.
3B).
[0038] FIG. 5 is an exemplary diagram of an excerpt page 500 that
may be presented according to an implementation consistent with the
principles of the invention. Excerpt page 500 may include document
title and author information 510, an image 520 associated with the
document, an excerpt 530 from the document, a set of links 540 for
purchasing the document, a set of advertisements 550 associated
with the document, and links 560 to different portions of the
document. In other implementations, excerpt page 500 may include
more, fewer, or different types of information.
[0039] Document title and author information 510 may include a
title associated with the document and/or the name(s) of the
author(s) of the document. Image 520 may include an image of, for
example, a front cover (or another portion) of the document (if
available). In one implementation, image 520 may include a
thumbnail version of the front cover of the document.
[0040] Excerpt 530 may include text from a page of the body of the
document that may include a search term of the search query or
another page of the document, such as a copyright page, a table of
contents, or an index, within an excerpt window. Excerpt 530 may
correspond to an image of the page text or the text version and, in
one implementation, may include all or substantially all of the
text from the page. Optionally, occurrences of the search term may
be visually distinguished (e.g., highlighted) on the page. In
another implementation, excerpt 530 may include text from a set of
two (or more) pages. The pages may optionally be presented in a
manner based on their corresponding page numbers.
[0041] A zoom feature 532 may be associated with excerpt 530. Zoom
feature 532 may permit a user to zoom in (or zoom out) on a portion
of the page presented in excerpt 530. Techniques for zooming in or
out on a page are well known in the art.
[0042] Links 540 may permit a user to purchase the document. For
example, selection of one of links 540 may cause a page associated
with a document retailer or a set of document retailers to be
presented to the user to aid the user is purchasing the document or
a portion of the document. Advertisement(s) 550 may include a set
of advertisements associated with a business that sells the
document, other documents associated with the author, and/or
documents relating to a same topic as the document.
[0043] Links 560 may include links to various portions of the
document. For example, the links may reference a reference page
561, a copyright page 563, a table of contents 565, a currently or
previously accessed page (e.g., a page from the body of the
document that is currently or was previously presented in excerpt
530) 567, and/or an index 569 associated with the document. In
other implementations, links 560 may reference more, fewer, or
different portions of the document. Selection of one of links
561-569 may cause text of the corresponding page to be presented in
excerpt 530.
[0044] Whichever one of links 561-569 that corresponds to the page
presented in excerpt 530 may be replaced with text that corresponds
to the link and previous and next page elements. The link text may
be visually distinguished in some manner with regard to other ones
of links 561-569. As shown in FIG. 5, page link 567 corresponds to
page 82, which is currently presented in excerpt 530. In this case,
page link 567 is replaced with text that corresponds to the link
and previous and next page elements. The previous page and next
page elements are visually associated with the text of page link
567 and are shown in FIG. 5 as arrows that permit a user to be
presented with a previous page (e.g., page 81) or a next page
(e.g., page 83) in the document. Optionally, the previous page and
next page elements may indicate in some manner (e.g., by shading,
color, or otherwise) whether a user is permitted to select a
previous or next page. In some instances, a user may be restricted
from accessing certain pages or more than a predetermined number of
pages in a document.
[0045] Returning to FIG. 3B, it may be determined whether a next or
previous excerpt page is desired (act 335). In one implementation,
selection of a next or previous page element associated with the
text of page link 567 may indicate a user's desire to be presented
with a next or previous page in the document. In response to
selection of a next or previous page element associated with the
text of page link 567, a next or previous page in the document may
be presented to the user (act 330). The text of page link 567 may
then be updated based on the new page number.
[0046] It may also be determined whether another portion of the
document (e.g., a reference page, a copyright page, a table of
contents, or an index) is desired (act 340). In one implementation,
selection of reference page link 561, copyright page link 563,
table of contents link 565, or index link 569 may indicate a user's
desire to be presented with another portion of the document. In
response to selection of reference page link 561, copyright page
link 563, table of contents link 565, or index link 569, a
corresponding page in the document may be presented to the user
(act 345).
[0047] FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram of an excerpt page 600 that
may be presented according to an implementation consistent with the
principles of the invention. Excerpt page 600 may include document
title and author information 510, an image 520 associated with the
document, an excerpt 530 from the document, a set of links 540 for
purchasing the document, a set of advertisements 550 associated
with the document, and links 560 to different portions of the
document, as described above with regard to FIG. 5.
[0048] Assume that the user selected index link 569 in excerpt page
500 (FIG. 5). Accordingly, excerpt 530 in excerpt page 600 may
include text of a page of the index of the document. Excerpt 530
may correspond to an image of the page text or the text version
and, in one implementation, may include all or substantially all of
the text from the page. In another implementation, excerpt 530 may
include text from a set of two (or more) pages. The pages may
optionally be presented in a manner based on their corresponding
page numbers.
[0049] Page link 567 in excerpt page 600 includes a link to page 82
of the document (i.e., a page previously presented in excerpt 530).
When selected, page link 567 may cause an excerpt page to be
presented similar to excerpt page 500. Index link 569 in excerpt
page 600 may be replaced with text that corresponds to the link and
previous and next page elements. The link text may be visually
distinguished in some manner with regard to links 561-567. The
previous page and next page elements are visually associated with
the text of link 569 and are shown in FIG. 6 as arrows that permit
a user to be presented with a previous page or a next page of the
index in the document. Optionally, the previous page and next page
elements may indicate in some manner (e.g., by shading, color, or
otherwise) whether a user is permitted to select a previous or next
page. For example, the user may not be permitted to select a
previous page when excerpt 530 corresponds to the first page of the
index or select a next page when excerpt 530 corresponds to the
last page of the index.
[0050] Returning to FIG. 3B, it may be determined whether a next or
previous page is desired (act 350). In one implementation,
selection of a next or previous page element associated with link
569 may indicate a user's desire to be presented with a next or
previous page in the document. In response to selection of a next
or previous page element associated with link 569, a next or
previous page in the document may be presented to the user (act
330).
CONCLUSION
[0051] Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the
invention may provide information regarding documents in a manner
that is useful to the users.
[0052] The foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the
present invention provides illustration and description, but is not
intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise
form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light
of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the
invention.
[0053] For example, while series of acts have been described with
regard to FIGS. 3A and 3B, the order of the acts may be modified in
other implementations consistent with the principles of the
invention. Further, non-dependent acts may be performed in
parallel.
[0054] It has been described that a document is identified as a
result of a search. In other implementations, however, the document
may be identified in other ways, such as from a directory,
category, or other listing of documents.
[0055] Also, exemplary user interfaces have been described with
respect to FIGS. 4-6. In other implementations consistent with the
principles of the invention, the user interfaces may include more,
fewer, or different pieces of information.
[0056] It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that
aspects of the invention, as described above, may be implemented in
many different forms of software, firmware, and hardware in the
implementations illustrated in the figures. The actual software
code or specialized control hardware used to implement aspects
consistent with the principles of the invention is not limiting of
the present invention. Thus, the operation and behavior of the
aspects were described without reference to the specific software
code--it being understood that one of ordinary skill in the art
would be able to design software and control hardware to implement
the aspects based on the description herein.
[0057] No element, act, or instruction used in the present
application should be construed as critical or essential to the
invention unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used
herein, the article "a" is intended to include one or more items.
Where only one item is intended, the term "one" or similar language
is used. Further, the phrase "based on" is intended to mean "based,
at least in part, on" unless explicitly stated otherwise.
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