Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for providing a page flipping mode in electronic touch sensitive devices. The user can engage the page flipping mode by performing an activation gesture, which causes the device to display a magazine page flipping mode or a fast page flipping mode. The page flipping modes may show paginated content such as an opened book or magazine in a single stack or side-by-side layout. The fast page flipping modes may show a single page lying relatively flat or somewhat curled with the edges of subsequent pages visible at the right edge of the page. A page flipping gesture may prompt an animation showing one or more pages folding up to display subsequent pages to the user. In some cases, the number of pages being flipped and/or the speed at which the pages are flipped, is dependent upon the speed and/or length and/or duration of the page flipping gesture.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for providing a drag and drop discovery mode in electronic touch sensitive devices. In response to a user dragging and dropping a content icon into a search box, the content discovery mode may perform a search for content similar to that deposited into the search box. The search box may increase in size or change appearance while receiving the content icon. The results of such a search may be displayed to the user with a content discovery animation that shows similar content icons emerging from the search box and populating the device screen. The animation may be accompanied by sound effects. The newly discovered content may be randomly scattered over a portion of the screen, or they may be bundled into groups based on similar characteristics, and each group may be accompanied by a header notifying the user of the characteristics of the group.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for engaging and displaying a visual table of contents in electronic touch sensitive devices. The user can engage the visual table of contents by, for example, performing an activation gesture, such as an inward two-contact pinch gesture. The visual table of contents may display the paginated content to the user as a grid of image tiles, each image corresponding to a page or spread of pages. Each page of content may be accompanied by its appropriate page number. The visual table of contents may display the paginated content as page spreads, wherein each page is paired with its opposite facing page. The user may scroll through the visual table of contents if the device screen is not large enough to display all of the pages on a single screen. Selecting a page from the table of contents may display the selected page to the user.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for providing a drag and drop discovery mode in electronic touch sensitive devices. In response to a user dragging and dropping a content icon into a search box, the content discovery mode may perform a search for content similar to that deposited into the search box. The search box may increase in size or change appearance while receiving the content icon. The results of such a search may be displayed to the user with a content discovery animation that shows similar content icons emerging from the search box and populating the device screen. The animation may be accompanied by sound effects. The newly discovered content may be randomly scattered over a portion of the screen, or they may be bundled into groups based on similar characteristics, and each group may be accompanied by a header notifying the user of the characteristics of the group.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for providing a page flipping mode in electronic touch sensitive devices. The user can engage the page flipping mode by performing an activation gesture, which causes the device to display a magazine page flipping mode or a fast page flipping mode. The page flipping modes may show paginated content such as an opened book or magazine in a single stack or side-by-side layout. The fast page flipping modes may show a single page lying relatively flat or somewhat curled with the edges of subsequent pages visible at the right edge of the page. A page flipping gesture may prompt an animation showing one or more pages folding up to display subsequent pages to the user. In some cases, the number of pages being flipped and/or the speed at which the pages are flipped, is dependent upon the speed and/or length and/or duration of the page flipping gesture.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for a hotspot peek mode for use with digital content that includes one or more hotspots. Each hotspot includes a link to a source of additional content, where the source may be, for example, a web page or another portion of the digital content. The hotspot peek mode may be configured to display (or otherwise present) a pop-up panel on displayed digital content in response to a peek command (e.g., a tap or hover input) performed on a hotspot. The pop-up panel may include additional content from the source associated with the given hotspot, to provide a peek at the source. The hotspot peek mode may be further configured to navigate to the source in response to a selection made inside the pop-up panel. In some cases, the functionality of the hotspot peek mode may be fully integrated within an eReader application or another suitable application.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for providing a scrapbooking function in electronic computing devices. The user can engage the scrapbooking function with a content sampling command that engages a scrapbook creation mode which virtually rips a digital content sample from a content source. The digital content sample may be displayed to the user with a torn edge, as if it had been physically torn from a magazine or catalogue. The content sampling command may be, for example, a swipe gesture, an S-gesture, or selecting a scrapbook UI control feature. The user may save the sampled content into a new scrapbook or save it to an existing scrapbook. The user may also engage the scrapbooking function by entering a scrapbook viewing mode which allows the user to view and edit existing scrapbooks. The content sample may include all encrypted data present in the digital content from which it is sampled.

Abstract: A system and method for organizing viewing and reading of electronic periodicals on electronic devices, particularly mobile devices. The user's periodicals are arranged on the device's User Interface (UI) in visual representations of stacks. Each stack represents a different one of the user's periodicals. As a user selects a particular stack representing a particular ePeriodical, the stack is animated to spread out in drawer or in a grid to display thumbnails representing the covers of individual issue of the ePeriodical. The user can scroll the drawer or grid to view the issues. If the user has ePeriodicals stored on remote servers, the user interface has a control that the user can activate to download the thumbnail covers of the remotely stored ePeriodicals. Once the user has found the desired ePeriodical to read, the cover thumbnail can be selected to open and display the ePeriodical.

Abstract: A system and method for recommending digital content in which a user employs her contacts list to recommend the digital content. The recommender initiates the recommendation process using her local device by generating a recommendation. The recommendation contains an identification of the recommender, an identification of the contact and an identification of the digital content to be recommended. The recommendation is communicated from the recommender's local device through a communication channel to a server. The server processes the recommendation from the recommender and generates a recommendation email and/or a recommendation notification. The recommendation email and notification are sent to the recommendee through a communication channel selected by the recommender. The recommendation email further contains a URL that directs the recommendee back to a summary of the recommended digital content.