The popularity of electronic books has steadily increased. Electronic books are digital information appliances designed for viewing electronic titles. Examples of electronic books include Everybook.RTM., Rocket eBook.RTM., and Softbook.RTM.. Titles include traditional books, magazines, articles, newspapers, texts, pictures, and the like that are stored in an electronic format that may be accessed by an electronic book. In some instances, titles may be downloaded to the electronic book over the Internet either directly or through the use of an information handling system. Generally, electronic books are designed to allow the viewing of the text, but not the alteration, copying or printing of the text so as to protect the provider from unauthorized distribution. Electronic books are available in a wide range of styles. Some are single screened devices that allow a user to turn a page to read the text. Dual screened and large screened devices arc also available to view multiple pages at the same time.
To increase the popularity of electronic books, manufacturers of these devices aspire to make the reading of an electronic book as close as possible to the experience of reading an actual paper book. Shape and size are two factors that have been addressed in the manufacturing of an electronic book. Smaller devices that are ergonomically designed and display pages mimicking a traditional book have increased the popularity of the device. Furthermore, increases in the design of these books have enabled a user to download and store multiple titles in a single electronic book. However, most books are designed with a singular bookmark that may only be utilized in one location of the electronic book at a time. Multiple users and/or a user desiring to label more than one item in an electronic book do not have the ability to do so utilizing current electronic books.
There are some systems and methods of attaching markers to textual data. However, in some instances these markers are only rectangular in shape, and may only be attached to text. Additionally, these markers apply only to editable text, and not to the type of elements generally encountered in an electronic book, namely heavily encrypted read only text and graphics. Furthermore, these markers do not provide for the ability to differentiate properties and indicate relationships between the label and the desired element. Neither do these markers allow a user to access the desired element from the marker, rather they merely serve as a form of notation. Therefore, it may be advantageous to utilize a system and method for the utilization of an electronic book with multiple labels that may be attached to both textual and graphical data.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds