E-book gifting

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2015317050-A1
Application number	US-201414268928-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 2, 2014
Priority date	May 2, 2014
Publication date	Nov 5, 2015
Grant date	—

Abstract

A computing device displays a user activatable trigger along with a content portion of the e-book when the e-book is rendered for reading. The computing device detects activation of the trigger by user input. The computing device generates communication for a network service from which the e-book is available for download. The generated communication can include an identifier for each of the e-book, the user, and a recipient. According to some embodiments, at least a portion of the communication corresponding to the identifier of the e-book is identified and automatically provided as part of the communication. The communication can then be transmitted the network service.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computing device comprising:
a memory resource that stores an e-book and a set of instructions; one or more processors that access instructions stored in the memory resource in order to:
display a user activatable trigger with a content portion of the e-book when the e-book is rendered for reading;
detect activation of the trigger by user input;
generate a communication for a network service where the e-book is available for download, the communication including an identifier for each of the e-book, the user, and a recipient;
send the communication to the network service.

2 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors automatically generate the communication in response to detecting activation of the trigger.

3 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors automatically send the communication to the network service in response to detecting activation of the trigger.

4 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors display the user activatable trigger within a boundary of an application framework in which the content portion of the e-book is displayed.

5 . The computing device of claim 4 , wherein the one or more processors display the user activatable trigger as an icon that appears on a rendered page of the e-book.

6 . The computing device of claim 4 , wherein the one or more processors display the user activatable trigger as an icon that appears in a feature bar provided as part of the framework.

7 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors access instructions in the memory resource to detect when the user completes the e-book, then displays the user activatable trigger in response to detecting the user completing the e-book.

8 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors detect activation of the trigger by user input corresponding to the user contacting a display screen.

9 . The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the e-book corresponds to a periodical, and wherein the identifier for the e-book provide with the communication identifies a title and an issue of the periodical.

10 . A method for gifting an e-book, the method comprising:
on a computing device:
displaying a user activatable trigger with a content portion of the e-book when the e-book is rendered for reading;
detecting activation of the trigger by user input;
generating a communication for a network service where the e-book is available for download, the communication identifying the e-book;
sending the communication to the network service; on one or more servers of the network service:
receiving the communication from the computing device;
identifying, from the communication, the e-book, an account of the user and an account of a recipient;
crediting the e-book for the recipient; and
debiting the account of the user for the e-book.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein crediting the e-book for the account of the recipient includes making the e-book available for download by the recipient.

12 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising sending a notification to the recipient in response to receiving the communication from the computing device.

13 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising automatically downloading the e-book onto a computing device of the recipient in response to receiving the communication from the computing device.

14 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising determining that the recipient does not have an account with the network service, then sending the recipient a notification to download the e-book.

15 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the e-book corresponds to a periodical, and wherein the identifier for the e-book provide with the communication identifies a title and an issue of the periodical.

16 . The method of claim 10 , wherein generating the communication is performed automatically in response to detecting activation of the trigger.

17 . The method of claim 10 , wherein sending the communication is performed automatically in response to detecting activation of the trigger.

18 . The method of claim 10 , wherein displaying the user activatable trigger includes displaying the user activatable trigger within an application framework in which the content portion of the e-book is displayed.

19 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
detecting when the user completes the e-book; and displaying the user activatable trigger in response to detecting the user completing the e-book.

20 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions, that when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations that include:
displaying a user activatable trigger with a content portion of an e-book when the e-book is rendered for reading; detecting activation of the trigger by user input; generating a communication for a network service where the e-book is available for download, the communication including an identifier for each of the e-book, the user, and a recipient; sending the communication to the network service.

Assignees

• Kobo Inc

Inventors

• Landau Benjamin

Classifications

• G06F3/04817

  using icons (graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34) · CPC title

• G06F3/0483 Primary

  Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor · CPC title

• H04L67/06

  specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP] · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• G06Q30/0601

  Electronic shopping [e-shopping] · CPC title