User highlight match indicator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9697499-B1
Application number	US-85286910-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 9, 2010
Priority date	Aug 9, 2010
Publication date	Jul 4, 2017
Grant date	Jul 4, 2017

Abstract

While consuming digital content, a user may highlight a portion considered relevant or of interest. When this user highlight corresponds with an existing highlight created by other users in a community of users, a highlight match indicator is presented to the user. This indicator provides a positive reinforcement to the user that they have serendipitously highlighted a portion which others in the community of users found relevant.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, from a user, a user highlight of a portion of an electronic book;
accessing a store of highlights previously received from a community of users who highlighted portions of the electronic book;
determining that the user highlight exceeds a predetermined length;
comparing the user highlight with the previously received highlights to determine whether the user highlight matches one or more of the previously received highlights at least partly in response to the determination that a length of the user highlight exceeds the predetermined length;
determining whether a number of previously received highlights matches exceeds the threshold; and
in an event that the number of the previously received highlights matches exceeds the threshold, generating the highlight match indicator to inform the user that other users within the community of users have also entered corresponding highlights, the highlight match indicator comprising a count of the number of other users within the community of users who have also entered corresponding highlights.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the highlight match indicator further comprises an audio prompt indicating that other users within the community of users have also entered corresponding highlights.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing the highlight match indicator for display on an electronic book reader device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein comparing the user highlight with the previously received highlights further comprises determining an exact match between positions in the user highlight and positions in one or more of the previously received highlights.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein comparing the user highlight with the previously received highlights further comprises determining an overlap of a pre-determined minimum number of positions of the user highlight and positions in one or more of the previously received highlights.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein comparing the user highlight with the previously received highlights further comprises determining an overlap of a pre-determined ratio of positions in the user highlight to positions in one or more of the previously received highlights.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the comparing is restricted to previously received highlights generated within a specified time interval.

8. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions that when executed instruct one or more processors to perform acts comprising:
accessing stored highlights associated with digital content;
accessing a stored minimum highlight length setting for a new highlight associated with the digital content;
determining that the new highlight exceeds the stored minimum highlight length;
comparing the new highlight with the stored highlights to determine corresponding stored highlights;
determining whether a number of the corresponding stored highlights exceeds a predetermined threshold; and
generating a highlight match indicator at least partly in response to a determination that the number of the corresponding stored highlights exceeds the predetermined threshold, the highlight match indicator comprising a count of a number of the one or more stored highlights that correspond to the new highlight.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8 , wherein the stored highlights are associated with one or more users different from a user entering the new highlight.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8 , further comprising receiving the new highlight from a user at least partly in response to displaying at least a portion of the digital content.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8 , further comprising presenting the highlight match indicator to a user associated with the new highlight when the count of the number of the corresponding stored highlights exceeds a pre-determined threshold.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8 , wherein the digital content comprises an electronic book and the stored minimum highlight length setting is based at least in part on the genre of the electronic book.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8 , wherein the new highlight and the stored highlights comprise designated intervals within the digital content across one or more positions therein.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 13 , wherein the positions comprise characters, words, sentences, or paragraphs.

15. A system comprising:
one or more processors;
a memory, coupled to the one or more processors;
a highlight acquisition module stored within the memory and configured to:
acquire from one or more other users a plurality of highlights;
store the plurality of highlights as a community highlight store;
acquire from a particular user a user highlight;

a highlight assessment module stored within the memory and configured to:
access the community highlight store;
determine that the user highlight exceeds a predetermined length;
compare the user highlight from the particular user with the plurality of highlights in the community highlight store to determine one or more corresponding highlights at least partly in response to the determination that a length of the user highlight exceeds the predetermined length;
determining whether a number of the one or more corresponding highlights exceeds a predetermined threshold; and
generate a highlight match indicator at least partly in response to the determination that the number of the one or more corresponding highlights exceeds the predetermined threshold, the highlight match indicator comprising a count of a number of the one or more corresponding highlights.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein each highlight of the plurality of highlights comprises a designated interval within digital content across one or more positions therein.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein comparing the user highlight with the plurality of highlights in the community of highlights stores comprises determining an exact match between positions in the user highlight and positions in the plurality of highlights in the community store.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein comparing the user highlight with the plurality of highlights in the community of highlights store comprises determining an overlap of a pre-determined minimum number of positions of the user highlight and positions in the plurality of highlights in the community highlight store.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein comparing the user highlight with the plurality of highlights in the community of highlights stores comprises determining an overlap of a pre-determined ratio of positions in the user highlight to positions in the plurality of highlights in the community highlight store.

20. The system of claim 16 , further comprising a highlight processing module stored within the memory and configured to provide the highlight match indicator to a user device for presentation.

21. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
under control of a computing system configured with executable instructions, performing the following:
presenting at least a portion of digital content on a device within a user interface;
accepting a user input via the user interface to select a highlight comprising an interval of at least a por

Assignees

• Anderson Emily Margaret
• Killalea Tom
• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Anderson Emily Margaret
• Killalea Tom

Classifications

• G06Q10/101 Primary

  Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services · CPC title