HK1091937B - Smooth scrolling with highlighted navigation and marking of page changes - Google Patents

Description

Smooth scrolling of landmarks with highlighted navigation and page changes

Technical Field

The present invention relates to scrolling, navigation and page jumping, such as in a browser of a mobile phone.

Background

In the current mobile browser, it is difficult to navigate and operate simultaneously. The user can jump from link to link or scroll but cannot do both at the same time.

In some Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) systems, scrolling is accomplished using two navigation keys. In such WAP browsers, the entire internet page is grouped into decks by WML (WAP: equivalent to HTML). With these decks the download becomes faster, but the screen still has limitations. HTML does not require a deck or page because an HTML page can be shown as one long page. The concept of deck and cards means that each card is a frame displayed on the screen, the set of interlinked cards is a deck, and the decks are often stored in a single WML file. Navigation is achieved by jumping the links at the bottom of the screen where the page is divided into screens filled with decks with the result that the page is not treated as one large page and scrolling must be done by jumping. When there is some text that is not a link, the jump is a line movement from one text area to another. Scrolling is achieved by moving line by line, and the currently focused link is always the one closest to the scrolling direction. This allows the user's attention to jump up and down the screen and draw more attention to surfing. This is because users tend to focus their attention on moving things, i.e., when scrolling occurs, jumping from link to link. The most attractive objects naturally become high contrast or prominent areas like the link symbols. This frequent and random attention to jump from link to link frustrates the user from being able to predict when the text is highlighted or not.

Surfing and reading is a smooth operation when browsing on a computer. The mouse on the scroll bar may be moved and the forward or backward button may be clicked. On mobile devices, this is not so easy because of the small screen size and limited navigation tools. The use of keyboards is more stressful than the use of desktop or laptop keyboards. The user will navigate to some location and use the environment by reading text or observing pictures. Navigation can be divided into independent operations. Thus, in some browsers, the operation and navigation are divided into two parts, so the user can move within the page and stop and operate when needed. In a PC, this is hardly worth considering, and may be emphasized in a mobile device. The user scrolls down, returns back up, selects a link by clicking left or right a few times and then selects a link and then scrolls down more and then starts reading. This becomes difficult due to the screen size.

In current approaches, such as the Nokia WAP browser offered on Nokia9210i, scrolling is not entirely line-by-line. If the user keeps focus on the top or bottom of the screen, the user will notice that the browser can jump two or worse, 1.5 lines, depending on whether the next line is text or a link, and depending on the physical separation between them, leaving part of the text or link visible to the user. Also, when focusing on the top or bottom of the screen, scrolling is not very consistent (browsers sometimes scroll line by line from the top, but from the bottom 1.5 lines of the same page).

In pen-controlled devices, scrolling is achieved using a pen tapping a scroll bar or dragging a page. The operation is achieved by tapping the link on the screen.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide smooth scrolling without any inter-link jump, wherein the user will always know where on the page he is.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a method for browsing text contents arranged in lines and displayed on a screen of an electronic device includes the steps of: highlighting any links displayed in a row in the selected first portion of the screen beginning at the end of the display of the text content displayed on the screen in response to the assertion of the first direction selection signal, wherein the highlighting proceeds link by link from the end of the display toward a center region of the screen, and after the highlighting proceeds to the center region, scrolling the text content line by line in response to the assertion of the first direction signal.

According further to the first aspect of the invention, the method further comprises the step of: in response to a re-confirmation of the first direction selection signal, determining whether an end of a current page containing the portion of text content has been reached, and if so, displaying a continuation of the text content of a next page and repeating one or more of the steps mentioned in the preceding paragraph for the continuation of the text content of the next page.

Still further according to the first aspect of the invention, in addition to the step of displaying the text content of the next page, the method further comprises the steps of: the selected number of lines from the end of the current page is displayed before the text content of the next page, and indicates the point at which the selected number of lines ends and the text content of the next page begins.

Still further according to the first aspect of the invention, the method further comprises the step of: in response to one or more confirmations of the second direction selection signal, the highlighting begins with any links displayed in a row in the selected first portion of the screen that are currently highlighted and proceeds link by link in the second direction from the currently highlighted link toward the end of the display of the displayed text content, before the highlighting proceeds to the center region.

Still further according to the first aspect of the invention, the method further comprises the step of: after proceeding link by link in the second direction, it is determined that the end of the display of the displayed text content is reached or that there are no more links to be highlighted in the second direction, and a continuation of the text content of the previous page is displayed.

Still further according to the first aspect of the invention, the method further comprises repeating the steps of highlighting and scrolling the text content of the previous page.

Still further according to the first aspect of the invention, the method further comprises the step of: in response to assertion of a second direction selection signal indicating a direction opposite to the first direction, the highlighting step is repeated except that link-by-link highlighting is performed in the selected second portion of the screen.

Still further according to the first aspect of the invention, the method further comprises the step of: the scrolling step is repeated except that the line-by-line scrolling is performed in response to the second direction selection signal and with a sense of direction opposite to that of the scrolling step.

Still further according to the first aspect of the invention, the method further comprises the step of displaying a cursor located in a central region of the screen.

According to a second aspect of the invention, an apparatus comprises a user interface comprising a display for browsing text content arranged in lines and displayed on the display; and a signal processor for highlighting any links displayed in a row in the selected first portion of the screen beginning at an end of a display of the text content displayed on the screen in response to an acknowledgement of the first direction selection signal from the input device of the user interface, wherein the highlighting proceeds link by link from the end of the display toward a central region of the screen, wherein the signal processor scrolls the text content line by line in response to a re-acknowledgement of the first direction signal after the highlighting proceeds to the central region.

Still further according to the second aspect of the invention, the signal processor is responsive to a re-confirmation of the first direction selection signal for determining whether an end of a current page containing the portion of text content has been reached and, if so, for displaying a continuation of the text content of a next page.

Still further according to the second aspect of the invention, in addition to the signal processor displaying the text content of the next page, the signal processor is further adapted to display a selected number of lines from an end of the current page before the text content of the next page and to indicate a point at which the selected number of lines end and the text content of the next page begins.

Still further according to the second aspect of the invention, the signal processor is operable to highlight any links displayed in a row in the selected first portion of the screen beginning with the currently highlighted link and proceeding link by link in the second direction from the currently highlighted link towards the end of the display of the displayed textual content in response to one or more confirmations of the second direction selection signal before the highlighting proceeds to the central region.

Still further according to the second aspect of the invention, after proceeding link by link in the second direction, the signal processor is operable to determine that the end of the display of the displayed text content is reached or that there are no more links to be highlighted in the second direction and to display a continuation of the text content of the previous page.

Still further according to the second aspect of the invention, the signal processor repeats the highlighting in response to assertion of a second direction selection signal indicative of a direction opposite to the first direction, except that performing the link-by-link highlighting in the selected second portion of the screen.

According further to the second aspect of the invention, the signal processor is configured to repeat scrolling, except that the line-by-line scrolling is performed in response to the second direction selection signal and with an opposite sense of direction.

Still further according to the second aspect of the invention, the signal processor displays a cursor in a central region of the screen.

According to a third aspect of the invention, a computer program product at least temporarily stored in a computer readable medium embodying a computer program, the program being encoded for performing the above-mentioned steps of highlighting and scrolling according to the first aspect of the invention in an electronic device.

According further to the third aspect of the invention, the computer program comprises a browser storable on a computer readable medium in the electronic device with display and navigation tools for navigating text content arranged in lines and displayed on a display of the electronic device, wherein the browser enables a user to navigate in a downward direction by confirming the downward direction tool and highlighting any links displayed in the lines in the upper half of the screen link by link towards a central area of the screen, wherein after the highlighting proceeds to the central area of the screen, scrolling of the text content starts line by line in response to a user reconfirming the downward direction tool, highlighting the links as they pass the central area.

According still further to the third aspect of the invention, the cursor is located in the middle of the page to help the user recognize where the central region is.

Still further according to the third aspect of the invention, the cursor is a lightly shaded or colored background, an actual representation of the object, or the like.

The desktop browser is compressed into double-click navigation by adding some user-friendly characteristics and intelligence. The link in focus is selected smoothly as the user moves through the document. This helps the user to quickly move to the active link when he or she sees the content of interest. The attention of the user is not influenced when browsing. The present invention provides smooth scrolling, no jump between links, and the user always knows where on the page he is.

When entering a new page: (1) a first link highlighting a page, (2) a subsequent press (long press or short press) by starting to scroll and highlight link by link until a predetermined focus area is reached, such as the middle of the page, (3) there will be a continuous scrolling of the page itself, once per press, scrolling by one line, such as once the middle of the page is reached or once the focus area of the middle area of the page is reached. A long press will cause the page to move continuously in a scrolling manner. In other words, a long press of the navigation key smoothly scrolls the page at a constant speed. During this scrolling of the page, the link is highlighted when it reaches or passes through a focus area, e.g., the middle of the page. It is important to emphasize that there may be some cursor line objects consistently in the middle of the page to help the user know where the center region is. This may be a lightly shaded or colored background or an actual object like a pointer. If the long press of the navigation key stops, scrolling stops and the links within the focus area or the nearest links above or below the focus area may be highlighted. If there are no links on the screen, then nothing is highlighted. Similarly, when pressed short up or down, the page scrolls one row at a time. When there is more than one link in a row, a short press highlights each link, one link after the other, e.g., from left to right.

At the end of the page, that is, when the scroll reaches the end of the page, the links are highlighted link by link. Until there are no more links on the page. Similar for the top and bottom of the page.

From a user experience point of view, a visual indication of the true beginning or end of a text page is very beneficial. When scrolling page by page, parts of the previous line/page become visible and provide a visual signal to avoid confusion and annoyance to the user. The indication immediately informs the user where he stopped and continued reading.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent in light of the following detailed description of the best mode embodiments thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows the highlighted link starting at the top of the new page, with a long press and one press causing the line-by-line highlighting up to the middle of the screen without any scrolling.

Fig. 2 shows that when the highlighted link reaches the middle of the screen, scrolling starts thereafter, and the highlighted area stays in the middle.

Fig. 3 shows that when scrolling again downwards, another link is selected when it moves to the middle of the screen.

Fig. 4(a) shows the start of a new story as displayed on the screen of the device, which screen cannot display the entire story at once.

Fig. 4(b) shows the same screen according to the present invention, except that after jumping to the middle part of the same story, part of the old story still appears at the top of the screen, and the visual marker shows the start of the new page.

Fig. 4(c) shows the last part of the story, after jumping to the third part of the story, as appearing below the bottom of the second half of the story as shown in fig. 4(b) now at the top of the screen of fig. 4(c) also marked with a visual marker for the start of a new page according to the invention.

Fig. 5(a) shows the start of a new story as displayed on the screen of the device, which screen cannot display the entire story at once.

Fig. 5(b) shows the same screen according to the present invention, except that after jumping to the middle part of the same story, part of the old story still appears at the top of the screen, and the visual marker shows the start of the new page.

Fig. 5(c) shows the last part of the story, after jumping to the third part of the story, as appearing below the bottom of the second half of the story as shown in fig. 5(b) now at the top of the screen of fig. 5(c) also marked with a visual marker for the start of a new page according to the invention.

Fig. 6(a) shows the start of a new story as displayed on the screen of the device, which screen cannot display the entire story at once.

Fig. 6(b) shows the same screen according to the present invention, except that after jumping to the middle part of the same story, part of the old story still appears at the top of the screen, and the visual marker shows the start of the new page.

Fig. 6(c) shows the last part of the story, after jumping to the third part of the story, as appearing below the bottom of the second half of the story as shown in fig. 6(b) now at the top of the screen of fig. 6(c) also marked with a visual marker for the start of a new page according to the invention.

Fig. 7(a) shows the start of a new story as displayed on the screen of the device, which screen cannot display the entire story at once.

Fig. 7(b) shows the same screen according to the present invention, except that after jumping to the middle part of the same story, part of the old story still appears at the top of the screen, and the visual marker shows the start of the new page.

Fig. 7(c) shows the last part of the story, after jumping to the third part of the story, as shown below the bottom of the second half of the story in fig. 7(b) now appears at the top of fig. 7(c) also marked with a visual marker for the start of a new page according to the invention.

Fig. 8 shows a portion of a series of steps performed by a signal processor for entering a new page and highlighting links from the top of the new page and causing the highlighting of links row by row, the page being pinned until the mid-screen point is reached, in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates having the cursor in the focus area, e.g., the middle of the page, and from that point, scrolling down the page itself so that the next highlighted link always stands out in the middle of the page until the end of the page is reached. In other words, after the cursor reaches the midpoint, the page begins to move and the link moves past the midpoint of the highlighted link.

Fig. 10 shows a case where the user decides to scroll up after starting to scroll down.

FIG. 11 illustrates a subroutine that determines whether the bottom of the page has been reached and, if so, whether there is a further page down.

FIG. 12 shows the user starting to highlight the topmost link in the upper half of the page by moving the cursor down the page link by link, and then the user decides to change direction and continue up until a new page is reached, after which the routine of FIG. 8 is executed again.

FIG. 13 shows the alternative of FIG. 8 being performed again as shown in the bottom transition of FIG. 12, with the highlighting method shown in FIG. 8 reversed instead, such that the links are highlighted upwards from the bottom of the page until the middle is reached, after which upward scrolling begins.

Fig. 14 is a continuation of fig. 13.

FIG. 15 shows the case where the cursor is at the midpoint of the page after moving the page upward in the alternative of FIG. 13.

FIG. 16 is a continuation of FIG. 15, after moving up to the top of the page, determining if the end of the page has been reached and, if so, if there are more pages.

FIG. 17 shows testing whether the top of the page is reached and, if so, whether there are more pages up.

Fig. 18 shows an apparatus for carrying out the invention.

Detailed Description

FIG. 1 illustrates the first part of the method, when entering a new page, the highlighted line or link starts at the top of the page, i.e., the first line or link ("Send it to after") in the highlighted page. If the links are highlighted, the highlighting will begin with the first link, whether it is on the first, second, third or subsequent row. If there are two links on the same row, one of them, e.g., the leftmost link, may be highlighted first. Thereafter, the user may confirm one press of a navigation key (such as a down button), causing the next link to be highlighted. If there is another link on the same row as the first link, it will be highlighted next. If there is still another highlighted link in the same first row to the right of the second link, it will be highlighted next, and so on. Alternatively, a "right" button may be used for navigating in the same row in a right direction, with the down button being used only for the down direction. Once all of the links in the first row are highlighted, a subsequent press of the down button causes the next link to be highlighted, either in the immediately subsequent row or in a further down row. In other words, a subsequent press of the down button will cause the next topmost link to be highlighted, regardless of how many lines are skipped. By pressing the down button all the way, this process can be done very fast. In other words, a long press may cause many such links to be highlighted, each for a short period of time selected. On the other hand, if a row is highlighted, the highlight is moved row by row without skipping. The selection time may be any selection time, but is preferably a fraction of a second for each row or link. During this time, the page itself is stationary on the screen.

In accordance with the present invention, as long as the user continues to repeatedly press the down button or hold the press for a long period of time, the highlighted line or link begins at the top 102 or page 102 of the screen and jumps from line to line or link to link in a downward manner that continues until the highlighted line or link reaches the middle of the screen or is in the selected focus area 106, e.g., the middle of the screen. There may be a cursor line object, such as the pointer 103 shown in fig. 1, positioned in a stationary manner at the focus area 106 to indicate the marking of the focus area to assist the user. Instead of the arrow 103, the focus area 106 may be slightly shaded or consist of a colored background. This protruding manner is limited to the upper half 105 of the screen 104. The selected focus area 106 or the middle of the screen may be selected to be at the exact center, or to include some number of rows or lines of pixels, plus or minus the exact center, or around the exact center. In any case, once the middle of the screen is reached, then pressing the down button no longer causes the pop-up row or link to continue jumping down. Conversely, when the highlighting activity reaches the middle of the screen, scrolling of the page begins and the highlighting stays in the same central area, i.e., the currently highlighted area stays in the middle area of the screen. This is shown in fig. 2, with the highlighting proceeding from the top 102 of the page shown in fig. 1 to the middle 206 of the page ("jerrysadowitz.. news."). It should therefore be appreciated that the projected rows or links may be implemented line by line, starting at the top of the page and moving toward the middle 106, 206, as shown starting at FIG. 1 and ending at FIG. 2, with each key press moving one row or link by link, depending upon design choice or even user selection. This may be a choice to the user when selecting the browser preference.

As described above, after reaching the middle of the page, continuing to press the down button, i.e., either a continuous long press or a single press, causes the page to scroll down row by row, the pop-up effect stays in the middle and the page starts moving up. When the link moves to the middle of the screen, the link is selected. If there is no link in the middle, there is no prominence. If the rows are highlighted, the highlight stays in the middle area and highlights each row as it scrolls through.

After page scrolling begins, if a link appears in the middle, the link is highlighted. If there is no link, then no link is highlighted. Once the middle of the screen is reached, a subsequent navigation-up key press causes the first, second, etc. links to be selected from the middle of the screen. Selection of the down navigation key causes scrolling of the page. The page is scrolled one row at a time in a downward direction. If there is no link on the page at all, the up and down buttons simply cause scrolling in one direction or the other, one row at a time.

After proceeding from the top 102 of fig. 1, the protrusion 210 of fig. 2 reaches the center of the screen, and a further press of the down navigation button causes the text itself to start scrolling. In other words, before the text and images of FIG. 2 begin to scroll, the user first confirms the down button several times and causes the highlight of FIG. 1 to move progressively downward from the top of the screen for highlighting other links, e.g., "What do you think it so far? "," Spence Brown? "," Paul Zenon? "and finally" Jerry Sadowitz in that fast loss shocker, plus other news. "210. Upon reaching that last mentioned link, pressing the down navigation button again causes the text itself to begin scrolling upward, i.e., the page exposes more text down the bottom of the screen and hides it as the text progresses upward. However, as the user continues to scroll down the page, the highlight stays in the middle area 206. As shown in FIG. 3, as the links in the lower portion of the pages 208, 308 proceed upward, they become prominent as they pass through the middle region 306. For example, when a "zoom:" link passes through the middle region 306 of FIG. 3 during a scroll down operation, the link is highlighted in that region. When the "speok:" link scrolls more upward, it will not be highlighted, and otherwise no highlighting will scroll through the center region 306 without being highlighted. When the row moves up, the next link to be highlighted will be the "yesterday's result" link, and so on. As the user continues to confirm the down navigation button and the page scrolls down accordingly, all of the links shown in the bottom region 308 below the middle screen region 306 of FIG. 3 will eventually be highlighted as they move up.

Web (XHTML/HTML) pages on the internet are mainly used for large displays, and the size of the pages (in bytes) is often much larger compared to pages designed precisely for mobile devices. To display (render) a large XHTML/HTML page to a narrow screen (such as the Opera browser for Nokia 7650, etc.), the content is rendered as a long vertical bar. The overall height of the bar depends on the size of the page (text, pictures, and other objects), but in order to be able to view all of the content in the page, the user must scroll the page up and down several times.

Some XHTML/HTML pages (e.g. news articles, etc.) have a large amount of text and images. When these types of pages are displayed to a narrow screen (such as in a smartphone), the need to scroll the page up and down will increase substantially. Smartphone browsers often scroll content (particularly textual) in a page-by-page fashion. However, it is very common for a page not to scroll completely up or down, but a small number of previously visible pages still appear at the top or bottom of the new page (depending on the direction of scrolling). The design essentially helps the user locate where the previous page ended and from where to continue reading/viewing.

Finding the exact place where the previous page ended and the new page started can be a frustrating and time consuming operation for the user. To avoid this, the exact place where the page changes should be marked with visual clues according to the invention in such a way that the user can immediately locate the right place in the page to continue reading. Fig. 4(a) shows the start of a long story on a small display. Once the reader completes the first three sections, it is necessary to jump to the next page (or next "card" in "deck"). As shown in fig. 4(b), the story continues on the next page, which has several additional paragraphs but also includes the last two lines of text appearing in fig. 4 (a). According to the present invention, the end of the first page or card as shown in FIG. 4(a) is indicated by a visual signal or cue, in which case the underlining effect underlines the last line of text shown in FIG. 4 (a). Once the reader reaches the end of the text shown in fig. 4(b), the implementation jumps to the next page or card displaying several new paragraphs, as shown in fig. 4(c), until the end of the story. Whereas the last line of text appearing in fig. 4(b) also appears at the top of fig. 4(c), the underlined visual signal or clue described above helps the user to immediately orient within the new page or "card" and to locate where the text on the previous page or card ends. By displaying the last line of the previous page or card on top of the new page or card shown in fig. 4(c), underlining indicates where the previous page or card ends.

The same story as shown in fig. 4(a) - (c) is again shown in fig. 5(a) - (c), fig. 6(a) - (c) and fig. 7(a) - (c). In the sequence of fig. 5, the transition from the page or card shown in fig. 5(a) to 5(b) is indicated by the dotted signal line having a small inward arrow at the end of the signal line. This is also shown in fig. 5(c), which shows the same cues or signals. In fig. 6(b) and (c), dotted lines are omitted and only the arrows pointing inward are shown. In fig. 7(b) and (c), the transition from the first to the second page is shown in fig. 7(b), and corresponds to the last two lines of fig. 7(a) by highlighting the upper two lines of fig. 7 (b). Likewise, the last line of the story shown as in the second portion of fig. 7(b) is shown protruding on top of the last or third portion of the story shown in fig. 7 (c).

If there are links that need to be highlighted and happen to be consistent with the technique shown in FIG. 7, different colors or other distinguishing features may be used for highlighting. Alternatively, some other distinguishing feature may be used to distinguish between link highlighting and highlighting for marking page transitions.

As can be seen from the above, using some sort of visual signal or cue, such as the unrestricted form described above, the user can immediately locate the "true" start of a new page, rather than first manually searching for and locating the correct position to continue reading. This would greatly simplify the reading operation. The implementation of the visual cue or signal is a simple matter because the browser (or other text rendering application) already knows where the new page starts.

Also, the present invention is experienced in that smooth scrolling with highlighted navigation as shown in FIGS. 1-3 can be combined with page changes in the markup browser as shown in FIGS. 4-7. This results in a particularly advantageous combination which focuses on solving the problem of maintaining the "focus area" of the user on the page, so he never "gets lost". These two technologies taken together provide the best user experience in browsing any content through smooth and consistent scrolling and visual signals as to where on the page the focus area is always, and the user never "gets confused" or "lost".

Fig. 8-17 illustrate a series of steps that may be performed on a computing device to perform the smooth scrolling with highlighted navigation functionality described above and the page tagging functionality of fig. 4-7. Although the description of fig. 8 to 17 focuses on link-by-link highlighting, it should be appreciated that the same principles apply to line-by-line highlighting. Such computing devices may include a central processing unit, data address and control buses, Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), clocks, input/output ports, and various other devices known in the art of signal processing devices. Such devices may be included in a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, a desktop computer, or any other computing device. However, it is particularly advantageous in mobile devices because of its small size. In case the mobile device is a mobile phone, the device will also comprise a microphone, a loudspeaker, a display, a radio frequency part with an amplifier for amplifying signals received from the antenna and amplifying the signals before they are radiated on such an antenna.

Referring first to FIG. 8, after step 800 is entered, it is determined in step 802 whether a new page appears on the display. If not, return at step 804. If so, it is first determined whether it is a complete continuation of a new page such as that shown in FIG. 4(a) or a previous page such as that shown in FIG. 4 (b). Once this determination is made, the new page is displayed as a full new page or as a continuation page, such as shown in fig. 4(b), which shows a partially old page with an indication of the start point of the new page. If the features of the present invention as described in FIGS. 4-7 are not implemented in a specific embodiment of the present invention, then step 806 will simply display the new page without any visual signal or other indication of the starting point of the new page.

In any case, once the page is displayed, it is then determined whether there are links in the top half of the displayed page at step 808. If so, step 810 is performed for highlighting the top-most link on the page. If there is more than one top-most link, one of them may be highlighted first, such as the left-most, followed by highlighting one link at a time in left-to-right order. It should be understood that the present invention may be practiced using a simple two-button approach or a single rocker arm type button with an upward and downward direction. If two buttons are used, one up and the other down, and most advantageously they are placed next to each other in a vertically oriented direction with respect to the outer part of the device and the screen, the direction in which the buttons are placed is aligned with the direction of scrolling of the page on the display. Similarly, the longitudinal axis of the rocker arm should be aligned with the rolling direction. It should be appreciated that other navigation devices may be used to implement the described functionality.

Once the top-most link is highlighted according to step 810, step 812 is performed to determine whether the user then selects the link, such as using a link selection button, such as an enter button or a mouse click on a cursor. If not, step 814 is next performed to determine whether the user has pressed the down direction button to select the down direction. It should be noted that if it is determined at step 812 that a link is indeed selected, a transition is made from the procedure shown in FIG. 8 to a website or link that may perform other operations not related to the present invention, via step 816. If after completing such an operation, the user wishes to return to the original page, it may return in some non-deterministic manner, as shown by dashed line 818 back to the program of FIG. 8, and then determine whether to select the downward direction at step 814. If so, it is determined at step 820 whether more links remain in the top half of the display screen. If so, the next topmost link is highlighted, as shown in step 822. Step 824 is next performed to determine whether the currently highlighted link is selected. If not, a determination is made at step 826 as to whether the mid-screen point has been reached. If not, step 814 is again performed to see if the downward direction is selected. Steps 820, 822, 824, 826 will then be performed next again as previously described, assuming the same situation, where the user progressively scrolls down in the upper half of the screen by pressing the down direction button long or one click. The alternatives shown by transitions H and V after a negative determination in steps 814 and 820, respectively, will be described later.

Turning now to FIG. 9, after determining that the midpoint of the screen has been reached in step 826 of FIG. 8, step 902 is executed to position the cursor (if one is present) at the midpoint of the page. There is actually no need for a visible cursor, but the effect will be the same, since the focus area will remain in the middle of the page, from that point forward, assuming the user continues to scroll down. If a cursor such as cursor 103 in FIG. 1 is used, it need not appear abruptly at step 902 of FIG. 9, but is always visible in a stationary manner in order to assist the viewer in positioning the central focus area 106 in a stable manner. Referring back to FIG. 9, to determine whether a downward direction is selected, step 904 is performed to ascertain whether a downward direction is selected. If selected, scroll down a line of the page, keeping the cursor at the middle of the page. This effectively means that the page text moves up one line even if the user perceives the page as scrolling down. As the rows move past the midpoint in an upward direction one row at a time, a determination is made for each row as shown in step 908 whether any links are encountered in the row at the midpoint as the row moves past. If not, step 904 is again performed to determine whether a downward direction is selected. On the other hand, if a link is encountered at a midpoint in the operation of step 906, step 908 will make this determination and transition to step 910 for highlighting the encountered link. It is then determined at step 912 whether the user has selected the link by taking some action, such as pressing a select button or clicking with a mouse on the link or other activatable cursor, or selecting the highlighted link by another method. If no link is selected, then step 914 is performed for determining whether a downward direction is selected. If selected, transition C to the series of steps shown in FIG. 10. Referring to FIG. 10, step 1002 is first performed to determine whether the bottom of the page has been reached. If so, step 1004 is performed to determine if there are more pages to display. If not, return at step 1006. If there are more pages, the transition returns to the beginning of FIG. 8 as shown in the transition step. If it is determined in step 1002 that the selection of the downward direction determined in step 914 does not result in reaching the bottom end of the page, the transition returns to FIG. 9 as shown in transition step D, and then step 904 is performed again to determine whether the downward direction is again selected.

Referring back to FIG. 8, assume that in the initial determination of whether a link is highlighted in the upper half of the new page, as determined in step 808, it is determined that there is no such link in the upper half of the page. In this case, as shown in FIG. 8, transitioning to FIG. 9, the cursor is immediately at the midpoint of the page, at least in effect as shown in step 902. As suggested, this need not be the cursor actually being at the midpoint of the page, but rather the function of having the down button have a line-by-line page scrolling function will immediately effect at this point. The steps shown in fig. 9 would be performed directly without having to go through a link that is highlighted to be not present in the upper part of the page. Thus, the remaining steps of FIG. 8 will not be performed for such a page.

Also, still referring to FIG. 8, there must also be a mechanism to always check whether the down direction is selected as shown in step 814, but likewise, if such a determination results in finding that the down button is not selected, a transition is indicated by transition H to the series of steps shown in FIG. 12 for ascertaining whether the up direction is selected.

Referring now to FIG. 12, after transitioning from step 814 of FIG. 8, step 1200 is first performed to determine whether the user has selected the upward direction by depressing the upward direction button. If not, returning immediately through transition G to FIG. 8, step 812 is performed again, resulting in the steps of FIG. 8 being performed again away from the steps of FIG. 12. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 1200 that the user in fact selected the upward direction, step 1202 is performed to determine if an upward link has also been encountered by moving upward in the upper half of the page in an upward direction to any such links that exist. If so, the next link in the upward direction is highlighted, as shown in step 1204. If not, step 1204 is skipped and a determination is made as to whether the top of the page has been reached by the user running out of all available "up" space in step 1206. If so, it is determined whether any more pages remain displayed to the upper page at step 1208. If not, return to step 1210. But if there are more up pages to display, transition back to transition B of fig. 8 through the transition or transition X of the alternative embodiment shown in fig. 13 to the next up page for display. These are alternative ways of displaying the up page and will all be described. It should be noted that if step 1206 utilizes the fact that there is more space available for scrolling in the upward direction, it is determined that the top of the page has not been reached, the transition G returns to fig. 8, step 812 is performed again, and so on.

If the alternative represented by transition B is selected as a design choice or user preference, scrolling up to the new page causes step 802 to be performed again, followed by the other steps shown in FIG. 8, representing that the same kind of solution will be presented to the user for smoothly scrolling the new "up" page with prominent navigation, as described above for the previous "down" page. This means that the first link in the top of a new "up" page will be highlighted, and a subsequent long or short press by the user will cause the highlighting of the links link by link in a downward direction until such highlighting scroll reaches the focus area, e.g. the middle of the page. Thereafter, a long press or a short press continuing in a downward direction will cause continuous scrolling of the page itself, rather than link-by-link highlighting, where the links will highlight themselves as they pass through the center of the page. This is one way of performing the invention after jumping from page to page in the upward direction.

But there is another method as described in connection with fig. 13-18. In this method, once the user chooses to jump up to a new page, in other words back along the way, the link scrolling occurs in the opposite direction, i.e., link by link at the bottom of the page up towards the center of the page, until the cursor reaches the center of the page where it stops. At this point, scrolling up again causes the page itself to scroll up. By moving down the row itself that represents the page up, the reader can therefore access higher rows on the page. This is therefore the mirror that is done when scrolling down to access lower level rows.

Referring now to FIG. 13, which is a transition from transition X (an alternative to transition B) shown at the bottom of FIG. 12, it is determined whether a new page exists at step 1302. If not, the transition is immediately back to FIG. 8 as shown by transition B, followed by step 802. On the other hand, if there is a new page, as determined in step 1302, execution proceeds to step 1304 where the new page showing a portion of the old page is displayed with an indication of the starting point of the new page. In contrast to the highlighting shown in fig. 7(b) or 7(c), the highlighting is shown at the bottom of the page, since the smooth scrolling movement is upward. This will help the reader to re-read where he left off at the bottom of the previous page and quickly decide what to do next. Thereafter, step 1306 is performed to determine if there are links in the lower half of the page. If not, transition R to FIG. 15 immediately places the cursor at the midpoint of the page, but this will be described later. Assuming there are some links in the lower half of the new up page, step 1308 is next executed to highlight the bottommost link on that new up page, as determined in step 1306. It is then determined whether the user selects a link at step 1310. If so, a transition is made to the link as shown in step 1312. Once the user has completed navigating the selected links, return to the sequence of steps shown in FIG. 13 as indicated by transition line 1314. In any event, step 1316 is next performed to determine whether the user has pressed the down button to select the down direction. If so, transition V goes to step 1404 of FIG. 14 and scrolls the page down one line, followed by the remaining steps of FIG. 14, as determined by the user and as described in more detail below. If the downward direction is not selected, as determined in step 1316, execution proceeds to step 1318 to determine if the user has again depressed the up button to again select the upward direction. If not, step 1316 is performed again. If the up is selected as determined in step 1318, step 1320 is performed to determine if there are more links in the lower half of the new up page. If not, transition is made to the later described step of FIG. 15 in transition R. If there are more links in the bottom half, as determined in step 1320, step 1322 is performed for highlighting the bottom-most link, i.e., the next higher link on the new up page. It is then determined whether the user selected the newly highlighted link at step 1324. If so, transition is made to the link URL as shown in step 1326. Once the user returns to the new up page, as indicated by transition 1328, or after determining that the highlighted link was not selected at step 1324, execution proceeds to step 1330 to determine whether the user has pressed the up button to select the up direction. If so, step 1320 is performed again. If not, a transition E2 is made for performing the steps of FIG. 14.

Referring now to FIG. 14, it is first determined at step 1402 whether the user has pressed the down button to select the down direction. If so, this means that before the link selection made upwards goes to the middle of the screen, while still navigating in the lower half of the page, the user changes direction and now decides to highlight the link in the downward direction. This means that the method can return to the method shown in fig. 9, similar to step 906 of fig. 9, etc., rather than highlighting the link to the lower half of the screen, the scrolling page itself is completed. Thus, as shown at step 1404, the page is scrolled down one line in response to the downward direction selection detected in step 1402. On the other hand, it should be appreciated that the downward direction may instead be implemented to enable link selection without scrolling the page. But scrolling the page appears more consistent with previous implementations and more maintains a consistent user interface. Thus, after scrolling down the page by one line at step 1404, step 1406 is performed to determine if any links are encountered while scrolling down the one line at step 1404. If not, transition C to the step of FIG. 10 determines if the bottom of the page is reached and if so, if there are more pages down. On the other hand, if a link is encountered, as determined at step 1406, execution proceeds to step 1408 to highlight the encountered link, followed by step 1410 to determine if the user selects a link. If so, as indicated in step 1412, a link may be transitioned to, and once the user completes the transitioning link in step 1412, as indicated by dashed line 1414, transition C may be returned. If no link is selected, as determined at step 1410, a transition may also be made directly.

Referring back to FIG. 13, while navigating up, if it is determined at step 1320 that there are no more links in the lower half, transition R to the step shown in FIG. 15.

Referring now to FIG. 15, step 1502 is first performed to position the cursor at the midpoint or "focus area" of the new "up" page. As previously described, the cursor position may not be visible to the user in the sense that the cursor is not actually shown. Functionally, however, there will be any link that passes through the midpoint that will get a prominent effect when stopped or passed through the midpoint as the page scrolls. Thus, after positioning the cursor at the midpoint of the page in step 1502, then step 1504 is performed to determine whether the user has pressed the up button to select the up direction. If not, the transition E2 returns to FIG. 14 to execute step 1402 where it is determined whether the down direction button is selected. If it is determined at step 1504 that the upward direction is in fact selected, step 1506 is executed to scroll up the page by one line, with the cursor always at the midpoint. In other words, all rows of the page are moved down one row and a new row is revealed at the top of the page. It is then determined whether any links are encountered while scrolling up a row at step 1508. If not, step 1504 is performed again. If a link is encountered, as determined at step 1508, such as the highlighted link indicated at step 1510, it is next determined at step 1512 whether the user decides to select the newly highlighted link. If so, transition is made to the link to the selection as indicated in step 1514. After going to the link and implementing any operations there to select, the user may return as indicated in transition line 1516. If no link is selected, as determined at step 1512, step 1514 is performed directly to determine if the up direction is selected. If not, the transition E2 returns to FIG. 14 for execution of step 1402 to determine whether the downward direction is selected. If on the other hand it is in fact determined that the upward direction was selected, as determined in step 1514, a transition S is made to the step shown in FIG. 16, where it is determined whether the top of the page has been reached, as indicated by decision step 1602. If not, the transition T returns to FIG. 15 and step 1506 is performed to scroll up the page by one line. If the top of the page is reached, as determined in step 1602, it is determined in step 1604 whether an up page is still available. If not, return is made at step 1606. If so, transition X2 returns to FIG. 13 and step 1304 is performed for displaying a new page.

Referring back to FIG. 9, in a manner similar to that just described for FIG. 16, if it is determined at step 904 that the downward direction is not selected, transition E is made to FIG. 11, and it is determined at step 1102 whether the upward direction is selected. If not, transition D is to step 904 of FIG. 9. If so, the page is scrolled up one line as indicated in step 1104. If during this upward scrolling, a link is encountered in the focus area as determined at step 1106, the link is highlighted as indicated at step 1108. If not, transition F is to FIG. 17, execution of step 1702 ascertains whether the top of the page has been reached. If not, transition is made to step 904 of FIG. 9. If the top of the page is reached, as determined at step 1702, execution of step 1704 ascertains whether there is an up page still present. If not, return as indicated at step 1706. If so, transition B returns to step 802 of FIG. 8. In the alternative, depending on the design or user selection, the transition X2 returns to step 1304 of fig. 13.

Fig. 18 shows a device 1800, which may be a portable device such as a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, or a combination thereof. It will be appreciated that it may also be a desktop computer with similar components, except that it does not have a radio interface 1802. The radio interface 1802 of the apparatus of fig. 18 comprises an antenna 1804 and an output stage 1806 for uplink and an input stage 1808 for downlink, which may be combined together within the radio interface 1802. The antenna may serve both the uplink and downlink stages and may be a duplexer providing for the implementation of this combination. The radio interface is not part of the present invention and therefore will not be described in further detail except to note that it is connected to a signal processor 1810, which signal processor 1810 includes a central processing unit 1812, Random Access Memory (RAM)1814, Read Only Memory (ROM)1816 and input/output (I/O) ports 1818, all of which are connected to a data, address and control (D, A, C) bus 1820. The read only memory 1816 stores a computer program that is encoded according to the flowcharts shown in fig. 8-16. The CPU 1812 accesses the encoded program stored in the ROM 1816 and performs steps using the RAM 1814 to store intermediate results and store information for interfacing with a User Interface (UI) 1822. The UI includes a display 1824, a keypad or keyboard 1826, a microphone 1828, and a speaker 1830. Other user interface components may be included in addition to those shown, or the user interface may include fewer than those shown in FIG. 18, or may be different. The apparatus of figure 18 as a whole interfaces with a network such as the internet, for example via a radio access network connected thereto. As is well known in the art and need not be discussed here. In any case, it should be appreciated that the signal processor 1810, and in particular the ROM 1816, comprises a computer readable medium storing a computer program having a method represented by a series of steps as shown in fig. 8-18 for interfacing with the external environment of the signal processor to be performed by the CPU 1712. Accordingly, the apparatus 1800 of fig. 18 constitutes a means for browsing through text content arranged in lines and displayed on the screen 1824 of the apparatus 1800 in accordance with the invention. The ROM 1816 makes use of stored computer programs and/or data structures thereof to configure means for highlighting any links displayed in a row in the top of the screen beginning at the end of the text content on the screen in response to the assertion of an up or down selection signal, with the highlighting proceeding link by link from the end of the display towards the central region of the screen. After the highlighting has proceeded to the center region, the text content is scrolled line-by-line instead of link-by-link in response to reconfirmation of the down direction signal. Also, the computer programs themselves may be considered as data structures, as shown in FIGS. 8-18, for storage in the ROM 1816 of FIG. 18, so that the CPU 1816 may access the data structures in a manner well known to those skilled in the programming arts.

In addition to the salient aspects described above, the computer program stored in ROM 1816 of fig. 18 is also capable of determining whether the end of the current page containing the portion of text content displayed on the screen has been reached in response to a reconfirmation of a down direction signal, and if so, displaying a continuation of the text content of the next page and repeating one or more of the bottom rows of the previous page on the next page. This helps the user to immediately determine where to start reading again when the position where the user stopped at the bottom of the previous page is still visible, and is explained in more detail in connection with fig. 4-7. It will also be apparent that other features described above in the methods disclosed in fig. 8-18 are also encoded according to the computer programming language in the ROM 1816 of fig. 18 and executed by the signal processor 1810 using the CPU 1812, RAM 1814 and I/O1818 and user interface 1822 and perhaps radio interface 1802, if applicable.

Although the invention has been shown and described with respect to the best mode embodiments thereof, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes, omissions and additions in the form and detail thereof may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (20)

1. Method for browsing text content arranged in lines and displayed on a screen of an electronic device, comprising the steps of:

in response to a confirmation (814) of a signal selecting a first direction, highlighting (810, 822) any links in the row in a first portion (105) of the text content starting at a beginning (102) of the first portion of the text content, wherein the highlighting proceeds link-by-link from the beginning towards a central area (106) of the screen, and

after said highlighting is performed (a) to said central region, scrolling (906) said text content line by line in a second direction opposite to said first direction in response to re-confirmation of said signal selecting said first direction to highlight any links displayed in said lines in a second portion of said text content.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

in response to said reconfirmation of said signal for selecting said first direction, determining (1002) whether an end of a current page containing a portion of said text content has been reached, and if so,

displaying (1004, B) a continuation of the text content of a next page and repeating one or more of the steps of claim 1 for the continuation of the text content of the next page.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein in addition to the step of displaying the text content of the next page, the method further comprises the steps of:

displaying a selected number of lines from the end of the current page before the text content of the next page, an

Indicating a point at which the selected number of lines ends and the text content of the next page begins.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

in response to one or more confirmations of a signal selecting a second direction, highlighting any links displayed in the row of the first portion of the text content beginning with a currently highlighted link and proceeding chain-by-chain from the currently highlighted link toward the beginning of the first portion of the text content in the second direction before the highlighting proceeds to the center region.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the steps of:

after proceeding chain-by-chain in the second direction, determining that the beginning of the first portion of the text content has been reached or that there are no more links to be highlighted in the second direction, and

a continuation of the text content of a previous page is displayed (1210; B, 802; X, 1302).

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising repeating (B) one or more steps of claim 1 with the text content of the previous page.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the text content is displayed at a top of a screen and the second portion of the text content is displayed at a bottom of the screen, the highlighting one by one link being performed in the first portion of the text content in response to a confirmation of a signal selecting a downward direction, and wherein the second portion of the text content is scrolled line by line in an upward direction in response to a reconfirmation of the signal selecting the downward direction.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the text content is displayed at a bottom of a screen and the second portion of the text content is displayed at a top of a screen, the highlighting being performed link-by-link in the first portion of the text content in response to a confirmation of a signal selecting an upward direction, and wherein the second portion of the text content scrolls line-by-line in a downward direction in response to a reconfirmation of the signal selecting the upward direction.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying a cursor (103) located in the central region of the screen.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of highlighting the link as it scrolls through a center area.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

a user interface including a screen for browsing text contents arranged in lines and displayed on the screen; and

a signal processor responsive to a confirmation from an input means of the user interface of a signal selecting a first direction for highlighting any links displayed in the row in a first portion (105) of the text content starting at a beginning (102) of the first portion of the text content, wherein the highlighting proceeds link by link from the beginning towards a central area (106) of the screen,

wherein, after said highlighting (A) to said central region, said signal processor is responsive to a re-confirmation of said signal selecting said first direction for scrolling (906) said text content line by line in a second direction opposite to said first direction to highlight any links displayed in said lines in said second portion of said text content.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said signal processor is configured to determine, in response to said reconfirming of said signal selecting said first direction, whether an end of a current page containing a portion of said text content has been reached, and if so, to display (1004, B) on a screen a continuation of said text content of a next page.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the signal processor is further configured to display a selected number of lines from the end of the current page before the text content of the next page and indicate a point at which the selected number of lines end and the text content of the next page begins.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein, in response to one or more confirmations of a signal selecting a second direction before the highlighting is performed to the central region, the signal processor is for highlighting any links displayed in the row in the first portion of the text content beginning with a currently highlighted link, and for performing link-by-link from the currently highlighted link toward the beginning of the first portion of the text content in the second direction.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein after proceeding chain-by-chain in a second direction, the signal processor is for determining that the beginning of the first portion of the text content has been reached or that there are no more links to be highlighted in the second direction, and for displaying (1210; B, 802; X, 1302) a continuation of the text content of a previous page.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said first portion of said text content is displayed at a top of a screen and said second portion of said text content is displayed at a bottom of a screen, and wherein, in response to a confirmation of a signal selecting a downward direction, said signal processor repeats said link-by-link highlighting in said first portion of said text content, and in response to a reconfirmation of said signal selecting said downward direction, said signal processor scrolls said second portion of said text content line-by-line in an upward direction.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first portion of the text content is displayed at a bottom of a screen and the second portion of the text content is displayed at a top of the screen, and wherein, in response to a confirmation of a signal selecting an upward direction, the signal processor repeats the link-by-link highlighting in the first portion of the text content, and in response to a re-confirmation of the signal selecting the upward direction, the signal processor scrolls the second portion of the text content line-by-line in a downward direction.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the signal processor is further configured to display a cursor in a center region of the screen.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the link is highlighted when the link scrolls through a center area.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a radio interface connected to the signal processor for communicating over a radio link to obtain the textual content.