Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-16
2001-02-27
Hong, Stephen S. (Department: 2776)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06195667
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a distribution system of digital contents, i.e., digitally encoded published materials. More particularly, the invention relates to a method for on-line controlling and updating a dynamic menu sent from a virtual bookstore to an electronic book.
2. Description of Related Art
Advances in computer and communication technology have provided to the consumers a convenient and economical means to access information in a variety of media. One particular area of information access is the electronic books. An electronic book is a viewing device that receives printed materials in the form of digital data downloaded from an information network. A user of an electronic book can read downloaded contents of books and printed materials subscribed from a participating bookstore at his or her own convenience without the need to purchase the printed copies of the books.
The World Wide Web (WWW) has now become a popular means for publishing printed materials in the open network domain. The WWW refers to the abstract cyberspace of information which is transmitted over the physical networks, such as the Internet. The WWW publishing works under a client-server model. A Web server is a program running on a server to serve documents to other computers or devices that send requests for the documents. A Web client is a program that lets the user request documents from a server. To facilitate the downloading of printed materials, the contents of these documents are typically created in a form compatible with network transmission format. The documents sent by the server are in a hypertext language format. A popular hypertext language is the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) which is a fairly limited formatting language.
To better serve the user, the server may want to display a dynamic menu on the viewing device when the viewing device is on-line. It is desirable that the user of the viewing device be able to select an item from this dynamic menu and that such selection would activate a dynamic action.
Therefore, there is a need for a method to display and update a dynamic menu on the display screen of a viewing device when it is on-line with a server.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a method for on-line displaying and updating a dynamic menu included in a page requested by a viewing device from a server. The dynamic menu has at least one item. The viewing device has a display screen and a menu function key for displaying a default menu when the viewing device is off-line. The method includes the following steps: (a) sending the page to the viewing device as a hypertext language code, the hypertext language code including a menu tag which specifies the dynamic menu; (b) receiving the page at the viewing device; (c) parsing the hypertext language code to identify the menu tag; (d) displaying the page on the display screen; (e) displaying the dynamic menu on the display screen when the menu function key is activated; and (f) performing a dynamic action when one item of the dynamic menu is selected by an action of a user of the viewing device.
The method further includes the steps of releasing the dynamic menu from the display screen if the page is dismissed by the user of the viewing device; and releasing the dynamic menu from the display screen if the dynamic action dismisses the dynamic menu.
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Conboy Garth
Duga Brady
Leshner William S.
Novicov Aleksey
Sachs James
Hong Stephen S.
SoftBook Press, Inc.
Townsend and Townsend / and Crew LLP
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