Abstract:
A page processing method for an electronic reader including a touch screen is provided. The method comprising: displaying a page of a selected file on the touch screen in response to a user&#39;s operation; detecting a touch on the displayed page, and generating a signal associated therewith; determining whether the touch of the user is an earmark gesture according to the signal; adding an earmark to the displayed page if the touch of the user is an earmark gesture; displaying the earmarked page on the touch screen; gathering all the earmarked pages and generating an index file containing the earmarked pages; and storing the index file. An electronic reader using the page processing method is also provided.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    1. Technical Field 
         [0002]    The present disclosure relates to electronic readers and page processing methods thereof, and particularly, to an electronic reader with a touch screen and a page processing method thereof. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    Many electronic devices provide text display functions (hereinafter electronic readers), e.g., mobile phones, digital photo frames, and e-book readers, are capable of storing and displaying electronic documents for users to read. During reading, the user may wish to mark pages containing favorite and/or important contents for later/future reviewing. However, the user cannot add marks on each chosen pages and store them for quick retrieval in the future, which is a shortcoming. 
         [0005]    Therefore, what is needed is an electronic reader and a page processing method thereof to alleviate the limitations described above. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0006]    The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of an electronic reader and a page processing method thereof. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding sections throughout the several views. 
           [0007]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an electronic reader in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. 
           [0008]      FIGS. 2-4  are schematic diagrams showing a plurality of user interfaces of the electronic reader of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0009]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart of a page processing method for electronic readers, such as the one of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with the exemplary embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0010]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , an electronic reader  100  is disclosed as an exemplary embodiment. The electronic reader  100  adds an earmark on each of the pages selected by a user in response to the user&#39;s operation, and stores the selected pages. The electronic reader  100  is an electronic-book reader. In alternative embodiments, the electronic reader  100  can be other electronic readers with touch screens, such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a digital photo frame or the like. 
         [0011]    The electronic reader  100  includes a storage unit  10 , an input unit  20 , and a processor  30 . The storage unit  10  stores a number of electronic files. 
         [0012]    The input unit  20  is configured for generating signals in response to user inputs. The input unit  20  includes a number of mechanical keys  21  and a touch screen  22 . When depressed by the user, the mechanical key  21  generates signals such as operation signals for powering on/off the electronic reader and flipping pages etc. The touch screen  22  generates signals for opening an electronic file, adding earmarks on the displayed page, flipping pages and panning the displayed page etc., in response to the user&#39;s touches thereon. 
         [0013]    The processor  30  includes a gesture identifying module  31 , a page processing module  32 , and a display control module  33 . 
         [0014]    After the electronic reader  100  is powered on and the touch screen  22  displays a page according to the user&#39;s operation, the user may touch the touch screen  22 . The gesture identifying module  31  determines whether any touch on the touch screen  22  is an earmark gesture according to the signals from the touch screen  22 , and, if it is, transmits the result to the page processing module  32 . In the embodiment, when the user traces an “L” which begins at one of the vertexes of the four corners of the touch screen  22 , and stops at one of the two boundary lines of the touch screen  22  which form the starting vertex, the gesture identifying module  31  determines that the touch operation is an earmark gesture. That is, an earmark gesture is a trace in the shape of an “L” having a starting point at one of the vertexes of the four corners of the touch screen  22  and an end point on one of the two boundary lines together forming the starting vertex. 
         [0015]    In this embodiment, the end point of the trace “L” can be any point on one of the two boundary lines forming the starting vertex and close to the starting point.  FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram, showing the user touch at the starting point S of the upper right corner of the touch screen, and sliding to the ends E 1 , E 2 , E 3 , and E 4  to create earmarks. To reduce the possibility of a failure to recognize the earmark operation, in this embodiment, when the angle within the traced “L” falls between the range of 30 degrees and 150 degrees, the gesture identifying module  31  determines that the touch operation is an earmark gesture. In an alternative embodiment, the traced “L” can be determined to be an earmark gesture having any angle less than 180 degrees within the traced letter “L”. 
         [0016]    The page processing module  32  is configured to process the displayed page on the touch screen  22  according to the transmission from the gesture identifying module  31 . In the embodiment, the page processing module  32  adds an earmark on the displayed page when the gesture identifying module  31  determines that the touch operation of the user is in fact an earmark gesture. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the earmark added on the displayed page by the page processing module  32  is the shape or symbol of a triangle Z. The triangle Z resembles a folded corner of the displayed page. The triangle Z is shown on the page simulating a real folded corner. In another embodiment, the added earmark is a curved figure simulating a paper flipping effect. 
         [0017]    The display control module  33  controls the display of the earmarked page (i.e., the page to which earmark added) on the touch screen  22 . Thus, referring to  FIG. 3 , an earmarked page is vividly displayed to the user. 
         [0018]    The electronic reader  100  further includes a buffer  40  configured for temporarily storing all earmarked pages. 
         [0019]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , the processor  30  further includes a gathering module  34 . When the file being read by the user is closed, the gathering module  34  gathers the earmarked pages stored in the buffer  40 , generates an index file  340  containing the earmarked pages, and stores the index file  340  in the storage unit  10 . In this embodiment, the gathering module  34  retrieves the page number of each earmarked page and retrieves portions of the content of each earmarked page according to a predetermined rule as hereinafter defined, repaginates the retrieved pages according to the page numbers, generates an index file  340  containing the earmarked pages, and stores the index file  340  in the storage unit  10 . The predetermined rule hereinbefore mentioned can be retrieving the first sentence/paragraph of each of the earmarked pages, or retrieving the contents of a predetermined number of lines of the earmarked pages, eg lines  2 - 3 . 
         [0020]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , the index file  340  includes the indexes  302  of each of the earmarked pages and a number of icons  301  corresponding to each of the indexes  302 . Each of the indexes  302  includes the page number of the earmarked page and the first sentence of the earmarked page. 
         [0021]    In this embodiment, the touch screen  22  further generates other signals in response to the touches of the user. The gesture identifying module  31  further identifies the operations of the user according to the generated signals, and the display control module  33  further controls the touch screen  22  to display the content corresponding to the operations identified by the identifying module  31 . For example, referring to  FIG. 4 , when the user wishes to review the earmarked pages, the user accesses the index file  340  of the file A via the touch screen  22 . If the user touches the icon for page  26  displayed on the touch screen  22 , the gesture identifying module  31  identifies the user&#39;s selection operation, then the display control module  33  displays a black spot inside the icon  301 . If the user further double-clicks the selected index, the display control module  33  displays the whole of the earmarked page. 
         [0022]    Referring to  FIG. 5 , a flowchart of a page processing method of the electronic reader  100  of  FIG. 1  is shown. The method includes the following steps, each of which is related to the various components contained in the electronic reader  100 . First, the user has activated the text display function of the electronic reader  100 . 
         [0023]    In step S 51 , the display control module  33  displays a page of a selected file on the touch screen  22  in response to the user&#39;s operation. 
         [0024]    In step S 52 , the touch screen  22  detects a touch on the displayed page, and generates a signal associated therewith. 
         [0025]    In step S 53 , the gesture identifying module  31  determines whether the touch operation of the user is an earmark gesture according to the signal, if yes, the process goes to step S 54 , otherwise, the process goes back to step S 52 . In the embodiment, when the fingertip of the user traces the shape of the letter “L” on the screen, which begins at one of the vertexes of the four corners of the touch screen  22 , and stops at one of the two boundary lines of the touch screen  22  which form the starting vertex, the gesture identifying module  31  determines that the touch operation is an earmark gesture. That is, an earmark gesture is an “L” traced on the touch screen  22  having a starting point at one of the vertexes of the four corners of the touch screen  22  and an ending point on one of the two boundary lines together forming the starting vertex. 
         [0026]    In step S 54 , the page processing module  32  adds an earmark to the displayed page. In this embodiment, the earmark added by the page processing module  32  is represented by a triangle Z. The triangle Z looks like a folded corner of the displayed page. The triangle Z is shown on the page simulating a folded corner of a page. In another embodiment, the added earmark is a curved figure simulating a page flipping effect. 
         [0027]    In step S 55 , the page processing module  32  stores the earmarked page in the buffer  40 . 
         [0028]    In step S 56 , the processor  30  determines when the selected file is closed, if yes, the process goes to step S 57 , the process remains in S 52  until the selected file is closed. 
         [0029]    In step S 57 , the gathering module  34  gathers all the earmarked pages stored in the buffer  40 , generates an index file  340  containing the earmarked pages, and stores the index file  340  in the storage unit  10 . In this embodiment, the gathering module  34  retrieves the page number of each earmarked page and retrieves portions of the content of each earmarked page according to a predetermined rule as hereinafter defined, repaginates the retrieved page numbers and the retrieved content according to the page number, generates an index file  340 , and stores the index file  340  in the storage unit  10 . The predetermined rule hereinbefore mentioned can be retrieving the first sentence/paragraph of each of the earmarked pages, or retrieving the contents of a predetermined number of lines of the earmarked pages, eg lines  2 - 3 . 
         [0030]    Although the present disclosure has been specifically described on the basis of the embodiments thereof, the disclosure is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various changes or modifications may be made to the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the disclosure.