Reading and information enhancement system and method

摘要

A written document (hereinafter referred to as a “work,” on electronic format which includes, stories, novels, education texts, biographies, compilations, collections, anthologies, tracts, and any other traditional format for relatively extensive texts) provides access to reference, bibliography and/or definition material through an electronic software capability associated with the work. Depending upon reader access information or characteristics (e.g., age, grade, proficiency, or position within the work or any other identifiable reader characteristic or access limitation), any request for reference material, definitions, explanations, translations, or other material provided in the associated software capability is automatically limited by system acknowledgement of the reader access information or characteristics. As the reader's access information or characteristics change, the quality and/or quantity and/or format of requested information with respect to a work changes.

主权项

1. A method of operating a reading device having a viewer screen, a processor, and a memory, for accessing information relevant to an electronic text, comprising:
storing, in the memory, the electronic text and a reference system having a plurality of data entries for selected words or terms in the electronic text, each one of the selected words or terms has its own location located in the electronic text, and each one of the selected words or terms is associated with a data entry in the reference system, wherein the data entry is defined corresponding to the location of the selected word or term in the electronic text; responsive to an identification of a selected word or term in the electronic text on the viewer screen of the reading device, accessing by the processor a corresponding data entry for just the location of the identified selected word or term located in the electronic text but not accessing data entries for the same selected word or term at one or more other locations in the electronic text, through an association between the identified selected word or term at the location in the electronic text and the data entry in the reference system for the identified selected word or term; and displaying on the viewer screen the data entry for the identified selected word or term; whereby information relevant to the electronic text is accessed.