Magnification methods, systems, and computer program products for virtual three-dimensional books

A system for displaying images of a virtual three-dimensional book having one or more virtual pages, the system comprising:

• a display system capable of executing a display program,
• wherein images of the virtual three-dimensional book are produced on the display system, and
• wherein, with respect to a partial page display, a tilting function is provided to rotate a virtual page in three-dimensional space about a central axis of the virtual page to accommodate viewing of a full page view of all information on the virtual page that is associated with the partial page information initially displayed, the tilting function being executed via user input that causes information previously unseen via the partial page display to be tilted forward in virtual three-dimensional space and thereby become readable to the user.

A computer program product comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for producing images of a virtual three-dimensional book having one or more virtual pages on a display device, the computer readable code comprising:
• a magnification function for dividing a virtual page into a plurality of rectangular sections,
• wherein the magnification function comprises a piecewise step function along one or more of a horizontal or vertical axis of the virtual page, such that at least one magnified region of the page is directly magnified, while one or more regions vertically adjacent the magnified region are directly magnified in a horizontal direction but demagnified in a vertical direction, and one or more regions horizontally adjacent the magnified region are directly magnified at the same magnification level of the magnified region in a vertical direction, but demagnified in a horizontal direction.

A computer program product comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for producing images of a virtual three-dimensional book having one or more virtual pages on a display device, the computer readable code comprising:
• with respect to a partial page display, a tilting function that rotates a virtual page in three-dimensional space about a central axis of the virtual page to accommodate viewing of a full page view of all information on the virtual page that is associated with the partial page information initially displayed, the tilting function being executed via user input that causes information previously unseen via the partial page display to be tilted forward in virtual three-dimensional space and thereby become readable to the user.