As all ereader users know, any sort of page flipping beyond the simple one page forward, one page backwards, is a real pain on an ereader and at the best, very clumsy.  In fact it is the major area in which paper books are still way ahead of ebooks from the user friendly point of view.

But this may be about to change.

A bunch of guys at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have come up with a very complete new system to allow us to  move around in our ebooks with the same ease we can do this  with our paper books.  They have given it the far from romantic name of Smart E-book System – but I suppose to expect them to come up with a riveting name for their splendid invention is perhaps unreasonable, they are academics after all – A group not known for their zingey use of words.

Wiggle your fingers and it all happens:

Basically what this system will offer us is the possibility to navigate through an ebook in a variety of ways, merely by using various single and multiple finger swipes, much as we already do with all touch screen devices.  But these guys have taken it a step further, and made a number of the “swipes” start from the bezel around the screen… Not sure how they have achieve this with software rather than hardware, but achieve it they have, as you will see in the video they have made to show off this system to the world.

Currently it only exists in their labs, and the iPads they have used to test the system.  I gather they hope to sell it to Apple, or at least get it included in the Apple accepted Apps, so people can enjoy this useful system on their iPads.  But in fact I gather it could work on just about any platform, from Smart Phones through PCs to tables and iPads..

Provided, of course, that they have touch screens.

Here is the video showing you how it all works:

I am sorry about all the mildly pornographic Youtube links at the end of this video, I don’t know how to get rid of them

Professor Howon Lee from the IT Convergence Research Institute has this to say about their idea:

“……….allows users of smartphones and tablet PCs to effortlessly flip through the pages of an e-book or cross-reference its contents, just as they would with paper-based books and magazines”.

He goes on to say:

Unlike conventional displays and user interface technologies, where users’ finger movements are locked within the screen of display, the Smart E-book System recognizes finger touches made beyond the screen.

In other words, this algorithm-based conversion technology detects “touch and entry events” on the bezel (circumference) of smartphones and tablet PCs and connects them with the “events” occurring within the screen, thereby preserving compatibility with traditional e-book interfaces while providing users with new functions. Therefore, users can readily flip the pages of an e-book from the start-up screen without entering any function keys or touching the screen.

Skimming through the pages of a book, a feature that was previously unavailable with e-books, is also possible through 3D rendering of the contents on the pages being flipped. A bookmark function allows users to conveniently go back and forth between pages of interest. In addition, the system has a “multi-touch” function as well as a smart capability of recognizing dragging time, finger pressure, and finger gestures.

So, there you have it, a new age is about to dawn in ebook navigation it seems, or at least that is what this group of Koreans hope, and so do I, as it happens.

Source: KAIST

Share with us:

How does this idea grab you?   Seem like a sensible and useful application for your ereading pleasure, or simply another unnecessarily complex idea?