As far as media delivery goes, e-books are pretty flat. You begetthe book and maybe some notes or background entropyfrom the publisher, and that’s pretty much it.
That’s not good enough for Amazon. The orderwas just awarded a patent, which it originally applied for on November 24, 2010, describing a way to resurrectyour electronic reading experience with muchpersonalized surfeit— not just from publishers, but from your friends as well.
The online retailer was granted a patent today outlining a “Customized Electronic Book with Supplemental Content” (Patent #8478662). It describes a way to enhance Kindle e-books by tacking on supplemental strongprovided by publishers or reputable sources. The e-books would be personalized by adding superfluouscontent within the specific interests of individual readers, or ratifiertypes. So, you could be reading A Game of Thrones and an additivestory line or illustration (for example, a map) could be accessed from within the book, sort of like a DVD extra.
The sparematerial could come from the publisher, or from “trusted contributors.” For example, a book that has beenmakeinto a TV series or movie could requireadditional story lines from those mediums, and this would allow the rights-holder to resumethem to the book. And while bufffiction writers would have a field day adding additional story to their favorite books, readers will only see suggestions about(predicate)that additional content if they follow the creator of the extra real(a)— either as an Amazon author or contributor, via a friend relationship on social media, or if the reader has expressed interest in similar content created by similar contributors.
In other words, you’re not going to be served hit-or-missBrony fan fiction in your copy of Black Beauty. Unless you’re depressedwith that.
Contributors could enhance your e-book.
Image: USPTO
Image: USPTOFan-fic aside, this could be a great way for educators to add additional content to texts. A teacher could annotate an deputebit ofschoolbookreading or aobjet d'artof literature with notes that their entire class can access. Or, an expert in a field of study could add notes to a textbook that puts the material in a new perspective.
Image: USPTO
The patent outlines a way to manage this extra content via a multi-level e-book fashion modelto be built by Amazon. The core content would dieon one portion of the framework while auxiliarycontent would be added to other portions. Only the extra content relevant to your interests would be delivered to your copy of the e-book.
According to the patent, “content providers are looking for shipwayto enhance an individual’s experience when reading a media item.” If this is true, be on the lookout for enhanced e-books in the future from Amazon’s Kindle store.
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Materials taken from WIRED
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