Amazon Technologies, Inc.

John Lattyak

Thomas A Ryan

Robert Lovejoy Goodwin

James C Slezak

Beryl Tomay

Michael V Rykov

Aviram Zagorie

Richard Moore

Girish Bansilal Bajaj

Kevin R Cheung

Thomas M J Fruchterman

Kenneth Paul Kiraly

Gregg Elliott Zehr

Jeffrey P Bezos

Ian W Freed

Amit D Agarwal

John T Kim

Laurent An Minh Nguyen

Steven Kessel

Howard Wolfish

Guy A Story, Jr

Subram (Narsi) Narasimhan

Jon Saxton

Hilliard Bruce Siegel

Robert Wai-Chi Chu

Lawrence Arnold Lynch-Freshner

Nanyan Nicholls

Nanyan Li

James R Retzlaff, Ii

James R Reztlaff, Ii

Craig S Griffin

Steven K Moy

James R Reztlaff

Bradley Jeffery Behm

Guy Ashley Story, Jr

Subram Narasimhan

Richard L Moore

Brandon John Smith

Ajay M Desai

Brent Eric Wood

Steven K Weiss

Christopher Thomas Hull

Girish Bajaj

Tim Tan

Thomas M Fruchterman

Neil C Roseman

Xiaotian Guo

Hilliard B Siegel

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to the sharing of synchronization information corresponding to content among devices in a communication network. An originating device collects synchronization information related to the presentation of content to a user via the originating device. The synchronization information is defined according to reference points related to the presentation of the content to the user via the originating device, including a current state of the presentation of the content and/or additional information obtained during the presentation of the content. Based on detection of a synchronization event, the originating device transmits the collected synchronization information, resulting in the receipt of the synchronization information by one or more receiving devices. Thereafter, the presentation of the content to the user on one of the receiving devices can incorporate the synchronization information collected and transmitted by the originating device.

Synchronization of digital content

A digital work may be annotated using an eBook reader device. Upon receiving an annotation relating to a specific portion of the digital work, an invariant location reference identifier corresponding to the specified portion of the digital work may be appended to the annotation. The annotation may then be stored in association with the digital work for later reference. In some instances, an annotation may be presented on an eBook reader device upon receipt of a valid authorization credential granting access to the annotation.

Providing annotations of a digital work

An item-providing system supplies items to a user device for consumption at the user device via communication infrastructure. The device may correspond to a book reader device or other type of device. The item-providing system uses a content delivery module to deliver the items to the user device.

Delivery of items for consumption by a user device

An electronic service provides an electronic catalog to a user. The electronic catalog can include a plurality of descriptions of items. The electronic catalog can also include a plurality of prompts which allow the user to acquire the items described in the electronic catalog. The items in the electronic catalog can be determined by static and/or dynamic considerations.

Acquisition of an item based on a catalog presentation of items

A user's progress through a digital work may be presented using a progress gauge. One or more content dividers may be presented dividing the progress gauge into segments. Each segment of the progress gauge may correspond to a section of the digital work, and may visually represent an amount of content in the corresponding section of the digital work, relative to other sections of the digital work. A collection of digital works available for access by a computing device may be displayed. A progress gauge may be presented in association with one or more of the digital works in the collection of available digital works.

Relative progress and event indicators

An item-providing system supplies items to a user device for consumption at the user device via communication infrastructure. The device may correspond to a book reader device or other type of device. In one illustrative case, the item-providing system and the user device include functionality for providing upgrade-related items to the user device in a transparent manner. The item-providing system and the user device also include testing functionality.

Administrative tasks in a media consumption system

A method of presenting a digital work includes displaying a portion of the digital work on a display screen under a set of display conditions, and providing one or more invariant location reference identifiers corresponding to the portion of the digital work on the display screen. The invariant location reference identifiers are separate from the digital work, and each invariant location reference identifier is provided along with the corresponding portion of the digital work, regardless of the display conditions under which the portion of the digital work is displayed.

Invariant referencing in digital works

Electronic items may be searched using search indices. A user device may determine a manner in which to obtain a search index for an electronic item from among multiple possible manners of obtaining the search index, and the search index may be obtained in the determined manner. Verification may also be performed to determine if electronic items stored in memory of the user device have changed.

Obtaining and verifying search indices

A method for providing text to speech from digital content in an electronic device is described. Digital content including a plurality of words and a pronunciation database is received. Pronunciation instructions are determined for the word using the digital content. Audio or speech is played for the word using the pronunciation instructions. As a result, the method provides text to speech on the electronic device based on the digital content.

Providing text to speech from digital content on an electronic device

Search may be performed on a user device, such as a handheld electronic book reader device. A search query term may be received. Text of a collection of electronic items stored in memory of the user device may be searched, using an item index and/or a master index, for the queried term. Search results may be returned identifying locations in the electronic items at which the queried term appears.

Search and indexing on a user device

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Los Gatos, CA, United States of America

John Lattyak