A hand held electronic device having at least two displays is disclosed. At least
one display is a direct-view display, like those on most cell phones or PDAs in
use in 2001, for viewing at normal reading distance of approximately 12 to 24 inches
("arms'-length" viewing). At least one of the other displays is a microdisplay,
a tiny display with magnifying optical elements, for viewing larger, higher-resolution
images when the microdisplay is positioned close to the eye. The invention allows
coordinating microdisplays and direct-view displays in ways that allow people to
comfortably access and interact with full-page Web content on pocket-size devices.
When a user is viewing a Web page (or other content) on a device's microdisplay
held near-to-eye, the device allows the user to position a cursor or a rectangular
outline (or some other indication of a "region of interest") on a particular part
of the Web page, and then when the user moves the device out to arms'-length viewing,
the user should be able to view that region of interest on the direct-view display—that
is, view a subset of the larger image that appeared on the microdisplay.