電子書閱讀器的效能評估及使用者經驗

Abstract

電子書是行動網路上一個快速發展的服務，使用者可以利用專用的電子書閱讀器或智慧手機上的電子書閱讀軟體來閱讀電子書。多元化的功能和快速的反應是電子書閱讀器必備的條件。本論文探討基於使用者體驗的電子書閱讀器效能評估方法。這個方法包含特性和功能面的分析以及電子書閱讀器分階段的效能評估。此外我們在交通大學進行意見調查，收集學生們對於電子書閱讀器的使用心得。我們發現，電子書的載入時間是一個關鍵的考量，尤其是對於擁有數位版權管理（Digital Right Management ; DRM）保護的電子書。為了減少載入時間，我們提出一個預載方法，它會在緩衝器內預載少量章節。這個方法可以改善使用者體驗並且仍然確保電子書的必要保護。

Electronic-book, e-book, is a fast growing service for mobile Internet. A user reads e-books through an e-book reader, e-reader, which can be a dedicated reading device or an application on a smart-phone. A key criterion for e-reader design is to provide good user experience, which means rich features and fast access time. This thesis presents an evaluation method of e-readers regarding the user experience. This method includes a feature and functionality analysis and a detailed performance evaluation of tested e-readers. Moreover, surveys are conducted among NCTU students to collect their opinions and feedback about their e-reading experience. One of the main findings is that the loading time is a critical issue especially for Digital Right Management (DRM) protected e-books. To reduce the waiting time, we propose a preloading mechanism that preloads a small number of chapters into the buffer. The mechanism can improve the user experience and still assure the required protection level for the e-book.