Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F15/00—Digital computers in general; Data processing equipment in general
  • G06F15/02—Digital computers in general; Data processing equipment in general manually operated with input through keyboard and computation using a built-in program, e.g. pocket calculators
  • G06F15/025—Digital computers in general; Data processing equipment in general manually operated with input through keyboard and computation using a built-in program, e.g. pocket calculators adapted to a specific application
  • G06F15/0291—Digital computers in general; Data processing equipment in general manually operated with input through keyboard and computation using a built-in program, e.g. pocket calculators adapted to a specific application for reading, e.g. e-books
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F15/00—Digital computers in general; Data processing equipment in general
  • G06F15/02—Digital computers in general; Data processing equipment in general manually operated with input through keyboard and computation using a built-in program, e.g. pocket calculators
  • G06F15/025—Digital computers in general; Data processing equipment in general manually operated with input through keyboard and computation using a built-in program, e.g. pocket calculators adapted to a specific application
  • G06F15/0283—Digital computers in general; Data processing equipment in general manually operated with input through keyboard and computation using a built-in program, e.g. pocket calculators adapted to a specific application for data storage and retrieval
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F16/00—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
  • G06F16/40—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
  • G06F3/14—Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
  • G06F3/147—Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units using display panels

Definitions

• the present invention generally relates to portable electronic video display devices and, more particulary, to a hand held, microprocessor based device which, when used in conjunction with a personal computer (PC) having a peripherially connected mass storage device, such as a compact disc (CD) read only memory (ROM) device, simulates a book.
• PC personal computer
• CD compact disc
• ROM read only memory
• Compact disc technology has gained wide acceptance in the art of digital audio recording and reporduction. More recently, compact discs have been used to store large quantities of digital data for access by personal computers. A single compact disc, for example, has the capacity to store a complete encyclopedia.
• compact disc drives for connection to personal computers and the software for the control of the disc drives that make possible the very rapid random access of the data stored on a compact disc.
• One application on the market is a so-called desk set of reference books including a dictionary, thesaurus, and style manual recorded on compact disc for use as a writer's aid.
• a number of data bases, including Chemical Abstracts are avialable on compact disc for off line searching using a personal computer.
• U.S. Patent No. 4,656,469 to Oliver et al. discloses an activated child's book or greeting card which is powered by solar cells.
• U.S. Patent No. 4,363,081 to Wilbur discloses examples of foldable, illuminated greeting cards wherein light emitting diodes (LEDs) are positioned on a printed circuit board to illuminate a message when the card is opened.
• U.S. Patent No. 4,589,659 to Yokoi et al. shows a foldable LCD used for electronic game devices.
• a device about the size and shape of a book is provided as the user interface for accessing a CD ROM database.
• the device simulates a book in look and feel and might, for example, be bound in leather or other book binding material and embossed with the user's name or a business name, depending on the specific application and end user. Because of its size, shape and feel, the device would be immediately accepted by a very large number of people, especially those with very limited or no exposure and training on computers.
• a hard switch would comprise a keypad for entering a page number, and perhaps some commands, and a tactile pad switch which can be stroked with a thumb or finger in a direction which can be sensed by the switch.
• the tactile pad switch may be sensitive to four directions in a manner analogous to a track ball, and is used to turn pages forward or back and scroll up and down on a page. It is desirable to display a complete page on the screen, in which case scrolling up and down would not be required.
• the device, or CD book as it is referred to hereinafter, provides the user with the look and feel of a book while allowing access to a very large database on a CD. This not only makes searching such a - atabase more acceptable to many people, but it also provides an encouragement to younger people to read.
• the CD book can by used in multiple units for purposes of presentations at meetings or, with a PC provided with a multitasking/multiuser operating system, allow several users to simulataneously access different portions of the database simultaneously.
• the CD book has several pages of memory so that it can be carried away from the PC, as for example on an airplane, and the pages, about twenty in number, can be displayed for later reading. Both character and bit mapped displays are supported so that graphics as well as text could be displayed.
• Figure 5 is a flow diagram of the program for the CD book.
• the transceiver 26 is specifically designed to communicate with a CD book as shown in Figures 2A and 2B.
• the CD book 30 looks like an ordinary book which may be handled and shelved like an ordinary book.
• a display screen 34 As shown in Figure 2B, when the cover 32 of the book is opened, there is revealed a display screen 34, a ten key keypad 36 and a "tactile pad switch 38.
• Above the display screen 34 is a row of solar cells 40, and about the periphery of the book are a plurality of IR LEDs and photodiodes 42.
• the keypad 36 allows the user to input a desired page number for display.
• the keypad 36 has functions analogous to other keyed devices around the home, a telephone keypad being but one example, and therefore it- should be familiar to most users. Nevertheless, a desirable alternative to the "hard" switches represented by the keypad 36 and the tactile pad switch 38 are so-called “soft" switches. In this application, the implementation of "soft" switches requires a touch sensitive screen 34 wherein programmable areas of the screen may at different times represent different options which may be selected by the user. The implementation of such "soft” switches is a matter of programming and well understood in the art. By the use of “soft” switches, both the keypad 36 and the tactile pad switch 38 can be completely eliminated.
• the user input to the microprocessor 43 is provided by the keypad 36 and tactile pad switch 38 and, depending on the input, the microprocessor 43 will display a page by outputting data to the LCD panel 34. If the page requested is not currently in RAM 46, the microprocessor 43 causes the IR transceiver 48 to transmit a request to the personal computer 10 via the IR transceiver 26 to access the CD ROM drive 22 to retrieve the required data and transmit it to the CD book.
• the battery 50 is, in the preferred embodiment, recharged by the solar cells 40.
• the battery may be rechargeable by a separate recharger in lieu of or in addition to the solar cells 40.
• the CD book 30 could be provided with an electrical recepticle which would conveniently mate with a recharger when the
• the user of the CD book 30 can specifically enter a page number or can page back and forth. If in paging through a selection, the user comes to the last page in RAM 46 and attempts to page to the next page, this is detected by the microprocessor program in the CD book 30 which then transmits a page number request for the next page to the personal computer 10. In other words, the personal computer 10 does not know if the page number request detected in decision block 66 is as a result of the user of the CD book 30 entering a specific page number on the keypad 36 or paging to the next page beyond that stored in memory using the tactile pad switch 38.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
• Computing Systems (AREA)
• Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
• Multimedia (AREA)
• Data Mining & Analysis (AREA)
• Databases & Information Systems (AREA)
• Information Retrieval, Db Structures And Fs Structures Therefor (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

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ID=22415767

Family Applications (1)

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Citations (4)

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• 1988
  • 1988-11-16 CA CA000583248A patent/CA1309508C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1988-11-18 EP EP19890900062 patent/EP0341289A4/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 1988-11-18 BR BR888807313A patent/BR8807313A/pt not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1988-11-18 WO PCT/US1988/003994 patent/WO1989005023A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation

Patent Citations (4)

Non-Patent Citations (2)

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