EP2327032A1

EP2327032A1 - A sheet-based printed product

Info

Publication number: EP2327032A1
Application number: EP09800109A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Esa Torniainen; Juha Maijala; Ari KÄNSÄKOSKI
Original assignee: Stora Enso Oyj
Current assignee: Stora Enso Oyj
Priority date: 2008-07-23
Filing date: 2009-07-22
Publication date: 2011-06-01
Also published as: FI20085742A0; WO2010010235A1; FI20085742A; FI126084B; EP2327032A4

Abstract

According to the invention, the sheet-based printed product (1) comprises, so as to form an electric user interface, an electric detector (10) fabricated by printing it in a predetermined location on a sheet (9) of the printed product and arranged to detect a pointer (15) brought to the vicinity of the detector, and collection means (11, 8) for collecting information about detection of the pointer for further actions.

Description

A SHEET-BASED PRINTED PRODUCT TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention concerns sheet-based printed products such as books, newspapers and magazines, ad- vertising leaflets and the like. The invention relates to addition of an electric user interface to such printed products .

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION For years, the electric media has intensely continued to gain more ground in the most different forms alongside with the traditional print media. There has even been discussion of whether the expansion of the electric media would mean complete death of the print media. Today, however, it is quite generally considered that there is a niche for both print and electric media and that they both have their assets. Instead of alternatives, combining the best characteristics of these two types of media is more and more often contemplated.

This is sometimes referred to as hybrid media, simply meaning the combination of different media, their contents, uses and functionalities. One illustrative example of this is a two-dimensional code image, added for instance to an advert for selling a car or an apartment in a newspaper, which is readable by a mobile phone camera and a reader program installed in the phone. Reading the code activates a function that downloads complete information of that particular sales item from the Internet to the mobile phone .

To add interactivity to the use of a printed product, for example patent publication US6269238 describes an arrangement comprising a book and a com- puter for adding electric content to the book. The idea of the arrangement is an image printed on a page of the book with corresponding indicia in the user interface of a computer program. By selecting the corresponding indicia in the user interface of the com- puter, the user is able to view or hear electric material on the computer relating to that particular page of the book.

Known from the prior art are also arrangements in which a small sound source is integrated in a postcard or a storybook with a button, for example in connection with a picture, which can be pressed to activate the sound source.

Known for example from patent publications US5466158 and US7120386 are also systems of a book and a separate platform device to add interactivity to the book. In these arrangements, the platform comprises detectors for detecting a pointer directed by the reader to a page of the book and means for activating a function based on the detection. Typically, the function is for example a sound message relating to a tale in a storybook. Patent application US 2004/0180316 describes an arrangement comprising a book and a platform in which the location of the pointer is determined by ultrasound. However, all of the above-mentioned solutions of the prior art have their weaknesses, either in the form of complexity of the apparatus and consequently high costs and impracticality, or in the form of the limited scope of their characteristics.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The sheet-based printed product and the method for producing a sheet-based printed product of the invention are characterized by what has been presented in claims 1 and 6, respectively. The object of the invention is a sheet-based printed product. This refers to a product comprising one or more sheet-type substrates with pictures and/or text provided by printing technology onto the sheet/s. A sheet-type substrate refers to an item of a thickness which is small relative to the width of the sheet, made from a material which may include for example paper, board or plastic.

According to the invention, the printed prod- uct comprises, so as to form an electric user interface, an electric detector fabricated by printing it in a predetermined location on a sheet of the printed product and arranged to detect a pointer brought to the vicinity of the detector, and collection means for collecting information about detection of the pointer for further actions.

In the solution according to the invention, the detector is provided in the printed product itself and not in a separate platform or the like, which makes the arrangement of the electric user interface simpler. Another essential feature is that the detector is fabricated by printing it directly on the sheet, utilizing printing technology in fabricating the detector makes the production of the electric user interface considerably simpler as the equipment used for printing the detector can be integrated directly in the printing machine. By printing, the production costs of the detector are also reduced, so that the electric user interface may be added even to printed products of dispensable nature, such as newspapers or advertising leaflets. By printing it directly on the sheet, it is also possible to make the detector thin and light in structure, so that it does not require considerable thickness or strength from the print car- rier. The predetermined location may be a specific standard location on a sheet or a location determined by the actual content of the printed product, which content may be or may already have been printed on the sheet. In this manner, the detector and a specific content of the printed product, such as for example the region of an advertisement in a newspaper, may be matched with each other so as to provide by the arrangement an electric user interface associated with that specific advertisement.

Depending on the structure of the detector and the selected detection technology, the pointer may be, at he simplest, the finger of the user, i.e. reader, of the printed product. It is also possible to arrange the printed product such that a separate pointer is used during reading, optionally provided with detection facilitating technology.

The collection means may comprise conductors and various electronic components . These components and conductors may also be fabricated on the printed product by printing technology so as to provide the same advantages as in fabricating the detector. The collection means preferably comprise an electric transmitter for transmitting information about detec- tion of the pointer from the printed product to an external operating device, preferably in a wireless manner. Other optional components not fabricated by printing and therefore requiring more space may, for example in the case of a book, be disposed on the cover of the book. The external operating device may be for example a computer, the mobile phone of the user of the printed product or the like. Information on the event that the user has brought the pointer to the vicinity of the detector may activate in the ex- ternal operating device a function relating to that content of the printed product which corresponds to the location of the detector.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the printed product consists of a number of pages dis- posed one upon the other. The pages may be for example stapled together at one edge, attached to a threaded spine or formed by one large sheet folded in a number of sections. In this embodiment of the invention, the detector is arranged to detect the pointer through a number of pages. In this manner, it is possible to dispose the detector for example on the cover page of the book, irrespective of the page on which the information content requiring use of the pointer by the user is found. If a multi-page printed product also comprises determining means for determining that page which is being viewed by the user of the printed product, the operation of the apparatus becomes even more flexible as the same detector may be used for detecting the pointing of items on a number of different pages which correspond to the location of the detector. By adding the information about the current page and the information about the content of each page to the detection information, it is possible, each time, to activate, by the detection information, a function relating to the information content in question. Also, the determining means or some of them are preferably fabricated by printing technology so as to provide the above-mentioned benefits in the production, structure and costs. The detector is preferably a capacitive detector comprising two electrodes and arranged to detect a change in the capacitance between the electrodes provided by the pointer brought to the vicinity of the detector. For such a capacitive detector, a simple structure which is easily conceivable by printing technology is sufficient. Also, the capacitive de- tector can be made to operate through a number of pages without effort, so that, in the manner described above, it is possible to keep the number of required detectors reasonable, even in the case of multi-page printed products. Also, a capacitive detector consumes very little electric energy, which is another reason for why it is so suitable for printed products such as a book or a paper. The determining means which detect the current page may also comprise capacitive detec- tors fabricated by printing.

The printed product according to the invention may of course comprise even a number of detectors in different locations of the sheet or, in the case of a multi-page printed product, even in different loca- tions on different pages. The only essential feature in the system is that the information collected from the detector about the event of detecting the pointer also includes information about which of the detectors, i.e. which location of the printed product, is concerned, and, in the case of a multi-page printed product, also which page is concerned, so that it is possible to activate different functions on the external operating device even by detection events from a single detector, depending on which page is concerned. The printed product according to the invention comprising the electric user interface allows diverse new functionalities and interactivities to be added to print media. Touching a specific location may, for example, activate a sound or an image source which may be included in the printed product or which may be external. Detection of a pointer may also activate for example downloading of a specific www-page to a computer operating as the external device, or downloading of other additional information relating to the concerned location of the printed product for example to the mobile phone of the user of the printed product.

A method for producing a sheet-based printed product comprises, according to the invention, provid- ing the printed product with an electric user interface by printing in a predetermined location on a sheet of the printed product an electric detector capable of detecting a pointer brought to the vicinity of the detector, and by providing the printed product with collection means for collecting information about detection of the pointer for further actions. The collection means or some of them may also be fabricated utilizing printing technology.

In a preferred embodiment of the method ac- cording to the invention, the electric detector is printed on a sheet by supplying the sheet with a conductive material in the form of conductive particles in a predetermined pattern according to the geometry of the detector and by sintering at least partly the conductive material supplied on the sheet at an elevated temperature and pressure to form continuous conductive material, using in the sintering a nip formed by two opposite nip elements through which the sheet is taken. In this manner, printing of the conductive patterns is efficient as the elevated temperature and pressure need not be directed to the pattern region alone, but instead they may be directed over the entire sheet to be printed. Further, the production becomes enhanced and more precise when the conductive material is brought to the sheet using screenless electrostatic transfer of particles.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following section, the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying Figures 1 to 3 representing one example embodiment of the printed product according to the invention and Figure 4 illustrating one embodiment of the method according to the invention.

Fig. 1 shows a book 1 with text 3 and pic- tures 4 printed on the pages 2 of an open spread. Shown at the upper edge of the spread are determining means 5 printed on each actual page of the book for determining an open spread, and conductors 6 for connecting the determining means to an electric control unit 8 disposed on the cover 7 of the book, shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 2 represents a first spread of the same book, one of the pages of the spread being the cover page 9 of the book and having no actual printed information content. Instead, two capacitive detectors 10 and conductors 11 to connect the detectors to the control unit 8 on the cover of the book have been printed on the cover page. In addition to the detection information collection and processing means, the control unit comprises an electric transmitter 12. The precise structure of the detectors 10 and the determining means 5 and the details of the electronics in the control unit are not essential for the basic idea of the invention and are therefore not discussed in any more detail in this context. The design of these components and the system they constitute is a straightforward task for a person skilled in the art who is familiar with electronics and detector technology. In any case, each detector naturally comprises two electrodes 13, and the detection is based on measuring the capaci- tance between the electrodes and on a change in that capacitance caused by the pointer.

The locations of the information content 3 , 4 printed on the pages of the book and the locations of the detectors 10 are matched with each other so that certain information content, for example pictures, is found on the pages of the book in the regions corre- sponding to the operating range 14 of the detectors. As the user brings a pointer, for example his or her finger 15, to such a picture on a page of the book, the detector 10 in the corresponding spot on the cover page 9 detects it. The control unit 8 is informed and provided identification information of the concerned detector, as well as about the current spread, i.e. the page number of the information content the user has pointed at. Stored in the control unit is informa- tion on the particular information conte^'nt each page comprises in this location, so that, after detection, the control unit is able to activate a function which has been predetermined to relate to that information content. In the example of the figures, the control unit sends a message to the user's mobile phone 16, giving the phone incentive to retrieve additional information relating to the current information content from the Internet.

In the middle of Figure 4 there is a sheet of paper 17, which is guided through two pairs of rollers. The first pair of rollers comprises a transfer roller 18 and an electrode roller 19. The surface of the transfer roller consists of positively charged and grounded regions 20, 21 to be printed in accordance with the desired conductive pattern. In connection with the transfer roller there is a container 22 of positively charged particles 23 of low melting temperature metal, for example tin. As the transfer roller 18 rotates, the positively charged particles ad- here, by the effect of a potential difference, to the grounded regions 21 of the transfer roller. With the rotating transfer roller, the conductive particles travel to a nip 24 formed by the transfer roller 18 and the electrode roller 19, where, by the effect of a force produced by the negative charge of the electrode roller, they are transferred from the transfer roller to the surface of the paper sheet 17.

Next, the sheet of paper 17 is guided through a sintering nip 26 formed by two other rollers 25, where, by the effect of the elevated temperature and pressure, the conductive particles 23 form continuous conductive material 27 on the sheet of paper. This kind of a method allows efficient, simple and affordable manner of producing conductive patterns which may constitute the detectors, the determining means, the conductors and other components of the printed product according to the invention.

The above-described printing method based on sintering and the applied screenless electrostatic transfer of particles and their variations are described in more detail in an earlier patent application WO2008/006941 by the applicant.

The applications of the embodiment as described above may be various. The book may be for ex- ample a guidebook, and the information content which can be pointed at may be for example a picture or the contact details of a hotel or a restaurant, whereby the pointing activates the printed product for example to send a command to the user' s mobile phone to download the home page of that hotel of restaurant to the mobile phone from the Internet. However, the above-described book is only one example of the embodiments of the invention. Instead of a book, the printed product may be any other product made from a sheet- type substrate or substrates with printed text, patterns or the like. The invention is therefore also applicable for example in newspapers, advertising leaflets, paper calendars etc. The detection technology may be other than capacitive, and the pointer may similarly be a special pointer adapted to the applied detection technology. The function which is activated by the detection may also comprise one-sided transfer of information whereby information is forwarded for example from an advertising leaflet or a newspaper, indicating that the user has pointed at a specific ad- vertisement or the like. In this manner, the possibility of having feedback about the objects of interest of the media users can be added to printed media as well, this having been possible earlier only in electric media. On the other hand, the function may be, more simply, for example a sound message produced by a sound source added to the printed product or an external operating device. The embodiments and applications of the invention are not in any respect limited to the examples presented herein; instead, many variations are possible within the scope of the claims .

The essential features in different embodiments of the invention are, in accordance with the claims, the detector which detects pointing performed by the user and which is integrated directly in the printed product itself, and the fact that the detector is produced by printing technology, which allows it to be produced in connection with other printing, a simple and thin structure, and low production costs, so that the detectors may even be added to disposable printed products. Another essential feature is that the printed product is provided with means for collecting the detection information.

Claims

1. A sheet-based printed product (1), charac teri z ed in that the printed product (1) comprises the following features so as to form an electric user interface:

- an electric detector (10) fabricated by- printing it in a predetermined location on a sheet (9) of the printed product and arranged to detect a pointer (15) brought to the vicinity of the detector, and

- collection means (11, 8) for collecting information about detection of the pointer for further actions.

2. The printed product (1) according to claim 1, charac teri zed in that the printed product comprises an electric transmitter (12) for transmitting information about detection of the pointer (15) from the printed product (1) to an external operating device (16) .

3. The printed product (1) according to claim

1 or 2, characteri z ed in that the printed product (1) consists of a number of pages (2, 9) disposed one upon the other, and that the detector (10) is arranged to detect the pointer (15) through a num- ber of pages.

4. The printed product (1) according to claim 3, charac teri z ed in that the printed product (1) comprises determining means (5, 6, 8) for determining the page (2) which is being viewed by the user of the printed product.

5. The printed product (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, charac teri z ed in that the detector (10) is a capacitive detector comprising two electrodes (13) arranged to detect a change in the capacitance between the electrodes as provided by the pointer (15) brought to the vicinity of the detector.

6. A method for producing a sheet-based printed product (I)/ charac teri z ed in that the method comprises providing the printed product (1) with an electric user interface by printing in a pre- determined location on a sheet (9) of the printed product an electric detector (10) which is capable of detecting a pointer (15) brought to the vicinity of the detector, and by providing the printed product with collection means (11, 8) for collecting informa- tion about detection of the pointer for further actions .

7. The method according to claim 6, charac teri z ed in that the electric detector (10) is printed on a sheet (9, 17) by supplying the sheet with conductive material in the form of conductive particles (23) in a predetermined pattern and by sintering the conductive material supplied on the sheet at an elevated temperature and pressure to form continuous conductive material (27), using in the sintering a nip (26) formed by two opposite nip elements (25) through which the sheet is taken.