JP2002196371A - Picture erasing device, picture display medium, picture forming system and picture erasing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To erase a picture of picture display medium which displays the picture in accordance with the electrified state without dissipating electric power. SOLUTION: A hand writing input device 16 makes a switch 46 off by releasing pressurization of the switch 46, electrically cuts off a picture writing device 12 and makes the same an electrically isolated state. When a writing erasure part 44 of the writing input device 16 in such a state is brought into contact with the part where 'OK' 50 is displayed of a picture display part 10 and is rubbed with the same, the surface of a film 22 which is disposed on the upper surface of the picture display part 10 is electrified with positive charge by frictional electrification with the writing erasure part 44, a two-color rotating particle 30 which is arranged in the picture display part 10 is rotated so as to dictate the white side to the upper surface and, as a result, the picture is erased.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image erasing apparatus, an image display medium, an image forming system and an image erasing method, and more particularly, to an image display medium for displaying an image in accordance with a charged state, and the image display medium. The present invention relates to an image erasing device for erasing an image displayed on an image display medium, the image display medium, an image erasing device, an image forming system including an image writing device for writing an image on the image display medium, and an image erasing method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, there has been proposed an image display device in which an image display unit can be detachably attached to the image display device and the image display unit can be handled independently of the image display device like paper. . Such an image display device is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-5-35223 and JP-A-10-20293. As shown in FIG. 16, an image display unit independent of an electrode for writing an image, a liquid crystal display device The image display material is sealed in the matrix electrode to form an image display section 50, an image writing drive IC is provided around the image display section 50, and a portion for transmitting an image control signal is separated by a connector 52 or the like. The display unit and the image control / drive unit can be attached and detached. However, in such an image display device in which the image display unit is detachable, it is possible to independently handle such an image as paper, but to manually add or change the image written in the image display unit. In other words, handwriting input and deletion, which are important elements of paper, cannot be performed. As an image display device capable of handwriting input and deletion, for example, as disclosed in JP-A-7-306754 and JP-A-8-286830, the movement of the writing device when handwriting is input is displayed on an image display unit. A method of performing position detection using a matrix electrode provided is generally used. However, in this method, the image display unit becomes large, and it is difficult to make the image display unit easy to handle like paper. Also, an apparatus capable of inputting an image by hand on an image display unit without detecting the position of the image writing apparatus is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-68992. In this technology, an image display device that develops color by heat is used, and it is possible to input an image by hand using a pen-shaped input device that generates heat. Such a method also uses a magnetophoretic recording method. It is also used in image display devices and has been commercialized. However, in the case of an image display device using heat or magnetism, for example, in order to display an electronic document created by a personal computer, it is difficult to control heat or magnetism, which is the writing energy, and the image writing device is large. There was a disadvantage that it becomes.

As a method of solving this problem, there has been proposed an image display device capable of writing and appending an image as disclosed in, for example, US Pat. No. 5,389,945. This image writing device is constituted by an electrophoresis type image output device using two-color rotating particles.
The image is written by an external addressing device 54 used for writing the image as shown in FIG. 18 and a handwriting is performed on the electrophoretic image display unit by a pen-shaped writing device 56 to which a voltage is applied as shown in FIG. It is configured so that an image can be written by input. However, even in such a device in which an image can be additionally written by handwriting, in order to delete an image once written by handwriting, the image must be newly overwritten by the external address device 54 used for writing the image. However, this method has a drawback in that, in a situation where only a part of the image input by handwriting is to be deleted, the entire image must be rewritten and further input by handwriting.

As a method of solving this problem, there is a method of erasing a displayed image or a handwritten input image by using an image erasing device capable of applying a voltage opposite to that at the time of writing to the image display unit. However, in this method, it is necessary to provide a power supply having a polarity opposite to that of the writing, so that power is required for erasing an image, and the pen-shaped input device becomes large, so that there is a drawback that the usability is deteriorated. In addition, in the case of an electrophoretic image display device, there is a problem that if a voltage of the opposite polarity is applied after writing, the electrophoretic particles move, and the image cannot be held.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and has an image erasing apparatus, an image display medium, and an image forming system provided with the same, which do not require power when erasing an image. , And an image erasing method.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image erasing apparatus for erasing an image displayed on an image display medium according to a charged state. An erasing member is provided for erasing the image by frictionally charging the portion of the image displayed on the image display medium to a charged state opposite to the charged state by rubbing the portion.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image erasing method for erasing an image displayed on an image display medium according to a charged state, wherein the erasing member frictionally charges the image display medium. By rubbing a portion of the image displayed on the image display medium, the portion is frictionally charged to a charged state opposite to the charged state and the image is erased.

According to these inventions, an image on an image display medium can be erased by frictional charging, so that power is not required when erasing an image.

The erasing member may have a high resistance as described in claim 2 or may be made of carbon as in claim 3.

In the image erasing apparatus according to the present invention, the image can be formed by charging the image display medium to a charging state opposite to the charging state due to the frictional charging. It can also be configured. Accordingly, the image erasing and the image forming can be performed by the same apparatus, so that a highly convenient image erasing apparatus can be provided.

The image erasing device is configured to charge the image display medium to a charged state opposite to the charged state due to the frictional charging by the applied voltage as described in claim 5, and to interrupt the application of the voltage. It is also possible to further comprise a cut-off means for performing the above-mentioned operation, and it is also possible to provide a switch as the cut-off means.

[0012] Further, the switch is configured as follows.
The switch may be turned on by pressing to apply the voltage, and turned off by releasing the pressure to shut off the application of the voltage. Conversely, as in claim 8, the switch is Alternatively, the voltage may be applied by turning off by pressing to cut off the application of the voltage, and by releasing the pressing to turn on the voltage.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image display medium for displaying an image erased by the image erasing device according to any one of the first to eighth aspects, wherein The surface on the side to be rubbed is formed of a member which is charged by friction by the erasing member. According to the present invention, since the surface of the image display medium that is rubbed with the erasing member is formed of a member that is charged by the friction of the erasing member, the image can be erased by the action of frictional charging. .

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming system, comprising: an image display medium for displaying an image; an image erasing apparatus according to any one of the first to eighth aspects; An image writing device for writing an image on a medium is provided, and the image display medium and the image writing device are detachable.

[0015] The image forming system may further include:
As in 1, the image writing device may include a plane electrode of a predetermined size on the image display medium side.

Further, in the image forming system, the image erasing device and the flat electrode are connected so as to be able to be cut off, and the image erasing device is used when the image is erased by the image erasing means. And the plane electrode may be cut off.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming system according to the present embodiment includes an image writing device 12 having a matrix-shaped image writing electrode 36 disposed thereon, a pen-shaped handwriting input device 16, and the handwriting input device and an image. It has a cord 18 for electrically connecting to a writing device, and a detachable image display unit 10.

The image display unit 10 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in (B), an image forming layer 20 that forms an image that can be viewed by the action of an electric field;
And a film-like material 22 having a small surface resistance and a film-like material 2 having a large surface resistance which is disposed close to the surface of the image forming layer 20 facing the visible side.
4 is provided.

The film material 22 and the film material 24 are the same as the film material 22 and the film material 2.
4, the image forming layer 20 is sandwiched therebetween and adhered by an adhesive 26. As a result, the film material 22 and the film material 24 support the image forming layer 20 from both sides. Note that the film material 22 is transparent.

Further, as shown in FIG.
In the image forming layer 20 (the adhesive 26 is omitted), one hemisphere is white and the other hemisphere is black, and the white surface is negative and the black surface is positively charged. Two-color rotator particles 3 having a diameter L0 (for example, 100 [μm])
0 is rotatably housed in a plurality of sheets, and the thickness L2 (for example, 150 [μ]
m]). The cavity 32 is filled with a liquid formed for the two-color rotating spherical particles 34 to move freely.

The film material 22 and the film material 24 have a thickness L2 (for example, 100 [μm]). The surface resistance of the film material 22 is 10 ¹¹ [Ω / cm ² ] per unit area, and the surface resistance of the film material 24 is 10 ¹⁸ [Ω / cm ² ] per unit area. The surface of the film-like material 22 is formed of a member that is charged by friction by a later-described writing / erasing unit 44 of the pen-like handwriting input device 16.

As shown in FIG. 4, the image writing device 12
Is a substrate 38 having a plurality of electrodes 36 arranged on the upper surface 12U side and separated for each pixel and arranged in a matrix, and an insulating film for preventing electric shock arranged on the substrate 38 (electrode 36). 40, and a selection switch (not shown) for selectively applying a voltage to each electrode 36 based on image data.

As shown in FIG. 5, the pen-like handwriting input device 16 includes a writing / erasing unit 4 located at the tip end.
4 is made of a high-resistance member, for example, carbon, and has a switch 46. The handwriting input device 16 and the image writing device 12 are electrically connected, and the connection is turned on / off by a switch 46.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. The image display unit 10 is placed on the image writing device 12 such that the film material 22 having a small surface resistance contacts the upper surface 12U.
Place on. The image writing device 12 selectively applies a voltage to the plurality of electrodes 36 using a selection switch based on image data. Note that the image display unit 10 is placed on the image writing device 12 that selectively applies a voltage to the plurality of electrodes 36 based on the image data so that the film-like material 24 having a large surface resistance contacts the upper surface 12U. May be placed.

As shown in FIG. 6, the electrode 36 (electrode 36A
(For white image formation), electrode 36B (for black image formation))
Is selectively applied with a voltage. For example, 40
[V] is applied to the electrode 36B at 0 [V]. Here, since the film material 24 has a large surface resistance, the movement of electrons is restricted. Therefore, the potentials of the regions 24A and 36B corresponding to the electrodes 36A and 36B of the film material 24 are 40 [V] and 0 [V], respectively. On the other hand, since the film-like material 22 has a small surface resistance, electrons move freely compared to the film-like material 24. Therefore,
The surface of the film-like material 22 becomes equipotential (20 [V]). Therefore, the two-color rotator particles 32 in the area corresponding to the electrode 36A in the image display unit 10 have an electric field (40 [V] →) in the direction A from the electrode 36A toward the film material 22.
20 [V]) acts. In contrast, the image display unit 10
Two-color rotator particles 3 in a region corresponding to electrode 36B
2, an electric field (20 [V] → 0 [V]) in the direction B from the film material 22 toward the electrode 36B acts. As described above, since the two-color rotator particles 30 are charged negatively on the white surface and positively charged on the black surface, the two-color rotator particles 32 in the region corresponding to the electrode 36 </ b> A in the image display unit 10 are provided.
Turns the white surface toward the film-like material 22 side (visual side),
2 in an area corresponding to the electrode 36B in the image display unit 10
The color rotator particles 32 face the black surface to the film material 22 side (viewing side). Therefore, when the image display unit 10 is placed on the image writing device 12 and a voltage is selectively applied to the plurality of electrodes 22 based on image data, or selectively applied to the plurality of electrodes 36 based on image data. When the image display unit 10 is placed on the image writing device 12 to which a voltage is applied, a monochrome image corresponding to the image data is formed on the image display unit 10 as shown in FIG.

The image forming layer 20 rotatably accommodates the two-color rotator particles 30 in a cavity 32 filled with a predetermined liquid. Due to the resistance between the inner wall of the cavity 32 and the two-color rotator particles 30, the two-color rotator particles 3
0 tries to maintain the current orientation in the cavity 32 and rotates in a direction corresponding to the applied electric field when the electric field is applied. Therefore, once an image is formed (see FIG. 7), the image is held by the resistor even if it is removed from the image writing device 12.

The image display unit 10 on which the image is written as described above can be attached to and detached from the image writing device 12, as shown in FIG.

Next, an image writing procedure when a pen-like handwriting input device is used will be described.

FIG. 9 shows a part of the image display section 10 on which an image is written by the above-described method. This image display unit 10
When the image is displayed on the surface on which the image is displayed, that is, when the upper surface is displaying a white image, the black side of the two-color rotating particles 30 arranged in the image display unit 10 is charged with a positive charge, and the white side is charged with a negative charge. Of the film sealing the two-color rotating particles, the film 22 on the upper surface is charged with a positive charge, and the film 20 on the lower surface is charged with a negative charge. become. In this state, the handwriting input device 1
In the case of writing an image according to 6, the image writing device 12 on which the image display unit 10 is placed and the handwriting input device 16 are turned on by pressing the switch of the handwriting input device 16 and electrically connected as shown in FIG. Then, a negative voltage is applied to the handwriting input device 16. At this time, the writing / erasing unit 44 located at the tip of the handwriting input device 16 is moved by bringing the writing / erasing unit 44 into contact with the image display unit 10 and, for example, drawing a character “OK”. The handwriting input device 16 to which the color rotating particles 30 are applied with a negative charge
The black portion "OK" (indicated by reference numeral 50 in FIG. 11) can be written in the white image by rotating the black portion toward the upper surface at the contacted portion.

Next, a procedure for erasing an image written by hand as described above will be described. The handwriting input device 16 is turned off by releasing the pressing of the switch 46 to be electrically disconnected from the image writing device 12 to be in an electrically floating state. Handwriting input device 16 in this state
The writing and erasing unit 44 of “OK” 5 of the image display unit 10
Rub the indicated portion of 0. That is, when the film 22 is brought into contact with the portion and rubbed, the surface of the film 22 disposed on the upper surface of the image display unit 10 is charged with a positive charge due to frictional charging with the writing / erasing unit 44 of the handwriting input device 16,
The two-color rotating particles 30 arranged in the image display unit 10 rotate so that the white side faces the upper surface, and the image is erased (see FIG. 13).

The portion of the image display unit 10 where no image is displayed, that is, the portion where the two-color rotating particles 30 arranged in the image display unit 10 have the white side facing the upper surface is electrically floated. Writing / erasing unit 44 of the handwriting input device 16 in the state
, The surface of the film 22 is charged with a load due to frictional charging, and the two-color rotating particles 30 rotate so that the black side faces the upper surface to display an image.

When writing an image again in the image display section 10 in the state where the image has been erased as described above, the switch 46 of the handwriting input device 16 is pressed again to turn it on, and the image writing device 12 And handwriting input device 1
6 can be electrically connected and writing can be performed by the above-described procedure (see FIG. 14). Further, as described above, the image display unit 10 displaying the image including the handwritten portion is displayed.
Can be removed from the image writing device 12 and used independently.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the image portion of the image display unit 10 is rubbed by the handwriting input device 16 in an electrically floating state, so that the handwriting input device 16 is charged in a state opposite to that before the rubbing. Since the image portion can be erased, no power is required for erasing the image, so that the power consumption can be reduced.In addition, since the image can be written and erased with a single power supply, the image erasing device has a simple structure. can do. Further, it is possible to delete an image while the image display unit is removed. Therefore, it is possible to provide an image erasing device, an image display medium, an image forming system provided with these, and an image erasing method, which consume less power.

In this embodiment, when the 16 switch 44 of the handwriting input device is pressed, the switch is turned on, and when the 16th switch 44 is released, the switch is turned off. The switch 16 may be turned off when the 16 switch 44 is pressed, and turned on when the switch is released.

In this embodiment, the film-like material 2
2 was set to 10 ¹¹ [Ω / cm ² ] and the resistance of the film material 24 was set to 10 ¹⁸ [Ω / cm ² ]. However, the present invention is not limited to this. If the resistance is high, the resistance of the film material 24 can be high or low.

Further, in this embodiment, writing and erasing of an image are performed by the same image writing device, but writing and erasing of an image can be performed by separate devices.

In the present embodiment, the image writing device 1
The image writing electrodes 36 in the form of a matrix are arranged on the side of the image display section 10 of No. 2, but the electrodes are not arranged in a matrix and have a size corresponding to the image display section 10 (however, the size is not limited to this and any A flat electrode (made of a conductive material). In this case, the image erasing device 16 and the solid electrode are connected so as to be able to be cut off, and when the image is erased by the image erasing device 16, the image erasing device 16 and the solid electrode may be cut off. it can.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the image on the image display medium in the charged state is erased by friction charging, the image is erased in a charging state opposite to that before friction, so that power is not required at the time of image erasing, and the image erasing can reduce power consumption. It is possible to provide an apparatus, an image display medium, an image forming system including the same, and an image erasing method.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image forming system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an image display unit according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an image display unit according to the embodiment in detail.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an image writing device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a handwriting input device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state in which an electric field is applied to two-color rotator particles.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a state where an image is displayed on an image display unit.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a state in which an image display unit is removed from the image writing device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a part of the state of the two-color rotating particles in the image display unit before handwriting.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a part of the state of the two-color rotating particles in the image display unit during handwriting.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a state in which an image is displayed on an image display unit after handwriting is written.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a part of the state of the two-color rotating particles in the image display unit when the handwritten part is deleted.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a state in which an image is displayed on the image display unit after the handwritten portion has been deleted.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a state in which an image is displayed on an image display unit after rewriting by handwriting.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a state in which the image display unit after rewriting by handwriting is detached from the image writing device.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of a prior art in which an image display unit is detachable.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of a prior art in which an image display unit is detachable and handwriting is possible.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example in which handwriting is performed in a prior art in which an image display unit is detachable and handwriting is possible.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 image display medium (image display unit) 12 image writing device (image writing device) 16 image erasing device 36 electrode (plane electrode) 44 writing / erasing unit (erasing member) 46 switch (blocking means)

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. An image erasing apparatus for erasing an image displayed on an image display medium according to a charged state, wherein the image displayed on the image display medium is rubbed by rubbing a portion of the image. An erasing member for erasing the image by frictionally charging to a charging state opposite to that of the image erasing apparatus. 2. The image erasing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said erasing member has a high resistance. 3. The image erasing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the erasing member is made of carbon. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least the erasing member is configured to form the image by charging the image display medium to a charging state opposite to the charging state due to the frictional charging. The image erasing device according to claim 1. 5. At least the erasing member is configured to charge the image display medium to a charging state opposite to the charging state due to the frictional charging by the applied voltage, and further includes a blocking unit for blocking the application of the voltage. The image erasing device according to claim 4, further comprising: 6. The image erasing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said blocking means is a switch. 7. The image erasing device according to claim 6, wherein the switch is turned on by pressing the switch, the voltage is applied, and the switch is turned off by releasing the switch to cut off the application of the voltage. apparatus. 8. The image according to claim 7, wherein the switch is turned off when pressed, cuts off the application of the voltage, and is turned on when the switch is released to apply the voltage. Erasing device. 9. An image display medium for displaying an image to be erased by the image erasing device according to claim 1, wherein a surface of the image erasing member which is rubbed with the erasing member is: An image display medium comprising a member that is charged by friction caused by the erasing member. 10. An image display medium for displaying an image, an image erasing device according to claim 1, and an image writing device for writing an image on the image display medium. An image forming system, wherein the image display medium and the image writing device are detachable. 11. An image display medium for displaying an image, an image erasing device according to claim 1, and an image writing device for writing an image on the image display medium. An image forming system, wherein the image writing device includes a flat electrode having a predetermined size on an image display medium side. 12. The image erasing device and the plane electrode are connected so as to be able to be cut off, and when the image is erased by the image erasing means, the image erasing device and the plane electrode are cut off. The image forming system according to claim 11, wherein: 13. An image erasing method for erasing an image displayed on an image display medium according to a charged state, the image displayed on the image display medium using an erasing member that frictionally charges the image display medium. Erasing the image by frictionally charging the portion to a charged state opposite to the charged state by rubbing the portion.