JP2012053573A - Electronic book device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic book device that has good visibility of a display part, is not influenced by disturbance light such as sunlight to thereby be hard to cause malfunction, and is excellent in use feeling, portability, and design performance.SOLUTION: An electronic book device includes a light-receiving device 3 at the end edge part of an upper side of a liquid crystal display 2 disposed at a main body 1 of the electronic book device, and a light-emitting device 4 at the end edge part of a lower side thereof. The electronic book device has the function that infrared rays are emitted from the lower side toward the upper side so as to pass the surface of a display part of the liquid crystal display 2, and a shielded location at which the infrared rays is shielded is detected.

Description

  The present invention stores information such as digitized books and other characters and images (hereinafter referred to as “book data”) in a memory built in the main body of the apparatus, and calls them as needed to display them on the display of the main body of the apparatus. The present invention relates to a so-called electronic book device that can read characters, image information, and the like like a book.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an electronic book device in which a pressure-sensitive touch panel that recognizes a part touched by a user as an XY coordinate value is arranged as a display unit for displaying a book is widely known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). However, a conductive film with low transparency is used for the display part of the pressure-sensitive touch panel, and the light transmittance of the display part is low. Therefore, the electronic book device using the pressure-sensitive touch panel is capable of visually checking the displayed book data. The property is bad and the improvement is desired.

JP 2006-039783 A

  In contrast to such a pressure-sensitive touch panel, a general optical touch panel uses infrared rays for coordinate detection, so that the light transmittance of the display unit can be increased, and the visibility of displayed book data is increased. be able to. However, since the optical touch panel needs to dispose a diode over the entire periphery of the end portion of the display unit, there is a problem that the peripheral width of the display unit becomes large and the design of the apparatus main body is limited. In addition, the optical touch panel is susceptible to disturbance light such as sunlight, and a malfunction caused by this is generated, so that the present situation is that it is not adopted in an electronic book device in which design and portability are particularly important. is there.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and has good visibility of book data, and is not affected by disturbance light such as sunlight and is unlikely to malfunction, usability, portability and design. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic book device that excels in performance.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an electronic book apparatus having a display unit for displaying book data, a set of light emitting devices and a light receiving device, wherein the light emitting device is a lower edge of the display unit. The light receiving device is disposed on the upper edge of the display image unit so as to face the light emitting device, and the light emitting device passes from the lower side of the display unit so as to pass the surface of the display unit. The gist of the present invention is an electronic book apparatus, which has a function of emitting infrared rays toward the upper side, and the light receiving device has a function of detecting a blocking portion where the infrared rays are blocked.

  The present inventors have repeated research in order to obtain an electronic book device with high visibility of the display unit. In the process, since the book data is displayed on the display unit in units of pages as in the case of a general book, the electronic book device has a display unit like a pressure-sensitive touch panel conventionally used. It was not required until the positions of the upper X and Y coordinates were accurately specified, and it was recalled that it would be sufficient to be able to specify an operation corresponding to paper feeding in a book, that is, the position on the X coordinate. Therefore, further research was conducted on an electronic book apparatus using an optical touch panel that can specify a position on the X coordinate. As a result, when a light receiving device is provided on the upper edge portion of the display portion and a light emitting device is provided on the lower edge portion so as to face the light receiving device, this is used for an electronic book apparatus. Thus, the present inventors have found that the visibility of the display unit is high and that the user's operation corresponding to paper feeding in a book can be accurately specified even when used outdoors, and the present invention has been achieved. In other words, the present invention has been made by overcoming the common sense that an optical touch panel cannot be used in an electronic book device.

  Thus, the electronic book apparatus of the present invention is completely different from conventional common sense, and is an electronic book apparatus having a display unit for displaying book data, a pair of light emitting device and light receiving device, and the light emitting device. Is disposed at the lower edge of the display section, the light receiving device is disposed at the upper edge of the display image section so as to face the light emitting device, and the light emitting device passes through the surface of the display section. As described above, the display unit has a function of emitting infrared rays from the lower side to the upper side, and the light receiving device has a function of detecting a blocking part where the infrared ray is blocked. Therefore, compared with the conventional electronic book apparatus using a pressure-sensitive touch panel for the display unit, the visibility of the book data on the display unit is increased, and more complicated information can be displayed in a clear state. Moreover, since it is hard to receive the influence of disturbance lights, such as sunlight, even when it is used outdoors, the malfunction can be prevented. Furthermore, since the width of the left and right side edge portions of the display unit can be reduced, the apparatus main body can be made compact, the portability is excellent, and the design width can be increased. Since the light-emitting device and the light-receiving device are a set, the weight of the electronic book apparatus can be reduced, and the portability is further improved.

  In addition, when the light-emitting device includes a light source and an optical waveguide optically coupled to the light source, the number of light sources used is small, so that power consumption can be reduced, and further, Weight reduction can be achieved and portability can be further enhanced.

  Furthermore, when the light receiving device has a photoelectric conversion element and an optical waveguide optically coupled to the photoelectric conversion element, the light transmission path can be produced at a time, so that the number of manufacturing steps can be reduced. The manufacturing cost of the electronic book device can be reduced.

It is a top view of one example of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the light-emitting device 4 used for the said Example. It is explanatory drawing of the light receiving device 3 used for the said Example. It is a top view of the other Example of this invention. It is a top view of further another example of the present invention.

  Next, an embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a plan view of an electronic book apparatus which is an embodiment for carrying out the present invention. This electronic book device is optically coupled to a CMOS image sensor and a CMOS image sensor on the upper edge of a liquid crystal display 2 (diagonal size of display portion: 9.7 inches) provided in the device body 1. A light receiving device 3 including an optical waveguide is provided, and a VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser) and a light emitting device 4 including an optical waveguide optically coupled to the VCSEL are provided at the lower edge of the liquid crystal display 2. ing. Reference numeral 5 denotes an operation button for performing operations such as turning the power on and off. FIG. 1 schematically shows each component and is different from the actual size (the same applies to the following drawings).

  More specifically, the electronic book device can be read like a book by displaying book data read in a memory (not shown) built in the device main body 1 on the liquid crystal display 2. is there. The light emitting device 4 provided at the lower edge of the liquid crystal display 2 has a function of emitting infrared light that passes through the upper surface of the liquid crystal display 2 and is incident on the light receiving device 3 facing the liquid crystal display 2. The light receiving device 3 provided at the upper edge portion of the liquid crystal display 2 has a function of detecting a blocking portion when the infrared ray is blocked by a hand or a pen. Accordingly, when the user moves the hand or pen on the surface of the liquid crystal display 2 in the right direction or the left direction like paper feed in a book, the infrared rays are sequentially blocked and the amount of received light is reduced. The parts where the infrared rays are blocked can be detected in that order. Thereby, the page of the electronic book displayed on the liquid crystal display 2 can be advanced or returned to the front. The operation button 5 can perform operations such as turning the power on and off.

  The block configuration of the electronic book apparatus is as shown in FIG. 2, a memory in which book data, a program, and the like are stored, a central processing unit (CPU) that reads and executes the program from the memory, It includes a controller IC that encodes a blocking part detected by the photoelectric conversion element as a blocking signal and transmits the signal to the central device.

  According to this configuration, since the display unit is formed by the liquid crystal display 2, the book data can be expressed in a clear and colorful state. In addition, since the light receiving device 3 is provided at the upper edge of the liquid crystal display 2, it is difficult to be affected by disturbance light such as sunlight, and the malfunction can be prevented even when used outdoors. And since neither the light emitting device 4 nor the light receiving device 3 is provided in the side edge 6 of the liquid crystal display 2, weight reduction of the apparatus main body 1 is realizable. Furthermore, since the width of the lateral edge 6 can be reduced, the design of the apparatus main body 1 can be improved. Further, since the light emitting device 4 has a VCSEL (vertical cavity surface emitting laser) and an optical waveguide optically coupled to the VCSEL, the number of light sources can be reduced, power consumption can be reduced, and the apparatus main body Can be reduced in weight. Moreover, since VCSEL is excellent in optical transmission property and the optical transmission loss of an optical waveguide is low, infrared rays can be emitted efficiently. Since the light receiving device 3 has a CMOS image sensor and an optical waveguide optically coupled to the CMOS image sensor, an infrared blocking part can be detected instantaneously even if the number of photoelectric conversion elements is reduced. The weight of the apparatus main body can be reduced. Furthermore, since the light receiving device 3 and the light emitting device 4 have an optical waveguide, and the optical transmission path is manufactured as an optical waveguide at a time, the number of steps in these manufacturing steps is small, and the manufacturing cost is reduced. In addition to the optical touch panel, since the operation button 5 is provided separately, various operations such as turning on / off the power, selecting one from a plurality of book data, and reading the book data from the outside are performed. Can do.

  The display unit used in the present invention is for displaying book data, and preferably has a flat surface so that infrared rays can easily pass therethrough. In addition, the display section is preferably rectangular, and more preferably rectangular. The diagonal size is preferably 5 to 20 inches from the viewpoint of portability. The display unit uses the liquid crystal display 2 in the above example, but other than this, for example, an organic electroluminescence display, a microcapsule electrophoretic electronic paper, or the like can be used.

  The light-emitting device 4 used in the present invention emits infrared rays only in one direction from the bottom to the top, instead of emitting infrared rays in a grid pattern (two directions, up, down, left and right) as used in a conventional optical touch panel. Is. Thereby, it is not necessary to provide the light emitting device 4 at the lateral edge 6 of the display unit, and the width thereof can be narrowed, so that the apparatus main body 1 can be made compact and lightweight. For example, when an electronic book device having a display unit with a diagonal size of 9.7 inches is manufactured using a conventional optical touch panel, the width of the side edge 6 is required to be at least 10 mm or more on only one side. . In contrast, the electronic book device of the present invention can reduce the width of the side edge 6 to 2 mm or less, and can also eliminate the side edge 6 (0 mm). There is no need to divide extra space in the lateral edge 6. Therefore, the degree of freedom in design of the apparatus main body 1 is increased.

  In the above example, the light emitting device 4 used in the present invention includes a light source 8 and an optical waveguide 12 optically coupled to the light source 8, as shown in FIG. The optical waveguide 12 has an under-cladding layer, a core provided on the under-cladding layer, and an over-cladding layer surrounding the core, and the light (infrared rays) of the light source 8 is liquid crystal display by the core. 2 is led to the lower edge, and is emitted from the convex lens 12a (light emitting portion) which is the end thereof. The distance between the convex lenses 12a is 1.5 mm. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the core of the waveguide 12 is bent, and the light source 8 is disposed on the opposite side of the convex lens 12a at the end of the core. Thereby, the convex lens 12a (light emitting portion) at the end of the core can be effectively arranged on the long side of the light emitting device 4, and the length of the long side can be further shortened. Can be achieved.

  As the light source 8, a VCSEL is used in the above example, but a light emitting diode, a semiconductor laser, or the like can also be used. Of these, VCSELs are preferably used in terms of excellent optical transmission.

  In the above example, the light receiving device 3 used in the present invention has a photoelectric conversion element 10 and an optical waveguide 11 optically coupled to the photoelectric conversion element 10 as shown in FIG. The optical waveguide 11 has an under clad layer, a plurality of cores provided thereon, and an over clad layer surrounding the core group, and infrared rays emitted from the light emitting device 4 Light is received by the convex lens 11a (light receiving portion) at the end of the core, and is guided to the photoelectric conversion element 10 by each core. Therefore, if the infrared ray is blocked by a finger, a pen, or the like, the light intensity at that position decreases, so the photoelectric conversion element 10 detects and specifies the X coordinate position on the display unit indicated by the finger, the pen, or the like. be able to. In the above example, the number of cores of the optical waveguide guided to the CMOS is 100, but the number is appropriately set according to the size of the liquid crystal display 2, and preferably 30 to 170. More preferably, it is 40-150. Further, the end of the core on which the convex lens 11a is provided is subdivided, and a convex lens 11a is provided at each of the subdivided ends so that the number of convex lenses 11a is guided to the CMOS. You may make it increase more than the number of cores. If it does in this way, the detection sensitivity of the X coordinate position in a display part can be raised more. In the above example, the distance between the convex lenses 11a is 320 μm. In the light receiving device 3, as shown in FIG. 4, the core of the waveguide is bent, and the photoelectric conversion element 10 is disposed on the side opposite to the convex lens 11a at the end of the core. Thereby, the convex lens 11a at the end of the core can be effectively arranged on the long side of the light receiving device 3, and the length of the long side can be further shortened, so that the apparatus main body 1 can be made compact. .

  In the above example, a CMOS image sensor is used as the photoelectric conversion element 10, but in addition to this, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a semiconductor sensor (CMOS image sensor, CCD image sensor, etc.), A photodiode, a phototransistor, or the like can be used. Among them, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a semiconductor sensor is preferably used in that photoelectric conversion processing can be performed instantaneously.

  In the above example, the optical waveguide used in the present invention (the optical waveguide 12 used in the light-emitting device 4 and the optical waveguide 11 used in the light-receiving device 3) is obtained by a photolithography method. An underclad layer (thickness 20 μm) made of an epoxy-based ultraviolet curable resin having a skeleton, and a core (width 15 μm, height 50 μm) made of an epoxy-based ultraviolet curable resin containing a fluorene skeleton patterned on the surface of the underclad layer; And an over clad layer (thickness 1 mm) made of an epoxy-based ultraviolet curable resin having an alicyclic skeleton formed on the under clad layer so as to cover the core. Such optical waveguides (11, 12) can be produced not only by photolithography but also by a dry etching method using plasma, a transfer method, photo bleaching, or the like.

  In the above example, the core of the optical waveguide (11, 12) is formed of an epoxy-based ultraviolet curable resin containing a fluorene skeleton, but has a higher refractive index than the under-cladding layer and the over-cladding layer, and has a near infrared region. It can also be formed of a material having high transparency with respect to the wavelength. As such a material, an ultraviolet curable resin excellent in patterning property is preferably used, and specific examples include acrylic, epoxy, siloxane, norbornene, and polyimide.

  Further, the cross-sectional shape of the core is preferably a trapezoid or a quadrangle in terms of excellent patternability. The core width at the bottom of the core cross section is preferably 10 to 500 μm, and the core height connecting the midpoint between the upper base and the bottom base of the core cross section is preferably 10 to 100 μm.

  In the above example, the under cladding layer and the over cladding layer of the optical waveguide (11, 12) are formed of an epoxy-based ultraviolet curable resin having an alicyclic skeleton, but are formed of a material having a refractive index lower than that of the core. You can also. The under cladding layer can be made of a material that also serves as a flat substrate such as glass, silicon, metal, or resin. The over clad layer is not necessarily formed by coating the periphery of the core with a material different from that of the core, and may be a so-called air clad layer. The refractive index of the resin forming the core, the under cladding layer and the over cladding layer can be increased or decreased depending on the type and content of the organic group introduced into the resin.

  In the above example, the operation button 5 is provided on the lower side of the liquid crystal display 2. However, depending on the design of the apparatus main body 1, the operation button 5 may be provided on the side surface of the apparatus main body 1 or on the upper side of the liquid crystal display 2. You may make it not provide at all.

  Next, another embodiment (device main body 13) of the electronic book device of the present invention is shown in the plan view of FIG. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the member same as the said embodiment, and the description is abbreviate | omitted. This embodiment (apparatus body 13) shows an example using a light emitting device having a plurality of light emitting diodes 7 instead of the light emitting device 4 in the above embodiment (apparatus body 1). This is the same as the above embodiment, and has the same effect. That is, in this embodiment, a plurality of light emitting diodes 7 arranged in a horizontal row at the lower edge of the liquid crystal display 2 are provided as the light emitting portion of the light emitting device. Therefore, the amount of emitted infrared light can be easily increased or decreased. The number of light emitting die autos 7 is appropriately selected according to the size of the liquid crystal display 2.

  Still another embodiment (device main body 14) of the electronic book device of the present invention is shown in the plan view of FIG. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the member same as the said embodiment, and the description is abbreviate | omitted. This embodiment (apparatus body 14) shows an example in which a light emitting device having a light source 8 and a waveguide member 9 is used instead of the light emitting device 4 in the above embodiment (apparatus body 1). Except for this, it is the same as the above embodiment, and has the same effects. In this embodiment, the light emitting device includes the light source 8 and the waveguide member 9 having a reflection surface that reflects the light of the light source 8. The direction is converted by 90 ° by a reflecting surface (not shown), and the light is emitted so as to pass through the surface of the liquid crystal display 2. The light source 8 and the waveguide member 9 can be the same as those described in the above example. As the material of the waveguide member 9, various highly transparent resins such as an epoxy resin and an acrylic resin can be used. According to this configuration, since the light emitting device manufacturing process can be simplified, the time required for manufacturing the electronic book apparatus can be further shortened, and the cost can be reduced.

  The present invention can be used for an electronic book device having excellent usability, portability, and design.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Apparatus body 2 Liquid crystal display 3 Light receiving device 4 Light emitting device

Claims (3)

  An electronic book apparatus having a display unit for displaying book data and a set of light emitting device and light receiving device, wherein the light emitting device is disposed at a lower edge of the display unit, and the light receiving device is the display It is arranged at the upper edge of the image area so as to face the light emitting device, and has a function of emitting infrared rays from the lower side of the display unit to the upper side so that the light emitting device passes the surface of the display unit. An electronic book apparatus, wherein the light receiving device has a function of detecting a blocking portion where the infrared ray is blocked.   The electronic book apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting device includes a light source and an optical waveguide optically coupled to the light source.   3. The electronic book apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light receiving device includes a photoelectric conversion element and an optical waveguide optically coupled to the photoelectric conversion element.

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