JP3350177B2 - Information processing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic book, etc.
In particular, the present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that performs page turning with a favorable operation when displaying information separated on a plurality of pages.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Instead of books and notebooks made of conventional paper,
In recent years, so-called electronic books and electronic notebooks that display data recorded on a semiconductor memory, a disk recording medium, or the like on a display device have been put to practical use. These can display information on a liquid crystal display device or the like, and can be used in the same manner as a conventional book or notebook, but can also be used in a characteristic manner taking advantage of the characteristics of digital data. For example, it is possible to search for data using a certain keyword, to transfer data to another recording medium via a line, or the like.

[0003]

In such an electronic book or electronic notebook, the amount of information per unit volume can be made larger than that of a conventional book or notebook, and a keyword can be used when searching for information. It also has the advantage of being searchable. However, the operation of actually extracting information is not always good. In the case of a book or notebook, the search for information is performed by turning the paper. Although this is a simple method, it is a very operable method. On the contrary,
For example, in the case of an electronic book having a dictionary function, it is necessary to input a word to be searched and perform a search, or to operate a switch or the like to electronically turn a page to find a desired word. The former method has a problem that it is difficult to input words. Inputting words using a keyboard or the like is not an easy task for ordinary people who are not accustomed to keyboard operations. In addition, since an electronic book or an electronic organizer requires the entire apparatus to be made compact, the keyboard is also made very small, and even a person who is accustomed to operating the keyboard can enter words. In the latter method, for example, there is a method of switching the screen on the display device using an up / down key.However, it is difficult to hold the entire device by operating the keys, and ergonomically, the page turning operation is performed by using the key. Is not a good way to do it. Since ordinary people are accustomed to turning over paper to search for information, it is necessary to be able to search for information with a feeling of operation similar to this. As means for solving these problems, there is, for example, JP-A-2-230313. This is such that browsing can be performed by giving rotation, pressure, curvature, or the like to the detection means of the apparatus as input means. However, according to the present invention, since the information input means is provided only at one place, it is not possible to obtain the operational feeling of turning the paper by hand. The present invention relates to a system that can solve these problems.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve these problems, and includes an information storage means for storing information composed of a plurality of pages such as a paper book or a document. an input sensing unit for detecting input information given from the operator, and a display unit for displaying the information stored in said information storing means, switches the information displayed on the display unit in two directions An information processing apparatus having display control means for displaying the information .
Input sensing means near each of the three vertices of the surface on which the display section is present, and when the information is displayed in two directions, the input section is selected from the three input sensing means by the display section.
There is provided an information processing apparatus for selecting two input sensing means disposed in the upward direction of the direction.

[0005]

According to the present invention, even an operator who is not used to operating a keyboard or the like can easily search an electronic book or the like.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 shows a conventional operation of turning over pages of a book or a notebook made of paper. In order to search the contents of the book 1, the operator turns the pages using the right hand 2 and the left hand 3. Except in the case where a book is placed on a desk and a page is turned, since both hands need to hold the book 1, the functions of both hands cannot be used for turning a page. FIG. 1 shows an operation of turning a page to the right. In this case, it is common to perform an operation of sending a page to be turned to the right while holding a page to be turned with a part of the right hand 2, and to send a page with the left hand 3. Usually not done. When the page is turned to the left, the operation is exactly the opposite, and the page is generally sent to the left using the left hand 3. FIG. 6 shows an electronic book provided with a browsing device according to the prior art. Body 21
Has a display unit 23, and information recorded therein is displayed in this portion. If all the information cannot be displayed on the display unit 23, a page turning instruction is input using the buttons 24 or the sensor 22 for browsing. The sensor 22 is composed of, for example, an electronic dial. In this case, the page is turned by turning the electronic dial right or left. However, when the electronic dial is attached to the device holding part of the right hand, it is good to turn the electronic dial clockwise, but when turning the counterclockwise, it is necessary to turn the pages of a book made of paper. Since the operation is contrary to the operation, the operation cannot be performed with a good feeling. Also,
In the example of FIG. 6, characters are displayed in a horizontal direction on a horizontally long screen. Depending on the type of data, it may be desirable to display characters in the short side direction of the display unit. Since the whole must be laid horizontally, the electronic dial must be turned up and down, so that the operability is very poor.

FIG. 1 is an overall view of a page turning apparatus according to the present invention. A display device 35 is attached to the main body 31 so that information stored therein can be displayed. The display contents can be turned by the electronic dials 32, 33, and 34. This operation will be described in detail. When a character (or graphic) is displayed in the direction as shown in the figure, the CPU in the apparatus determines the display direction, does not accept the input information from the electronic dial 34, and turns the electronic dials 32 and 33 on. This is a mode in which only the input information is accepted. When the display data is in a left-opening page format, the page is sent in the forward direction by rotating the electronic dial 33 in the upper left direction.
This operation is the same as the operation of turning over a left-opening book made of paper, so that the operator can perform a page turning operation with a good sense. To turn the page in the reverse direction, the electronic dial 32 is rotated to the upper right. The position of the electronic dial is such that the thumb can be naturally placed while holding the entire device. For this reason, even if the page turning operation is performed while holding the apparatus, an unstable holding state does not occur. The electronic dial 32 is configured to rise to the right and the electronic dial 33 is configured to rise to the left. The electronic dial 32 and the thumb of the right hand correspond to the movement directions of the thumb, respectively, so that the operation can be performed well.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing another use form of the page turning apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in this figure, when it is more efficient to display data such that the long side direction of the display portion is vertical, such a usage mode different from that of FIG. 1 is obtained. If the electronic dials 32 and 33 are used for turning pages in this case, the operability will be poor. Therefore, when the data is displayed so as to be vertical in the long-side direction, the CPU in the apparatus judges this, and does not accept the input information from the electronic dial 33, and returns to the electronic dials 32 and 34.
This is a mode in which only input information is received. In this case, the electronic dial 32 turns the page to the left,
The electronic dial 34 is in charge of turning the page to the right.

FIG. 3 shows an example in which the page turning device according to the present invention is applied to an image display device of an electronic still camera. The electronic image recorded inside the electronic still camera 51 is sent to the display device 53 via the cable 52. The image information transmitted through the cable 52 may be in the form of an analog video signal or may be sent in the form of a digital video signal, processed in the display device 53, and displayed. Information about page turning by the electronic dials 54, 55, 56 is sent to a control unit inside the main body of the electronic still camera 51 via the cable 52,
The control unit switches the display image based on this information. In the case of a still electronic image, there are cases where the camera is shot in a vertical position and in a horizontal position, so that the direction displayed on the display device varies. According to the method of the present invention, it is possible to easily switch to the next image while viewing the image displayed in either direction. Is possible. In addition,
In this configuration example, the electronic still camera body is shown in a form in which the display unit is separated from the electronic still camera body. However, for example, even when the display unit is formed integrally with the camera body, the same electronic dial is used in the camera body. To perform a page turning operation.

FIG. 4 shows an electronic dial 32, 33, 34.5.
It is the figure which showed the output signal of 4.55.56. The output of each electronic dial is composed of a two-phase digital output as shown at 6-a and 6-b. Each output has a relationship shifted by 1/4 from the pulse period. When the dial is rotated forward, the pulse state advances to the right, and when the dial is reversed, the pulse state advances to the left. The CPU that controls the page turning monitors the state of 6-b at the time of the falling edge of the pulse of 6-a.

FIG. 5 is an overall circuit diagram of a display device according to the present invention. The information stored in the recording medium 71 is read by the memory controller 72 and displayed on the display device 74 through the driver 73. The control of the whole device is C
This is performed by the PU 78. The operator operates the keyboard 76 to perform page turning and other operations. In this configuration, a case where a memory card is used as a recording medium is described, but the same applies to a case where a rotating recording medium such as a CD is used. As shown in the example of FIG. 3, data on an external recording medium is input through the connector 77 and displayed on the display device 74. The page turning instruction is given from the CPU 78 to an external recording medium through the connector 77.

[0012]

As described above, according to the present invention, when searching for internal data, it is possible to perform a search with the same operational feeling as when searching for the contents of a normal book or notebook, so that the search can be performed quickly. The operator feels less fatigue. Also, even people who are unfamiliar with keyboard operation can easily handle it.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a first embodiment of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the information processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example in which the information processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to an image display device of an electronic still camera.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an output signal of the electronic dial of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the information processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conventional information processing apparatus having a browsing function.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a conventional operation of turning over pages of a book or a notebook made of paper.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 hand 2 right hand 3 left hand 21 main body 22 sensor 23 display unit 24 buttons 31 main body 32, 33, 34 electronic dial 35 display device 51 electronic still camera 52 cable 53 display device 54, 55, 56 electronic dial 71 recording medium 72 memory controller 73 driver 74 display device 75 input means 76 keyboard 77 connector

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An information storage unit for storing information composed of a plurality of pages such as a paper book or a document; an input sensing unit for detecting input information provided by an operator; A display unit for displaying information stored in the information storage means;
An information processing apparatus having a display control means for displaying One of switching the direction, presence of the display unit of the information processing apparatus
To an input sensing unit to each vicinity of the three vertices of the plane, the direction from the display section from among the three input sensing means when viewing each said information in two directions
An information processing apparatus for selecting two input sensing means arranged in the upper direction of the information processing apparatus.