JPH02100168A - Thin type portable book - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a light and compact thin type portable book by adding a driving signal for display only when a picture displayed on a ferroelectric liquid crystal display is changed to another picture, and adding no driving signal for display after picture display is rewritten. CONSTITUTION:The function of a book is attached by reproducing data of one picture from an EPROM card by the operation of an external input key 3 in a reproducing device, displaying it on a display part 2, and reading the display by an operator. At this time, the display of 30 characters by 50 rows is performed in vertical display on the display part 2, then, it is set as one picture. Furthermore, the next picture can be displayed and read by the operation of the input key 3 when it is desired to read it. The picture is changed by adding a liquid crystal display signal on a ferroelectric liquid for two times at every operation of the input key 3 by the operator, and the display of a sentence is performed by utilizing a memory characteristic held by a ferroelectric liquid crystal material without adding the driving signal at a time other than that. In such a way, a portable, light, and compact book can be obtained.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a thin portable book that can be carried around, and is particularly characterized by reduced power consumption of the device.

(B) Conventional technology Conventional books are made up of paper with letters, numbers, symbols, etc. printed on them, and are sold to users, who are responsible for the printed characters, It was used to understand the contents of books by reading numbers, symbols, etc.

However, these conventional books are made up of paper, and each book is made up of at least several tens of pages, but usually several hundred pages. 1K per specialized book
The weight had become over 100g. Therefore, when delivering books to bookstores for sale, they are typically delivered by truck due to their weight and size, which is approximately several tons. Costs were rising.

In addition, the size of the paper surface on which letters, numbers, symbols, etc. are printed is not standardized depending on the content, type, price, etc. of the book, and there is a problem that a considerable amount of floor space is required when storing a large amount of books.

In addition, elementary and junior high school students, whose bodies are still growing, carry heavy textbooks and other books in their bags every day for school classes, which has a serious impact on their bodies.

The applicant's "Thin Portable Book" (Public Application No. 134751, 1961) is a lightweight and compact thin portable book that solves the many problems mentioned above.
No.).

A problem not only with books such as these but also with mobile electronic products is the problem of power supply.

That is, dry batteries or rechargeable batteries are used as a simple power source, but because their power capacity is small, the life of the simple power source is short.

Therefore, it has been desired to reduce the power consumption of mobile electrical appliances themselves.

(C) Structure of the Invention The present invention solves the various problems mentioned above and relates to a thin portable book that is lightweight, compact, and consumes low power.

That is, reproduction involves converting the characters, numbers, symbols, etc. of the contents of a book into code signals, recording the data on a recording medium such as a nonvolatile semiconductor memory, magnetic floppy disk, or optical disk, and reproducing the data from this recording medium. It has the function of a book when it is combined with the means. This reproducing means displays the reproduced data on a display area using an attached ferroelectric liquid crystal so that the user can recognize the reproduced data. When necessary, the user operates an external key to display the required screen and recognizes the information content (for example, a novel).

With a system of storage media and playback means that have these functions, users can own one playback device, several data storage media, and own multiple books just by exchanging them. It has the characteristic of being the same as

A typical external storage medium weighs approximately 10 to 30 g each, and is characterized in that it does not require special equipment even when stored and transported in large quantities.

Furthermore, if the playback method of this playback device is standardized so that it can be played on any playback device, it would be possible to provide students with desks that are integrated with the playback device in educational settings such as schools.
If tables are provided, students will be able to attend classes easily.

Further, as the display unit of the present invention, a flat display that is as small as possible is suitable. This is because conventional displays of the CRT (cathode ray tube) type cause eye fatigue and health problems when users look at the screen for long periods of time. Therefore, a liquid crystal display is particularly preferred. A liquid crystal display has the characteristics that it causes less eye fatigue than a CRT type, is thinner, lighter, and consumes less power. be.

In particular, the liquid crystal display method is preferably a display using ferroelectric liquid crystal. That is, conventional TN type or STN type liquid crystal displays have the disadvantage of high power consumption. In other words, while displaying the text in a book, these types of liquid crystal displays must continue to apply liquid crystal display drive signals to the liquid crystal 30 to 60 times per second8.Reducing this number of times is necessary. means that flickering appears on the display, which is the worst condition for reading text. Moreover, if this drive signal is applied only a few times when changing to screen display and then is not added thereafter, no display will be performed at all, which makes no sense.

On the other hand, in the case of a display using ferroelectric liquid crystal as in the present invention, once a drive signal for display is applied due to the characteristics of the liquid crystal material itself, the display state remains unchanged until the next display drive signal is applied. It has the characteristic of continuing to hold.

Therefore, in order to display one screen (one page), the display can be performed by applying a drive signal at least once to each pixel of the liquid crystal display, and the user can recognize the text in the book even when it is still. there is.

After reading the currently displayed screen (page), the user presses the next page key J + fprevious page key j or rscroll key 1, etc., as necessary to change the screen display. Only at this time is a display drive signal applied to the liquid crystal display to change the display.

By doing so, it is possible to keep power consumption low, unlike conventional liquid crystal display systems. FIG. 4 shows a relative comparison of this result with the conventional method.

In this comparison, the screen display is changed every 45 seconds.

It is clear that the present invention (12) can reduce power consumption.

This is an effect of not applying a signal for driving the liquid crystal while the screen is being displayed.

Furthermore, if the contents of a book are stored in a non-volatile semiconductor memory and this is used as an external storage medium of the device of the present invention, when reproducing the stored information, the information stored on the optical disk or magnetic floppy disk can be reproduced. Unlike the case,
Since information is electrically read out without the need to operate a reproducing machine, power consumption can be reduced even when reproducing information, which satisfies the object of the present invention.

Further, in order to make the portable book of the present invention thin and lightweight and usable outdoors, a solar cell module made of a non-monocrystalline semiconductor is installed in the main body or the protective lid of the flat display section as a power source. It is characterized by: The solar cell module used in this lid is made of a transparent conductive film (e.g. 5nOz, ITO, ZnO,
A non-single crystal semiconductor layer having a junction of PIN, NIP or a combination thereof is formed on the semiconductor layer by a known vapor phase technique, and a transparent conductive film is again formed as a back electrode on the semiconductor layer. A structure formed by the following methods is used.

If a solar cell module with such a configuration is used on the main body or the lid of the display, the solar cell will remain active even when the portable book is being used, that is, when the cover is open, and when the portable book is not in use, that is, when the cover is closed. The Mosier continues to generate electricity, and in some cases it has the extremely beneficial feature of being able to cover all of the power consumption of the main unit with its solar cell modules.

The present invention will be explained below with reference to Examples.

Example 1 Examples of the product of the present invention are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 1 shows a front view, and FIG. 2 shows a side view. In both figures, the playback device main body (1) includes a display section (2), an external input key (3), a solar battery module (6) for power supply attached to the lid (5), and a data playback device (7). ), external power input terminal (8), external input terminal (9), (
10).

In this embodiment, a ferroelectric liquid crystal display device is used as the display section (2), and an EPRO card nonvolatile semiconductor memory card is used as the data recording medium. In addition, the solar cell module uses an amorphous silicon solar cell with a size of 20 mm x 300 mm. In this solar cell, a transparent conductive film (e.g., ITO, SnO□, ZnO, or a laminate thereof) is formed on a transparent substrate (e.g., glass, plastic, etc.), a base electrode is formed, and a known plasma is applied to the top surface of the base electrode. An amorphous silicon semiconductor layer having a PIN junction is formed by the CVD method, and a transparent conductive film is again formed on the upper surface thereof to serve as a back electrode. In this case, laser processing is used to create a 200 mm x 300
25 stages of elements were formed so as to be connected in series on a +n+n substrate. Although the output of this solar cell module varies slightly depending on the intensity of light irradiation, it can be used both indoors and outdoors.
It was able to supply enough power to power a portable book.

Additionally, since the substrate and upper and lower electrodes are both transparent, light can be irradiated onto the solar cell from both the top and bottom surfaces, making it possible to generate electricity whether the lid is open or closed. Further, inside the main body (1), a part having the function of the area shown in FIG. 3 (11) is installed. In this playback device, the data of the image part is converted to EF by operating the external input key (3).
The book was reproduced from a ROM card, displayed on the display section (2), and the user read the display to have the function of a book. At this time, the display section (2) displays 30 characters x 5 vertically.
0 lines were displayed, making one screen. If you want to read the next screen, you can display the next screen by operating the input key (3) and read it. How many dots does the ferroelectric liquid crystal display device used in the present invention have? 20 x 480 O'C ~ 70゛C
The display screen was made using a liquid crystal that exhibits ferroelectricity in the temperature range of

Then, each time the user operates the input key, the liquid crystal display drive signal is applied to the ferroelectric liquid crystal several times, twice in this example, to change the screen, and at other times, the drive signal is not applied and the display is changed. Text was displayed using the memory properties of dielectric liquid crystal materials.

In this way, we were able to complete the present invention.

Embodiment 2 The playback device and other features used are the same as in Embodiment 1, but the display method is slightly different.

That is, by operating the external input key (3), several hundred pages are simultaneously recorded and reproduced from the data storage medium, stored in the user's memory area within the main unit, and then operated by the external input key (3). This allows the user to instantly display any screen they want.

With this method, it is possible to read different screens many times, and the same reading method as a normal book reading method is also possible in the present invention.

In addition, when using a liquid crystal display device in which sensors are arranged in a matrix in the display section (2), the user can specify important parts of the display screen with a touch pen or light pen, and the important parts can be stored in the user's memory. Make the area memorized or highlight the display of that part e.g. underline,
It can be used as inverted characters, and can have the same function as drawing a red line on paper such as a textbook or underlining with a fluorescent pen.

(d) Effects As mentioned above, the present invention makes it portable;
We were able to create a lightweight and compact book. Furthermore, since the recording data medium is lightweight and compact, it can be stored and transported in large quantities. Furthermore, by having multiple data storage media for one playback device, it is possible to have the same effect as having multiple books.

Therefore, elementary and junior high school students do not need to carry many heavy books to school, but only need to carry a plurality of lightweight and compact data files.

In addition, since driving signals are applied to the liquid crystal display only when changing the screen display, power consumption can be kept low, and even lower power consumption can be achieved by using non-volatile semiconductor memory as the storage medium. It became. Furthermore, by incorporating a power source such as a solar battery, it is possible to carry and read books for a long time.

Further, according to the configuration of the present invention, when the lid is opened during use, power is generated from the solar cell module and power is supplied. Furthermore, when not in use, the solar cell module is exposed to light even when the lid is closed. If you store the power for this time in an auxiliary battery etc., you can use it in the evening when the light intensity is low.
It can be used even on cloudy days.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 show schematic diagrams of the device of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of the system of the device of the invention. FIG. 4 shows the relationship between power consumption and the number of page breaks in the system of the present invention. 6...Solar cell 7...External recording and reproducing section

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A thin portable book comprising a recording medium on which data is recorded and a ferroelectric liquid crystal display that converts the data contents into characters, symbols, images, etc. and displays the ferroelectric liquid crystal display. A display drive signal is applied to the ferroelectric liquid crystal display only when changing the screen displayed on the screen to another screen, and the display drive signal is not applied after the screen display is rewritten. Mobile books. 2. A thin portable book according to claim 1, characterized in that a nonvolatile semiconductor memory is used as the storage medium. 3. A thin portable book according to claim 1, characterized in that the lid covering the liquid crystal display is provided with a large-area solar cell made of a non-monocrystalline semiconductor.