JPH02249068A - Electronic notebook system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily fetch image information desirable to a user by writing and displaying read and inputted picture data to a nonvolatile semiconductor memory. CONSTITUTION:An EERPOM is used for a memory card 16. The information on a printed substance is read as a picture by an image scanner 22, fetched through a scanner interface 23 and an input/output terminal 11 into an electronic notebook main body 10, and it is stored into the EEPROM at large capacity to be the memory card 16. Further the fetched picture data are compressed in an encoding system by a picture data compressing circuit 18, and displayed as the picture on a display part 20. Thus the arbitrary image information desirable to the user can be held in the electronic notebook.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention particularly relates to an electronic notebook system capable of reading image data.

(Prior Art) Electronic notebooks generally function as telephone directories, address books, various dictionaries, business data management systems, etc. using various software information stored in semiconductor memory cards. Furthermore, conventional electronic notebooks are configured to not only allow a semiconductor memory card to be attached, but also to import data from an external storage device via an external input/output terminal, and to print data using a printer.

In such conventional electronic notebooks, the software information is basically stored on semiconductor memory cards,
Only processed products can be used. For this reason, when a user attempts to import information published in a printed matter such as a book into an electronic notebook, the user must enter the information using keys provided in the electronic notebook. However, this method has the problem that the input operation is very complicated and that only character data and numerical data can be input.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As mentioned above, in conventional electronic notebooks, only existing information stored in a semiconductor memory card or the like or processed information can be used as software information; The only way to input this information is by the user using complicated key operations, and the types of information that can be input are also limited to character data and numerical data.

The present invention provides an electronic notebook that can easily incorporate not only software information prepackaged into a storage medium such as a semiconductor memory card, but also image information desired by the user into an electronic notebook, thereby expanding its uses. The purpose is to provide a notebook system.

[Configuration of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems) The electronic notebook system according to the present invention incorporates an electrically rewritable non-volatile semiconductor memory (EEFROM), and also reads images and inputs image data. The apparatus is equipped with an image input means, and the image data inputted by the image input means is written into a nonvolatile semiconductor memory so that it can be displayed as an image on a display section.

(Function) The image input means reads information printed on various printed materials as images, generates image data, and inputs the image data into the main body of the electronic notebook. The input image data is stored in EEPROM,
After being processed by the user as necessary, it is displayed as an image when necessary. Therefore, if you use this electronic notebook system, you can save information from guidebooks, timetables, and other printed materials in your electronic notebook without having to use a copy machine, copy the information by hand, or enter it with keystrokes when traveling or on a business trip. and can be used at any time.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an electronic notebook system according to an embodiment of the present invention, together with related equipment.

This electronic notebook system mainly includes an electronic notebook main body 10, an image scanner 22 as an image input device, and a scanner interface 23. The electronic notebook body 10 has input/output terminals 11 for connecting external devices.
, a microprocessor unit (MPU) 12, a keyboard 13, a ROM 14 that stores program data, etc.
, a RAM 15 for temporarily storing data for information processing, a card memory 6 with a built-in EEFROM (described later), a card interface 17, an image data compression circuit 18, a display driver 19, a display unit 20 such as a liquid crystal display, and a battery 21. There is. Note that the card memory 6 and battery 21 are removable from the electronic notebook body 10.

This electronic notebook system stores E E in the memory card 16.
P ROM is used, and EEPROM is used, for example, 1
Taking advantage of the chip's large capacity of 4M bits, the image scanner 22 reads the information on the printed matter as an image, imports it into the electronic notebook main body 10 via the scanner interface 23 and the input/output terminal 11, and stores it as an image. A major difference from the conventional method is that the data is stored in the EEPROM of the memory card 16. The image data compression circuit 18 compresses the image data taken into the electronic notebook main body 10 using an encoding method such as conversion encoding, so that a large amount of image data can be stored in the EEFROM as efficiently as possible.

On the other hand, as an ink face that is normally set as an option, there is a mass storage interface 25 for connecting an external mass storage device such as a disk memory 24 such as an optical disk, a magnetic disk, or a CD-ROM to the electronic organizer main body 1o. , a communication interface 27 for connecting a communication line 26 such as a telephone line to the electronic notebook body 10, and a printer interface 29 for outputting to a printer 28.

As shown in Figure 2, the card memory 6 is an EEPROM.
30, control section 31, transmitting section 32, and receiving section 33
Built-in. In addition, the control section 31, the transmitting section 32, and the receiving section 33 are connected to the battery 2 in the electronic notebook main body 10.
1 (or other battery). Card interface 1
7 has a transmitting section 35 and a receiving section 36, and the transmitting section 35 and receiving section 36 exchange data with the receiving section 33 and transmitting section 32 in the card memory 16, for example, by optical transmission, and exchange data with the MPU 12. Data is exchanged between them in the form of electrical signals via a code.

3 and 4 are external views of the electronic notebook main body 1o,
Input/output terminals 11, keyboard 13, display section 20, card mounting section 37, etc. are arranged as shown in the figure. In FIG. 3, the transmitting/receiving sections 32, 33 of the memory card 16 and the transmitting/receiving sections 35, 36 of the card interface 7 are provided on the end surface, and in FIG. 4, they are provided on the bottom surface.

Furthermore, as another example, it is also possible to configure the image scanner 22 and scanner interface 23 shown in FIG. 1 integrally with the electronic notebook main body 10. In this way, the electronic notebook system becomes easy to carry, and images of interest on a trip or business trip can be easily read and stored in the EEPROM 30, for example.

As the EEPROM 30, a NAND type EEPROM is particularly suitable. Figure 5 shows this NAND cell type EEPR.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of OM. Chip enable terminal CE and output terminal are used as external control signal terminals.
Enable terminal OE and write enable terminal WE
and 18 address signal terminals A. -AH It has 18 data input/output terminals l10o to I70□, and has power supply terminals Vcc and VSS.

In this embodiment, the memory cell array 1 is a 4M array in which four memory cells are collectively configured in a NAND type as described later.
It has a capacity of bits.

Bit lines BLI to BLm (m =
2048) is connected to the sense amplifier/data latch circuit 5. Selection gate line 5GIn.

5G2n and word line W L In = W L 4n
(n = 512) is connected to the row decoder 3.

The address signal is passed through address buffer 2 to the row
The signal is input to a decoder 3 and a column decoder 4, thereby selecting an address.

During reading, the data output to the bit lines BLL to BLm is amplified and latched by the sense amplifier/data latch circuit 5, and then sent to the input/output terminal I/Oo via the output buffer 6.
= Output to the outside from 1/07. When writing data, data input from input/output terminals 10o-110 is taken into the sense amplifier/data latch circuit 5 via the input buffer 7, and then written into the memory cell at the selected address. 8 is a control logic circuit that generates an internal control signal from an external control signal.

FIG. 6 is an equivalent circuit showing the configuration of the memory cell array 1. The memory cell Mij is an FETMOS type in which a floating gate and a control gate are stacked over the entire channel region with a thin gate insulating film interposed therebetween. For example, in the case of an n-channel, the operation of moving the threshold in the negative direction by applying a positive high voltage to the control gate and releasing electrons from the floating gate to the substrate by F-N tunneling corresponds to data erasing. The operation of keeping the control gate at "L" level and applying a positive high voltage to the drain to inject electrons into the floating gate by F-N tunneling to move the threshold value in the positive direction corresponds to data writing. . The high voltage used for data writing and erasing is applied to row decoder 3. in FIG. It is generated by a booster circuit in the column decoder 4. These memory cells constitute a so-called NAND cell in which four memory cells are connected in series to form one block, with the source 2 and drain shared by adjacent cells. One end of the NAND cell is the selection gate Qsl
is connected to the bit line BL via the bit line BL, and the other end is connected to the selection gate Q
It is connected to the source line VS via s2. The memory cells are arranged in a matrix as shown, and the control gates of the memory cells in the row direction are commonly connected to the word line WL.

FIG. 7 is a timing chart during reading. Set chip enable terminal CE and output enable terminal OE to "L" level, and write enable terminal W.
By changing the address with E set to "H" level, eight memory cell data are obtained via sense amplifier/data latch circuit 5 to input/output lines l100-I2O3.

FIG. 8 is a timing chart during writing. By setting the chip enable terminal CE to "L" level and the output enable terminal surface to "H" level, and toggling the write enable terminal WE in synchronization with the address signal, the input from input/output lines 110o-1107 is The data is sent to the sense amplifier/
The data is latched by the data latch circuit 5 and sequentially written to selected addresses.

In a NAND cell type EEPROM like this, multiple memory cells are connected to a bit line at once, so the number of contacts with the bit line is significantly smaller than when each memory cell is connected to a bit line. Therefore, it has the advantage of being able to be integrated at extremely high density.

As described above, the electronic notebook system of the present invention is capable of capturing image data read from a printed matter or the like by the image scanner 22 into the electronic notebook main body 10, storing it in the EEPROM 30, and displaying it on the display unit 20. In this case, it would be extremely convenient in practice to be able to read and display the following information on the printed matter, for example:

■Travel guidebooks ■Catalogs, pamphlets ■Timetables ■Address books, telephone directories ■Magazines ■Newspapers ■Paperbacks Traditionally, for example, when traveling, people often buy guidebooks and timetables and put them in their bags. In such a case, if you use the electronic notebook of the present invention, you can use an image scanner to read only the necessary information from the guidebooks and timetables and store it in the EEPROM1.
6 and then go out, which reduces baggage and makes searching easier.

Next, specific processing procedures for using software information in this embodiment will be explained using a flowchart.

FIG. 9 shows the processing procedure for menu display/selection. First, after the menu is displayed, the user makes a menu selection (step 5'1.52). If the selected menu is “Input”, data input processing is performed (
Steps 53.54). In addition to the keyboard 13, data input processing is performed using the interface 23.25.
．． 27, 29 and processing input via the input/output terminal 11 are also included. For example, when inputting image data, the image data input by the image scanner 22 is sent to the M via the scanner interface 23 and the input/output terminal 11.
After being taken into the PU 12 and compressed by the image data compression circuit 18, it is transferred to the EEPROM 30 in the memory card 16 via the card interface 17. If the selected menu is "Erase", the data in the specified range is erased (steps 55 and 56), and if the selected menu is "Display", the specified data is searched and displayed on the display. 21
(steps 57 and 58). If the selected menu is "end", the menu display/selection process ends (step 59).

FIG. 10 shows data input processing step 54 in FIG.
The contents are shown in detail, and data is input based on the user's manual operation (step 61), followed by a heading input. In the headline input process, when the user completes the headline input for the headline blank (
Steps 62 and 63), input data is written to the EEPROM 30 (step 64), and subsequently heading data is written to a heading page (described later) (step 65).

When writing data to the EEPROM 30, it may go through the RAMI 5.

FIG. 11 shows data erasure processing step 56 in FIG. 9.
The contents of the data are shown in detail, and the headings of the data to be deleted are manually created based on the user's input operations (step 7).
1). Next, the data corresponding to that heading is stored in the EPROM.
30 Furthermore, the corresponding heading data is deleted from the heading page (step 74).

FIG. 12 shows data display processing step 58 in FIG.
The contents are shown in detail, and a heading is input based on the user's input operation, and commands such as a continuation display format are input (steps 81 to 82). Here, if the input command is "separately turning", "separately turning" processing is performed (steps 83 and 84). “
``Scattered turning'' is a process that, when turning over a book or the like, involves opening and displaying 6 pages one after the other for short periods of time.As will be described later, specifically, image data stored in the EEPROM 30 is searched one after another and the pages are opened one after another for short periods of time. indicate.

If the input command is “bookmark”, the bookmark page,
That is, the data of the page that was designated as the section to start reading next time when the previous reading was finished is read out, and that bookmark page is set as the current page (steps 85, 86, and 87).

If the input command is not one of these, the page to be searched is input manually by the user (
Step 88), the data of the current page is retrieved (8 steps). Also, step 87 for setting the bookmark page as the current page.
When the process is completed, the process moves to step 89. Step 89
When the data of the current page is retrieved at , the data is displayed (step 90). Next, in step 91, if there are still commands, the process returns to step 81, and when the commands are completed, the data display process ends.

FIG. 13 shows in detail the contents of the "separate flipping" process step 84 in FIG. Investigated (Step 1
02), if they do not match, it is then determined whether the command is a stop command (step 103), and if it is not a stop, the data of the current page is retrieved and displayed (steps 104 and 105). Here, when the data of the current page is displayed for a certain period of time, the current page is incremented by one (steps 106 and 107), and the process returns to step 102 to repeat the same operation. In step 102, the current page matches the end page, or in step 103
When the command is stopped at , this "separate flipping" process ends.

FIG. 14 shows a data structure including image data stored in the EPROM 30. For each heading data, there are flags indicating the presence or absence of data in multiple data storage areas starting with the heading page, and a heading name. , the storage area for each data of the bookmark page and the image data is set. Image data in each storage area is provided with a page header.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 15 shows an example in which a data rewriting device 50 for rewriting data in the memory card 16 outside the electronic notebook body 10 is provided, and the electronic notebook body 10 is the same as the previous embodiment.

The data rewriting device 50 includes the mass storage interface 25 and the communication interface 27 in FIG.
It has a PU 51, a keyboard 52, and an interface 53 for connection with the memory card 16.

FIG. 16 shows an example in which the keyboard 13 and memory card 16 can be removed from the electronic organizer main body 10.
In this case, the data in the memory card 16 may be rewritten using a data rewriting device as shown in FIG. 17, which is similar to the data rewriting device 50 in FIG. 15.

In the above embodiment, the image data obtained by the image scanner 22 is stored in the EEPROM in the memory card 16.
30, but external image files and V
Image data may be imported from video equipment such as a TR or video disc device. Also, EEPROM3
It is also possible to modify the image data once written to the EEPROM 30 by key operation or the like and then write it again to the EEPROM 30.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, image information of guidebooks, timetables, catalogs, and other printed materials desired by the user that are not packaged in existing memory cards can be read and easily saved in an electronic notebook. , it is possible to display it as an image when necessary, such as when traveling, on a business trip, or when shopping, and the functions and uses of the electronic notebook can be significantly expanded, and the practical effect is extremely large.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic notebook system according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the memory card in FIG. 1, and FIGS. Figure 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the EEPROM used in the memory card. Figure 6 is an equivalent circuit diagram showing the configuration of the memory cell in Figure 5. Figures 7 and 8 are EEPROM
Timing diagrams for explaining the operation of FIGS. 9 to 13
The figure is a flowchart for explaining the data processing procedure in the same embodiment, and FIG. 14 is the EEP in the same embodiment.
Diagrams showing examples of data structures in ROM, Figures 15 to 1
FIG. 7 is a block diagram for explaining another embodiment of the present invention. 10... Electronic notebook body, 11... Input/output terminal, 16
. . . memory card, 20 . . . display section, 22 . . . image scanner (image manual means). Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue

Claims (1)

[Claims] an electrically rewritable nonvolatile semiconductor memory; an image input means for reading an image and inputting image data; a means for writing the image data input by the means into the nonvolatile semiconductor memory; and the nonvolatile semiconductor memory. An electronic notebook system comprising means for receiving image data stored in a memory and displaying an image.