JPH0593894A - Output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize an output device having the convenience of hard copying and soft copying, to obtain a large display area by the small device and to obtain the device where there is no deformation in a display part. CONSTITUTION:A recording medium in which recording, erasing and rewriting can be repeatedly performed and which can be deformed is used as a recording medium 108 for display in this portable output device. When the device is not used, the, medium is housed inside a main body, and when the device is used, it is pulled out to display a picture. As to the display part 7, L (length in a pulling out direction)>M (length in a direction perpendicular to the pulling out direction) holds, and it has curvature in a direction orthogonally crossed with the pulling out direction in a state where the medium is pulled out.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for visualizing electrically supplied image information so that an operator can visually recognize it.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various display devices (hereinafter referred to as soft copy devices) such as a CRT display device and a liquid crystal display device have been put into practical use, and image information electrically given by these devices has been visualized. ing.

On the other hand, an output device (hereinafter referred to as a hard copy device) for permanently recording image information on recording paper is also used. Outputting image information on recording paper has the following advantages.

(1) The paper material is highly flexible, and physical processing such as bending and cutting and pasting is easy.

(2) It is lightweight, cordless, and easy to move.

(3) Visualization information is two-dimensionally arranged, so that visibility and listing are high.

On the other hand, the disadvantages are: (1) After recording once, additional writing and overwriting are possible, but erasing and rewriting are difficult.

(2) Once used, it must be discarded.

[0009]

[0010]

As described above, the conventional hard copy apparatus has various advantages that the soft copy apparatus cannot substitute. However, the recording paper had to be disposed of after one use, resulting in social costs, wasting resources, and was a cause of natural destruction. In particular, a large amount of paper consumption has become a social problem with the progress of the information society.

An object of the present invention is to solve this problem and to realize an output device having the convenience of hard copy and soft copy.

A further object of the present invention is to realize an output device having a large display area with a small device size by utilizing the convenience of the output device having the convenience of hard copy and soft copy.

[0013]

An output device of the present invention includes a display unit made of a deformable recording medium, recording means for recording image information on the recording medium, and erasing the image information on the recording medium. In an output device, which has an erasing means and a control means for outputting a recording signal to the recording means based on image information, and which records the image on the recording medium by the recording means by the recording signal output by the control means, The display unit made of the recording medium is configured to be housed in the device,
The display unit length L in the moving direction of the display unit and the display unit length M in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the display unit are characterized by satisfying the relation of L> M.

Further, the output device of the present invention comprises a display section made of a deformable recording medium, recording means for recording image information on the recording medium, erasing means for erasing the image information on the recording medium, and an image. An output device which has control means for outputting a recording signal to the recording means based on information, and which records an image on the recording medium by the recording means by the recording signal output by the control means, comprises the recording medium. The display unit can be housed in the apparatus and is configured to be used by being pulled out from the apparatus, and the recording medium has a curvature in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the display unit in the pulled-out state. And

[0015]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described with reference to examples.

1 and 2 show the outer shape of an output device according to one embodiment of the present invention. The case 1 includes operation keys 2, 3, 4, 5 and an antenna 6 for communication. The antenna 6 is extendable and retractable, and is housed inside the case 1 when contracted. The display unit 7 includes a recording medium 108 that can be pulled out from the inside of the main body. When not in use, it is stored inside the case 1. When using, pull out the handle 8 from the main body in the direction of arrow A. The display is stored by pushing down the stop release button 9. FIG. 2 shows a state in which the display unit 7 is housed inside the main body and the antenna 6 is contracted. FIG. 1 shows a state in which the display unit 7 is pulled out from the case 1 and the antenna is extended. Further, batteries, various circuits and the like arranged in the device are not shown. When the display unit 7 is pulled out from the apparatus, the dimension of the display unit 7 is L> M, where L is the display unit length in the moving direction of the display unit and M is the display unit length in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the display unit. Meet a relationship. Further, the recording medium 108 is guided with a curvature at the exit portion 49 from the main body of the apparatus so that the recording medium 108 is curved in the pulled-out state.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the structure of the mechanism 40 arranged inside the case 1 of the output device. The display unit 7 is composed of a recording medium 108 made of thermo-writing type liquid crystal microcapsules. Furthermore, the high voltage power supply 41
An erasing roller pair 42 which is an erasing means connected to the recording head, a recording head 43 which is a thermal latent image writing thermal head which is a recording means, a platen 47, and a recording medium take-up roller 4.
6, a rotary encoder 44, and a return spring 45. The erasing roller pair 42 is composed of a pair of rollers having a thin insulating layer around a conductive roller connected to the high voltage power supply 41. The erasing roller pair 42 applies an erasing voltage to the recording medium 108. The recording medium take-up roller 46 is a roller that winds the recording medium 108 around and rotates in the direction of arrow B to rewind the recording medium 108. The rotary encoder 44 outputs an electric pulse signal according to the rotation angle of the recording medium winding roller 46. The return spring 45 applies torque to rotate the recording medium take-up roller 46 in the direction of arrow B, and has a spring spring built therein. When the recording medium 108 is pulled out, the return rotation is blocked, and when the stop release button 9 is pushed down, a rewinding torque is generated. That is, the take-up roller 46 is B by the ratchet.
Rotation in the direction is blocked and the stop release button 9 is pushed down, so that the rotation is released, the blocked state is released, and the rewinding operation is started. The recording head 43 is formed by arranging a plurality of heat generating portions in a line shape, and selectively heats these heat generating portions, and selectively heats a predetermined portion of the recording medium 108 that is in contact with the heat generating portions. The platen 47 is a roller rotatably supported, and supports the recording medium 108 so as to be sandwiched between the recording medium 108 and the recording head 43.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the mechanism 40.

The operation of the thermowriting type liquid crystal constituting the recording medium 108 will be described with reference to FIG. The recording medium 108 is a black medium base material in which liquid crystal microcapsules formed by coating a smectic A-nematic-phase transition type isotropic liquid having a positive dielectric anisotropy with a transparent polymer substance are dispersed in a binder. 61 is applied to form a liquid crystal layer 62. The medium base material 61 is used by applying a black color material on one surface of the polyester film. First, as shown in (a), a high voltage is applied to the entire surface of the liquid crystal layer 62 in the smectic A phase to obtain an alignment perpendicular to the base material 61 to erase the entire image. At this time, the recording medium 10
In No. 8, since the medium base material 61 is black, the entire surface is black. Next, as shown in (b), the recording head 43 is brought into contact with the heat generating portions 64 and 65 to selectively generate heat, and the liquid crystal layer 62 is generated.
Is locally heated to raise the temperature to an isotropic state. After that, when cooled to room temperature, as shown in (c), a disordered orientation is formed in the smectoc A phase, and the light diffusion portions 66, 6 are formed.
7 is formed. The light diffusion portions 66 and 67 have a white color.
Therefore, an image corresponding to the image signal can be obtained by writing the thermal latent image so that the portion corresponding to the white portion corresponds to the light diffusion portion and the portion corresponding to the black portion corresponds to the isotropic portion.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the structure of the output device. The receiving unit 102 receives a radio signal from the outside and outputs it as an electric signal to the control unit 101 which is a control means.
The control unit 101 extracts image information from the electric signal.
This image information is stored in the memory 109. Operation unit 10
Reference numeral 3 includes operation keys 2, 3, 4, and 5. The control unit 101 connected to these processes the image information in the memory 109 according to the instruction from the operation unit 103, and the recording medium 108
The print head drive unit 106 is controlled in synchronization with the movement of the print head according to the image information. This synchronization signal is output from the rotary encoder 44. As a result, a predetermined portion of the recording medium 108 is heated to selectively form a white portion and a black portion, and desired image display is performed.

Next, the operation will be described. The operator receives the display image information in advance and stores it in the memory 109. The display operation of the image information in the memory 109 is performed as follows. When the output operation is selected by operating the operation keys 2, 3, 4, and 5, the control unit 101 starts the output operation by a signal from the operation unit 103. When the handle 8 is pulled out from the body case 1, the display unit 7 is pulled out from the inside of the body. With the movement of the display unit 7, the rotary encoder 44 outputs an electric pulse indicating the timing. At this time, no voltage is applied to the roller pair 42. The image information in the memory 109 is controlled by the control unit 101, and along with the movement of the display unit 7, the recording head drive unit 1 is driven at a predetermined timing.
It is output to 06. Predetermined portions of the plurality of heat generating portions of the recording head 43 generate heat at predetermined timing, and the predetermined portions of the recording medium 108 forming the display unit 7 are heated. As shown above, the portion corresponding to the temperature raising portion is white and the other portions are black, and an image is formed on the display portion 7 and is drawn out from the inside of the main body. At this time, by the ratchet 48,
Since the take-up roller 46 is prevented from rotating in the B direction, the display unit 7 holds the pulled-out state. As described above, the first image formation on the display unit 7 is performed.

Next, the erase operation of the first image will be described. By pressing down the stop release button 9, the take-up roller 46 rotates in the direction of arrow B by the torque generated by the return spring 45. At this time, the voltage of the power supply 41 is applied to the roller pair 43. The recording medium 108 is wound around the winding roller 46 and stored in a state where the entire surface is blackened and the image is erased. Therefore, the display unit 7 is housed inside the main body.

The second and subsequent image displays are performed in the same manner as the first image display operation.

In the output device of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, when the display portion length in the moving direction of the display portion is L and the display portion length in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the display portion is M, L
> The relationship of M is satisfied. Since the display unit 7 is rolled up and housed inside the main body and pulled out for use, a screen of a large area can be obtained with a small device.
Further, since the display unit 7 can be housed in a small size inside the main body when not in use, the device can be easily carried and housed.
Further, for the same display screen area, the device of the present invention has L
Since it is> M, the size of the wound state can be reduced,
The device can be downsized. Further, since L> M, there is also an effect that the recording head can be made smaller in the case of the same display area. This makes it possible to reduce the device price by reducing the cost of the recording head 43, which is a large factor in the manufacturing cost of the device, and the cost of the drive circuit that drives the recording head 43.

Further, in the apparatus of this embodiment, the display unit 7
Is stored in the main body. Therefore, the display unit 7 is composed of the deformable recording medium 108. In the pulled-out state, it is deformed by gravity or the like, and as shown in FIG.
It is deformed as shown by broken lines 50, 51, and 52. As a result, the display unit 7 is no longer kept in a flat state, making it difficult to see the display image. This becomes more remarkable as the dimension L is larger. On the other hand, in the device of this embodiment, the display portion 7 has a curvature in the direction perpendicular to the drawing direction in the drawn state. For this reason, the above-mentioned deformation is unlikely to occur, and a highly visible display can be obtained.

FIG. 7 shows a case where the pull-out direction is aligned with the height direction. In this case as well, as described above, L> M
In addition, since the recording medium 108 has a curvature in the pulled-out state, a large display area can be obtained with a small device, and deformation of the display unit 7 can be suppressed.

As a second embodiment of the present output device, a device using a heat writing and heat erasing type heat sensitive recording medium can be used. In other words, the recording medium is a transparent film-like base material which is made cloudy by selective heating by selective heating. It is composed of a matrix material made of a thermoplastic resin and an organic low-molecular substance dispersed in this matrix material, and has a specific temperature. When held at t0 or higher, it has the property of changing its state according to the temperature. As shown in FIG. 8, t0 <
The state transition temperatures t1 and t2 satisfy t1 <t2. t2
When heated to above and then cooled to t0 or less, it becomes cloudy and is in a light-shielded state. On the other hand, when the recording medium in a cloudy state is maintained at a temperature of t1 or more and less than t2 and then cooled to t0 or less, it becomes transparent. As such a recording medium, JP-A-57-899 is known.
A heat-sensitive recording medium as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 93 can be used. Since this recording medium has a cloudy part and a transparent part, a transparent part is displayed in black and a cloudy part is displayed in white on a black background. It can also be used for projection by an overhead projector. In the mechanism, as the erasing means, a heating roller that uniformly heats the recording medium is provided instead of the erasing roller pair 42 that applies the erasing voltage in the above-described embodiment. The configuration and operation of the device are the same as those of the previous embodiment, and the description and drawings are omitted.

Further, in the apparatus of the first and second embodiments, whitening can be performed at an arbitrary place by selective temperature rise, so that additional writing can be performed with a hot pen after displaying an image. Since the recording medium 108 can be repeatedly erased and image-formed, the medium can be repeatedly used. Since it is a reflection type display and not a light emitting type, it is possible to perform a clear display outdoors even under external light. Can be placed horizontally for reference. In particular, only the display unit 7 can be removed from the main body for reference. At this time, since it has a paper-like form, it is possible to simultaneously refer to a plurality of images or display them in an overlapping manner. It can also be cut to an appropriate size or saved as a file. Although the pulling-out operation of the recording medium 108 is performed manually in this embodiment, it may be configured to include a motor and be electrically operated.

[0029]

According to the portable output device of the present invention, a large screen display can be obtained with a small device. When not in use, the display can be stored in a small size inside the main body, and when used, it can be pulled out greatly and displayed on a large recording surface. The recording medium can be repeatedly erased and recorded. Therefore, there is an effect that it is possible to realize an apparatus having the convenience of soft copy and hard copy.

Further, when the display unit length in the moving direction of the display unit is L and the display unit length in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the display unit is M, the relationship of L> M is satisfied. Therefore, there is an effect that the size in a rolled-up state can be reduced and the device can be downsized with respect to the same display screen area.
In addition, it has an effect that it is lightweight and easy to move.

Further, since the recording medium has a curvature in the pulled-out state, there is an effect that a small display device can obtain a large display area while suppressing the deformation of the display portion to realize an easy-to-see display.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view showing a drawn-out state of a display unit in an output device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view showing a state in which the display unit is housed in the output device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an output device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a mechanism constituting the output device according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a mechanism forming the output device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the liquid crystal recording medium used in the output device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an outline view showing a use state in which the output device of the first embodiment of the present invention is pulled out in the same height direction.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the thermal writing / thermal erasing type recording medium used in the output device of the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of Codes] 7: Display 40: Mechanism 42: Erasing roller pair (erasing means) 43: Recording head (recording means) 45: Return spring 47: Platen 61: Base material 62: Liquid crystal layer 101: Control section (control) Means) 108: Recording medium

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A display unit made of a deformable recording medium,
The recording medium includes recording means for recording image information, erasing means for erasing image information on the recording medium, and control means for outputting a recording signal to the recording means based on the image information. In an output device for recording an image on the recording medium by the recording means in response to a recording signal to be output, the display unit made of the recording medium is configured to be housed in the device, and the display unit length in the moving direction of the display unit is set. An output device, wherein L and a display section length M in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the display section satisfy the relationship of L> M. 2. A display unit made of a deformable recording medium,
The recording medium includes recording means for recording image information, erasing means for erasing image information on the recording medium, and control means for outputting a recording signal to the recording means based on the image information. In an output device for recording an image on the recording medium by the recording means in response to an output recording signal, the display unit made of the recording medium can be housed in the device and is used by being pulled out from the device. The output device is characterized in that the recording medium has a curvature in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the display unit in the pulled-out state.