Abstract:
An electronic reading device provides automatic adjustment of image display and key functionality. An actuator and a plurality of keys symmetrically control the electronic reading device. A built-in motion detection mechanism detects changes in the orientation of the electronic reading device. The content of the display and the functionality of the actuator and plurality of keys is automatically adjusted based on the orientation of the device such that the actuator and the plurality of keys perform identical functions in a current orientation as were performed in a previous orientation.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    1. Technical Field 
         [0002]    The present disclosure relates to an electronic reading device, and more specifically, to an electronic reading device providing the same user experience and identical functionality to both left-handed and right-handed users by utilizing an actuator and a plurality of keys to symmetrically control the electronic reading device. 
         [0003]    2. Discussion of Related Art 
         [0004]    Electronic reading devices present an electronic version of a book—otherwise known as an e-book, electronic book or digital book—to a user. Electronic reading devices are sometimes referred to as e-readers or e-book readers. Electronic reading devices are commonly designed for two-handed use. For example, one hand is regularly used to hold the device while the other hand is used to turn the page of the e-book or control other functions of the device. Electronic reading devices that are designed for one-handed use are often designed to be operated by a primary hand. Thus, users who want to use the device with the non-primary hand according to the device&#39;s design will not have access to all of the functions of the device that would be available if the device was being used with the primary hand. Electronic reading devices may also be designed with only one vertical orientation and/or one horizontal orientation being supported, further limiting the function of the device for a user who wants to use the device with the non-primary hand according to the device&#39;s design. 
         [0005]    Therefore, a need exists for an electronic reading device that allows comfortable, one-handed use and provides identical functionality regardless of whether the device is being held and operated with a user&#39;s right hand or left hand. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY 
       [0006]    According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an electronic reading device comprises a display, an actuator adjacent to a first side of the display, a plurality of keys adjacent to a second side of the display, opposite the first side of the display, and an orientation detection mechanism. The actuator and the plurality of keys symmetrically control the electronic reading device. The orientation detection mechanism detects an orientation change of the electronic reading device. Upon detecting an orientation change of approximately 180 degrees, the actuator and the plurality of keys are redefined to perform identical functions in a current orientation as were performed in a previous orientation. 
         [0007]    The actuator and the plurality of keys may be configured for right-handed use in the previous orientation and reconfigured for left-handed use in the current orientation. 
         [0008]    The actuator may comprise a rocker bar. Pushing the rocker bar in a first direction performs a first function and pushing the rocker bar in a second direction, opposite the first direction, performs a second function. The first function may comprise displaying a subsequent page of an e-book and the second function may comprise displaying a previous page of the e-book. 
         [0009]    According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for operating an electronic reading device comprises performing a first function in response to a switch being pushed in a first direction and performing a second function in response to the switch being pushed in a second direction, and redefining the switch such that pushing the switch in the first direction performs the second function and pushing the switch in the second direction performs the first function, upon detecting an orientation change of the electronic reading device of approximately 180 degrees. 
         [0010]    According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for operating an electronic reading device comprises displaying a subsequent page of an e-book in response to a rocker bar being pushed in a first direction, displaying a previous page of the e-book in response to the rocker bar being pushed in a second direction, opposite the first direction, scrolling text on a display down in response to pushing a first key, scrolling text on the display up in response to pushing a second key, and, upon detecting an orientation change of the electronic reading device of approximately 180 degrees, inverting content on the display, displaying a subsequent page of the e-book in response to the rocker bar being pushed in the second direction, displaying a previous page of the e-book in response to the rocker bar being pushed in the first direction, scrolling text on the display down in response to pushing the second key and scrolling text on the display up in response to pushing the first key. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]    Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below in more detail, with reference to the accompanying drawings: 
           [0012]      FIG. 1A  illustrates a front view of the electronic reading device comprising a rocker bar as an actuator, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
           [0013]      FIG. 1B  illustrates a front view of the electronic reading device comprising a switch as an actuator, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
           [0014]      FIG. 1C  illustrates a front view of the electronic reading device comprising two buttons in place of an actuator, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  illustrates the bi-directional rocker bar of the electronic reading device, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
           [0016]      FIGS. 3A-3D  illustrate the electronic reading device configured for use in different horizontal and vertical positions, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
           [0017]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating the process of adjusting the content on the display and redefining the functions of the rocker bar and the plurality of keys upon detecting a change in orientation of the electronic reading device, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
           [0018]      FIG. 5  illustrates components of the electronic reading device, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
           [0019]      FIG. 6  illustrates a side view of the electronic reading device, including a microphone input, an SD card slot and a power/lock switch, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
           [0020]      FIG. 7  illustrates a side view of the electronic reading device, including a headphone jack and a connection port (e.g., mini-USB port, micro-USB port, etc.), according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0021]    Exemplary embodiments of the present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. This invention, may however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. 
         [0022]    According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronic reading device comprises a display, an actuator, a plurality of keys and an orientation detection mechanism. The actuator is utilized to flip back and forth between pages of an e-book, and may comprise any input device capable of performing two functions, such as, for example, a bi-directional rocker bar  102 , as illustrated in  FIG. 1A , or a switch  106 , as illustrated in  FIG. 1B . In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the actuator may be replaced with two buttons  107 , as illustrated in  FIG. 10 . For exemplary purposes, a rocker bar  102  is utilized in the embodiments described throughout the description, however, the rocker bar  102  may be replaced with a switch  106  as shown in  FIG. 1B , or two buttons  107  as shown in  FIG. 10 , in any of the embodiments. 
         [0023]      FIG. 1A  illustrates an electronic reading device  100  according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In this embodiment, the electronic reading device  100  includes a display  101 , a bi-directional rocker bar  102  and a plurality of keys  103 , all positioned on a surface of the main body of the device. The bi-directional rocker bar  102  is located adjacent to a first side of the display  101  and the plurality of keys is located adjacent to a second side of the display  101 . This configuration provides symmetrical control of the electronic reading device  100  by allowing a user to rotate the device  100  180 degrees without a change in functionality of the rocker bar  102  or the plurality of keys  103 . The plurality of keys  103  may be physical keys located on the main body of the electronic reading device  100  or onscreen keys located on the device&#39;s display  101 . The device  100  further includes a built-in motion detection mechanism. 
         [0024]    The display  101  may comprise, but is not limited to, an electronic ink (e-Ink) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display. The display  101  may further comprise a touch-screen interface which can be used for user input. For example, a user may use a touch-screen interface to enter input via onscreen keys, a virtual keyboard or user gestures. The user can also utilize the touch-screen interface to make annotations in e-books (e.g., highlighting text, writing notes, etc.). In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a light source may be utilized to illuminate the display  101 , which allows for reading of the device  100  in dark environments. For example, a backlight may be located beneath the display  101  or LED lights may be placed around the perimeter of the display  101 . 
         [0025]    As shown in  FIG. 1A , the rocker bar  102  may be positioned parallel and adjacent to one of the longer sides of the display  101 , and the length of the rocker bar  102  may be approximately the same as the length of the longer sides of the display  101 . The rocker bar  102  defaults to a center position and pivots about a fixed axis, functioning as a two-way switch. This allows the user to push the rocker bar  102  in opposite directions to achieve different functions, for example, to advance to the next page of an e-book or to go back to the previous page of an e-book. This configuration results in the ability to comfortably hold the device  100  and turn the pages of an e-book with one hand, using a thumb. The rocker bar  102  is further illustrated in  FIG. 2 . In other embodiments, the rocker bar  102  may be replaced with a switch  106  or two buttons  107 , as illustrated in  FIGS. 1B and 1C . 
         [0026]    The built-in motion detection mechanism is utilized to automatically adjust the orientation of content on the display  101  and to redefine the functionality of the rocker bar  102  and the plurality of keys  103 , according to the current orientation of the electronic reading device  100 . The motion detection mechanism uses the principle of conservation of angular momentum to measure, determine and maintain the orientation of the electronic reading device  100  relative to an upward direction. The mechanism may be an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt switch array, or any other electronic circuitry capable of detecting a change in orientation of the electronic reading device  100 . In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the user may enable/disable the automatic re-orientation feature of the device  100 , manually set the orientation of the device  100  or lock the device  100  to a particular orientation. 
         [0027]    The combination of the rocker bar  102 , the plurality of keys  103  and the motion detection mechanism provides the user with a seamless transition when changing the orientation of the electronic reading device  100 . This allows the user to quickly and easily switch hands while holding and operating the device  100  without experiencing a loss or change in functionality. For example, consider the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 3A , which shows the electronic reading device  100  positioned for right-handed use. When held in this position, pushing the rocker bar  102  to the user&#39;s right will advance the e-book to the next page and pushing the rocker bar  102  to the user&#39;s left will go back to the previous page of the e-book. Pushing key  104  will scroll up on the display  101  and pushing key  105  will scroll down on the display  101 . A user may decide to hold and operate the device  100  with his/her left hand rather than his/her right hand. In this case, the device  100  is rotated 180 degrees by the user so that the rocker bar  102  is accessible with the user&#39;s left hand, as illustrated in  FIG. 3B . Similarly, the user may rotate the device  100  90 degrees so that the device  100  can be used in landscape mode rather than portrait mode, as illustrated in  FIGS. 3C and 3D . 
         [0028]    When the electronic reading device  100  is rotated, the motion detection mechanism detects this change and automatically adjusts the content on the display  101  and redefines the functionality of the rocker bar  102  and the plurality of keys  103  based on the current orientation of the device  100 . For example, when the device  100  is rotated from the position shown in  FIG. 3A  to the position shown in  FIG. 3B , the functions of the rocker bar  102  are redefined so that pushing the rocker bar  102  to the user&#39;s right will still advance the e-book to the next page and pushing the rocker bar  102  to the user&#39;s left will still go back to the previous page of the e-book, even though the rocker bar  102  is actually being pushed in opposite directions in  FIG. 3B  compared to  FIG. 3A . The functionality of the plurality of keys  103  is also automatically adjusted based on the current orientation so that, for example, pushing key  104  will now scroll down on the display  101  and pushing key  105  will now scroll up on the display  101 . As a result, the functionality of the rocker bar  102  and the plurality of keys  103  is unchanged when rotating the device  100 . Similarly, when the device  100  is held horizontally, as illustrated in  FIGS. 3C and 3D , pushing the rocker bar  102  up will advance the e-book to the next page and pushing the rocker bar  102  down will go back to the previous page of the e-book, even though the rocker bar  102  is actually being pushed in opposite directions in  FIGS. 3C and 3D . The functionality of the plurality of keys  103  is also adjusted so that, for example, pushing key  104  will scroll down on the display  101  in  FIG. 3C  and up on the display  101  in  FIG. 3D , and key  105  will scroll up on the display  101  in  FIG. 3C  and down on the display  101  in  FIG. 3D . In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronic reading device may support four distinct configurations corresponding to four distinct orientations (e.g., the orientations depicted in  FIGS. 3A-3D ). Further, the motion detection mechanism may be utilized to turn off the display  101  of the device  100  or to put the device  100  into a low power mode (e.g., sleep mode, standby mode) when the device  100  is turned upside down. 
         [0029]    It is to be understood that the functions of the rocker bar  102  and the plurality of keys  103 , including keys  104  and  105 , as described above are for exemplary purposes, and the invention is not limited to a device  100  having these particular function/key mappings. For example, referring to  FIGS. 3C and 3D , the electronic reading device may be configured such that pushing the rocker bar  102  down advances an e-book to the next page and pushing the rocker bar  102  up goes back to the previous page of the e-book. The functionality of keys  104  and  105  may be similarly switched. 
         [0030]      FIG. 4  illustrates the process of adjusting the content on the display  101  and redefining the functions of the actuator and the plurality of keys  103  upon detecting a change in orientation of the electronic reading device  100 . The process begins at a step  401 . At a step  402 , the orientation of the electronic reading device  100  is continuously checked. Once a change in orientation is detected, the process proceeds to a step  403 , where content on the display  101  of the electronic reading device  100  is adjusted based on the current orientation. At a step  404 , the functions of the actuator are redefined based on the current orientation. At a step  405 , the functions of the plurality of keys  103  are redefined based on the current orientation. The process then returns to step  402  to continue monitoring the electronic reading device  100  for any further changes in orientation. 
         [0031]    In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronic reading device  100  allows text of an e-book to be searched and allows the font type/size to be changed. The device  100  may also allow a user to bookmark pages in an e-book. 
         [0032]    In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronic reading device  100  can comprise, inter glia, a central processing unit (CPU)  501 , memory  502 , a display controller  503 , input devices  504  (e.g., touch-screen interface, physical keys, microphone), a motion detection mechanism  505 , audio output devices  506  (e.g., speaker, headphone jack), a wireless transceiver  507  (e.g., Wi-Fi transceiver, Bluetooth transceiver, cellular transceiver), a network interface controller (NIC)  508 , an analog-to-digital converter (ADC)  509 , a digital-to-analog-converter (DAC)  510  and an input/output (I/O) interface  511 , as illustrated in  FIG. 5 . The memory  502  can include internal random access memory (RAM), internal read only memory (ROM), external memory, such as, for example, memory inserted into a memory card slot on the device (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) card, mini SD card, micro SD card, etc.), or a combination thereof. An embodiment of the electronic reading device  100  comprising a microphone input  601  and an SD card slot  602  located next to a power/lock switch  603  is illustrated in  FIG. 6 . Digital content, including, but not limited to, e-book files (e.g., ePUB, mobi, pdb), audio files (e.g., mp3, AAC), picture files (e.g. JPEG, GIF, PNG), and other files (e.g., PDF, TXT, RTF) may be stored in the memory  502  and accessed by the electronic reading device  100 . Text-to-speech (TTS) conversion can be utilized to read an e-book or other digital content aloud to the user via audio output devices  506 , including a speaker or headphones connected to the headphone jack  701 , which is shown in  FIG. 7 .  FIG. 7  also illustrates a connection port  702  (e.g., mini-USB port, micro-USB port, etc.) that can be used to connect the electronic reading device  100  to a computer or an electrical outlet to transfer digital content to the device  100  and to charge the device  100 . 
         [0033]    In an embodiment of the present disclosure, audio notes may be recorded via the microphone  601  and associated with a particular body of text of an e-book for instant recall at a later time. For example, a user may record and save an audio note in reference to a body of text on page 25 of an e-book. When the user later selects the audio note for playback, the electronic reading device  100  will simultaneously play the audio note and display page 25 of the e-book. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC)  509  and digital-to-analog converter (DAC)  510  can be utilized to record and play back audio notes in this embodiment. 
         [0034]    According to embodiments of the present disclosure, digital content for the electronic reading device  100  may be obtained in a variety of ways. For example, digital content may be transferred from a computer to a memory card and the memory card may be inserted into the memory card slot  602  on the device  100 . Similarly, a computer may be connected to the device  100  via the connection port  702  and digital content may be transferred from a computer to the memory  502  of the device  100  via the wired connection. The electronic reading device  100  may access the content directly from the external memory card or the content may be transferred from the external memory card to the device&#39;s internal memory for storage and access. The electronic reading device  100  may further include a network internet controller (NIC)  508  (e.g., Ethernet) or a wireless transceiver  507  to obtain digital content wirelessly. For example, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronic reading device  100  may include a Wi-Fi transceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver and a cellular transceiver to receive digital content via different wireless communication technologies. The electronic reading device  100  may also utilize the NIC  508  or the wireless transceiver  507  to access the Internet. 
         [0035]    Although exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described hereinabove, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, but may be modified by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, as defined by the appended claims.