Patent Publication Number: US-2005141349-A1

Title: Optical disk player

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a portable optical disk device, and more particularly, to a portable optical disk player with a language-learning function.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      Several different types of optical disk players exist, such as desktop optical disk players, computer optical disk players and portable optical disk players. Portable optical disk players are typically CD players, which have small sizes that are easy to carry, and which have therefore become very popular electronic products.  
      The prior art portable optical disk player is used mainly for playing an optical disk that stores music and image data, and does not process optical disks that contain text files. Furthermore, the prior art portable optical disk player usually does not have a screen, or has only a small screen for simply displaying a play list. Therefore, the prior art portable optical disk player is not useful for language learning programs, since it can only support auditory learning, cannot display an article or image data, and cannot execute an interactive learning program to help a user to train his or her writing, reading, listening and speaking abilities.  
      Therefore, it is desirable to provide a portable optical disk player with a large display screen to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a portable optical device with a thin and large display screen at a low cost.  
      Another primary objective of the present invention is to provide a portable optical device with a complete input capability for executing various complicated language-learning programs.  
      In order to achieve the above-mentioned objectives of the present invention, a portable optical disk device comprises not only an optical disk reading device and an audio output device, but also a screen and a character inputting device on its front surface, and a cover on its back surface.  
      The cover is mounted on the back surface of the optical disk player, which is not the case in the prior art optical disk player. Since the cover is mounted on the back surface, rather than on the front surface of the optical disk player, a thickness of the cover can be reduced to a minimum to reduce a total thickness of the optical disk player. Furthermore, the mechanical design of the cover, the screen and the internal electronics are relatively simple so that manufacturing costs can be reduced.  
      When the optical disk player plays a language learning CD, the screen displays textual or image data from the CD; the output device plays audio data from the CD; the input device can input a command or character for learning purposes. According to different embodiments, the input device can be a keyboard or a stylus.  
      Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a circuit diagram of an optical disk player according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a perspective drawing of a first embodiment according to the present invention, which shows a front surface of the optical disk player.  
       FIG. 3  is a perspective drawing of a first embodiment according to the present invention, which shows a back surface of the optical disk player.  
       FIG. 4  is a perspective drawing of a first embodiment according to the present invention, which shows a cover of the optical disk player when open.  
       FIG. 5  is a perspective drawing of a second embodiment according to the present invention, which shows a front surface of the optical disk player.  
       FIG. 6  is a perspective drawing of a third embodiment according to the present invention, which shows a front surface of the optical disk player. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      Three embodiments are provided in the following description.  
      Please refer to  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a circuit diagram of an optical disk player according to the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , an optical disk player  10  comprises an optical disk reading device  100 , an input device  102 , a processor  104 , a screen  106  and an audio output device  108 . The processor  1 . 04  and the other devices (such as the optical disk reading device  100  and the input device  102 ) are all electrically connected together, so the processor  104  can control all of these devices. The optical disk reading device  100  reads a program or data stored on a CD, and then the processor  104  processes the program or data, and uses the screen  106  to display textual and image data, as well as using the audio output device  108  to play audio data. Furthermore, a user can use the input device  102  to input a command or character to launch other functions of the CD, which is a well-known technology and so will not be described here in any more detail.  
      Please refer to  FIG. 2  to  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 2  is a perspective drawing of a first embodiment according to the present invention, which shows a front surface of an optical disk player  20 .  FIG. 3  is a perspective drawing of the first embodiment according to the present invention, which shows a back surface of the optical disk player  20 .  FIG. 4  is a perspective drawing of the first embodiment according to the present invention, which shows a cover of the optical disk player  20  when open. The portable optical disk player  20  has a housing  200 ; the housing  200  has a front surface  202  and a back surface  204 . An optical disk reading device  220  is mounted within the housing  200 ; a screen  206 , a keyboard (i.e. input device)  208  and a set of audio output jacks  210 ,  212  are disposed on the front surface  202 . A cover  214  is mounted on the back surface  204 . Two latches  216 ,  218 .of the cover  214  are separately disposed on the housing  200  and the cover  214 .  
      The screen  206  is used for displaying textual or image data, and is preferably a thin display screen, such as a TFT-LCD. A primary characteristic of the present invention is the use of a large display screen, as depicted by the screen  206 , which is completely different from the small screens used in the prior art for displaying a play list. The area of the screen may range from 9 cm 2  to 250 cm 2 . Another primary characteristic of the present invention is that the cover  214  of the present invention is mounted on the back surface  204  of the portable optical disk player  20 , and not on the front surface  202  like the screen  206 . The reason for this is that, if the cover  214  were mounted on the front surface  202 , the screen  206  would need to be mounted on the cover  214 ; however, the cover  214  is a lift-open mechanism. The wire connection design between the screen  206  and the processor  104  is typically quite complicated (often requiring bus wires). In addition, if the screen  206  were mounted on the front surface  214 , and to simplify the manufacturing process the optical disk reading device  220  were mounted on the same side with the screen  206 , the thickness and the weight of the cover  214  would be increased. In the present invention, the cover  214  is mounted on the back surface  204  of the portable optical disk player  20 , and the cover  214  does not comprise any other important electronic elements. Therefore, the screen  206 , the keyboard  208 , the optical disk reading device  220  and the processor  104  are all mounted on the same side with the front surface  214 , which simplifies the manufacturing process and reduces the thickness of the portable optical disk player.  
      The keyboard of the first embodiment is used to enable a user to input commands or data to launch different language learning functions contained on the CD. The keyboard  208  can have 26 English language character keys, 10 numeric keys or a plurality of function keys.  
      The cover  214  of this embodiment has a very simple design; a latch  216  is placed on the housing  200 , and a slot  218  is correspondingly placed on the cover  218  for accepting the latch  216 . The cover  214  can be closed or opened by way of the latch  216  and the slot  218 . The user moves the CD from, or into, the optical disk reading device  220  by opening the cover  214 . Since the cover  214  is mounted on the back surface  204  of the portable optical disk player  20 , and not the front surface  202 , the thickness of the cover  214  can be reduced to a minimum to reduce the thickness of the portable optical disk player  20 .  
      The optical disk reading device  220  may be a CD-ROM drive, a CD-RW drive, a DVD-ROM drive or a DVD-RW drive.  
      Please refer to  FIG. 5 .  FIG. 5  is a perspective drawing of a second embodiment  50  according to the present invention, which shows a front surface of the optical disk player. A main difference between the second embodiment  50  and the first embodiment  20  is that the portable optical disk player  50  employs a touch screen  500  as the screen, and a stylus  504  as the input device to input commands or data through the touch screen  500  to launch different language learning functions on the CD. The user can input English characters, numbers, or utilize a software keyboard to input data with the stylus or a finger. The portable optical disk player  50  further comprises a receptacle (not shown) for holding the stylus  504 .  
      Please refer to  FIG. 6 .  FIG. 6  is a perspective drawing of a third embodiment  60  according to the present invention, which shows a front surface of the optical disk player  60 . The third embodiment  60  basically combines features of the first embodiment  20  and the second embodiment  50 , comprising a keyboard  602 , a touch screen  600  and a stylus  604 .  
      Although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.