Patent Publication Number: US-2015084879-A1

Title: Nail-mounted display system

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a display system, and more particularly, to a nail-mounted display system. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Currently, rapid technological development has accelerated the development and varieties of personalized electronic products, such as media players, smart phones or tablet computers. These electronic products with diverse functions provide desired convenience for users. 
     The various types of electronic devices are all manipulated through contact with user&#39;s finger(s), and are thus called touch devices. For example, the standard structure of a smart phone includes a touch display on the surface of the phone. A user can derive information displayed on the touch display of the phone. When the user would like to operate the phone, he/she can operate the smart phone through actions such as clicking and/or dragging on the display directly. However, when the user is viewing the information displayed on the touch display, some part of the display is blocked by the user&#39;s finger and cannot be seen. 
     Moreover, in addition to smart phones, digital media players commonly known as MP3 players are also common personalized electronic devices. Because of the small size, MP3 players are easy to carry and easy to operate, and are therefore popular. However, some of the MP3 players are not equipped with displays, so that users cannot gain the state of MP3 players when operating the MP3 players. 
     Therefore, there is a need to develop a solution that addresses the problem resulting from electronic products with no display screens or the screens being blocked during manual input. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a nail-mounted display system for a user to wear a display device on his/her finger so as to display information coming from an electronic device. 
     A nail-mounted display system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention may include an electronic device and a display device in communication with the electronic device. The electronic device may include a touch interface to be in contact with a finger of a user for operating the electronic device, wherein where the finger is in contact with the touch interface is defined as a touch location, and the touch interface has operating information corresponding to the touch location; a positioning module for generating positioning information corresponding to the touch location when the finger is in contact with the touch interface; an information module for obtaining the operating information corresponding to the touch location on the touch interface based on the positioning information; and a transmission module for outputting the operating information obtained by the information module. The display device is worn on the finger for receiving the operating information corresponding to the touch location to display an image corresponding to the operating information when the finger is in contact with the touch interface. 
     The aforementioned nail-mounted display system may further include a securing element connected to the display device for securing the display device on the finger. Preferably, the securing element secures the displayer device on a nail of the finger. 
     In an embodiment, the touch interface is a touch control display, and the operating information is a text or a picture. 
     In another embodiment, the touch interface is a touch sensor. Different touch locations on the touch sensor have different operating information. 
     Moreover, the positioning information of the touch location generated by the positioning module can be absolute coordinates or relative coordinates. 
     From the above, it is clear that when a user is operating on an electronic device having a touch control display, such as a smart phone, the nail-mounted display system of the present invention makes any operating information such as texts or pictures blocked by the user&#39;s finger be displayed on the display device worn on the finger. Alternatively, when the user is operating an electronic device having a touch sensor without display capability, such as a MP3 player, the display device displays corresponding operating information of the MP3. This overcomes the prior-art problem in that the user who tries to operate the display device is unable to obtain operating information since the screen is blocked by his/her finger or the display device has no display capability. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, with reference made to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram depicting basic components of a nail-mounted display system in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2A  is a block diagram depicting a nail-mounted display system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2B  is a schematic diagram depicting an implementation of a display device of the nail-mounted display system in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2C  is a schematic diagram depicting an implementation of an electronic device of the nail-mounted display system in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram depicting another implementation of the electronic device of the nail-mounted display system in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 4A  is a schematic diagram depicting the nail-mounted display system when in use in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 4B  is a block diagram depicting a nail-mounted display system in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram depicting the display device of a nail-mounted display system in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     The present invention is described by the following specific embodiments. Those with ordinary skills in the arts can readily understand other advantages and functions of the present invention after reading the disclosure of this specification. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2A  to  2 C, a nail-mounted display system  1  in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes an electronic device  11  and a display device  12  in communication with the electronic device  11 . The electronic device  11  includes a touch interface  111 , a positioning module  112 , an information module  113  and a transmission module  114 . 
     A user&#39;s finger is in contact with the touch interface  111  to manipulate the electronic device  11 . The place where the finger is in contact with the touch interface  111  is defined as a touch location. The touch interface  111  has operating information corresponding to the touch location. The touch interface  111  can be, for example, a touch control display of a mobile phone or a tablet computer, or a touch sensor of a general electronic device that can sense the strength and distribution of the force or the pressure exerted by the finger. 
     The positioning module  112  generates positioning information corresponding to the touch location when the finger is touching the touch interface  111 . The positioning information of the touch location can be, for example, absolute coordinates (e.g. (x, y)) or relative coordinates (e.g. (x2-x1, y2-y1)). 
     The information module  113  obtains the operating information corresponding to the touch location on the touch interface  111  based on the positioning information, and then the transmission module  114  outputs the operating information obtained by the information module  113 . More specifically, there is different operating information on different locations of the touch interface  111 , and the information module  113  can obtain operating information, such as a text or a picture, corresponding to the touch location where the finger is touching the touch interface  111 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 2A , the display device  12  may include a receiving unit  121 , a display unit  122  and a power supply unit  123 . The receiving unit  121  is mainly used for receiving the operating information transmitted by the electronic device  11 . The display unit  122  is used for displaying the operating information received by the receiving unit  121 . The power supply unit  123  is used for providing the power required by the display device  12 , wherein the display unit  122  can be a light emitting diode, an organic light emitting diode, a thin-film transistor liquid crystal display or a T-SWNT display, for example. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2B , the display device  12  further includes a securing element  124  for securing the display device  12  on the finger. In  FIG. 2B , the securing element  124  is in the form of a finger ring that can be worn on the nail of the user. It is to be noted that a finger ring is merely an illustrative example of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited as such. The display unit  122  can be adhered onto the finger or secured to the finger in other ways. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2C , the electronic device  11  includes the touch interface  111  for the user to operate on. In this embodiment, the electronic device  11  is a mobile phone, and the touch interface  111  is a touch display for displaying information, and the user may manipulate the electronic device  11  by clicking directly on the touch interface  111  or dragging on the surface of the touch interface  111 . 
     Since when the user is operating on the touch interface  111  with a finger, some parts of the screen will be blocked by the finger of the user, the user will not be able see the information displayed by the touch display. Thus, by wearing the display device  12  on the finger at a location where the nail is and performing a click operation on the touch interface  111  with the finger wearing the display device  12 , the touch interface  111  will display the operating information while the user is operating, and the positioning module  112  will generate positioning information of absolute coordinates based on the touch location on the touch interface  111  touched by the user, the information module  113  will obtain operating information corresponding to the touch location based on the positioning information, and then the transmission module  114  will transmit the obtained operating information to the display device  12 . 
     After the display device  12  receives the operating information from the electronic device  11  via the receiving unit  121 , the display unit  122  can display the operating information. Therefore, when the user is operating on the touch interface  111  with the finger by clicking or dragging, the display device  12  can immediately display the operating information on the electronic device  11  that is currently being blocked by the finger. As a result, this solves the problem that some part of the operating information is blocked by the finger while the user is operating on the electronic device  11 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the components and the functions of the components of a nail-mounted display system la in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention are similar to those shown in  FIG. 1  except that the touch interface  111   a  of the electronic device  11   a  in this embodiment is a touch sensor, and thus the functions of the same components will not be repeated herein. The differences are as follow. When a user touches the touch interface  111   a,  the touch sensor then detects the location of the touch. Meanwhile, the positioning module  112  will generate positioning information of relative coordinates based on the location of the touch on the touch interface  111   a,  and the information module  113  will then obtain operating information corresponding to the touch location based on the positioning information, and the transmission module  114  will transmit the obtained operating information to the display device  12 . 
     For example, if the electronic device  11   a  is a MP3 player with no display, and there are 10 songs stored in the electronic device  11   a,  wherein each song has corresponding coordinate information. When the user touches the touch interface  111   a,  the touch interface  111   a  detects the location of the touch interface  111   a  touched by the user, for example, (0, 6), and then the user drags to another touch location (e.g. (0, 8)) on the touch interface  111   a,  this incurs relative coordinates of (0, 2). Then, the information module  113  obtains the operating information, that is, a specific song, corresponding to the touch location on the touch interface  111   a  based on the relative coordinates. Thereafter, the transmission module  114  transmits the obtained operating information to the display device  12 . The display device  12  receives and displays the operating information sent by the electronic device  11   a.  The components and function of the display device  12  are similar to those shown in  FIG. 1A , and thus not described repeatedly. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 4A and 4B , the components and the functions of the components of a nail-mounted display system lb in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention are similar to those shown in  FIG. 1  except that the display device  12   a  of this embodiment further includes a detection unit  125  for detecting a swinging motion of the display device  12   a,  and transmitting a corresponding control signal to the electronic device  11  accordingly, and thus the functions of the same components will not be repeated herein. In other words, the user can control the electronic device  11  by shaking the display device  12   a.    
     More specifically, when the user would like to operate the electronic device  11 , he/she only needs to shake the finger wearing the display device  12   a,  the display device  12   a  will then detect the movements caused by the user&#39;s finger and generate a corresponding control signal according to the shaking of the user, and the receiving unit  121  transmits this control signal to the electronic device  11 . After the electronic device  11  receives the control signal, it will execute an action corresponding to the control signal, or return any information to be displayed by the display unit  122  of the display device  12   a.    
     For example, if the electronic device  11  is a mobile phone, and when there is an incoming call, the user can be notified of this incoming call by the display unit  122  of the display device  12   a,  and the user can then decide to take this call by shaking his/her finger. When there is no incoming call, the user may also shake his/her finger to select a function menu of the electronic device  11 , and perform simple operations on the electronic device  11  by again shaking his/her finger. 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , in this embodiment, in addition to the functions described above, the display device  12   b  further includes an alarm unit  126 , a sound playback unit  127  and a sound receiving unit  128 . The alarm unit  126  may issue a sound alert or vibration alert to make a sound, emit a light, or vibrate upon actuation of the electronic device  11 , or issue a sound alert when the power of power supply unit  123  is too low to allow normal operations of the display device  12   b  to notify the user that the power supply unit  123  is in a lower power state. The alert may also be in the form of vibration or light, for example. In the case that the electronic device  11  is a mobile phone, when there is an incoming call, the alarm unit  126  of the display device  12   b  may cause vibrations to alert the user. The sound playback unit  127  is used to receive and playback sounds from the electronic device  11 . For example, when the electronic device  11  receives an incoming call, the electronic device  11  may transmit a ringtone to the display device  12   b,  which then plays the ringtone sent by the electronic device  11 . The sound receiving unit  128  is a microphone, for example, which receives the sounds made by the user so as to allow the user to control the electronic device  11  by his/her voice. 
     The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the principles of the present invention, and should not be construed as to limit the present invention in any way. The above embodiments can be modified by those with ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the following appended claims.