Abstract:
An electronic book includes pages with printed materials, a display showing selectively a plurality of images and a control circuit arranged to cause pictures to be displayed in accordance with pages being viewed by a reader. In one embodiment, a sensor is used to detect which page is the reader looking at. In other embodiments, an automatic sensor or a sensor operated by the reader is used to determine what images are to be shown. Multiple images are also displayed in sequence to form moving images. In addition, speakers may also be provided to reproduce sounds.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A. Field of Invention 
     This invention pertains to a book, magazine or other printed media which incorporates an electronic display and a circuit arranged to provide various images on the display. More particularly, the present invention pertains to an electronic book with an integral display arranged to show still or moving images display-keyed to particular pages of the book. 
     B. Description of the Prior Art 
     Books, and especially children&#39;s books, as well as encyclopedias, dictionaries, technical manuals, and textbooks, are frequently provided with visual materials. These materials may provide additional information, generally enhance the experience of reading a book and make the book easier to understand. For example, children&#39;s books often include color pictures and illustrations associated with a particular story. Encyclopedias and textbooks include pictures, illustrations, maps, drawings, charts and other graphic representations of the materials and subject matter discussed therein. However, even with modern printing techniques, incorporating such visual material into a book is difficult and labor intensive. The process of incorporating graphic material in a book is further complicated if this visual material is in color. Moreover printing books with color materials is also expensive and often results in very poor images. 
     In many instances would be advantageous to Provide a book capable of showing moving images and/or other multi-media presentations. However, moving images cannot be provided using existing printing technologies. 
     In many instances, it may also be advantageous to incorporate into a book means of providing not only visual but also audio materials, (i.e., sounds). Some crude attempts have also been made to provide books with the capability of replaying sounds consisting of an LP record and a needle. The needle was placed on the record and the record was manually rotated. Since it was very hard to rotate the needle at a constant speed, the pitch of the sounds produced by this arrangement was uneven and hence it was difficult to understand. Moreover, the apparatus did not include an electrical amplifier but instead the sounds were produced by the mechanical vibrations of the needle. Thus the quality of the sound produced by this apparatus was completely unacceptable. 
     Attempts have been made to make all electronic books which are essentially hand-held devices consisting of a screen for displaying text and a memory in which alphanumeric characters corresponding to a book are stored and retrieved on request. These devices are very expensive at the present time, they require special memory devices, and are not very practical. 
     OBJECTIVES AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the above disadvantages of the prior art, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a book or other similar printed media which is capable of displaying various images electronically. 
     A further objective to provide a book with a single display capable of showing images keyed to specific pages of the book. 
     A further objective is to provide a book capable of presenting a multi-image presentation composed of stills, moving images and/or sounds. 
     Other objectives and advantages of the invention shall become apparent from the following description of the invention. 
     Briefly, an electronic book constructed in accordance with this invention includes a plurality of pages bearing some printed matter and bound to form a book. An electronic display with a controller is attached to the book and it displays images. The images are selected based on signals received from a page sensor which can detect the page being viewed by the reader. Alternatively, a sensor is provided which detects particular indicia on a given page. In yet another alternative embodiment, a manual image selector is provided which is manipulated by the reader. 
     Multiple images can be displayed in sequence to show moving images. Speakers may also be provided for reproductive sounds. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an open book with an electronic display in accordance with this invention wherein the display is seen through windows made in the pages of the book; 
     FIG. 2 shows a plan view of a last page of the book of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of the control circuitry for the display; 
     FIG. 4 shows details of the page sensor of FIG. 3; 
     FIG. 5 shows an alternate embodiment of the invention 
     FIG. 6 shows a flow chart for the operation of the book of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 7 shows another alternative embodiment wherein the display is offset literally from the pages of the book; and 
     FIG. 8 shows another embodiment with a wand used to determine what images are to be shown. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring first to FIG. 1, an electronic book  10  is shown opened at two consecutive pages  12  and  14 . Page  12  has a top surface  16  with two zones  18 ,  20  reserved for printed text. Between these two zones  18 ,  20  there is provided with a cut out or a window  22  through which a display  24  is seen. The display  24  may be recessed within the cavity formed by window  22  which is made in all of the pages disposed underneath page  12 , and may be surrounded by a raised frame  23  which protrudes through the pages of the book  10 . 
     Page  14  has a back surface  16 A with zones  18 A,  20 A reserved for text and a window,  22 A. 
     The pages of book  10  also have an element  26  for identifying each page electronically and uniquely. Details of the device are discussed below. 
     Referring to FIG. 2, the last page  28  of the book is shown supporting the display  24  as well as a control circuit  30 , a battery  32 , and optionally, a page sensor  34  and/or a page selector  36 . 
     The elements  24 ,  30 ,  32 ,  34  are shown as discrete elements for the sake of clarity. However, it should be understood that they could be packaged together, as well. Moreover, the elements  30 ,  32 ,  34  could be attached to, or could be imbedded into the last page  28  of the book. 
     Referring now to FIG. 3, the control circuit  30  includes a microprocessor  38 , a first memory  40 , a second memory  42  and a display driver  44 . Battery  32  provides power to the elements shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. A switch  68  is also provided to turn the control circuit  30  on or off. 
     Memory  40  can be a permanent memory used to store programs and operational parameters for the microprocessor  38 . Memory  42  may be a replaceable memory such as a flash card and can be used to store imaging data for display  24 . The microprocessor  38  retrieves data from memory  42  in accordance with certain criteria and sends the same to display driver  44 . The display driver controls the images shown by display  24 . 
     In one embodiment of the invention, the page sensor  34  is used to determine the current page that is being viewed by a reader. 
     The page sensor  34  can be implemented in a number of different ways. For example, as discussed above and shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, each page can be provided with a page identifying element  26  which may be an auxiliary window. In one embodiment, the auxiliary window  26  of each page  12  is provided with a unique hologram formed on membrane  48  identifying the page. As seen in FIG. 4, the page sensor  34  includes further a laser  50  which is arranged to direct a beam of light toward a prism  52 . Prism  52  is arranged to direct the beam from the laser  50  upward through a diffraction grating  54  through the window  26  and at membrane  48 . The prism  52  has a partially transmissive surface  56  which allows some light to pass through. Disposed underneath prism  52  there is a detector  58  which detects the images on the holograms illuminated by the beam and sends them to control circuit  30 . The microprocessor  38  analyzes the images from the detector  58  and compares them with images  150  in a look-up table to determine the current page number. The look-up table may be part of memory  40 . 
     Memory  40  can be a permanent memory used to store programs and operational parameters for the microprocessor  38 . Memory  42  may be a replaceable memory such as a flash card and can be used to store imaging data for display  24 . The microprocessor  38  retrieves data from memory  42  in accordance with certain criteria and sends the same to display driver  44 . The display driver controls the images shown by display  24 . 
     In one embodiment of the invention, the page sensor  34  is used to determine the current page that is being viewed by a reader. 
     The page sensor  34  can be implemented in a number of different ways. For example, as discussed above and shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, each page can be provided with a page identifying element  26  which may be an auxiliary window. In one embodiment, the auxiliary window  26  of each page  12  is provided with a unique hologram formed on membrane  48  identifying the page. As seen in FIG. 4, the page sensor  34  includes further a laser  50  which is arranged to direct a beam of light toward a prism  52 . Prism  52  is arranged to direct the beam from the laser  50  upward through a diffraction grating  54  through the window  26  and at membrane  48 . The prism  52  has a partially transmissive surface  56  which allows some light to pass through. Disposed underneath prism  52  there is a detector  58  which detects the images on the holograms illuminated by the beam and sends them to control circuit  30 . The microprocessor  38  analyzes the images from the detector  58  and compares them with images in a look-up table to determine the current page number. The look-up table may be part of memory  40 . 
     Referring now to FIG. 5 in an alternate embodiment of the invention instead of an auxiliary window, the page identifying element may be a printed page indicia  26 A such as a bar code. The book  10  is also provided with a bar code reader  64  disposed advantageously on a fold-away arm  62 . When not in use, arm  62  can be folded in a pocket  66  at the bottom of the book  10 . The bar code reader  64  reads the bar code to detect the current page. 
     Switch  68  may be a pressure sensing switch which is responsive to a change of pressure when the book is opened, a light sensor monitoring ambient light through the window  26 , a proximity switch operated when the arm  62  is removed from its pocket, or even a simple on/off switch operated by the user. The switch  68  may be disposed on page  28  or at other locations of the book  10 . 
     The electronic book  10  operates as shown in the flow chart of FIG.  6 . In step  100 , the system is initiated, for example, when switch  68  is activated. It is assumed that prior to this activation, a memory  42  with the appropriate images has been loaded or otherwise inserted. 
     In step  102  a current page number is obtained or determined either by using the sensor of FIG. 4 or the sensor of FIG.  5 . 
     In step  104 , the current page number is used to retrieve digital data from memory  42  corresponding to the image associated with the current page. 
     In step  106  this digital data is provided to the driver  44  the driver  44  then generates corresponding control commands for the display  24  to show the respective image. 
     The circuit then cycles back to step  102  and waits for a new page to be identified. 
     In the description provided above images are associated with, text is provided only on one side of each page. For two sided pages the sensor of FIG. 5 may be arranged to sense the page indicator element on either page. Moreover, while it may be preferable to provide a page sensor as discussed above, in some instances, it may be preferable to provide manual keys to indicate the current page to the microprocessor. For example, providing an electronic book with manual page entry keys will be most likely cheaper to implement. In addition or instead of the page indication keys, other navigational keys may be provided which may be used to navigate between different images. These keys may be useful if more than a single image is provided for each page, or if a user would like to see the images associated with different pages then the ones he is presently viewing. For this purpose a separate page selector  36  may be provided. This page selector  36  may be a sample on/off or pressure switch which is activated each time a reader turns a page. Alternatively the selector  36  may be a keyboard on which the actual page of interest is entered. Another alternative would be to provide directional keys (not shown) as selector elements. One such key, for example a key with a right arrow could be used to step to the next page while a key with a left arrow could be used to step to a previous page. 
     In the embodiments discussed so far, a single image is shown on display  24 . However, if the memory  42  has sufficient capacity, instead of a single image, a plurality of images may be shown instead in a quick succession (in the order of  12 - 18  per second) thereby generating in effect moving images. Moreover, sounds (for which data is stored in memory  40  as well) may also be played simultaneously with the image(s) there. Sounds may be played through the speakers  60 , which may also be disposed on the back page  28 , as shown. 
     In the embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 2, the display  24  is visible through window formed in the pages. Of course, the display  24  may be mounted anywhere on the book  10  or even off the book although it is preferable that it be positioned such that it is visible to the reader while he is leafing through the book. For example, in FIG. 7 an embodiment of a book  90  is shown with pages  92  being shorter than a back page  94 . The control circuit  96 , speakers  98  and the other elements similar to the ones shown in FIG. 3 can then be placed on the section of back page  94  which is not overlapped by pages  92 , as shown. 
     In another alternate embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 8, book  100  may be provided with a wand  102 . The wand  102  is terminated with a reader head  104  capable of reading and decoding indicia  106  on each page  114 . For example the indicia  106  may be a bar code or similar optical code. Alternatively, indicia  106  may be standard page numbers in which case the reader head or the microprocessor may include optical character recognitions(OCR) software. Since in this case only page numbers need to be recognized, the OCR software may be relatively simple. Alternatively, the text  112  on page  114  may have imbedded therein special characters  116  which can be scanned using the wand  102 . For example, the characters may have a special color. These characters identify an image (normally associated with the text). Scanning the characters and then converting them yields a code that is used to identify a particular image and retrieve it for display. 
     Many other modifications may be made to the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.