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Claims  |
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What is claimed as new and is desired to be secured by: Letters Patent of
the United States is:
1. A computer-based information browsing device comprising:
a body having a sensor device disposed on a sensor area of said body that
detects a position and a force of an instrument applied to said sensor
device;
at least one set of sensors actuable by said instrument, disposed on said
body, and configured to produce at least one state signal when at least
one of said set of sensors is actuated by said instrument;
a transducer circuit connected to said sensor device which converts the
force and position detected by said sensor device into at least one
transducer signal; and
an output port which outputs the at least one transducer signal and said at
least one state signal to a computer which hosts a set of information,
said at least one transducer signal and said at least one state signal
forming at least one of a direction of movement command, a change of speed
command, a jump to a specified location command, and a bookmark command
used by said computer to manipulate a displayed image of said set of
information.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein:
said body comprises,
an opposed top and bottom surface, and
a sensor surface in which said sensor device is disposed; and
said set of sensors comprises,
a first subset of sensors disposed on said bottom surface, and configured
to produce a first state signal of said at least one state signal
representative of a state of said first subset of sensors, and
a second subset of sensors disposed on said top surface, and configured to
produce a second state signal of said at least one state signal
representative of a state of said second subset of sensors.
3. The device of claim 2, further comprising:
the computer, which receives from said output port, said at least one
transducer signal and said at least one state signal, further comprising,
a receiving mechanism that receives said at least one transducer signal,
said at least one transducer signal comprising a first force signal and a
second force signal respectively generated by said sensor device in
response to said instrument applied to a first position along one
direction of said sensor device and later applied to a second position of
said sensor device,
a jumping mechanism that produces a jump from a first point in said set of
information corresponding to said first position to a second point in the
set of information corresponding to the second position, and
a skipping mechanism that produces a skip of a subset of said set of
information proportional to a distance between said first position and
said second position.
4. The device of claim 2, further comprising:
the computer, which receives from said output port, said at least one
transducer signal and said at least one state signal, further comprising,
a display,
a receiving mechanism that receives at least one of said first state signal
and said second state signal,
a creating mechanism that creates a finger-bookmark based on said first and
second state signals received by said receiving mechanism, and
a display mechanism that displays an image of said set of information and a
finger-bookmark image, said display mechanism comprising
a removing mechanism that removes said finger-bookmark image when a page
associated with said finger-bookmark is passed-by in a browsing operation.
5. The device of claim 4, wherein said computer further comprises:
a permanent-bookmark image display mechanism that displays a
permanent-bookmark image in response to receiving said at least one of
said first state signal and said second state signal; and
a transferring mechanism that transfers said permanent-bookmark image from
a first side of said image of said set of information to a second side of
said image of said set of information when another page associated with
said permanent-bookmark image is turned.
6. The device of claim 5, wherein said computer-further comprises:
a simultaneous display mechanism that simultaneously displays said
finger-bookmark image and said permanent-bookmark image.
7. The device of claim 5, wherein said computer further comprises:
a page jumping mechanism that jumps to a page of said image of said set of
information nearest the currently displayed material, said page being
marked by at least one of said finger-bookmark or said permanent-bookmark.
8. The device of claim 5, wherein said computer further comprises:
a page jumping mechanism that jumps to a page of said image of said set of
information in response to receiving said at least one transducer signal
and said at least one state signal.
9. The device of claim 2, further comprising:
a mouse having mouse buttons,
wherein said body is disposed on said computer mouse so as not to interfere
with the mouse buttons.
10. The device of claim 2, further comprising:
a gyro-mouse having gyro-mouse buttons,
wherein said body is disposed on said gyro-mouse so as not to interfere
with the gyro-mouse buttons.
11. A device according to claim 2, further comprising:
the computer, which receives from said output port, said at least one
transducer signal and said at least one state signal, further comprising,
a receive mechanism that receives said first state signal comprising
sequence change signal representative of a change of said state of said
second subset of sensors, and
a toggling mechanism that toggles said browsing device between a left-hand
device operation and a righthand device operation in response to receiving
said sequence change signal by said receive mechanism.
12. A device according to claim 11, wherein:
said receive mechanism receives said sequence change signal which comprises
a triple-click signal representative of a changing of said state of said
second subset of sensors at least three times in succession; and
said toggling mechanism toggles said browsing device between a left-hand
device operation and a right-hand device operation in response to
receiving said triple-click signal by said receive mechanism.
13. The device of claim 2, further comprising:
a computer which receives from said output port, said at least one
transducer signal and said at least one state signal, further comprising,
a memory which stores said set of information, and
a display screen,
an organizing mechanism that organizes the set of information into a
plurality of pages; and
a display mechanism that displays an image of said pages on said display
screen.
14. The device of claim 13, wherein the display mechanism, further
comprises:
a successive image display mechanism that successively displays images of
said pages of said set of information being flipped at a speed
corresponding to the force applied to the sensor device.
15. The device of claim 13, wherein the display mechanism, further
comprises:
a successive image display mechanism that successively displays images of
said pages of said set of information being flipped in a first direction
if said device is configured to operate in a left-hand mode of operation
and in a second direction if said device is configured to operate in a
right-hand mode of operation.
16. The device of claim 15, further comprising a means for switching said
device between the left-hand mode of operation and the right-hand mode of
operation.
17. The device of claim 14, wherein said display mechanism further
comprises:
a flipped plurality of pages display mechanism that successively displays
said plurality of pages being flipped from at least one of a right-to-left
direction with respect to a horizontal position of said display and from a
top-to-bottom direction.
18. The device of claim 14, wherein said display mechanism further
comprises:
a sliding plurality of pages display mechanism that displays successive
images of said pages sliding across said screen.
19. The device of claim 14, wherein said display mechanism further
comprises:
a flashing plurality of pages display mechanism that displays successive
images of said pages flashing onto said computer screen as the set of
information is browsed.
20. The device of claim 19 further comprising:
mode selection means for selecting between an exclusive mode of operation
or an overlapping mode of operation; and
a displaying next page mechanism that displays a next page after a
right-most displayed page, in a currently displayed image, when in the
exclusive mode, and displays at least one of a currently viewed page and a
set of next pages, when in the overlapping mode.
21. The device of claim 14, wherein said display mechanism further
comprises:
a scrolling plurality of pages display mechanism that displays successive
images of said pages scrolled onto said computer screen as the set of
information is browsed.
22. The device of claim 14, wherein said computer further comprises:
a thickness display mechanism that displays an image of a thicknesses of
said set of information on a top portion and on a bottom portion of said
display; and
a scroll display mechanism that displays said image of said pages as a
sequentially scrolled image in an up or a down direction relative to a
horizontal direction of said display.
23. The device of claim 2, further comprising:
a user input device comprising at least one of a mouse, track-ball and a
gyro-mouse; and
the computer, which receives from said output port, said at least one
transducer signal and said at least one state signal, further comprising,
a receiving mechanism that receives a signal from said user input device,
and
a selecting mechanism that selects an item of interest on a currently
displayed page of an image of a set of pages of said set of information
corresponding to said signal received from said receiving device.
24. The device of claim 23, further comprising:
a bookmarking mechanism that bookmarks a plurality of pages of said set of
information, said pages containing information related to said selected
item.
25. A computer-based browsing device comprising:
a left-hand computer-based information browsing device module, comprising,
a first body configured to be operated by a left hand of a user,
comprising,
an opposed first top surface and a first bottom surface, and
a first sensor surface having a first sensor device disposed thereon, said
first sensor device interconnecting the first top surface and the first
bottom surface and being configured to detect a position and force of an
instrument applied thereto;
a first set of sensors actuable by said instrument, disposed on said first
bottom surface, and configured to produce a first state signal of at least
one state signal representative of a state of said first set of sensors;
a second set of sensors actuable by said instrument, disposed on said first
top surface, and configured to produce a second state signal of the at
least one state signal representative of a state of said second set of
sensors;
a right-hand computer-based information browsing device module operatively
joined to said left-hand computer-based information browsing device,
comprising,
second body configured to be operated by a right hand of a user,
comprising,
an opposed second top surface and a second bottom surface, and
a second sensor surface having a second sensor device disposed thereon,
said second sensor device interconnecting the second top surface and the
second bottom surface and being configured to detect a position and force
of an instrument applied thereto;
a third set of sensors actuable by said instrument, disposed on said second
bottom surface, and configured to produce a third state signal of the at
least one state signal representative of a state of said third set of
sensors;
a fourth set of sensors actuable by said instrument, disposed on said
second top surface, and configured to produce a fourth state signal of the
at least one state signal representative of a state of said fourth set of
sensors;
at least one transducer circuit connected to at least one of said first
sensor device and said second sensor device which convert the force and
position of the instrument into at least one transducer signal; and
an output port which outputs the at least one transducer signal and the at
least one state signal to a computer, said computer hosting a set of
information.
26. The device of claim 25, wherein said transducer circuit comprises:
a right-hand transducer circuit configured to convert the force and
position of the second sensor device into a forward browsing signal used
by said computer to browse the information in a forward direction; and
a left-hand transducer circuit configured to convert the force and position
of the first sensor device into a backward browsing signal used by said
computer to browse the information in a backward direction, wherein a
speed of browsing in either the forward or the reverse direction is
proportional to the force respectively applied to said second sensor
device and said first sensor device.
27. The device of claim 26, wherein:
said right-hand transducer circuit being configured to produce a forward
jump signal corresponding to the force applied at a position along a first
direction of said second sensor device indicative of a forward point in
the information in which to jump, said forward point in which to jump
located between a portion of said information currently being displayed,
and an end of said information; and
said left-hand transducer circuit being configured to produce a backward
jump signal corresponding to the force applied at a position along a first
direction of said first sensor device indicative of a backward point in
which to jump located between said portion of material currently being
viewed and a beginning portion of said information.
28. The device of claim 25, wherein said output port comprises:
a right-hand output port configured to output a set of right-hand bookmark
signals corresponding to respective states of said third set of sensors,
each of said set of right-hand bookmark signals corresponding to a command
output to said computer to place a right-hand bookmark on said information
currently being displayed; and
a left-hand output port configured to output a set of left-hand bookmark
signals corresponding to respective states of said first set of sensors,
each of said set of left-hand bookmark signals corresponding to a command
output to said computer to place a left-hand bookmark on said information
currently being viewed.
29. The browsing device of claim 25 further comprising:
a frame, wherein
said left-hand computer-based information browsing device module body
disposed on a left-hand side of said frame, and said right-hand
computer-based information browsing device body disposed on a right-hand
side of said frame, said frame configured to detachably attach to a
display of said computer.
30. The device of claim 25, further comprising:
a mouse having a mouse button, said left-hand computer-based information
browsing device and said righthand computer-based information browsing
device disposed on said mouse and positioned so as to not interfere with
said mouse button.
31. A browsing device according to claim 25, further comprising:
a gyro-mouse having a gyro-mouse button, said left-hand computer-based
information browsing device and said right-hand computer-based information
browsing device disposed on said gyro-mouse and positioned so as to not
interfere with said gyro-mouse button.
32. The device of claim 26, further comprising:
the computer comprising,
a memory which stores the set of information, and
a display screen, wherein
wherein said at least one transducer signal comprises an initial force
signal and an opposing force signal from respective ones of said first
sensor device and said second sensor device, and wherein said computer
performs a computer-based process comprising the steps of,
organizing the information into a plurality of pages,
receiving said initial force signal,
displaying an image of said pages being flipped in response to said initial
force signal received in said step of receiving said initial force signal,
receiving said opposing force signal,
stopping said pages from being flipped in said displaying step in response
to receiving said opposing force signal, and
displaying an image of a resting position of two pages lying in an open fan
format.
33. The device of claim 32, wherein:
said at least one transducer circuit produces said opposing force signal by
first producing a first signal indicative of a first force applied in a
first position of said at least one first sensor device or said second
sensor device and then producing a second signal indicative of a second
force applied in a second position of said at least one first sensor
device or said second sensor device, and
said computer-based process further comprising the steps of,
preventing said pages from being completely flipped to an end of said
information in response to said step of receiving said opposing force
signal, and
displaying an image of the flipped pages collected in a central-thick page
positioned at approximate angles between the two flat pages.
34. A browsing system, comprising:
a computer-based information browsing device comprising,
a body comprising,
an opposed top and bottom surface, and
a sensor surface having a sensor device disposed thereon, said sensor
surface interconnecting the opposed top and bottom surface a position and
force of an instrument applied thereto,
a first subset of sensors actuable by said instrument, disposed on said
bottom surface, and configured to produce a first state signal of at least
one state signal,
a second subset of sensors actuable by said instrument, disposed on said
top surface, and configured to produce a second state signal of said at
least one state signal,
a transducer circuit connected to said sensor device, which converts the
force and position of the instrument on the sensor device into at least
one transducer signal, and
an output port which outputs the at least one transducer signal and the at
least one state signal;
a computer hosting a set of information, comprising,
an input port that receives said at least one transducer signal and the at
least one state signal,
a central processing unit, and
display;
a bus connecting said computer-based information browsing device to said
input port of said computer;
a browsing mechanism hosted on said computer and configured to receive said
at least one transducer signal from said computer-based information
browsing device and produce control commands to control browsing of said
set of information hosted in said computer; and
a conversion mechanism hosted on said computer that converts a first set of
information from a first form into a second form which is compatible with
said browsing mechanism.
35. The browsing system of claim 34, wherein said computer further
comprises:
a reorganizing mechanism that reorganizes a subset, of said set of
information, currently being displayed in response to said receiving said
at least one transducer signal, said subset of information being displayed
in an image of side-by-side pages;
a display mechanism that displays said side-by-side pages;
a highlighting mechanism that highlights a selected subset of said set of
information in response to receiving an external signal; and
an annotating mechanism configured to include user-defined information into
said subset of information selected.
36. The browsing system of claim 34, further comprising:
at least one of a word processing software application and a graphics
processing software application hosted on said computer.
37. The browsing system of claim 34, wherein an operating system comprises
said browsing mechanism.
38. The browsing system of claim 34, further comprising:
an interface mechanism configured to interface said browsing mechanism with
a Windows-based operating system and for converting a mouse-based browsing
mechanism into at least one of a flipping operation, sliding operation,
flashing operation and a scrolling operation that is compatible with said
browsing mechanism.
39. The browsing system of claim 34, further comprising:
a library mechanism, said library mechanism cataloging said set of
information into subsets of information so to be displayed as book images.
40. A browsing device for browsing digitally encoded information, said
device comprising:
an enclosure;
a plurality of thin, hard and flexible bound sheets wherein a first side of
the bound sheets opposite to a bound side of said bound sheets comprises a
sensor device;
thin film sensors disposed on respective surfaces of said bound sheets
proximate said first side, said thin film sensors detecting a position of
an instrument, said thin film sensors also configured to detect an amount
of bending of the respective sheets of material in response to a force
applied thereto;
a first set of switches actuable by said instrument, disposed on a bottom
surface of said enclosure, said first set of switches positioned so to be
operated by the instrument, said first set of switches producing a first
switch signal representative of a state of said first set of switches;
a second set of switches actuable by said instrument, disposed on a top
surface of said enclosure, and positioned so to be operated by the
instrument, said second set of switches producing a second switch signal
representative of a state of said second set of switches, said plurality
of thin, hard and flexible bound sheets interconnecting said top surface
and said bottom surface of said enclosure; and
an electrical circuit comprising,
a conversion circuit that converts the amount of bending of the sheets and
converts the position of the instrument on said sensor device into
corresponding conversion signals, and
an output port that outputs the conversion signals, the first switch signal
and the second switch signal.
41. A browsing device comprising:
a body comprising,
an opposed top and bottom surface, and
a side surface interconnecting said opposed top and bottom surface and
having a sensor device disposed thereon, said sensor device comprising
transparent sensors which detect a position and force of an instrument
along at least one direction of said sensor device;
a display screen fitted on said side surface;
a first set of switches actuable by said instrument, disposed on said
bottom surface of said body, and configured to produce a first switch
signal representative of a state of said first set of switches;
second set of switches actuable by said instrument, disposed on said top
surface of said body, and configured to produce a second switch signal
representative of a state of said second set of switches;
a first electrical circuit that converts said force and said position of
the instrument on the sensor device into electrical signals;
an output port which outputs the electrical signals, the first switch
signal and the second switch signal; and
a second circuit that receives the electrical signals, the first switch
signal and the second switch signal and responds by controlling a format
of an image displayed on said display screen in response.
42. The browsing device of claim 41, wherein said display screen comprises
at least one of:
a liquid crystal display;
a plasma display;
a LED display; and
a cathode ray tube display.
43. The device of claim 41, further comprising:
a computer; and
a bus which connects the second electrical circuit to the computer, wherein
the computer comprises a computer-based mechanism comprising,
a first display mechanism that displays a thickness image of a book of
information stored in said computer, and
a second display mechanism that displays a bookmark image corresponding to
a first position of the instrument on the sensor device as indicated by
one of said received state signals.
44. A computer-based information browsing device comprising:
a sensor device means for detecting a position and a force of an instrument
applied thereto;
means for orienting said sensor device means to correspond with an edge of
an open book;
a discrete sensor means for producing at least one discrete signal in
response to a user-actuated external stimulus;
a transducer means for converting said force and said position detected by
said sensor device means into respective force and position signals; and
output means for outputting said force signal, said position signal and
said discrete signal to a computer which hosts a computer-based set of
information so as to control a browsing operation of said computer-based
set of information. |
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Claims |
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Description |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer hardware and software system
including a computer input device that can be operatively combined with
several methods of display on a computer screen under software and
hardware control for the purpose of browsing through documents stored in a
computer. Specifically, the present invention facilitates the browsing of
a document stored in a computer in such a way that it allows a rapid view
of what contents are present and the organization of the material in the
document, as well as rapid access to the items in the document involved.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Currently, the method for viewing documents stored in a computer is through
a computer monitor screen. For documents that are longer/larger than can
be contained within one screen, a means is provided to scroll the document
up and down or to jump to a particular point in the document (through the
use of, for example, a "mouse" coupled with scroll bars at the edges of
the document displayed on the screen or through the use of hypertext
links).
However, most people do not find this a particularly convenient way to view
a document, as compared with a book. That this is true is evidenced in the
fact that despite the fact that the computer has been in increasing use,
there is not only no corresponding reduction in paper use, but an increase
in paper quantity is required to print what is conveniently stored in a
computer that can be seemingly easily and flexibly manipulated for
viewing. Sometimes the printed version of the information involved is
necessary, like in the case of printing a picture on a sheet of paper to
be pasted on some surface (e.g., a wall), or in the case of the
convenience of having a relatively light, hardy paperback book for reading
in almost any possible situation and location, but there are times when a
reader is quite happy to sit at a desk in front of a desktop computer or
handle a notebook computer away from the desk, and yet the reader would
still prefer a printed version of the document in a hand-held format. This
is especially true in the case of looking through manuals, including
software manuals, to understand how to operate a device or software
application. The irony is that computer software packages usually come
with thick and heavy manuals containing information which can easily be
stored on a light-weight CD-ROM, and even if the manuals are sometimes
dispensed in the form of a CD-ROM, more often than not people would print
them out into a hard-copy format in order to facilitate reading.
What is involved when one interacts with the printed material in a book is
a subtle and complicated process. To start with, material in a book is
presented in a sequential order, with a continuity of material from page
to page, and there is also a hierarchical structure in the material
presented (as the material is organized into chapters, sections,
subsections, etc.) because ideas in the material are related to each other
in some kind of conceptual hierarchy. The human perceptual system inputs
data in a sequential manner, and after a book is read from the beginning
to the end in a sequential fashion, the brain then recreates the
conceptual hierarchy after viewing the material involved. However, very
often one does not read a book (or input the material involved) from the
beginning to the end because (a) one wants to have an overview of the
material present; (b) one is searching for something of interest to
him/her; or (c) one is interested in reading only portions of the book (in
the case of, say, reading the manual to understand how to operate
something). In these cases, one browses through the subject book to find
the material of unique interest to that reader.
Two basic things are achieved in the browsing process. First, the browser
has a glimpse of what are the contents of the book document. Second, the
browser has an idea of approximately where the items of interest are so
that the browser can (a) return to look for them later when needed, and
(b) have an understanding of the relationships between the material
currently being viewed and other material (i.e., an understanding of the
hierarchical structure involved). When browsing a book document, many
finger-operations are required of the browser in order to flip through the
pages and, together with the inherent sequential order imposed by the
pages, very quickly allow the browser to have an understanding of the
nature, location and organization of the material involved.
In the process of browsing through a book, one can perform the following
operations:
(a) flip through the pages at varying speeds depending on the level of
detail at which one wishes to view the material in the book;
(b) jump to the approximate location of the item of interest;
(c) change the direction of flipping (forward or backward) very rapidly
because
(i) one would like to compare and contrast material on different pages,
(ii) after jumping to an approximate location of some items of interest one
would like to find their exact locations, or
(iii) one is unsure of where the item of interest is and is in the process
of searching for it; and
(d) mark the locations of some pages of interest that one may want to later
return.
All these operations are performed very rapidly with the fingers
interacting with the flipping pages and with minimal unnecessary movements
of the fingers and hands. Interestingly, a book/magazine with soft and
flexible pages is harder to handle because more finger and hand movements
are needed to browse through it, while books with stiff pages can be
browsed with almost no movement of the hand.
In currently available methods of browsing through documents stored in a
computer, e.g., the use of a mouse combined with scroll bars and buttons
on the computer screen, more movements of the hands are necessary to
effect the various operations described above. Also, fine control of the
hand or fingers (depending on whether the mouse uses hand movement to move
the cursor on the screen or finger movement like in the case of a track
ball) is necessary to position the cursor on the screen at the required
places. The process is both lengthy and clumsy. The lengthiness of the
process taxes the human short term memory's ability to remember items
encountered in the recent past for the purpose of establishing the
relationships between items and the clumsiness of the process creates
distraction and interferes with the short term memory process, a well
known effect in perceptual psychology. Because material in a book is
organized into pages, it also enhances the ability of the reader to better
remember the location of various portions of the material involved. Also,
unlike the process of scrolling through a document on a screen like what
is normally done in a word-processor, wherein the contents become a blur
and reading is impossible, when one moves through the material in a book
through flipping, one is still able to read at least the approximate
contents, if not the details. It is due to these features that a person
browsing through a book can acquire a good understanding of its contents,
the location of specific items and organization of the material.
It is because of the reasons set forth above, people still prefer to read a
book in their hands, rather than a document image displayed on a computer
screen using currently available methods.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,102 (Kuno et al.) discloses a device for document
viewing that consists of two display screens. One of the purposes of using
two display screens is to allow the user to display two different pages
from the document so that they can be read side-by-side (e.g., a diagram
and its textual explanation). Another purpose is to allow a large picture
to be displayed simultaneously on both pages. The Kuno et al. device
allows users to change the speed of movement through the document through
a pressure sensor--the more pressure applied, the faster the pages in the
document are moved through. The Kuno et al. device also allows the
document to be viewed in the forward or backward direction by pressing on
a forward sensor area or a reverse sensor area respectively. One can also
select a page to jump to by pressing on an icon displayed on the screen.
However the Kuno et al. device still does not provide the same convenience
as browsing through a book, primarily because when switching between the
operations for different controls--the speed of movement through the
document, the change of direction of viewing, and the jumping to different
parts of the document--there are a lot more hand and finger movements than
is the case in manipulating a physical book. Moreover, the Kuno et al.
device is a specialized, relatively costly device with sensors and
hardware built onto two display screens, whereas the present inventor
recognizes that a lower cost and more practical device would be one that
adds modularly to the existing computer system.
Currently, there are also computer mice that can eliminate the
above-mentioned problem of positioning cursor on the computer screen with
a conventional mouse (i.e., fine control of the hand or fingers is
needed). These mice allow the user to specify "hot locations" on the
screen on which the cursor "homes onto" with less fine control than
conventional mice. Furthermore, a subset of these mice can generate
"vertical only" or "horizontal only" movement of the cursor so that the
scrolling process requires less fine control of the muscle than is
required with a conventional mouse. These mice eliminate some, but not
all, of the problems associated with the conventional methods of computer
input as far as computer-based document browsing is concerned.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,575 (1995) McTaggart discloses an electronic book
that comprises laminated sheets bound together in the form of a book. On
each of these sheets, printed material is arranged on the top layer and
below that layer is an electronic backdrop containing thin light-emitting
diodes (LED's) and pressure sensitive switches affixed onto a backing
sheet. The LED's generate visual signals that can be seen through the top
layer for the purpose of highlighting parts of the printed material. The
pressure switches, positioned under certain items in the printed material,
are for the purpose of sensing the user's selection of those items. A
speaker is also provided on the book to generate audio signals for
explaining the text or giving the user audio feedback. Contact or
photo-sensitive switches are also embedded in the pages to allow the
electronic circuits to know which pages are currently being viewed, so
that the appropriate audio and visual signals can be generated. Even
though this apparatus is in a form that allows a person to handle it like
handling a typical book, with visual and audio enhancements of the printed
material as well as facilities that accept the user's feedback, it is
basically a hard-wired device that is not reprogrammable and different
hardware has to be configured for books with different contents. No
provision is available for downloading document files from a computer for
display on the electronic book nor is the electronic book able to display
any arbitrary document file. This device is hence not suitable for
browsing through documents stored in a computer.
Therefore, the inventor has identified there exists a need for a low-cost,
modular device that can be connected to existing computer systems and that
permits easy, effective computer-based document browsing that approaches
that of browsing through a book.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the aforementioned short-comings of presently available schemes
for browsing through documents stored in a computer, one objective of the
present invention is to provide a browsing device that exploits the use of
finger operations normally involved in browsing through a book, namely,
the change of speed of movement through the document involved, the change
of direction of movement through the document, the jumping to other
portions of the document, and the bookmarking of pages (e.g., when a page
is bookmarked, it can be returned/jumped to later very quickly by using
the controls operated by the fingers).
Another objective of the invention is that the positioning and design of
the controls for the above-mentioned operations performed by the fingers
are such that they allow almost no movement of the hand and minimal
movements of the fingers, thus maximizing the ease of browsing through the
stored document. The dexterity of the human fingers is to be fully
exploited for these controls.
A further objective of the invention is to provide a low cost, modular
browsing device that can be easily attached to existing computer systems
much like how a mouse attaches to a computer system.
Still a further objective is to provide a reconfigurable construct for the
browsing device so that it can be (a) configured into a hand-held
controller; (b) attached to the sides of existing computer screens; (c)
configured to cooperate with a mouse so that there is no need to move the
user's hand(s) when switching between browser-related operations and
mouse-related operations; and (d) configured to cooperate with a
gyro-mouse so that the entire assembly can be used in the absence of a
table top. The method is chosen by the user depending on his/her
preference.
Another objective of the invention is to provide a means to display, on the
computer screen, the document to be browsed through using the browsing
device. The display is in the form of a computer book together with
showing the thicknesses of material in the document before and after the
currently viewed material, showing of the bookmarks, and showing, on the
thicknesses, of the location of the pages that would be jumped to at any
given time if jumping were to be effected.
Another objective of the invention is to provide the following five methods
of organizing the material in the document and corresponding display
formats: (a) organized into pages and can be flipped through page by page
from right to left or vice versa, much like what happens when one flips
through a book; (b) organized into pages and can be flipped through page
by page from bottom to top or vice versa, much like what happens when | | |
