Electronic apparatus

• US 20050104866A1
• Filed: 11/15/2004
• Published: 05/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co Limited (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Inui, Fuyuki
• Granted Patent: US 7,453,437 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1647 including at least an additional display G06F1/1692 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1677 for detecting open or closed state or particular intermediate positions assumed by movable parts of the enclosure, e.g. detection of display lid position with respect to main body in a laptop, detection of opening of the cover of battery compartment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 345/901 Electronic book with display

Abstract

In the electronic apparatus according to the present invention, two display units differ in size are coupled so that an edge part of one of the display units is exposed from the other display unit when the electronic apparatus is folded. An index unit is installed on the edge part and displays index tabs of data recorded in the electronic apparatus. When a user opens the folded electronic apparatus while pressing one of the index tabs, data corresponding to the designated index are extracted from the recorded data and are displayed on the display units.

Claims

1. An electronic apparatus which is foldable, comprising:

a recording unit which contains recorded data;

a first equipment unit;

a second equipment unit which does not cover the first equipment unit completely when the electronic apparatus is folded;

a display unit which is installed on at least one of the first equipment unit and the second equipment unit and displays the recorded data;

a folding unit which foldably couples the first equipment unit and the second equipment unit with the display unit facing inward;

an index unit which is installed on an end of the first equipment unit or the second equipment unit, is exposed from the first equipment unit or the second equipment unit when the electronic apparatus is folded, and displays index tabs of the recorded data;

a sensor device which senses an index tab specified by a user out of the displayed index tabs when the electronic apparatus remains folded;

a extraction device which extracts data corresponding to the sensed index tab out of the recorded data; and

a display device which displays the extracted data on the display unit when the electronic apparatus is unfolded.

2. An electronic apparatus, comprising:

a recording unit which contains recorded data;

a first display unit which displays the recorded data;

a second display unit which displays the recorded data and is larger than the first display unit; and

a folding unit which foldably couples the first display unit and the second display unit with the display unit facing inward;

an index unit which is installed on an end of the second display unit and is exposed from the first display unit when the electronic apparatus is folded, and displays index tabs of the recorded data;

a sensor device which senses an index tab specified by a user out of the displayed index tabs when the electronic apparatus remains folded;

a extraction device which extracts data corresponding to the sensed index tab out of the recorded data; and

a display device which displays the extracted data on the first and the second display unit when the electronic apparatus is unfolded.

3. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the index unit has a tactile sensing function and allows the user to specify any of displayed index tabs by touching the given index tab.