Information retrieval device for displaying and directly refreshing the display of a document

• US 5,511,160 A
• Filed: 09/30/1993
• Issued: 04/23/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Robson, Christopher J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Powell, Mark R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHAUHAN, ULKA J
• Application Number:
  US08/130,076
• Time in Patent Office: 936 Days
• Field of Search: 395/162-166, 395/425, 395/600
• US Class Current: 345/501
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/0283 for data storage and retrieval

Abstract

An information retrieval device displays portions of a document requested by a user. The information retrieval device has a controller connected to a display screen, input selector switches, such as buttons, and non-volatile memory, such as a removable ROM. One or more documents, such as a book or magazine, is stored in the non-volatile memory. When the device is turned on, a first portion of a document is displayed on a display screen. When the user wants to see a different portion of the document, or a different document altogether, she presses one of the buttons. Upon detection that a button was enabled, an action is performed that changes the display on the display screen. The action performs can vary in complexity: it may simply cause the next page of the document to be displayed, or may execute a nested hypertext link to cause related information contained in the same or a different document to update only a portion of the display screen. The document is stored on the non-volatile memory in a manner that allows the display screen to be refreshed directly from the non-volatile memory.

Claims

1. An information retrieval device for displaying a document, comprising:

non-volatile memory for storing said document;

a plurality of input selector switches;

a display screen;

controller circuitry connected to said non-volatile memory, said input selector switches, and said display screen, said controller circuitry determining which portion of said document to display on said display screen, responsive to said plurality of input selector switches; and

said controller circuitry refreshing said display screen directly from said non-volatile memory.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein said non-volatile memory is removable read only memory.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein said non-volatile memory is non-removable read only memory.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein said non-volatile memory is flash memory.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the size of said device complies with the PCMCIA standard.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein said plurality of input selector switches are displayed on said display screen and selected by a mouse.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein said plurality of input selector switches are displayed on said display screen and selected by a stylus.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein said plurality of input selector switches are displayed on said display screen and selected by touch, said display screen being a touch display screen.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein said plurality of input selector switches are buttons.

11. The device of claim 1, said controller circuitry further comprising:

an adder; and

an indirection register for pointing to hypertext pages referenced by said plurality of input selector switches.

10. An information retrieval device for displaying a document, comprising:

non-volatile memory for storing said document;

a plurality of input selector switches;

a display screen;

controller circuitry connected to said non-volatile memory, said input selector switches, and said display screen, said controller circuitry determining which portion of said document to display on said display screen, responsive to said plurality of input selector switches;

said controller circuitry refreshing said display screen directly from said non-volatile memory, said controller circuitry further comprising;

a microcontroller cell;

an object register for storing a plurality of hypertext object states; and

a switch selection register for storing a current switch status.

12. An information retrieval device for displaying a document, comprising:

non-volatile memory for storing said document;

a display for displaying said document; and

means for refreshing said display directly from said non-volatile memory.

13. The information retrieval device of claim 12, wherein said non-volatile memory stores said hypertext document as initial state data, a state machine, and a plurality of document portions.

14. A method for generating and displaying a document on a display screen, comprising the steps of:

reading initial state data from non-volatile memory;

determining a first display state from said initial state data;

displaying on said display screen a first portion of said document from a first document portion of said non-volatile memory corresponding to said first display state; and

refreshing said display screen directly from said non-volatile memory.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

monitoring a plurality of input selector switches;

responsive to said monitoring step, detecting that an input selector switch has been enabled;

responsive to said detecting step, changing from said first display state to a second display state; and

responsive to said changing step, displaying on said display screen a second portion of said document from a second document portion of said non-volatile memory corresponding to said second display state.

16. A non-volatile memory for storing a document used by an information retrieval device, said non-volatile memory pluggable into said information retrieval device, said memory comprising:

a first section addressable by said information retrieval device, said first section comprising initial state data;

a second section addressable by said information retrieval device, said second section comprising said state machine;

a third section addressable by said information retrieval device, said third section comprising a first portion of said document;

a fourth section addressable by said information retrieval device, said fourth section comprising a second portion of said document;

said first section also comprising a pointer to said state machine;

said first section also comprising a pointer to said first portion of said document;

said state machine comprising a pointer to said first portion of said document for display by said information retrieval device when in a first display state; and

said state machine also comprising a pointer to said second portion of said document for display by said information retrieval device when in a second display state.

17. A method of storing a document on a non-volatile memory used by an information retrieval device, said non-volatile memory pluggable into said information retrieval device, said method comprising:

generating and storing a first section addressable by said information retrieval device, said first section comprising initial state data;

generating and storing a second section addressable by said information retrieval device, said second section comprising said state machine;

generating and storing a third section addressable by said information retrieval device, said third section comprising a first portion of said document;

generating and storing a fourth section addressable by said information retrieval device, said fourth section comprising a second portion of said document;

generating and storing in said first section a pointer to said state machine;

generating and storing in said first section a pointer to said first portion of said document;

generating and storing in said state machine a pointer to said first portion of said document for display by said information retrieval device when in a first display state; and

generating and storing in said state machine a pointer to said second portion of said document for display by said information retrieval device when in a second display state.