Electronic document readers and reading devices

• US 8,207,947 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2008
• Issued: 06/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: FlexEnable Limited (Plastic Logic JSC)
• Original Assignee: Plastic Logic Limited (Plastic Logic JSC)
• Inventors: Marsh, Matthew, Botez, Timon, Hodgkinson, Nicole, Tonge, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Lao, Lun-Yi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Suteerawongsa, Jarurat
• Application Number:
  US12/027,160
• Publication Number:
  US 20080297470A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,602 Days
• Field of Search: 345/159, 345173-174, 345/169, 345/156, 345/107, 345/901, 347/139, 705/26, 455/556.2, 455/566, 178 1803- 1807, 361/679.09, 361/679.26, 361/679.55, 361/679.56
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1637 Details related to the display arrangement, including those related to the mounting of the display in the housing
• 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 15/02 manually operated with input through keyboard and computation using a built-in program, e.g. pocket calculators
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 345/901 Electronic book with display

Abstract

This invention generally relates to an electronic document readers and reading devices, that is to a device that presents a document to a user on a display to enable the user to read the document. An electronic document reading device configured for one hand operation, the device including: a housing; an electroactive display mounted in said housing; control electronics coupled to said display; at least one user control coupled to said control electronics for operating said device; and a rechargeable power source configured to power said control electronics and said display; and wherein said housing has a width to fit at least on the palm of an adult human hand, said width being less than approximately 120 mm, and wherein said housing has a length of at least twice said width, and wherein said control electronics and said rechargeable power source are disposed within said housing so as to provide a center of mass of said device which, when a lower part of said device is held in a said palm, is located at a distance of no greater than 50% of said length from a lower end of said device.

Claims

1. An electronic document reading device configured for one hand operation, the device comprising:

a housing;

an electrophoretic display mounted in said housing above a pixel driver circuit, wherein said pixel driver circuit comprises organic pixel driver circuitry on a flexible plastic substrate;

control electronics coupled to said display for controlling displaying of an electronic document;

at least one user control coupled to said control electronics for operating said device wherein said control is operable using the same hand of a user that is used to hold said electronic document reading device while carrying said device in a palm of the hand and reading said electronic document; and

a rechargeable power source configured to power said control electronics and said display; and

wherein said housing has a width to fit at least on the palm of an adult human hand, said width being less than 90 mm,

wherein said display comprises no less than 80% of an area of said front surface of said device,

wherein said housing has a length of at least twice said width,

wherein a ratio of a length of a display area of said electrophoretic display to a width of said display area of said electrophoretic display is at least 2.2;

1, and wherein said device has a thickness of substantially equal to or less than 5 mm, and

wherein said control electronics and said rechargeable power source are disposed within said housing so as to provide a center of mass of said device which, when a lower part of said device is held in a said palm, is located at a distance of no greater than 33% of said length from a lower end of said device and located substantially adjacent to said user control.

2. An electronic document reading device according to claim 1, wherein said user control comprises a joystick configured for thumb-control by a thumb of a hand holding said device when said lower part of said device is held in said palm.

3. An electronic document reading device according to claim 1, wherein said user control further comprises at least one push-button adjacent both said joystick and said electrophoretic display and wherein said control electronics is configured to display a soft function for said push-button on a portion of said display adjacent said push-button.

4. An electronic document reading device according to claim 1, further comprising an inductively coupled charging system for said rechargeable power source, and wherein said device lacks any external wired connectors.

5. An electronic document reading device according to claim 1, wherein a ratio of a length of a display area of said electrophoretic display to a width of said display area of said electrophoretic display is in the range of 2.2:

1 to 2.9;

1.

6. An electronic document reading device according to claim 5, wherein said ratio is approximately 2.45:

1.