Memo pad

• US 8,970,540 B1
• Filed: 09/24/2010
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hebenstreit, Joseph J., Babu, Amish Rajesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Lao, Lun-Yi
• Assistant Examiner(s): McLoone, Peter D
• Application Number:
  US12/890,318
• Time in Patent Office: 1,621 Days
• Field of Search: 345/174, 345/173, 345/179, 345/104, 178/18.01, 178/18.03, 178/19.01, 178/18.05, 178/18.06
• US Class Current: 345/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/0291 for reading, e.g. e-books constructional details of portable computers G06F1/1613
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes

Abstract

An electronic device has a marking surface overlaid on a touch sensor. Marks made upon the marking surface create pressure that is transferred through the thickness of the marking surface to the touch sensor. Thus, the signals detected by the touch sensor correspond to the marks made on the marking surface. The marking surface may include a thin material that displays marks such as a pressure-sensitive cholesteric liquid crystal display or a conventional sheet of paper. The touch sensor may comprise a sensor capable of detecting an amount of incident force such as an interpolating force-sensitive resistance touch sensor. The electronic device may also have hardware and/or software to analyze the marks detected by the touch sensor and to communicate with other electronic devices.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

one or more processors;

a communications interface coupled to the one or more processors;

a memory coupled to the one or more processors;

a pressure-sensitive display configured to display one or more marks at a location on the display responsive to a marking instrument contacting the surface of the display;

a force sensor located under the display, the force sensor configured to detect force transferred through the display by the marking instrument contacting the surface of the display when making the one or more marks; and

a messaging module stored in the memory and configured to;

interpret a first handwritten, non-text mark in association with a name of a recipient as a designation of a first electronic address for the recipient;

interpret a second handwritten, non-text mark in association with the name of the recipient as a designation of a second electronic address for the recipient; and

send a representation of the one or more marks as detected by the touch sensor to the first electronic address, the second electronic address, or both via the communications interface.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the electronic device comprises at least one of a dedicated electronic book reader device, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a whiteboard, or a computer peripheral.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising a power source to provide power to the display and the touch sensor.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the power source comprises at least one of a battery or a connection to an external power source.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the communications interface comprises at least one of an antenna or a wired communications connection.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the memory further comprises an optical character recognition module configured to convert handwritten text written on the surface of the display and detected by the touch sensor into machine-encoded text.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the memory further comprises an image recording module configured to store, in at least one of the memory or a remote storage device, the one or more marks detected by the touch sensor as an electronic image.

8. The device of claim 1, further comprising an annotation module stored in the memory and configured to cause the one or more marks generated on the surface of the display and detected by the force sensor to be stored as having an association with a portion of a content item that is contemporaneously displayed on the display while the one or more marks are generated.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the first electronic address comprises an email address and the second electronic address comprises a text message address.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the pressure-sensitive display comprises a liquid-crystal display.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the force sensor comprises an interpolating force-sensitive resistance touch sensor.

12. An electronic device comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory coupled to the one or more processors;

an active display configured to generate an image in a display region responsive to instructions from the one or more processors;

a marking surface comprising a marking region;

a cover, wherein the marking surface is located on a first inside panel of the cover and the active display is located on a second inside panel of the cover;

a touch sensor located under the marking surface, the touch sensor configured to detect force transferred through the marking region of the marking surface by a marking instrument generating a mark on the marking surface; and

an annotation module stored in the memory and configured to store the mark generated on the marking surface and detected by the touch sensor as having an association with a portion of a content item that is contemporaneously displayed on the active display while the mark is generated, wherein the annotation module is further configured to create the association between the mark and the portion of the content item in response to actuation of a user input device on the device.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the active display comprises a touch-screen display and the annotation module is further configured to store the mark generated on the marking surface in association with a sub-portion of the portion of the content item contemporaneously displayed on the active display, the sub-portion indicated at least in part by a location of a touch on the active display.

14. The device of claim 12, wherein the annotation module is further configured to display the mark on the active display or display a link that causes the mark to be displayed on the active display when the portion of the content item is subsequently displayed on the active display.

15. The device of claim 12, wherein the content item comprises a plurality of webpages and the portion of the content item comprises a one of the plurality of webpages.

16. The device of claim 12, wherein the electronic device comprises a dedicated electronic book reader.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the content item comprises an electronic book and the portion of the content item comprises a page of the electronic book.

18. The device of claim 12, wherein the active display comprises an electrophoretic display.

19. The device of claim 12, wherein the marking surface comprises a display configured to display a mark at a location on the display responsive to the marking instrument contacting the marking surface at the location.

20. The device of claim 12, wherein the touch sensor comprises an interpolating force-sensitive resistance touch sensor.

21. The device of claim 12, wherein the mark and the content item are stored in the memory.

22. The device of claim 12, further comprising a module stored in the memory and configured to display the mark together with the portion of the content item when the portion of the content item is rendered on the active display.

23. The device of claim 12, wherein the cover comprises a connection mechanism for physically affixing the cover to the device.

24. The device of claim 23, wherein the connection mechanism transfers data between the cover and at least one other portion of the device.

25. The device of claim 12, wherein the cover is detachable.

26. A computer-implemented method under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions comprising:

detecting, by a force-sensitive touch sensor positioned under a marking surface, a location and magnitude of force of a marking touch created by a marking instrument while making a mark on the marking surface;

detecting, by the force-sensitive touch sensor, a location and magnitude of force of an erasure touch created by an eraser removing a mark from the marking surface; and

differentiating between the marking touch and the erasure touch based at least in part on a size of a contact area detected by the force-sensitive touch sensor and a distribution of amounts of force applied across multiple locations of the contact area.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the force-sensitive touch sensor comprises an interpolating force-sensitive resistance touch sensor.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the marking surface comprises a pressure-sensitive cholesteric liquid crystal display.

29. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

responsive to detecting the marking touch, adding an image corresponding to the marking touch to an electronic image file; and

responsive to detecting the erasure touch, subtracting portions of the electronic image file at regions corresponding to the location of the erasure touch.

30. The method of claim 26, further comprising saving the electronic image file to a memory such that the electronic image is unaffected by further marking touches and/or erasure touches.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising saving a separate electronic image each time a marking touch or an erasure touch is detected.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein the marking surface comprises paper.

33. A method comprising:

assembling an electronic device having a touch sensor under one or more sheets of paper; and

causing the touch sensor to generate an electronic image corresponding to marks made on the one or more sheets of paper with a marking instrument, wherein the touch sensor generates the electronic image based at least in part upon a location of touch transferred through the one or more sheets of paper to the touch sensor; and

causing the electronic device to save the electronic image in response to detecting an opening of a clip holding the one or more sheets of paper against the touch sensor.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the touch sensor comprises an interpolating force-sensitive resistance touch sensor.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the electronic image is based at least in part upon an amount of incident force applied while making the marks.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the electronic device has a whiteboard coating covering the touch sensor, the whiteboard coating suitable for writing on with a whiteboard marker in the absence of the one or more sheets of paper.