ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT READING DEVICES

• US 20090109498A1
• Filed: 06/13/2008
• Published: 04/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FlexEnable Limited (Plastic Logic JSC)
• Original Assignee: Plastic Logic Limited (Plastic Logic JSC)
• Inventors: Barclay, Duncan, Nirmalananthan, Anusha, Reeves, William
• Granted Patent: US 8,711,395 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/474
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133388 with constructional differences between the display region and the peripheral region
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/147 using display panels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/0232 Special driving of display border areas
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/04 Changes in size, position or resolution of an image
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0407 Resolution change, inclusive of the use of different resolutions for different screen areas
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/14 Electronic books and readers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/393 Enlarging or reducing

Abstract

We describe a method of displaying one or more pages of a document on an electronic document reading device using a second, computerised electronic device, the method comprising: running a document display management program on said second electronic device; using said management program to invoke an application running on said second electronic device to open said document on said second electronic device, such that said opening of said document is hidden from said user; using an intermediary code module, in particular a printer driver for said application, coupled to said application to generate image data representing an image of a said page of said document to be displayed on said electronic document reading device; sending said image of said page to said electronic document reading device; and displaying said image of said page on said electronic document reading device.

Claims

1. A method of displaying one or more pages of a document on an electronic document reading device using a second, computerised electronic device, the method comprising:

opening said document on said second electronic device using an application running on said second electronic device;

using an intermediary code module coupled to said application to generate image data representing an image of a said page of said document to be displayed on said electronic document reading device;

sending said image of said page to said electronic document reading device; and

displaying said image of said page on said electronic document reading device.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising one or both of scaling and cropping said image of said page using image data from one or more other pages of said document.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said image sent to said electronic document reading device has a resolution corresponding to a resolution of a re-writeable display portion of said electronic document reading device, and wherein said displaying comprises displaying said image at substantially said resolution of said re-writeable display portion.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said intermediary code module comprises a printer driver for said application.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

running a document display management program on said second electronic device; and

using said management program to invoke said application to perform said opening of said document; and

wherein said opening of said document is hidden from said user.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5 further comprising using said management program to select a said application to use for said opening of said document, and selecting a method of said invoking dependent on said application selected.

7. A method as claimed in claim 5 wherein said management program runs as a background service responsive to detection of a change in a said document to automatically generate an image of at least a changed part of a document and to send said image of said changed part of said document to said electronic document reading device.

8. A carrier carrying processor control code to, when running, implement the steps of claim 1, apart from said step of displaying.

9. A method of displaying one or more pages of a document on an electronic document reading device using a second, computerised electronic device, the method comprising:

running a document display management program on said second electronic device;

using said management program to invoke opening of said document on said second electronic device using an application running on said second electronic device;

using a printer driver for said application to generate data representing said page of said document to be displayed on said electronic document reading device; and

sending said data representing said page to said electronic document reading device for display.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9 comprising using said management program to invoke said opening of said document such that said opening of said document is hidden from said user

11. A method as claimed in claim 9 wherein said management program runs as a background service responsive to detection of a change in a said document to automatically generate an image of at least a changed part of a document and to send said image of said changed part of said document to said electronic document reading device.

12. A method as claimed in claim 9, further comprising using said management program to select a said application to use for said opening of said document, and selecting a method of said invoking dependent on said application selected.

13. A method as claimed in claim 9 wherein said using of said management program to invoke said opening of said document is triggered by one or more of:

a synchronization function of said electronic document reading device or said second computerised electronic device, a document open command, a user command to print a document to the electronic document reading device, and a user dragging-and-dropping a document onto an icon representing the electronic document reading device.

14. A carrier carrying processor control code to, when running, implement the steps of claim 9.

15. A consumer electronics device including a processor and non-volatile memory and programmed to display one or more pages of a document on an electronic document reading device using a second, computerised electronic device by:

opening said document on said second electronic device using an application running on said second electronic device;

using an intermediary code module coupled to said application to generate image data representing an image of a said page of said document to be displayed on said electronic document reading device; and

sending said image of said page to said electronic document reading device for display on said electronic document reading device.

16. A consumer electronics device including a processor and non-volatile memory and programmed to display one or more pages of a document on an electronic document reading device using a second, computerised electronic device by:

running a document display management program on said second electronic device;

using said management program to invoke opening of said document on said second electronic device using an application running on said second electronic device;

using a printer driver for said application to generate data representing said page of said document to be displayed on said electronic document reading device; and

sending said data representing said page to said electronic document reading device for display.