MULTI-DISPLAY HANDHELD DEVICE AND SUPPORTING SYSTEM
Current approaches to paperless books use single screen laptop computers or electronic paper display (EPD)-based book readers. Laptop computers consume too much power and cannot be used for extended periods of time, such as an entire school day, without recharging its battery. EPD devices are limited in functionality due to their slow refresh rate and grey-scale only images. An embodiment of the present invention integrates bi-stable display technology and refresh display technology into a single device and manages the use of these technologies to achieve power savings while providing a rich set of display functionalities to support user interaction with content in a synergistic manner. The power savings functionality enables the device to have a battery operating life between charges of many hours of operation, such as eight hours or more, while the display functionality enables users to access, display, and interact with content in ways users have become accustomed and in ways not before possible.
This application is a continuation of, and claims priority to, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/660,466, filed on Feb. 26, 2010, and entitled “MULTI-DISPLAY HANDHELD DEVICE AND SUPPORTING SYSTEM,” which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 12/657,730, 12/657,732, 12/657,733, 12/657,793, 12/657,794, 12/657,797, and Ser. No. 12/657,798, all of which were filed on Jan. 26, 2010 and are continuations of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/586,632, filed on Sep. 24, 2009, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Nos. 61/233,473, filed on Aug. 12, 2009, 61/214,550, filed on Apr. 24, 2009, and entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSFERRING CONTENT BETWEEN DISPLAYS OF DIFFERENT TYPES,” and 61/194,887, filed on Oct. 1, 2008, and entitled, “DUAL SCREEN, MULTI-ORIENTATION COMPUTING DEVICE.” The entireties of these related applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONElectronic computing devices such as desktop computers provide users access to vast amounts of information. Such electronic computing devices allow users to create and modify content. Users of electronic devices access multimedia, such as video, audio, and rich content (e.g., color pictures), used for business, personal, or educational purposes.
Demand for access to and creation of content has grown in an ever increasing mobile society. In response, mobile computing devices, such as laptop personal computers (PCs), personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, notebook computers, tablet PCs, and other devices have created and configured to handle a wide variety of access to and creation of content. Many of these devices allow users to gain access to information, content, and multimedia from any location having wired or wireless access to a wide area network, such as the Internet.
As mobile device capabilities increase, power required to operate the devices has also increased. However, such devices have an amount of power depending on a battery capacity within the device in combination with functions provided by the device, such as display brightness, wireless access including voice calls and content uploads and downloads, and content viewing or creation. When power is drained, from the battery the battery needs to be re-charged or the device needs to run off a different power source, such as a wall power converter, also used to recharge the battery.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONMethods, systems, apparatuses, and computer readable mediums with program codes embodied thereon relate to displaying content to a user or enabling a user to manipulate or annotate the content. For ease of reading, the term “system” is used in various portions of the description and may represent some or all forms of embodiments and implementations of the present invention, such as systems, methods, apparatuses, devices, computer readable media, network nodes, and networks.
A system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a bi-stable display and a refresh display. The bi-stable display may be a grey-scale or color display that has pixels that change states in a bi-stable mode, meaning the pixels change states from one color to a different color, such as from black to white or white to black or red to green or green to red, at low power levels, such as consuming energy as a function of logic gate capacitance. It should be understood that the term “bi-stable” is a general term that may include future developed state-based displays, such as tri-stable displays (e.g., red, yellow, green) or quad stable displays (e.g., cyan, magenta, yellow, black). The bi-stable display generally has a low refresh rate (e.g., 1 second) but consumes extremely low power in a given state (e.g., microwatts, nanowatts, or femtowatts). The refresh display may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), plasma display panel (PDP), or light emitting diode (LED) display that requires continuous refreshing, which consumes power at milliwatt or multi-watt levels, but provides high rates, such as hundreds of hertz or kilohertz, making refresh displays suitable for video display (e.g., 30 frames/second) and network browsing (e.g., display of content-rich websites). It should be understood that the term “refresh display” is included in a category of non-bistable displays that have higher refresh rates than bi-stable displays. As used herein and unless otherwise specified, the term “display” refers to multiple components, including electronics and image generating components, used to render an image to be viewed by a user or may refer only to an external surface (i.e., screen) via which an electronically generated picture or image is formed.
A controller may be operationally coupled to the displays and configured to select the bi-stable display or the refresh display via which to render an image representing content as a function of the user interaction with at least one of the displays and criteria defined by operational characteristics of the displays.
The controller may include a bi-stable display controller and a refresh display controller, each controller being configured to determine whether user interaction with its respective display is within the operational characteristics of its respective display, and, if within, to render an image responsive to the user interaction thereby, and, if not within, to cause, notify, or request the other controller to render an image on its respective display responsive to the user interaction. Alternatively, the controller(s) may be further configured to render an image responsive to the user interaction via one of the displays that is more suited to render the image than the other display based on the comparison of the criteria of the display specific to the user interaction. The criteria may include at least one of the following criteria: power, refresh rate, color, image motion (e.g., video), speed, page refresh, resolution, content format, and media type.
In the case in which the controller includes a bi-stable display controller and a refresh display controller, the bi-stable controller may be configured to cause the refresh display controller to render an image via the refresh display based on the user interaction via the bi-stable display. Further, the refresh display controller may be configured to cause the bi-stable controller to render an image via the bi-stable display based on user interaction via the refresh display.
The bi-stable display controller may also be configured to pass messages to the refresh display controller via an operating system to cause the refresh display controller to render images via the refresh display. In addition, the refresh display controller may also be configured to pass messages to the bi-stable display controller via the operating system to cause the bi-stable display controller to render images via the bi-stable display.
The controllers may be configured to pass the messages to each other responsive to user interaction, and the messages may include pointer(s) to object(s) stored in a memory accessible to each controller. In this example embodiment, the controllers are configured to access the object(s) in the memory using the pointer(s) and to render at least a portion of the object(s) via the respective displays. Alternatively, the messages that the controllers are configured to pass to each other responsive to user interaction may include content to be rendered via the other controller's display. The controllers may be further configured to render at least a portion of the content via their respective displays.
The controller(s) may be further configured to receive an indication of a user's interaction with a representation of a respective image rendered via the bi-stable display or the refresh display. The controller(s) may further be configured to receive the user interaction via a human-to-machine interface other than through interaction with the representation of the respective image, such as via physical or virtual buttons that enable the user to respond to a query or enter information to cause a state change of an image or device.
The controller(s) may also be configured to render images in an orientation selectable manner via either or both displays, wherein orientation of the rendered images may be selected by the user or determined by an orientation of the display with respect to the viewing angle of the user.
The controller(s) may be configured to configure at least one of the displays with multiple virtual displays with different angular viewing orientations. The controller(s) may also be configured to render an image simultaneously on each of the virtual displays. The controller(s) may also be configured to accept user interaction simultaneously from each virtual display. Further the controller(s) may be configured to render the image on the multiple virtual displays in a synchronous manner or in an asynchronous manner.
An interface module may be operationally coupled to the controller(s) and configured to communicate with another system, such as a server or other system with bi-stable and refresh displays, optionally via wired, radio-frequency (RF) wireless, or optical signaling. In such an embodiment, the controller(s) may be further configurable to have access, via the interface module, limited to (i) data from a specified source, or (ii) functions specified by the other system.
The system may further comprise a master/slave module operationally coupled to the controller(s), in which case the master/slave module may be configured to act in a master mode or a slave mode. While acting in the master mode, the master/slave module may control a controller of another system that employs a master/slave module acting in a slave mode. While acting in a slave mode, the master/slave module may accept commands from a controller of another system that employs a master/slave module acting in a master mode. The master/slave module may further be configured to operate in a peer-to-peer network arrangement with a master/slave module of the other system.
In an embodiment including an interface module and master/slave module, the interface module may be configured to communicate with a central server and be operationally coupled to the controller(s) and master/slave module. In some embodiments, the master/slave module, acting in a master mode, is configured to control other system(s) via communications with the central server, and the master/slave module, acting in a slave mode is configured to accept commands from (a) the other system acting in a master mode responsive to communications via a central server or (b) the central server itself acting in a master mode.
Another example embodiment of the present invention includes a system to display content to a user.
This embodiment of the system includes a display having an upper edge and a lower edge. A controller may be operationally coupled to the display and configured to split the display into multiple virtual displays with different orientations relative to the lower edge. The controller may further be configured to render an image representing content simultaneously in multiple respective orientations via the multiple virtual displays. Further, the controller may enable interaction with the image by user(s) via the multiple virtual displays.
The multiple virtual displays may include a rightside-up virtual display and an upside-down virtual display relative to the lower edge. The display may further include a left edge and a right edge, and the controller may further be configured to reorient at least one of the virtual displays relative to the display in a manner in which at least one of the virtual displays is rightside-up or upside-down relative to the left edge or the right edge.
The controller may be further configured to render the image on multiple virtual displays in a synchronous manner or an asynchronous manner.
Another example embodiment of the present invention includes system to store annotations applied by a user, who may be an individual or other entity, to a primary source (e.g., contents of a book). Information may be associated with a representation of an annotation. The information may include many forms of data, such as a unique user device indicator associated with a device via which the annotation was applied relative to the primary source by a user, an identifier of the primary source to which annotation was applied, and a positional indicator to where the annotation was applied relative to the primary source. Further, the representation may be stored with the associated information on a storage device to store the annotation applied to the primary source in a manner enabling retrieval and later display of the annotation and its associated information with respect to the primary source substantially the same as authored by the user.
Annotations may be bundled by the user according to an identifier (ID) associated with the user or an ID associated with the device. The annotations may be advertised by the user to other users, and a representation of the annotations with its associated information may be transferred to a device of a user requesting the annotations.
A fee may be collected from the other users for the transferring of the representation with its associated information to their devices. At least a portion of the fee may be transferred as value, monetary or otherwise (e.g., credit toward service provider service plan fees), to the user who generated the annotations.
The annotations may include at least one of the following: handwriting, typed text, links, attachments, highlights, tags, sound, video, binary data, multimedia, reference, or content external from the primary source.
The representation of the annotation with its associated information may be transferred to another storage device. The representation may be managed with its associated information. A user may be able to manage which information is stored. Further, the user may be able to manage what happens with the representation once stored.
The annotations may include first and second annotations made by first and second users, respectively. The first and second users may create the first and second annotations in a collaborative working environment, such as in a classroom or tutorial session. Representations of the first and second annotations may include a collaborations-indication code. The collaborations-indication code may include indications of multiple users annotating the primary source at the same time via the device. The representation may also include an indication representing a viewing angle as to a direction with respect to the edge of the device from which the user made the annotation.
The annotations may also include a unique annotations ID. Users may be enabled to edit the annotations and create child annotations. The child annotations may also be assigned unique annotation IDs that may be encoded to incorporate an associated parent annotation ID. In addition, each edited annotation may be assigned a unique annotation version ID.
Yet another example embodiment of the present invention includes a system to transfer content between displays of different types. The system may comprise a bi-stable display controller and a refresh display controller. The bi-stable display controller may be (i) configured to accept user interaction with content rendered in a bi-stable display format on a bi-stable display and (ii) configured to cause the bi-stable display to render, in a bi-stable format on the bi-stable display selection of the content rendered on refresh display responsive to communications from the refresh display controller, where the selection represents user interaction with content via the refresh display. The refresh display controller may be (i) configured to accept user interaction with content rendered in a refresh display format on the refresh display and (ii) configured to cause the refresh display to render, in a refresh display format on the refresh display, a selection of the content rendered on the bi-stable display responsive to communications from the bi-stable display controller where the selection represents user interaction with content via the bi-stable display.
The bi-stable display controller and the refresh display controller may further be configured to accept user interaction with content rendered on the bi-stable display or the refresh display, respectively, by enabling the controllers to allow a user to define the selection of the content to be, for example, within an area of a geometric shape having a property specified by the user. The bi-stable display controller and the refresh display controller may also enable the user to define the property as a size or shape of the geometric shape by indication of at least two points used to define the geometric shape via interaction with a given display. The interaction with the given display may be via continuous motion of contact within the given display between the at least two points or via discrete contact with the given display at the at least two points.
The bi-stable display controller may enable the user to view the selection on the refresh display by signaling the refresh display controller to render the selection on the refresh display. Similarly, the refresh display may enable the user to view the selection on the bi-stable display by signaling the bi-stable display controller to render the selection on the bi-stable display.
The controllers may communicate selections to each other in a manner involving memory.
The displays may be touch-screen enabled displays, in which case the controllers are operationally coupled to the touch-screen enabled displays to accept the user interaction.
Another example embodiment according to the present invention includes an electronic computing device and corresponding method to capture sound. A chassis defining an opening may be configured to pass sound waves from an exterior of the chassis to an interior of the chassis. A diaphragm of a microphone, in an interior of the chassis in acoustical arrangement with the opening and in parallel arrangement with a structural member at a distance to form a pressure zone sensitive to sound waves, vibrates or is displaced in a controlled manner as a function of sound waves in the pressure zone. The distance is known to mitigate interference caused by a phase difference between a direct sound wave and a reflected sound wave each emanating from a common source and each entering the pressure zone via the opening; the reflected wave is substantially the same as the directed sound wave but reflected off a surface external from the chassis. The microphone may be configured to produce electrical signals representative of at least the direct and reflective sound waves based on their combined effect on the diaphragm.
The chassis may include a base and a vertical surface extending therefrom, in which case the chassis may define the opening through a vertical surface of chassis.
Alternatively, the chassis may define two openings through different surfaces to enable sound waves to be sensed by respective microphones, each including a diaphragm and structural member defining a pressure zone. The chassis may include a base and opposing vertical surface extending therefrom, with the different surfaces being opposing vertical surfaces of the chassis. In this dual microphone example embodiment, a noise reduction module may process first and second electrical signals produced by the microphones as a function of sound waves entering the respective pressure zones. The noise reduction module may further be configured to output a noise reduced signal by subtracting the first electrical signal from the second electrical signal.
It should be understood that more than two microphones may also be employed, and the noise reduction module may be configured to produce a noise reduced signal as a function of any combination of the signals.
The opening(s) may enable the sound waves to pass without attenuating the sound waves.
The chassis may include two displays coupled by a rotational hinge. The displays may include a bi-stable display and a refresh display.
Software may be configured to record sound waves via the microphone(s) and to enable a user to annotate content, presented on at least one of the displays, with recorded sound in a selectable manner. In addition, a state of the device may be associated with the recorded sound waves.
Another example embodiment of the present invention includes a computing device and corresponding method to display content to a user. Images may be rendered on a bi-stable display and on a refresh display of the computing device. A controller may control activity of the bi-stable display and the refresh display in a power conserving manner.
The computing device may include a battery, and the controller may include a power savings module configured to extend battery operating life between recharges compared to battery operation absent the power savings module. The power savings module may enable the battery operating life to be available for at least eight hours. Further, the power savings module may include a display monitoring module configured to detect use of the displays. The power savings module may further be configured to power down, dim backlighting, or hibernate the displays based on position or use of the displays. The power savings module may further comprise an internal/external peripheral monitoring module configured to detect use of internal/external peripheral devices, and the power savings module may power down or hibernate the internal/external peripheral devices based on use of the internal/external peripheral devices.
In addition, the power savings module may further include a wireless on/off module configured to turn on or turn off wireless capabilities for increased power savings on a continuous-until-changed basis or a temporary basis. Further, the wireless on/off module may be configured to monitor periodically for pending incoming/outgoing messages by automatically activating and deactivating wireless capabilities. The messages may include email, Short Message Service (SMS) text messages, or multi-media messaging service (MMS) text messages, for example.
A hinge mechanism may couple the bi-stable display and refresh display. The hinge mechanism may be configured for multidirectional movement of the displays relative to each other.
The hinge mechanism may allow at least a subset of the following: the displays to be in an orientation in which the displays are adjacent to each other to allow the images rendered on the displays to be simultaneously viewable; the displays to be in an orientation in which the displays substantially overlay each other and images rendered on the displays are not simultaneously viewable based on the orientation; the displays to be in an orientation in which the displays substantially overlay each other and images rendered on the displays are simultaneously viewable based on the orientation; and the displays to be in an orientation in which the displays substantially overlay each other and images rendered on only one of the displays are viewable based on the orientation.
A display device sensor may sense orientation of the displays relative to each other or relative to the hinge mechanism. The display device sensor may send multi-power mode sensor signals to a processor configured to control an operating state of at least one of the displays.
The computing device may include an attachable keyboard. The attachable keyboard may be configured to operate with the computing device via an electrical or wireless connection.
Another example embodiment of the present invention includes an apparatus and corresponding method to couple displays of a computing device mechanically. A first interface element may be configured to attach to a first display, and a second interface element may be configured to attach to a second display. A hinge may be coupled to the first and second interface elements and configured to enable the first and second interface elements to move multi-directionally relative to each other.
The hinge may further enable the first display to overlay a substantial portion of the second display. The hinge may be configured to move in at least one of the following ways: fold at an angle greater than ninety degrees in at least one dimension to enable a user to arrange the displays in a folded-open or a folded-closed orientation; and rotate greater than ninety degrees to enable a user to arrange the displays to be in a rotated-open or rotated-closed orientation.
The first and second interface elements may pivot multi-directionally. The hinge may conduct power and informational signals between the displays. In addition, the hinge may form a cavity configured to support a wiring harness. A sensor may sense an orientation of the hinge. Further, the sensor may sense orientations of the first and second interface elements.
Another example embodiment of the present invention includes a method of processing audio recordings. Information may be associated with a representation of an audio recording. The information may include a unique user device indicator associated with a device via which at least a portion of the audio recording was captured. The information may also include a collaboration-indication code identifying other devices active during a session in which the device captured the audio recording. The information may also include an identifier of a session during which the device captured at least a portion of the audio recording. The representation of the audio recording may be stored with its associated information on a storage device in a manner enabling retrieval and playback of the audio recording and identification of other devices active during the session.
Metrics of captured audio recordings may be calculated based on a set of criteria. An audio recording may be selected based on the metrics, and the audio recording may be stored at a central server or at at least one of the plurality of devices. The set of criteria may include at least one of the following example criteria: signal-to-noise ration (SNR), Sound Pressure Level (SPL), echo, signal power, audio range, and distortion.
Calculating metrics may include partitioning each audio recording into multiple sequential segments and calculating a metric for each segment in each audio recording. Further, selecting an audio recording based on the metrics may include comparing the metrics associated with each corresponding segment of each audio recording and selecting segments based on results of the comparing. The selected segments may be arranged to form a sequential composite audio recording. Voice quality enhancement may be applied to the sequential composite audio recording. Transition between segments associated with different audio recordings of the composite audio recording may be smoothed.
In yet another embodiment, a method for processing audio recording may include recording audio signals at a device. User interaction with the device during the recording of audio signals may be monitored. The audio recording may be associated with the user interaction in a manner enabling synchronized playback of the audio signals and the user interaction.
It should be understood that the foregoing example embodiments, or aspects thereof, may be combined in systems, devices, methods, etc. to form various combinations of same.
The foregoing will be apparent from the following more particular description of example embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating embodiments of the present invention.
A description of example embodiments of the invention follows.
In many instances throughout the following description, example embodiments of single or dual display devices, elements employed therein, systems, network servers, networks and corresponding methods are described in reference to a classroom environment and textbooks used by students in a class. However, the classroom environment is just a convenient example in which the example embodiments may be employed. Other example environments are mentioned interspersed hereinbelow. Environments in which the example embodiments may be employed are as diverse as environments in which computers and hand-held computing devices are employed.
The cost of paper, and consequently textbooks, is increasing; the number of textbooks carried by students is increasing. An embodiment of the present invention serves to replace the weight of textbooks and reduce cost of the textbooks by enabling students to access textbooks, work, and notes (e.g., digital annotations or self-contained notes files) in an electronic environment.
Current approaches to paperless textbooks and notebooks use single screen laptop computers. Laptop computers consume too much power and cannot be used without recharging or charging its battery for extended periods of time, such as an entire school day. Many classrooms are not equipped with sufficient power outlets for all student to plug-in their laptops. Additionally, laptop power cords may not have sufficient reach to have access to a power outlet, and, if each student requires access to a power outlet, the classroom becomes cluttered with laptop power cords.
To address the power issue, an electronic device that consumes less power than a laptop computer may be employed. An example of such a power-savings electronic device is an Electronic Paper Display (EPD). An EPD is a form of a bi-stable display, meaning it toggles display pixels using very little energy, and display pixels maintain their respective states using no or negligible energy. The states include black or white, or different states of spectral color, and the density of pixels enables the display pixels to be coordinated in groups to form black and white or grey-scale (or color) images. Pixel state stability allows for very low power consumption.
Current electronic book devices based on EPD technology have single display screens. EPD devices are limited in functionality due to their slow refresh rate and grey-scale only images. Because textbooks (and other forms of publications) use many colors and pictures, an electronic textbook replacement should be able to display colors in a manner in which refresh displays (e.g., light emitting diode (LED) displays) do. Further, computers and handheld devices allow for video, and users have come to expect electronic devices to provide that level of functionality, too, not to mention audio and other electronic device functionality that has become ubiquitous in the electronic and wireless device age.
An embodiment of the present invention integrates bi-stable display technology and refresh display technology into a single device and manages the use of these technologies to achieve power savings functionality while providing a rich set of display functionality in a synergistic manner. The power savings functionality enables the device to have a battery operating life between charges of many hours of operation, such as eight hours or more.
Thus, an embodiment of the present invention integrates today's two best technologies for reading text and displaying images—still or in motion—in a manner that is greater than the sum of its parts. This integration is well-suited for textbook replacement.
The teacher 160 may provide students 170 with classroom materials through data messages 130 via an electronic device 140 to student devices 105. The teacher's electronic device 140 may be a laptop computer, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), or device 105 that the students are using. The students 170 may receive classroom materials from the electronic device 140 via a wireless router 150, which may pass the data messages containing the classroom materials through a wireless connection 126a or through a physical link 126b. Classroom materials may include handouts, homework assignments, textbooks, articles, notes, annotations or any other material that the teacher 160 may deem as educational for the students 170.
In addition, students 170 may pass classroom materials to each other through device-to-device communications 120a, 120b. Further, students 170 may obtain access to content through a central server 110a or a remote content server 110b accessible through a network 115, such as a Wide Area Network (e.g., the Internet) or a local area network (LAN). The students 170 may send requests 125a for classroom content or other information to either the central server 110a or remote content server 110b. The central server 110a or remote content server 110b may respond with messages 125b acknowledge the request and containing the requested content or information relating to same. The content may include handouts, homework assignments, textbooks, articles, notes, annotations or any other material.
The device 105 enables display of images of any type in format(s) students have come to expect, yet, optionally or controlled, in a power efficient manner. The device 105 may be selectively configured in various and mechanical orientations by the students, and the visual display and access to information to be displayed may be controlled by the students 170 or overridden individually or collectively by the teacher 160. These and many other features are described in further detail below.
The bi-stable display 206a renders images in grey-scale similar to or the same as an electronic paper display (EPD). The bi-stable display 206a is designed to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike a conventional flat panel display, which uses a backlight to illuminate its pixels, an electronic paper display reflects light like ordinary paper and is capable of holding text and images indefinitely or effectively indefinitely without drawing electricity, while allowing the image to be changed. Therefore, the bi-stable display 206a is an extremely low power device that retains an image in a zero or very low power state.
Bi-stable displays are considered more comfortable to read than conventional displays. This is due to a stable image, which does not need to be refreshed constantly, wider viewing angle, and reflection of ambient light rather than emission of light. The bi-stable display 206a can be read in direct sunlight without images becoming difficult to see due to glare or overexposure from the sunlight. However, the bi-stable display 206a has a slow refresh rate, similar to other EPD devices, as compared to Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) technologies. This slow refresh rate discourages device manufacturers and software developers from implementing sophisticated interactive applications (e.g., using fast moving menus, mouse pointers, or scrolling) like those which are possible on handheld computers. Examples of functions negatively impacted by a slow refresh rate include zooming in or out of images, scrolling images, and replacing images with other images, where the images may be text or graphics, for example. An example in which the slow refresh rate is particularly noticeable is in navigating webpages or other on-line content-rich images provided by network servers.
Continuing to refer to
User interaction that may require a higher refresh rate than that which is supported by the bi-stable display 206a may be supported by the refresh display 206b. For example, an image 209 may be a video, activated by a mechanical button 240d or virtual button 241, that is better displayed at a high refresh rate, and the video is, therefore, displayed on the refresh display 206b rather than the bi-stable display 206a, albeit at a higher rate of power consumption than were it displayed on the bi-stable display 206a.
Selection of whether to render an image on the bi-stable display 206a or the refresh display 206b may be controlled by the controller(s) 212. The controller(s) 212 may select a display on which to render an image as a function of operational characteristics of the displays 206a, 206b and user interaction with the device, display(s), or image(s).
The memory 214 may store content to be rendered by either the bi-stable display 206a or refresh display 206b, operational characteristics of either display, and information relating to user interaction with either display. The controller(s) 212 may communicate with the memory 214 via messages 222. The communication may include a request from the controller(s) 212 to the memory 214 for information related to content to be rendered via either of the displays, operational characteristics of either display, and information related to user interaction with either of the displays. Upon receiving such a request, the memory 214 supplies the controller(s) 212 with the requested information, thereby enabling the controller(s) 212 to render an image on either display based on the received information from the memory 214.
The microphone(s) 230a-b may be mechanically coupled to either of the displays or hinge 207 and operationally coupled to the controller(s) 212. The microphone(s) 230a-b may be positioned on the device 205 in a manner enabling mitigation of interference caused by a phase difference between a direct sound wave and a reflected sound wave from a common source. In addition, the microphone(s) 230a-b may be positioned on the device 205 in a manner facilitating reduction of unwanted ambient sound detected by the microphone(s) 230a-b. In addition, the sound recorded by the microphone(s) 230a-b may be related to the image(s) 208 or 209, and stored and retrieved with relation thereto, using memory 214, by the controller(s) 212.
Content may be added to the content database 341 via a network, such as the Internet, or from local storage e.g., Secure Digital (SD) card or browser application 330. Content may be stored in internal or external storage (e.g., a plug-in (SD card)). Alternatively, the content database 341 may reside in internal flash memory. The content database 341 may be managed by a content provider 340. The content provider 340 in some embodiments allows access to the content using content Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). For example, books may be added to the database indirectly by first passing through a reader application 335 by way of a reader service 335. This may be done in order to extract a common set of information about the book, such as author and title or for other traditional or non-traditional reason.
A reader/journal application 336 decode downloaded raw book content, allowing conversion and rendering of document formats, such as documents in a format selected from a group consisting of: mobi, epub, html, txt, pdf, docbook, cnxml, and esi-edb. For example, books may be converted from one of the foregoing formats into a common format using a decoding plug-in appropriate for the book format type. In addition, the reader/journal application 336 may allow free-form data entry at the device 305 using a keyboard or stylus via a touch screen element of a display. The application 336 may display using a number of display layers.
Display layers may include background layer which can include a bit-mapped image. For example, the background layer may be a bit-map representation of notebook paper or a pdf image converted to a bit-map. Text or graphics may be overlaid over the background. This methodology allows, for example, annotation of pdf/ppt files and also allows for free-form note taking, journaling and scribbling. The layers may be represented in a package representation including the bit-map images and xml-based drawing instructions. It should be understood that other existing and later developed format may also be supported.
A library browser 345 allows database content to be selected for viewing. The library browser 345 supports viewing of content by types, such as books, audio, and video. Depending on the content type, the library browser 345 invokes an application/activity to display the content on either the bi-stable display or refresh display. For example, the library browser 345 can be used to invoke the reader/journal application 336 via a reader service 335. For other data types, the library browser 345 invokes an appropriate view/application 350a-n. In addition to browsing by type, the library browser 345 allows flexible views of the database content based on tags or labels that can be applied to the content stored in a content database 341. Tags/labels can be derived from the downloaded content (when added to the content database 341) or can be added by the user.
Viewers/applications 350a-n allow the system to access content within the content database 341 and render images based on user intent and criteria of either the bi-stable display or refresh display. Criteria may be defined by the operational characteristics of the displays. For example, criteria may include power, refresh rate, color, motion of images (e.g., video), speed, page refresh, resolution, content format, and media type. The applications/viewers 350a-n may include a book browser, image viewer, video player, or audio player. The book browser allows the user to navigate quickly through content, by providing a hierarchical view of a book's content. For example, the book browser may allow the highlighting of a particular section of a book and viewing of figures/notes that are associated with that section. The image viewer can be configured to allow images to be rendered on either the bi-stable display in a bi-stable format (e.g., grey-scale) or the refresh display in a refresh display format (e.g., color). The video viewer and audio viewer allow basic or advanced multimedia operations. Each viewer/application 350a-n can be configured to allow at least two methods of invocation. One example method of invocation may use an absolute path to a record in the content database, and the other may use the URI of a record in the content database. Another viewer/application 350a-n may include a sound recorder. The sound recorder application may use the built-in microphone(s) of the system 300. Recordings may be stored as sound files that can be accessed like any other audio content for playback.
In some embodiments, the reader service 335 provides an interface between the bi-stable display 306a and refresh display 306b applications. Information may be exchanged between applications using a data exchange protocol, such as custom or generic interchange protocol. The reader service 335 may implement the use of a virtual clipboard 360 to allow data to be passed between viewers/applications 350a-n.
The devices 405a, 405b include memory (not shown) from which display controller(s) can access data representations of the content to display on the bi-stable and refresh displays 406a, 406b and store or retrieve the annotations. The memory may be dual access memory to enable the controller(s) to access the data and update the images simultaneously on both displays 406a and 406b.
Student independence state 511 as used herein refers to a student's ability to use a device to access another device or server for content. In the student independence state 511, a central server or instructor's device may be used by the instructor to issue a corresponding command wirelessly to the device(s) to enable the device(s) to access local or remote servers for data representative of content. Optionally, the instructor or other person(s), such as a parent or school administrator, may place certain restrictions on access to servers by the device(s), but, as used herein, the student independence state 511 covers a restricted version thereof. Device operation in the student independence state is further described below in reference to
Tutorial session state 512 as used herein refers to a student's restricted ability to use a device for activities other than in conjunction with an instructor's guidance through a document or other lesson content. Restriction may be minimal or complete, but, generally a student's device is controlled in some manner to force the student to follow along with a lesson. In the tutorial session state 512, a central server, instructor device, or student device may be used to issue a corresponding command wirelessly to other device(s), to enable the other device(s) to track instructor or student tutorial session, by rendering images on the other device(s) that are rendered on the instructor or student device conducting the tutorial session. The command may enable or disable access to local or remote servers by the device(s). Tutorial sessions may include, for example, classroom instructions, study groups, or online classes/seminars. Device operation in the tutorial session state 512 is further described below in reference to
Examination state 513 as used herein refers to a student's restricted ability to use a device to access content, stored thereon or remotely accessible, while taking an examination. Restriction may be minimal or complete, but, generally a student's device is controlled in some manner while taking the examination thereon or external therefrom. In the examination state 513, a central server or instructor's device may be used by the instructor to issue a corresponding command wirelessly to the device(s), to enable the device(s) to access an examination via a local or remote server and, contemporaneously, disable the device(s) from having access to remote and/or local servers for other content or memory locations within the device(s). Device operations in the examination state 513 is further described below in reference to
It should be understood that the classroom setting and corresponding device states 511, 512, 513 are merely examples of both environment and states. Other device states for a classroom environment may be provided, and other environments with other device states are also within the scope of the present invention. Further, embodiments of the present invention enable users or administrators to customize device states for their typical or unique environments.
Now that an overview of an example user environment, embodiments and aspects of the device, and network configurations and operations have been presented in reference to
In operation of this example embodiment, each controller 612a, 612b is configured to download or upload content and annotations. Each controller is further configured to determine whether user interaction with its respective display 606a, 606b is within the operational characteristics of its respective display, and, if within, the controllers 612a, 612b are still further configured to render an image responsive to the user interaction via its respective display 606a, 606b. If user interaction is not within the operational characteristics of the controller's respective display, the controller causes, notifies, or requests the other controller, via messages 622a or 622b to render an image via its respective display responsive to the user interaction.
For purposes of illustration, “user interaction” with respect to user interaction with a display 606a, 606b means any logical or physical interaction the user performs with respect to the display, its operating state, or a state of an image or other human or animal-perceptible indication capable of being made by either display. For example, a logical or physical interaction with respect to a display may include changing a state of a soft switch (e.g., graphical button on a display screen) or hard switch (e.g., mechanical button on either side of a display screen). A logical or physical interaction with respect to an operating state of a display may include selection of a low or normal power state of the refresh display (e.g., low or high brightness) or slow or fast update rate of the bi-stable display.
A logical or physical interaction with respect to an image may include selection of a user resource locator (URL) within text of a book or periodical on the bi-stable display to access a webpage or data corresponding to the URL; request to present a color version of an image, represented in a bi-stable display format on the bi-stable display, on the refresh display; request to view a video referenced in a book; or request to search a term of a book via a network. In each of these examples, action(s) associated with regard the logical or physical interaction are typically better executed by the refresh display rather than the bi-stable display due to the refresh display's higher update rate, even though the action requires more energy than if performed by the bi-stable display. Similarly, user interaction with the refresh display, such as downloading and viewing content of an electronic book or periodical (e.g., newspaper) or other static publication, may be more suitably performed by the bi-stable display for battery energy conservation reasons.
In any of the foregoing cases, the bi-stable and refresh display controllers communicate with each other to coordinate a response to the request. For example, in the case of a user's selection of a URL, the bi-stable display controller 612a may determine that loading and presenting a webpage is outside the operating characteristics of the bi-stable display and, in turn, send messages 622b with instructions or a request to the refresh display controller 612b to access, load and display the corresponding website. Example reasons the webpage may be outside the operating characteristics of the bi-stable display 606a include lack of color or slow (e.g., 1 second) update rate on the part of the bi-stable display 606a.
Continuing to refer to
Alternatively, if the bi-stable display controller 612a determines that the user interaction with the bi-stable display 606a is not within operational characteristics of the bi-stable display 606a (e.g., color required), the bi-stable display controller 612a notifies the refresh display controller 612b via an instruction/request message 622b to render an image 630 via the refresh display 606b. Similarly, if the refresh display controller 612b determines that the user interaction is not within the operational characteristics of the refresh display 606b (e.g., low energy display required, allowable, or preferred), then the refresh display controller 612b notifies or requests, via messages 622b, the bi-stable display controller 612a to render an image via the bi-stable display 606a. In notifying the refresh display controller 612b to render an image, the bi-stable display controller 612a may pass a message 622a to the refresh display controller 612b, in which the message may include a pointer to an object stored in memory (not shown) or the content to be rendered. The instructions and request 622b, as well as content or pointer 622a, may be passed logically via an operating system 620. Because both displays 606a, 606b may download the same content and annotations and share current states of the content and annotations via messages 622a or 622b, the messages 622a or 622b, used to cause the “other” display 606a, 606b to render an image, can refer to the content or annotations in a number of ways, such as by memory location, content relative information, or other way(s) known in the art.
Further, when monitoring user interaction with the bi-stable display 606a, the bi-stable display controller 612a may further or alternatively be able to determine whether the user interaction results in an image that, if within operational characteristics of the bi-stable display 606a, is better suited to be rendered on the refresh display 606b. If better suited to be rendered on the refresh display 606b, the bi-stable display controller 612a sends an instruction/request 622b to the refresh display controller 612b to render an image via the refresh display 606b. Similarly, if the refresh display controller 612b is able to determine whether user interaction with the refresh display 606b results in an image that is better suited to be rendered via bi-stable display 606a, then the refresh display controller 612b sends a message 622a with content of pointers (or other information) to cause the bi-stable display controller 606a to render the image on the bi-stable display 605a. The determination of which display on which to render an image may be based on a comparison of the operational characteristics of the displays specific to the user interaction. Criteria of operational characteristics may include power, refresh rate, color, motion, speed, page refresh, resolution, content format, and media type.
A user of the bi-stable display 606a may require the use of a display device having a refresh rate suitable for rendering rich content. The user may then initialize communications between the bi-stable display 606a and handset 655, having a refresh display 606b suitable for rendering the desired rich content, via local inter-display messages 622a, or remote access inter-display messages 622b. Once a communication session is initialized, the bi-stable display 606a and handset 655 may apply the same inter-device methodologies described in reference to
Each controller 712a, 712b controls rendering via its respective display or causes the other controller to render the image via its display in a manner described in reference to
In addition, the device 705a may interact with the server 710. The device 705a may request content from the server 710 via a request 725a and, in response, receive content 725b from the server 710. Similarly, the device 705a may interact with another device 705b. Messaging data 720a, 720b may be exchanged between the two devices. The devices 705a, 705b may interact for several reasons, one of which being a tutorial session, where one device is acting in a master mode and another device is acting in a slave mode. The master/slave module 750 controls such operations in this example embodiment. For example, the device 705a, while acting in a master mode, controls rendering on the other device 705b. Alternatively, the device 705a, while acting in a slave mode, accepts commands from the other device 705b to control rendering on its displays. More details about master and slave modes are presented below at least in reference to
For example, if the device 900 receives several books having different raw content format, a book model 930, using decoding plug-ins corresponding to the book format type, converts the raw content to a format compatible with the device 900 or display 906. The book model 930 may utilize a small set of simple data structures in order to represent the book data. At the lowest level are entries. Entries contain actual text content, image pointers, attribute data (e.g., bold, italic, etc.) or control information (e.g., skip a line, end page, etc.). Entries may be grouped into paragraphs. Sections provide for document structure. Sections may include other sections or may contain paragraphs. Therefore, from top-down, the book model may be as simply as a hierarchy of sections, where each lead section includes lists of paragraphs, and each paragraph contains a list of one or more entries. This format is well-suited for storage and retrieval from a database. Storage of book content and database form allows for easy, efficient retrieval of subsets of book content, for efficient search for a wide variety of indexing optimization. The book modes 930 may also allow for easy association of note data (e.g., text/audio/graphical/hyperlink). Model settings 935 may be employed to provide customized or default display formatting. The display engine 912 renders content via the display 906. In operation, the display engine 912 receives information via the book model 930, model settings 935, and images 908 in order to render content via the display 906. It should be understood that portions or all of the elements other than the display 906 may be in the device 900 or external from the device 900. In some embodiments, other elements, such as a display driver (not shown), interface (not shown), or other elements configured to carry out portions of processing raw, party processed, or fully processed data to be rendered may also or alternatively be employed by the device 900 depending on how much processing is performed in the device 900 and how much is performed in, for example, a network made prior to reaching the device 900. An example reason for having some or all processing external from the device 900 is to save on processing power, which, in turn, extends battery operating life between recharges.
In this example embodiment, the bi-stable system 1107a and refresh system 1107b utilize two separate graphics stacks. The bi-stable display 1106a may use a graphic stack that includes GTK+, which is an example of a cross-platform widget tool kit for creating graphical user interfaces and a direct frame buffer space (direct FB space), which is a software library operating system that provides hardware graphics acceleration, input device handling and abstraction, and integrated windowing system with support for translucent windows and multiple display layers. The refresh display 1106b utilizes the refresh system 1107b, which includes a graphics stack that may be an android/open GL space graphic stack.
In operation, the device 1105 may accept user interaction via the bi-stable display 1106a or the refresh display 1106b through a touch input screen 1146 or a keyboard 1135. If user interaction includes interaction via the touch input screen 1146 overlayed or incorporated into one or both of the displays 1106a, 1106b, a touch/stylus driver 1170b determines whether the user is implementing the use of a stylus touch input or a human-to-machine touch interface. The touch/stylus driver 1170b then interprets the touch input 1146 and sends messages to an EVDEV module 1160 that determines whether the user interaction occurred via the bi-stable display 1106a or the refresh display 1106b, in an embodiment supporting input via both displays. If the input occurred via the bi-stable display 1106a, the EVDEV module 1160 sends messages to the bi-stable system 1107a to render an image. The bi-stable graphics stack comprising GTK+ 1109 and direct FB 1110 then processes in the input, passes the input messages to bi-stable driver 1170c, and, in turn, the bi-stable display 1106 renders the image.
Alternatively, user interaction may be via a keyboard 1135. In this case, a keyboard driver 1170c interprets the interaction and sends messages to the EVDEV module 1160. The EVDEV module 1160 determines whether interaction occurred via the refresh display 1106b or the bi-stable display 1106a. At this point, the EVDEV module 1160 sends interaction messages to the appropriate graphics stack of either the refresh system 1107b or the bi-stable system 1107a. In turn, rendering information is sent to either the bi-stable FB driver 1170a or the refresh FB driver 1170b. Each driver then sends corresponding rendering data to either (or both) the bi-stable display 1106a or the refresh display 1106b via which an image is rendered.
The device 1205 may accept input from a keyboard 1235 via a digital driver 1170a, Electronic System Interface (ESI) virtual keyboard driver 1270b, a General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) keys driver 1270c, USB keyboard driver 1270d, . . . , or touch screen driver 1270n. The digital driver 1270a, GPIO keys driver 1270c, USB keyboard driver 1270d and touch screen driver 1270n may be configured to accept direct physical input. The physical input may be from the keyboard 1235 or touch input 1246. The ESI virtual keyboard driver 1270b accepts virtual input because it does not directly receive physical input. Instead, input is passed from other drivers, such as the GPIO keys driver 1270c (which receives all of the key switch events from the device 1205 unit buttons (not shown) and from a USB Bluetooth® keyboard driver). Input events 1260a-n are passed to the corresponding display applications, which may be either the bi-stable display applications 1207a or the refresh display applications 1207b for rendering images representing content on the device 1205.
The method begins at 1301a, 1301b. Referring to the bi-stable display portion (left) of the example method 1300, at 1310a, the bi-stable display 1306a determines whether it has received user interaction 1304a or a message 1316b from the refresh display controller 1312b. Assuming that the bi-stable display controller 1312a has received user interaction 1304a, the method 1300a proceeds at 1315a, at which the bi-stable display controller 1312a determines whether the user interaction 1304a is within the operational characteristics or criteria 1313a of the bi-stable display 1306a. If the user interaction 1304a is within the operational characteristics or criteria 1313a of the bi-stable display 1306a, the bi-stable controller 1312a, at 1320a, renders an image via the bi-stable display 1306a. Subsequently, at 1321, the method 1300a begins again. In an event the user interaction 1304a is not within the operational characteristics or criteria 1304a of the bi-stable display 1306a, a message 1316a is sent to the refresh display controller 1312b to cause, notify, or request it to render an image via the refresh display 1306b. It should be understood that operations characteristics may be manufacturer-defined as a function of limits of the display, whereas criteria may be manufacturer-defined as a function of limits of the display within the content of the device. In the case of criteria, the determination 1315a may alternatively be a determination of whether the bi-stable display 1306a is better suited than the refresh display 1306b on which to render the image.
Referring now to the refresh display portion (right) of the example method 1300b at 1310b, the refresh display controller 1312b may receive the message from the bi-stable display controller 1312a. At 1315b, the refresh display controller 1312b determines whether the user interaction 1304a is within operational characteristics of the refresh display 1306b (or which display is better suited for rendering of the image), which is determined using the refresh display operational characteristics or criteria 1312b. Assuming the request to render an image via the refresh display is within the operational characteristics or criteria of the refresh display 1306b, at 1320b, the refresh controller 1312b renders the image via the refresh display 1306b. Then, at 1322, the method for the refresh display begins again.
Alternatively, at 1310b, the refresh display 1306b may receive user interaction 1304b. At this point, the refresh display controller 1312b determines whether the user interaction 1304b is within the operational characteristics or criteria 1313b of the refresh display. If the user interaction 1304b is not within its operational characteristics or criteria 1313b, the refresh display controller 1312b sends a message 1316b to cause, notify, or request the bi-stable display controller 1312a to render an image via the bi-stable display 1306a. At 1310a, the bi-stable display controller 1312a receives this message as mentioned above. However, if the user interaction 1305b is within the operational characteristics or criteria 1313b of the refresh display 1306b, then, at 1320b, the refresh display controller 1312b causes the refresh display 1306b to render the image.
For any of the viewing orientations, the user can effectively change which display 1406a, 1406b is on the left or right in the vertically held orientations (
It should be understood that changing images on the display(s) 1406a, 1406b via the orientation selection button 1410 or other mechanism may include rotation of rendered images, changes of states of hard or virtual buttons or other physical or virtual elements on the display, activation/deactivation microphone(s) and other possible state changes of the device 1405 or peripherals associated therewith.
In operation, the device 1605 allows two users to interact simultaneously with content rendered on the display(s) 1606a, 1606b of the device 1605. Each user 1615a, 1615b is able to interact with the same (or different) image rendered on each of the virtual displays. The rendering of images on the virtual displays facilitates peer study sessions or tutorial sessions. Further in the case of viewing the same images, the device 1605 (i.e., the controller(s)) (not shown) rendering the images on the display(s) 1606a, 1606b may cause the rendered images to scroll vertically or horizontally, zoom in or out, or otherwise change states in a synchronous manner as a function of interaction with a display 1606a, 1606b or image 1610a, 1610b rendered thereon.
In either of the foregoing examples of
In addition, the displays of the device may include multiple virtual displays meant for a single user. For example, a user may be reading a book on a first virtual display, using a viewing application, while simultaneously taking notes using a note taking application or journal application on a second virtual display on the same (physical) display.
In addition, the device 1705 also includes a left edge 1701c and right edge 1701d. The display 1706 may be related 1703 and split into virtual displays 1710a′, 1710b′ in which the orientations of the virtual displays are defined relative to the left edge or the right edge. For example, as illustrated, one of the virtual displays 1710a′ is right-side up with respect to the right edge, and the other virtual display 1710b′ is in orientation upside down with respect to the right edge. The change of orientation of the virtual displays may occur automatically due to a repositioning or reorientation of the display relative to a user, as illustrated, or due to a user request via a human-to-machine interface. Further, the virtual displays 1710a, 1710b, 1710a′, 1710b′ may render images in a synchronous or an asynchronous manner, meaning that multiple users may interact with the same image or different images of a primary source, respectively, optionally with interactions being sensed by the device 1705 and optionally, via the virtual displays simultaneously or individually controllable manner.
Further, interaction with a representation of the examination may be direct (e.g., an application enables the user to select an answer via checkbox or freeform text) or indirect (e.g., annotations that are recorded as independent images from the representation of the examination and later processed in some manner based on spatial positioning of the annotations to provide automated examination scoring or printing to allow for manual examination scoring). Additionally, codes may be applied to enable later determination of the examination taker and device on which the examination was taken. Encoding or encrypting in a standard or customized manner may be employed for transferring examination annotations or markings by the user to a server via wired or wireless connection.
To allow control of a device by another device or a server, the devices may be configured to support master and/or slave modes, where master mode enables a device to control device(s) acting in slave mode, and vice-versa.
In operation, a teacher using the teacher device 2105a can control classroom instructions once master/slave states of the devices have been coordinated via the server 2110. For example, the teacher device 2105a may be instructing students regarding math problems related to algebraic parabolas. By configuring a master/slave relationship between the devices, the teacher is able to ensure that students operating student devices 2105b-d are following along with the teacher device 2105a. The teacher using teacher device 2105a may request one of the students operating one of the student devices 2105b-d to take over instructions and provide examples of solving a math problem. For example, at time T=0, the master/slave states of the devices may be renegotiated via the server 2110, allowing the student device 2105b to temporarily act in a master mode, thereby controlling other student devices and the teacher device while the student presents the math problem; Once this instructional session has ended, the devices may renegotiate master/slave states, and, at time T=30, the teacher device 2105a may re-assume master mode and continue lecturing while controlling student devices 2105b-d.
The example TDM states and timings are presented for illustration purposes only. To implement TDM or other multiplexing methodology to enable master/slave coordination and messaging exchanges, one would follow standards associated with the respective methodology, as well as understood in the art. The importance of the illustrations is with respect to the master/slave modes between the devices and optionally server(s), not with respect to a chosen communication protocol used to implement the modes.
Once initialization has completed, at 2312a and 2312b, the left device 2305a negotiates with the right device 2305b for a master/slave mode. In doing so, the devices 2305a, 2305b send negotiation messages 2318 to each other. At 2320a and 2320b, the devices 2305a, 2305b determine whether they are acting in a master or slave mode. If the left device 2305a is acting in a master mode, at 2325a, the left device 2305a provides instructions to the right, now slave device 2305b, based on user interaction with the left, now master device 2305a. Then, at 2326a or 2326c, the method continues. Alternatively, if the left device 2305a is acting in a slave mode, the left, now slave device 2305a, at 2325b, awaits instructions from a master device, the left, now master device 2305b. Then, at 2326b and 2326d, the method continues.
Contemporaneously, the right device 2305b determines whether it is to be acting in a master or slave mode. At 2325c, the right device 2305b, if acting in a master mode, provides instructions to slave devices based on user interaction with the right, now master device 2305b. Alternatively, if the right device 2305b is acting in slave mode, at 2325d, the right, now slave device 2305b awaits instructions from a master device.
At 2355a, the left, master device 2305a monitors whether it has received a request from the right, slave device 2305b to renegotiate master/slave modes. If the left, master device 2305a does not receive such a request, at 2360a, the left, master device 2305a continues to act in a master mode. If, however, the left, master device 2305a does receive such a request, at 2365a, the user of the left, master device 2305a decides whether to allow such a renegotiation of master/slave modes. If the user of device 2305a does not wish to renegotiate, the left, master device 2305a responds with a rejection of the request. At 2365b, the right, slave device 2305b receives the rejection, and, at 2360b, the right, slave device 2305b continues to act in a slave mode. If, however, the user of the left, master device 2305a does wish to allow such a renegotiation, at 2370, the left, master device 2305a sends an acknowledgment 2371 for the renegotiation of master and slave modes.
At 2365b, the right, slave device 2305b determines that it has received the acknowledgment to renegotiate master/slave modes. Then, at 2375a and 2375b, the devices 2305a, 2305b renegotiate master/slave modes via renegotiation messages 2376. At 2380a, the left, master device 2305a switches to a slave mode, while, at 2380b the right, slave device 2305b switches to a master mode. The method, at 2326b, continues for the right, now master device 2305b and the method, at 2326a, continues for the left, now slave device at 2305a.
It should be understood that the methods 2300b, 2300c can be reversed in a case in which the left device 2305a is acting in a slave mode and the right device 2305b is acting in a master mode.
In this example, assume that the left device 2405a receives an initialization request 2402a from its user 2402a. At 2406a, the left device 2405a determines it has received an initialization request. Then, at 2412a, the left device 2405a begins initialization communications with the right device 2405b. The left device 2405a begins its initialization by sending an initialization request 2413 via intermediate server 2410. At 2406b, the intermediate server 2410 receives the request 2413 to pass to a specified device, being the right device 2405b. Then, at 2412b, the intermediate server 2410 passes the communications to the right device 2405b. At 2406c, the right device 2405b receives the initialization request from the left device 2405a. At 2412b, the right device 2405b initializes communications with the left device 2405a by sending an initialization acceptance 2414b via the intermediate server 2410. The intermediate server 2410, at 2406b, receives the initialization request. Then, at 2412b, the intermediate server 2410 passes the communications to the specified device, being the left device 2405a. The left device 2405a, at 2412a, receives the initialization communication. Once the left device 2405a receives the initialization communications, at 2420a, it negotiates with the right device 2405b for a master/slave mode. The left device 2405a then sends a negotiation communication 2421a via server 2410. The intermediate server 2410 passes the negotiation communications to the right device 2405b. At 2420b, right device 2405b responds with negotiation communications 2421b.
At 2430a-b, each device determines whether it is to be acting in a master or slave mode. The left device 2405a, if acting in a master mode, at 2435a, provides instructions to slave devices, such as right, now slave device 2405b, based on received user interaction. If, however, the left device 2405a is acting in a slave mode, at 2435b, the left, now slave device 2405a awaits instructions from a master device, such as the right, now master device 2405b.
Similarly, if the right device 2405b determines that it is acting in a master mode, at 2435a, the right, now master device 2405b provides instructions to slave devices, such as left, now slave device 2405a, based on received user interaction. If, however, the right device 2405b determines that it is acting in a slave mode, at 2425d, the right, now slave device 2405b awaits instructions from a master device, such as the left, now master device 2405a. The method for each device continues at 2436a-d.
Intermediate server 2410, at 2440b, awaits to receive the communications to pass to a specified device. If the intermediate server 2410 has not received communications, it continues to monitor for received communications. If the intermediate server 2410 does receive communications from the left, master device 2405a, at 2440b, the intermediate server 2410, at 2450, passes the commands to the specified device, being the right, slave 2405b.
At 2440c, the right, slave device 2405b awaits to receive commands from the left, master device 2405a via intermediate server 2410. If the right, slave device 2405b has not received commands, it continues to monitor for received commands via the intermediate server 2410. If the right, slave device 2405b does receive commands from the left, master device 2405a via intermediate server 2410, at 2442b, the right, slave device 2405b renders an image on the appropriate display of the right, slave device 2405b, according to the received commands from the left, master device 2405a. The method continues, for each device, at 2436a-f.
At 2455a, the left, master device 2405a monitors for received requests from a slave device, such as the right, slave device 2405b to renegotiate master and slave modes. If, at 2455a, the left, master device 2405a has not received such a request, at 2456a, the left, master device 2405a continues acting in a master mode and, at 2436a, the method continues. If, on the other hand, the left, master device 2405a does receive such a request from the right, slave device 2405b to renegotiate master and slave modes, at 2460b, the left, master device 2405a determines whether its user wishes allow a renegotiation of master and slave modes. If, at 2460b, the user of left, master device 2405a does not wish to renegotiate master and slave modes, the left, master device 2405a sends a rejection 2461b to the right, slave device 2405b via intermediate server 2410. At 2470, the right, slave device 2405b receives the rejection, and, at 2456b, the right, slave device 2405b continues acting in a slave mode. The method, at 2436c, continues.
However, if the user of the left, master device 2505a wishes to allow such a renegotiation, at 2465a, the left, master device 2405a sends an acknowledgment for the renegotiation of master and slave modes. The acknowledgment 2466a, is sent via intermediate server 2410. The right, slave device 2405b, at 2470, receives the acknowledgment. Upon determining that the renegotiation request has been acknowledged, at 2475, the right, slave device 2405b begins renegotiations with the left, master device 2405a for a switch of master/salve modes. The right, slave device 2405b then sends a renegotiation communication 2476a via intermediate server 2410. At 2480, the left, master device 2405a receives the renegotiation communication, and responds with renegotiation communications 2481a. At 2490a, the left, master device 2405a switches to a slave mode, and contemporaneously the right, slave device 2405b, at 2490b, switches to a master mode. The method for the left, now slave device 2405a continues at 2436a, while the method for the right, now master device 2405b continues at 2436a.
It should be understood that the methods 2400b, 2400c can be reversed in a case in which the left device 2405a is acting in a slave mode and the right device 2405b is acting in a master mode.
The server 2510 is in communication with devices 2505a and 2505b. The method begins for each device at 2501a-c. At 2506a, the server 2510 initializes communications with devices 2505a and 2505b by sending an initialization communication 2507a to the left device 2505a and sending an initialization communication 2507b to the right device 2505b. At 2508a, the left device 2505a monitors for received initialization requests. If the left device 2505a has not received an initialization request, the left device 2505a continues to monitor for such an initialization request. Similarly, at 2508b, device 2505b awaits for an initialization request. If the right device 2505b has not received a communication request, the right device 2505b continues to monitor for an initialization request.
On the other hand, if the left device 2505a receives an initialization communication 2507a, at 2520a, the left device 2505a negotiates with server 2510 for a server mode as master in a communication session. Similarly, the right device 2505b, at 2520b, upon receiving an initialization request from intermediate server 2510 at 2508b, negotiates with the server 2510 for the server mode as master in a communication session.
At 2512, the server 2510 negotiates with the left device 2505a and right device 2505b for a master mode in the communication session by sending a negotiation command 2513a to the left device 2505a, and a negotiation command 2513b to the right device 2505b. At 2525, the intermediate server now acting in a master mode provides instructions to the devices for rendering images. The server 2510 sends instruction 2526a to the left device 2505a. Similarly, server 2510 sends instruction 2526b to the right device 2505b.
At 2530a, device 2505a awaits instructions from the server 2510. Similarly, at 2530b, the right device 2505b awaits instructions from server. The method continues for the left device 2505a at 2531a, the method continues for server 2510 at 2531b, and the method continues for the right device 2505b at 2531c.
At 2545a, the left device 2505a monitors for received commands from server 2510. Upon receiving a command from the server 2510, at 2550a, the left device 2505a renders images according to the commands. Similarly, at 2545b, the right device 2505b monitors for received commands from server 2510. Upon receiving such commands, at 2550b, the right device 2505b renders images according to the commands. The method continues, at 2531a, for the left device 2505a, at 2531b, for server 2510, and, at 2531c, for the right device 2505b.
Operations of a device within a context of a system were described above in reference to
A user may annotate the primary source via either display 2606a or 2606b to include information used to supplement the content. For example, the user may include annotations 2630a-h that provide some additional information to be associated with the primary source for optional future reference. For example, the user may include hand-written annotations 2630a-b, textual annotations 2630c, link annotations 2630d, multi-media annotations such as video annotation 2630e, sound annotations 2630f, attachment annotations 2630g, or highlighted annotations 2630h. Other example annotations may include graphical annotations or formatting annotations.
The annotations may be associated with the primary source (or representation thereof) in a number of ways, including: graphical overlay in a separate layer; inline or embedded association in a form of in-line text, modified text, and so forth in a same graphical layer as the primary source; softbutton or icon located in the same or different layer as the primary source; and so forth, as understood in the art.
Further, the device indicator module 2640 may also associate a unique user indicator that identifies a person that was using the device. For example, the device may have a biometric sign-in (e.g., fingerprint reader, iris reader, or voice identifier) that allows the device indicator module 2640 to determine that a given person made a particular annotation based on the sign-in information. Similarly, a user may provide annotations using a stylus pen (not shown) having a unique code, recognizable by the device, that identifies the person who owns the pen. In this example, in the case of an RF-emitting stylus pen, a unique code that rides on or modulates the RF signal and identity of the person who owns the stylus pen may be registered with a central registry (not shown). The annotations uploaded to an annotations server may include or otherwise be associated with the code, and the annotations server may access the central registry and associate with the annotations an identity of the person associated with the unique code. In a similar or the same way, the device indicator module 2640 may associate a specific person with the annotation.
In addition, the annotations module 2640 may provide a primary source identifier using the primary source identifier module 2650 that identifies the primary source upon which the annotation is applied. The annotations module 2640 may use an annotations indicator 2655 that monitors where the annotation is applied relative to the primary source in conjunction with positional indicator 2660 that indicates a position of the primary source to which the annotation was applied. The annotations with associated information may be referred to herein as coded annotations.
As discussed above in reference to
These notes may be transferred to other users via a web store 2662, accessible via a standard or customized dashboard. The web store 2662 may be accessible by customers via an interface 2663. Using the web store 2662, other users may purchase or otherwise obtain notes, new books, or products 2665a.
The web store 2662 may be in communications with an enterprise resource platform 2675 via a communication link 2670. The enterprise resource platform 2675 may provide an accounting warehouse, employee information, vendor information, inventory management capabilities, and business intelligence capabilities.
For example, a user Sally may create a root parent annotation 2680a. Subsequently, n versions of the root parent annotation 2680a may be created. Each version of an annotation may include embedded data, such as metadata, that refers to its parent annotation. As illustrated, users Kim and Mark have created the most recent child annotations 2680h and 2680j (versions) of Sally's root parent annotation 2680a. Kim's annotation 2680h includes metadata that refers to its parent annotation, which is child annotation ‘G,’ created by Jim. Similarly, Mark's annotation 2680j includes metadata that refers to its parent annotation, which is child annotation ‘I,’ created by Nikhil. Each child annotation, as illustrated, refers to its parent annotation, leading back to the original, or root parent annotation ‘A,’ created by Sally.
In some circumstances, an annotation may be the child of more than one parent annotation. As illustrated, annotation ‘G,’ created by Jim, may be the child annotation of both annotation ‘ID,’ created by John, and annotation ‘E,’ created by Thomas. Jim may have originally edited one of the annotations, and then copied content from the other annotation. Upon copying, the copied text may contain embedded data, referencing its source.
The referencing of parent annotations allows an author of an annotation to maintain rights to versions of the author's annotation. Similarly, referencing of parent annotation(s) may prevent, be used to prevent, or be used to identify plagiarism of annotations.
In addition, a centralized annotation versions database (not shown) at an annotations server (not shown) may store all of the relationships among the annotations. In that way, deletion of a child annotation from a middle portion of a chain of annotations versions does not prevent future determination of an annotation's lineage all the way back to the root parent annotation. Moreover, although annotations are illustrated as having metadata indications of itself and its immediate predecessor annotation(s) (parent annotation(s)), the metadata may include any number of metadata indications, including metadata indications all the way back to the parent annotation. However, keeping the number of metadata indications to a small number allows for better scalability.
The original image buffer may be retained for use by a snapshot tool, which may be implemented via hardware, firmware, or hardware configured by software. If and when a user chooses to display a portion of the current image rendered on the bi-stable display 2706a on the refresh display 2706b, the user may invoke a snapshot tool (e.g., accessed by “clicking” on a camera icon (not shown)) on the bi-stable display 2706a. A single click on the camera icon may activate the snapshot tool. If the user selects the camera icon a second time, a controller (not shown) inside the device 2705 transfers the complete image 2708 rendered on the bi-stable display 2706a to be rendered via the refresh display 2706b. Alternatively, the user may select the camera icon one time and choose to select a portion of the image 2708 by dragging a stylus (e.g., cursor controlled by a computer mouse) over a region of the image 2708. The point at which the user first contacts the stylus to the display 2706a is considered the start point and, when the user raises the stylus from the display 2706a, that point is considered the end point. The two points may be translated by the controller to minimum and maximum values (or other values) in x and y directions to determine the region of the image buffer to transfer to the refresh display 2706b. After transfer is done by writing the relevant chosen portion of the image 2708 into a bitmap (BMP) formatted image file (not shown), joint photographic experts group (JPEG), tagged image file (TIF), portable network graphic (PNG), or any other file type, the location for a path to the image file is sent in a message (not shown) via an Internet Protocol (IP) socket (or other mechanism) to the refresh display 2706b. When the refresh display 2706b receives the message, the refresh display 2706b or associated controller raises an intent (i.e., software request instantiated for a particular purpose) to view a BMP image, which is handled by a refresh display viewer (not shown), which may be capable of scaling and panning the image 2709 on the refresh display 2706b, and, optionally, performing other graphical functions.
It should be understood that the term “swept” in reference to a selection of the portion of the image is a reference to placing a cursor at a first position of the image, dragging the cursor across the image, and lifting the cursor at a second position of the image, a technique well understood in the art of user interaction with a graphical user interface. Alternative techniques to sweeping may include pre-specifying a shape and size of a geometric shape, such as a square, circle, rectangle, hexagon, and so forth, and pre-specifying a position of user-selection point (e.g., center) relative to the geometric shape that the user specifies to define an image area to render from one display to the other.
The device 3005 utilizes content storage 3010, which stores content (e.g., books), as well as a microprocessor 3015 in order to transfer images from one display to another. The bi-stable display controller 3012a receives, from the microprocessor 3015, a display image 3016 in which the bi-stable display controller renders the image 3014 in a bi-stable display format via the bi-stable display 3006a. The bi-stable display 3006a may then receive user input 3016 via the touch screen 3000a with an image rendered via the bi-stable display 3006a.
The user may select a region of the image 3020, and the bi-stable display controller 3012a, in response, writes the portion of the image parameters 3025 to content storage 3010. Contemporaneously, the bi-stable display controller 3012a sends the image portion parameters 3030 to the refresh display controller 3012b. The refresh display controller 3012b then sends an intention message 3031 to a view manager 3012c, which may, optionally, be within the refresh display controller, signaling that the selection of the image is to be rendered via refresh display 2006b. In response, the view manager 3012c reads a bitmap (BMP) or other formatted file 3033 from the content storage 3010, which was written by the bi-stable display controller 3012a. Once the view manager 3012c reads the file, it displays the image with full content via the refresh display in a refresh display format.
It should be understood that the example block diagram may be modified or repeated to enable user selection of a portion of an image rendered on the refresh display for rendering on the bi-stable display. Other components, modules, communications, storage elements and formats that enable selective image rendering may also be employed.
Examples of devices, systems, networks and applications have been described above. In some environments, capturing and storing sound within the environment may be useful to users, such as in a classroom setting to enable a student to annotate classroom notes or a source reference with a sound recording. Standard directional microphone(s) may be employed or specially configured microphone(s) may be employed to reduce echo due to multipath of sound within the environment, such as an instructor's voice traveling directly to the microphone(s) and reflected by a wall to the microphone(s). Noise reduction techniques specific to a configuration of the microphone(s) may be employed, such as to reduce common mode noise at a pair of microphones, such as due to ventilation noise. The examples of microphone configurations, and optional noise reduction are described below in reference to
The noise reduction module 3220 is configured to process the electrical signals 3235a, 3235b and output a noise-reduced electrical signal 3230 by subtracting the first electrical 3235a signal from the second electrical signal 3235. Subtracting (or otherwise combining) the electrical signals 3235a, 3235b produces the output electrical signal 3230, in this case, with teacher and student sound waves (e.g., voices) with minimal fan noise 3230 because the fan sound waves 3206 are substantially the same as received by both microphones 3210a, 3210b (i.e., are observed as common mode noise), so subtracting (or otherwise combining) their counter buttons within two electrical signals 3235a significantly reduces the amount of fan sound waves 3206 represented in the output electrical signal 3230. In other words, the noise reduction module 3220 is configured for the electrical filtering of sound waves through the elimination of common mode sound waves. In operation, the noise reduction module is able to minimize ambient noise detected by microphones 3210a and 3210b and produce an output electrical signal 3230 principally representing desired sound.
Continuing to refer to
The metadata may be used for forensic purposes, such as identifying active participants during a session, such as a tutorial session, classroom instruction, or boardroom meeting. In addition, the metadata may be used for the collection and processing of statistical data. Active participants may be identified because their devices communicated with other devices or a central sewer during a session, such as in the form of communicating as a master or slave with the other devices or server or in some other way interacted with the other devices or server. It should be understood that a log of the devices active during the session may be kept by one or multiple devices or servers, and the data log may be accessed when determining the information or metadata to associate with the audio recording (or annotations or other media generated by the device(s) or a server or computer) for use in later forensic information retrieval.
Upon receiving the audio recording 3460, the metric calculation unit 3465 calculates metrics associated with the audio recordings. The metrics may include signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), Sound Pressure Level (SPL), echo, signal power, audio range, distortion, or other metrics associated with audio signals. The metrics may include multiple metrics (e.g., an array of metrics) for each audio recording 3460. The metric calculation unit 3465 then passes metrics 3467 calculated as a function of respective audio recordings 3460 to an audio selection unit 3470. Contemporaneously, the audio selection unit 3470 also receives the audio recordings 3460. The audio selection unit 3470 may associate the metrics 3467 received with the corresponding audio recording through an identification tag. After receiving the metrics 3467 and audio recordings 3460, the audio selection unit 3470 selects audio recording(s) based on the metrics. For example, the audio selection unit 3470 may select the audio recording having metric(s) that indicate it is best suited to be heard by the human ear.
Upon selecting the audio recording, the audio selection unit 3470, sends the selected audio recording 3475 to a server or device 3430. The selected audio recording 3475 may automatically replace all captured audio recordings on the devices active during the session, such that all users have the “best” audio recording. Alternatively, the selected audio recording 3475 may be archived at a server for optional download by devices at a later date.
The metadata may be used for forensic purposes, such as identifying active participants during a session, such as a tutorial session, classroom instruction, or boardroom meeting. In addition, the metadata may be used for the collection and processing of statistical data.
Following receipt of the audio recording 3460, the partitioning module 3480 aligns each recording according to a start or end indicator, or other form(s) of indicators that enable alignment, including content of the recordings. The alignment of each recording may alternatively be enabled by use of a master clock used to synchronize internal clocks of each device. Alternatively, the partitioning module 3480 may monitor each device's clock and align each recording based on knowledge of offsets among the clocks. The partitioning module 3480 then partitions each audio recording into multiple sequential segments. The partitioning module 3480 may partition each audio recording based on a predetermined time period (such as milliseconds or seconds) or determine a partitioning rate depending on the length of the audio recording. As the audio recordings are partitioned, the partitioning module 3480 may assign an identifier to each segment containing segment identification used to identify the segment and audio recording identification used to identify to which audio recording the segment belongs. The partitioning module 3480 then sends the segments to the metric calculation unit 3465.
Following receipt of the multiple sequential segments 3466 of the audio recordings 3460, the metric calculation unit 3465 calculates metrics associated with the segments. The metrics may include a subset or all of the following example metrics: signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), Sound Pressure Level (SPL), echo, signal power, audio range, and distortion. The metric calculation unit 3465 then passes metrics associated with each segment 3467 to an audio selection unit 3470. Following receipt of the metrics 3467 and audio recording segments 3466, the audio selection unit 3470 selects the segments having metric value(s) according to a given criterion or criteria, such as value(s) indicating a given segment is most optimal for playback for a user of a device that captured the audio recording. In one embodiment, the audio selection unit 3470 may select the segment of an audio recording having metric(s) that are best suited to be heard by the human ear. For example, an audio recording captured by a first device in close proximity to a professor who raises a question to a class may contain a segment of recording of the question that is clearer than an audio recording captured from a second device at a greater distance from the professor or that is positioned behind another student in the class. However, the second device may contain a segment of an audio recording of a student's response to the professor's questions that is clearer than the corresponding segment from the first device in close proximity to the professor.
Following selection of the audio recording segments, the audio selection unit 3470 arranges the selected segments sequentially in time to form a sequential composite audio recording 3485. Optionally, the audio selection unit 3470 may contain a voice quality enhancer used to enhance the voice quality of the composite audio recording 3485. Similarly, the audio selection unit 3470 may contain a smoothing unit 3472 used to smooth the transition between selected segments associated with different audio recordings. For example, smoothing may include fading volume of a first segment (e.g., recording of the professor's question) and raising volume of a second segment (e.g., recording of a student's answer), or applying any other form of manipulation of the composite recording, to remove or reduce detection of transition between segments by the human ear. It should be understood that different devices record at different levels, such as due to variations in audio capture gain between the devices, or have different levels of background noise, such as due to positioning beneath a ceiling or floor vent, so applying smoothing between transitions or applying other forms of filtering or voice quality enhancement can improve the overall quality of the sequential composite audio recording 3485.
The audio selection unit 3470 then sends the sequential composite audio recording 3485 to a server or device 3430. The selected audio recording 3475 may automatically replace all captured audio recordings during a session, such that all users have the “best” audio recording. Alternatively or in addition, the audio recording may be archived at a server for optional download by devices at a later date.
It should be understood that the same principles applied to audio recordings as illustrated in
The computing device 3505 further includes a processor 3530. In one example embodiment of the present invention, the processor 3530 is configured to control activity of the bi-stable display 3506a and the refresh display 3506b in a power conserving manner. The processor 3530 may further include a power savings module (not shown), which is executed by or associated with the processor 3530, and configured to extend battery operating life by intelligently controlling power levels of the display(s), such as, on, off, high power, low power. For example, the power savings module may be configured to enable the battery operating life of the computing device 3505 to be available for at least eight hours.
In a further embodiment, the power savings module employs a display-use module (not shown) that is configured to detect the use of the display devices. In a further embodiment, the power savings module is configured to power down, dim backlighting, or hibernate display devices based on orientation or use of the displays. In another embodiment, the power saving module may employ an internal/external peripheral use module (not shown) that is configured to detect the use of internal/external peripheral devices. In a further embodiment, the power savings module is configured to power down, or hibernate internal/external peripheral devices based on use of the internal/external peripheral devices, such as a wireless mouse or keyboard.
In another embodiment, the power savings module may further comprise a wireless on/off module (not shown) configured to turn on or turn off wireless capabilities. Further, the wireless on/off module may be configured to periodically monitor for pending incoming/outgoing messages and temporarily turn off wireless capabilities to receive or send the messages. The messages may include email, short messaging service (SMS) text messages, or multimedia messaging service (MMS) text messages, for example.
The sensor 3521 may be a camera input. In another embodiment, the sensor 3521 or a different sensor (not shown) may alternatively be configured to sense orientation of the display devices relative to each other or the hinge mechanism 3514. The sensor 3521 (or other sensor) may further be configured to send multi-power mode sensor signals to the processor 3530 configured to control an operating state of at least one of the display devices. It should be understood that a sensor 3521b positioned in the hinge mechanism 3514 may be useful in determining various orientations of the display devices 3506a and 3506b. The sensors may be as simple as a potentiometer or much more complex position or orientation sensors known in the art.
The battery and battery charging circuitry 3515 allows the device to operate without being connected to a power outlet and the battery to be recharged when drained. The battery 3515 may be recharged using a battery re-charger (not shown) connected to a power source (e.g., wall power outlet) via a female power input 3511. The battery re-charger may be configured to connect to: a two or three pronged wall outlet, vehicle power supply, other forms of power outlets, such as airplane power outlets. The battery and battery charging circuitry 3515 may also be configured to detect when the battery contains a full charge and, optionally, when the device 3505 is connected to an external power supply. In such a state, the battery and battery charging circuitry 3515 allows the device 3505 to be powered via the external power supply, thereby conserving battery power for use of the device 3505 while disconnected from the external power supply. It should be understood that a second, rechargeable or non-rechargeable, battery (not shown) may also be employed to maintain memory states, such as may be required for non-volatile RAM (NVRAM), while the device 3505 is turned off.
The hinge mechanism 3514 couples the bi-stable display 3506a and refresh display 3506b. The hinge mechanism 3514 may be configured for multidirectional movement of the displays relative to each other.
Internally, in this embodiment, the hinge 3630c includes power bus(es) 3650, return power bus(es) 3660, and data bus(es) 3655. The power and data buses enable power and date to be shred between the devices. The orientation sensors 3621a-b are configured to detect an orientation of a display with respect to the hinge 3630c. Further, the orientation sensors 3621a-b may communicate the orientation of the displays to a processor (not shown) via the data-bus(es) 3655 or its own bus (not shown). Other orientation sensors may be included in the hinge 3630c, interface elements 3630a, b, or the devices themselves to determine orientations of the devices relative to each other (e.g., folded-open, folded-closed, rotated-open, rotated-closed orientations) or to the hinge. The power bus(es) 3650 and return power bus(es) support configurations in which one or both displays include batteries or other energy sources to share energy or energy states. The data bus(es) 3655 support communication messages between the displays in any manner disclosed herein or otherwise known in the art.
It should be understood that various techniques for enabling power and signals to traverse between the devices via the hinge mechanism 3614 (or external therefrom) may be employed, where the techniques support user-selectable orientations. For example, hard or flex circuit board technology may be employed, slip ring technology may be employed, or wiring harnesses may be employed.
It should be understood that the methods, as illustrated by the flow diagrams or as described in reference to or understood with respect to the mechanical, electrical, schematic, or network diagrams, may be implemented in the form of hardware, firmware, or software. In the case of software, the software may be any language capable of performing the example embodiments disclosed herein or equivalent thereof or example embodiments understood in the art at the present time or later developed, or equivalents thereof, as understood from the teachings herein. Moreover, it should be understood that the software may be stored in any form of computer-readable medium, such as Random Access Memory (RAM), Read-only Memory (ROM), Compact-Disk ROM (CD-ROM), optical or magnetic medium, as so forth. The software may be stored thereon as sequences of instructions and loaded and executed by processor(s), including general purpose or application specific processor(s) capable of executing the software in manner(s) disclosed herein or understood from the disclosed embodiments or equivalents thereof.
While this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to example embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims.
Claims
1. A device, comprising:
- an interface component configured to receive a request to display content via a first display, of a bi-stable display of the device or a refresh display of the device, comprising a first operating specification; and
- a first controller associated with the first display, wherein the first controller is configured to, in response to a determination that a second operating specification of a second display, of the bi-stable display or the refresh display, satisfies a display criterion for the content and that the first operating specification does not satisfy the display criterion, send a message to a second controller associated with the second display, wherein the message instructs the second controller to render the content via the second display.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein the first controller is configured to determine that the second operating specification satisfies the display criterion and that the first operating specification does not satisfy the criterion based on a comparison of the second operating specification with the first operating specification.
3. The device of claim 1, wherein the content comprises first content, and the display device further comprises a master/slave module configured to send a message comprising another instruction to display second content on another device.
4. The device of claim 3, further comprising an interface module configured to send the other instruction to the other device via at least one of a wired connection, a radio-frequency signal, or an optical signal.
5. The device of claim 1, wherein the content comprises first content, and the device further comprises a master/slave module configured to display second content on at least one of the bi-stable display or the refresh display in response to receipt of another message from another device.
6. The device of claim 1, wherein the display criterion comprises at least one of a power criterion, a refresh rate criterion, a color criterion, an image motion criterion, a speed criterion, a page refresh criterion, a resolution criterion, a content format criterion, or a media type criterion.
7. The device of claim 1, wherein the message comprises a pointer to an object stored in a memory of the device, and wherein the content is determined based on the object.
8. The device of claim 1, wherein the second controller is further configured to render the content via the second display in multiple orientations, and the second controller selects a first orientation, of the multiple orientations, based on a second orientation of the device.
9. The device of claim 1, wherein the second controller is further configured generate at least two virtual displays via the second display, to render a first instance of the content on a first of the at least two virtual displays in a first orientation, and to render a second instance of the content on a second of the at least two virtual displays in a second orientation.
10. The device of claim 1, further comprising a pivoting hinge that connects the bi-stable display and the refresh display and is configured to convey the message from the first controller to the second controller.
11. The device of claim 1, further comprising a power savings module configured to determine an orientation of at least one of the bi-stable display or the refresh display and to control power consumption by the device based on the orientation.
12. The device of claim 11, further comprising a wireless on/off module configured to periodically monitor for receipt of a wireless message, and to at least one of turn off a wireless capability of the device or turn on the wireless capability based on the receipt of the wireless message.
13. A method, comprising:
- identifying, by a device comprising a processing device, a request to display content via a first display, of a bi-stable display or a refresh display, comprising a first operating specification;
- in response to the identifying, determining that a second operating specification of a second display, of the bi-stable display or the refresh display, satisfies a display criterion for the content and that the first operating specification does not satisfy the display criterion;
- in response to the determining, sending a message from a first processor associated with the first display to a second processor associated with the second display via an operating system, wherein the message instructs the second display to render the content; and
- rendering the content via the second display.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining comprises determining that the second operating specification satisfies the display criterion and that the first operating specification does not satisfy the display criterion based on a comparison of the second operating specification with the first operating specification.
15. The method of claim 13, further comprising initiating sending another message to another device, wherein the other message instructs the other device to render other content on a display of the other device.
16. The method of claim 13, wherein the initiating the sending comprises initiating the sending of the other message via at least one of a wired connection, a radio-frequency signal, or an optical signal.
17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:
- receiving another message from another device, wherein the other message instructs the device to display other content via at least one of the bi-stable display or the refresh display; and
- in response to receiving the other message, rendering the other content via at least one of the bi-stable display or the refresh display.
18. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining that the second operating specification satisfies the display criterion comprises determining that the second operating specification satisfies at least one of a power criterion, a refresh rate criterion, a color criterion, an image motion criterion, a speed criterion, a page refresh criterion, a resolution criterion, a content format criterion, or a media type criterion.
19. The method of claim 13, wherein the rendering comprises rendering the content via the second display in a first orientation selected based on a second orientation of the device.
20. The method of claim 13, wherein the rendering comprises:
- generating virtual displays via the second display;
- rendering a first instance of the content in a first orientation on a first of the virtual displays; and
- rendering a second instance of the content in a second orientation on a second of the virtual displays.
21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a system comprising a processor to perform operations, comprising:
- receiving a request to display content via a first display, of a bi-stable display or a refresh display, comprising a first operating specification;
- in response to the receiving, determining that a second operating specification of a second display, of the bi-stable display or the refresh display, satisfies a display criterion for the content and that the first operating specification does not satisfy the display criterion;
- in response to the determining, sending a message from a first processor associated with the first display to a second processor associated with the second display via an operating system, wherein the message instructs the second display to render the content; and
- rendering the content via the second display.
22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the display criterion comprises at least one of a power criterion, a refresh rate criterion, a color criterion, an image motion criterion, a speed criterion, a page refresh criterion, a resolution criterion, a content format criterion, or a media type criterion.
23. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the operations further comprise comparing the second operating specification of the second display with the first operating specification of the first display, and wherein the determining is based on a result of the comparing.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 17, 2014
Publication Date: Jan 1, 2015
Inventors: Douglas F. Ortega (Potomac, MD), Douglas A. Atkinson (Ashburn, VA), John T. Burch (McLean, VA), Michael J. Giovannoni (Great Falls, VA), Joseph D. Kralowetz (Clarksville, MD), Brendan M. Mannix (Reston, VA), Asghar D. Mostafa (McLean, VA), David C. Johnson (Waterford, VA), Joseph C. Roesch (Herndon, VA), Nabeel Zafar (Woodbridge, VA)
Application Number: 14/489,404
International Classification: G06F 3/14 (20060101);
