Communications: electrical – Selective – Interrogation response
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-15
2001-08-14
Zimmerman, Brian (Department: 2635)
Communications: electrical
Selective
Interrogation response
C340S010420, C340S870030, C345S156000, C704S007000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06275142
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to interactive data access, and specifically to methods and devices to access data from printed books.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Printed books and journals continue to be popular consumer items and research tools, despite their relative inefficiency as a means for locating data. Electronic tools that permit scanning a hard drive or the World Wide Web for a single keyword or complex Boolean search request cannot, due to the nature of the medium, determine if the desired text is present in a printed book. Even the index of a printed book does not enable a reader to efficiently perform a simple multi-term search, unless the person who prepared the index had closely anticipated the reader's particular search. Performing a search in multiple printed books, for instance twenty books of similar subject matter grouped together on a library shelf, is a time-consuming task using the tools of the current art. Nevertheless, books and journals printed on paper are in broad use for many reasons unrelated to ease of data access, including consumers' preferences for reading from printed books and the publishing industry's recognition of the greater likelihood of public adherence to copyright laws if the medium is printed rather than electronic.
Various methods and devices are known in the art for text searching of electronically stored media. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,552 to Yianilos, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a device which provides text recovery from electronically stored text. There are no known devices, however, that enable rapid, efficient searching of text in a printed medium.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of some aspects of the present invention to provide devices and methods to enable electronic data searching in printed material.
In preferred embodiments of the present invention, an electronic device is coupled to a cover or spine of a book and includes a non-volatile memory, preferably including ROM, in which at least a portion of the text and/or other contents of the book is stored. The device also includes an interface through which a user may communicate with the device, preferably using a computer external to the book and in wireless communication with the device. The user interacts with the device to search the text of the book or, alternatively or additionally, to insert bookmarks and annotations in a read/write portion of the memory. The device preferably includes a processor able to search through the text stored in the memory in order to find locations of a desired word or phrase or to perform a logical search of any type known in the art.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, a plurality of books equipped with respective electronic devices as described hereinabove can be searched substantially simultaneously, and the results reported to the external computer. The devices may thus be used to generate a table containing titles, bibliographic information, and appropriate reference locations in books that generate a positive search result. Preferably, the external computer can download desired text and/or graphic images from the electronic devices in the books, and store these data, along with the corresponding bibliographic information, for later use.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the electronic device contains data that are related to the content of the printed book that are not printed therein. For example, the device may include an author profile, printing history, video, audio, graphic images, hyper-links, software, nucleotide listings, and other materials that for various reasons are not appropriate to a printed medium.
In preferred embodiments of the present invention, the external computer comprises a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a general purpose desktop or portable computer, or a dedicated computer. The external computer preferably communicates with the electronic device attached to the book using methods of wireless communications, such as infrared (IR) or radio frequency (RF) technology. Most preferably, the communication makes use of a standard IR communications interface, such as IRDA (Infrared Data Association), which is widely available in PDAs and personal computers. Alternatively, any other suitable wireless or wired interface or protocol may be used.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, one or more relay units are distributed in a library or other collection of books. Each relay unit has a communications interface, preferably an IR interface, enabling it to exchange data with the external computer, with the electronic devices coupled to the books, and, preferably, with one or more other relay units. In one preferred mode of operation, the user enters a query in the external computer, and the query is transmitted by IR to a nearby relay unit. This unit subsequently relays the query to other relay units in the library, which transmit the query by IR to the electronic devices within the respective range of each of the relay units. Answers to the query, for example comprising text, bibliographic information, or the locations of relevant books within the library, are subsequently generated within each of the electronic devices. Positive responses are transmitted by IR back to the respective relay units, from which they are passed to the relay unit located near the user, in order to be transmitted by IR to the external computer. Alternatively, the user is not physically present in the library, but rather establishes a remote link with a computer within the library, which is connected to the relay units and coordinates processing of the user's query.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the electronic device includes one or more signaling units, for instance light emitting diodes (LEDs) or sound-producing elements, able to provide sensible signals and thereby to convey information to the user. In this manner, the user may distinguish, for example, which of many books in a bookshelf contains a text string of interest.
In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the electronic device is powered by a replaceable or rechargeable battery located therein. Additionally or alternatively, the device may receive power from an external source, for example, by inductive coupling from a coil in a vicinity of the book, which coil may be on or in the bookshelf or coupled to the external computer. Further additionally or alternatively, the device may receive power using a photoelectric cell or through a cable.
In some modes of operation, for example during use of the electronic device in a library, the processor preferably is programmed to detect a low-battery state and to subsequently transmit to a centrally located computer an IR or RF “request for attention,” accompanied by truncated bibliographic information about the book to which it is coupled, in order to enable library personnel to maintain all electronic devices fully operational.
There is therefore provided, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a device for storing data relating to a printed work containing information, including:
an electronic memory, fixed to the printed work, in which at least a portion of the information in the printed work is stored; and
a communications port coupled to the memory, through which a computer external to the printed work accesses the information stored in the memory.
Preferably, the memory is fixed to a binding of the printed work.
In a preferred embodiment, the memory includes a read-only memory.
In another preferred embodiment, the memory includes a read-write memory, to which the external computer writes data via the communications port. Preferably, the data written by the external computer include a bookmark referring to a location in the memory specified by a user of the computer.
Preferably, the device includes a processor, which interacts with the memory in response to a command received via the communications p
Cohen Benjamin
Paleiov Ilan
Dalencourt Yves
Darby & Darby
International Business Machines - Corporation
Zimmerman Brian
LandOfFree
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