Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display peripheral interface input device – Stylus
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-02
2003-04-08
Hjerpe, Richard (Department: 2674)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display peripheral interface input device
Stylus
C345S084000, C345S085000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06545671
ABSTRACT:
I. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the fabrication of reversible highlighting rotating element sheet material and to a reversible highlighting addressing method.
II. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
One of the largest expenditures in the area of education is that of textbooks and course materials. The market for both new and used textbooks and course materials extends through all levels of education, from elementary school to college and beyond to graduate and professional school. One of the most common reasons that educational material inevitably drops out of the new and used markets is due to a mainstay of studying techniques: the use of write-only conventional highlighters. As more advanced modes are created for conveying textual and graphical information, as with “reusable electric paper,” it remains desirable to duplicate the advantages of the conventional highlighter while avoiding the drawbacks.
I.A.1. Conventional Highlighters
The conventional highlighter, or conventional highlighting implement, is generally a felt-tipped marker and is available commercially under the names HI-LITER (available from Avery Dennison, Pasadena, Calif.) and POCKET ACCENT (available from Sanford, Bellwood, Ill.), as well as others. The highlighting implement is used to apply a layer of transparent-colored ink to light-colored paper printed with conventional dark-colored ink. The transparent color of the highlighting ink is usually selected such that, when applied to the light-colored paper, a noticeable change in appearance occurs. Visually, text or graphics of a first dark color on a background of a first light color is altered to appear as text or graphics in a second dark color on background of a second light color. The first dark color corresponds to the color of the conventional ink used to print the text or graphics. Likewise, the first light color corresponds to the color of the paper on which the text or graphics was printed. Furthermore, the second dark color is a combination of the first dark color and the first transparent color of the highlighting ink. Usually, the first transparent color of the highlighting ink is chosen such that the first dark color appears visually identical to the second dark color. That is, the first dark color saturates the first transparent color. Conversely, the first transparent color of the highlighting ink is chosen such that there is a noticeable difference between the first light color and the second light color. However, it is also chosen such that there remains sufficient contrast between the second light color and the second dark color so that the text or graphics in a second dark color on a background of a second light color remain legible. By way of example, the first light color may be white, the first dark color may be black, and the first transparent color of the highlighting ink may be yellow, orange, pink, or other colors. In the example described above, the first transparent color of the highlighting ink saturates the white appearance of the first light-colored background.
As a write-only process, subsequent conventional highlights after a first conventional highlight are of decreasing usefulness when the goal of the user is to mark significant passages of text for later easy reference. A typical practice after a first conventional highlight is to select a highlighting ink of a second transparent color that saturates the first transparent color. For example, if the first transparent color is yellow, the first light color is white, and the first dark color is black, a second transparent ink that is orange-colored will generally saturate the yellow-colored appearance of the first conventional highlight. Following a second conventional highlight, again, there is decreasing usefulness in a third or fourth conventional highlight. Ultimately, the highlighted material is discarded, and a fresh set of materials that present text or graphics of a first dark color on a background of a first light color is generated for a first conventional highlight.
There also exist a class of so-called “erasable highlighters.” For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,488, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,471 disclose kits consisting of markers and erasers where the marker disperses an ink, and the eraser disperses a corresponding reagent selected to remove or obliterate the dispersed ink without affecting the appearance of the underlying text and graphics. Both of the above disclosures, however, are based on a specific pairing between marking ink and erasing reagent, and are not generally suitable for all commercially available highlighters. U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,278 discloses a highlighting-ink remover designed to, obliterate water-based, non-pigmented dyes without affecting, again, the underlying text and graphics. Although the above technique is more suitable than the preceding two with respect to use with conventional highlighters, it is based upon the use of a liquid bleaching agent, and, hence, the quality of the paper or substrate can be affected following each use. Again, such a technique can be of decreasing usefulness after each highlight and removal.
In light of the foregoing, it remains desirable to fabricate textbooks and course materials that can accommodate reversible highlighting without affecting the quality of the underlying text, graphics, or substrate following each highlight and removal. Therefore, later users can reverse all of the existing highlighted aspects and then introduce new highlighted aspects to suit their own needs.
II.A. Rotating Element Sheet Material
Rotating element sheet material has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,126,854 and 4,143,103, both herein incorporated by reference, and generally comprises a substrate, an enabling fluid, and a class of rotatable elements. As discussed more below, rotating element sheet material has found a use as “reusable electric paper.”
FIG. 1
depicts an enlarged section of rotating element sheet material
18
, including rotatable element
10
, enabling fluid
12
, cavity
14
, and substrate
16
. Observer
28
is also shown. Although
FIG. 1
depicts a spherically shaped rotatable element and cavity, many other shapes will work and are consistent with the present invention. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,389,945, herein incorporated by reference, the thickness of substrate
16
may be of the order of hundreds of microns, and the dimensions of rotatable element
10
and cavity
14
may be of the order of 10 to 100 microns.
In
FIG. 1
, substrate
16
is an elastomer material, such as silicone rubber, that accommodates both enabling fluid
12
and the class of rotatable elements within a cavity or cavities disposed throughout substrate
16
. The cavity or cavities contain both enabling fluid
12
and the class of rotatable elements such that rotatable element
10
is in contact with enabling fluid
12
and at least one translational degree of freedom of rotatable element
10
is restricted. The contact between enabling fluid
12
and rotatable element
10
breaks a symmetry of rotatable element
10
and allows rotatable element
10
to be addressed. The state of broken symmetry of rotatable element
10
, or addressing polarity, can be the establishment of an electric dipole about an axis of rotation. For example, it is well known that small particles in a dielectric liquid acquire an electrical charge that is related to the Zeta potential of the surface coating. Thus, an electric dipole can be established on a rotatable element in a dielectric liquid by the suitable choice of coatings applied to opposing surfaces of the rotatable element.
The use of rotating element sheet material
18
as “reusable electric paper” is due to the fact that the rotatable elements are typically given a second broken symmetry, a multivalued aspect, correlated with the addressing polarity discussed above. That is, the above mentioned coatings may be chosen so as to respond to incident electromagnetic energy in distinguishable ways. Thus, the aspect of rotatable element
10
to observer
28
favorably situated can
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner
Hjerpe Richard
Nguyen Kevin M.
Xerox Corporation
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