Archive for the ‘amazon ereader patent’ tag
Amazon’s Dual Screen Patent – Trouble for the Competition? 1 comment
A patent originally filed in 2006 by Amazon and granted today and therefore made public might have ramifications to some of Amazon’s biggest competitors in the ereader space.
Some of the descriptions of what the patent is for:
A handheld electronic book reader device is equipped with dual displays. The device includes a first display for presenting visible representations of textual or graphic content related to the electronic book. The device also includes a second display positioned alongside the first display. The second display includes a plurality of graphic elements that correspond to portions of the first display. Also, the second display is responsive to user input to one of the graphic elements to perform an action on the content that is shown in the portion of the first display that corresponds to the one element.
and:
A handheld electronic device comprising: a first display for presenting visible representations of content, the first display comprising an electronic paper display; and a second display positioned alongside the first display, wherein the second display includes a plurality of graphic elements that correspond to portions of the first display, and wherein the second display is responsive to user input to one of the graphic elements to perform at least one action on content shown in a portion of the first display that corresponds to the one graphic element.
and:
42. A handheld electronic device comprising: a housing; an electronic paper display disposed in the housing and having a first surface area; and a liquid crystal display (LCD) disposed in the housing proximate the electronic paper display, the LCD having a second surface area that is smaller than the first surface area of the electronic paper display.
43. The handheld electronic device of claim 42, wherein the LCD has a rate of refresh that is faster than a rate of refresh of the electronic paper display.
44. The handheld electronic device of claim 42, wherein the LCD is substantially rectangular and is disposed below the electronic paper display.
45. The handheld electronic device of claim 42, wherein the LCD is touch-sensitive and is responsive to touch input.
46. The handheld electronic device of claim 42, wherein the electronic paper display and the LCD comprise a single structural element, with logically separate control systems for driving the electronic paper display and the LCD.
Does all of this remind you of any non-Amazon portable electronic reading devices? Perhaps nook and the Spring Design Alex?
CrunchGear has an interesting article about this with some interesting comments. Never a dull moment, indeed.
£149.00
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