Capacitive Touch Book Covers for Interactive Reading
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic books require embedding switches or sensors into pages to provide interactive features, which complicates their design and functionality.
Innovation Solution
The integration of capacitive touch elements on the inside of book covers and a controller connected to an output device, allowing users to interact with the book by touching or tracing over text or images, without the need for embedded switches or sensors, using capacitive touch technology to detect user input and trigger corresponding audio or visual responses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If switches or sensors are embedded into pages to provide interactive features, then interactivity is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the sensing elements from the pages and relocates them to the covers. The capacitive touch elements are disposed on the inside of the covers rather than embedded in the pages, simplifying page construction while maintaining interactive functionality through the cover structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The covers serve multiple functions: they provide structural protection for the book and simultaneously house the capacitive touch elements for user interaction. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate sensing components in the pages, reducing overall device complexity.
2Device complexity
If capacitive touch elements are placed on covers instead of embedding sensors in pages, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision may be affected
Solution Approach 1:
The capacitive touch elements on the covers act as intermediaries that detect user touch through the pages. The controller receives signals from these cover-mounted elements and determines the corresponding position on the overlaid page, maintaining measurement precision without requiring direct page embedding.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical embedding of sensors into pages with an electrical field-based capacitive detection system on the covers. This substitution allows touch detection through the page structure without physical modification of the pages, maintaining precision while simplifying the system.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables an interactive book experience without the need for embedded sensors, allowing users to engage with the content through touch, providing a more intuitive and user-friendly interface while maintaining a standard book format.
Implementation Method 1
The book includes capacitive touch elements disposed on the inside of a cover... The position is detected by the capacitive touch elements.
Data Source
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AI summary
A book (1) is described. The book has front and back covers (2, 3) and a plurality of pages (5) bound between the covers. The book includes capacitive touch elements (9) disposed on the inside (10, 14) of the back cover and/or the front cover. The book also includes at least one output device (7), such as a speaker, and a controller. The controller is configured to cause the or at least one of the output devices to output a signal in dependence upon position of a user's digit on a page overlying the cover.