Electronic paper system, log management apparatus, information processing apparatus, computer readable medium, method of image processing and computer data signal

Abstract

An electronic paper system that uses an electronic paper comprising a display section displaying an image in a no-power supply state, which includes: a retention unit that stores a display image in association with at least one of the document data and the electronic paper, the display image being generated from document data and displayed on the display section of the electronic paper; and an output unit that outputs the display image stored in the retention unit.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail based on the following figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a drawing to show the configuration of an electronic paper system according to one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a drawing to show the configuration of an electronic paper system according to another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a drawing to show the configuration of an electronic paper system according to still another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a drawing to show a functional configuration example of an information processing apparatus and an electronic paper printer according to the invention;

FIG. 5 is a drawing to describe the retention contents of electronic paper according to the invention;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are drawings to describe the items of image log data according to the invention;

FIG. 7 is a drawing to describe linking of document data, an image generation log, and an image display log according to the invention;

FIGS. 8A and 8B are drawings to describe display images according to the invention;

FIG. 9 is a drawing to describe an example of a display image according to the invention;

FIG. 10 is a drawing to describe an example of a display image according to the invention;

FIG. 11 is a drawing to describe an example of a display image according to the invention;

FIG. 12 is a drawing to describe an example of a display image according to the invention;

FIG. 13 is a drawing to describe an example of a display image according to the invention;

FIG. 14 is a drawing to describe an example of a display image according to the invention;

FIGS. 15A and 15B are drawings to show an example of external write type electronic paper;

FIG. 16 is a drawing to describe a use method of external write type electronic paper;

FIG. 17 is a drawing to describe the operation principle of external write type electronic paper;

FIG. 18 is a drawing to describe the structure of external write type electronic paper;

FIGS. 19A and 19B are drawings to show an example of self-write type electronic paper;

FIG. 20 is a drawing to describe the operation principle of self-write type electronic paper; and

FIG. 21 is a drawing to describe the structure of self-write type electronic paper.

Claims

1. An electronic paper system that uses an electronic paper comprising a display section displaying an image in a no-power supply state, which comprises: a retention unit that stores a display image in association with at least one of the document data and the electronic paper, the display image being generated from document data and displayed on the display section of the electronic paper; andan output unit that outputs the display image stored in the retention unit.

2. The electronic paper system as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe output unit outputs the display image associated with at least one of the document data to be processed and the electronic paper to be processed, andthe electronic paper system comprises:an image generation unit that generates a new display image based on the display image outputted from the output unit; andan image write unit that writes the new display image to the electronic paper to be processed, and that displays the new display image.

3. The electronic paper system as claimed in claim 2, whereinthe electronic paper comprises:a storage section that stores information of at least one of association information and identification information of the electronic paper, the association information associating the electronic paper with the document data,the electronic paper system comprises:a determination unit that determines the display image based on the information read from the storage section, the display image being associated with at least one of the document data to be processed and the electronic paper to be processed, andthe output unit that outputs the display image determined by the determination unit.

4. The electronic paper system as claimed in claim 2, whereinthe retention unit stores the display image in association with the document data,the output unit outputs the display image associated with the document data to be processed, andthe new display image is a comparison image of a reduced image generated from the document data to be processed and a reduced image of the display image.

5. The electronic paper system as claimed in claim 2, whereinthe retention unit stores the display image in association with the document data,the output unit outputs the display image associated with the document data to be processed, andthe new display image is an image combined an image explaining the state of the document data to be processed and a reduced image of the display image output by the output unit.

6. An electronic paper system comprising: a document management apparatus that stores document data;a log management apparatus; andan information processing apparatus that generates a display image from the document data stored in the document management apparatus, the display image being displayed on electronic paper comprising a display section holding display of an image in a no-power supply state,whereinthe log management apparatus comprises:a retention unit that stores the display image in association with at least one of the document data and the electronic paper, andthe information processing apparatus comprises: an output unit that acquires the display image from the retention unit, the display image being associated with at least one of the document data to be processed and the electronic paper to be processed, and that outputs the display image;an image generation unit that generates a new display image based on the display image output by the output unit; andan image write unit that writes the new display image to the electronic paper to be processed, and that displays the new display image.

7. An electronic paper system comprising: a document management apparatus that stores document data; andan information processing apparatus that generates a display image from the document data stored in the document management apparatus, the display image being displayed on electronic paper comprising a display section holding display of an image in a no-power supply state,whereinthe document management apparatus comprises:a retention unit that stores the display image in association with at least one of the document data and the electronic paper, andthe information processing apparatus comprises: an output unit that acquires the display image from the retention unit, the display image being associated with at least one of the document data to be processed and the electronic paper to be processed, and that outputs the display image;an image generation unit that generates a new display image based on the display image output by the output unit; andan image write unit that writes the new display image to the electronic paper to be processed, and that displays the new display image.

8. An electronic paper system comprising: a document management apparatus that stores document data; andan information processing apparatus that generates a display image from the document data stored in the document management apparatus, the display image being displayed on electronic paper comprising a display section holding display of an image in a no-power supply state,whereinthe log management apparatus comprises:an retention unit that stores a display image generated from document data and displayed on the display section of the electronic paper in association with at least one of the document data and the electronic paper;an output unit that acquires the display image from the retention unit, the display image being associated with at least one of the document data to be processed and the electronic paper to be processed, and that outputs the display image;an image generation unit that generates a new display image based on the display image output by the output unit; andan image write unit that writes the new display image to the electronic paper to be processed, and that displays the new display image.

9. A log management apparatus that forms a part of an electronic paper system using an electronic paper comprising a display section displaying an image in a no-power supply state, which comprises: a retention unit that stores the display image generated from document data in association with at least one of the document data to be processed and the electronic paper to be processed so as to output the display image.

10. An information processing apparatus that forms a part of an electronic paper system using an electronic paper comprising a display section displaying an image in a no-power supply state, which comprises: an output unit that acquires the display image associated with at least one of the document data to be processed and the electronic paper to be processed from a display image stored in electronic paper system, and that outputs the display image acquired;an image generation unit that generates a new display image using the output display image; andan image write unit that writes the new generated display image to the electronic paper to be processed and displaying the new display image.

11. A computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a process for storing a display image written in an electronic paper, which comprises: storing the display image in association with at least one of the document data to be processed and the electronic paper to be processed so as to output the display image.

12. A computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a process for storing a display image written in an electronic paper, which comprises: acquiring the display image from the display image stored, the display image being associated with at least one of document data to be processed and the electronic paper to be processed;outputting the display image acquired;generating a new display image based on the display image output;writing the new display image to the electronic paper to be processed; anddisplaying the new display image on the electronic paper.

13. A method of image processing, which comprises: storing a display image generated from document data and displayed on the display section of the electronic paper in association with at least one of the document data and the electronic paper;acquiring the display image from a retention unit, the display image being associated with at least one of the document data to be processed and the electronic paper to be processed;displaying on electronic paper;outputting the display image acquired;generating a new display image based on the display image output;writing the new display image to the electronic paper to be processed; anddisplaying the display image on the electronic paper.

14. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave for enabling a computer to perform a process for storing a display image written in an electronic paper, which comprises: storing a display image generated from document data and displayed on the display section of the electronic paper in association with at least one of the document data and the electronic paper;acquiring the display image from a retention unit, the display image being associated with at least one of the document data to be processed and the electronic paper to be processed;displaying on electronic paper;outputting the display image acquired;generating a new display image based on the display image output;writing the new display image to the electronic paper to be processed; anddisplaying the display image on the electronic paper.