CN212586671U - Non-volatile display device - Google Patents

Abstract

A non-volatile display device includes a control unit and a display unit. The display unit comprises at least one conductor, the conductor is arranged around or in a display area of the display unit, and the conductor is electrically connected with the control unit. The control unit confirms whether the display unit is damaged or not according to a confirmation signal. The confirmation signal is a spontaneous periodic signal of the control unit, the control unit actively outputs a detection signal to the display unit according to the confirmation signal, and whether the display unit is damaged or not is judged according to the feedback of the detection signal.

Description

Non-volatile display device

Technical Field

The utility model relates to a display device, in particular to non-volatile display device.

Background

With the rapid development of display technology, various display devices are widely visible in modern life, and the electronic paper (e-paper) technology included in non-volatile display devices is widely applied to products such as electronic labels, electronic books, or electronic photo frames due to the advantage of low power consumption. For example, electronic volume labels are used by many stores or shops to replace old-fashioned sticker volume labels to indicate merchandise information, such as item name, unit price or discount price. The cost can be saved and centralized management is convenient while the response is environment-friendly.

However, since the non-volatile display device has a bistable characteristic, the content cannot be updated once the electronic tag is broken. In this way, the content displayed on the electronic tag is still the content before updating, and thus, an error in the displayed commodity information may occur. It is necessary for the store manager to be able to detect problems in front of the customer for repair or replacement, which may otherwise result in poor customer appearance or reduced purchase willingness, or even reduced store confidence.

Therefore, it is an important subject to provide a non-volatile display device and a method for inspecting the breakage thereof, which can effectively confirm whether the non-volatile display device is broken and further return the confirmation result to the manager, so that the manager can find that the non-volatile display device has failed in the shortest time, and can repair or replace the non-volatile display device.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a non-volatile display device, which can effectively confirm whether the non-volatile display device is damaged or not, and further return the confirmation result to the administrator, so that the user can find that the non-volatile display device has failed in the shortest time, and can repair or replace the non-volatile display device.

To achieve the above object, a non-volatile display device according to the present invention includes a control unit and a display unit. The display unit comprises at least one conductor, the conductor is arranged around or in a display area of the display unit, and the conductor is electrically connected with the control unit. The control unit confirms whether the display unit is damaged or not according to a confirmation signal. The confirmation signal is a spontaneous periodic signal of the control unit, the control unit actively outputs a detection signal to the display unit according to the confirmation signal, and whether the display unit is damaged or not is judged according to the feedback of the detection signal.

In one embodiment, the non-volatile display device is coupled with an external electronic device, and the non-volatile display device includes a communication unit coupled to the external electronic device and the control unit. The communication unit receives an inquiry signal output by an external electronic device and outputs a confirmation signal to the control unit according to the inquiry signal.

In one embodiment, the control unit includes at least one sensor that is a temperature sensor, a power sensor, a shock sensor, or a combination of the foregoing.

In one embodiment, the conductor is a conductive wire. The wire may be a single strand of wire or a plurality of strands of wire.

In one embodiment, the conductor is a large area conductive pattern.

In one embodiment, the conductor is linear, L-shaped, U-shaped, or O-shaped.

In one embodiment, the total length of the conductor is greater than or equal to three-quarters of the total length of the border of the display area of the non-volatile display device.

In one embodiment, the conductors are disposed on the upper substrate or the lower substrate of the display unit.

In one embodiment, when the conductors are disposed inside the display area of the display unit, the conductors are disposed in a circuit layer on the same substrate but different from the internal wiring of the display unit. Wherein the internal line is a scan line or a data line.

In one embodiment, when the conductor is disposed inside the display area of the display unit, the conductor is disposed inside the display area on a different substrate from the internal wiring of the display unit but in a projection direction corresponding to the display area.

In one embodiment, the control unit includes a plurality of integrated circuits, and the conductors connect the integrated circuits.

In one embodiment, the display unit further includes a driving substrate, and the control unit is disposed on at least one of the driving substrate and a circuit board. The circuit board is adjacent to the driving substrate.

Bearing the above, the foundation the utility model discloses a non-volatile type display device, the damaged condition of non-volatile type display device is inquired as outside electronic device, through communication unit and the cooperation of the control unit, can confirm the display element to further give the administrator with confirming the result passback, so that let the administrator can discover that non-volatile type display device has taken place the trouble in the shortest time, and can repair or change.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a system block diagram of a non-volatile display device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2A is a schematic top view of a non-volatile display device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2B is a schematic cross-sectional view of a non-volatile display device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention along the line AA of fig. 2A.

Fig. 3A to fig. 3G are schematic diagrams of various modifications of the non-volatile display device according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for inspecting a breakage of a non-volatile display device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Preferred embodiments of the non-volatile display device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like elements will be described with like reference numerals.

Fig. 1 is a system block diagram of a non-volatile display device 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The non-volatile display device 1 includes a control unit 12 and a display unit 13. The non-volatile display device 1 is a bistable display device, and may be, for example, an electronic paper (e-paper), and further may include an electrophoretic display type electronic paper or a cholesteric liquid crystal display type electronic paper, wherein the electrophoretic display type electronic paper may be, for example, manufactured by a microcapsule electronic ink technology, a micro-cup structure technology, or an electronic powder fluid technology.

The non-volatile display device 1 is coupled to an external electronic device 2, and the external electronic device 2 may be a computer or a server, for example. In a specific example, the external electronic device 2 is a computer of a manager of a store, the plurality of non-volatile display devices 1 are electronic labels for indicating products in the store, and the manager can manage product information, such as product names or prices, displayed on the plurality of electronic paper labels in the store through the computer.

The communication unit 11 is coupled to the external electronic device 2, and the two may be coupled in a wired manner through a conductor line or in a wireless manner through a wireless network, for example. No matter whether the communication unit 11 is wired or wireless coupled to the external electronic device 2, the function of the communication unit 11 is to "communicate with the external electronic device 2 and exchange information", for example, to receive signals from the external electronic device 2 or transmit signals to the external electronic device 2, and the present invention should be construed as being suitable for the above functions. In the present embodiment, the communication unit 11 receives an inquiry signal S1 output from the external electronic device 2, and outputs a confirmation signal S2 according to the inquiry signal.

The control unit 12 is electrically connected to the communication unit 11. The control unit 12 may be, for example, a control chip, which is configured to receive the confirmation signal S2 for subsequent operations. In various embodiments, based on the consideration of the manufacturing process or the requirement of the implementation, the communication unit 11 and the control unit 12 may be integrated to form a multifunctional chip having the functions of both the communication unit 11 and the control unit 12, which is not limited by the present invention.

The display unit 13 is electrically connected to the control unit 12. The display unit 13 may be, for example, a unit for displaying images in the non-volatile display device 1, and may include, for example, an electrophoretic display panel or a cholesteric liquid crystal display panel, taking electronic paper as an example, which is not limited in the present invention.

In the present embodiment, the control unit 12 determines whether the display unit 13 is damaged according to a determination signal S2. The confirmation signal S2 may be a signal generated by the control unit 12 spontaneously or a signal received from an external electronic device 2. Here, the non-volatile display device 1, for example, cooperates with the external electronic device 2 to receive the confirmation signal S2 transmitted from the external electronic device 2 to confirm whether the display unit 13 is damaged, and further transmit a confirmation result back to the external electronic device 2 through the communication unit 11. Taking the external electronic device 2 as a computer of a store manager, the non-volatile display device 1 is used to mark the electronic tags of the goods in the store as an example, and through a mechanism for confirming whether the display unit 13 is damaged or not and returning the result, the store manager can efficiently know the failure condition of the electronic tags, and can repair or replace the electronic tags as quickly as possible, so as to avoid the trouble of customers caused by the wrong goods information marked by the electronic tags, thereby being helpful to improve the reliability of the customers to the store.

In order to help the manager to clearly see which non-volatile display device 1 is damaged, the non-volatile display device 1 further includes a warning unit, which can be electrically coupled to the control unit 12, and the warning unit can be, for example, a unit capable of emitting sound or light to inform the manager whether the non-volatile display device 1 is damaged. Taking the alarm unit emitting sound as an example, when the non-volatile display device 1 is damaged, the alarm unit emits sound to be received by the manager or the detector; taking the LED unit as an example of the warning unit emitting light, when the non-volatile display device 1 is damaged, the LED unit can emit red light to be clearly seen by the manager (normally, the LED unit can emit green light).

In another embodiment, the confirmation signal S2 may also be a signal that is output by the control unit 12 spontaneously, such as a periodically appearing confirmation signal S2, and the control unit 12 actively outputs a detection signal to the display unit 13 according to the confirmation signal S2, and actively confirms whether the display unit 13 is damaged according to whether the detection signal is fed back, without waiting for the communication unit 11 to send out the confirmation signal. For example, the control unit 12 may periodically output a detection signal to the display unit 13 at a fixed time for periodic detection. Further, if the control unit 12 receives the detection signal fed back by the display unit 13, it is determined that the display unit 13 is not damaged; on the contrary, if the control unit 12 does not receive the detection signal fed back by the display unit 13, it is determined that the display unit 13 is damaged.

In addition, the control unit 12 may include at least one sensor, which may be a temperature sensor, a power sensor, a vibration sensor, or a combination thereof, and sense temperature, power, vibration, or a combination thereof, and determine whether there is an abnormal occurrence of an environment such as temperature, power, or vibration according to the sensed result. If an abnormal phenomenon occurs, a detection signal can be actively outputted to the display unit 13 to confirm whether the display unit 13 is damaged.

In the present embodiment, the display unit 13 may include at least one conductor (e.g., a conductive wire with conductivity or a conductive pattern with a large area, etc.), which is disposed around or inside the display area of the display unit 13 (e.g., disposed on the upper substrate or the lower substrate of the display unit 13) and electrically connected to the control unit 12. The control unit 12 can output a detection signal to the conductor, and feed back whether the display unit 13 is damaged or not according to the detection signal, wherein when the conductor is disposed inside the display area of the display unit 13, the conductor is disposed on a circuit layer that is on the same substrate but different from the internal circuit (such as a scan line, a data line, etc.) of the display unit 13, or disposed on a substrate of a different block but corresponds to the inside of the display area in the projection direction. Further, if the control unit 12 receives the detection signal fed back by the display unit 13, it is determined that the display unit 13 is not damaged; on the contrary, if the control unit 12 does not receive the detection signal fed back by the display unit 13, it is determined that the display unit 13 is damaged.

Fig. 2A and fig. 2B are simultaneously shown, wherein fig. 2A is a schematic top view of a non-volatile display device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the non-volatile display device 1 along the AA line segment of fig. 2A, and the detailed hardware implementation of the present invention will be further explained with the accompanying drawings.

The non-volatile display device 1 has a display region D, and the display unit 13 includes a non-volatile display material M and a driving substrate 20.

The driving substrate 20 has a plurality of pixel electrodes 21 and a lower substrate 22, and the pixel electrodes 21 are disposed on the lower substrate 22. The material of the lower substrate 22 may be resin, ceramic or glass. A control circuit (e.g., a control chip or a control circuit board) 23 is disposed on the lower substrate 22, and the control circuit 23 drives the non-volatile display material M to display images through the pixel electrodes 21. The driving method of the driving substrate 20 may be Active Matrix (Active Matrix) driving or Passive Matrix (Passive Matrix) driving; here, the driving method of the driving substrate 20 is an active matrix driving as an example.

The non-volatile display material M is disposed on one side of the driving substrate 20. The non-volatile display material M may, for example, comprise electrophoretic materials, rolling balls, electro-wetting materials, cholesteric liquid crystals, other bistable materials, or multiple stable materials. Herein, the non-volatile display material M is an electrophoretic material, for example, a plurality of Charged particles (Charged particles) C suspended in a dielectric solution L. In this embodiment, the non-volatile display device 1 further includes a containing structure S, and the containing structure S may have a plurality of micro-cups (micro-cups) or a plurality of micro-capsules (microcapsules). The accommodating structure S of the present embodiment is exemplified by having a plurality of micro-cups, the charged particles C are suspended in the dielectric solution L, and the charged particles C and the dielectric solution L are accommodated in the micro-cups.

In the embodiment, the non-volatile display device 1 further includes a common electrode layer 15, wherein the common electrode layer 15 is a transparent electrode layer disposed between the non-volatile display material 12 and the upper substrate 14 and disposed opposite to the pixel electrodes 21 of the driving substrate 20. When a voltage difference is applied between the common electrode layer 15 and at least one pixel electrode 21, the charged particles C are driven to move and reflect the ambient light to show the color of the charged particles C or the dielectric solution L. The common electrode layer 15 may be made of Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), Indium Zinc Oxide (IZO), Aluminum Zinc Oxide (AZO), Gallium Zinc Oxide (GZO), or zinc oxide (ZnO), for example.

In addition, the non-volatile display device 1 further includes an adhesive layer 17, in this embodiment, the adhesive layer 17 can adhere the accommodating structure S accommodating the non-volatile display material M and the driving substrate 20.

The control unit 12 is an integrated circuit and disposed on the driving substrate 20, and is electrically connected to the control circuit 23, and the control unit 12 and the control circuit 23 are located on the same circuit board. However, this is merely an example, and in other embodiments, the control unit 12 may include a plurality of integrated circuits and may not be disposed on the driving substrate 20. The integrated circuit is disposed on the driving substrate 20 by wire bonding or flip chip. Although not shown in the drawings of the present embodiment, the communication unit 11 may be disposed on the driving substrate 20 together with the control unit 12, and of course, in different embodiments, the communication unit 11 may not be disposed together with the control unit 12, and the communication unit 13 and the control unit 12 may be disposed in any way as long as they are electrically connected to each other, so the present invention is not limited thereto.

In the present embodiment, the display unit 13 further includes at least one conductor 32. The conductor 32 is electrically connected to the control unit 12, and at least a portion of the conductor 32 is formed on the driving substrate 20 and located around or inside the display region D. Herein, the display region D is defined as a display region corresponding to the effective pixel, and the conductor 32 is disposed outside the display region D.

In the present embodiment, two ends of the conductor 32 are connected to the control unit 12 to form a closed curve (similar to an O-shaped curve), that is, the conductor 32 is disposed around the outer periphery of the display area D. Here, the conductor 32 is a strand of wire, and the total length of the conductor 32 is greater than or equal to three-quarters of the total length of the boundary of the display region D. Each time the frame is updated, the detection is performed, and the control unit 12 transmits a detection signal to the conductor 32. Therefore, when the driving substrate 20 is broken, a certain portion of the conductor 32 of the detection circuit 30 is disconnected, so that the detection signal is transmitted to the conducting wire 32 through the control unit 12, and the control unit 12 cannot receive the detection signal any more, thereby determining that the driving substrate 20 is damaged. Of course, the detection time may be fixed for a certain period, i.e. one detection is performed, and the period time may vary according to the needs of the customer.

The shape, position, number and position of the conductors 32 and the control unit 12 are only for illustration and are not intended to limit the present invention. Different variations of the conductor 32 and the control unit 12 are illustrated below.

Referring to fig. 3A, the control unit 12a of the non-volatile display device 1a is not disposed in the control circuit 23 of the driving substrate 20, but disposed at one side of the display area D. And both ends of the conductor 32 are connected to the control unit 12a to form an O-shape (or a "mouth" shape), that is, the conductor 32 is disposed around the outer periphery of the display area D.

Referring to fig. 3B, the control unit 12B of the non-volatile display device 1B is disposed on another circuit board B, which can be disposed adjacent to the driving substrate 20. The control unit 12B is an integrated circuit and can be disposed on the circuit board B by wire bonding or flip chip.

The following further illustrates a variation of the non-volatile display device of this embodiment. For clarity, the drawings only show the display region D and the control unit and conductors. The control unit can be disposed on at least one of the driving substrate and the circuit board, which has been described above, and thus will not be described in detail below.

Referring to fig. 3C, the control unit includes two integrated circuits 121 and 122. One end of the conductor 32 is connected to an Integrated Circuit (IC)121 and the other end is connected to another IC 122. Here, the conductor 32 is a strand of wire and substantially forms an O-shape.

Referring to fig. 3D, the control unit includes two integrated circuits 121 and 122. The conductor includes two conductive lines 321, 322 and forms a closed curve. Two ends of the conductive line 321 are connected to the integrated circuits 121 and 122, respectively, and two ends of the conductive line 322 are connected to the integrated circuits I1 and 12, respectively. Here, the conductive lines 321 and 322 are respectively a strand and L-shaped, and the detection signal sent by the integrated circuit 121 can be received by the integrated circuit 122; the detection signal from the integrated circuit 122 can be received by the integrated circuit 121. In addition, the total length of the conductive lines 321 and 322 is greater than or equal to three-quarters of the total length of the boundary of the display area D, thereby obtaining a preferable detection effect.

Referring to fig. 3E, the control unit includes two integrated circuits 121 and 122. The conductor includes two wires 321, 322. Two ends of the conductive line 321 are respectively connected to different pins of the integrated circuit 121, and two ends of the conductive line 322 are respectively connected to different pins of the integrated circuit 122. Here, the conductive wires 321 and 322 are each bifilar and L-shaped.

Referring to fig. 3F, the control unit includes two integrated circuits 121 and 122. The conductor includes two wires 321, 322. Two ends of the conductive line 321 are connected to different pins of the integrated circuit 121, and two ends of the conductive line 322 are connected to different pins of the integrated circuit 122. The wires 321 and 322 are doubled, the doubled wire 321 is U-shaped (including "U" -shaped), and the doubled wire 322 is linear.

Referring to FIG. 3G, the control unit includes four ICs 121-124. The conductor includes four conductive lines 321-324. Two ends of the conductive line 321 are connected to different pins of the integrated circuit 121, two ends of the conductive line 322 are connected to different pins of the integrated circuit 122, two ends of the conductive line 323 are connected to different pins of the integrated circuit 123, and two ends of the conductive line 324 are connected to different pins of the integrated circuit 124. The conductive wires 321-324 are doubled, and the doubled conductive wires 321-324 are formed in a linear shape. In addition, in other embodiments, the wire may also be multi-stranded and may be irregular.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for inspecting a damage of a non-volatile display device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The method for inspecting damage in this embodiment is matched with a non-volatile display device, and the non-volatile display device 1 in the foregoing embodiment is taken as an example for the following description, so that please refer to fig. 1 for understanding. The non-volatile display device 1 is coupled to an external electronic device 2, the hardware implementation of the two is described above and will not be described herein, and the method for detecting the breakage includes steps S01 and S02.

In step S01, the inquiry signal S1 output by the external electronic device 2 is received. In detail, the non-volatile display device 1 may include a communication unit 11, a control unit 12, and a communication unit 13. The communication unit 11 is responsible for receiving an inquiry signal S1 output by the external electronic device 2 and outputting a confirmation signal S1 to the control unit 12.

In step S02, it is checked whether or not the display unit 13 of the non-volatile display device 1 is damaged. In detail, when the control unit 12 receives the confirmation signal S2, it is confirmed whether the display unit 13 is broken.

For further technical features of the communication unit 11, the control unit 12 and the display unit 13, please refer to the above description, which is not repeated herein.

In addition, step S03 may be further included after step S02, and in step S03, the confirmation result confirmed by the control unit 12 is returned to the external electronic device 2 through the communication unit 11, so as to notify the administrator whether the display unit 13 is damaged.

In this embodiment, the control unit 12 may continuously check for a plurality of times when checking whether the display unit 13 is damaged, and determine that the display unit 13 is damaged if the checking result is more than once; on the contrary, if all the confirmation results are not damaged, the display unit 13 is determined to be not damaged, so as to reduce the probability of erroneous determination that the control unit 12 determines that the display unit 13 is actually damaged.

In the present embodiment, the inquiry signal S1 output by the external electronic device 2 may be the inquiry initiated by the administrator by the external electronic device 2, in other words, the administrator may determine the timing of the inquiry to perform manual inspection, or the external electronic device 2 may initiate the inquiry periodically, for example, the inquiry is performed three times a day and every eight hours to perform routine inspection. Of course, the present invention may be a manual inspection which is automatically started when necessary for routine inspection and matching, and the present invention is not limited thereto. In addition, when the temperature, power, vibration or the combination of the above of the non-volatile display device 1 is abnormal, the external electronic device 2 can automatically start the inquiry to find the damage in the shortest time.

In addition, in this embodiment, the control unit 12 can also output a detection signal to a conductor of the display unit, the conductor is disposed around or inside a display area of the display unit 13, and the control unit 12 can determine whether the display unit is damaged or not according to the feedback of the detection signal. Specifically, if the control unit 12 receives the detection signal fed back by the display unit 13, it is determined that the display unit 13 is not damaged; on the contrary, if the control unit 12 does not receive the detection signal fed back by the display unit 13, it is determined that the display unit 13 is damaged.

In summary, according to the present invention, when the external electronic device asks for the damage of the non-volatile display device, the display unit can be confirmed by the cooperation of the communication unit and the control unit, and the confirmation result is further returned to the administrator, so that the administrator can find that the non-volatile display device has failed in the shortest time, and can repair or replace the non-volatile display device.

The foregoing is by way of example only and is not intended as limiting. Any equivalent modifications or variations which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (15)

1. A non-volatile display device, comprising:

a control unit; and

and the display unit comprises at least one conductor, the conductor is arranged around or in the display area of the display unit, and the conductor is electrically connected with the control unit.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is adapted to be coupled to an external electronic device, the device further comprising:

and the communication unit is coupled with the external electronic device and the control unit.

3. The non-volatile display device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit comprises at least one sensor, the sensor being a temperature sensor, a power sensor, a vibration sensor, or a combination thereof.

4. The non-volatile display device according to claim 1, wherein the conductor is a conductive wire.

5. The non-volatile display device according to claim 4, wherein the conductive wire is a strand of conductive wire or a plurality of strands of conductive wire.

6. The non-volatile display device according to claim 1, wherein the conductor is a conductive pattern with a larger area.

7. The non-volatile display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conductor is linear, L-shaped, U-shaped, or O-shaped.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the total length of the conductor or conductors is greater than or equal to three-quarters of the total length of the border of the display area of the device.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the conductor is disposed on an upper substrate or a lower substrate of the display unit.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein when the conductor is disposed inside the display area of the display unit, the conductor is disposed on a circuit layer on the same substrate as the internal circuit of the display unit but different from the substrate.

11. The non-volatile display device according to claim 10, wherein the internal circuit is a scan line or a data line.

12. The non-volatile display device according to claim 1, wherein when the conductor is disposed inside the display region of the display unit, the conductor is disposed inside the display region on a different substrate from the internal wiring of the display unit but in a projection direction corresponding to the display region.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the control unit comprises a plurality of integrated circuits, and the conductor is connected to the integrated circuits.

14. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display unit further comprises a driving substrate, and the control unit is disposed on at least one of the driving substrate and a circuit board.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the circuit board is disposed adjacent to the driving substrate.

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