EP0595812B1 - Elektrophoretische anzeigetafel unter verwendung von graustufenfähigkeit mit flächenmodulation - Google Patents

Elektrophoretische anzeigetafel unter verwendung von graustufenfähigkeit mit flächenmodulation Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0595812B1
EP0595812B1 EP92902841A EP92902841A EP0595812B1 EP 0595812 B1 EP0595812 B1 EP 0595812B1 EP 92902841 A EP92902841 A EP 92902841A EP 92902841 A EP92902841 A EP 92902841A EP 0595812 B1 EP0595812 B1 EP 0595812B1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
display
grey scale
background
pattern
grey
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Application number
EP92902841A
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English (en)
French (fr)
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EP0595812A4 (de
EP0595812A1 (de
Inventor
Frank J. Disanto
Denis A. Krusos
Christopher Laspina
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Anixa Biosciences Inc
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Copytele Inc
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    • GPHYSICS
    • G09EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09GARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
    • G09G3/00Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes
    • G09G3/20Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters
    • G09G3/34Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters by control of light from an independent source
    • G09G3/3433Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters by control of light from an independent source using light modulating elements actuated by an electric field and being other than liquid crystal devices and electrochromic devices
    • G09G3/344Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters by control of light from an independent source using light modulating elements actuated by an electric field and being other than liquid crystal devices and electrochromic devices based on particles moving in a fluid or in a gas, e.g. electrophoretic devices
    • GPHYSICS
    • G09EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09GARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
    • G09G2300/00Aspects of the constitution of display devices
    • G09G2300/06Passive matrix structure, i.e. with direct application of both column and row voltages to the light emitting or modulating elements, other than LCD or OLED
    • GPHYSICS
    • G09EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09GARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
    • G09G3/00Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes
    • G09G3/20Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with visual indicators other than cathode-ray tubes for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters
    • G09G3/2007Display of intermediate tones
    • G09G3/2044Display of intermediate tones using dithering
    • G09G3/2051Display of intermediate tones using dithering with use of a spatial dither pattern

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to electrophoretic information displays (EPID) in general and more particularly to apparatus which operates in conjunction with an EPID display enabling such a display to operate with grey scale capability.
  • EPID electrophoretic information displays
  • electrophoretic displays have been widely described and disclosed in the prior art and essentially the assignee herein, Copytele Inc., of Huntington Station, New York has developed an electrophoretic display which has an image area of approximately 28 x 21.6 cm (11 x 8 1/2 inches) and is designed to be used either as a separate display or to be combined with other displays.
  • the company has the ability to combine as many as four such displays to create larger area displays.
  • the information on such displays can be changed either locally or remotely and can be viewed at an angle of nearly 180 degrees.
  • Such displays have been extremely high resolution and can accommodate over 160,000 pixels within an image area of approximately 7.1 cm (2.8 inches) diagonally.
  • a conductive plate Spaced above the horizontal and vertical line pattern is a conductive plate.
  • the space between the conductive plate and the X and Y line pattern is filed with an electrophoretic dispersion containing chargeable pigment particles.
  • an electrophoretic dispersion suitable for operation with the display as well as techniques for fabricating the display. Hence, in this manner the displays can be fabricated to contain large effective display areas while being relatively thin. These displays are capable of high resolution and relatively low power consumption.
  • test patterns are associated with grey scale capability, namely with the display of various grey levels as located between black and white.
  • grey scale capability is a desirable feature in conjunction with any type of display.
  • An electrophoretic display either presents a black or white type of representation of an image which is conveniently referred to as dark or light. Basically, the color of the image is a function of the color of the pigment particles and the color of the suspension that they are suspended in.
  • the display may be black and white, yellow and black and so on.
  • the amount of pigment removed and hence the darkness of each pixel is a function of the time duration during which the appropriate voltage is applied to the rows and columns of the display.
  • the timing generator can cause different pixels as displayed to have different darknesses or grey scale values by varying the time during which the voltage is applied to the display.
  • an electrophoretic information display wherein said electrophoretic display is an X-Y addressable display with each X-Y coordinate indicative of a given column and row intersection, with each X-Y coordinate defining a pixel, which pixel when energized provides a different intensity display as compared to a non-energized pixel
  • said electrophoretic display is an X-Y addressable display with each X-Y coordinate indicative of a given column and row intersection, with each X-Y coordinate defining a pixel, which pixel when energized provides a different intensity display as compared to a non-energized pixel
  • means are coupled to said display for impressing upon said display a plurality of predetermined digital patterns that are independent of data or an image written on said display to cause said pixels in said display to be energized with respect to other pixels in said display according to a selected one of such patterns, said energized pixels being of same intensity as those pixels of an image on said display and each of said predetermined digital patterns being distinct and arranged in repetitive configurations that produce different grey
  • grey scale operation at different shades of grey can be provided on the electrophoretic display by means of area modulation.
  • Area modulation can be used to shade either the foreground, the background or both the foreground and the background.
  • electrophoretic displays as other displays, portray information by writing in two different colours or shades of the same colour. These, of course, can be referred to as black or white, although many other colour combinations are available as indicated above.
  • the normal background colour is the colour of the pigment used in the display and the written characters and graphics are generated by removing pigment from the appropriate areas.
  • the pigment is removed from the background while pigment is retained in the areas of the characters or graphics. This is the same difference, for example, between a negative and positive in photography.
  • area modulation By performing area modulation by writing a pattern of either black or white pixels in either the background, foreground or both, permits generation of shades of grey. It is also understood that area modulation can be used with any relatively high resolution display to in fact provide a grey scale capability for the display.
  • a method of providing grey scale capability for electrophoretic information display of the type employing pixel selection, characterised by the steps of: storing a plurality of digital patterns with each said digital pattern being distinct and arranged in repetitive configurations that produce different grey scale levels, said stored patterns, when applied to an electrophoretic display, to cause said pixels in said display to be energized with respect to other pixels in said display in accordance with a desired grey scale level, and with each said energized pixel being of same intensity as those pixels of an image on said display, and selecting a stored pattern for application to said display by means independent of data or an image written on said display, to cause said display to exhibit said grey scale level whereby the area about said image is effectively modulated according to said pattern to vary the contrast of said image with respect to the display background.
  • EPID electrophoretic information display
  • FIG. 1 there is shown a side view of a typical electrophoretic display 10.
  • the display 10 of Figure 1 is filled with an electrophoretic solution 20 which includes light colored pigment particles suspended in a dark dye solution.
  • electrophoretic solution 20 which includes light colored pigment particles suspended in a dark dye solution.
  • the display can consist of a dark pigment suspended in a light solution and so on.
  • the display contains a front glass sheet or viewing surface 21.
  • the eye of the viewer 15 is shown viewing the front of the display via the glass sheet 21.
  • superimposed upon the glass sheet 21 by suitable etching techniques are columns 23 and rows 25.
  • the rows are made from an extremely thin layer of idiumtin-oxide (ITO) while the columns are made from thin layers of aluminum or other suitable metal.
  • ITO idiumtin-oxide
  • These patterns, as indicated, are provided in extremely thin layers and constitute an XY matrix.
  • the layers of ITO as can be seen by reference to the above-noted patent are relatively thin being approximately 3000 Angstroms thick.
  • the grid or columns and the rows or cathodes are spaced from one another and insulated from one another by means of an insulating layer 22. While the grids and cathodes have been specified in terms of rows and columns, it is understood that the terms can be interchanged as desired.
  • Each of the grid and cathode intersections are associated with a pigment well 24. These wells contain electrophoretic solution which is in the cavity 20.
  • the columns and rows are separated from a back electrode 26 which is also fabricated on a sheet of glass 27 and constitutes a thin layer of ITO.
  • the spacers such as 12 and 23 can be implemented in many different ways and essentially serve to mechanically separate the display or panel 10.
  • the pigment particles contained in the electrophoretic solution 20 are brought forward towards the viewing surface in order to fill the wells formed between the rows and columns.
  • a well such as 24
  • the voltage on the rows and columns and rear cover is then set, such that the wells remain filled, but pigment spaced between the rear cover and the columns are swept onto the rear cover plate 26.
  • the pigment in the individual wells 24 is forced out of the wells exposing the dye solution and making that intersection (pixel) dark.
  • FIG. 2 there is shown a plan view of an enlarged representation of an electrophoretic display cell or panel according to Figure 1.
  • each well is accommodated between an intersection of a column metal layer 23, which is insulatively separated from a row layer of ITO 25.
  • the well 24 forms a pixel area which is indicative of an XY intersection of the ITO display.
  • the object of the present invention is to provide grey scale capability and this grey scale capability is performed in a high resolution electrophoretic display. It is noted that the resolution of the display has to be high to accommodate area modulation and derive the particular aspects and benefits of this technique.
  • FIG 3 there is shown a representation of the letter E as for example, displayed on a conventional electrophoretic display.
  • the states of the electrophoretic display for example as shown in Figure 3, are black and white. It is understood that the letter E will be visible if the pixels were darker than the background.
  • area modulation is accomplished by writing a pattern of either black or white pels in either the background, the foreground or both.
  • the high resolution provided by an electrophoretic display permits the use of area modulation to generate shades of grey.
  • Area modulation can be employed with any relatively high resolution display. Appearance of the grey scale due to area modulation is a physiological consequence of the resolution of the human eye. The effect is obtained when the angle subtended by the black and white pels as seen by the viewer, approaches the resolution of the human eye.
  • a resolution of 200 lines per inch in both the horizontal and vertical directions is available.
  • This character block yields a display with 25 lines of 80 characters each on a display whose dimensions are approximately 6.4 x 3.2 inches.
  • Figure 3 there is shown the character E which is represented in black on a relatively white background. It is, of course, understood that the inverse of this image could also be provided by the electrophoretic display.
  • the character E within the character block 32 having a 50 percent grey background there is again shown the character E within the character block 32 having a 50 percent grey background.
  • the character E is the same as shown in Figure 3 but the background consists of alternate pixels of black and white as can be seen, for example, from Figure 4.
  • the 16 pixels are indicative of white, black, white, black and so on.
  • the pattern is black, white, black, white and so on. This pattern then continues to alternate down and across the display so that it alternates as to the 16 horizontal pixels and the 24 vertical pixels.
  • the background appears grey when the image is viewed at a distance where the individual pels are unresolved.
  • the number of grey shades obtainable via area modulation is again a function of the display's resolution, the size of the character and the viewing distance.
  • the background area is modulated accordingly to produce patterns which have grey scale capability due to the nature of the modulation technique.
  • FIG. 5 there is shown the character block which now possesses an area modulated background which is 93.25 percent black. This is obtained by formulating each horizontal line within the character block, all within the display area by means of a particular Hex code.
  • line 50 is indicative of the Hex code EE where black is equal to binary one and white is equal to binary 0.
  • the display lines as follows.
  • the first line 50 as seen is BBBWBBBWBBBWBBBW (Hex EE).
  • the next three lines 51, 52, and 53 are all black or all B (Hex FF).
  • the fourth line is BWBBBWBBBWBBBWBB (Hex BB).
  • the Hex code for the line is a repetitive pattern which specifies the display background as in Figure 5 to obtain a background which is 93.25 percent black.
  • the line pattern for the display of Figure 5 is HEX, EE, FF, FF, FF, BB, FF, FF, FF and repeats for the 24 lines.
  • FIG. 6 there is shown an area modulated background or character block which is 87.5 percent black.
  • the Hex line values are shown at the right hand side to denote the repetitive pattern.
  • line 61 is BWBBBWBBBWBBBWBB which is Hex code BB.
  • Line 62 is all black which is Hex FF.
  • Line 63 is BBBWBBBWBBBWBBBW which is hex code EE.
  • Line 64 is all black as Hex code FF.
  • FIG. 7 there is shown an area modulated background pattern which is 62.5 percent black.
  • the Hex code is shown at the right and is a relatively simple repeating code with the first line 70 being WBBBWBBBWBBBWBBB or Hex 77.
  • Line 71 is BBWBBBWBBBWBBBWBWB which is Hex DD and then the pattern repeats as Hex 77, DD, 77, DD, 77, DD...etc.
  • Line 80 is BWBWBWBW... etc.
  • Line 81 is WBWBWB etc. which respectively denotes the Hex code of AA and 55, which code repeats for the 24 lines.
  • FIG. 9 there is shown an area modulated display or character block which is 37.5 percent black.
  • the Hex code is shown on the right as line 90 is Hex code AA as for example indicative of line 80 of Figure 8, while line 91 is Hex code 44 which is WBWWWBWWWBWWWBWW.
  • Line 92 is the same as line 90 (AA) while line 93 is Hex code 11 or WWWBWWWBWWWBWWWB.
  • the code then alternates as seen in Figure 9.
  • FIG. 10 depicts a character block or display having 25 percent black background.
  • the Hex code is shown on the right hand side for each line.
  • FIG 11 it shows a display or character block, the Hex code again at the right exhibiting a 12.4 percent black background.
  • the above-noted figures essentially depict six different patterns which six patterns will yield seven different shades of grey when viewed at normal viewing distance on a 200 x 200 line per inch electrophoretic display. These patterns coupled with black and white yield a system with nine shades of grey. However, in practice, a background of 12.5 percent black can be omitted as exhibiting a small difference from white.
  • the patterns as one can easily ascertain, which are distinct are shown in Figures 5-11. These figures represent various patterns which yield different shades of grey when viewed at a normal viewing distance on a 200 x 200 line per inch electrophoretic display.
  • the system as shown with a 200 line resolution including black and white can produce eight different effective shades of grey.
  • the patterns used to achieve area modulation in a character type or graphics type display when the graphics are formed using special characters must be a factor of the character block. For example, in a display using a character block which is 16 pixels wide and 24 pixels high, the width of the area modulated pattern must be a factor (divisor) of 24 and the height of the pattern must be a factor (divisor) of 16.
  • the figures shown in the above-noted application, as indicated for example in Figure 3 are patterns which are designed for a 16 x 24 pel character block.
  • Displays using shades of grey require that an attribute which describes the image foreground and background colors be designed for each character.
  • the attribute length depends on the total number of different color combinations required. For example, if only one intermediate shade of grey is required between black and white then there are only six combinations of foreground/background colors. These six states are most readily encoded using 4 bits. Bit 0 and 1 specify the foreground color while bits 2 and 3 define the background color. In typical display systems, a byte is devoted to the attribute even though not all 64 states definable by 8 bits are used. The implementation of such a system can be done in a variety of ways.
  • each Y line such as 30 and 31 is associated with suitable drive amplifiers 32 and 33, where each X line such as lines 34 and 35 are associated with suitable amplifiers 36 and 37. It is of course seen in Figure 12, that the dots or dashes between amplifiers 36 and 37 and 32 and 33 are employed to indicate a plurality of additional individual amplifiers indicative of a large number of lines.
  • the display which is the electrophoretic display is provided with high resolution based on the technique of fabricating line patterns and based on presently available display techniques.
  • the driver amplifiers 32 and 33 and 36 and 37 are fabricated by typical integrated circuit techniques and may for example by CMOS devices, which are well known and many of which are available as conventional integrated circuits.
  • the resolution of the electrophoretic display panel is high based on modern integrated circuit techniques and including the fabrication techniques employed in conjunction with such displays. It is anticipated that the resolution of such displays can be as high as 40,000 dots per square inch.
  • the Y amplifier such as 32 and 33 are coupled to a Y address register 41.
  • the address register 41 is a well known component consisting of various conventional decoding devices including buffer registers and so on for the storage of data and interfacing with the various columns associated with display 10.
  • the amplifiers 36 and 37 have inputs coupled to an address module 40 which is similar to module 41 and operates to provide the Hex address information for the XY intersections provided by the display.
  • Means for addressing an XY matrix is solved by many typical circuit solutions in the prior art and such decoders as the Y address register 41 and the X address register 40 are well known components in the prior art.
  • Both the X and the Y address registers are coupled to master decode module 50 which operates to decode data and to generate the X and Y addresses for such data as is conventionally known.
  • the area modulation memory 51 contains in storage suitable digital patterns, such as for example the Hex codes as shown in Figure 4-11 which will enable one to produce a display according to a desired grey background.
  • the stored data as indicated is associated with 4 bits which determine the darkness or content of both the background and foreground depending upon whether one wants to introduce the grey in the foreground or to introduce the grey in the background.
  • the area modulation memory contains the patterns as shown in the above-noted figures to enable one to provide 6 or more levels of grey associated with a particular display and according to the preference of the user.
  • each line of the display can be modulated by means of the code contained in memory 51 to thereby produce a uniform grey or other background for the entire display.
  • each character block in a different manner or modulate each line in a different manner or a portion of the display to produce various grey formats throughout the display. This can enable one to highlight certain regions of the display or certain areas of the displayed text with respect to the other areas and according to the intensity of the foreground or background.
  • the decode module 50 is also coupled to a character generator 52 which character generator is a conventional component.
  • the character generator 52 is coupled to a keyboard 53.
  • the character generator 52, the decoder 50 and the keyboard 53 may be part of a conventional computer system such as a PC system.
  • FIG. 12 There is another path shown in Figure 12, whereby there is a data receiver 57 which is capable of receiving data from a typical telephone line or other transmission medium.
  • This data receiver may be a conventional modem.
  • the output of the data receiver is coupled to an analog to digital converter 56 for transforming the analog signals at the input to digital signals at the output of the analog-to-digital converter 56.
  • the analog-to-digital converter 56 is associated with a digital signal pixel generator 58 which operates in conjunction with the master decoder 50 to allow one to perform area modulation at various pixel sites as desired.
  • the output of the decoder 50 is also coupled to the X address register and the Y address register 40 and 41.
  • the area modulation memory 51 is shown coupled to the decoder 50, but can of course be part of the microprocessor memory where a certain section will be reserved for the different area modulation background codes.
  • the module designated as grey scale select 60 is coupled to the area modulation memory 51.
  • the module 60 decodes the particular grey scale request which data may be forwarded to the module 60 by means of the character generator 52 or by means of the decoder 50. In this manner, the system by decoding the transmitted data would automatically determine what grey scale is to be utilized for a particular display. This can be automatically done by means of suitable decoders or can be implemented at the preference of the user.
  • the character generator 52 is also coupled to the grey scale select module 60 and a user while viewing an image can go ahead and select the grey scale value desired and according to the preference of the user.
  • area modulation can be simply implemented.
  • One technique of implementing the area modulation is that the decoder or microprocessor 50 combines the area modulation code as stored in the area modulation memory with the data code. For example, if black is equal to 1 and white is equal to 0 then an "AND" or "OR” function can be used. In the OR function, whenever a pixel does not contain data, the pixel would receive the exact binary digit indicative of the background code. Where a pixel does contain data, the output will be a 1 if the data is a 1.
  • the OR function provides a full black or dark character with the selected grey background as stored in the area modulation memory 51.
  • the patterns depicted in the above-noted Figures 5-11 can be combined with he data pattern, to provide AND and OR functions or both as will be further explained. To present the characters or graphics with a desired shade of grey, the procedures described above can be used except the OR is replaced with an AND function.
  • both the data and the area modulation bit must be the same in order to produce a black spot at the output. If they are not the same then the color of the pixel remains white. As one can see, one will produce a character having a different grey scale which is presented on an all white or in the case of a negative application on an all black background.
  • the function used to obtain a grey background is the AND function occurring between the pixel data and the stored area modulation pattern.
  • To make the characters grey in an inverse video mode one would employ the OR function between a grey background pattern and a pixel data pattern. As indicated above and briefly described, either the characters (foreground) or the background of a display can have grey scale. Both these options and the no grey scale option can be readily generated by means of simple combinatorial circuits.
  • the grey bit stream would be that stream or data which has been defined in conjunction with Figures 5-11.
  • an AND gate 71 having one input designated as by CHAR and indicative of the character bit stream and the other input receiving the grey bit stream as again shown in the above-noted figures.
  • the output of the AND gate 71 is directed to the display or to the display drivers as is the output of gate 70.
  • the grey characters are generated by the AND gate 71 which will produce grey character on a constant background.
  • the color of each character can be described by a number of additional bits which are designated as attribute bits or an attribute byte. This set of bits or byte are normally required for each character to be displayed.
  • the number of bytes of attribute data could be reduced by means of many different schemes which are not pertinent to this aspect of the invention. For example, an attribute byte with the following bit interpretations can be employed for generating grey scale displays.
  • a logic circuit capable of generating an output signal for the display which provides a grey background or a grey character as controlled by the attribute bits.
  • the attribute bits designated as A0 and Al define the type of display. For example, 00 is no grey, 01 is a grey background and 10 is a grey character.
  • the character bit stream is directed to a 3 input AND gate 80 and is also directed to a 2 input AND gate 81.
  • the grey bit stream is directed to one input of an OR gate 82 and to one input of the AND gate 81.
  • the attribute bits which are A0 and Al are applied to inverters 83 and 84.
  • the output of inverter 83 is directed to one input of AND gate 80 and one input of AND gate 85.
  • the output of inverter 84 is applied to one input of AND gate 80 and to one input of AND gate 86.
  • the output of OR gate 82 is coupled to one input of AND gate 86 while the output of AND gate 81 is coupled to input of AND gate 85.
  • the AND gates 85 and 86 also receive the attribute bits which are the uninverted bits.
  • the outputs of the three AND gates 85, 86 and 80 are coupled to three inputs of an output OR gate 87, which supplies the output display bit stream.
  • bit streams are suitably directed through appropriate gates to provide a grey background with a black character, to provide no grey, or to provide a grey character on a light background.
  • the logic implemented by the circuit should be well understood by those skilled in the art.
  • FIG 16 there is shown a logic arrangement which based on the attribute bit table shown will produce either no grey, a grey background, a grey character, grey background of a given intensity or a grey background of another intensity specified as grey No. 2.
  • the attribute bits Al and A0 can combine to produce no grey, a grey 1 background with black characters, grey No. 2 with a white background, grey No. 1 background with grey No. 2 characters.
  • the logic circuit shown in Figure 16 defines a simplified logic circuit which is predicated on using either a grey pattern of a first intensity for the background and another grey pattern of a different intensity for the foreground and so on. These are indicated as a grey No. 1 pattern and a grey No. 2 pattern. Both of these patterns are typical of those patters, for example, shown in Figures 5-11 as described above.
  • the character bit stream is inserted into the circuit with the attribute bits A0 and A1 having the binary characteristics depicted in the table of Figure 16.
  • the circuit of Figure 16 has four output AND gates designated as 90, 91, 92 and 93 with gate 90 being a no grey gate, gate 91 producing the grey 1 output as a background, gate 92 producing the grey 2 character and gate 93 enabling one to provide a grey 1 background and a grey 2 character.
  • gate 93 receives the Al uninverted as does gate 92, while gates 91 and 90 receive the Al inverted signal.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
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Claims (14)

  1. Vorrichtung zur Schaffung eines Graustufungsvermögens für eine elektrophoretische Informationsanzeige (EPID), wobei besagte elektrophoretische Anzeige eine X-Y-adressierbare Anzeige ist, in der jede X-Y-Koordinate einen gegebenen Schnittpunkt zwischen Spalten und Zeilen bezeichnet und jede X-Y-Koordinate ein Bildelement definiert, das bei Erregung eine Anzeige anderer Intensität ergibt als ein nichterregtes Bildelement, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß
       an besagte Anzeige Mittel zum Aufdrücken von mehreren vorgegebenen Digitalstrukturen auf besagte Anzeige angekoppelt sind, die unabhängig von den Daten oder einem auf besagte Anzeige geschriebenen Bild sind und die Erregung besagter Bildelemente in besagter Anzeige in bezug auf andere Bildelemente in besagter Anzeige gemäß einer gewählten derartigen Struktur veranlassen, wobei besagte erregte Bildelemente die gleiche Intensität haben wie jene Bildelemente eines Bildes auf besagter Anzeige und jede besagte vorgegebene Digitalstruktur verschiedenartig und in sich wiederholenden Konfigurationen angeordnet ist, die unterschiedliche Graustufen ergeben, und wobei die Fläche um besagtes Bild zur Variierung des Kontrastes des besagten Bildes in bezug auf den Anzeigehintergrund gemäß besagter Struktur wirksam moduliert wird.
  2. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß besagtes Bildelement bei Erregung eine dunkle Intensität im Vergleich zu einer helleren Intensität im nicht-erregten Zustand zur Anzeige bringt, wobei besagte dunklere Intensität einer Schwarzstufe und besagte hellere Intensität einer Weißstufe entspricht.
  3. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß besagte Digitalstruktur mit Hilfe von UND-Schaltungsmitteln so auf besagte Anzeige aufgedrückt ist, daß die auf besagte Anzeige geschriebenen Zeichen besagte Graustufe in bezug auf den Hintergrund besagter Anzeige aufweisen.
  4. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß besagte Digitalstruktur mit Hilfe von ODER-Schaltungsmitteln so auf besagte Anzeige aufgedrückt ist, daß besagter Hintergrund besagte Graustufe in bezug auf Zeichen auf besagter Anzeige aufweist.
  5. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß besagte Mittel weitere Schaltungsmittel umfassen, die gemäß besagter Digitalstruktur und je nach besagter gewünschter Graustufe sowohl die Erregung von auf besagte Anzeige geschriebenen Zeichen als auch die Erregung besagten Hintergrundes besagter Anzeige veranlassen.
  6. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß Speichermittel zur Speicherung von mehreren jeweils eine andere Graustufe andeutenden Digitalstrukturen und
       mit besagten Speichermitteln in Verbindung stehende Mittel zur Wahl einer beliebigen gespeicherten Digitalstruktur zwecks Anwendung in besagter Anzeige vorgesehen sind.
  7. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 6, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß besagte elektrophoretische Anzeige eine hochauflösende Anzeige ist.
  8. Verfahren zur Erstellung des Graustufungsvermögens für eine mit Bildelementwahl arbeitende elektrophoretische Informationsanzeige (EPID), gekennzeichnet durch die folgenden Schritte:
    Speicherung von mehreren Digitalstrukturen, wobei jede besagte Digitalstruktur verschiedenartig und in sich wiederholenden Konfigurationen angeordnet ist, die unterschiedliche Graustufen ergeben und besagte gespeicherte Strukturen bei Anlegen an eine elektrophoretische Anzeige die Erregung besagter Bildelemente in besagter Anzeige in bezug auf andere Bildelemente in besagter Anzeige gemäß einer gewünschten Graustufe veranlassen und jedes besagte erregte Bildelement die gleiche Intensität hat wie jene Bildelemente eines Bildes auf besagter Anzeige, und
    Wahl einer gespeicherten Struktur zur Anlegung an besagte Anzeige mit von den Daten oder einem auf besagte Anzeige geschriebenen Bild unabhängigen Mitteln, um besagte Anzeige zur Vorbringung der besagten Graustufe zu veranlassen, wobei die Fläche um besagtes Bild zur Variierung des Kontrastes des besagten Bildes in bezug auf den Anzeigehintergrund gemäß besagter Struktur wirksam moduliert wird.
  9. Verfahren nach Anspruch 8, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß besagte erregte Bildelemente Hintergrund-Bildelemente zur Erzeugung eines grauen Hintergrundes in bezug auf ein Zeichen anderer Intensität sind.
  10. Verfahren nach Anspruch 8, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß besagte erregte Bildelemente Zeichen-Bildelemente zur Erzeugung eines grauen Zeichens mit in bezug auf einen Hintergrung anderer Intensität sind.
  11. Verfahren nach Anspruch 10, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß besagter Hintergrund anderer Intensität für Weiß bezeichnend ist.
  12. Verfahren nach Anspruch 10, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß besagte gespeicherte Digitalstrukturen mindestens sechs Strukturen sind, die sechs verschiedene Graustufen bezeichnen.
  13. Verfahren nach Anspruch 10, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß der Schritt des ODERns der besagten gewählten Struktur mit einer Zeichenstruktur vorgesehen ist, bevor besagte Zeichenstruktur zur Anzeige eines Zeichens gegebener Intensität auf einem Hintergrund der gewählten Graustufe an besagte Anzeige angelegt wird.
  14. Verfahren nach Anspruch 10, dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß der Schritt des UNDens der besagten gewählten Struktur mit einer Zeichenstruktur vorgesehen ist, bevor besagte Zeichenstruktur zur Anzeige eines Hintergrundes gegebener Intensität mit einem aufgedruckten Zeichen der gewählten Graustufe an besagte Anzeige angelegt wird.
EP92902841A 1991-07-15 1991-07-15 Elektrophoretische anzeigetafel unter verwendung von graustufenfähigkeit mit flächenmodulation Expired - Lifetime EP0595812B1 (de)

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PCT/US1991/004834 WO1993002443A1 (en) 1991-07-15 1991-07-15 Electrophoretic display employing grey scale capability utilizing area modulation

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EP0595812A1 EP0595812A1 (de) 1994-05-11
EP0595812A4 EP0595812A4 (de) 1995-03-01
EP0595812B1 true EP0595812B1 (de) 1996-12-11

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US6124851A (en) 1995-07-20 2000-09-26 E Ink Corporation Electronic book with multiple page displays
US6473072B1 (en) 1998-05-12 2002-10-29 E Ink Corporation Microencapsulated electrophoretic electrostatically-addressed media for drawing device applications
US6504524B1 (en) 2000-03-08 2003-01-07 E Ink Corporation Addressing methods for displays having zero time-average field
US6531997B1 (en) 1999-04-30 2003-03-11 E Ink Corporation Methods for addressing electrophoretic displays
US6683333B2 (en) 2000-07-14 2004-01-27 E Ink Corporation Fabrication of electronic circuit elements using unpatterned semiconductor layers
US6704133B2 (en) 1998-03-18 2004-03-09 E-Ink Corporation Electro-optic display overlays and systems for addressing such displays
US7202847B2 (en) 2002-06-28 2007-04-10 E Ink Corporation Voltage modulated driver circuits for electro-optic displays
US7667684B2 (en) 1998-07-08 2010-02-23 E Ink Corporation Methods for achieving improved color in microencapsulated electrophoretic devices
CN102044205B (zh) * 2009-10-20 2012-11-28 晶宏半导体股份有限公司 电子纸装置显示方法
US8466852B2 (en) 1998-04-10 2013-06-18 E Ink Corporation Full color reflective display with multichromatic sub-pixels

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US6664944B1 (en) 1995-07-20 2003-12-16 E-Ink Corporation Rear electrode structures for electrophoretic displays
US7304634B2 (en) 1995-07-20 2007-12-04 E Ink Corporation Rear electrode structures for electrophoretic displays
US7352353B2 (en) 1995-07-20 2008-04-01 E Ink Corporation Electrostatically addressable electrophoretic display
US6232950B1 (en) 1997-08-28 2001-05-15 E Ink Corporation Rear electrode structures for displays
US6177921B1 (en) 1997-08-28 2001-01-23 E Ink Corporation Printable electrode structures for displays
DE69917441T2 (de) * 1998-03-18 2004-09-23 E-Ink Corp., Cambridge Elektrophoretische anzeige
US6724519B1 (en) 1998-12-21 2004-04-20 E-Ink Corporation Protective electrodes for electrophoretic displays
JP2006285286A (ja) * 2000-04-25 2006-10-19 Fuji Xerox Co Ltd 画像表示装置及び画像形成方法
CN1197044C (zh) * 2000-05-26 2005-04-13 精工爱普生株式会社 显示装置及显示装置的驱动方法
US8089687B2 (en) 2009-12-21 2012-01-03 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Electro-optical display systems
US7957054B1 (en) 2009-12-21 2011-06-07 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Electro-optical display systems

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US4688031A (en) * 1984-03-30 1987-08-18 Wang Laboratories, Inc. Monochromatic representation of color images
US4833464A (en) * 1987-09-14 1989-05-23 Copytele, Inc. Electrophoretic information display (EPID) apparatus employing grey scale capability

Cited By (12)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6124851A (en) 1995-07-20 2000-09-26 E Ink Corporation Electronic book with multiple page displays
US6680725B1 (en) 1995-07-20 2004-01-20 E Ink Corporation Methods of manufacturing electronically addressable displays
US6704133B2 (en) 1998-03-18 2004-03-09 E-Ink Corporation Electro-optic display overlays and systems for addressing such displays
US8466852B2 (en) 1998-04-10 2013-06-18 E Ink Corporation Full color reflective display with multichromatic sub-pixels
US6473072B1 (en) 1998-05-12 2002-10-29 E Ink Corporation Microencapsulated electrophoretic electrostatically-addressed media for drawing device applications
US6738050B2 (en) 1998-05-12 2004-05-18 E Ink Corporation Microencapsulated electrophoretic electrostatically addressed media for drawing device applications
US7667684B2 (en) 1998-07-08 2010-02-23 E Ink Corporation Methods for achieving improved color in microencapsulated electrophoretic devices
US6531997B1 (en) 1999-04-30 2003-03-11 E Ink Corporation Methods for addressing electrophoretic displays
US6504524B1 (en) 2000-03-08 2003-01-07 E Ink Corporation Addressing methods for displays having zero time-average field
US6683333B2 (en) 2000-07-14 2004-01-27 E Ink Corporation Fabrication of electronic circuit elements using unpatterned semiconductor layers
US7202847B2 (en) 2002-06-28 2007-04-10 E Ink Corporation Voltage modulated driver circuits for electro-optic displays
CN102044205B (zh) * 2009-10-20 2012-11-28 晶宏半导体股份有限公司 电子纸装置显示方法

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE69123604D1 (de) 1997-01-23
JPH07500680A (ja) 1995-01-19
JP2958114B2 (ja) 1999-10-06
EP0595812A4 (de) 1995-03-01
WO1993002443A1 (en) 1993-02-04
CA2113570C (en) 1996-05-07
DE69123604T2 (de) 1997-04-17
CA2113570A1 (en) 1993-02-04
EP0595812A1 (de) 1994-05-11

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