JP2012103444A - Information display panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information display panel which is flexible as a whole and is prevented from being excessively bent, and in which a local force applied to a panel part of the information display panel is controlled to eliminate occurrence of the peeling of adhesion between a barrier and a base plate and the breakage of the barrier.SOLUTION: In an information display panel in which a display medium having a display memory property is encapsulated between two mutually facing flexible base plates with a gap therebetween secured by a barrier and the display medium is driven between the base plates to display information, a reinforcement seat is stuck over the outside surface of at least either one of the base plates of the information display panel via a sticking material.

Description

  The present invention relates to a flexible information display panel, and is particularly intended to adjust its flexibility (also referred to as flexibility).

  Conventionally, a display medium having a display memory property is sealed between two substrates facing each other with a gap between the substrates secured by a partition wall, and information such as images is displayed by moving the display medium between the substrates. A display panel is known (for example, Patent Document 1). Such an information display panel is expected to be developed into a portable terminal display, electronic paper, and the like, and as one of the conditions for that purpose, it is required to make the entire information display panel flexible. For this reason, various developments have been made with respect to making the entire information display panel flexible.

JP2007-148381

  In order to make the entire information display panel flexible, a flexible resin sheet such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is used as a sheet for the information display panel, and a partition provided to ensure a gap between the substrates. It is preferable to use a resist material or a dry film resist material to which photolithography can be applied. However, in the case of a flexible information display panel obtained with such a configuration, as described below, There was a serious problem.

That is, since the entire information display panel is flexible, it may be bent excessively. At that time, excessive stress is concentrated on the contact between the partition and the substrate of the information display panel. There arises a problem that the adhesion between the two and the partition is peeled off or the partition wall is broken. The following cases can be cited as examples of excessive bending.
1) When the information display panel is rolled like a scroll In this case, since the information display panel is bent with a large curvature, excessive stress concentrates on the contact point between the partition wall of the information display panel and the substrate.
2) When the front and back surfaces of the information display panel are pinched with fingers In this case, if the position of the finger is shifted between the front and back surfaces of the information display panel, the information display panel is between the fingers Is bent. At this time, since it is bent with a large curvature, excessive stress concentrates on the contact between the partition wall of the information display panel and the substrate.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problem, and in an information display panel that is flexible as a whole, the information display panel is prevented from being excessively bent, and is applied locally to the panel portion of the information display panel. It is an object of the present invention to propose an information display panel by controlling the effective force so that the adhesion between the partition wall and the substrate does not peel off or the partition wall is damaged.

The gist configuration of the present invention is as follows.
1. An information display panel in which a display medium having a display memory property is sealed between two flexible substrates facing each other with a gap between the substrates secured by a partition, and the display medium is driven between the substrates to display information In
An information display panel, wherein a reinforcing sheet is bonded to an outer surface of at least one of the information display panels via a bonding material.

2. When the reinforcing sheet is bonded to the outer surface of at least one of the information display panels via the bonding material, the bonding material is disposed on the entire surface of the information display panel. 2. The information display panel as described in 1 above, wherein

3. The bonding material includes an adhesive, and the reinforcing sheet is bonded to at least one of the information display panels via the adhesive of the bonding material. Or the information display panel of 2.

According to the present invention, even if the entire information display panel is flexible, the reinforcing sheet is bonded to the outer surface of at least one of the information display panels via the bonding material. As a whole, moderate flexibility can be secured, local excessive deflection of the information display panel can be prevented, and damage due to the local deflection can be avoided.
In addition, because of the addition of a reinforcing sheet via a bonding material, the stress generated when the information display panel is bent is absorbed by the bonding material arranged on the flexible substrate. By suppressing the stress between the partition walls of the panel and the flexible substrate, it is possible to effectively avoid the damage that peels off the joint points between the partition walls of the information display panel and the flexible substrate.

  As a preferred example of the present invention, when the reinforcing sheet is bonded to the outer surface of at least one of the information display panels, a bonding material is disposed on the entire surface of the information display panel. The bonding material contains an adhesive, and at least one substrate of the information display panel is bonded to the reinforcing sheet via the adhesive of the bonding material. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to more effectively absorb the stress generated when the information display panel is bent, and as a result, the occurrence of breakage can be further reduced.

(A), (b) is a figure for demonstrating an example of the information display panel of this invention using the particle group containing a charging particle as a display medium with a display memory property, respectively. (A), (b) is a figure for demonstrating the other example of the information display panel of this invention using the particle group containing a charging particle as a display medium with a display memory property, respectively. These are the figures for demonstrating the other example of the information display panel of this invention using the particle group containing a charging particle as a display medium with display memory property. These are the figures for demonstrating the other example of the information display panel of this invention using the particle group containing a charging particle as a display medium with display memory property. (A), (b) is a figure for demonstrating an example of the information display panel of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the other example of the information display panel of this invention. It is a block diagram for demonstrating an example of the electronic paper using the information display panel of this invention. It is a block diagram for demonstrating an example of the information display system using the electronic paper carrying the information display panel of this invention. It is a block diagram for demonstrating another example of the information display system using the electronic paper of this invention.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of electronic paper using the information display panel of the present invention will be described. Here, the electronic paper is an information display panel itself including a display medium and a screen having a display memory property that can display and hold an image or the like, or an information display panel and an information display panel. Or at least a connection terminal connector for connecting to a driver IC for controlling the voltage applied to the electrodes and a drive device for driving the display medium. In the former electronic paper, information is displayed using a counter electrode provided in an external driving device, and in the latter electronic paper, information is displayed using a counter electrode provided on the substrate of the information display panel and an external driving device. Display. With either configuration, the electronic paper on which information is displayed can be used separately from the driving device. A system combining the electronic paper and its driving device is referred to as an information display system.

<About the information display panel of the present invention>
First, among the information display panels of the present invention, an example of an information display panel arranged in a space between two substrates using a particle group containing a chargeable particle as a display medium is shown in FIGS. It demonstrates based on b)-FIG. 2 (a), (b). In this case, the space between the substrates is either filled with gas, is in a vacuum, or is filled with an insulating liquid.

  In the example shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, at least two types of display media (in this case, including negatively charged white particles 3Wa) configured as a particle group including particles having at least optical reflectance and chargeability are included. The white display medium 3W configured as a particle group and the black display medium 3B configured as a particle group including the positively charged black particles 3Ba are shown) in each cell 7 formed of the partition walls 4, and the flexible The electrode 5 (stripe electrode) provided on the substrate 1 and the transparent electrode 6 (stripe electrode) provided on the flexible substrate 2 on the observation side where at least the display screen area is transparent are formed so as to face each other (for example, a face orthogonal cross). The substrate is moved perpendicularly to the substrates 1 and 2 in accordance with an electric field generated by applying a voltage between the matrix pixel electrode pair. Then, the white display medium 3W is visually recognized by the observer as shown in FIG. 1A, or the white display is displayed by the observer, or the black display medium 3B is visually recognized by the observer as shown in FIG. This makes it possible to display a black and white dot matrix. In addition, in FIG. 1 (a), (b), the reinforcement sheet | seat and the bonding material are abbreviate | omitted and these are mentioned later. Reference numeral 8 denotes an adhesive for joining the partition wall and the substrate. Further, here, an example is shown in which cells formed surrounded by partition walls and matrix pixel electrode pairs (dots) have a one-to-one correspondence.

  In the example shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, at least two types of display media (here, including negatively charged white particles 3Wa) configured as a particle group including particles having at least optical reflectance and chargeability are included. The white display medium 3W configured as a particle group and the black display medium 3B configured as a particle group including positively charged black particles 3Ba are provided on the flexible substrate 1 in each cell formed by the partition walls 4. Generated by applying a voltage between the electrode 5 (pixel electrode with TFT (thin film transistor)) and the transparent solid electrode 6 (common electrode) provided on the flexible substrate 2 on the observation side where at least the display screen area is transparent It moves vertically between the substrates 1 and 2 according to the electric field to be applied. Then, the white display medium 3W is visually recognized by the observer as shown in FIG. 2A, or the white display is displayed by the observer, or the black display medium 3B is visually recognized by the observer as shown in FIG. This makes it possible to display a black and white dot matrix. 2A and 2B, the reinforcing sheet and the bonding material are omitted, and these will be described later. Reference numeral 8 denotes an adhesive for joining the partition wall and the substrate. Further, here, an example is shown in which cells formed surrounded by partition walls and matrix pixel electrode pairs (dots) have a one-to-one correspondence.

Next, among the information display panels of the present invention, an example of an information display panel in which a display medium having a microcapsule type or microcup type electrophoretic display memory is arranged in a space between two substrates. Will be described with reference to FIGS. The same members as those in the example shown in FIG.
In the example shown in FIG. 3, a modification of the configuration shown in FIG. 2 is shown. Two types of display media are enclosed in a microcapsule 10 together with a transparent insulating liquid 9, and the microcapsule 10 is interposed between electrodes. It is the arranged configuration.
The example shown in FIG. 4 shows a modified example of the configuration shown in FIG. 2, in which two types of display media are used as a white display medium (white particle group) 3W and a blue display medium (blue insulating liquid) 9BL. It is the structure enclosed in the cell between attached substrates. The white particle group 3W is moved between the substrates, the white particle group 3W moved to the observation side is visually recognized by the observer, the white display is moved, the white particle group is moved to the back side, and the blue insulating liquid 9BL is The blue display is made visible to the observer, and the matrix is displayed with white and blue dots.
The information display panel of the present invention has a configuration using a display medium having a display memory property, and the display medium includes a group of particles including the above-described chargeable particles, and the display medium includes a cholesteric liquid crystal. is there.

The information display panel of the present invention will be described below.
FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a configuration example of the information display panel of the present invention. In this example, an information display panel having the structure shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B is used, and the same members as those in the examples shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B are denoted by the same reference numerals. The description is omitted. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 11 denotes an information display panel, 12 denotes a reinforcing sheet, and 13 denotes a bonding material between the information display panel 11 and the reinforcing sheet 12.

  In the present embodiment, the reinforcing sheet 12 is disposed so as to face the substrate 1 on the back side (opposite the observation side) of the information display panel, and the bonding material 13 is formed between the reinforcing sheet 12 and the substrate 1. In the meantime, they are arranged locally in the case of FIG. 5A and over the entire surface in the case of FIG. 5B. Further, the reinforcing sheet 12 may be disposed so as to face the substrate 2 on the front side (observation side) of the information display panel. In this case, the reinforcing sheet 12 is preferably made of a transparent material. The bonding material 13 inserted between the reinforcing sheet 12 and the substrate 1 may be arranged in a scattered manner as shown in FIG. 5 (a), but as shown in FIG. It is preferable to arrange as In such a configuration, when the reinforcing sheet 12 is disposed facing the substrate 2 on the front side (observation side) of the information display panel, the reinforcing sheet 12 and the bonding material 13 to be inserted are made of a transparent material. It is essential to configure.

Examples of the material for the reinforcing sheet 12 include resin materials such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polyimide (PI), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), and epoxy resin. A material that is flexible and has resilience due to elasticity, such as a fiber-reinforced plastic material obtained by reinforcing the resin material with glass fiber or carbon fiber, or a metal elastic material such as stainless steel (SUS) is preferable. The reinforcing sheet 12 adjusts the thickness and material to make it less likely to bend than the substrates 1 and 2. In the sheet material whose thickness and material are adjusted, (the bending elastic modulus of the reinforcing sheet material) / (the bending elastic modulus of the substrate sheet material) is preferably 2 to 50, more preferably 2 to 10, and still more preferably. Is 2-5.
In addition, the thickness of the reinforcing sheet 12 may be appropriately set in consideration of the relationship with the flexural modulus of the substrate sheet of the information display panel. When using a sheet of the same material, the thickness is 2 to 50 times the thickness of the sheet as the substrate. If the substrate sheet is 25 μm, a reinforcing sheet having a thickness of 1250 μm, which is 50 times thicker than that, can constitute a sufficiently flexible electronic paper, but if the substrate sheet is 125 μm, it is 50 times thicker than that. Since a 6250 μm thick reinforcing sheet may fail to constitute a flexible electronic paper, in this case, the thickness of the reinforcing sheet is adjusted to about 1250 μm, which is about 10 times the substrate sheet thickness.

As the bonding material 13, it is preferable to use an adhesive material (so-called adhesive) such as rubber, acrylic, silicone or urethane. In addition, an adhesive material having no curability (so-called adhesive), an adhesive having curability but having low elasticity after curing, and the like can be used as the bonding material 13 of the present invention. .
Here, the rubber-based adhesive has natural rubber as the main component elastomer, the acrylic adhesive has the acrylic ester copolymer as the main component elastomer, and the silicone-based adhesive has silicone rubber as the main component. An elastomer having a silicone resin as a tackifier component and a urethane adhesive having a urethane resin as a main component elastomer are commercially available, and these commercially available products can be appropriately selected and used.

The bonding material 13 has sufficient adhesiveness to fix the reinforcing sheet and the flexible substrate of the information display panel so as not to be displaced from each other, and the reinforcing sheet is deformed by deformation of the bonding material itself. A material with a low elastic modulus that can absorb strain generated when bent is adopted. Specifically, the tensile elastic modulus of the material is smaller than the tensile elastic modulus of the material of the flexible substrate, and it is only necessary to keep the shape as a solid. About 1 to 90% of the tensile elastic modulus of the material of the flexible substrate. Are preferred. More preferably, it is about 5 to 80%. Depending on the material, if the tensile elastic modulus of the material of the bonding material is less than 1% of the tensile elastic modulus of the material of the flexible substrate, there is a possibility that it cannot be restored after being deformed. If the tensile modulus of the material exceeds 90% of the tensile modulus of the material of the flexible substrate, the strain due to the deformation received cannot be absorbed and the stress is concentrated on the flexible substrate side. There is a risk of causing peeling at the joint portion.
Further, the thickness of the bonding material 13 is somewhat different depending on the material, but is preferably about 1 μm to 1000 μm. If the thickness of the bonding material 13 is less than 1 μm, the strain caused by the deformation received cannot be absorbed, and stress is concentrated on the flexible substrate side, which may cause peeling at the joint portion between the flexible substrate and the partition wall. If the thickness of the bonding material 13 exceeds 1000 μm, the reinforcing sheet is not bent, and only the information display panel is bent, and the effect of the reinforcing sheet may not be obtained.

  Although the case where the bonding material 13 is locally disposed between the substrates 1 and 2 and the reinforcing sheet has been described above, the bonding material 13 is replaced with the information display panel 11 as shown in FIG. When a continuous layer is provided on the entire surface of the reinforcing sheet 12 between the region corresponding to the display screen region of the substrate 1 on the back side (the side opposite to the observation side) and the reinforcing sheet 12, a bonding made of a low elastic modulus material The material 13a can function as a buffer layer. In this case, as shown in FIG. 6, the adhesive material 13b-2 having a three-layer structure in which the pressure-sensitive adhesive 13b2 is arranged on both sides of the gel material sheet 13b-1 is used to reduce the elasticity. It is effective to interpose the gel-like material sheet 13b-1 excellent in cushioning property at a rate between the substrate 1 of the information display panel 11 and the reinforcing sheet 12. 5 (b) and 6, the reinforcing sheet 12 may be disposed so as to face the substrate 2 on the front side (observation side) of the information display panel 11. In this case, the reinforcing sheet 12 and the pasting sheet are attached. All the laminated materials 13 are made of a transparent material.

Next, an operation when the information display panel 11 is bent will be described.
When the information display panel 11 is bent, a difference occurs between the strain generated in the reinforcing sheet 12 and the strain generated in the substrate. The difference in the strain is absorbed by the bonding material 13.
That is, by sticking the reinforcing sheet 12 having an appropriate bending rigidity to at least one surface of the information display panel 11, it is possible to prevent the information display panel 11 from being excessively bent and When the sheet 12 is bent within the rigidity range, the compressive strain or tensile strain generated on the joint surface between the flexible substrate 1 and the partition wall 4 or the joint surface between the flexible substrate 2 and the partition wall 4 is as follows. The slight distortion that is the difference absorbed by the bonding material 13 is suppressed. In this way, additional stress generated when the information display panel 11 is bent by the addition of the reinforcing sheet 12 and the bonding material 13 is suppressed by the reinforcing sheet 12 and absorbed by the bonding material 13. The

  Therefore, according to the information display panels of the three embodiments described with reference to FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 6, moderate flexibility can be obtained. That is, even if the flexible substrates 1 and 2 are too thin, there is a concern that the conventional separation of the adhesion between the partition walls and the substrate or the damage to the partition walls may occur. By doing so, moderate flexibility can be maintained as the entire information display panel, local excessive bending can be prevented, and damage due to this bending can be avoided. Moreover, since the additional stress generated when the information display panel is bent by the addition of the reinforcing sheet 12 can be absorbed by the bonding material 13, the contact between the partition wall 4 and the flexible substrates 1 and 2 can be absorbed. The stress is not concentrated and breakage can be effectively avoided.

  Furthermore, according to the information display panel of the embodiment described with reference to FIG. 6, the bonding material 13 is not locally formed on the information display panel as a three-layer structure of an adhesive / gel material / adhesive, By arranging it over the entire surface, it is possible to impart vibration resistance to the information display panel. Therefore, even if an external impact is applied to the information display panel using particles as a display medium, The display medium (particles) can be prevented from moving, and the information displayed on the information display panel can be held well.

As mentioned above, although the main member of this invention was demonstrated, it is as follows when each member which comprises the information display panel of this invention is demonstrated.
Resin sheets such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), and polyethersulfone (PES) are suitably used for the substrate of the flexible information display panel. A display screen region that is transparent at least is used on the front side that serves as an observation surface. However, what is used on the back side may be transparent or may not be transparent.

  The thickness is preferably in the range of 10 μm to 200 μm. When the thickness exceeds 200 μm, the flexibility of the information display panel may be insufficient, and when the thickness is less than 10 μm, handling during manufacture becomes difficult. More preferably, they are 20 micrometers-150 micrometers, More preferably, they are 25 micrometers-125 micrometers.

  A wall provided for securing a gap between two flexible substrates of a flexible information display panel and a partition provided for partitioning a cell storing a display medium are formed by a photolithography technique using a resist material. It is preferable. As an example, Alfo NIT2 (manufactured by Nichigo Morton) and PDF300 (manufactured by Nippon Steel Chemical Co., Ltd.), which are dry film resist materials, can be used.

  The width of the partition provided outside the display screen region for securing the inter-substrate gap is preferably in the range of 20 μm to 100 μm. The width of the partition provided within the display screen region for both cell formation and securing the inter-substrate gap Is preferably in the range of 5 μm to 30 μm. Further, the inter-substrate gap can be secured by a columnar or spherical spacer instead of the partition wall. In this case as well, a structure is adopted in which an adhesive is disposed between the spacer and the flexible substrate for bonding. Accordingly, the heights of the partition walls and the spacer are adjusted in accordance with the inter-substrate gap suitable for driving the display medium in the information display panel.

  In an information display panel using a group of particles containing a chargeable particle as a display medium, a partition is provided to prevent the group of particles arranged in the display screen region from being unevenly distributed while repeatedly moving by an electric field. In this case, the partition wall surrounds the region so as to form a lattice structure or a honeycomb structure, or is formed to be scattered, but it is not necessary to have a function of securing the inter-substrate gap, and rather than the inter-substrate gap. The structure can be lowered and bonded to only one substrate, or the partition formed on both substrates can be configured to face each other so that the tops do not contact each other. In this case, it is preferable that the gap between the partition wall and the substrate formed, or the gap between the partition walls arranged opposite to each other is smaller than the average particle diameter of the particle group used as the display medium, since the effect of preventing uneven distribution of particles is not impaired. By reducing the number of joints between the two substrates in the display screen area in this way, it is possible to reduce the point where stress due to deformation is concentrated when the information display panel is bent, and thus damage is effectively avoided. be able to.

When an electrode is provided on the information display panel of the present invention, the electrode is formed of a metal such as aluminum, silver, nickel, copper, or gold, indium tin oxide (ITO), indium oxide, or zinc-doped indium oxide (IZO). ), Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO), antimony tin oxide (ATO), conductive tin oxide, transparent conductive metal oxides such as conductive zinc oxide, polyaniline, polypyrrole, and conductive polymer PEDOT: PSS (
Transparent conductive polymers such as polythiophenes such as poly- (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) -poly- (styrenesulfonate)) are exemplified and used as appropriate. As a method for forming an electrode, a method of forming the above-described materials into a thin film by sputtering, vacuum deposition, CVD (chemical vapor deposition), coating, or the like, or mixing a conductive agent with a solvent or a synthetic resin binder. The method of apply | coating is used. An electrode provided on the substrate of the information display panel and provided in the display screen region of the substrate on the observation side needs to be transparent, but an electrode provided in other regions does not need to be transparent. In any case, the above-mentioned material that can be patterned and is electrically conductive can be suitably used. In addition, the electrode thickness should just be able to ensure electroconductivity, Preferably it is 0.05 micrometer-10 micrometers, More preferably, it is 0.1 micrometer-5 micrometers. Electrodes provided on the substrate of the information display panel, and the materials and thicknesses of the electrodes provided on the display screen area of the substrate on the observation side are determined in consideration of light transmittance in addition to those described above. Transparent conductive metal oxides such as indium tin oxide (ITO), indium oxide, zinc-doped indium oxide (IZO), aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO), antimony tin oxide (ATO), conductive tin oxide, and conductive zinc oxide Transparent conductive polymers such as polythiophenes such as polyaniline, polyaniline, polypyrrole, and PEDOT: PSS (poly- (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) -poly- (styrenesulfonate)), which are conductive polymers, are selected as appropriate. Used.

  When using a particle group containing charged particles as a display medium, the display medium particles include a charge control agent, a colorant, an inorganic additive, or the like, if necessary, in the resin as the main component. be able to. In addition to the particle group including the chargeable particles, for example, conductive particles, cholesteric liquid crystal, or the like may be used. It is also possible to adopt a method of rotating and displaying particles with two colors and different charging polarities by an electric field, or a method of changing the phase state by applying a voltage to the cholesteric liquid crystal. By adopting the display medium and the display method described above, it is possible to obtain a display memory property that maintains a state once displayed until it is rewritten next time. Therefore, these display media and display methods are suitable for use as electronic paper. Among them, the method of moving particles containing charged particles in a gas (including vacuum) has a high display memory because the mechanism that adheres the particles to the substrate where the particles have moved works on the inner surface of the panel where the particles are placed. It is particularly preferable because of the property.

<Regarding Electronic Paper Using Information Display Panel of the Present Invention>
Next, the configuration of electronic paper used in connection with an external driving device will be described.
FIG. 7 shows a driver IC applied to the information display panel 11 by controlling the drive voltage of the information to be displayed on the information display panel 11 shown in FIG. 5A, and converts the serial signal into a parallel signal. It is a block diagram for demonstrating an example of the structure of the electronic paper comprised by providing the terminal connector for a connection which receives the serial signal transmitted from a serial-parallel conversion means and a separate drive device. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the same members as those in the example shown in FIG. 5A are denoted by the same reference numerals, 14 and 15 are driver ICs, 16 is serial-parallel conversion means, and 17 is a connection terminal. The electronic paper 18 is composed of these connectors. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the pixel electrode on the front side (observation side) substrate is electrically connected between the connection electrode on the driving side provided on the back side substrate with an anisotropic conductive film (ACF). The stripe electrode in the row direction formed on the front side substrate of the information display panel is routed by the ACF connection to the connection electrode with the driver IC 14 on the back side substrate and formed in the column direction on the back side substrate. Is routed around the electrode for connection with the driver IC 15 on the back side substrate, and the driver IC chip and the driver IC 15 are both mounted directly on the back side substrate. The driver IC 14 and the driver IC 15 each have output side terminals equal to or greater than the number of row side stripe electrodes and output side terminals equal to or greater than the number of column side stripe electrodes.

  In addition to mounting the driver IC directly on the board, mounting a flexible board (tape carrier package: sometimes called TCP) with a driver IC or a flexible cable with a driver IC mounted on the board of an information display panel It is also possible to take a method.

Between the plurality of driver ICs 14 and the plurality of driver ICs 15 and the parallel port of the serial-parallel conversion means 16, a parallel data signal obtained by converting the serial data signal received from the driving device side is transmitted. At this time, one serial-parallel conversion means 16 is arranged for the plurality of driver ICs 14 and the plurality of driver ICs 15, and one connection terminal connector to the driving device is provided at the end of the serial-parallel conversion means 16. It can also be configured to be arranged. Further, serial-parallel conversion means 16 is arranged for each of the plurality of driver ICs 14 and the plurality of driver ICs 15, and further, a connection terminal connector 17 to the driving device is provided at the end of the plurality of serial-parallel conversion means 16. It can also be configured to be arranged.
In the former, only one serial-parallel conversion means 16 and one connection terminal connector 17 are required, but at least the number of connection terminals of the connection terminal connector 17 is required for the number of driver ICs. In the latter, serial-parallel conversion means 16 and connection terminal connectors 17 are required at least as many as the number of driver ICs, but the number of connection terminals of connection terminal connector 17 is one for data transmission and one for ground connection. And just two. Therefore, either one may be selected and adopted in consideration of the ease of attaching / detaching the electronic paper 18 to / from the driving device and the rewriting speed at the time of rewriting information.

  According to the electronic paper 18 shown in FIG. 7, when displaying information, the electronic paper 18 is connected to a driving device (an example of a separate device, not shown here) using the connection terminal connector 17. Thus, the information can be displayed and the information can be displayed independently by separating from the driving device while maintaining the displayed information by utilizing the display memory property.

  In the above-described example, the information display panel included in the electronic paper is the passive drive type that transmits signals to the plurality of stripe electrodes shown in FIG. 1, but the TFT shown in FIG. 2 is used as the information display panel. Even in the case of using the active drive method that is used, the signal transmitted to the electrode with TFT can be processed in the same manner as in the above-described example.

<About an information display system using electronic paper provided with an information display panel of the present invention>
Further, an information display system using electronic paper provided with the information display panel of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 8 is a block diagram for explaining an example of the information display system of the present invention. 7, the same members as those in FIG. 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals, 19 is a serial-parallel conversion means for converting a parallel signal into a serial signal, 20 is a logic controller, 21 is a power supply means, and 22 is a CPU. , 23 is a memory for storing various data, and 24 is a booster circuit that boosts the data signal to a voltage level necessary for driving the display medium. The drive device 25 is composed of 19 to 24, and the electronic paper 18 and the drive device 25 An information display system is configured from the above.
The information display system includes a communication means (not shown) that can receive at least data from the outside. Furthermore, a configuration without communication means, a logic controller, and a booster circuit can be employed.

Data signals are exchanged in the drive device 25 in parallel, and the data signal is converted from a parallel signal to a serial signal by the serial-parallel conversion means 19 disposed at the outlet of the data signal from the drive device 25. That is, the serial-parallel conversion means 19 converts the parallel signal input from the parallel port and sends it from the serial port as a serial signal to the connection terminal connector of the driving device. On the other hand, on the electronic paper 18 side, the serial signal input from the serial port of the serial-parallel conversion means 16 connected to the electronic paper connection terminal connector arranged at the entrance of the data signal formed by the driving device is converted. Thus, the parallel signals are sent to the driver ICs 13 and 14 as parallel signals. The terminal connector 17 for mounting the electronic paper 18 and the driving device 25 and connecting the data signal transmission line is the number of signal lines for transmitting a serial signal between the driving device side connector and the electronic paper side connector. In addition, since only one ground signal line is required, the number of signal line terminals that need to be connected can be reduced. For example, a connector having four terminals such as a commercially available USB connector can be used, and in an extreme example, a connector having two terminals, that is, a data signal line and a ground terminal line can be used. The smaller the number of connectors, the easier it is to connect, but on the other hand, it takes time to transmit data signals and it takes time to rewrite the display, so the number of terminals is 4-16. In the range.
The connection terminal connector 17 is disposed near the driver IC placement position and is a region reinforced by a reinforcing plate provided corresponding to the driver IC placement region. Even if a load is applied to the terminal connector, the connection terminal connector is less likely to be damaged, which is preferable.

  FIG. 8 shows a basic configuration of electronic paper in which the serial-parallel conversion means 16 is arranged before the driver IC in the electronic paper. As shown in FIG. 9, this serial-parallel bidirectional conversion means is shown. Sixteen functions can be included in the driver ICs 14 and 15.

  In the information display system shown in FIG. 8 or FIG. 9, a signal signal used for connection between the electronic paper 18 and the driving device 25 is transmitted by transmitting a data signal as a serial signal between the electronic paper 18 and the driving device 25. Since the number can be reduced, a detachable connection between the electronic paper 18 and the driving device 25 can be achieved with a simple configuration. In addition, by replacing the electronic paper 18 using one driving device 25, information can be displayed on the plurality of electronic papers 18 by only one driving device 25. Therefore, according to this information display system, each of the plurality of electronic papers 18 is easily connected to the driving device to rewrite information, and after rewriting, it is easily removed from the driving device and carried with the information displayed. be able to. At that time, since the information display panel of the electronic paper 18 is adjusted in flexibility, it does not cause local bending leading to breakage, and can exhibit excellent portability.

<Evaluation of flexibility of information display panel>
When various information display panels according to the present invention shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are prepared and a load is applied to the center of the display area of the panel by using a point pushing device, and the load is increased. In addition, an evaluation was made on how much load the information display panel breaks. Specifically, an information display panel was placed on a SUS plate with a 50mm x 50mm hole, and a hemispherical rubber with a diameter of 10mm was attached to the tip from the top of the information display panel at the center of the hole. The force when the panel was broken was measured by pushing it vertically using a bar and gradually increasing the load. The indentation load was applied up to 100 [N] in consideration of the force when handling by hand. Moreover, the average value of the load at the time of destruction obtained about five information display panels of the same specification was made into the load which the panel destroyed.

  For reference, the same evaluation is performed when the thickness of the flexible substrate of the information display panel is increased (Comparative Example 1) and when the thickness of the flexible substrate of the information display panel is decreased (Comparative Example 2). Went. These results are shown together in Table 1.

  As shown in Table 1, the evaluation results of the flexibility showed that the information display panel was damaged by an extremely small force without the reinforcing plate. Moreover, although the local deformation decreased and the strength slightly increased by increasing the thickness of the base film, this time, the destruction was such that the entire information display panel was peeled off. In Invention Example 1, a glass epoxy plate was used as a relatively hard reinforcing plate, and it was bonded with a hard epoxy adhesive. As a result, the strength was significantly improved compared to the case without the reinforcing plate. In Invention Examples 2 and 3, when an acrylic adhesive or a silicone adhesive was used as a bonding material, the information display panel was not destroyed even when it was deformed with a force of 100 N. In Invention Examples 4, 5, and 6, an acrylic plate that is softer and more flexible than the glass epoxy plate was used as the reinforcing plate. In Invention Example 4, an epoxy adhesive was used as the bonding material. Compared to the case without a reinforcing plate, the strength was greatly improved. Furthermore, in Invention Examples 5 and 6, when an acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive or a silicone pressure-sensitive adhesive was used as a bonding material, neither of them was broken even when a force of 100 N was applied. Inventive Examples 1 to 6, the same results were obtained even when any of the bonding methods shown in FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 6 was used. In addition, in each of Invention Examples 1 to 6, when the both ends of the information display panel were held with both hands and bent, it was flexible as a whole.

  As described above, according to the information display panel according to the present invention, it was confirmed that local excessive bending can be prevented and appropriate flexibility can be obtained in the entire information display panel.

  The electronic paper using the information display panel of the present invention is configured as an electronic paper provided with an information display panel having a display memory property, a driver IC, and a connection terminal connector, and is used as, for example, portable electronic paper. be able to. With such a configuration, various usages are possible as electronic paper that can be easily attached to and detached from the driving device (display information rewriting device). The information display panel according to the present invention has an appropriate flexibility, and provides an appropriate flexibility to the information display panel while preventing local deflection of the information display panel. Since the panel can be prevented from being damaged, after displaying the information, it can be bent along a plane curved in a convex shape like the side of a cylinder, or it can be concave like a corner on the wall. It is also possible to bend and post along a curved plane. As a driving device for rewriting display information by connecting to electronic paper using the information display panel of the present invention, it is expressed as a personal computer, an electronic notebook, or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant or Personal Data Assistant) which is a portable information terminal. Mobile phone, handy terminal, portable media player, etc. can be used. When used in connection with these devices, it can be used as the main display of these portable devices and can also be used as a sub-display with low power consumption.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 2 Flexible substrate 3W White display medium 3Wa Negatively charged white particle 3B Black display medium 3Ba Positively charged black particle 4 Partition gap ensuring board | substrate 5,6 Electrode 7 Cell 8 Bonding material (adhesive)
9 Insulating liquid 9BL Blue insulating liquid
10 Capsule with insulating liquid
11 Information display panel
12 Reinforcing sheet
13 Bonding material (adhesive)
13a Lamination material (adhesive) provided on the entire surface
13b Laminated material with 3 layers structure
13b-1 Gel-like sheet
13b-2 Adhesive
14, 15 Driver IC
16 Serial-parallel conversion means
17 Terminal connector for connection
18 electronic paper
19 Serial-parallel conversion means
20 Logic controller
21 Power supply means
22 CPU
23 memory
24 Booster circuit
25 Drive unit

Claims (3)

An information display panel in which a display medium having a display memory property is sealed between two flexible substrates facing each other with a gap between the substrates secured by a partition, and the display medium is driven between the substrates to display information In
An information display panel, wherein a reinforcing sheet is bonded to an outer surface of at least one of the information display panels via a bonding material.   When the reinforcing sheet is bonded to the outer surface of at least one of the information display panels via the bonding material, the bonding material is disposed on the entire surface of the information display panel. The information display panel according to claim 1, wherein:   The bonding material includes an adhesive, and at least one substrate of the information display panel and a reinforcing sheet are bonded via the adhesive of the bonding material. Item 3. The information display panel according to Item 1 or 2.

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