JP2013019999A - Electronic paper device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic paper device capable of optionally selecting display portions of a plurality of electronic paper portions disposed in a plane-shape, and giving a sweeping view of information displayed in the plurality of display portions, by a simple structure.SOLUTION: The electronic paper device includes: a plurality of electronic paper portions EP each equipped with a memory display portion AR and a driving circuit 14; and a control device portion DA for rewriting information to be displayed in display portions. The electronic paper portion EP is equipped with a non-conductive structure 13 at at least one of a plurality of connection wires between a connection terminal portion 12 and the driving circuit 14. Layout patterns decided by a position and the number of the non-conductive structures are different for each electronic paper portion. When the connection terminal portions of the plurality of electronic paper portions are connected so as to laminate on each other, the display portions are configured so as not to superimpose on each other. A determining circuit configured by the non-conductive structure and the plurality of connection wires drives a display element of the electronic paper portion which is received from the control device portion and corresponds to a control signal.

Description

  The present invention relates to a display unit in which a display element having a display memory property is arranged, a plurality of electronic paper units including a drive circuit for driving the display element, and a display unit by driving the display elements of the electronic paper unit. The present invention relates to an electronic paper device that includes a control device unit that rewrites information to be displayed. More specifically, an electronic device that displays information controlled by a single control device unit on a display unit of a plurality of electronic paper units arranged in a plane, and overlooks the information displayed on the plurality of display units. The present invention relates to a paper device.

In recent years, as an alternative to a liquid crystal display device, a display medium configured as a particle group between substrates is sealed with a gas, or a capsule or cup in which a display medium configured as a particle group is sealed between a substrate and a liquid is disposed. Electronic paper devices that display information such as images by driving a display element having this display medium have been proposed, and various usage forms have been proposed.
As one of information display forms, a plurality of conventional electronic papers such as liquid crystal display devices are arranged like tiles to form a plurality of display units so that a plurality of display units (screens) can be seen over. . (Refer to Patent Document 1 or the like) In addition, there is a display that can display information on a display unit of a large screen formed by connecting small screens. (See Patent Document 2 etc.)

  However, all of them require one control device for one display unit (screen). For example, the display device disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a plurality of display devices arranged like tiles. The display device disclosed in Patent Document 2 is connected to each of the connected small screens to form a single large screen display device. As many control devices as the number of small screens (the number of display units) are used. That is, in the conventional electronic paper device, it is a general form to control display by connecting one control device to one electronic paper unit (in other words, a display unit).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-96911 JP 2002-139747 A

By the way, in the case of a large image that is difficult to display on a single electronic paper display unit, or an image in which a plurality of display units are to be displayed at the same time, the display units of a plurality of electronic paper units are arranged in a plane. There is also a request to display the displayed information and overlook the displayed information.
However, in the conventional electronic paper device, as described above, the electronic paper unit including the display unit and the control device that controls and drives the electronic paper unit are integrated, or the small size that configures the large screen. The screen (individual display units) and the control device have a one-to-one configuration, and the number of control devices corresponding to the number of the plurality of display units arranged in a plane is necessary.
Therefore, when designing an electronic paper device in which a plurality of electronic paper units (in other words, display units) are arranged, a control device corresponding to the number of electronic paper units is provided. As the number of electronic paper sections increases in this way, the number of control devices also increases correspondingly, so that the product structure becomes complicated and there is a concern about the associated cost increase.
Further, in the conventional electronic paper device, the display unit integrated with one control device has a configuration arranged in a plane, and information is displayed by selecting one of the plurality of display units. In this case, the control device provided in the display unit is selected and activated. In order to display on a plurality of display units, a plurality of control devices must be activated, and power consumption associated with the activation of the control devices is large.

  Therefore, the object of the present invention is to arbitrarily select a display unit to display information from a plurality of electronic paper units arranged in a plane, and to display information on a plurality of electronic paper units with only one control device unit, An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic paper device that allows the information displayed on a plurality of electronic paper sections (display sections) to be viewed in a single view.

  The above-described object can be electrically driven in a gap space formed by opposingly arranging two substrates each having a transparent region at least one of the opposing display electrode pairs and the display electrode pairs. A plurality of electronic paper units each including a display unit configured with a display medium and including a display element having a display memory property, a drive circuit that drives the display element, and a control for driving the display element An electronic paper device configured to rewrite information displayed on the display unit by transmitting a signal, wherein the electronic paper unit is connected to the control device unit and the connection terminal unit and the connection At least one of a plurality of connection lines between the terminal portion and the drive circuit has a non-conductive structure, and an arrangement pattern determined by the arrangement position and the number of arrangement of the non-conductive structure However, each electronic paper unit is different from each other, and the connection between the plurality of electronic paper units and the one control device unit is made by stacking the connection terminal units of the plurality of electronic paper units. In addition, the display unit of each electronic paper unit is configured not to overlap each other, includes the non-conductive structure, and includes a plurality of connection lines between the connection terminal unit and the drive circuit. The electronic paper device is configured to drive a display element of the electronic paper unit corresponding to the control signal received from the control device unit by a circuit.

  The planar view shape of the display unit of the electronic paper part is a rectangular shape, and the drive circuit and the connection terminal part of the electronic paper part are aligned and formed in an end region along one side of the electronic paper part, The connection terminal portion of the electronic paper portion is a hole connector portion including a plurality of hole connectors, and the connection terminal portion of the control device portion is a plurality of convex shapes that can be inserted and connected to the hole connector portion. The connector is a convex connector part aligned in the control device part, and the non-conductive structure is connected to the connection terminal part of the electronic paper part so as to insulate the electrical connection with the convex connector. The non-conductive structure may be a notched portion provided in the connection terminal portion of the electronic paper portion so as to insulate the electrical connection with the convex connector. Kill.

The drive circuit and the connection terminal part of the electronic paper part are formed on a flexible wiring board mounted along one side of the electronic paper part, and the connection terminal part of the electronic paper part is formed on the flexible wiring board. It is also possible to adopt a configuration that is a hole-shaped connector portion including a plurality of hole-shaped connectors aligned and formed in the end region.
The non-conducting structure is a non-conducting structure provided in at least one of a plurality of connection lines connecting the input terminal of the drive circuit included in the electronic paper unit and the connection terminal unit to the control unit in the electronic paper unit. is there. This non-conductive structure is a structure that is electrically insulated, and is formed by disconnecting some of the connection lines, or the convex shape of the control device part in some of the hole-like connection terminal parts of the electronic paper part. It can be obtained by forming an insulating structure that is not connected to the connection terminal portion, or by forming some of the connection terminal portions of the electronic paper portion as notches.

  According to the electronic paper device of the present invention, the display units of a plurality of electronic paper units connected to one control device unit are arranged in a planar manner so as not to overlap each other, and the control signal from one control device unit The display section of the plurality of electronic paper sections can be arbitrarily selected and information desired to be displayed for each display section of the plurality of electronic paper sections can be displayed, so that the structure is not complicated and the cost is increased. In addition, it is possible to provide an electronic paper device that allows a large image or a plurality of pieces of information to be displayed on an arbitrarily selected display unit and can be viewed without increasing power consumption.

(A), (b) is the figure shown in order to demonstrate the fundamental structure of the electronic paper part suitable for employ | adopting with an electronic paper apparatus. (A), (b) is the figure shown in order to demonstrate the other fundamental structure of the electronic paper part suitable for employ | adopting with an electronic paper apparatus. It is the figure shown in order to demonstrate an example of the electronic paper apparatus which provided the some electronic paper part and one control apparatus part in order to control this with the present invention. It is the figure shown in order to demonstrate the other example of the electronic paper apparatus based on this invention provided with the some electronic paper part and one control apparatus part in order to control this. It is the figure which illustrated the case where six display parts are formed in planar shape with six electronic paper parts. It is a figure which shows about the example which provided the connection line arrangement | positioning area | region and the connection terminal part of an electronic paper part in the example provided in the back side board | substrate of an electronic paper part, and the flexible wiring board (FPC) mounted in the electronic paper part. . The connection line arrangement area and the connection terminal part of the electronic paper part are provided on the back side substrate of the electronic paper part, and the modification is shown as an electronic paper part of the same form in which the connection position with the control device part is connected to the left and right reversed. It is a figure. It is the figure which showed about the electronic paper part and showed the specific example at the time of providing the connection terminal part with a control apparatus part in the back side board | substrate. It is the figure shown about the connection and mounting structure of an electronic paper part and a control apparatus part. It is the figure which illustrated the structure of the determination circuit formed in the periphery of the connection terminal part of a control apparatus part and an electronic paper part. It is the figure which showed the structural example of the drive circuit with which an electronic paper part is provided with an electronic paper apparatus. It is the flowchart which showed the flow of a process when performing display rewriting of the display part of # 2 electronic paper part with an electronic paper apparatus provided with two electronic paper parts.

First, the electronic paper part which concerns on the electronic paper apparatus of this invention is demonstrated. The electronic paper unit according to the electronic paper device of the present invention includes, for example, a charged particle movement type display element provided between a pair of counter electrodes with a particle group including a chargeable particle as a display medium. Such a display element is driven when a voltage is applied between the electrodes, and the particles (display medium) move. Even when the power supply is cut off, the displayed information is maintained by the moved particles remaining at the position. Therefore, a display element having a display memory property is obtained.
A display unit in which such a charged particle movement type display element is arranged has a configuration in which, for example, an electric field is applied to a display medium composed of a group of particles including charged particles sealed in a space between two opposing substrates. It is formed. Along the applied electric field direction, the particle group containing the chargeable particles is attracted by the force of the electric field or the Coulomb force, and the particle group containing the chargeable particles moves due to the change in the electric field direction, so that information such as an image is obtained. Display is made. The information once displayed is displayed as it is even after the power supply is turned off. This is display memory property. Therefore, the particle group including the chargeable particles can move uniformly and maintain stability (also referred to as display memory property) when the display information is repeatedly rewritten or when the display information is continuously displayed. Therefore, it is necessary to design a display element to be arranged in the display portion. Here, the force applied to the particles constituting the display medium may be a force due to an electric field, a force attracting each other by a Coulomb force between particles, an electric mirror image force between an electrode and a substrate, an intermolecular force, a liquid crosslinking force, gravity, and the like. .

Hereinafter, an example of a display unit of an electronic paper unit suitable for use in the electronic paper device of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 1 (a), 1 (b), 2 (a), and 2 (b).
In the example shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, at least two types of display media, each of which includes particles having at least optical reflectivity and chargeability, and have different optical reflectivities and charge characteristics from each other. (Here, a white display medium 3W configured as a particle group including negatively charged white particles 3Wa and a black display medium 3B configured as a particle group including positively charged black particles 3Ba are shown). The display electrode 5 (striped electrode) provided on the substrate 1 on the back side and the display electrode 6 (striped electrode) provided on the substrate 2 on the observation side face each other. The substrate is moved substantially perpendicularly to the substrates 1 and 2 in accordance with an electric field generated by applying a voltage to a display electrode pair to be a pixel formed by (preferably opposite orthogonal crossing). Then, the white display medium 3W is visually recognized by the observer as shown in FIG. 1A, or the black display medium 3B is visually recognized by the observer as shown in FIG. 1B. Are formed of one display electrode pair, a white display medium 3W, and a black display medium 3B, and a black and white dot matrix display is performed by pixels formed by display elements arranged in a matrix. The white display medium 3 </ b> W and the black display medium 3 </ b> B that have moved as described above maintain their state even when the voltage applied to the display element is cut off, so that the displayed information is retained. This is referred to as having display memory properties. In the display unit having the configuration shown in FIG. 1, dot matrix display can be performed by a passive drive method.
In addition, in FIG. 1 (a), (b), the partition in front is abbreviate | omitted. Here, the pixels (display elements) and the cells have a one-to-one correspondence, but the pixels (display elements) and the cells may not have a one-to-one correspondence.
In the illustrated example, a structure in which an adhesive 9 is disposed between the partition wall portion 4 and the substrate 1 on the back side, the other substrate 1 is bonded and bonded, and the display medium disposed in the cell is sealed. It is said.

In the example shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b), at least two types of display media, each of which includes particles having at least optical reflectivity and chargeability, and have different optical reflectivity and charging characteristics from each other. (Here, a white display medium 3W configured as a particle group including negatively charged white particles 3Wa and a black display medium 3B configured as a particle group including positively charged black particles 3Ba are shown). The display electrode 5 (pixel electrode with TFT) provided on the back side substrate 1 and the display electrode 6 (common electrode) provided on the observation side substrate are formed. The substrate is moved substantially perpendicular to the substrates 1 and 2 in accordance with an electric field generated by applying a voltage to a display electrode pair serving as a pixel. 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. 2B. Are formed of one display electrode pair, a white display medium 3W, and a black display medium 3B, and a black and white dot matrix display is performed by pixels formed by display elements arranged in a matrix. The white display medium 3 </ b> W and the black display medium 3 </ b> B that have moved as described above maintain their state even when the voltage applied to the display element is cut off, so that the displayed information is retained. This is referred to as having display memory properties. In the information display panel having the configuration shown in FIG. 2, dot matrix display can be performed by the active drive method. In addition, in FIG. 2 (a), (b), the partition in front is abbreviate | omitted. Here, the pixels (display elements) and the cells have a one-to-one correspondence, but the pixels (display elements) and the cells may not have a one-to-one correspondence.
In the illustrated example, a structure in which an adhesive 9 is disposed between the partition wall portion 4 and the substrate 1 on the back side, the other substrate 1 is bonded and bonded, and the display medium disposed in the cell is sealed. It is said.

  In this example, an example in which a pixel and a cell are in a one-to-one relationship is shown. For example, only a part (4-1) of the partition wall portion 4 shown in FIGS. If the structure in which 4 is not formed is used, a structure in which pixels and cells are three-to-one can be obtained. Further, the same structure is applied to the partition walls formed in the horizontal direction in FIGS. 1 and 2 to obtain a 9-to-1 structure. When a capsule containing a display medium, which will be described later, is disposed between the observation-side substrate 2 and the back-side substrate 1, the above-described 9-to-1 structure and the partition walls are further reduced so that the pixels and cells are The structure may be 16: 1, 25: 1, 36: 1, 49: 1, 64: 1, 81: 1, 100: 1. By reducing the number of partition walls, the non-display area occupying the display area can be reduced.

  In addition, as said board | substrates 1 and 2, an appropriate thing can be used selecting from board | substrates, such as a glass sheet, a resin sheet, and a metal sheet, suitably. The display part forming region of the substrate 2 on the display surface side (observation side) is transparent. In the transparent display portion forming region of the substrate 2, display electrodes (stripes or common electrode 6 described in FIGS. 1 and 2, etc.) disposed inside the substrate are transparent electrodes. On the other hand, the substrate 1 that is not on the observation side does not need to be transparent. On the surface of the substrate 1, pixel electrodes with a thin film transistor (TFT) or stripe electrodes are formed as display electrodes so as to form a matrix electrode pair. When a voltage is applied to the opposing display electrode pair, a display element is provided in which an electric field is applied to the display medium (particle group) disposed between the electrode pair and the display medium moves to perform a desired display. The above-described structure can be realized.

Further, when a particle group is employed as the display medium as described above, a structure in which cells are provided in a gap space between substrates of the display portion and the display medium is sealed in the cells is preferable. Thereby, uneven distribution of particles can be prevented. The space for sealing the display medium may be a gas space (including a vacuum) or an insulating liquid space. The cell may be formed by being surrounded by a partition as described above, or may be formed by a capsule or a cup. Such a display medium moves only when an electric field is applied, and does not move when an electric field is not applied, in other words, when power supply to the display electrode pair is cut off. The display element of the paper part can have display memory properties.
The cells surrounded by the partition walls may match the pixel shape and pixel arrangement, or may not correspond to the pixel shape and pixel arrangement. The opening shape of the cell is preferably a polygon such as a rectangle (including a rectangle with rounded corners) or a hexagon, and can be arranged in a matrix, honeycomb, or net shape. A cell shape having a curved line is preferable from the viewpoint that the particles constituting the display medium can be easily moved, and a quadrangular shape with rounded corners, a hexagon with rounded corners, and a stepped octagon with rounded corners are preferably used.

A resist material is preferably used as a partition wall provided for securing a gap between substrates in the display portion of the electronic paper portion and a partition wall provided for forming cells. Among these, a dry film resist material is preferable because it is easy to handle. As an example, Alfo NIT2 (manufactured by Nichigo Morton) or PDF300 (manufactured by Nippon Steel Chemical Co., Ltd.) can be used. A dry film resist material having a thickness corresponding to the height of the partition wall to be formed may be stacked on the substrate of the electronic paper portion, and patterned using a photomask with a predetermined shape using a photolithography technique.
The width of the partition part for securing the gap between the substrates in the display part of the electronic paper part is in the range of 20 μm to 100 μm, for example, and the width of the partition part dedicated to cell formation is in the range of 5 μm to 30 μm, for example It is preferable to make the width of the partition wall portion smaller than the width of the partition wall portion for securing the gap between the panel substrates because the non-display area occupying the display area can be reduced.

  In the embodiment, the connection terminal portion of the electronic paper portion is a hole-shaped connection terminal portion. It is preferable that the hole-shaped connection terminal portion is formed on the insulating resin substrate on the back side of the display portion. Using the back side substrate of the electronic paper part as an insulating resin substrate, a driver IC (drive circuit) is directly mounted on this back side substrate, and a hole-like connection terminal part is provided at the end of the connection line extending from the terminal on the driver IC input side. Or forming a hole-like connection terminal portion at the end of a connection line extending from a terminal on the driver IC input side of the tape carrier package (TCP), or a driver IC of a flexible substrate (FPC substrate) on which the driver IC is mounted A hole-like connection terminal portion is formed at the tip of a connection line extending from the input-side terminal. Although there is no restriction | limiting in particular in the thickness of a back side board | substrate, the range of 25 micrometers-1000 micrometers is preferable, and the range of 25 micrometers-200 micrometers is more preferable. When the thickness is larger than 1000 μm, there is a problem that when the electronic paper portions are overlapped, the display surface heights of the plurality of display portions arranged in a planar shape are not aligned and it is difficult to obtain good visibility. As a board | substrate which forms a hole-shaped connection terminal part, the thing made from resin which is insulating and is easy to form a hole, such as a polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), a polyimide, a polyethylene sulfonate (PES), is preferable. .

  An electrode terminal connected to the display electrode is provided at the end of the back substrate, and a flexible substrate (FPC) or a tape carrier package (TCP) is mounted on the electrode terminal. It is also possible to form a hole-like connecting terminal portion. The thickness of the substrate of FPC or TCP is preferably in the range of 25 μm to 150 μm, and the material is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polyimide, polyethylene sulfonate (PES), etc., insulating and flexible A preferable resin material is preferable. In this case, the back substrate of the electronic paper unit can be a glass substrate. This is because the hole-like connection terminal portion can be formed not on the glass substrate but on a flexible resin substrate.

  Of the substrates in the electronic paper section, the observation-side substrate is a substrate in which at least the area to be displayed is transparent. If the display area is transparent, the other areas may not be transparent. The thickness of the observation side substrate is preferably in the range of 25 μm to 5000 μm. However, in order to obtain a thin electronic paper portion, the range of 25 μm to 1000 μm is preferable, and further, the range of 25 μm to 200 μm is preferable. As the observation side substrate, a glass substrate can be used in addition to a resin substrate such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polyimide, and polyethylene sulfonate (PES).

  In the display electrode constituting the display element disposed in the display unit of the electronic paper unit, a transparent electrode is provided on the observation side. Transparent electrode materials include 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 metal oxides such as polyaniline, polypyrrole, and polythiophene (for example, Poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) -poly- (Styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS)). Note that the thickness of the display electrode is not particularly limited as long as the conductivity can be secured and the light transmittance is not impaired, and is preferably 0.01 μm to 10 μm, more preferably 0.05 μm to 5 μm.

In the display electrode constituting the display element disposed in the display unit of the electronic paper unit, as the electrode provided on the back side substrate, indium tin oxide (ITO), indium oxide, zinc-doped indium oxide (IZO), aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO), antimony tin oxide (ATO), conductive metal oxides such as conductive tin oxide and conductive zinc oxide, polyaniline, polypyrrole, polythiophene (for example, Poly (3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) -poly- (Styrenesulfonate ) Conductive polymers such as (PEDOT: PSS), metals such as gold, silver, copper, aluminum, nickel and chromium, and alloys containing these metals as main components. The electrode may be transparent or non-transparent, and the thickness of the display electrode provided on the back side may be 0.01 μm to the thickness as long as the conductivity is ensured. Provided in a range of 0μm.

  The display electrode and the wiring electrode extending from the display electrode and the electrode terminal portion for TCP mounting, or the wiring electrode extending from the display electrode and the display electrode and the conductive film constituting the hole connection terminal portion are the same. It can also be made of a material. In this case, for example, a copper thin film may be formed on the back substrate and then patterned on each electrode. In the above two examples, the three members can be formed simultaneously.

  According to the present invention, the wiring electrode extending from the display electrode, the connection line extending from the drive circuit (driver IC), and the conductive film (electrode) constituting the hole-like connection terminal portion are provided in the outer region of the display portion. As the conductive film (electrode) material, a flexible metal having a low electric resistance is preferable. Examples thereof include metals such as gold, silver, copper, aluminum, nickel, and chromium, and alloys containing these metals as main components. The thickness of the conductive film (electrode) may be as long as conductivity can be secured and flexibility is not hindered, and is preferably 0.1 μm to 20 μm, more preferably 1 μm to 10 μm. If it is thinner than 0.1 μm, there is an inconvenience that it is easy to damage and disconnection, and if it is thicker than 20 μm, it becomes difficult to express flexibility in the electrode part exposed inside the hole arranged in the hole-like connection terminal part, and control is performed. There may be a problem that the electrical connection with the convex connection terminal portion of the device portion is hindered.

  As a method for forming a conductive film (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 metal foil (for example, rolled copper foil) A laminating method or a method of applying a conductive agent mixed with a solvent or a synthetic resin binder is used. The above-mentioned material that can be patterned and is electrically conductive can be preferably used.

Now, the electronic paper device of the present invention is provided with a plurality of electronic paper sections that can be configured as described above. In addition, the connection terminal portions of these electronic paper portions are provided so that the display portions for displaying information, that is, the regions where the display elements are disposed do not overlap each other. When the connection terminal portions of these electronic paper portions are stacked and connected to the convex connection terminal portion of one control device portion, a large display portion (large screen) in which a plurality of display portions are arranged in a plane or a plurality of display portions These display units are arranged in a plane so that a plurality of display units each displaying different information can be viewed. Moreover, the information to be displayed on the display unit of each electronic paper unit is an electronic paper device designed so that each electronic paper unit can receive and rewrite the control signal transmitted from one control unit. .
Hereinafter, the characteristic structure of the electronic paper device of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 shows an electronic paper apparatus according to the present invention having a plurality of electronic paper sections EP and one control device DA that forms and transmits a control signal for driving the display elements of the electronic paper sections EP. It is the figure shown for demonstrating. The form example shown in FIG. 3 is an electronic paper apparatus constituted by two electronic paper sections EP and one control device section DA. In addition, in order to avoid the overlapping description, the same parts as those shown in FIGS.
3A is a plan view of one electronic paper section EP-1, FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 3A, and FIG. 3C is a control apparatus section DA. It is the figure which showed a mode that the electronic paper part EP-1 and the electronic paper EP-2 were assembled | attached, and it was set as an electronic paper apparatus.
It is preferable that both the display area AR-1 serving as the display section of the electronic paper section EP-1 and the display section area AR-2 serving as the display section of the electronic paper section EP-2 are rectangular.
Further, as can be seen from FIG. 3 (c), in order to narrow a gap portion between the display portion area AR-1 and the display portion area AR-2, the display portion area corresponding to the adjacent portion is formed. It is preferable that the edge part of the display part, ie, the so-called frame part, which is the outer part of the display part is narrower than the edge part of the other display part.
In the electronic paper part EP-1, the substrate 1 on the back side is set to be larger than the display part area AR-1 serving as a display part for displaying information by a display element. An area SA adjacent to the display area AR-1 on the substrate 1 is an installation area SA set for installing the other electronic paper section EP-2. And as shown in FIG.3 (c), electronic paper part EP-2 is set to this installation area | region SA. Here, the back substrate 1 is extended to be an installation area SA, and the wiring area 11-1 and 11-2 for routing an unillustrated wiring including the installation area SA.

Each of the electronic paper parts EP-1 and EP-2 is on one side of the connection line forming regions 11-1 and 11-2, and the connection terminal parts 12-1 and 12-2 are arranged in the same arrangement on a part thereof. Is formed. This arrangement is the same arrangement as the convex connection terminal portion 32 of the control unit. And the connection terminal part 12-1 by the side of the electronic paper part EP-1 is shifted and arrange | positioned at the installation area | region SA side. Thereby, as shown in FIG.3 (c), the connection terminal parts 12-1 and 12-2 are the connection terminal part of electronic paper part EP-2 on the connection terminal part 12-1 of electronic paper part EP-1. When 12-2 are stacked and arranged, the display part AR-1 of the electronic paper part EP-1 and the display part AR-2 of the electronic paper part EP-2 are arranged so as not to overlap each other.
However, the connection terminal portions 12-1 and 12-2 are provided with non-conducting structures at different positions. In the embodiment, the notches 13-1 and 13-2 are provided as a non-conductive structure. In addition, although the function by this non-conducting structure (notch part 13-1, 13-2) is explained in full detail later, this non-conducting structure (notch part 13-1, 13-2) is electronic paper part EP-1. And an electronic paper part EP-2. Further, in place of the notched portion illustrated here, a non-conductive structure may be formed in another form in the connection line from the driver IC (drive circuit) corresponding to the same connection terminal portion. That is, the notch is an example of a non-conducting structure of a conductive wire with an electrical configuration, and a structure other than the notch may be used as long as the structure (form) functions in the same manner as this.
And the determination circuit mentioned later is set to the connection line arrangement | positioning area | regions 11-1 and 11-2 containing this notch part (non-conduction structure part). When this determination circuit determines whether the control signal transmitted from the control unit DA is a control signal addressed to the electronic paper unit itself, and determines that the control signal is addressed to the electronic paper unit itself In addition, a control signal is output to a drive circuit (driver IC) to display information based on the control signal only on the electronic paper unit. This determination circuit will be described in detail later.

  In each of the electronic paper sections EP-1 and EP-2, driving circuits (driver ICs) 14-1 and 14-2 for driving the display elements arranged in the display sections AR-1 and AR-2 are arranged. . The drive circuits (driver ICs) provided in the electronic paper units EP-1 and EP-2 are respectively provided with driver functions and driver IC outputs (OUTPUT) required for driving the display elements arranged in the display units AR-1 and AR-2. ) In other words, in other words, an IC chip having at least a function of disabling the driver function. And the main control circuit configuration such as CPU and graphic controller necessary for control such as image generation and redrawing is arranged on the control unit DA side, and each electronic paper EP-1 and EP-2 side is arranged. It is preferable to simplify the circuit configuration. As a function of invalidating the output (OUTPUT) of the driver IC, there are a clock (CLOCK) and a chip select (CHIP-SELECT) in addition to the output enable (OUTPUT-ENABLE).

The control device unit DA is a connection terminal that can be connected to a connection terminal unit (that is, the connection member 12-1 or 12-2 on the electronic paper EP side) that is a laminate of the electronic paper units EP-1 and EP-2. The unit 32 is provided. The control unit DA includes a CPU including a circuit and a control circuit for generating a series of control signals related to control such as generation and redrawing of images displayed on the electronic paper units EP-1 and EP-2, Integrated circuit placement areas such as a control IC and a memory IC are provided. A part of the drive circuit that drives the electronic paper unit EP may be mounted on the control unit DA. Information displayed on the electronic paper unit EP is controlled by a CPU provided in the control unit DA. The control device unit DA may be provided with a connection terminal (not shown) that can be connected to a personal computer (PC), other electronic devices, a storage device, and the like.
Furthermore, the power supply necessary for executing the information display is such that a power source such as a sheet battery or a coin-type battery is mounted on a housing covering at least the electronic circuit portion of the control device DA and connected to the control device DA. Or by connecting an external power source to a connection terminal connected to the control unit DA provided in the housing.

FIG. 4 shows an electronic paper apparatus according to the present invention having a plurality of electronic paper sections EP and one control apparatus DA for forming and transmitting a control signal for driving display elements of the electronic paper sections EP. It is the figure shown in order to demonstrate another example. The embodiment shown in FIG. 4 is a modification of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, and is an electronic paper device constituted by two electronic paper sections EP-1 and EP-2 and one control device section DA. . In addition, in order to avoid the overlapping description, the same parts as those shown in FIG.
4A is a plan view of one electronic paper section EP-1, FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 4A, and FIG. 4C is a control apparatus section DA. It is the figure which showed a mode that the electronic paper part EP-1 and the electronic paper EP-2 were assembled | attached, and it was set as an electronic paper apparatus.
4 (a) to (c) differs from the example shown in FIGS. 3 (a) to (c) in the example shown in FIGS. 4 (a) to (c). This is the point that the rear substrate is not arranged in the area SA adjacent to the display area AR-1 on the substrate 1 in the example shown in FIGS. In the example shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C, the same operation and effect as the example shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C can be obtained, and the same height can be obtained by aligning the surfaces of the two display portions. It is possible to obtain an effect that makes it easier.

The example shown in FIG. 5 shows a case where six display sections are formed in a planar shape by six electronic paper sections EP having a (2 × 3) arrangement. Here, although the illustration of the control device DA is omitted, the connection terminal portion of the control device DA (not shown) is illustrated in the connection terminal portion formed in a laminated form of the electronic paper portions EP-1 to EP-6. 3 is connected in the same manner as in the case of 3.
In the case shown in FIG. 5, for example, the connection terminal part 12-1 of the electronic paper part EP-1, the connection terminal part 12-2 of EP-2, ... the connection terminal part 12-6 of EP-6. When the electronic paper parts are arranged with the connection terminal parts sequentially stacked on each other, the display parts are arranged so as not to overlap each other.
Here, a notch is adopted as the non-conducting structure of each electronic paper part, and an electronic paper part having one notch is provided, and notches 13-1 to 13- provided in the connection terminal parts 12-1 to 12-6 are provided. 6 are set to be different from each other.
Note that the numbers and sizes of the electronic paper portions in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 are merely examples. You may design so that a some display part may be arrange | positioned in arbitrary positions by the some electronic paper part by arbitrary number and arbitrary (nxm) pieces. There is no need to place the display units adjacent to each other, and the display units can be arranged adjacent to each other or separated from each other according to the purpose. Further, the display area AR need not be the same size or the same shape, and may be a combination of different sizes or different shapes.

FIG. 6 shows a modification in which the connection line arrangement region 11 and the connection terminal portion 12 are provided on the flexible circuit board (hereinafter referred to as FPC) side. The case where it is set as two electronic paper parts EP-1 and EP-2 is shown. In the electronic paper parts EP-1 and EP-2 shown in FIG. 6, the display area AR-1 and the display area AR-2, which are basic structural parts, are formed in the same manner. And a flexible wiring board (hereinafter referred to as FPC) is an anisotropic conductive film (hereinafter referred to as ACF) to the connection line with the display electrode drawn around the back side substrate of the electronic paper parts EP-1 and EP-2. On one electrically connected side, a tape carrier package (TCP) on which a driver IC is mounted is electrically connected and mounted by ACF. (TCP is not shown) Other configurations are the same as those in FIG.
In the case of the example shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of electronic paper display units to be prepared are commonly manufactured, a driver IC (driving circuit) is mounted as a mass-produced TCP, and a connection line drawn from a display electrode of the display unit The portion where the shape of each electronic paper portion is different and the FPC which is a resin substrate is used as the portion having a different shape, and the connection terminal portion is formed on the TCP, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.
Here, a notch is adopted as the non-conducting structure of each electronic paper part, an electronic paper part having one notch is provided, and the notches 13-1, 13- provided in the connection terminal parts 12-1, 12-2 are provided. 2 are set to be different from each other.

  In FIG. 7, a drive circuit (driver IC) 14, a connection line (not shown), and a connection terminal portion 12 are provided in an FPC, and this FPC is connected and mounted on a display portion of an electronic paper portion by an ACF. A modification is shown in which electronic paper units EP-1 and EP-2 having the same form in which the FPCs having the same form are mounted on the same form of display unit are connected to the control unit in the left-right direction. In the case of the example shown in FIG. 7, since all the electronic paper parts to be prepared have the same form, the cost can be further reduced. The cutout portions 13-1 and 13-2 provided in the connection terminal portions 12-1 and 12-2 are formed at the same positions as the electronic paper portions EP-1 and EP-2, but are connected to the control device portion. Since the notches 13-1 and 13-2 are sometimes reversed left and right, they are connected to the connection terminals 32 arranged at different positions in the arrangement of the connection terminal portions (convex connection terminal portions) 32 of the control device portion. That is, it is formed when the electronic paper part EP-1 is connected to the control device part and the position of the non-conductive structure (notch part) formed when the electronic paper part EP-1 is connected to the control device part. This is different from the position of the non-conductive structure (notch). As a result, the electronic paper sections EP-1 and EP-2 can be identified by a determination circuit described later.

Here, a preferable terminal structure of the connection terminal portion 12 of the electronic paper portion described in FIGS. 3 to 7 and a preferable terminal structure of the connection terminal portion 32 of the control device DA connected to the connection terminal portion 12. explain.
Further, refer to FIG. 8 and FIG. FIG. 8 shows the electronic paper part EP, and is a specific example when the connection terminal part 12 to the control apparatus part DA is provided on the back side substrate 1. 8A is a plan view, FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 8A, and FIG. 8C is an enlarged view of the inside of the CR portion in FIG. 8B. is there. 9 shows a schematic structure when the electronic paper part EP and the control device part DA are connected and attached. FIG. 9A is a plan view showing a state before the attachment, and FIG. (B) is the figure which showed typically the mode of the connection part which conduct | electrically_connects, FIG.9 (c) is the figure which showed typically the mode of the connection part used as the part (non-conduction structure part) which does not conduct. .

The connection terminal portion 12 of the electronic paper portion is preferably configured as a collection of connection terminals (hole connector 12a) formed in a hole shape. The hole-shaped connection terminal portion 12 can be formed on the insulating resin substrate 1 on the back side in the electronic paper portion, the FPC, or the TCP. It is preferable that the exposed electrode (see reference numeral 21 in FIG. 8C) exposed inside the hole in the hole-shaped connection terminal portion is a conductive film having flexibility and elasticity. Examples of such a conductive film include a copper plating film, a nickel thin film formed by sputtering, and a conductive film that combines these. If the thickness is about 0.05 μm to 50 μm, good conductivity and flexibility are provided. It is preferable because it exhibits elasticity.
In addition, for example, a single-sided copper foil resin film is prepared as the back side resin substrate 1, and the copper foil side is etched and removed using the photolithography technique and the etching technique, leaving the film and the connecting electrode pattern part. Next, for example, a laser beam is irradiated from the opposite side of the film to form a through hole 1hl immediately below the copper foil portion, and finally, a portion of the copper foil side surface other than a portion where a small hole is to be formed is masked. A small hole communicating with the through hole is formed by etching the copper foil. It is preferable to employ oxygen reactive ion etching (oxygen RIE) as a method for etching a resin film because only the resin film can be etched without etching the copper foil.

In FIG. 9A, the band-shaped portion (hatched 12ep) connected to the hole-shaped connection terminal portion 12 is a conductive film that becomes a connection line, and the conductive that becomes a connection line at the position where the cutout portion 13 is described above. A state in which the film 12ep is cut is shown. As described above, the cutout portion 13 is an example of a configuration that is electrically non-conductive, and may be changed to another non-conductive structure.
The control signal transmitted from the control unit DA to the electronic paper unit EP is an identification signal for identifying which electronic paper unit EP the display element is driven in addition to the signal for controlling the driving of the display element. including. And the area | region where the some hole-shaped connection terminal part 12 shown here, the electrically conductive film 12ep used as a connection line, and the notch part 13 is arrange | positioned becomes the control signal receiving part 113 in the electronic paper part EP.

The hole-like connection terminal portion may have a structure in which a conductive film is also formed on the other surface of the rear substrate, and each of the upper and lower conductive films partially protrudes from the upper and lower ends of the through hole. Good. Further, a conductive film can be formed on the upper surface and the lower surface of the back-side substrate, and the conductive film can be arranged on the wall surface of the through hole by, for example, noble metal electroless plating. A conductive film formed on both sides of the back substrate is preferable because the reliability of the conductive connection is increased. Further, it is preferable to have a corrosion-resistant noble metal plating film on the wall surface of the through hole because the reliability of the conductive connection is further increased.
Further, the hole-like connection terminal portion may have a structure in which small holes are provided in a conductive film (exposed electrode) exposed inside the through hole. In this case, the shape of the small hole formed in the conductive film (exposed electrode) in plan view is an insertion type connection terminal (convex connector 32a) formed in a convex shape constituting a connection terminal portion 32 on the control device DA side described later. For example, a circular hole having a smaller diameter than the through-hole 1hl, a cross-shaped slit hole (see reference numeral 21 in FIG. 8C), and a combination of a circular hole and a cross-shaped slit hole. Examples of the hole include a hole, a combination of a circular hole and a three-way slit hole, a hole in which a plurality of slit holes are gathered in a star shape, and a star-shaped hole. Of these small holes, the slit holes are bent around the slit holes when the convex connector 32a is inserted, so that the conductive film reliably contacts the conductive portion of the convex connector 32 (see FIG. 9). This is preferable in that a highly reliable conductive connection can be achieved.

In contrast to the hole-shaped connection terminal portion (hole-shaped connector 12a) formed in the connection terminal portion of the electronic paper portion as described above, the insertion-type connection terminal (convex connector 32a) is provided on the control device DA side. ). The conductive protrusion serving as the convex insertion-type connection terminal portion should have a shape that can be brought into electrical contact with the conductive film 21 exposed inside the hole when inserted into the hole connection terminal portion. That's fine.
In addition, although the cross-sectional shape of the conductive protrusion is not particularly limited, for example, there are shapes such as a quadrangle, a triangle, a polygon, and a circle, and it is easy to fit into the hole shape of the hole-like connection terminal portion. A cross-sectional shape is preferable.
In addition, the conductive protrusion serving as the insertion type connection terminal is formed of copper, nickel, gold, palladium, rhodium, silver or the like on the entire conductive protrusion, or on the entire surface of the resin protrusion, for example, nickel, gold, platinum, Rhodium, palladium, silver, tin, solder, etc. are plated to obtain surface conductivity and harden the surface. It is also an effective method to form a conductive film on the entire surface of the conductive protrusion by applying a conductive paint containing carbon or iron.

As described above, the connection structure of the electronic paper device is formed by the hole-like connection terminal portion 12 of the electronic paper portion and the corresponding convex insertion-type connection terminal portion 32 on the control device portion DA side. However, as described above, by forming at least one non-conductive structure in each electronic paper part side connection terminal part, different arrangement patterns are obtained depending on the combination of the arrangement position and the number of arrangement of the non-conductive structure. It is decided. And this arrangement pattern shall differ in each electronic paper part. Thereby, each electronic paper forms a different connection structure with respect to the convex insertion type connection terminal provided on the control device section DA side. As a result, in the determination circuit formed in the electronic paper unit, the arrangement pattern included in the determination circuit is recognized as identification information for specifying the electronic paper unit.
FIG. 9A shows an electronic paper portion in which one non-conductive structure is set as a notch portion 13 provided on a connection line connected to a chip select line on the input side of the drive circuit (driver IC) 14. FIG. 9B shows a state in which the hole-shaped connector 12a and the convex connector 32a are brought into contact with each other and are electrically connected to each other at a portion other than the connection terminal portion where the notch portion 13 is set. FIG. 9C shows a state in which the convex connector 32c is not in contact (insulated) and is non-conductive at the connection terminal portion where the notch portion 13 is set.

In the structure illustrated in FIG. 9A, both sides of the connection terminal portion 12 of the electronic paper portion EP are used for reinforcement after the hole-shaped connector 12a and the convex connector 32 (32a, 32c) are connected. Auxiliary hole 15 is provided in the front. Correspondingly, auxiliary projections 35 are provided on both sides of the connection terminal portion 32 of the control device DA. Employing such a reinforcing structure is preferable because the structure after connection can be stably maintained.
By the way, in FIG. 10, the identification signal included in the control signal from the control unit DA is received through the conductive portions 12b, 12d, 12f, 12h, 12j, and 12l. The determination circuit 16 is arranged in the electronic paper part EP, and depends on an arrangement pattern determined by the arrangement position and the number of arrangements of the conductive structure and the non-conductive structure (notch part 13 in FIG. 10) included in the determination circuit 16. When the identification information for identifying the electronic paper unit is compared with the identification signal received from the control unit, and it is determined that the information on the display unit of the electronic paper unit is to be rewritten, the output from the drive circuit Becomes effective and information is rewritten. The determination circuit 16 and the drive circuit 14 will be described in detail below.

FIG. 9A shows the positional relationship between the convex connector 32a of the control unit DA and the hole-shaped connector 12a and the notch 13 on the electronic paper part EP side. . In the actual form of the present invention, the connection terminal portions 12 of the plurality of electronic paper portions EP are stacked. And the connection terminal part 32 by the side of the control apparatus part DA, for example, the convex connector 32a, is set so that the connection terminal part 12 in this lamination | stacking state may be penetrated.
As described above, the connection terminal portions 12 of the plurality of electronic paper portions EP have non-conductive structures (for example, the cutout portions 13) set in different arrangement patterns (see FIG. 3 (c)). The connection state with the plurality of convex connectors 32a constituting the terminal portion 32 is different for each of the plurality of electronic paper portions EP.

  The connection terminal portions of the electronic paper unit and the control device unit are aligned on one side of each electronic paper unit and on one side of the substrate of the control device unit. The number of terminals to be arranged is the number of terminals for conducting connection. In the electronic paper unit, the number corresponds to the number of connection lines on the input side of the drive circuit 14 other than the chip select line drawn out from the determination circuit 16 and the drive circuit 14 described later. . The drive circuit 14 is an IC chip that is also called a driver IC. In the present invention, the drive circuit 14 includes at least a driver function and a function that invalidates the driver function.

Next, the circuit configuration and determination method of the determination circuit 16 will be described.
FIG. 10 is a circuit diagram illustrating a circuit configuration of the determination circuit 16 provided on the electronic paper unit EP side. FIG. 10 shows a CPU that transmits a control signal including an identification signal, a non-conductive structure portion shown as the notch portion 13, and a part of the vicinity of the conductive structure on the control device DA side and the electronic paper portion EP side. ing. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating drive circuits 14a to 14c arranged on the electronic paper portion EP side and connection lines connected to the drive circuits 14a to 14c.

  The conduction structure constituting the determination circuit 16 on the electronic paper part EP side is formed as an identification signal receiving part, and in FIG. 10 are connection terminal parts 12b, 12d, 12f, 12h, 12j, and 12l. The connection terminal portions 12b, 12d, 12f, 12h, 12j, and 12l are electrically connected to the connection terminal portions 32b, 32d, 32f, 32h, 32j, and 32l among the connection terminal portions on the control device DA side. The connection terminal portions 12a, 12c, 12e, 12g, 12i, and 12k other than the identification signal receiving portion on the electronic paper portion EP side are electrically connected to the connection terminal portions 32a, 32c, 32e, 32g, 32i, and 32k on the control device portion DA side. Connected. At least one of the connection terminal portions 12a, 12c, 12e, 12g, 12i, and 12k (here, the connection terminal portion 12c) is a non-conductive structure (here, the notch portion 13) that is not electrically connected to the control device DA side. Provided).

In the electronic paper part shown in FIG. 10, by forming a non-conducting structure with the portion serving as the connection terminal part 12c in the other electronic paper part as a notch 13, a non-conducting structure and five conducting structures are formed. An arrangement pattern is formed as identification information of the electronic paper section. Thus, in the electronic paper unit having the configuration in which the determination circuit 16 is provided with six connection terminal units other than the connection terminal unit serving as the identification signal receiving unit, one to six of the six connection terminal units are not included. A conductive structure can be provided, and [2 ⁶ -1] arrangement patterns can be obtained.

Note that one non-conductive structure may be provided in one electronic paper unit, or a plurality of non-conductive structures may be provided. Moreover, one electronic paper part among the several electronic paper parts does not need to be provided with a non-conductive structure. In other words, the plurality of electronic paper units may be configured so that the arrangement patterns of the non-conductive structures are different from each other.
A connection part provided with a conduction structure serving as an identification signal receiving part and a connection part provided with a non-conduction structure are arranged in pairs. One or a plurality of non-conductive structures may be provided, and a plurality of arrangement patterns are formed by a combination of the arrangement number and the arrangement position. In a determination circuit having N pairs of connection portions provided with a conduction structure serving as an identification signal receiving unit and other conduction connection portions, [2N (2 to the power of N) −1] arrangement patterns can be formed.
The number of connection units provided with a conductive structure serving as an identification signal receiving unit can be determined according to the number of electronic paper units used in the electronic paper device. In FIG. 10, the number of connecting portions provided with a conduction structure serving as an identification signal receiving portion is six. Therefore, in an electronic paper device using such an electronic paper portion, up to ²⁶ (64) electronic paper portions are provided. It can be used.
By the way, if the number of connecting portions provided with a conductive structure serving as an identification signal receiving portion increases, the number of connecting lines increases accordingly, and an area for wiring the connecting lines is required, and an area other than the display portion of the electronic paper portion becomes large. It will end up. Therefore, it is preferable to minimize the number of connection portions provided with a conductive structure serving as an identification signal receiving portion, which is suitable for an actual electronic paper device. The number of connecting portions provided with a conductive structure serving as an identification signal receiving portion is one when the number of electronic paper portions is two, two when the number is three to four, and five to eight. In the case of 9, the number is 3, and in the case of 9 to 16, the number is 4.

  Further, the connection terminal portions 12b, 12d, 12f, 12h, 12j, and 12l as the identification signal receiving unit, and the connection terminal portions 12a, 12c, 12e, 12g, 12i, and 12k other than the identification signal receiving unit are illustrated in FIG. Formed as follows. In FIG. 10, a non-conduction structure (notch portion 13) is formed in the connection terminal portion 12c. Further, in FIG. 10, the determination circuit 16 including the XNOR circuit 311 and the NAND circuit 312 as a logic circuit is configured, and the connection terminal portions 12b, 12d, 12f, 12h, 12j, and 12l as identification signal receiving portions are connected. The received identification signal and the identification information determined by the arrangement pattern of the non-conductive structure and the conductive structure in the electronic paper part are compared to determine whether they match or not, and the electronic paper is determined according to the determination result It is configured to be electrically connected to the drive circuits 14a to 14e so that the output enable (OUTPUT-ENABLE) of the drive circuits 14a to 14e included in the unit can be validated or invalidated.

  The output line of the determination circuit 16 is branched and connected to each of the drive circuits 14a to 14e. Here, they are connected to the chip select lines 320a to 320e of the drive circuits 14a to 14e.

  Next, based on FIG. 12, a specific determination mode of the determination circuit and a process in which the control device unit displays information on a plurality of electronic paper units will be described. FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining the process of displaying information on the six electronic paper units by the control unit as shown as an example in FIG. In the specific example shown below, six electronic paper units are attached to one control unit, and data (information) is drawn and displayed on the display unit of the # 2 electronic paper unit corresponding to the # 2 screen. Therefore, a control signal including an identification signal for identifying the # 2 electronic paper unit is transmitted from the CPU of the control unit, and an image based on the drawing data signal is displayed on the display unit of the # 2 electronic paper unit.

  In step 1, the control unit transmits a control signal to the electronic paper unit. Specifically, a control signal (# 2 electronics) for displaying desired information on the display section of the # 2 electronic paper section EP-2 via the connection terminal section of the control device section and the connection terminal section of the electronic paper section. A control signal including an identification signal for identifying the paper part) is transmitted to all electronic paper parts including the # 2 electronic paper part.

  In step 21, all the electronic paper parts including the # 2 electronic paper part are connected to the identification signals received by the connection terminal parts 12b, 12d, 12f, 12h, 12j, and 12l serving as the identification signal receiving parts and the conductive structure. Compare the identification information of the electronic paper part determined by the arrangement pattern by the arrangement position and the number of arrangement of the non-conductive structure (notch part 13) provided in at least one of the terminal parts 12a, 12c, 12e, 12g, 12h, 12k To determine whether they match or not.

  Specifically, an identification signal for identifying that the drawing data signal is to be displayed on the display unit of the # 2 electronic paper unit from the CPU of the control unit unit to the determination circuit 16 on the electronic paper unit side (for example, “ 010000 ") is transmitted to all six electronic paper sections EP-1 to EP-6. In the # 2 electronic paper section EP-2 (the electronic paper section having the configuration shown in FIG. 10), the outputs of the connection terminal sections 12b, 12f, 12h, 12j, and 12l as the identification signal receiving section are “0”. On the other hand, the output of the connection terminal unit 12d as the identification signal receiving unit is “1”. Further, the outputs of the connection terminal portions 12a, 12e, 12g, 12i, and 12k are grounded via the connection terminal portions 32a, 32e, 32g, 32i, and 32k, and become “0”. On the other hand, since the connection terminal portion 12c in which the notch portion 13 is formed is not grounded, “1” is output. Therefore, in the # 2 electronic paper section EP-2, the truth value on the output side of the XNOR circuit 311 of the determination circuit 16 is “111111”. The outputs of all the XNOR circuits 311 are “1”, and the outputs of the NAND circuits 312 are “0”. That is, the identification information of the # 2 electronic paper part EP-2 matches the identification signal (step 21: YES).

  Therefore, the switch 17 of the determination circuit 16 is turned off (step 31), the output enable (OUTPUT-ENABLE) of the drive circuits 14a to 14e is enabled (step 41), and the output signal from the CPU is received. At this time, drawing data is output from the drive circuits 14a to 14e to the display unit of the electronic paper unit (step 51). Therefore, information rewriting is executed on the display unit of the # 2 electronic paper unit (step 61).

  On the other hand, the display part of another electronic paper part, for example, the display part of # 1 electronic paper part EP-1, has a notch formed in a part (see FIG. 10) corresponding to the connection terminal part 12a. In step 1, the control device unit rewrites the control signal including the identification signal for identifying the # 2 electronic paper unit with respect to the # 1 electronic paper unit EP-1 (the display unit of the # 2 electronic paper EP-2 is rewritten). # 1 electronic paper section EP-1 transmits the identification signal received at the connection terminal sections 12b, 12d, 12f, 12h, 12j, and 12l as the identification signal receiving section, and has a conduction structure. Identification information of the electronic paper part determined by the arrangement pattern by the arrangement position and the number of arrangement of the non-conductive structure (notch part 13) provided in at least one of the connection terminal parts 12a, 12c, 12e, 12g, 12h, 12k, Are compared to determine whether they match or not.

  Specifically, the connection terminal portions 32b, 32d, 32f, 32h, 32j, and 32l of the control device portion should be displayed on the determination circuit 16 of the # 1 electronic paper portion EP-1, and displayed on the # 2 electronic paper portion EP-2. An identification signal (for example, “010000”) for identifying the drawing data is transmitted.

  The outputs of the connection terminal units 12d, 12f, 12h, 12j, and 12l as the identification signal receiving unit of the # 1 electronic paper unit EP-1 are “0”. On the other hand, the output of the connection terminal unit 12b as the identification signal receiving unit is “1”. The outputs of the connection terminal portions 12c, 12e, 12g, 12i, and 12k are grounded via the connection terminal portions 32c, 32e, 32g, 32i, and 32k, and become “0”. On the other hand, since the connection terminal portion 12a portion where the notch portion 13 is formed is not grounded, “1” is output. Therefore, in the # 1 electronic paper section EP-1, the truth value on the output side of the XNOR circuit 311 of the determination circuit 16 is “001111”. Since the outputs of all the XNOR circuits 311 are not “1”, the output of the NAND circuit 312 is “1”. That is, the identification information of the # 1 electronic paper part EP-1 does not match the identification signal (step 21: NO).

  Accordingly, the switch 17 of the determination circuit 16 is turned on (step 32), the output enable (OUTPUT-ENABLE) of the drive circuits 14a to 14e is invalidated (step 42), and the output signal from the CPU is received. Even so, drawing data is not output from the drive circuits 14a to 14e to the display section of the # 1 electronic paper section EP-1 (step 52). Therefore, rewriting of # 1 electronic paper part EP-1 (the same applies to electronic paper parts EP-3 to EP-6 other than # 2 electronic paper part) is not executed (step 62).

  In addition, although # 1 electronic paper part EP-1 is mentioned as an example here, the other electronic paper parts EP-3 to EP-6 are also similar to # 1 electronic paper part EP-1. The input identification signal and the identification information based on the arrangement pattern determined by the arrangement position and the arrangement number of the conductive structure and the non-conductive structure constituting the determination circuit 16 do not match, and rewriting is not executed.

  As described above, in the electronic paper device, the identification signal received by the connection terminal portions 12b, 12d, 12f, 12h, 12j, and 12l as the identification signal receiving unit, and any one of the non-conductive structure (the notch portion 13) and the conductive structure. In the connection terminal portions 12a, 12c, 12e, 12g, 12h, and 12k formed, the identification information based on the arrangement pattern determined by the arrangement position determined by the arrangement position and the arrangement number of the conductive structure and the non-conductive structure is matched. Each of the plurality of electronic paper units includes a determination circuit 16 that determines whether or not they match, and a drive circuit included in the electronic paper unit on the display unit of the electronic paper unit in which the identification signal and the identification information match. Control signals (drawing data) are output from 14a to 14e. Thus, predetermined drawing data (information to be displayed) based on the control signal including the identification signal is displayed only on the display unit of the electronic paper unit that matches the identification signal transmitted from the control device unit.

  The configuration of the determination circuit shown in the embodiment of the present invention is an example. In the above embodiment, the arrangement pattern of the non-conduction structure (notch portion) and the input from each terminal of the CPU are compared by the XNOR logic circuit. For example, a method of receiving the input from the CPU terminal once by the shift register, etc. Is also possible. In this way, the information given as the arrangement pattern of the non-conducting structure (notch portion) is compared with the information by the identification signal transmitted from the control device unit, and it is determined whether or not they match. The circuit to be used is not limited to the logic circuit (XNOR, NAND) described in the embodiment of the present invention, and may be a commonly used electronic circuit such as another logic circuit or a memory circuit. A characteristic of the present invention is that the determination circuit is configured by combining the arrangement pattern of the non-conductive structure (notch portion) and the electronic circuit.

  An electronic paper device having the configuration described above can rewrite the display units of a plurality of electronic paper units by selecting only the electronic paper unit on which the display rewriting is to be performed with only one control unit. Therefore, according to the present invention, a large image or a plurality of information can be displayed on a display unit of an electronic paper unit arbitrarily selected with a simple configuration without complicating the product structure or incurring cost increase. Thus, it is possible to provide an electronic paper device that allows the displayed information to be viewed at the same time.

  An electronic paper device that is an object of the present invention is configured by mounting a plurality of electronic paper units that are display units (display screens) for displaying information on one control unit. The display rewriting of the display unit of each electronic paper unit is performed individually. Since the display element arranged in the display unit of each electronic paper unit has a display memory property, the display is maintained while the rewriting process is not performed. Therefore, for example, when a display unit (display screen) is configured with four electronic paper units, different information may be displayed on each of the four display units (four screens), or four pieces of the same information may be displayed. One piece of information (for example, one picture) may be displayed in a large size on four display portions (four screens).

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Back side board | substrate 2 Observation side board | substrate 3W, 3B Display medium (particle group)
4 Bulkhead 7 Cell 12 Connection terminal part of electronic paper part 13 Notch part (non-conductive structure)
14 Drive Circuit 16 Judgment Circuit 32 Connection Terminal Unit of Control Unit EP Electronic Paper Unit DA Control Unit

Claims (4)

Consists of an electrically driven display medium disposed between a pair of display electrodes facing each other in a gap space formed by opposingly arranging two substrates each having a transparent region at least one of them. A display unit on which display elements having display memory properties are arranged;
A plurality of electronic paper units comprising a drive circuit for driving the display element;
An electronic paper device configured to include a control device unit that rewrites information displayed on the display unit by transmitting a control signal for driving the display element,
The electronic paper unit includes a non-conductive structure in at least one of a connection terminal unit connected to the control device unit and a plurality of connection lines between the connection terminal unit and the drive circuit, and the non-conductive structure. The arrangement pattern determined by the arrangement position and the number of arrangements are different from each other in each electronic paper part,
When the connection between the plurality of electronic paper units and the one control device unit is made by stacking the connection terminal units of the plurality of electronic paper units, the display units of the electronic paper units are connected to each other. It is configured not to overlap,
A determination circuit including the non-conduction structure and configured by a plurality of connection lines between the connection terminal portion and the drive circuit,
It is configured to drive the display element of the electronic paper unit corresponding to the control signal received from the control device unit,
An electronic paper device characterized by that. The planar view shape of the display unit of the electronic paper part is a rectangular shape, and the drive circuit and the connection terminal part of the electronic paper part are aligned and formed in an end region along one side of the electronic paper part, The connection terminal portion of the electronic paper portion is a hole connector portion including a plurality of hole connectors, and the connection terminal portion of the control device portion is a plurality of convex shapes that can be inserted and connected to the hole connector portion. The connector is a convex connector portion formed in alignment in the control device portion,
2. The electronic paper device according to claim 1, wherein the non-conductive structure is provided in the connection terminal portion of the electronic paper portion so as to insulate an electrical connection with the convex connector. .   The non-conductive structure is a notch provided in the connection terminal portion of the electronic paper portion so as to insulate an electrical connection with the convex connector. The electronic paper apparatus as described in.   The drive circuit and the connection terminal part of the electronic paper part are formed on a flexible wiring board mounted along one side of the electronic paper part, and the connection terminal part of the electronic paper part is an end of the flexible wiring board. The electronic paper device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the electronic paper device is a hole connector portion including a plurality of hole connectors arranged in a line area.

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