JPH01193782A - Information recording and display element - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To quickly record information by providing a material, which is colored by an electric means and kept in the coloring state even after removal of an electric means, between electrodes facing each other and reading this coloring state from the external. CONSTITUTION:A material 1 which has such characteristic that the optical property can be changed by the electric means is arranged between upper electrodes 2 consisting of a conductive material and lower electrodes 3 arranged orthogonally to upper electrodes 2. When a voltage is applied to this material 1, the material 1 is colored and this coloring state can be observed from the external through a transparent surface material 4. When the applied voltage is removed in this state, the coloring position is moved, and the coloring state is kept even after the completion of write. Consequently, the selective part of the material 1 kept in the coloring state even after removal of the applied voltage is seen from the external through the transparent surface material 4. Thus, information is quickly recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (1) Technical field to which the invention pertains The present invention relates to an information recording element that is easy to handle, on which information can be written by electrical means, and on which the information can be observed from the outside.

(2) Conventional technology and its problems Traditionally, paper has had excellent features such as being easy to record, store, carry, and record information, and because the recorded information is visible, it can be read immediately. have, but
To record information on this paper, i) attach a recording material such as pencil lead or pen ink, ii) attach the recording material using a device such as a printer, and 1ii) heat-sensitive coloring material. iv) Recording information by using a material that develops color by applying pressure, either by hand or by an impact printer using mechanical impact. Such methods were used.

Among these methods, methods i) and iv) using handwriting have a limited recording speed because they are input by humans, cannot record a large amount of information at high speed, and cannot write in a clean font like in printing. There were drawbacks such as: On the other hand,
Methods such as impact printers (ii) and iv) and thermal printers (1ii) are printing methods that require mechanical methods and are fast, but require a printing device and printing device, so they can be used anywhere. had the disadvantage that it was not possible to write large amounts of information at high speed.

Also, semiconductor memory is a conventional means of recording information.

The information recorded on various types of memory media, such as magnetic memory, cannot be easily observed from the outside, so humans cannot read the information immediately like on paper, and the contents of the recorded information cannot be known without a display or printing device. It was difficult.

(3) Purpose of the Invention The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional art, i) the need for a large printing device when recording information on paper at high speed, and ii) the information storage It solves the problem of not being able to read information immediately without a reading device, a display device for the read information, and a printing device, and it is easy to handle like paper, allows information to be stored and copied, and is portable. , cutting, gluing, etc. are possible, information can be easily written using electrical means like in memory, and information recorded like paper can be immediately read as visible information.
The purpose is to provide an information recording and display device that has both paper and memory functions.

(4) Structure and Function of the Invention Next, the structure and functional operation of the present invention will be summarized using a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 and a three-dimensional cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. This will be explained with reference to the electrical and coloring characteristics of the information recording and display material used in the present invention shown in FIG.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, 1 is a substance (for example, electrotromic: ECD material) that has the property of changing optical properties by electrical means as shown in FIG.
It is. 2 is a conductive plastic material or A
I 7 is a top electrode made of a conductive material (perpendicular to the plane of the paper in Figure 1); 3 is a bottom electrode arranged perpendicular to the top electrode 2 (parallel to the plane of Figure 2); direction), 4 is a transparent surface material so that the colored state of the substance can be seen from the outside, and 5 is an opaque back material.

In order to be able to see the colored state of the substance 4 from the outside, it is desirable that the interval between the upper surface electrodes 2 be wider than the width of the electrodes 2 themselves. The pitch of the electrodes 2 and 3 is determined by the precision of the pattern to be displayed, but for example, from 2 to IO
This is book/IIIm. Furthermore, these materials (1 to 5) have a thickness of several tens of μm to several tens of μm depending on their strength and purpose.
It is made of material with a thickness of 00 μm. Therefore, the structure of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has flexibility similar to paper, and is suitable for storage and copying.

Cutting, gluing, etc. can be done.

Next, using the configuration of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2,
A method for recording information such as characters, figures, etc. will be explained.

The information recording and display material used in the present invention has non-linear characteristics between applied voltage (or current) and optical properties (coloring properties) as shown in FIG. It is possible to color any position using the XY main electrodes as shown in the figure.

The principle is shown in Figure 4, where the target Xn electrode and Yn
Vxn=3/2Vth, Vyn=-3/ for the electrodes, respectively.
A voltage of 2 V th is applied, and Vxm = −1/2 V to the electrodes Xn+ and Ym of non-target non-selected points, respectively.
When a voltage of th, Vym=1/2Vth is applied, Xn-
Yn (selected point), Xm-Yn (non-selected point), Xn-Ym
(Non-selected point): 3/2Vth-(-3/2Vth)=3Vt for each coloring substance of Xm-Ym (non-selected point)
h, −1/2Vth−(−3/2Vth)=Vth,
3/2Vth-(1/2Vth)=Vth.

-1/2V th-(1/2V th) = V th
(7) A voltage applying rail.

At this time, Vd=vt so that vth becomes state d in Figure 3.
When h, ■b=3■th is selected, a voltage of Vb (3Vth) is applied to Xn-Yn (selected point), and color develops.
Other non-selected points (Xm - Yn, Xn - Ym, Xi
-Ym), a voltage of Vd (Vth) is applied, and non-selected points do not develop color.

That is, in FIG. 3, the voltage (3Vth) shown in a is applied to the information recording display material sandwiched between the Xn electrode and the Yn electrode at the selected point, so that the color development state shown in b in FIG. 3 is obtained. shows. This colored state can be observed from the outside through the transparent surface material 4 in FIGS. 1 and 2. Next, when the applied voltage is removed from this state, the colored state moves to the position shown at C in FIG. 3, and continues to be colored even after writing is completed. Therefore, the selected portion of the substance that remains colored even after the applied voltage is removed can be seen from the outside through the transparent surface material.

After writing an arbitrary character 1 graphic using the XY electrode in this way, the character 1 graphic continues to be colored even after the writing means described later is removed from the electrode of the present invention,
Furthermore, since it is thin and paper-like, it can be stored (file), copied, cut with scissors and pasted onto other objects, just like other papers and printed matter.

The method of driving a nonlinear display element using matrix-type electric scratching described here is called the 1/3 voltage driving method, which is one of the well-known techniques, and this voltage application method is the purpose of this application. There isn't.

Furthermore, to explain the method for writing information to the information recording/display element of the present invention, as shown in FIG.
The XY electrodes are exposed on each of the four sides as two opposing sides. Therefore, to transmit information from this electrode,
For example, an information output device whose output electrodes are unidirectional conductive rubber used to connect an LCD and a printed circuit board is crimped to the XYt poles on two sides of the information recording display element, and the signal from the information source is output by contact. Information is recorded by applying voltage to the XY electric currents of the information recording/displaying element of the invention. In this way, it is possible to write information to the XY electrodes from the outside.

5(a) and 5(b) are a perspective view and a sectional view along one electrode 2 showing an example of a structure for writing electrical information into the information recording/displaying element of the present application. 6 and 7 are rubber connectors with directional conductivity that are used to connect printed circuit boards and LCDs, etc., 7 is elastic insulating rubber, and 6 is made of thin metal wire or conductive material. The conductive parts are thread-like, and in this case only a plurality of conductive parts corresponding to one upper surface electrode 2 are shown. For each of the other electrodes 2, such a conductive part 6 is
is provided. Reference numeral 10 denotes a stopper for positioning the information recording/displaying element of the present application and the rubber connector, and has a structure in which the electrode 2 and the conductive material 6 come into contact when the information recording/displaying element is set. 8 is an electrode, and 9 is a connector board. The electrode 8 is an X or Y electrode, and only one is shown. In such a structure, the information recording/display element may be inserted between the stopper 10 and the rubber connector 6.7, or after it is set on the stopper 10, the connection part made of 6.7.8°9 is pressed down from above. You can also sandwich it.

Since the conductive material 6 is in contact with the electrode 8 on the connector board 9, voltage and current can be applied in the order of electrode 8 - conductive material 6 - electrode 2. If a structure similar to this is configured so that voltage and current can be applied to the two directions of the X and Y electrodes (FIG. 5(a)), the X and Y positions can be selected and information can be written.

Intrashell EC is an ECD material with hysteresis characteristics.
This can be achieved by mixing tungsten oxide or iridium oxide into material D.

(5) As described in detail of the invention, according to the configuration of the present invention, the information recording display element is thin and paper-like, so that i) the ease of handling, visibility, and portability that paper has; The present invention has the advantage of being able to provide a new recording medium that has never existed before, such as ease of storage, storage, copyability, and ii) high speed and large capacity due to the electrical writing that printers have.

For this reason, for example, in the past, addresses on labels for large quantities of mail and parcels were written manually, or labels printed out using a computer were pasted onto the labels by hand. In addition, the title names of documents recorded on floppy disks were either handwritten or printed as a list and pasted onto the floppy disk. On the other hand, by applying the structure of the present application to various labels, cards, etc., it becomes possible to record information on them at high speed, making it possible to perform tasks that were conventionally done by hand simply and quickly. .

Further, by using the configuration of the present invention, it is possible to configure a simple flat printer using the configuration of the present invention as printing paper.

Its application areas are wide-ranging.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view including a partial cross section showing an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is an electrochromic coloring of a color-forming substance used in the present invention. A characteristic diagram showing an example of the characteristics, FIG. 4 is a perspective view for explaining the operating principle of the present invention, and FIGS. It is a perspective view and a sectional view for explaining a structural example. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... ECD material, 2... Top surface electrode, 3... Bottom surface electrode, 4... Transparent surface material, 5... Opaque back surface material, Xn, Xs, Yn, Ym --- electrode , 6... Thread-like conductive part, 7... Insulating rubber, 8
...Electrode, 9...Connector board, 10...Stopper. Patent applicant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Claims (1)

[Claims] A material that exhibits a colored state by an electrical means, has a nonlinear relationship between the density of the colored color and a physical quantity of the electrical means, and maintains the colored state even after the electrical means is removed, is provided between opposing electrodes. 1. An information recording/display element, characterized in that it is structured in a layered manner, and is configured so that the state of color developed by the electrical means using the electrodes can be read from the outside as visible information.