TWI399715B - Display method for e-paper apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Electronic paper device display method

The present invention relates to a display method, and more particularly to an electronic paper device display method.

E-paper has the following advantages: it can be flexed, and it only needs to consume electricity at the moment of changing the display data, so it can be clearly displayed without power saving, visual dead space and daylight. E-paper is a new-generation display, and related industries in various advanced countries have been investing in R&D and production. This revolutionary display will bring about major changes in human life, and the prospects are promising.

Existing electronic papers are distinguished by their control methods, and there are two major categories. The first is a matrix type and the second is a direct type. Among them, if you want to display text or patterns that are not specific (and can be changed), you must use matrix electronic paper. Matrix electronic paper must include a power control chip, a clock control chip, a DC transformer chip, and a majority of gate drivers, source drivers, and the like on the printed circuit board.

Please refer to the first figure, which is a block diagram of the electronic paper device. An electronic paper device includes a memory unit 10, a control unit 20, an electronic paper drive unit 30, and an electronic paper unit 40. The control unit 20 is electrically connected to the memory unit 10 and the electronic paper drive unit 30; the electronic paper unit 40 is electrically connected to the electronic paper drive unit 30.

In the conventional art, whenever the picture of the electronic paper unit 40 needs to be updated, the control unit 20 directly compares the existing old picture with the new picture, and then queries for the presence of the output waveform in the memory unit 10. A comparison table (not shown) is provided to control the electronic paper driving unit 30 to output a desired waveform to the electronic paper unit 40 to obtain a desired new picture.

Assume that in 16-color grayscale, for each pixel (pixel), since there are 16 possibilities for the grayscale of the old screen, there are 16 possibilities for the grayscale of the new screen, so there will be 16x16 from the old screen to the new screen. = 256 possible combinations of changes. Therefore, the memory unit 10 needs to store the output waveform corresponding to the above 16x16=256 possible combinations of changes in the output waveform comparison table for the control unit 20 to query, so that the memory unit 10 of a great capacity will be required. Furthermore, since the existing old picture is directly compared with the new picture, the memory unit 10 will actually contain two picture buffers: one for storing the old picture and one for storing New picture.

As can be seen from the above description, the conventional electronic paper device display method requires a large-capacity memory unit, thereby increasing the cost, and also making the resolution of the electronic paper difficult to improve.

In order to improve the above disadvantages of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic paper device display method.

In order to achieve the above object of the present invention, the electronic paper device display method of the present invention is applied to an electronic paper device comprising: a memory unit, a control unit, an electronic paper drive unit and an electronic paper unit. The electronic paper device display method includes: when the screen of the electronic paper unit needs to be updated, the control unit controls the electronic paper driving unit to update the entire image of the electronic paper unit to a preset gray level; and according to the updated image Data, the control unit queries the output waveform table in the memory unit to control the electronic paper driving unit to generate a desired waveform and output to the electronic paper unit.

Please refer to the first figure (block diagram of the electronic paper device). The electronic paper device display method of the present invention is applied to the electronic paper device shown in the first figure. The electronic paper device display method of the present invention is the most different from the prior art in that the conventional technology directly compares the existing old picture with the new picture to change the picture whenever the picture needs to be updated. The invention is to first change the entire picture into a preset gray level, and then change from the preset gray level to a new picture (the preset gray level can be black or white).

The advantage of this is: as mentioned above, taking the 16-color gray scale as an example, the conventional technique needs to store 16x16=256 possible combinations of changes corresponding to the output waveform in the output waveform table, but the invention only needs to store 16+16. =2*16=The output waveform corresponding to the 32 possible combinations of changes is in the output waveform table. The reason is as follows: First, the old picture is all changed to the preset gray level (the preset gray level is fixed, so there are only 16 possibilities). After the screen has all become the preset grayscale, it changes from the preset grayscale to a new one (the preset grayscale is fixed, so there are only 16 possibilities). Therefore, the present invention only needs to store 16+16=2*16=32 possible combinations of changes corresponding to the output waveform in the output waveform table. In this way, the space required for memory will be greatly reduced.

Even if the preset grayscale is selected as black or white, it will save more memory space. Since it becomes all black or all white, the electronic paper driving unit 30 can be controlled by the control unit 20 to force the screen of the electronic paper unit 40 to become completely black or white. Therefore, the action of the query waveform comparison table required to change from the old screen to the preset gray scale can be omitted. Therefore, it is only necessary to memorize the output waveform corresponding to the 16 possible combinations of changes from all black or all white to the new picture. Of course, the present invention does not need to query the waveform comparison table when it is to become all black or all white, and may also query the waveform comparison table as the above-mentioned first preset gray scale. In this way, it will be the same as the preset gray scale, and it is necessary to store 16+16=2*16=32 kinds of possible variation combinations corresponding to the output waveform in the output waveform table.

Furthermore, since the present invention does not directly compare the old picture with the old picture, it is not necessary for the two picture registers to store the new and old pictures, respectively. The invention requires only one picture register.

Please refer to the second figure, which is a flow chart of the display method of the electronic paper device of the present invention. First, the control unit 20 determines whether it is necessary to update the screen of the electronic paper unit 40 (S10). If it is necessary to update the screen of the electronic paper unit 40, the control unit 20 controls the electronic paper driving unit 30 to update the entire screen of the electronic paper unit 40 to the preset gray scale (S20). Then, according to the screen data to be updated, the control unit 20 queries the output waveform table existing in the memory unit 10 to control the electronic paper driving unit 30 to generate a desired waveform and output to the electronic paper unit 40 (S30). . Finally, the screen display of the electronic paper unit 40 is completed (S40).

The step S20 can be queried by the control unit 20 for the presence of the output waveform table in the memory unit 10 to control the electronic paper driving unit 30 to update the entire screen of the electronic paper unit 40 to the preset gray scale. Or when the preset gray scale is black or white, the control unit 20 controls the electronic paper driving unit 30 to update the entire electronic paper unit 40 to be all black or all white.

The key point of the present invention is that the conventional technology uses the old picture to be directly updated into a new picture, so the memory capacity of the stored waveform comparison table is relatively large (because the change combination is more), and the picture register needs two (one old) The picture, a new picture, for comparison). However, the present invention first changes the old picture into the preset gray level (or all black, or all white), and then changes to a new picture, which will greatly reduce the memory required capacity (because the change combination is much less), and reduce the picture. The number of scratchpads.

In summary, it is known that the present invention has industrial applicability, novelty and advancement, and the structure of the present invention has not been seen in similar products and public use, and fully complies with the requirements of the invention patent application, and is filed according to the patent law.

10‧‧‧ memory unit

20‧‧‧Control unit

30‧‧‧Electronic paper drive unit

40‧‧‧electronic paper unit

S10 ~ S40‧‧‧ steps

The first picture is a block diagram of an electronic paper device.

The second figure is a flow chart of the display method of the electronic paper device of the present invention.

S10~S40‧‧‧Steps

Claims (6)

An electronic paper device display method is applied to an electronic paper device, the electronic paper device comprising a memory unit, a control unit, an electronic paper drive unit and an electronic paper unit, the electronic paper device display method comprising:
a. when the screen of the electronic paper unit needs to be updated, the control unit controls the electronic paper driving unit to update the entire electronic paper unit to a preset gray scale; and
b. According to the screen material to be updated, the control unit queries the output waveform table in the memory unit to control the electronic paper driving unit to generate a desired waveform and output to the electronic paper unit. The electronic paper device display method of claim 1, wherein the step a is when the screen of the electronic paper unit needs to be updated, wherein the control unit queries the output waveform table in the memory unit to control the electronic paper. The driving unit updates the entire image of the electronic paper unit to the preset gray scale. The electronic paper device display method of claim 1, wherein the preset gray scale is white, and the step a is when the screen of the electronic paper unit needs to be updated, the control unit is configured to query the presence of the output in the memory unit. The waveform table controls the electronic paper driving unit to update the entire electronic paper unit to be completely white. The electronic paper device display method of claim 1, wherein the preset gray scale is white, and the step a is controlled by the control unit to update the entire electronic paper driving unit when the screen of the electronic paper unit needs to be updated. The screen of the electronic paper unit is completely white. The electronic paper device display method of claim 1, wherein the preset gray scale is black, and the step a is when the screen of the electronic paper unit needs to be updated, the control unit is configured to query the output in the memory unit. The waveform table controls the electronic paper driving unit to update the entire electronic paper unit to be completely black. The electronic paper device display method of claim 1, wherein the preset gray scale is black, and the step a is controlled by the control unit to update the entire electronic paper driving unit when the screen of the electronic paper unit needs to be updated. The picture of the electronic paper unit is all black.