Semi-permanent electronic paper

• US 20060158406A1
• Filed: 01/20/2005
• Published: 07/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Searete LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Paley, Kenneth B., Tegreene, Clarence T., Jung, Edward K.Y., Levien, Royce A., Malamud, Mark A., Rinaldo, John D. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 7,643,005 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/86
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/026 based on the rotation of particles under the influence of an external field, e.g. gyricons, twisting ball displays based on orientable dipolar particles G02F1/172; based on electrophoresis G02F1/167
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/147 using display panels
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 9/372 the positions of the elements being controlled by the application of an electric field
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/34 by control of light from an independent source
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

An apparatus and method to control the writing on electronic paper.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

circuitry configurable to substantially semi-permanently write to a first region of an electronic paper.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the circuitry configurable to substantially semi-permanently write to a first region of an electronic paper comprises:

circuitry configurable to determine whether an image is to be written to the first region, and if the image is to be written to the first region, configurable to disenable the image from being written to the first region.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the circuitry configurable to determine whether an image is to be written to the first region, and if the image is to be written to the first region, configurable to disenable the image from being written to the first region comprises:

circuitry configurable to disenable writing to the first region by disenabling the image from being downloaded to the electronic paper.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the circuitry configurable to determine whether an image is to be written to the first region, and if the image is to be written to the first region, configurable to disenable the image from being written to the first region comprises:

circuitry configurable to disenable writing to the first region by disenabling a request for the image to be downloaded to the electronic paper.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the circuitry configurable to determine whether an image is to be written to the first region, and if the image is to be written to the first region, configurable to disenable the image from being written to the first region comprises:

circuitry configurable to disenable the image from being written to the first region conditionally based on an occurrence of an event.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the event comprises:

an image downloaded to the first region a specified number of times.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the event comprises:

an image downloaded from a specified entity to the first region a specified number of times.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the circuitry comprises:

circuitry configurable to substantially permanently write to a second region of the electronic paper.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the circuitry comprises:

circuitry configurable to enable a second region of the electronic paper to be substantially exclusively written to by a first entity.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the circuitry configurable to enable a second region of the electronic paper to be substantially exclusively written to by a first entity comprises:

circuitry configurable to enable a second region of the electronic paper to be exclusively written to by a first entity by determining whether an image to be written to the electronic paper is to be written to the second region and is from the first entity and if the image is to be written to the second region and is not from the first entity to disenable the image from being written to the second region.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the circuitry configurable to enable a second region of the electronic paper to be substantially exclusively written to by a first entity comprises:

circuitry configurable to enable a third region of the electronic paper to be exclusively written to by a second entity.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least a portion of the circuitry is disposed without, on, or within the electronic paper.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the electronic paper is attachable to a structure and at least a portion of the circuitry is disposed without, on, and/or within the structure.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising the electronic paper.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the electronic paper is configurable to be fixed from writing an image downloaded to the electronic paper onto the electronic paper.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the region of the electronic paper is configured to have a visually distinct appearance from the remainder of the electronic paper.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the visually distinct appearance comprises:

a background hue of a character written with a pixel of the region.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the visually distinct appearance comprises:

a visual border of the region.

20. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the electronic paper comprises:

one or more pixels having an electrophoretic ink particle disposed in a region between electrodes.

21. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the electronic paper comprises:

one or more pixels having an ink that includes a rotatable multicolored element configured to rotate in response to a field.

9. The apparatus of clam 8 wherein the circuitry configurable to substantially permanently write to a second region of the electronic paper comprises:

circuitry configurable to substantially permanently write to the second region by disenabling an image to be written to the second region from being downloaded to the electronic paper.

22. An apparatus comprising:

circuitry configurable to conditionally disenable an entity from writing to a specific region of an electronic paper depending upon at least one of

an identity of the region, or

an identity of the entity.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the circuitry comprises:

circuitry configurable to disenable writing to the region by disenabling an image from being downloaded to the electronic paper.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the circuitry configurable to disenable writing to the region by disenabling an image from being downloaded to the electronic paper comprises:

circuitry configurable to fix the electronic paper from writing an image onto a region of the electronic paper.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein the circuitry configurable to fix the electronic paper from writing an image onto a region of the electronic paper comprises:

circuitry configurable to fix the electronic paper by being configurable to generate a signal indicating that the electronic paper and/or a circuit disposed in the electronic paper is to fix the region.

26. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the circuitry comprises:

circuitry configurable to disenable writing to the region by disenabling a request for the image to be downloaded to the electronic paper.

27. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the image is to be downloaded to the electronic paper via a bus and/or a network.

29. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the circuitry configurable to disenable writing to the region by disenabling an image from being downloaded to the electronic paper comprises:

circuitry configurable to download the image to the electronic paper.

30. The apparatus of claim 29 wherein the circuitry configurable to download the image to the electronic paper comprises:

circuitry configurable to download the image to the electronic paper via a bus and/or a network.

31. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the electronic paper comprises:

the electronic paper attachable to a product or a package for the product; and

the entity includes a vendor, a provider of the product to a vendor of the product and/or a consumer of the product.

32. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the circuitry comprises:

circuitry configurable to conditionally disenable the entity from writing to the region by determining whether an image to be written to the electronic paper is to be written to the region and if the image is to be written to the region to disenable the image from being written to the region.

33. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein the circuitry configurable to conditionally disenable the entity from writing to the region by determining whether an image to be written to the electronic paper is to be written to the region and if the image is to be written to the region to disenable the image from being written to the region comprises:

if the image is to be written to the region, the circuitry is configurable to conditionally disenable the image from being written to the region, based on whether an image has already been downloaded to the region an indicated number of times; and

if an image has been downloaded to the region an indicated number of times, the circuitry is configurable to disenable an image from being written to the region.

35. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein the circuitry configurable to conditionally disenable the entity from writing to the region by determining whether an image to be written to the electronic paper is to be written to the region and if the image is to be written to the region to disenable the image from being written to the region comprises:

if an image is to be written to the region, the circuitry is configurable to disenable the image from being written to the region based on whether an event has occurred; and

if the event has occurred, the circuitry is configurable to disenable the image from being written to the region.

36. The apparatus of claim 35 wherein the event comprises:

an image having been downloaded to the region a specified number of times.

37. The apparatus of claim 35 wherein the event comprises:

an image having been downloaded to the region from a specified entity for a specified number of times.

38. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the circuitry comprises:

circuitry configurable to conditionally disenable an entity from writing to the region by determining whether an image to be written to the electronic paper is to be written to the region and is from a first entity, and if the image is to be written to the region and is not from the first entity, to disenable the image from being written to the region.

39. The apparatus of claim 38 wherein the circuitry configurable to conditionally disenable an entity from writing to the region by determining whether an image to be written to the electronic paper is to be written to the region and is from a first entity, and if the image is to be written to the region and is not from the first entity, to disenable the image from being written to the region comprises:

circuitry configurable to conditionally disenable an entity from writing to a second region by determining whether an image to be written to the electronic paper is to be written to the second region and is from a second entity and if the image is to be written to the second region and is not from the second entity, to disenable the image from being written to the second region.

45. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the circuitry further comprises:

at least a portion of the circuitry disposed without, on, and/or within the electronic paper.

46. The apparatus of claim 22 wherein the electronic paper further comprises:

the electronic paper attachable to a structure and at least a portion of the circuitry disposed without, on, and/or within the structure.

47. The apparatus of claim 22 further comprising the electronic paper.

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44. The apparatus of claim 43 wherein the event further comprises:

an image having been downloaded to the first region from a specified entity a specified number of times.

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79. A method of using electronic paper comprising:

on a first region of said paper after a first entity has written an image to the first region disenabling writing to the first region; and

on a second region of the paper writing an image exclusively from a second entity, and/or on a third region of the paper writing an image exclusively from a third entity.

80. The method of claim 79 wherein the electronic paper is attachable to a product and the second entity is a vendor of the product.

81. The method of claim 79 wherein the electronic paper is attachable to a product and the third entity is a purchaser of the product.

82. The method of claim 79 wherein the image written to the first region by the first entity is a unitary image.

83. The method of claim 79 wherein the image written by the first entity is identified by the first entity as the last image to be written to the first region before the disenabling action.

86. The method of claim 79 wherein electronic paper is attached to a product and the first entity is a provider of the product to a vendor of the product.

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