Amalgamated Display comprising Dissimilar Display Devices

• US 20110043435A1
• Filed: 08/20/2009
• Published: 02/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Babu, Amish Rajesh, Hebenstreit, Joseph J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,648,772 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/5
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/005 based on electrowetting
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2300/023 Display panel composed of stacked panels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2300/046 with an emissive area and a light-modulating area combined in one pixel
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0613 The adjustment depending on the type of the information to be displayed
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/34 by control of light from an independent source
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/824 combined with auxiliary electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/50 OLEDs integrated with light modulating elements, e.g. with electrochromic elements, photochromic elements or liquid crystal elements

Abstract

A reflective display, such as an electrophoretic display (EPD), and an emissive display, such as a backlit liquid crystal display, may be combined to form an amalgamated display. This combination may include layering one display atop the other, alternating reflective and emissive display elements, or otherwise interspersing reflective and emissive display elements with one another. Images on the amalgamated display may be presented using either reflective or emissive modes or a combination of the two, depending upon factors such as refresh rate, power consumption, presence of color and/or video, and so forth.

Claims

1. An amalgamated display device comprising:

an electrophoretic display (EPD) driven by a first control module and configured to render a first type of content and maintain a pass-through state; and

an emissive display driven by a second, different control module and positioned behind the EPD, wherein the emissive display is configured to emit light through the EPD in the pass-through state to render a second type of content.

2. The amalgamated display device of claim 1, wherein the EPD is configured to maintain the pass-through state for all or less than all of the EPD.

3. The amalgamated display device of claim 1, wherein the first type of content comprises text and the second type of content comprises a color image or a video.

4. The amalgamated display device of claim 1, wherein the EPD comprises monochromatic particles.

5. The amalgamated display device of claim 1, wherein the EPD is further configured to enter the pass-through state by arranging particles to at least one side of an element of the EPD display.

6. The amalgamated display device of claim 1, wherein the emissive display comprises elements configured to generate different colors of light.

7. An amalgamated display device comprising:

a transparent or translucent light emitting diode (LED) display driven by a first control module to render content on the amalgamated display device; and

an electrophoretic display (EPD) positioned behind the LED display and driven by a second control module to render different content on the amalgamated display device.

8. A device comprising:

an amalgamated display comprising a reflective display configured to render content on the amalgamated display and an emissive display configured to render content on the amalgamated display; and

a control module configured to drive both the reflective display and the emissive display to render the respective content on the amalgamated display.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the reflective display resides on top of the emissive display.

10. The device of claim 8, wherein the emissive display resides on top of the reflective display.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein at least a portion of the emissive display is transparent or translucent.

12. A device comprising:

an amalgamated display comprising a reflective display and an emissive display stacked atop one another, wherein both the reflective display and the emissive display are configured to render content on the amalgamated display.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the amalgamated display is configured to render content with a reflective display element or an emissive display element.

14. The device of claim 12, wherein the emissive display produces a pixel using emitted photons.

15. The device of claim 12, wherein the reflective display produces a pixel using incident photons.

16. The device of claim 12, wherein the emissive display emits light through the reflective display when rendering content on the amalgamated display.

17. The device of claim 12, wherein the reflective display reflects light through the emissive display when rendering content on the amalgamated display.

18. The device of claim 12, wherein the reflective display comprises an electrophoretic display (EPD), a cholesteric liquid crystal display, a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) display, an electrowetting display, or an electrofluidic display.

19. The device of claim 12, wherein elements of the reflective display are configured to be substantially transparent or translucent to light when in a pass-through state.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the emissive display renders the content by emitting light through the elements of the reflective display that are in the pass-through state.

21. The device of claim 12, wherein elements of the emissive display are configured to be substantially transparent or translucent to light when in an inactive state.

22. The device of claim 21, wherein the reflective display renders the content by receiving incident light through the elements of the emissive display that are substantially transparent or translucent in the inactive state and reflecting or absorbing the received incident light.

23. The device of claim 12, wherein the emissive display comprises a light emitting diode (LED) display, an organic LED (OLED) display, a backlit liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display, a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) display, an electroluminescent display, a quantum dot display, or a field emission display.

24. The device of claim 12, wherein elements of the reflective display and the emissive display are arranged in an alternating checkerboard fashion.

25. The device of claim 12, wherein elements of the reflective display and the emissive display are substantially coplanar with one another.

26. The device of claim 12, wherein the amalgamated display comprises at least one display in addition to the reflective display and the emissive display.

27. One or more computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising:

designating at least a portion of an amalgamated display to enter an emissive display mode provided by an emissive display, wherein the amalgamated display comprises at least a reflective display and the emissive display; and

designating at least a portion of the amalgamated display to enter a reflective display mode provided by the reflective display.

28. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 27, further storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform an act comprising configuring the reflective display to pass light emitted from an emissive element of the emissive display.

29. One or more computer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising:

rendering a first piece of content on an amalgamated display device comprising an emissive display and a reflective display with use of the emissive display; and

rendering a second piece of content on the amalgamated display device with use of the reflective display.

30. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 29, wherein the first piece of content comprises a color image or a video and the second piece of content comprises a portion of text.

31. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 29, wherein the reflective display resides on top of the emissive display in the amalgamated display device, and wherein the rendering of the first piece of content with use of the emissive display comprises:

causing at least a portion of the reflective display to enter a pass-through state; and

emitting light from the emissive display through the portion of the reflective display in the pass-through state to render the first piece of content.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the reflective display comprises an electrophoretic display (EPD) that renders the second piece of content by moving particles within respective elements of the EPD, and wherein the causing of the portion of the reflective display to enter the pass-through state comprises moving particles within each respective element within the portion to one or more sides of the element.