Fail safe display for shelf labels
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A device for displaying information comprising:
- a liquid-crystal display (LCD) means, said display means carrying a plurality of display segments which are grouped to form desired shapes and/or alphanumeric characters;
a support means coupled to the LCD means, said support means providing photovoltaic conversion from light passing through said LCD means and having a plurality of photovoltaic segments thereon, with said segments being arranged into shapes and/or alphanumeric characters which are similar to those on the LCD means; and
control means coupled to the liquid crystal display (LCD) means and the support means;
said control means monitoring the support means to detect electrical signals generated as a result of light transmitted through the liquid crystal display means and using said electrical signals to generate error signals representative of malfunctioning display segments.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Described is an electronic shelf label LCD device having a segmented liquid crystal (LC) film disposed on a plurality of segmented and non-segmented photovoltaic cells which provide power for driving the LCD device and electrical signals which are used to indicate malfunctioning LCD segments.
52 Citations
15 Claims
-
1. A device for displaying information comprising:
-
a liquid-crystal display (LCD) means, said display means carrying a plurality of display segments which are grouped to form desired shapes and/or alphanumeric characters; a support means coupled to the LCD means, said support means providing photovoltaic conversion from light passing through said LCD means and having a plurality of photovoltaic segments thereon, with said segments being arranged into shapes and/or alphanumeric characters which are similar to those on the LCD means; and control means coupled to the liquid crystal display (LCD) means and the support means;
said control means monitoring the support means to detect electrical signals generated as a result of light transmitted through the liquid crystal display means and using said electrical signals to generate error signals representative of malfunctioning display segments. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. An improved electronic shelf label system comprising:
-
a display subsystem; said display subsystem having a liquid crystal display means on which at least one multisegment alphanumeric character is formed; at least a first photovoltaic cell positioned to receive light transmitted through at least one segment of the multi-segment alphanumeric character and to generate at least a first electrical signal therefrom; at least a second photovoltaic cell positioned to receive light transmitted through non-segmented areas of said display subsystem and to generate and output a second electrical signal representative of said light; a first circuit means for generating and applying electrical drive signals to selected segments of said multi-segment alphanumeric character; a second circuit means for correlating the first electrical signal with the second electrical signal to generate and output a resultant signal; and a third circuit means responsive to the electrical drive signals and the resultant signal to generate an error signal representative of malfunctioning segments. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
-
Specification