Electronic paper apparatus and driving method thereof

• US 10,068,513 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2015
• Issued: 09/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: E Ink Holdings Incorporated
• Original Assignee: E Ink Holdings Incorporated
• Inventors: Liu, Chuen-Jen, Chou, Li-Wei, Xu, Jia-Hong, Lee, Yu-Ming, Hung, Chi-Mao
• Primary Examiner(s): Azari, Sepehr
• Application Number:
  US14/809,274
• Publication Number:
  US 20160042678A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,136 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2300/04 Structural and physical details of display devices
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/08 Details of timing specific for flat panels, other than clock recovery
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/022 in absence of operation, e.g. no data being entered during a predetermined time
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/026 Arrangements or methods related to booting a display
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/16 Use of wireless transmission of display information
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/20 for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters

Abstract

An electronic paper apparatus including a communication module and a control module is provided. The communication module receives an electrical signal and generates a power voltage according to the electric signal. The communication module wakes up a controller during a first period of a work period by using the power voltage. The control module is electrically connected to the communication module, and includes the controller and an electronic paper display. The control module establishes a communication connection with the communication module during a second period of the work period. The power circuit module generates a driving voltage according to the power voltage to drive the electronic paper display to display image information according to the driving voltage during a display period. The first period and the second period are two continuous time intervals forming the work period. Furthermore, a driving method of the electronic paper apparatus is also provided.

Claims

1. An electronic paper apparatus, comprising:

a communication module, configured to receive an electrical signal, generate a power voltage according to the electrical signal, transmit one of the power voltage less than a threshold voltage or the power voltage greater than or equal to the threshold voltage to a control module electrically connected to the communication module, and wake up a controller during a first period of a work period by using the power voltage, wherein the power voltage less than the threshold voltage is transmitted to the control module via a first signal transmission path, and the power voltage greater than the threshold voltage is transmitted to the control module via a second signal transmission path; and

the control module comprising the controller, an electronic paper display, and a power circuit module comprising a regulator circuit and a driver circuit, wherein

the regulator circuit electrically connected to the communication module, the controller and the electronic paper display, and

the driver circuit electrically connected to the regulator circuit, the controller and the electronic paper display,

the control module being configured to establish a communication connection with the communication module during a second period of the work period, the regulator circuit being configured to select to output the power voltage less than the threshold voltage or the power voltage greater than or equal to the threshold voltage, and the driver circuit being configured to generate a driving voltage according to the power voltage less than the threshold voltage or the power voltage greater than or equal to the threshold voltage so as to drive the electronic paper display to display image information during a display period,

wherein the first period and the second period are two continuous time intervals forming the work period.

2. The electronic paper apparatus of claim 1, wherein the power voltage is maintained at a first voltage level before the work period, and the power voltage is changed to a second voltage level to wake up the controller when the electrical signal is transmitted to the electronic paper apparatus by an image information providing apparatus.

3. The electronic paper apparatus of claim 2, wherein a time length for maintaining the power voltage at the first voltage level is greater than a time length of the first period.

4. The electronic paper apparatus of claim 1, wherein the communication module comprises:

an antenna module, configured to electrically connect to an image information providing apparatus to receive the electrical signal provided by the image information providing apparatus; and

a rectifying module, electrically connected to the antenna module, and configured to rectify the electrical signal in order to generate the power voltage to be provided to the control module.

5. The electronic paper apparatus of claim 4, wherein the rectifying module comprises:

a first rectifier circuit, electrically connected to the antenna module and the control module, disposed on the first signal transmission path, and configured to transmit the power voltage less than the threshold voltage to the control module; and

a second rectifier circuit, electrically connected to the antenna module and the control module, disposed on the second signal transmission path, and configured to transmit the power voltage greater than or equal to the threshold voltage to the control module.

6. The electronic paper apparatus of claim 5, wherein the rectifying module further comprises:

a communication circuit, electrically connected to the antenna module and the control module, and configured to establish the communication connection with the control module during the second period of the work period, wherein the communication circuit and the second rectifier circuit form a communication circuit block; and

a match circuit, electrically connected to the antenna module, the communication circuit block and the first rectifier circuit, and configured to regulate impedances of the first rectifier circuit and the communication circuit block to achieve an impedance matching between the first rectifier circuit and the communication circuit block.

7. The electronic paper apparatus of claim 1, wherein the power circuit module further comprises:

a soft-start circuit, electrically connected to the regulator circuit and the driver circuit, and configured to receive the power voltage less than the threshold voltage or the power voltage greater than or equal to the threshold voltage, lower an inrush current of the power voltage and output the power voltage in which the inrush current is lowered to the driver circuit.

8. The electronic paper apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller converts an analog signal into a digital signal, and controls the regulator circuit to select to output the power voltage less than the threshold voltage or the power voltage greater than or equal to the threshold voltage by using the digital signal.

9. The electronic paper apparatus of claim 1, wherein the power circuit module further comprises:

a charging battery, electrically connected to the regulator circuit, and configured to store the power voltage outputted by the regulator circuit; and

a charging circuit, electrically connected to the regulator circuit and the charging battery, and configured to receive the power voltage and store the power voltage to the charging battery.

10. The electronic paper apparatus of claim 1, wherein the communication module and the control module are integrated on one substrate and inseparable from each other.

11. The electronic paper apparatus of claim 1, wherein the communication module and the control module are disposed on different substrates and separable from each other.

12. A driving method of an electronic paper apparatus, wherein the electronic paper apparatus comprises a communication module and a control module, the control module comprises a controller, an electronic paper display, and a power circuit module comprising a regulator circuit and a driver circuit, wherein the regulator circuit electrically connected to the communication module, the controller and the electronic paper display, the driver circuit electrically connected to the regulator circuit, the controller and the electronic paper display, and the driving method comprises:

receiving an electrical signal, generating a power voltage according to the electrical signal, and waking up the controller during a first period of a work period by using the power voltage;

establishing a communication connection between the communication module and the controller during a second period of the work period, transmitting one of the power voltage less than a threshold voltage or the power voltage greater than or equal to the threshold voltage to the control module, and generating a driving voltage according to the power voltage,

wherein the power voltage less than the threshold voltage is transmitted to the control module via a first signal transmission path, and the power voltage greater than the threshold voltage is transmitted to the control module via a second signal transmission path;

selecting to output the power voltage less than the threshold voltage or the power voltage greater than or equal to the threshold voltage by the regulator circuit, and

driving the electronic paper display by the driver circuit to display image information according to the driving voltage less than the threshold voltage or the power voltage greater than or equal to the threshold voltage during a display period,

wherein the first period and the second period are two continuous time intervals forming the work period.

13. The driving method of claim 12, wherein the electronic paper apparatus is configured to electrically connect to an image information providing apparatus, receive the electrical signal and generate the power voltage according to the electrical signal, and the step of waking up the controller during the first period of the work period by using the power voltage comprises:

sensing the electrical signal provided by the image information providing apparatus; and

rectifying the electrical signal in order to generate the power voltage to be provided to the control module to thereby wake up the controller.

14. The driving method of claim 13, further comprising:

regulating impedances of the first signal transmission path and the second signal transmission path to achieve an impedance matching between the first signal transmission path and the second signal transmission path.

15. The driving method of claim 12, further comprising:

lowering an inrush current of the power voltage, and outputting the power voltage in which the inrush current is lowered to a driver circuit,

wherein in the step of generating the driving voltage according to the power voltage, the driving voltage is generated according to the power voltage in which the inrush current is lowered.

16. The driving method of claim 12, further comprising:

converting an analog signal into a digital signal; and

selecting to output the power voltage less than the threshold voltage or the power voltage greater than or equal to the threshold voltage according to the digital signal.

17. The driving method of claim 12, further comprising:

storing the power voltage to a charging circuit.

18. The driving method of claim 12, wherein maintaining the power voltage at a first voltage level before the work period, and changing the power voltage to a second voltage level to wake up the controller when the power voltage enters the work period.

19. The driving method of claim 18, wherein a time length for maintaining the power voltage at the first voltage level is greater than a time length of the first period.