Permanent electronic paper

• US 8,063,878 B2
• Filed: 01/21/2005
• Issued: 11/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Tegreene, Clarence T., Levien, Royce A., Jung, Edward K. Y., Malamud, Mark A., Rinaldo, John D. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sim; Yong H
• Application Number:
  US11/041,510
• Publication Number:
  US 20060158335A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,496 Days
• Field of Search: 345/107, 345/204, 345/87, 345/84, 345/86
• US Class Current: 345/107
• 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 related to rendering substantially permanent aspects of electronic paper.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

circuitry configured to write data within at least part of at least one region of an electronic paper; and

circuitry configured to render substantially permanent the data of the at least one region of the electronic paper by conditionally effectively permanently disabling further input to the at least one region forming the data by determining whether data has been written to the at least one region one time and, in response to data being written to the at least one region one time, disenabling further input to the at least one region by substantially permanently disenabling all signal pathways for providing data to the at least one region by using at least one of fusing circuitry, anti-fusing circuitry, lasing circuitry, an electro-mechanical switch, or an electro-mechanical cutting mechanism.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured to establish at least one non-volatile signal level.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured to establish at least one assisted non-volatile signal level.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for diverting at least one signal.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for blocking at least one signal.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one switch that controls input of at least one signal.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the circuitry is disposed on and/or within the electronic paper.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electronic paper is operably couplable to at least one structure and at least a portion of the circuitry is disposed on and/or within the structure.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for making substantially static one or more pixels of the at least one region of the electronic paper.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least a part of the at least one region of the electronic paper is configured to have at least one visually distinct appearance from a remainder of the electronic paper.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electronic paper includes one or more pixels having at least one electrophoretic ink particle disposed in at least one region between electrodes.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electronic paper includes one or more pixels having at least one rotatable multicolored element configured to rotate in response to at least one field.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured to write data within at least part of at least one region of an electronic paper comprises:

circuitry configured to write data within at least part of at least one region of an electronic paper only for a first specified entity.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the circuitry configured for making substantially static one or more pixels of the at least one region of the electronic paper comprises:

circuitry configured to establish at least one non-volatile signal level.

15. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the circuitry configured for making substantially static one or more pixels of the at least one region of the electronic paper comprises:

circuitry configured to establish at least one assisted non-volatile signal level.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

circuitry configured for diverting at least one signal.

17. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

circuitry configured for blocking at least one signal.

18. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

at least one switch that controls input of at least one signal.

19. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the visually distinct appearance includes at least one background hue of at least one character.

20. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the visually distinct appearance includes at least one visual border of the at least one region.

29. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

circuitry configured to write data within at least part of at least a second region of the electronic paper; and

circuitry configured to render substantially permanent the data of the at least the second region of the electronic paper by conditionally effectively permanently disabling further input.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the circuitry configured to write data within at least part of at least a second region of the electronic paper comprises:

circuitry configured to write data within at least part of at least a second region of the electronic paper only for a second specified entity.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the first specified entity is different from the second specified entity.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein entity identity is received via at least one user interface and/or as part of at least one data indicating signal.

21. A method of using an electronic paper comprising:

writing data to at least one region of the electronic paper; and

conditionally making the data permanent, including conditionally effectively permanently disabling further input to the at least one region forming the data by determining whether data has been written to the at least one region one time and, in response to data being written to the at least one region one time, disenabling further input to the at least one region by substantially permanently disenabling all signal pathways for providing data to the at least one region by using at least one of fusing circuitry, anti-fusing circuitry, lasing circuitry, an electro-mechanical switch, or an electro-mechanical cutting mechanism.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the writing data to at least one region of the electronic paper comprises:

activating at least a portion of the electronic paper.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

activating non-volatile signal circuitry.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the electronic paper is attachable to at least one product.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the activating at least a portion of the electronic paper comprises:

activating one or more pixels having ink configured to rotate in response to at least one field.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the activating at least a portion of the electronic paper comprises:

activating at least one electrically responsive pixel.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein the activating non-volatile signal circuitry comprises:

activating assisted non-volatile signal circuitry.

28. A system comprising:

means for writing data to at least one region of electronic paper; and

means for conditionally making the data permanent, including conditionally effectively permanently disabling further input to the at least one region forming the data by determining whether data has been written to the at least one region one time and, in response to data being written to the at least one region one time, disenabling further input to the at least one region by substantially permanently disenabling all signal pathways for providing data to the at least one region by using at least one of fusing circuitry, anti-fusing circuitry, lasing circuitry, an electro-mechanical switch, or an electro-mechanical cutting mechanism.