Electronic paper device and control method thereof

Abstract

The invention provides an electronic paper device and a control method thereof. The electronic paper device comprises an electronic paper display, an application circuit and a microprocessor, the microprocessor establishes a communication connection with an external device to continuously receive image data, and stores the image data in a buffer memory of the microprocessor, the image data belonging to a part of a picture. And when the communication connection line enters an idle state, the microprocessor writes the image data into the electronic paper display through the application circuit and does not carry out a refreshing program of the electronic paper display. Therefore, image data can be well processed while communication transmission is carried out.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a control method for an electronic paper device when performing communication connection and receiving image data. Background Art

[0002] When the electronic paper display adopts a distortion-free display, a complete and distortion-free image needs to be input, and such a file will be larger than a distorted image. With the advancement of wireless transmission technology, the data transmission speed is getting faster and faster, which requires the control circuit of the electronic paper display to quickly process the received data. The above factors will cause some problems, such as the memory is too small to store the distortion-free image, the system has fewer resources available under high-speed transmission, the system lacks complete time to control the electronic paper display, and in some wireless transmissions, it will enter the sleep mode to save power, and the electronic paper display cannot be controlled in the sleep mode. How to solve these problems is an issue of concern to technicians in this field. Summary of the invention

[0003] The embodiment of the present disclosure provides an electronic paper device, including an electronic paper display, an application circuit and a microprocessor. The application circuit is electrically connected to the electronic paper display and the microprocessor. The microprocessor has a buffer memory, which is used to establish a communication connection with an external device to continuously receive image data, and store the image data in the buffer memory, and the image data belongs to a part of the screen. When the communication connection enters an idle state, the microprocessor writes the image data to the electronic paper display through the application circuit and does not perform a refresh procedure for the electronic paper display.

[0004] In some embodiments, when the communication link is established, the microprocessor is used to turn on the power of the electronic paper display through the application circuit and execute an initialization program corresponding to the electronic paper display.

[0005] In some embodiments, after the communication connection is terminated, the microprocessor executes the following steps in sequence: turning on the panel power of the electronic paper display; controlling the electronic paper display to execute a refresh program; turning off the panel power of the electronic paper display; and turning off the power of the electronic paper display.

[0006] In some embodiments, before the microprocessor enters the sleep mode, the microprocessor determines whether the electronic paper display has completed the display program. If the electronic paper display has not completed the display program, the microprocessor does not enter the sleep mode, otherwise it enters the sleep mode.

[0007] In some embodiments, the communication connection complies with the Bluetooth standard.

[0008] From another perspective, the embodiment of the present disclosure proposes a control method for an electronic paper device. The electronic paper device includes an electronic paper display, an application circuit, and a microprocessor. The control method includes: establishing a communication connection between the microprocessor and an external device to continuously receive image data; storing the image data in a buffer memory of the microprocessor, where the image data belongs to a part of the screen; and when the communication connection enters an idle state, writing the image data to the electronic paper display through the application circuit by the microprocessor without performing a refresh procedure of the electronic paper display.

[0009] In some embodiments, the control method further includes: when the communication connection is established, turning on the power of the electronic paper display and executing an initialization program corresponding to the electronic paper display.

[0010] In some embodiments, the above-mentioned control method also includes executing the following steps in sequence after the communication connection is terminated: turning on the panel power of the electronic paper display; controlling the electronic paper display to execute a refresh program; turning off the panel power of the electronic paper display; and turning off the power of the electronic paper display.

[0011] In some embodiments, the control method further includes: before the microprocessor enters the sleep mode, determining whether the electronic paper display has completed the display program; and if the electronic paper display has not completed the display program, completing the display program first, and then the microprocessor enters the sleep mode.

[0012] In the above-mentioned electronic paper device and control method, image display under high-speed transmission can be achieved.

[0013] In order to make the above features and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, embodiments are given below and described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an electronic paper device according to an embodiment;

[0015] Figure 2 is a flow chart illustrating a control method of an electronic paper device according to an embodiment;

[0016] Figure 3 is a flow chart illustrating adding the operation process of an electronic paper display to a communication connection operation according to an embodiment;

[0017] Figure 4 FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating entering a sleep mode according to an embodiment.

[0018]

Explanation of symbols

[0019] 100: Electronic paper device

[0020] 110: Electronic paper display

[0021] 111: Electronic paper panel

[0022] 112: Memory

[0023] 120: Application Circuit

[0024] 130: Microprocessor

[0025] 131: Buffer memory

[0026] 140: External device

[0027] 201~208,301~306,401~408: Steps DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The terms “first”, “second”, etc. used herein do not particularly refer to an order or sequence, but are only used to distinguish elements or operations described with the same technical term.

[0029] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an electronic paper device according to an embodiment. Figure 1 The electronic paper device 100 includes an electronic paper display 110 , an application circuit 120 and a microprocessor 130 . The application circuit 120 is electrically connected to the electronic paper display 110 and the microprocessor 130 .

[0030] The electronic paper display 110 includes a memory 112 and an electronic paper panel 111 electrically connected to each other. The memory 112 is, for example, a random access memory. The electronic paper panel 111 includes components such as microcapsules, substrates, thin film transistors, electrodes, data lines, gate lines, etc. The above-mentioned microcapsules, that is, electronic ink, can display electronic content on a plastic film sheet like an optical element. The clear solution in each microcapsule contains not only positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles, but also particles of other colors, such as colored particles with different polarity charges, so as to achieve color display. When an appropriate electric field is applied, the corresponding particles will move to the corresponding position of the microcapsule, so that the display sheet presents display results of different colors.

[0031] The application circuit 120 is, for example, an electronic paper application reference circuit, etc., for controlling and driving the electronic paper display 110. The microprocessor 130 is used to provide a communication function, including a buffer memory 131, and the buffer memory 131 is, for example, a random access memory. The microprocessor 130 is used to establish a communication connection with an external device 140. In this embodiment, the communication connection complies with the Bluetooth standard, but in other embodiments, the communication connection may also comply with cellular networks (or mobile networks), near field communications, infrared communications, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) and other standards, and the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The external device 140 may be a smart phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer or any electronic device.

[0032] In the use scenario of an embodiment, the microprocessor 130 continuously receives image data from the external device 140. The image data is part of a picture, for example, the image data includes grayscale values ​​of multiple pixels, and the purpose is to display the picture through the electronic paper display 110. Here, the conventional operation process of the electronic paper display 110 must be split into more steps, and then these steps are embedded in the program for receiving image data. For more details, please refer to Figure 2 , Figure 2 2 is a flow chart of a control method of an electronic paper device according to an embodiment. In step 201, the power of the electronic paper display 110 is turned on. It is worth noting that the panel power (to the electronic paper panel 111) is not turned on at this time, so the memory 112 is powered, but the electronic paper panel 111 is not powered. Steps 202 and 203 are collectively referred to as the initialization program of the electronic paper display 110. In step 202, parameters related to the electronic paper display 110 are set, such as setting resolution, gate lines, data lines and other related parameters. In step 203, parameters related to display are set, such as the length and width of the displayed image, etc. In step 204, the image data is written into the memory 112. It is worth noting that the electronic paper panel 111 is not powered at this time, and no refresh is performed, so no image data is displayed. In step 205, the panel power is turned on, and the electronic paper panel 111 is powered at this time. In step 206, the refresh program is executed. At this time, the image data stored in the memory 112 will be transmitted to the electronic paper panel 111, and the electronic paper panel 111 can display a complete picture by applying voltage. In step 207, the panel power is turned off. In step 208, the electronic paper display 110 is turned off. It is worth noting that the conventional technology writes the entire screen to the electronic paper display 110 at one time and executes the refresh procedure, but the conventional process requires continuous occupation of system resources.

[0033] Figure 3According to one embodiment, a flowchart of adding the operation process of the electronic paper display to the communication connection operation is shown. Figure 3 Here, Bluetooth is taken as an example, where steps 301 to 306 are about Bluetooth communication, and other steps 201 to 208 are embedded in these steps 301 to 306. In step 301, a communication connection is established, and steps 201 to 203 are executed by the microprocessor 130. In step 302, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) events are processed. In step 303, BLE protocol events are processed. The above events include connection events, broadcast events, security events, power management events, error events, etc. After the connection is established, in step 304, the microprocessor 130 continuously receives packets, and these packets contain image data, which will be stored in the buffer memory 131. In step 305, the microprocessor 130 enters an idle state, at which time some computing resources are released, and the microprocessor 130 executes step 204, where the microprocessor 130 writes the image data to the memory 112 of the electronic paper display 110 through the application circuit 120, and the refresh program is not executed at this time. Whenever the image data is written to the memory 112, some space is released in the buffer memory 131. In other words, the image data is written to the memory 112 during the idle state, so that the entire image does not need to be stored in the buffer memory 131, and the use of a larger buffer memory 131 can be avoided.

[0034] In step 306, the communication connection is terminated, and the microprocessor 130 executes steps 205 to 208 in sequence. With such a process, it is not necessary to perform a refresh procedure during the process of receiving image data. Since the refresh procedure requires a complete period of time, performing a refresh procedure during the process of receiving image data may affect the original Bluetooth communication, such as losing packets, etc. In addition, both steps 201 and 205 are related to power supply, but the panel power supply is turned on only after the communication connection is interrupted, which can also achieve the effect of saving power consumption.

[0035] In the prior art, if the microprocessor 130 enters the sleep mode, the power consumption will be limited to a very low level, which makes the electronic paper display 110 unable to operate normally. In this embodiment, the display process of the electronic paper display 110 must be completed before entering the sleep mode. Figure 4 is a flowchart of entering the sleep mode according to an embodiment. Figure 4, in step 401, the microprocessor 130 is initialized. In step 402, the microprocessor 130 schedules multiple events. In step 403, the schedule is to enter the sleep mode. At this time, the microprocessor 130 determines whether the electronic paper display 110 has completed a display program. This display program, for example, includes writing the image data in the buffer memory 131 to the memory 112, transferring the data in the memory 112 to the electronic paper panel 111, and refreshing the program. If the electronic paper display 110 has not completed the display program, the microprocessor 130 is forced to leave step 403, wait for the display program to be completed in step 404, and return to step 402. If the electronic paper display 110 has completed the display program, step 405 is performed, and the microprocessor 130 disables the system, such as releasing system resources. In step 406, the microprocessor 130 turns off the power. In step 407, the microprocessor 130 enters the sleep mode. In step 408, the microprocessor 130 restarts the system. Through Figure 4 The process can avoid entering sleep mode before the display program is completed.

[0036] In the above-mentioned electronic paper device and control method, the process of the electronic paper device is divided into more steps, and these steps are embedded into the original communication process. When a high-speed communication connection (such as Bluetooth 5.0) is used to receive distortion-free images, the communication chip (i.e., the microprocessor 130) requires a large amount of resources. The above-mentioned method can avoid affecting the original transmission function while realizing the display of the image.

[0037] Although the present invention has been disclosed as above by way of embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field may make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be determined by the definition of the attached claims.

Claims

1. An electronic paper device, characterized in that: include: Electronic paper displays; an application circuit electrically connected to the electronic paper display; as well as A microprocessor having a buffer memory, the microprocessor being electrically connected to the application circuit and used to establish a communication connection with an external device to continuously receive image data and store the image data in the buffer memory, wherein the image data is part of a screen. When the communication connection enters an idle state, the microprocessor writes the image data into the electronic paper display through the application circuit and does not perform a refresh procedure on the electronic paper display.

2. The electronic paper device according to claim 1, wherein: When the communication connection is established, the microprocessor is used to turn on the power of the electronic paper display and execute an initialization program corresponding to the electronic paper display.

3. The electronic paper device according to claim 2, wherein: After the communication connection is terminated, the microprocessor executes the following steps in sequence: Turning on the panel power of the electronic paper display; Controlling the electronic paper display to execute the refresh program; Turning off the panel power of the electronic paper display; and Turn off the power of the electronic paper display.

4. The electronic paper device according to claim 1, wherein: Before the microprocessor enters the sleep mode, the microprocessor determines whether the electronic paper display has completed the display program. If the electronic paper display has not completed the display procedure, the application circuit completes the display procedure first, and then the microprocessor enters the sleep mode.

5. The electronic paper device according to claim 1, wherein: The communication connection complies with the Bluetooth standard.

6. A control method for an electronic paper device, the electronic paper device comprising an electronic paper display, an application circuit and a microprocessor, characterized in that: The control method comprises: Establishing a communication link between the microprocessor and an external device to continuously receive image data; storing the image data in a buffer memory of the microprocessor, wherein the image data is part of a picture; and When the communication connection enters an idle state, the microprocessor writes the image data into the electronic paper display through the application circuit and does not perform a refresh procedure of the electronic paper display.

7. The control method according to claim 6, characterized in that: Also includes: When the communication connection is established, the power of the electronic paper display is turned on and an initialization program corresponding to the electronic paper display is executed.

8. The control method according to claim 7, characterized in that: Also includes: After the communication connection is terminated, the following steps are performed in order: Turning on the panel power of the electronic paper display; Controlling the electronic paper display to execute the refresh program; Turning off the panel power of the electronic paper display; and Turn off the power of the electronic paper display.

9. The control method according to claim 6, characterized in that: Also includes: Before the microprocessor enters the sleep mode, determining whether the electronic paper display has completed a display program; as well as If the electronic paper display has not completed the display program, the display program is completed first, and then the microprocessor enters the sleep mode.

10. The control method according to claim 6, characterized in that: The communication connection complies with the Bluetooth standard.

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