Electronic paper strip-shaped screen, electronic price tag system, computer, image processing method and computer readable medium

Abstract

The invention discloses an electronic paper strip-shaped screen, which comprises a control circuit and a display module connected with the control circuit, and is characterized in that the display module adopts a 2GHD pixel structure, and the control circuit is used for displaying received data of a processed image through the display module; the processed image is generated by an m * n original image, odd columns of pixels in the kth row of pixels of the original image correspond to the (2k-1) th row of pixels of the processed image, and even columns of pixels in the kth row of pixels of the original image correspond to the (2k) th row of pixels of the processed image. The invention further discloses an electronic price tag system, a computer, an image processing method and a computer readable medium. According to the invention, the number of driving ICs of the electronic paper strip-shaped screen can be reduced, so that the cost is saved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the technical field of display screens, and in particular relates to an electronic paper strip screen, an electronic price tag system, a computer, an image processing method and a computer-readable medium. Background Art

[0002] An electronic paper screen is a display screen made using electrophoretic display technology. The control circuit on the TFT substrate applies a driving voltage to each pixel to achieve the effect of displaying an image. As a reflective display screen, the electronic paper screen can maintain the image for a long time without continuous refreshing after the image is updated, so the power consumption is very low. Due to its low power consumption, wide viewing angle, high contrast, eye protection and many other characteristics, electronic paper screens are increasingly widely used in many fields such as electronic price tags, e-books, billboards, etc.

[0003] The common designs of electronic paper strip screens in the prior art are as follows: like Figure 1 As shown, since the long side of the strip screen is much larger than the short side, it is usually impossible to drive the Gate and Data lines at the same time with one IC, and multiple ICs need to be set on the long side of the screen for driving. For the convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the resolution of the strip screen is 1200H * 300V, and the IC model JD79686 is used as an example. The maximum number of channels supported by the JD79686 IC is 600 Gate and 800 Data. In order to realize the IC driving 300 Gate lines and 1200 Data lines, it is necessary to set 2 JD79686 ICs (IC-1, IC-2) on the long side of the screen. The AA area is the effective display area.

[0004] like Figure 2 As shown, regarding the pixel structure of the electronic paper strip screen in the prior art, for the convenience of explanation, a 2*2 pixel array is taken as an example. Figure 2 A circuit schematic diagram of a common electronic paper pixel structure is given in , where each pixel contains a horizontal Gate line, a vertical Data line, a dual-gate TFT, a storage capacitor Cst, and a drive capacitor C_ESL. The Gate line is connected to the gate of the dual-gate TFT to control the on or off of the TFT; the Data line is connected to the source of the dual-gate TFT to store a specified voltage in Cst when the TFT is turned on; the storage capacitor Cst is used to store charge and maintain the specified voltage stored by the Data line; the drive capacitor C_ESL is used to form an electric field at both ends of the electronic paper film to drive the movement of the charged balls in the electronic paper film. In the existing electronic paper pixel structure, each row of pixels is driven by a Gate line, and each column of pixels is driven by a Data line. This driving method is called the 1G1D (1 Gate, 1 Data) architecture.

[0005] like Figure 3 The figure shows the IC driver architecture of the existing electronic paper strip screen. Assume that the resolution of the strip screen is 1200H *300V. Taking JD79686 as an example, its Gate driver and Data driver are integrated on one IC, and the maximum number of channels supported is 600Gate and 800Data: the Data channel is set in the middle of the IC, and the channels are S1, S2, ... S799, S800 from left to right; the Gate channels are set on the left and right sides of the IC, and the channels on the left side of the IC are G1, G3, ..., G597, G599 from left to right, and the channels on the right side of the IC are G2, G4, ..., G598, G600 from left to right. In order to achieve a resolution of 1200H * 300V, two JD79686s are needed: 1. IC-1 uses channels G1, G3, ..., G297, G299 and S101, S102, ..., S699, S700 to drive the lines Gate-1, Gate-3, ..., Gate-297, Gate-299 and Data-1, Data-2, ..., Data-599, Data-600 in sequence; 2. IC-2 uses channels G2, G4, ..., G298, G300 and S101, S102, ..., S699, S700 to drive the lines Gate-2, Gate-4, ..., Gate-298, Gate-300 and Data-601, Data-602, ..., Data-1199, Data-1200 in sequence.

[0006] like Figure 4 The image data format of the existing electronic paper strip screen is shown, where each square represents a pixel. For the convenience of explanation, only the pixels corresponding to the four corners of the image are shown, and the corresponding row and column image data information of the pixels are listed. MN is the pixel image data of the Mth row and the Nth column. Among them, (a) is the original image; (b) is the image processed by the server; (c) is the image displayed on the electronic price tag. In order to ensure that the image displayed on the electronic price tag is consistent with the original image, the resolution of the original image, the data processed by the server, and the image displayed on the electronic price tag must all be 1200H * 300V, and the three must correspond one to one according to the pixel position.

[0007] In the fields of electronic price tags and advertising screens, electronic paper strip screens are often used to display more item information in a relatively narrow area. Limited by the number of drive channels, the existing electronic paper driver IC cannot meet the resolution requirements of the strip screen in the case of a single chip, and usually requires more than two driver ICs, which greatly increases the cost of electronic paper strip screens. Summary of the invention

[0008] In view of the deficiencies in the prior art, the present invention provides an electronic paper strip screen, an electronic price tag system, a computer, an image processing method and a computer-readable medium that can reduce the number of driving ICs of the strip screen and save costs.

[0009] An electronic paper strip screen comprises a control circuit and a display module connected to the control circuit, wherein the display module adopts a 2GHD pixel structure, and the control circuit is used to display received processed image data through the display module; the processed image is generated by an m×n original image, wherein the odd-numbered columns of pixels in the kth row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2k-1th row of pixels of the processed image, and the even-numbered columns of pixels in the kth row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2kth row of pixels of the processed image, k∈1,2,…,m.

[0010] Preferably, the control circuit includes an electronic paper display screen driver IC, which is used to apply a driving voltage to each pixel to drive the display module to display an image.

[0011] Preferably, the control circuit further comprises a communication module for receiving data of the processed image.

[0012] Preferably, the same row of pixel arrays in the 2GHD pixel structure is driven by two independent Gate wirings, and two adjacent left and right columns of pixels are driven by sharing the same Data wiring.

[0013] An electronic price label system, comprising: Server, used to generate m×n original images A processed image is obtained, and data of the processed image is sent to a base station; wherein the odd-numbered columns of pixels in the k-th row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2k-1-th row of pixels of the processed image, and the even-numbered columns of pixels in the k-th row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2k-th row of pixels of the processed image, k∈1,2,…,m; A base station, used for sending the processed image data to the electronic paper strip screen; The electronic paper strip screen adopts a 2GHD pixel structure and is used for displaying according to the received processed image data, and the display result is consistent with the original image.

[0014] Preferably, the electronic paper strip screen display result being consistent with the original image comprises: the electronic paper strip screen makes each pixel point in the displayed content correspond to the corresponding pixel point in the original image according to the pixel position.

[0015] Preferably, the server generates a The processed image includes: the server pre-processes the original image to divide the same row of pixels in the original image into two rows of pixels according to odd columns and even columns, so as to obtain a processed image with doubled rows and halved columns.

[0016] A computer for generating a A processed image is obtained, and data of the processed image is output for display on a display screen having a 2GHD pixel structure; wherein the odd-numbered columns of pixels in the k-th row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2k-1-th row of pixels of the processed image, and the even-numbered columns of pixels in the k-th row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2k-th row of pixels of the processed image, k∈1,2,…,m.

[0017] An image processing method comprises the following steps: Generated from the original image m×n Processing image: the odd-numbered columns of the k-th row of pixels of the original image are used as the 2k-1-th row of pixels of the processing image, and the even-numbered columns of pixels are used as the 2k-th row of pixels of the processing image, k∈1,2,…,m; The processed image data is outputted for display on a display screen having a 2GHD pixel structure.

[0018] A computer readable medium stores a computer program, wherein the program implements the aforementioned image processing method when executed by a processor.

[0019] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: For original images whose number of pixel columns is significantly greater than the number of pixel rows, by doubling the number of pixel rows, halving the number of pixel columns, and outputting them through an e-paper strip screen with a 2GHD pixel structure, the number of driver ICs required for the strip screen can be reduced, effectively reducing manufacturing costs. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0021] Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of an electronic paper strip screen in the prior art; Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the pixel structure of an electronic paper strip screen in the prior art; Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the IC driving architecture of the electronic paper strip screen in the prior art; Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the image data format of an electronic paper strip screen in the prior art; Figure 5 It is a structural schematic diagram of an embodiment of the electronic paper strip screen in the present invention; Figure 6 A schematic diagram of a pixel structure of an embodiment of an electronic paper strip screen in the present invention; Figure 7 A schematic diagram of an IC driving architecture of an embodiment of an electronic paper strip screen in the present invention; Figure 8 A schematic diagram of image data format changes in an embodiment of the electronic paper strip screen of the present invention; Fig. 9 It is a structural schematic diagram of the electronic price label system in the present invention.

[0022] Among them, 1. Server; 2. Base station; 3. Electronic paper strip screen. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0024] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention.

[0025] The embodiment of the present invention provides an electronic paper strip screen, such as Figure 5-Figure 8 As shown, it includes a control circuit and a display module connected to the control circuit, the display module adopts a 2GHD pixel structure, and the control circuit is used to display the received processed image data through the display module; the processed image is generated by an m×n original image, wherein the odd-numbered columns of pixels in the kth row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2k-1th row of pixels of the processed image, and the even-numbered columns of pixels in the kth row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2kth row of pixels of the processed image.

[0026] In this embodiment, the control circuit may use a conventional electronic paper display driver IC, such as JD79686. The control circuit includes a communication module for receiving the data of the processed image. The resolution of the processed image is , m is the number of pixel rows of the original image, n is the number of pixel columns of the original image (an even number in this embodiment), k∈1,2,…,m.

[0027] The design of the electronic paper strip screen in this embodiment is as follows: like Figure 5 As shown in the figure, for the convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the resolution of the strip screen is 1200H * 300V, and this strip screen is driven by only one JD79686 IC, and the IC and FPC are set in the long side direction of the strip screen. The same can be said for other types of ICs.

[0028] Figure 6 : is the pixel structure of the electronic paper strip screen in this embodiment. Figure 6 In this embodiment, the display module adopts a 2GHD (Double Gate Half Data) pixel structure, which doubles the number of Gate lines by dividing the same row of pixel arrays into odd columns and even columns, and uses two independent Gate lines for driving, thereby improving the display effect; at the same time, the number of Data lines is halved by driving the left and right columns of pixels using the same Data line, effectively reducing the overall power consumption. For a bar screen with a resolution of 1200H*300V, the 2GHD pixel structure described in this embodiment only requires 600 Gate lines and 600 Data lines to complete the driving, which not only simplifies the circuit structure and reduces the cost, but also significantly improves the display performance.

[0029] Figure 7 The IC driving architecture of the electronic paper strip screen in this embodiment is shown. Using one JD79686, 600 Gate lines and 600 Data lines can be driven: the IC uses channels G1, G2, ..., G599, G600 to drive lines Gate-1, Gate-2, ..., Gate-599, Gate-600 in sequence; the IC uses channels S101, S102, ..., S699, S700 to drive lines Data-1, Data-2, ..., Data-599, Data-600 in sequence.

[0030] Since the existing driving IC of the electronic paper strip screen does not support the image data processing function of the 2GHD architecture, the present invention adopts a method of pre-processing the original image (the image data processing function is placed outside, such as in a server) to convert the image that adapts to the traditional 1G1D architecture into a new image that adapts to the 2GHD architecture.

[0031] like Figure 8As shown, the change process of the image data format of the electronic paper strip screen in this embodiment is shown. Each square represents a pixel. For the convenience of explanation, only the pixels corresponding to the four corners of the image are shown, and the corresponding row and column image data information of the pixels are listed. MN is the pixel image data of the Mth row and the Nth column. Among them, (a) is the original image; (b) is the processed image after being processed by the server; (c) is the image displayed on the electronic price tag. The resolution of the original image is 1200H*300V. The original image data can be processed on the server, and the same row of pixels is divided into two rows of pixels according to odd columns and even columns. The resolution of the processed image becomes 600H*600V. After the processed image is displayed on the electronic paper strip screen with a 2GHD (Double Gate HalfData) architecture, the presented image is restored to a resolution of 1200H*300V, and the displayed content corresponds to the original image one by one according to the pixel position.

[0032] In summary, compared with the prior art, the electronic paper strip screen of this embodiment converts the original image from an image adapted to the traditional 1G1D pixel structure into a processed image adapted to the 2GHD pixel structure, and then outputs it through the electronic paper display screen of the 2GHD pixel structure, so that the presented image is consistent with the original image. The electronic paper strip screen described in this embodiment realizes display driving only through a single IC, which significantly saves costs compared with the prior art that requires two ICs.

[0033] In this embodiment, the left and right columns of pixels share the same Data line for driving, so that the number of Data lines is halved and the number of Gate lines is doubled; by analogy, N columns (N>2) of pixels can also share one Data line for driving, so that the number of Data lines is reduced to , the number of Gate routing lines is increased to N times. This can adapt to the display of the original image with a pixel column number far greater than the pixel row number on the corresponding strip screen, which is more conducive to reducing the number of driver ICs and reducing costs more significantly.

[0034] An electronic price tag system, an embodiment of which is as follows Figure 5-Figure 8 , Fig. 9 As shown, including: Server 1, used to generate m×n original images A processed image is obtained, and data of the processed image is sent to a base station; wherein the odd-numbered columns of pixels in the k-th row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2k-1-th row of pixels of the processed image, and the even-numbered columns of pixels in the k-th row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2k-th row of pixels of the processed image; Base station 2, used for sending the processed image data to the electronic paper strip screen; The electronic paper strip screen 3 adopts a 2GHD pixel structure and is used to display according to the received processed image data, and the display result is consistent with the original image.

[0035] In this embodiment, m is the number of pixel rows of the original image, n is the number of pixel columns of the original image (an even number in this embodiment), and k∈1,2,…,m. In this embodiment, by processing the original image in the server, it is equivalent to dividing the same row of pixels into two rows of pixels according to odd columns and even columns to obtain a processed image with doubled rows and halved columns, so that it can be output through a display screen with fewer driver IC chips. Since the display screen adopts the corresponding 2GHD pixel structure, the displayed image is consistent with the original image.

[0036] A computer for generating a A processed image is obtained, and data of the processed image is output for display on a display screen having a 2GHD pixel structure; wherein the odd-numbered columns of pixels in the k-th row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2k-1-th row of pixels of the processed image, and the even-numbered columns of pixels in the k-th row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2k-th row of pixels of the processed image.

[0037] In this embodiment, m is the number of pixel rows of the original image, n is the number of pixel columns of the original image (an even number in this embodiment), and k∈1,2,…,m. The original image is an image to be displayed. The computer may be a server.

[0038] Considering that it is difficult to find a driver chip that matches the resolution of a strip screen where m is significantly smaller than n, two or more driver chips are usually required to jointly realize the driving control of the entire screen. The image is pre-processed to control the resolution of the processed image within the applicable resolution range of a single driver chip. The processed image only needs to be matched with a display screen with a 2GHD pixel structure in the subsequent display to restore the display effect consistent with the original image on the screen. In this way, the display of m×n strip images where m is significantly smaller than n is realized with a single or fewer driver chips, effectively saving costs.

[0039] An image processing method may include the following steps: S1: generated from the original image of m×n The processed image is formed by taking the odd-numbered columns of the k-th row of pixels of the original image as the 2k-1-th row of pixels of the processed image, and the even-numbered columns of pixels as the 2k-th row of pixels of the processed image. Wherein, m is the number of pixel rows of the original image, n is the number of pixel columns of the original image (an even number in this embodiment), and k∈1,2,…,m.

[0040] S2: Outputting the processed image data for display on a display screen having a 2GHD pixel structure.

[0041] The image processing method in this embodiment can be used in a server or other computer devices. An image processing method in this embodiment can be stored in a computer readable medium in the form of a computer program.

[0042] The technical features of the above embodiments may be combined arbitrarily. To make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

Claims

1. An electronic paper strip screen, comprising a control circuit and a display module connected to the control circuit, characterized in that: The display module adopts a 2GHD pixel structure, and the control circuit is used to display the received processed image data through the display module; the processed image is generated by an m×n original image, wherein the odd-numbered columns of pixels in the kth row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2k-1th row of pixels of the processed image, and the even-numbered columns of pixels in the kth row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2kth row of pixels of the processed image, k∈1,2,…,m.

2. The electronic paper strip screen according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control circuit includes an electronic paper display screen driver IC, which is used to apply a driving voltage to each pixel to drive the display module to display an image.

3. The electronic paper strip screen according to claim 1, characterized in that: The control circuit further comprises a communication module for receiving data of the processed image.

4. The electronic paper strip screen according to claim 1, characterized in that: The same row of pixel arrays in the 2GHD pixel structure is driven by two independent Gate wirings, and two adjacent left and right columns of pixels are driven by sharing the same Data wiring.

5. An electronic price label system, characterized in that: include: Server, used to generate m×n original images A processed image is obtained, and data of the processed image is sent to a base station; wherein the odd-numbered columns of pixels in the k-th row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2k-1-th row of pixels of the processed image, and the even-numbered columns of pixels in the k-th row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2k-th row of pixels of the processed image, k∈1,2,…,m; A base station, used for sending the processed image data to the electronic paper strip screen; The electronic paper strip screen adopts a 2GHD pixel structure and is used for displaying according to the received processed image data, and the display result is consistent with the original image.

6. The electronic price label system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The display result of the electronic paper strip screen is consistent with the original image, which includes: the electronic paper strip screen makes each pixel point in the displayed content correspond to the corresponding pixel point in the original image according to the pixel position.

7. The electronic price label system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The server generates an m×n original image The processed image includes: the server pre-processes the original image to divide the same row of pixels in the original image into two rows of pixels according to odd columns and even columns, so as to obtain a processed image with doubled rows and halved columns.

8. A computer, characterized in that: Used to generate from the original image m×n A processed image is obtained, and data of the processed image is output for display on a display screen having a 2GHD pixel structure; wherein the odd-numbered columns of pixels in the k-th row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2k-1-th row of pixels of the processed image, and the even-numbered columns of pixels in the k-th row of pixels of the original image correspond to the 2k-th row of pixels of the processed image, k∈1,2,…,m.

9. An image processing method, characterized in that: The steps include: Generated from the original image m×n Processing image: the odd-numbered columns of the k-th row of pixels of the original image are used as the 2k-1-th row of pixels of the processing image, and the even-numbered columns of pixels are used as the 2k-th row of pixels of the processing image, k∈1,2,…,m; The processed image data is outputted for display on a display screen having a 2GHD pixel structure.

10. A computer readable medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that: When the program is executed by a processor, an image processing method as claimed in claim 9 is implemented.

Images