Driving device and method for electronic ink screen

Abstract

The invention discloses a driving device and method for an electronic ink screen. The device comprises a microcontroller; the microcontroller comprises a driving storage module used for storing a plurality of groups of screen driving parameters, and each group of screen driving parameters corresponds to one screen format; the communication module is used for receiving a screen switching instruction; and the driving configuration module is used for selecting one group of screen driving parameters in the driving storage module according to the screen switching instruction, and driving the electronic ink screen to carry out screen initialization and picture switching. By utilizing the scheme of the invention, the screen switching of the electronic ink screen can be realized without updating the software program of the MCU, so that the screen switching is simpler and more convenient.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of circuit technology, and in particular to a driving device and method for an electronic ink screen. Background Art

[0002] The electronic ink screen is a special screen that can keep the screen even after the power is turned off. That is, it does not consume power when displaying the screen, and only needs power to drive when switching the screen. Therefore, more and more fields are beginning to use electronic ink screens to display information, such as electronic price tags, electronic badges, etc. When the electronic ink screen is working, it needs to be equipped with a microcontroller. This microcontroller mainly communicates with the controller inside the electronic ink screen to transmit the screen driving process and image data and other information required when the electronic ink screen refreshes the screen.

[0003] The microcontroller unit (MCU) drives the electronic ink screen to switch the screen. Each time the screen is switched, a driving process that is compatible with the electronic ink screen needs to be sent, so the microcontroller MCU needs to store the corresponding electronic ink screen driver to ensure that the screen can be refreshed normally. This process is related to each electronic ink screen model, so the microcontroller needs to be adapted differently according to the information on the screen. Each product has different requirements, and the product will correspond to different models of electronic ink screens, resulting in different products requiring separate configuration of the microcontroller program. If you want to change the electronic ink screen model later, you need to re-download the program to configure the microcontroller. The method of burning the program is too cumbersome and has too many restrictions, which is not conducive to iterative updates.

[0004] For the application of MCU driving electronic ink screen, because the requirements of each product are different, if you want to replace a different electronic ink screen, you need to not only rewrite the code, but also re-burn the MCU program through Near Field Communication (NFC) or professional tools. These tools are complex and highly professional. In addition, the amount of data required for MCU software burning varies according to different models. The larger the amount of data, the longer the NFC transmission time; at the same time, there are certain risks in updating program software. Errors in data transmission, transmission interruption, power failure during update, etc. will cause the chip to be unable to be used normally later. Summary of the invention

[0005] The embodiment of the present invention provides a driving device and method for an electronic ink screen, which can realize screen switching of the electronic ink screen without updating the software program of the MCU, making the screen switching simpler and more convenient.

[0006] On the one hand, an embodiment of the present invention provides a driving device for an electronic ink screen, the device comprising a microcontroller; the microcontroller comprises:

[0007] A drive storage module, used to store multiple groups of screen drive parameters, each group of screen drive parameters corresponding to a screen format;

[0008] A communication module, used for receiving screen switching instructions;

[0009] The driver configuration module is used to select a set of screen driving parameters in the driver storage module according to the screen switching instruction, and drive the electronic ink screen to perform screen initialization and screen switching.

[0010] Optionally, the driving parameters are in the form of structured modules.

[0011] Optionally, the structured module includes: a hardware control module, a parameter control module, a picture data control module, and a picture refresh control module.

[0012] Optionally, the drive configuration module includes:

[0013] An analysis module, used for analyzing the driving parameters in the driving storage module to obtain an analysis result;

[0014] The hardware driver module is used to output a driving data stream to the electronic ink screen according to the analysis result.

[0015] Optionally, the communication module is further used to receive a new screen drive data stream; the drive configuration module is further used to drive the electronic ink screen to perform screen initialization and screen switching according to the new screen drive data stream.

[0016] Optionally, the device further comprises: a communication controller, configured to receive the new screen driving data stream, and send the new screen driving data stream to the microcontroller.

[0017] Optionally, the device further includes: a sending module, configured to send the new screen driving data stream.

[0018] 8. The driving device for an electronic ink screen according to claim 7, characterized in that the sending module is an NFC reader or a mobile phone; and the communication controller is an NFC controller or a Bluetooth controller.

[0019] On the other hand, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a driving method for an electronic ink screen, the method comprising:

[0020] A plurality of sets of screen driving parameters are stored in the microcontroller in advance, each set of screen driving parameters corresponding to a screen format;

[0021] Receive screen switching instructions;

[0022] According to the screen switching instruction, a group of screen driving parameters in the driving storage module is selected to drive the electronic ink screen to perform screen initialization and screen switching.

[0023] Optionally, the method further comprises:

[0024] Receive new screen driver data stream;

[0025] According to the new screen driving data stream, the electronic ink screen is driven to perform screen initialization and screen switching.

[0026] The driving device and method for the electronic ink screen provided by the embodiment of the present invention stores multiple groups of screen driving parameters in the MCU, each group of screen driving parameters corresponds to a screen format, and the MCU can be driven to switch to the screen required by the user by receiving a screen switching instruction according to the user's needs. The screen driving parameters corresponding to the commonly used screen models are stored internally so as to be provided to different users, so that the screen switching of the electronic ink screen can be realized without updating the MCU software program, making the screen switching simpler and more convenient, and can better meet the needs of different users.

[0027] Furthermore, the driver parameters are in the form of structured modules, so that the electronic ink screen driver can be converted into an MCU data stream. In this way, although the drivers of different screen formats will be different, the converted modular language will cover this difference, making it adaptable to different screen parameters, improving the reliability of screen switching, and reducing R&D and production costs.

[0028] Furthermore, by transmitting a new screen driving data stream to the MCU, the MCU drives the electronic ink screen to switch to the new screen, thereby making screen switching more flexible and easy to implement. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a driving device for an electronic ink screen provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 2 is another structural schematic diagram of a driving device for an electronic ink screen provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0031] Figure 3 is another structural schematic diagram of a driving device for an electronic ink screen provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0032] Figure 4 is a flow chart of a driving method for an electronic ink screen provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 5This is another flow chart of a driving method for an electronic ink screen provided in an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] The principle and spirit of the present invention will be described below with reference to the exemplary embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that these embodiments are described only to enable those skilled in the art to better understand and implement the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention in any way.

[0035] The basic principle of the electronic ink screen is the same, but there are many ink screen manufacturers on the market, and the display drivers are different. Even if the screens of different sizes produced by the same manufacturer have different driver codes, customers need to modify the code and change the driver every time they change an ink screen, and the workload will become extremely redundant in the later stage. The microcontroller is needed to operate the electronic ink screen only when the screen needs to be switched. The operation needs to be based on the corresponding software driver process provided by the electronic ink screen manufacturer. The driver process is generally fixed. First, the screen is reset by hardware, and then the parameters are configured according to the screen resolution and other parameters, that is, the read and write operations of the screen register are performed, and then the screen display data to be refreshed is passed in. Finally, through the screen refresh register, the electronic ink screen will refresh the screen display according to the passed in display data. Because the resolution of each screen and the internal controller of the screen are different, the parameter registers corresponding to each screen are generally not the same, so after switching to another screen, the electronic ink screen driver parameters corresponding to the microcontroller need to be replaced. When replacing different electronic ink screens in the application of MCU-driven electronic ink screens in the prior art, not only the code needs to be rewritten, but also the MCU program needs to be re-burned through NFC or professional tools, which is slow and time-consuming, and the stability of the transmission is relatively high.

[0036] In order to make the electronic ink screen driving process easier to understand and more widely applicable to screens of different models, the embodiment of the present invention modularizes and classifies the electronic ink screen driving process so that different electronic ink screen drivers can be converted into a unified modular language, which is more convenient for MCU to parse.

[0037] The driving process of the modular structure can be divided into four stages. Among them, the first stage is the initialization stage, which mainly includes the screen hardware, software reset and the configuration of some basic screen parameters; the second stage is the setting write RAM stage, the main function of this stage is to transfer the image data to be displayed to the electronic ink screen control chip, namely the MCU; the third stage is the screen refresh instruction configuration stage, this stage is mainly to configure the register instructions used when refreshing the screen, and control the ink screen to display specific pictures. The fourth stage is the finishing stage after the ink screen refresh is completed, including the screen entering low power mode, sleep, power off and other states to reduce system power consumption.

[0038] In the embodiment of the present invention, each stage can be converted into a corresponding modular language according to the driving parameters of the screen. For example, as shown in Table 1 below, the driving process in the left column of Table 1 is combined with the values ​​of each driving parameter to be converted into the data flow in the right column of Table 1.

[0039] Table 1

[0040]

[0041]

[0042] Through the above conversion, the modular language can cover the differences between different screen drivers, and the ink screen driver can be converted into an MCU data stream. Therefore, when the screen needs to be replaced, there is no need to rewrite the code and re-burn the MCU program. You only need to update the screen driver parameters to achieve the screen replacement.

[0043] In the embodiment of the present invention, the driving parameters are in the form of structured modules, including but not limited to the following categories: hardware control modules, parameter control modules, image data control modules, image refresh control modules, and the like.

[0044] The format of the structured module mainly consists of three parts: Tag (tag), Len (length), and Value (payload), as shown in Table 2.

[0045] Table 2

[0046]

[0047]

[0048] As shown in Table 2 above, the part starting with A4 in the ink screen hardware control module controls the reset pin of the ink screen; the part starting with A1 in the ink screen parameter control module controls the internal register configuration of the ink screen; the part starting with A3 in the ink screen picture data control module controls the picture data inside the ink screen; and the part starting with A2 in the ink screen picture refresh control module.

[0049] Of course, in addition to the driving parameters corresponding to the above-mentioned structured modules, there are also some other configuration parameters, such as but not limited to delay, exit conditions and other parameters. These driving parameters are also expressed in the form of structured modules, and no further examples will be given for this.

[0050] In addition, it should be noted that the above Table 2 is only an exemplary description. In actual applications, the encoding of Tag, Len, and Value in the structured module for indicating each driving parameter can be arbitrarily set as needed, and this embodiment of the present invention does not limit this.

[0051] By using the above structured modules and modular language, the electronic ink screen can be easily replaced.

[0052] like Figure 1 , which is a schematic diagram of the structure of a driving device for an electronic ink screen provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0053] The driving device includes a microcontroller 100, and the microcontroller 100 includes: a driving storage module 101, a communication module 102, and a driving configuration module 103. Among them:

[0054] The driver storage module 101 is used to store multiple groups of screen driver parameters, each group of screen driver parameters corresponds to a screen format;

[0055] The communication module 102 is used to receive a screen switching instruction;

[0056] The driver configuration module 103 is used to select a set of screen driving parameters in the driver storage module according to the screen switching instruction, and drive the electronic ink screen to perform screen initialization and screen switching.

[0057] The multiple sets of screen driving parameters stored in the driver storage module 101 can be placed in the MCU by the MCU manufacturer before the MCU leaves the factory. For example, two sets of screen driving parameters can be stored, corresponding to two screen models, to meet the usage requirements of different users. When the MCU leaves the factory, one set of screen driving parameters is set as the default parameters. When the user needs to change the screen model, the communication module 102 receives the screen switching instruction sent by the user. Accordingly, the driver configuration module 103 selects another set of screen driving parameters in the driver storage module 103 to drive the electronic ink screen to perform screen initialization and screen switching.

[0058] It should be noted that, when only two sets of screen driving parameters are stored in the driver storage module 101, the screen switching instruction may not carry any indication information, and the screen switching only switches back and forth between the corresponding two screen models. When less than two sets of screen driving parameters are stored in the driver storage module 101, the screen switching instruction also needs to carry indication information, and the indication information is used to indicate the identification information of a set of screen driving parameters selected by the user, such as number, ID and other information; accordingly, the driver configuration module 103 needs to select the screen driving parameters in the driver storage module 101 according to the indication information and update the current screen.

[0059] In specific applications, the communication module 102 can communicate with other external devices in a variety of ways, such as through NFC near field communication technology or Bluetooth communication technology and other wireless communication methods to achieve communication with external devices. Of course, other communication methods can also be used, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

[0060] In a non-limiting embodiment of the above-mentioned driver configuration module 103, it may specifically include: a parsing module and a hardware driver module.

[0061] The analysis module is used to analyze the driving parameters in the driving storage module 101 to obtain the analysis results;

[0062] The hardware driver module is used to output a driving data stream to the electronic ink screen according to the analysis result, so that the electronic ink screen performs screen initialization and screen switching.

[0063] The driving device for the electronic ink screen provided by the embodiment of the present invention stores multiple groups of screen driving parameters in the MCU, each group of screen driving parameters corresponds to a screen format, and can subsequently switch the MCU drive to the screen required by the user by receiving a screen switching instruction according to user needs. The screen driving parameters corresponding to the commonly used screen models are stored internally so as to be provided to different users, so that the screen switching of the electronic ink screen can be realized without updating the software program of the MCU, making the screen switching simpler and more convenient, and can better meet the needs of different users.

[0064] In another non-limiting embodiment of the driving device for the electronic ink screen of the present invention, the communication module 102 can also be used to receive a new screen driving data stream, which includes screen parameters or parameter ranges selected by the user according to the manufacturer; accordingly, the driving configuration module 103 is also used to drive the electronic ink screen to perform screen initialization and screen switching according to the new screen driving data stream.

[0065] The new screen drive data stream is a drive process flow generated by the user according to the drive process provided by the electronic ink screen manufacturer and the parameter requirements provided by the manufacturer. The drive data stream is sent to the MCU through the corresponding external device. The MCU stores the new electronic ink screen drive parameters and drives the electronic ink screen to perform screen initialization and screen switching according to the new electronic ink screen drive parameters. It should be noted that the generation of the new screen drive data stream can be generated by manual conversion by the user or automatically converted by a script language, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

[0066] The driving device for the electronic ink screen of this embodiment transmits complete new screen driving parameters to the MCU via data stream, so that the MCU drives the electronic ink screen to switch to the new screen, making the application more flexible and better meeting the screen format usage requirements of different users.

[0067] like Figure 2 , is another structural schematic diagram of a driving device for an electronic ink screen provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0068] and Figure 1 What is different from the illustrated embodiment is that, in this embodiment, the driving device for the electronic ink screen further includes: a communication controller 200, which is used to receive a new screen driving data stream and send the new screen driving data stream to the microcontroller 100.

[0069] In a non-limiting implementation, the communication controller 200 can receive the new screen drive data stream through the radio frequency antenna 300. For example, the communication controller 200 can be a device such as an NFC controller or a Bluetooth controller, and can communicate with the microcontroller 100 in a variety of ways to facilitate the use of the microcontroller 100 in different application environments.

[0070] like Figure 3 As shown, in another non-limiting embodiment of the driving device for the electronic ink screen of the present invention, the device may further include:

[0071] The sending module 300 is used to send the new screen driving data stream, which may include screen driving parameter information and / or screen display data, and is sent in the form of a data stream.

[0072] In a specific application, the sending module 300 may be, for example, an NFC reader or a mobile phone or other device.

[0073] Accordingly, in this embodiment, the communication controller 200 receives the new screen driving data stream sent by the sending module 200 , and transmits the data to the microcontroller 100 .

[0074] Correspondingly, the driver storage module 101 in the microcontroller 100 stores these data, the driver configuration module 103 parses them, and outputs a driving data stream to the electronic ink screen according to the parsing result, so that the electronic ink screen performs screen initialization and screen switching.

[0075] The driving device for the electronic ink screen provided in this embodiment transmits complete new screen driving parameters to the MCU, so that the MCU drives the electronic ink screen to switch to the new screen, making the application more flexible and meeting the user's personalized usage needs.

[0076] Accordingly, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a driving method for an electronic ink screen, such as Figure 4 FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a driving method for an electronic ink screen provided by an embodiment of the present invention. The method comprises the following steps:

[0077] Step 401, pre-store multiple groups of screen driving parameters in the microcontroller, each group of screen driving parameters corresponding to a screen format.

[0078] The multiple groups of screen driving parameters are stored in the MCU by the MCU manufacturer before the MCU leaves the factory. Different groups of screen driving parameters correspond to different screen formats (or screen models), and users can choose according to their needs.

[0079] Step 402: Receive a screen switching instruction.

[0080] The screen switching instruction may be sent by the user to the MCU via an external device. For a case where more than two sets of screen driving parameters are included, the screen switching instruction may also include indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate identification information of a set of screen driving parameters selected by the user, such as number, ID, and other information.

[0081] Step 403: According to the screen switching instruction, a set of screen driving parameters in the driving storage module is selected to drive the electronic ink screen to perform screen initialization and screen switching.

[0082] Specifically, the MCU can drive the electronic ink screen to perform screen initialization and screen switching through a modular driving process according to a set of screen driving parameters selected by the user.

[0083] The driving method for the electronic ink screen provided by the embodiment of the present invention stores multiple groups of screen driving parameters in the MCU, each group of screen driving parameters corresponds to a screen format, and after receiving the screen switching instruction sent by the user, drives the electronic ink screen to switch to the screen format selected by the user. By using the driving method for the electronic ink screen provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the screen switching of the electronic ink screen can be realized without updating the software program of the MCU, making the screen switching simpler and more convenient, and can better meet the needs of different users.

[0084] like Figure 5 , is another flow chart of a driving method for an electronic ink screen provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0085] and Figure 4 The embodiment shown is different in that, in this embodiment, the following steps are also included:

[0086] Step 501, receiving a new screen drive data stream;

[0087] The new screen drive data stream may be a data stream sent to the MCU by a user through a mobile phone, or a device such as an NFC reader / writer. Accordingly, the MCU may receive the data stream with the aid of a device such as an NFC controller or a Bluetooth controller.

[0088] Step 502: according to the new screen driving data stream, drive the electronic ink screen to perform screen initialization and screen switching.

[0089] Specifically, the MCU stores new electronic ink screen driving parameters, and drives the electronic ink screen to perform screen initialization and screen switching according to the new electronic ink screen driving parameters.

[0090] It should be noted that Figure 5 In the illustrated embodiment, the order of steps 401 to 403 and steps 501 to 502 is not limited, that is, the user can choose to input a new screen drive data stream at any time to switch the screen to the screen format set by the user; or can choose to use the screen format stored in the MCU itself at any time.

[0091] In another non-limiting embodiment, the driving method for the electronic ink screen may also only include the above-mentioned steps 501 and 502, that is, only one screen format is stored in the MCU. When the user needs to use a screen of another format, the corresponding screen driving parameters can only be input from the outside to switch the screen to the screen format set by the user.

[0092] The driving method for the electronic ink screen provided in the embodiment of the present invention transmits complete new screen driving parameters to the MCU, so that the MCU drives the electronic ink screen to switch to the new screen, making the application more flexible and meeting the personalized usage needs of users.

[0093] Compared with the existing electronic ink screen driver update method, the solution of the present invention has the following advantages:

[0094] (1) It can reduce R&D costs. The MCU software program is consistent during R&D, and there is no need to develop multiple versions. At the same time, the testing cost will also be reduced, and only one version needs to be tested.

[0095] (2) It can reduce production costs. The MCU software program can remain consistent during production and stocking, and the electronic ink screen driver can be downloaded through NFC after the customer confirms the demand, reducing the pressure of stocking. At the same time, the data transmission is small and the speed is fast, which shortens the production time.

[0096] (3) High reliability. There is no need to update the MCU software program, and there is no risk of the subsequent chip not working due to an error in the update software; the transmission does not require a complicated process and has high stability.

[0097] In a specific implementation, each module / unit included in each device or product described in the above embodiments may be a software module / unit or a hardware module / unit, or may be partly a software module / unit and partly a hardware module / unit.

[0098] For example, for each device or product applied to or integrated in a chip, each module / unit contained therein may be implemented in the form of hardware such as circuits, or at least some of the modules / units may be implemented in the form of software programs, which run on a processor integrated inside the chip, and the remaining (if any) modules / units may be implemented in the form of hardware such as circuits; for each device or product applied to or integrated in a chip module, each module / unit contained therein may be implemented in the form of hardware such as circuits, and different modules / units may be located in the same component (such as a chip, circuit module, etc.) or different components of the chip module, or at least some of the modules / units may be implemented in the form of software programs. The element can be implemented in the form of a software program, which runs on a processor integrated inside the chip module, and the remaining (if any) modules / units can be implemented in the form of hardware such as circuits; for various devices and products applied to or integrated in the terminal, the various modules / units contained therein can be implemented in the form of hardware such as circuits, and different modules / units can be located in the same component (for example, chip, circuit module, etc.) or in different components in the terminal, or, at least some modules / units can be implemented in the form of a software program, which runs on a processor integrated inside the terminal, and the remaining (if any) modules / units can be implemented in the form of hardware such as circuits.

[0099] Although the present invention is disclosed as above, the present invention is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the scope defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A driving device for an electronic ink screen, characterized in that: The device comprises a microcontroller; the microcontroller comprises: A drive storage module, used to store multiple groups of screen drive parameters, each group of screen drive parameters corresponding to a screen format; A communication module, used for receiving screen switching instructions; The driver configuration module is used to select a set of screen driving parameters in the driver storage module according to the screen switching instruction, and drive the electronic ink screen to perform screen initialization and screen switching.

2. The driving device for the electronic ink screen according to claim 1, characterized in that: The driving parameters are in the form of structured modules.

3. The driving device for the electronic ink screen according to claim 2, characterized in that: The structured modules include: a hardware control module, a parameter control module, a picture data control module, and a picture refresh control module.

4. The driving device for the electronic ink screen according to claim 2, characterized in that: The drive configuration module includes: An analysis module, used for analyzing the driving parameters in the driving storage module to obtain an analysis result; The hardware driver module is used to output a driving data stream to the electronic ink screen according to the analysis result.

5. The driving device for an electronic ink screen according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The communication module is also used to receive a new screen drive data stream; The driver configuration module is also used to drive the electronic ink screen to perform screen initialization and screen switching according to the new screen drive data stream.

6. The driving device for the electronic ink screen according to claim 5, characterized in that: The device also includes: The communication controller is used to receive the new screen driving data stream and send the new screen driving data stream to the microcontroller.

7. The driving device for the electronic ink screen according to claim 6, characterized in that: The device also includes: The sending module is used to send the new screen driving data stream.

8. The driving device for the electronic ink screen according to claim 7, characterized in that: The sending module is an NFC reader / writer or a mobile phone; the communication controller is an NFC controller or a Bluetooth controller.

9. A driving method for an electronic ink screen, characterized in that: The method comprises: A plurality of sets of screen driving parameters are stored in the microcontroller in advance, each set of screen driving parameters corresponding to a screen format; Receive screen switching instructions; According to the screen switching instruction, a group of screen driving parameters in the driving storage module is selected to drive the electronic ink screen to perform screen initialization and screen switching.

10. The driving method for the electronic ink screen according to claim 9, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Receive new screen driver data stream; According to the new screen driving data stream, the electronic ink screen is driven to perform screen initialization and screen switching.

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