Display content updating method and apparatus, device, and medium

Abstract

To provide a display content updating method and apparatus, a device, and a medium, relating to the field of screen display technologies.SOLUTION: A display content updating method includes: acquiring a color region included in a multi-color image and a color type corresponding to the color region; converting the multi-color image into multiple pieces of refresh image data and refresh instructions corresponding to the multiple pieces of refresh image data according to positions and color types of color regions in the multi-color image, where different refresh instructions are executed asynchronously; and sending the refresh instructions and the multiple pieces of refresh image data to a controller of an electronic paper screen so that the controller refreshes the display content of the electronic paper screen based on the refresh instructions and the corresponding multiple pieces of refresh image data. The embodiment of the present invention increases the display content updating speed and reduces the cost of displaying diverse content.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of screen display, and more particularly to a display content updating method, device, equipment, and medium. [Background technology]

[0002] An electronic paper screen is a display made with electrophoretic display technology, and a driving integrated circuit (IC) applies a driving voltage to each pixel point through a control circuit on a thin film transistor (TFT) substrate, thereby driving the movement of colored particles in the film for electronic paper to achieve the effect of displaying an image. As a reflective display, an electronic paper screen does not need to be continuously refreshed after updating an image, and can retain the image for a long time, so the power consumption is very low. With many features such as low power consumption, wide viewing angle, high contrast, and gentle on the eyes, electronic paper screens are applied in many fields such as electronic paper screens, electronic books, and billboards.

[0003] Regarding electronic paper screens, 1) from the viewpoint of display effect, the more colors the electronic paper film can display, the better; 2) from the viewpoint of cost, the fewer the number of bits (bytes) the driving IC can support, the cheaper it is. Currently, a combination of a four-color electronic paper film and a two-bit driving IC can display only four colors at most. In order to display more than four colors but no more than eight colors, the four-color electronic paper film must be combined with a three-bit driving IC, and the cost of a three-bit driving IC is much higher than that of a two-bit driving IC. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The present invention provides a display content updating method, device, equipment and medium for increasing the speed of display content updating and reducing the cost of displaying diverse content. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the invention comprises: Obtaining color regions included in a multi-color image and color types corresponding to the color regions; converting the multi-color image data into a plurality of refresh image data and refresh commands that correspond to each refresh image data and are executed asynchronously based on the position and color type of each color region in the multi-color image; transmitting refresh commands and the respective refresh image data to a controller of the electronic paper screen, such that the controller refreshes display content of the electronic paper screen based on the respective refresh commands and the corresponding refresh image data; A method for updating the displayed content is provided.

[0006] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the invention comprises: a color region acquisition module for acquiring a color region included in a multi-color image and a color type corresponding to the color region; an image conversion module for converting the multi-color image into a plurality of refresh image data and refresh commands, different for each refresh image data, which are executed asynchronously, based on the position and color type of each color region in the multi-color image; an image data control module for transmitting refresh commands and each of the refresh image data to a controller of the electronic paper screen, so that the controller refreshes display content of the electronic paper screen based on each of the refresh commands and the corresponding refresh image data; A display content updating device is further provided.

[0007] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the invention comprises: At least one processor; a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor; The memory stores a computer program executable by at least one processor, the computer program being executed by the at least one processor such that the at least one processor can execute a display content update method according to any one of the embodiments of the present invention. The present invention further provides a display content updating device comprising:

[0008] According to another aspect of the present invention, storing computer instructions for implementing the display content update method of any embodiment of the present invention when executed by a processor; A computer-readable storage medium is provided. Effect of the Invention

[0009] The technical aspects of an embodiment of the present invention facilitate performing targeted operations on different color areas and color types corresponding to the different color areas by obtaining color areas and color types corresponding to the color areas contained in a multi-color image; converting the multi-color image into multiple refresh image data and refresh commands that are different and executed asynchronously corresponding to each refresh image data based on the position and color type of each color area in the multi-color image, thereby executing corresponding refresh commands for the different refresh image data, improving the accuracy of targeted operations on each refresh image data; and transmitting refresh commands and each refresh image data to a controller of the electronic paper screen so that the controller refreshes the display content of the electronic paper screen based on each refresh command and the corresponding refresh image data, thereby enabling the controller to perform corresponding operations on the electronic paper screen based on the refresh commands using targeted refresh commands for each refresh image data, thereby improving the efficiency and accuracy of image data processing.

[0010] It should be understood that the subject matter described in this section is not intended to identify key or critical features of the embodiments of the invention, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the invention. Other features of the invention will become more readily apparent from the following specification. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] In order to more clearly describe the technical aspects in the embodiments of the present invention, the following will briefly introduce the drawings that need to be used in the description of the embodiments. However, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that a person skilled in the art can further obtain other drawings according to these drawings without paying any creative labor.

[0012] [Figure 1] 4 is a flowchart of a display content updating method according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a four-color image according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] 1 is a schematic diagram of a display content updating device according to a first embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 4] 11 is a flowchart of a display content updating method according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 5] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a six-color image according to Example 2 of the present invention. [Figure 6a] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of an image of a first color group corresponding to a six-color image according to Example 2 of the present invention. [Figure 6b] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of an image of a second color group corresponding to a six-color image according to Example 2 of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a first driving waveform corresponding to a first color group of a six-color image according to Example 2 of the present invention. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a second driving waveform corresponding to a second color group of a six-color image according to the second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a seven-color image according to Example 2 of the present invention. [Figure 10a]FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of an image of a first color group corresponding to a seven-color image according to Example 2 of the present invention. [Figure 10b] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of an image of a second color group corresponding to a seven-color image according to Example 2 of the present invention. [Figure 11a] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a first driving waveform corresponding to a first color group of a seven-color image according to Example 2 of the present invention. [Figure 11b] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a second driving waveform corresponding to a second color group of a seven-color image according to the second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 12a] 13 is a flowchart of a display content updating method according to a third embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 12b] 13 is a flowchart of a display content updating method according to a third embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 13] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of driving waveforms for refreshing a four-color electronic paper screen according to Example 3 of the present invention. [Figure 14a] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of an image of a first color group corresponding to a seven-color image according to Example 3 of the present invention. [Figure 14b] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of an image of a second color group corresponding to a seven-color image according to Example 3 of the present invention. [Figure 15a] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a first driving waveform corresponding to a first refresh command of a seven-color image according to Example 3 of the present invention. [Figure 15b] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a second driving waveform corresponding to a second refresh command of a seven-color image according to the third embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 16] FIG. 11 is a structural schematic diagram of a display content updating device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 17] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a display content updating device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] In order to allow those skilled in the art to better understand the aspects of the present invention, the technical aspects of the embodiments of the present invention will be described clearly and completely below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, but it is clear that the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present invention, and are not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art on the basis of the embodiments of the present invention without performing creative labor should fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0014] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second", etc. in the present specification, claims, and drawings are not necessarily used to describe a particular order or sequence, but are merely used to distinguish between similar objects. The data used in this manner may be substituted where appropriate, and it should be understood that the embodiments of the present invention described herein may be practiced in other orders than those shown or described herein. In addition, the terms "comprise" and "have" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, e.g., a process, method, system, product, or apparatus that includes a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units expressly recited, but may include other steps or units that are not expressly recited or that are inherent to the process, method, product, or apparatus.

[0015] The acquisition, storage, and application of multi-color images according to the technical aspects of the embodiments of the present invention all comply with the provisions of relevant laws and regulations and do not violate public order or morals.

[0016] Example 1 1 is a flowchart of a display content updating method according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment of the present invention is applicable to updating display content of an electronic paper screen, and the method can be executed by a display content updating device, which can be realized in the form of hardware and / or software, and which can be disposed in an electronic device, which can be a server device or a client device. The embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0017] Referring to the display content update method shown in FIG. 1, the display content update method includes:

[0018] In S101, color areas included in a multi-color image and color types corresponding to the color areas are obtained.

[0019] In this embodiment, a multi-color image is an image made of multiple colors. A color region may be a region filled with the same type of color, and a color region can be understood as a set of positions of all pixel points having the same color in an image. A color type is used to distinguish different colors, and the color type may include at least one of orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, red, black, and white. Furthermore, each color type can continue to be further subdivided, for example, orange can be divided into light orange and dark orange, and light orange and dark orange are different color types. The color types of adjacent color regions are different. The color types of non-adjacent color regions may be the same or different.

[0020] Specifically, image data processing is performed on the multi-color image to identify color regions and their locations within the multi-color image, and to identify the color type of each color region.

[0021] In one example, the image data processing operation method includes, but is not limited to, direct manual input, camera shooting, image uploading, image detection, neural network or conventional methods, etc., and the present embodiment is not limited thereto.

[0022] In S102, the multi-color image is converted into a plurality of refresh image data and refresh commands that are different and executed asynchronously for each refresh image data, based on the position and color type of each color region in the multi-color image.

[0023] In this embodiment, the refresh image data may be a color area to be refreshed in a certain refresh and a color type that needs to be refreshed. Specifically, the refresh image data may be image data after a multi-color image is coded using an image processing tool according to a color coding rule. A refresh command is an operation to be performed on multiple refresh image data of a multi-color image as necessary, and one refresh command represents one refresh, among which the number of refresh commands is at least one. The refresh command corresponds to the refresh image data, and the refresh image data corresponding to the refresh command may be a color area that needs to be refreshed in a refresh round of the refresh command and a color type by which the color area needs to be refreshed. Note that the refresh of an electronic paper screen can be understood as the color development of the electronic paper screen.

[0024] Specifically, the multi-color image is converted into a plurality of refresh image data and refresh commands corresponding to each refresh image data according to the result of the color region of the multi-color image and the color type corresponding to the color region, and the different refresh commands are executed asynchronously, and executing asynchronously means not simultaneously. One refresh command corresponds to one refresh process. One refresh command is used to refresh the color of the electronic paper screen based on one refresh image data. The plurality of refresh commands represent a plurality of refresh processes, and in one refresh process, only one refresh image data is adopted to perform refreshing. In one refresh process, two refresh commands are not executed simultaneously. If it is necessary to execute two refresh commands for the multi-color image, when the first refresh command is executed, only the first refresh command is executed at the same time and the other refresh command is not executed, and when the second refresh command is executed, only the second refresh command is executed at the same time and the other refresh command is not executed.

[0025] In one example, as shown in FIG. 2, a schematic diagram of a four-color image is shown, in which different colors are distinguished by different fill patterns, and this image is a target image to be updated and displayed on a four-color electronic paper screen. Each color in the four-color image corresponds to one area in the image, which is a set of positions of all pixel points having the same color in the image. For convenience of explanation, the shapes of the four areas corresponding to the four colors in the schematic diagram are rectangular, but in actual applications, the shapes of the four areas may be any shape, such as circular, polygonal, or irregular, and are not limited here. As can be seen from the drawing, the image includes four colors, namely color 1, color 2, color 3, and color 4. The above four colors correspond to the colors of particles in the film for electronic paper used in the electronic paper screen. The film for electronic paper is used as a display unit of the electronic paper screen to display an image that is actually seen by the human eye. Taking a black, white, yellow, and red electronic paper screen as an example, color 1 is black, color 2 is white, color 3 is yellow, and color 4 is red. If the image includes four colors, the electronic paper screen uses a four-color electronic paper film and a two-bit driving integrated circuit. The four-color electronic paper film includes four colored particles, and the colors of the four colored particles correspond to the four colors of the four-color image. In this case, the four colors require four groups of codes corresponding to the four groups of numeric codes 00, 01, 10 and 11 of the two-bit driving IC. For convenience of explanation, it is set that color 1 corresponds to area 1 and has a code of 00, color 2 corresponds to area 2 and has a code of 01, color 3 corresponds to area 3 and has a code of 10, and color 4 corresponds to area 4 and has a code of 11. Taking a four-color electronic paper screen of black, white, yellow, and red as an example, color 1 is black, corresponds to area 1 and has a code of 00, color 2 is white, corresponds to area 2 and has a code of 01, color 3 is yellow, corresponds to area 3 and has a code of 10, and color 4 is red, corresponds to area 4 and has a code of 11.According to the above color coding rules, the image processing tool can perform data processing on the four-color image that needs to be displayed, and process the four-color image into a number of refresh image data and corresponding refresh commands, for example, the refresh image data corresponding to the refresh command of the first refresh is area 1 code 00, area 2 code 01, the refresh image data corresponding to the refresh command of the second refresh is area 3 code 10, area 4 code 11, and the first refresh and the second refresh are performed asynchronously, and when the first refresh is performed, only the refresh command of the first refresh is executed, and when the second refresh is performed, only the refresh command of the second refresh is executed.

[0026] In S103, the refresh command and each refresh image data are sent to a controller of the electronic paper screen so that the controller refreshes the display contents of the electronic paper screen based on each refresh command and the corresponding refresh image data.

[0027] In this embodiment, the refresh command can be divided according to the area to be refreshed, and thus includes a global refresh command or a local refresh command. The global refresh refreshes all pixels on the screen, and the refresh process includes three steps: charge balancing, activation, and coloring. The local refresh refreshes only a part of the pixels on the screen, and the refresh process includes three steps: charge balancing, activation, and coloring, or only includes two steps: charge balancing and coloring, among which the local refresh that includes only two steps: charge balancing and coloring is a local fast refresh. The local fast refresh omits the activation step and includes only two steps: charge balancing and coloring, improving the time efficiency of the refresh. The local refresh is divided into a rectangular area local refresh and an arbitrary position local refresh. The local refresh of a rectangular area only refreshes pixels in one specific rectangular area on a screen, and the refresh process includes three steps, charge balancing, activation, and coloring, or only includes two steps, charge balancing and coloring, among which the local refresh of a rectangular area only includes two steps, charge balancing and coloring, is the local fast refresh of a rectangular area. The local refresh of an arbitrary position only refreshes pixels that need to be updated to a specific color on a screen, and the refresh area is a collection of pixel points that need to be updated to a specific color, and the refresh area can be of any shape, and the local refresh of an arbitrary position only refreshes pixels in one specific rectangular area on a screen, and the refresh area is a collection of pixel points that need to be updated to a specific color, and the refresh area can be of any shape, and the local refresh of an arbitrary position only refreshes pixels in one specific rectangular area on a screen, and the refresh process includes three steps, charge balancing, activation, and coloring, or only includes two steps, charge balancing and coloring, among which the local refresh of an arbitrary position only includes two steps, charge balancing and coloring, is the local fast refresh of an arbitrary position.

[0028] Specifically, the controller of the electronic paper screen acquires a refresh command and each refresh image data, refreshes the electronic paper screen based on the acquired refresh command and each refresh image data, and controls the display of the display content on the electronic paper screen.

[0029] If the target image to be refreshed on the electronic paper screen is a four-color image, the refresh image is a four-color image that matches the target image, the number of refreshes is one refresh, the refresh type is a global refresh, one global refresh includes three stages: a charge balance stage, an activation stage, and a coloring stage, if the time length required for the charge balance stage is T1 and the time length required for the activation stage is T2, the time length required for the coloring stage is T3, the time length required for a single refresh is T1+T2+T3, and the total refresh time is T1+T2+T3. Global refresh is the refresh of all pixels on the screen, one global refresh includes three stages: a charge balance stage, an activation stage, and a coloring stage. In the charge balance stage, a reverse voltage is applied to ensure that the total amount of positive charge and the total amount of negative charge are equal during the entire refresh process, thereby ensuring that there is no residual charge on the electronic paper film. In the activation stage, a periodic high and low voltage of +15V or -15V is applied to uniformly mix various colored particles in the electronic paper film. In the coloring step, a specific driving voltage and driving waveform for each color is applied to drive the colored particles in the electronic paper film to exhibit the required color.

[0030] In one example, as shown in Fig. 3, the display content updating device may be a server, and the server communicates with the controller of the electronic price tag through a base station to send refresh commands and refresh image data to the controller, and the controller refreshes the display content of the electronic paper screen according to each refresh command and the corresponding refresh image data. Wherein, the base station may be a router, and the controller is located within the wireless communication range of the base station. The electronic paper screen may be an electronic price tag, and as shown in the figure, the electronic price tag includes three color areas, namely, an area where the text of the mineral water is located, an area where the price is located, and an area where the attribute information of the item is located.

[0031] The technical aspects of an embodiment of the present invention facilitate performing targeted operations on different color areas and color types corresponding to the different color areas by obtaining color areas and color types corresponding to the color areas contained in a multi-color image; converting the multi-color image into multiple refresh image data and refresh commands that are different and executed asynchronously corresponding to each refresh image data based on the position and color type of each color area in the multi-color image, thereby executing corresponding refresh commands for the different refresh image data, improving the accuracy of targeted operations on each refresh image data; and transmitting refresh commands and each refresh image data to a controller of the electronic paper screen so that the controller refreshes the display content of the electronic paper screen based on each refresh command and the corresponding refresh image data, thereby enabling the controller to perform corresponding operations on the electronic paper screen based on the refresh commands using targeted refresh commands for each refresh image data, thereby improving the efficiency and accuracy of image data processing.

[0032] Preferably, converting the multi-color image into a plurality of refresh image data and a refresh command corresponding to each refresh image data based on the position and color type of each color area in the multi-color image includes: calculating the number of color types; calculating the number of single refreshes based on the number of bits of the driving integrated circuit; detecting the number of refreshes based on the number of color types and the number of single refreshes; and determining the plurality of refresh image data and the refresh command corresponding to each refresh image data based on the number of color types, the number of refreshes, the position and color type of each color area.

[0033] In this embodiment, the number of color types is used to determine the number of refreshes. The number of single refreshes can be understood as the maximum number of color regions that the driving IC of the corresponding bit number of the electronic paper screen can refresh in a single refresh. The number of single refreshes is determined by the number of bits of the driving integrated circuit of the electronic paper screen. The number of refreshes can be determined based on the ratio between the number of color types and the number of single refreshes, and usually, it is better to set the number of refreshes small in order to increase the coloring speed and reduce the energy consumption of coloring.

[0034] Specifically, the quotient and remainder of the number of color types and the number of single refreshes are calculated, and the number of refreshes can be calculated based on the quotient and remainder. For example, if the remainder is 0, the number of refreshes is the quotient, and if the remainder is not 0, the number of refreshes is the quotient + 1.

[0035] The number of refreshes is the same as the number of refresh commands, and according to the number of refreshes, the color types are divided to obtain at least one color type corresponding to the refresh command, and the color area corresponding to the color type and the color type are determined as the refresh image data corresponding to the refresh command.

[0036] In one example, the number of bits in an electronic paper screen determines the color coding capability of a driving IC. A 2-bit driving IC can display four colors (2 2 ) can be coded, and the 3-bit driving IC can produce 8 colors (2 3 ) can be coded, nBit's driving IC is 2 n This allows nBit's e-paper screen's driving IC to refresh twice as many times as the original screen. n If the bit number of the electronic paper screen is 2, the number of single refreshes is 4, that is, 2 2The quotient and remainder of the number of color types and the number of single refreshes are calculated, and the remainder is 2, and the quotient is 1, in which the remainder is not 0, and the number of refreshes is 1+1, which is 2. Based on the number of color types, the number of refreshes, the position of each color region, and the color type, an image processing tool determines a plurality of refresh image data and a refresh command corresponding to each refresh image data.

[0037] In the prior art, the number of colors that can be refreshed on an electronic paper screen is determined by the number of bits in the driving IC, and a conventional electronic paper screen must select and use a 3-bit driving IC to display more than 4 colors and less than 8 colors. A 3-bit driving IC is larger in size and more expensive than a 2-bit driving IC.

[0038] In the present invention, a multi-color image is processed into N pieces of image data according to color classification and color coding rules, and the N pieces of image data are combined with respective driving waveforms to perform N times of refreshing, and pixels in the image that do not need to be refreshed during the refreshing process are coded for individual data protection, so that the electronic paper screen can realize a multi-color (more than four colors) display of the electronic paper film by a 2-bit driving IC. A conventional 2-bit driving IC only supports a refresh display of four colors or less, but the display content update method according to the embodiment of the present invention realizes a refresh display of more colors by multiple refreshes, and in the embodiment of the present invention, a multi-color image can particularly refer to an image with more than four colors.

[0039] By calculating the number of color types, it is easy to perform targeted image processing operations on multi-color images with different numbers of color types; the number of a single refresh is calculated based on the number of bits of the driving integrated circuit; the most effective refresh method is calculated for integrated circuits with different bit numbers, thereby improving refresh efficiency; the number of refreshes is detected based on the number of color types and the single refresh number; multiple refresh image data and refresh commands corresponding to each refresh image data are determined based on the number of color types, the number of refreshes, the position and color type of each color area, thereby performing targeted image processing on each color area of ​​the image, thereby improving the accuracy and efficiency of the image refresh, so that a single refresh meets the refresh capability of the driving integrated circuit; and by increasing the number of refreshes, the number of colors displayed on the same electronic paper screen can be increased, the number of colors can be increased, and the cost of achieving color diversity can be reduced.

[0040] Example 2 4 is a flow chart of a display content updating method according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment of the present invention is optimized and improved based on the above embodiment, and converting a multi-color image into a plurality of refresh image data and refresh commands corresponding to each refresh image data, which are different and executed asynchronously, according to the position and color type of each color region in the multi-color image, is further limited to: calculating the number of color types, calculating the number of single refresh times according to the number of bits of the driving integrated circuit, detecting the number of refresh times according to the number of color types and the number of single refresh times, and determining the plurality of refresh image data and the refresh commands corresponding to each refresh image data according to the number of color types, the number of refresh times, the position and color type of each color region. Among them, determining the plurality of refresh image data and the refresh commands corresponding to each refresh image data according to the number of color types, the number of refresh times, the position and color type of each color region is further limited to: grouping each color region according to the color type of each color region, obtaining color groups whose number of color types included in each group is equal to or less than the number of single refresh times, and determining the refresh image data and the refresh command corresponding to the refresh image data according to the color regions included in the color groups and the color types corresponding to the included color regions.

[0041] As shown in FIG. 4, the display content updating method according to the second embodiment of the present invention specifically includes the following steps.

[0042] In S401, color areas included in a multi-color image and color types corresponding to the color areas are obtained.

[0043] In S402, the number of color types is counted.

[0044] In S403, the number of single refresh cycles is calculated according to the number of bits of the driving integrated circuit.

[0045] In S404, the number of refreshes is detected based on the number of color types and the number of single refreshes.

[0046] In S405, each color area is grouped according to the color type of each color area, and the number of color groups is obtained as many as the number of refreshes, each of which includes a number of color types equal to or less than the number of a single refresh.

[0047] In this embodiment, a color group includes at least one color region and a corresponding color type, and the number of color groups is the same as the number of refreshes, and in fact, a color group represents a color region that is refreshed in the same round and a color type that is refreshed correspondingly. The number of refresh commands is the same as the number of refreshes, and accordingly, the refresh commands correspond one-to-one with the color groups. Due to the limitation of the number of bits of the driving integrated circuit, the number of color types in one refresh is at most a single refresh number, and therefore the number of color types included in a color group cannot be more than a single refresh number.

[0048] Specifically, each color area in a multi-color image is grouped according to the color type of each color area, and color groups equal to the number of refresh cycles are obtained, among which, due to the bit number limit of the driving integrated circuit, the number of color types included in each color group is equal to or less than the number of a single refresh cycle.

[0049] In one example, if the bit number of the driving integrated circuit is 2 bits, the number of single refreshes is 4, and if the image requiring image processing is a 6-color image, the number of refreshes is 2, and each color region is grouped according to the color type of each color region to obtain two color groups, and the number of color types included in each color group is 4 or less. Among them, the grouping method may be such that the first color group includes 4 color types and the second color group includes 2 color types, or, for example, the first color group includes 2 color types and the second color group includes 4 color types, or, for example, the first color group includes 3 color types and the second color group includes 3 color types.

[0050] As shown in FIG. 5, a schematic diagram of a six-color image is shown, which is the target image to be updated and displayed on the six-color electronic paper screen. Each color in the six-color image corresponds to an area in the image, which is the set of positions of all pixel points having the same color in the image. For convenience of explanation, the shape of the six areas corresponding to the six colors in the schematic diagram is rectangular, but in actual application, the shape of the six areas may be any shape, and is not limited here. As can be seen from the drawing, the image includes six colors, namely, color 1, color 2, color 3, color 4, color 5 and color 6. Taking a black, white, yellow, red electronic paper screen as an example, the six colors may be color 1 black, color 2 white, color 3 yellow, color 4 red, color 5 gray, and color 6 orange.

[0051] As shown in FIG. 6a and FIG. 6b, a first color group and a second color group corresponding to a six-color image are shown, and FIG. 6a is the first color group, which includes color 11, color 12, color 13, and color 14. The pixels in the area 11, area 12, and area 13 corresponding to color 11, color 12, and color 13 in the first color group need to be refreshed, but the pixels in the area 14 corresponding to color 14 do not need to be refreshed. In this way, for the pixels that need to be refreshed, the driving waveforms are adjusted according to the coding rules to realize the corresponding color refresh. Meanwhile, for the pixels that do not need to be refreshed, the driving waveforms of the codes of the areas corresponding to the pixels that do not need to be refreshed are set to match the output reference voltage (VCOM) of the display panel, where VCOM is a preset voltage threshold, and VCOM may be a non-fixed voltage threshold. The code of the area corresponding to the pixels that do not need to be refreshed is the protection code, and the driving voltage for driving the movement of the electronic ink in the pixel is always zero, so that the pixel remains motionless during the refresh process of the electronic paper screen, thereby achieving the purpose of protecting the pixel without refreshing; at the same time, the color of the area corresponding to the protection code is colorless or empty, which represents that no real color refresh is performed on the area so as to realize color protection for the area, and may be understood as painting the area with a protection color, so that the area 14 corresponding to color 14 is colorless, and FIG. 6b is the second color group, which includes color 21, color 22, color 23, and color 24, and the pixels in area 21, area 22, and area 23 corresponding to color 21, color 22, and color 23 in the second color group need to be refreshed, but the pixels in area 24 corresponding to color 24 do not need to be refreshed. In this way, for the pixels in area 21, area 22, and area 23 corresponding to color 21, color 22, and color 23, the driving waveform is adjusted according to the coding rule to realize the corresponding color refresh.On the other hand, for the pixel in region 24 corresponding to color 24, the driving waveform of the code of region 24 is set to match the output reference voltage (VCOM) of the display panel, the code of region 24 is used as a protection code, and the driving voltage for driving the movement of the electronic ink in the pixel is always zero, so that the pixel remains motionless during the refresh process of the electronic paper screen, thereby achieving the purpose of protecting the pixel without refreshing, which is equivalent to the color of the region corresponding to the protection code being colorless, so that during the refresh process, the region 24 corresponding to color 24 is colorless, i.e., no color refresh is performed on the region.

[0052] As can be seen from FIG. 6a, for the correspondence between the first color group and the six-color image, color 11 corresponds to color 1, color 12 corresponds to color 2, color 13 corresponds to color 3, and color 14 corresponds to color 4, color 5, and color 6. Taking a black, white, yellow, and red electronic paper screen as an example, the six colors may be color 1 black, color 2 white, color 3 yellow, color 4 red, color 5 gray, and color 6 orange, so that color 11 is black like color 1, color 12 is white like color 2, color 13 is yellow like color 3, and color 14 is colorless. As can be seen, the first color group is obtained by adjusting the three colors of red, gray, and orange in the six-color image to colorless.

[0053] As can be seen from FIG. 6b, for the correspondence between the second color group and the six-color image, color 21 corresponds to color 4, color 22 corresponds to color 5, color 23 corresponds to color 6, and color 24 corresponds to color 1, color 2, and color 3. Taking a black, white, yellow, and red electronic paper screen as an example, the six colors may be color 1 black, color 2 white, color 3 yellow, color 4 red, color 5 gray, and color 6 orange. Thus, color 21 is red like color 4, color 22 is gray like color 5, color 23 is orange like color 6, and color 24 is colorless. As can be seen, the second color group is obtained by adjusting the three colors of black, white, and yellow in the six-color image to colorless. At the same time, the first color group data and the second color group data corresponding to the six-color image are obtained according to the coding rule.

[0054] Since the number of bits of the driving integrated circuit is 2 bits, the number of refreshes per one refresh is 4, and the number of color types included in each color group is 4 or less.

[0055] In S406, refresh image data and a refresh command corresponding to the refresh image data are determined based on the color areas included in the color group and the color types corresponding to the included color areas.

[0056] In this embodiment, the color area included in one color group and the corresponding color type are determined as refresh image data, and correspond to one refresh command.

[0057] Specifically, based on the color areas included in the color group and the color types corresponding to the included color areas, targeted image data processing is performed for the color group, and one refresh image data and a refresh command corresponding to the refresh image data are determined according to the coding rules.

[0058] In one example, for the six-color image in FIG. 5, the first color group shown in FIG. 6a, and the second color group shown in FIG. 6b, the following content is determined according to the coding rules: Color 11 in the first color group corresponds to color 1 in the six color image, region 11 in the first color group corresponds to region 1 in the six color image, and has a code of 00; color 12 in the first color group corresponds to color 2 in the six color image, region 12 in the first color group corresponds to region 2 in the six color image, and has a code of 01; color 13 in the first color group corresponds to color 3 in the six color image, region 13 in the first color group corresponds to region 3 in the six color image, and has a code of 10; color 14 in the first color group corresponds to colors 4, 5, and 6 in the six color image, and region 14 in the first color group corresponds to regions 4, 5, and 6 in the six color image, and has a code of 11; the pixels in regions 11, 12, and 13 corresponding to colors 11, 12, and 13 in the first color group need to be refreshed, but the pixels in region 14 corresponding to color 14 do not need to be refreshed. In this way, for pixels that need to be refreshed, the driving waveform is adjusted according to the coding rule to realize the corresponding color refresh. Meanwhile, for pixels that do not need to be refreshed, the driving waveform of the code in area 14 is set to match the output reference voltage (VCOM) of the display panel, where VCOM is a preset voltage threshold, and VCOM can be a non-fixed voltage threshold. The code in area 14 is the protection code, and the driving voltage for driving the movement of the electronic ink in the pixel is always zero, so that the pixel remains motionless and stationary in the process of refreshing the electronic paper screen, thereby achieving the purpose of protecting the pixel without refreshing, and at the same time, when the color of the area corresponding to the protection code is colorless, the area 14 corresponding to the color 14 is colorless. Taking a black, white, yellow, and red e-paper screen as an example, if there are six colors, color 1 may be black, color 2 may be white, color 3 may be yellow, color 4 may be red, color 5 may be gray, and color 6 may be orange, so that color 11 is black like color 1, color 12 is white like color 2, color 13 is yellow like color 3, and color 14 is colorless.Similarly, region 11 and region 1 are the same region, region 12 and region 2 are the same region, region 13 and region 3 are the same region, and region 14 is a collection of three regions, region 4, region 5, and region 6. As can be seen, the first color group is obtained by adjusting three colors, red, gray, and orange, in the six-color image to be colorless. Correspondingly, the refresh image data corresponding to the first refresh command is region 1 code 00, region 2 code 01, region 3 code 10, region 4 code 11, region 5 code 11, and region 6 code 11.

[0059] Color 21 in the second color group corresponds to color 4 in the six-color image, region 21 in the second color group corresponds to region 4 in the six-color image, and has a code of 00; color 22 in the second color group corresponds to color 5 in the six-color image, region 22 in the second color group corresponds to region 5 in the six-color image, and has a code of 01; color 23 in the second color group corresponds to color 6 in the six-color image, region 23 in the second color group corresponds to region 6 in the six-color image, and has a code of 10; color 24 in the second color group corresponds to colors 1, 2, and 3 in the six-color image, and region 24 in the second color group corresponds to regions 1, 2, and 3 in the six-color image, and has a code of 11; pixels in regions 21, 22, and 23 corresponding to colors 21, 22, and 23 in the second color group need to be refreshed, but pixels in region 24 corresponding to color 24 do not need to be refreshed. In this way, for pixels that need to be refreshed, the driving waveform is adjusted according to the coding rule to realize the corresponding color refresh. Meanwhile, for pixels that do not need to be refreshed, the driving waveform of the code in the area 24 is set to match the output reference voltage (VCOM) of the display panel, where VCOM is a preset voltage threshold, and VCOM may be a non-fixed voltage threshold. The code in the area 24 is the protection code, and the driving voltage for driving the movement of the electronic ink in the pixel is always zero, so that the pixel remains motionless and stationary in the process of refreshing the electronic paper screen, thereby achieving the purpose of protecting the pixel without refreshing, and at the same time, when the color of the area corresponding to the protection code is colorless, the area 24 corresponding to the color 24 is colorless. Take the black, white, yellow, red electronic paper screen as an example, if there are six colors, color 1 may be black, color 2 may be white, color 3 may be yellow, color 4 may be red, color 5 may be gray, and color 6 may be orange. As a result, color 21 is red like color 4, color 22 is gray like color 5, color 23 is orange like color 6, and color 24 is colorless. Similarly, region 21 and region 4 are the same region, region 22 and region 5 are the same region, region 23 and region 6 are the same region, and region 24 is a collection of three regions, region 1, region 2, and region 3.As can be seen, the second color group is obtained by adjusting the three colors, black, white and yellow, in the six-color image to be colorless. Correspondingly, the refresh image data corresponding to the second refresh command is area 21 code 00, area 22 code 01, area 23 code 10 and area 24 code 11.

[0060] In S407, the refresh command and each refresh image data are sent to the controller of the electronic paper screen so that the controller refreshes the display content of the electronic paper screen based on each refresh command and the corresponding refresh image data.

[0061] The technical aspect of an embodiment of the present invention is to calculate the required number of refreshes, group each color area according to the color type of each color area, obtain color groups with a number of refreshes, each of which contains a number of color types equal to or less than the number of a single refresh, and determine refresh image data and refresh commands corresponding to the refresh image data based on the color areas contained in a color group and the color types corresponding to the color areas contained in the color group, so that the single refresh can be precisely controlled according to the color groups to meet the refresh capability of the driving integrated circuit, and the color areas and color types can be flexibly combined to improve the flexibility of refresh color development.

[0062] Preferably, determining the refresh image data and the refresh command corresponding to the refresh image data based on the color types included in the color group and the color areas corresponding to the color types included in the color group includes determining the color types included in the color group and the color areas corresponding to the color types included in the color group as refresh commands that are local refresh commands corresponding to one refresh image data and the refresh image data, or determining the color group including the largest number of color types among the multiple color groups as a third color group and the remaining color groups as a fourth color group, updating the color types of the color areas other than the color areas included in the third color group to color types included in the third color group and adding them to the third color group, determining the color types included in the third color group after addition and the color areas corresponding to the color types included in the third color group as a third refresh command that is a global refresh command corresponding to the third refresh image data and the third refresh image data, and determining the color types included in the fourth color group and the color areas corresponding to the color types included in the fourth color group as a fourth refresh command that is a local refresh command corresponding to the fourth refresh image data and the fourth refresh image data, wherein the third refresh command is executed before the fourth refresh command.

[0063] Specifically, the color types included in the color group and the color regions corresponding to the included color types are determined as one refresh image data and a refresh command corresponding to the refresh image data, and the refresh command is a local refresh command. In practice, the number of colors refreshed each time by multiple local refreshes is less than the number of a single refresh, so that the maximum number of colors displayed by the driving integrated circuit on the same electronic paper screen is exceeded, and more colors are displayed.

[0064] Among the multiple color groups, the color group containing the largest number of color types is determined as the third color group, and the remaining color groups are determined as the fourth color group, or one of the color groups may be selected and determined as the third color group, and the remaining color groups other than the third color group may be determined as the fourth color group. There are other cases for determining the third color group and the fourth color group, and they are not specifically limited. The color types of the color areas other than the color areas included in the third color group are updated to the color types included in the third color group and added to the third color group, and the color types included in the third color group after the addition and the color areas corresponding to the included color types are determined as the third refresh image data and the third refresh command which is a global refresh command corresponding to the third refresh image data, and the color types included in the fourth color group and the color areas corresponding to the included color types are determined as the fourth refresh image data and the fourth refresh command which is a local refresh command corresponding to the fourth refresh image data, and the third refresh command is executed before the fourth refresh command. Among them, the third color group is a color group for global refresh, and the fourth color group is used for local refresh. The color areas included in the third color group are all color areas. The number of color types included in the fourth color group is equal to or less than the number of single refreshes. The number of the fourth color group may be at least 1. The refresh process represented by the third color group selects and refreshes color regions of several color types of a single refresh, and if the color types of the remaining color regions are different from the several color types of a single refresh, one or some of the several color types of a single refresh are arbitrarily selected and refreshed without considering the color types of the original refresh of the remaining color regions, and in a subsequent local refresh process, the correct color type is selected and a re-refresh, also called an overwrite refresh, is performed on these remaining color regions, i.e., the colors of the global refresh are discarded.

[0065] In one example, the process of multiple local refreshes may be as follows: Since an electronic paper screen using a 2-bit driving IC can only update at most four colors in one refresh, when a six-color image is the target image, the electronic paper screen needs to be completed by two refreshes. In the first refresh, the refresh image is a first color group, the refresh count is the first refresh, and the refresh type is local refresh at any position; in the second refresh, the refresh image is a second color group, the refresh count is the second refresh, and the refresh type is local refresh at any position. The six-color image adopts a method of realizing the update of a multi-color image by two local refreshes at any position. The local refresh at any position is the refresh of only the pixels on the screen corresponding to a specific color in the target image, and one local refresh at any position includes three stages: charge balance, activation, and coloring. In the charge balance stage, a reverse voltage is applied so that the total amount of positive charge and the total amount of negative charge in the entire refresh process are equal to ensure that no charge remains on the film for electronic paper. In the activation stage, various colored particles in the film for electronic paper are mixed uniformly by applying periodic high and low voltages of +15V or -15V. In the coloring stage, specific driving voltages and driving waveforms for each color are applied to drive the colored particles in the film for electronic paper to exhibit the required color.

[0066] In addition, the refresh process of the electronic paper screen needs to be completed by combining with the driving waveform. As shown in FIG. 7, a first driving waveform corresponding to the first color group is shown. Because the first refresh is a local refresh at an arbitrary position, the pixels in the area 11, area 12, and area 13 corresponding to the color 11, color 12, and color 13 need to be refreshed, but the pixels in the area 14 corresponding to the color 14 do not need to be refreshed. In this way, for the pixels that need to be refreshed, the driving waveforms of the codes 00, 01, and 10 are adjusted to realize the corresponding color refresh. Meanwhile, for the pixels that do not need to be refreshed, the driving waveform of the code 11 is set to match the output reference voltage (VCOM) of the display panel, where VCOM is a preset voltage threshold, and VCOM may be a non-fixed voltage threshold. The code 11 is used as a protection code, and the driving voltage for driving the movement of the electronic ink in the pixel is always zero, so that the pixel remains motionless and stationary in the refresh process of the electronic paper screen, thereby achieving the purpose of protecting the pixel without refreshing.

[0067] As shown in FIG. 8, a second driving waveform corresponding to a second color group is shown. Because the second refresh is a local refresh at an arbitrary position, the pixels in the regions 21, 22, and 23 corresponding to the colors 21, 22, and 23 need to be refreshed, but the pixels in the region 24 corresponding to the color 24 do not need to be refreshed. In this way, for the pixels that need to be refreshed, the driving waveforms of the codes 00, 01, and 10 are adjusted to realize the corresponding color refresh. Meanwhile, for the pixels that do not need to be refreshed, the driving waveform of the code 11 is set to match the VCOM, the code 11 is taken as the protection code, and the driving voltage for driving the movement of the electronic ink in the pixels is always zero, so that the pixels remain motionless and stationary during the refresh process of the electronic paper screen, thereby achieving the purpose of protecting the pixels without refreshing.

[0068] In this embodiment, the method of two local refreshes can realize the refresh of a six-color image, and by analogy, the method of N refreshes can realize the refresh of a 3*N-color image.

[0069] In this embodiment, a two-refresh method is used, in which in the first refresh, the refresh of the areas corresponding to colors 1, 2, and 3 in the six-color image is completed, and no refresh operation is performed on the areas corresponding to colors 4, 5, and 6; in the second refresh, the refresh of the areas corresponding to colors 4, 5, and 6 in the six-color image is completed, and the areas corresponding to colors 1, 2, and 3 that have already been refreshed are protected without being refreshed, thereby realizing multi-color display on the electronic paper screen.

[0070] In this embodiment, a four-color electronic paper screen of black, white, yellow, and red is taken as an example to describe a method for realizing multi-color display by combining multiple refreshes and a protection code, and the above method is applicable to a four-color electronic paper screen of black, white, red, and yellow, and also to a four-color electronic paper screen of white, red, yellow, and blue or other types, and also to a three-color electronic paper screen of black, white, red, black, white, and yellow or other types, and further to a two-color electronic paper screen of black, white, and other types. In this embodiment, a refresh method for a six-color image is described. The above refresh method is not only applicable to a six-color image, but also to an image containing only a part of six colors, and is not limited here.

[0071] In one specific example, the process of the first global refresh and multiple local refreshes may be as follows: Among multiple color groups, as shown in FIG. 9, a schematic diagram of a seven-color image is shown, which is the target image to be updated and displayed on the seven-color electronic paper screen. Each color in the seven-color image corresponds to an area in the image, which is the set of positions of all pixel points having the same color in the image. For convenience of explanation, the seven areas corresponding to the seven colors in the schematic diagram are rectangular in shape, but in actual application, the shapes of the seven areas may be any shape, and are not limited here. As can be seen from the drawing, the image includes seven colors, namely, color 1, color 2, color 3, color 4, color 5, color 6, and color 7. Taking a black, white, yellow, and red electronic price tag as an example, the seven colors may be color 1 black, color 2 white, color 3 yellow, color 4 red, color 5 gray 1, color 6 gray 2, and color 7 orange. As shown in Figures 10a and 10b, a first color group and a second color group corresponding to a seven-color image are shown, where Figure 10a is the first color group, which includes color 11, color 12, color 13 and color 14, and Figure 10b is the second color group, which includes color 21, color 22, color 23 and color 24, of which color 24 is colorless.

[0072] As can be seen from FIG. 10a, for the correspondence between the seven-color image and the first color group, color 11 corresponds to color 1, region 11 corresponds to region 1, and the code is 00; color 12 corresponds to color 2, color 5, color 6, and color 7, and region 12 corresponds to region 2, region 5, region 6, and region 7, and the code is 01; color 13 corresponds to color 3, region 13 corresponds to region 3, and the code is 10; color 14 corresponds to color 4, and region 14 corresponds to region 4, and the code is 11. Taking a black, white, yellow, and red electronic paper screen as an example, if there are seven colors, color 1 can be black, color 2 can be white, color 3 can be yellow, color 4 can be red, color 5 can be gray 1, color 6 can be gray 2, and color 7 can be orange, so that color 11 is black like color 1, color 12 is white like color 2, color 13 is yellow like color 3, and color 14 is red like color 4. Similarly, region 11 and region 1 are the same region, region 12 is a collection of four regions, region 2, region 5, region 6, and region 7, region 13 and region 3 are the same region, and region 14 and region 4 are the same region. As can be seen from this, when the three colors of gray 1, gray 2, and orange in the seven-color image are adjusted to white, the colors of region 5, region 6, and region 7 where gray 1, gray 2, and orange are located are substitute colors, and a first refresh image is obtained. In this embodiment, the substitute color is white, that is, color 2 and color 12, and other colors may be selected as the substitute color. For example, if color 3 and color 13 are selected, the color of region 5, region 6, and region 7 is color 13, and if color 4 and color 14 are selected, the color of region 5, region 6, and region 7 is color 14, but this is not specifically limited.

[0073] As can be seen from Fig. 10b, for the correspondence between the seven-color image and the second color group, color 21 corresponds to color 5, region 21 corresponds to region 5, and the code is 00, color 22 corresponds to color 6, region 22 corresponds to region 6, and the code is 01, color 23 corresponds to color 7, region 23 corresponds to region 7, and the code is 10, color 24 corresponds to color 1, color 2, color 3, and color 4, and region 24 corresponds to region 1, region 2, region 3, and region 4, and the code is 11, and the pixels in region 21, region 22, and region 23 corresponding to color 21, color 22, and color 23 in the second color group need to be refreshed, but the pixels in region 24 corresponding to color 24 do not need to be refreshed. In this way, for the pixels that need to be refreshed, the driving waveform is adjusted according to the coding rule to realize the corresponding color refresh. Meanwhile, for pixels that do not need to be refreshed, the driving waveform of the code in the region 24 is set to match the output reference voltage (VCOM) of the display panel, where VCOM is a preset voltage threshold, and VCOM may be a non-fixed voltage threshold. The code in the region 24 is the protection code, and the driving voltage for driving the movement of the electronic ink in the pixel is always zero, so that the pixel remains motionless and stationary in the process of refreshing the electronic paper screen, thereby achieving the purpose of protecting the pixel without refreshing, and at the same time, when the color of the region corresponding to the protection code is colorless, the region 24 corresponding to the color 24 is colorless. Taking a black, white, yellow, and red electronic paper screen as an example, if there are seven colors, color 1 may be black, color 2 may be white, color 3 may be yellow, color 4 may be red, color 5 may be gray 1, color 6 may be gray 2, and color 7 may be orange. Thus, color 21 is gray 1 as color 5, color 22 is gray 2 as color 6, color 23 is orange as color 7, and color 24 is colorless. Similarly, region 21 and region 5 are the same region, region 22 and region 6 are the same region, region 23 and region 7 are the same region, and region 24 is a collection of four regions, namely, region 1, region 2, region 3, and region 4. As can be seen from this, the second refresh image is obtained by adjusting the four colors, namely, black, white, yellow, and red, in the seven-color image to be colorless.

[0074] At the same time, according to the coding rule, the first refresh image data and the second refresh image data corresponding to the seven-color image are obtained.

[0075] Since the electronic paper screen using 2-bit driving IC can only update at most four colors in one refresh, if a seven-color image is the target image, the electronic paper screen needs to be completed by two refreshes. In the first refresh, the refresh image is the first color group, the refresh count is the first refresh, and the refresh type is a global refresh, which includes three stages: a charge balancing stage, an activation stage, and a coloring stage, and the time length required for the charge balancing stage is T11, the time length required for the activation stage is T12, the time length required for the coloring stage is T13, and the time length required for a single refresh is T11+T12+T13. In the second refresh, the refresh image is the second color group, the refresh count is the second refresh, and the refresh type is a local refresh at any position. A local refresh at any position includes three steps: a charge balancing step, an activation step and a coloring step, and the time required for the charge balancing step is T21, the time required for the activation step is T22, the time required for the coloring step is T23, and the time required for a single refresh is T21+T22+T23.

[0076] In addition, the refresh process of the electronic paper screen needs to be completed by combining with the driving waveform. As shown in FIG. 11a, a first driving waveform corresponding to the first refresh image data is shown. Because the first refresh is a global refresh, all pixels in the screen need to be refreshed. By adjusting the driving waveforms of codes 00, 01, 10 and 11, the corresponding color refresh is realized. As shown in FIG. 11b, a second driving waveform corresponding to the second refresh image data is shown. Because the second refresh is a local refresh at an arbitrary position, the pixels in the regions 21, 22 and 23 corresponding to the colors 21, 22 and 23 need to be refreshed, but the pixels in the region 24 corresponding to the color 24 do not need to be refreshed. In this way, for the pixels that need to be refreshed, the driving waveforms of codes 00, 01 and 10 are adjusted to realize the corresponding color refresh. On the other hand, for pixels that do not need to be refreshed, the driving waveform of Code 11 can be set to match VCOM, Code 11 can be used as a protection code, and the driving voltage for driving the movement of electronic ink in the pixel can be always set to zero, so that the pixel remains motionless during the refreshing process of the e-paper screen, thereby achieving the purpose of protecting the pixel without refreshing.

[0077] By using a two-times refresh method, in the first refresh, the refresh of the areas corresponding to colors 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the seven-color image is completed, and the areas corresponding to colors 5, 6, and 7 are refreshed to color 2; in the second refresh, the refresh of the areas corresponding to colors 5, 6, and 7 in the seven-color image is completed, and the areas corresponding to colors 1, 2, 3, and 4 that have already been refreshed are protected without being refreshed, thereby realizing multi-color display on the electronic paper screen.

[0078] In this embodiment, the refresh of a seven-color image can be realized by the method of two refreshes. Based on this, it can be inferred that the refresh of an image of 3*N+1 colors can be realized by N refreshes. In this embodiment, for convenience of explanation, the three colors of the second refresh are all set to the same color in the first color group. Similarly, the three colors of the second refresh may be set to any one or more colors among the four colors in the first color group. In this embodiment, four colors are refreshed in the first refresh, and the other three colors are refreshed in the second refresh. The four colors refreshed in the first refresh are any four colors among the seven colors, and the specific four colors among the seven colors are not limited, and the three colors refreshed in the second refresh are three colors other than the four colors refreshed in the first refresh.

[0079] In this embodiment, a four-color electronic paper screen of black, white, yellow, and red is taken as an example to describe a method for realizing multi-color display by combining multiple refreshes and a protection code, and the above method is applicable to a four-color electronic paper screen of black, white, red, and yellow, and also to a four-color electronic paper screen of white, red, yellow, and blue or other types, and also to a three-color electronic paper screen of black, white, red, black, white, and yellow or other types, and further to a two-color electronic paper screen of black, white, or other types. In this embodiment, a refresh method for a seven-color image is described. The above refresh method is not only applicable to a seven-color image, but also to an image containing only a part of the seven colors, and is not limited here.

[0080] The color types included in the color groups and the color areas corresponding to the color types included therein are determined as one refresh image data and a refresh command that is a local refresh command corresponding to the refresh image data, and a limit is realized to display colors exceeding the maximum number of colors displayed in a single display of the driving integrated circuit on the same electronic paper screen based on multiple local refreshes, and the color areas and color types for the refresh are flexibly set, and the color group including the largest number of color types among the multiple color groups is determined as a third color group and the remaining color groups as a fourth color group, and the color types of the color areas other than the color areas included in the third color group are updated to the color types included in the third color group and added to the third color group, and the color types included in the third color group after the addition and the color areas corresponding to the color types included therein are determined as the third refresh image data and the third refresh image data. The third refresh command is determined as a global refresh command corresponding to the refresh image data, and the color types included in the fourth color group and the color areas corresponding to the color types included therein are determined as the fourth refresh image data and the fourth refresh command is determined as a local refresh command corresponding to the fourth refresh image data, and the third refresh command is executed before the fourth refresh command, and the first global refresh and subsequent multiple local refreshes are performed to realize the limit of displaying colors exceeding the maximum number of colors for a single display of the driving integrated circuit on the same electronic paper screen, the color areas and color types for the refresh are flexibly set, and a focused refresh method is designed based on the refresh data of different multi-color images, so as to improve the accuracy of the refresh and realize the effect of multi-color display on the electronic paper screen.

[0081] Example 3 12a and 12b are flowcharts of a display content updating method according to a third embodiment of the present invention. An embodiment of the present invention is optimized and improved based on the above embodiment, and includes: grouping each color region in a multi-color image according to the color type of each color region in the multi-color image, and obtaining color groups with a number of refresh times; obtaining a first color region whose color type belongs to multi-color overlapping refresh, and determining the remaining color regions as a second color region; obtaining the color type of colored particles driven by a driving integrated circuit and a driving voltage corresponding to the colored particles, and determining the driving voltage corresponding to each color type in each color region in the multi-color image; obtaining a first refresh color and a second refresh color of the first color region, among which the first refresh color is refreshed before the second refresh color, and the first refresh color and the second refresh color are used to overlappingly refresh the same color region, so that the color of the same color region is refreshed to obtain a target color; selecting a third color region in the first color region based on the driving voltage of the color type of each color region, the first refresh color and the second refresh color of the first color region, and the color type of the second color region, and determining the remaining first color region as the second color region. determining the refresh image data and the refresh command corresponding to the refresh image data based on the color areas included in the color groups and the color types corresponding to the included color areas as the first refresh image data and the color areas corresponding to the included color types, and determining the color types included in the second color group and the color areas corresponding to the included color types as the first refresh image data and the first refresh command which is a global refresh command, and determining the color types included in the second color group and the color areas corresponding to the included color types as the second refresh image data and the second refresh command which is a local refresh command, and the first refresh command is executed before the second refresh command.

[0082] As shown in FIG. 12a and FIG. 12b, the display content updating method according to the third embodiment of the present invention specifically includes the following steps.

[0083] In S1201, color areas included in a multi-color image and color types corresponding to the color areas are obtained.

[0084] In S1202, the number of color types is counted.

[0085] In S1203, the number of single refresh cycles is calculated based on the number of bits of the driving integrated circuit.

[0086] In S1204, the number of refreshes is detected based on the number of color types and the number of single refreshes.

[0087] In S1205, a first color area whose color type belongs to the multi-color overlapping refresh is acquired, and the remaining color areas are determined as second color areas.

[0088] In this embodiment, the multi-color overlapping refresh can be understood as performing multiple refreshes on the same destination color region. The destination color is the color that the multi-color image should ultimately display in the color region. The destination color may be the same as the final refresh color during the multi-color overlapping refresh, or may be different from the final refresh color during the multi-color overlapping refresh.

[0089] Specifically, the color types in each color area of ​​the multi-color image are distinguished, and the color areas belonging to the multi-color overlapping refresh are divided into first color areas, and the remaining color areas, i.e., the color areas not belonging to the multi-color overlapping refresh, are determined as second color areas.

[0090] In one example, as shown in FIG. 9, a schematic diagram of a seven-color image is shown, which is the target image to be updated and displayed on the seven-color electronic paper screen. Each color in the seven-color image corresponds to an area in the image, which is the set of positions of all pixel points having the same color in the image. For convenience of explanation, the seven areas corresponding to the seven colors in the schematic diagram are rectangular in shape, but in actual application, the shapes of the seven areas may be any shape, and are not limited here. As can be seen from the drawing, the image includes seven colors, namely color 1, color 2, color 3, color 4, color 5, color 6, and color 7. The above seven colors correspond to the colors of particles and the mixture of particles in the film for electronic paper used in the electronic paper screen. Taking a black, white, yellow, and red electronic paper screen as an example, the seven colors may be color 1 black, color 2 white, color 3 yellow, color 4 red, color 5 gray 1, color 6 gray 2, and color 7 orange. Among them, gray 1 and gray 2 are mixtures of black particles and white particles, and orange is a mixture of yellow particles and red particles. Similarly, the above seven colors may be any seven colors in a color set consisting of the colors of particles in the film for electronic paper and mixtures of colors between particles.

[0091] In addition, the color area in which black is located must first refresh the white color before refreshing the black color, and the color area in which yellow is located must first refresh the red color before refreshing the yellow color. In this case, the first color area is the area in which colors 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 are located, and the second color area is the area in which colors 2 and 4 are located.

[0092] In S1206, the color types of the colored particles driven by the driving integrated circuit and the driving voltages corresponding to the colored particles are obtained, and the driving voltages corresponding to the color types in each color region in the multi-color image are determined.

[0093] In this embodiment, the driving voltage is a voltage that drives the coloring of the colored particles. The driving voltage is used to drive the coloring of the colored particles. The driving speed and the time required for the driving voltage differ depending on the magnitude of the driving voltage. Generally, a large driving voltage has a high driving speed and a short time required, and a small driving voltage has a low driving speed and a long time required.

[0094] Specifically, the color type in each color region of the multi-color image is analyzed, the color type of the colored particles driven by the driving integrated circuit and the driving voltage corresponding to the colored particles are obtained, and the driving voltage corresponding to the color type in each color region of the multi-color image is determined.

[0095] In one example, as shown in FIG. 13, the driving waveform of the refresh of a conventional four-color electronic paper screen is shown. In the example, the driving waveform of a four-color electronic paper screen of black, white, yellow, and red is described, and the driving waveform includes eight groups, where Group 1 corresponds to the charge balance stage, Groups 2 to 5 correspond to the activation stage, and Groups 6 to 8 correspond to the coloring stage. The driving waveform supports adjustment tests of five signals, VCOM, black (corresponding to code 00), white (corresponding to code 01), yellow (corresponding to code 10), and red (corresponding to code 11). The horizontal axis in the figure is time, and each time unit corresponds to one frame. The vertical axis in the figure corresponds to voltage, and the voltage corresponds to five types of voltages, VSNH, VSNL, GND, VSPL, and VSPH, in ascending order. Wherein, VSNH is a large negative voltage (usually -15V), VSNL is a small negative voltage (usually -5V), GND is a ground voltage (usually 0V), VSPL is a small positive voltage (usually +5V), and VSPH is a large positive voltage (usually +15V). Different color particles in the electronic paper film are designed to have different charge-to-mass ratios so as to be effectively driven by different driving voltages. Taking a four-color electronic paper film of black, white, yellow, and red as an example, the black particles are positively charged and have a large charge-to-mass ratio, corresponding to a large positive driving voltage VSPH, the white particles are negatively charged and have a small charge-to-mass ratio, corresponding to a small negative driving voltage VSNL, the yellow particles are negatively charged and have a large charge-to-mass ratio, corresponding to a large negative driving voltage VSNH, and the red particles are positively charged and have a small charge-to-mass ratio, corresponding to a small positive driving voltage VSPL. Therefore, VSNH corresponds to the driving voltage of yellow particles, VSNL corresponds to the driving voltage of white particles, VSPL corresponds to the driving voltage of red particles, and VSPH corresponds to the driving voltage of black particles. The numbers in the figures represent the number of frames that the voltage is maintained, and x + number represents the number of times the waveform is repeated in this group. By performing adjustment tests on the driving waveforms corresponding to four colors, black, white, yellow, and red, it is possible to realize that the electronic paper screen displays the color information of the corresponding image at each pixel.

[0096] In S1207, a first refresh color and a second refresh color of a first color area are obtained, of which the first refresh color is refreshed before the second refresh color, and the first refresh color and the second refresh color are used to refresh the same color area redundantly so that the colors of the same color area are refreshed to obtain a target color.

[0097] In this embodiment, in the process of refreshing the electronic paper screen, the mixed color and some single colors are obtained by superimposing at least two colors in the same color area and refreshing them. The first color area may be a color area in which a color type can be refreshed in multiple times. The color type of the first color area is re-divided into a first refresh color and a second refresh color to realize the display of the original color type by multiple refreshes in the first color area. Different from the first refresh color and the second refresh color, the target color may be the same as the first refresh color or the second refresh color, or the target color may be different from both the first refresh color and the second refresh color.

[0098] Specifically, a first color area of ​​a multi-color image that needs to be refreshed overlappingly is analyzed, and a first refresh color and a second refresh color of the first color area are obtained, so that after refreshing, the first color area displays a target color and the first refresh color is refreshed before the second refresh color.

[0099] In one example, taking a four-color electronic paper screen of black, white, red and yellow as an example, preferably, the white color corresponding to VSNL and the black color corresponding to VSPH are mixed into gray as one group, and the yellow color corresponding to VSNH and the red color corresponding to VSPL are mixed into orange as another group. According to the mixing ratio, the white color and the black color can be mixed into various gray colors, and the yellow color and the red color can be mixed into various orange colors. The first refresh color is the white color corresponding to VSNL, the second refresh color is the black color corresponding to VSPH, and the target color is gray.

[0100] There are also some special cases, for example, black color may be obtained by repeatedly refreshing white and black, where the first refresh color is white, the second refresh color is black, and the target color is black.

[0101] In S1208, based on the driving voltage for the color type of each color area, the first refresh color and the second refresh color of the first color area, and the color type of the second color area, a third color area is selected from the first color area, and the remaining first color areas are determined as second color areas.

[0102] In this embodiment, the second color area may be a color area that realizes the display of a color type without multiple refreshes, that is, the color type of the second color area realizes color development through a single refresh.

[0103] The first refresh color of the first color area and the color type of the second color area can be combined to obtain one color group. In this case, it is possible that the number of the first refresh colors and the color types of the second color area is smaller than the number of single refreshes, which indicates that the driving integrated circuit still has the capacity to refresh more color types. In this case, some of the first color areas can be set to achieve color refresh without multiple refreshes, and these some of the first color areas can be determined as the second color areas.

[0104] The third color region may be the first color region that realizes color development of a different color type by multiple refreshes. As redefined in this way, the color type of the second color region realizes color development of a different color type by a single refresh, and the color type of the third color region realizes color development of a different color type by multiple refreshes.

[0105] Specifically, based on the driving voltage for the color type of each color area, the first refresh color and the second refresh color of the first color area, and the color type of the second color area, a third color area that needs to be refreshed multiple times in the first color area is selected, and the remaining first color areas are determined as second color areas, and the second color area is colored by a single refresh.

[0106] In one example, an image is a five-color image, color 1 is gray 1, color 2 is gray 2, color 3 is gray 3, and color 4 is gray 4, and color 1, color 2, color 3, and color 4 all need to be refreshed in multiple colors. If the first refresh color is all white, the area consisting of color 1, color 2, color 3, and color 4 is the first color area, and the area where color 5 is located is the second color area that can realize the color development of the color type in a single refresh. The first refresh color of the first color area and the color type of the second color area are combined to obtain one color group, in which the number of color types of the first refresh color and the second color area is smaller than the number of a single refresh, which indicates that the driving integrated circuit still has the capacity to refresh more color types. In this case, some of the first color areas can be set to realize color refresh without multiple refreshes, and the part of the first color areas can be determined as the second color area. For example, color 1, color 2, and color 3 are set to realize color refresh without multiple refreshes, and a part of the first color area is determined as the second color area. In this case, the third color area is the first color area that realizes color development by color type by multiple refreshes, that is, the color area where color 4 is located.

[0107] In S1209, the third color area and the second color area are determined as a first color group, and the color type of the third color area in the first color group is updated to the first refresh color.

[0108] Usually, after S1208 in Fig. 12a is executed, S1209 in Fig. 12b is executed subsequently. In this embodiment, the first color group includes all color regions. The refresh process corresponding to the first color group is a global refresh. The first color group includes a third color region and a second color region. The third color region in the first color group corresponds to the first refresh color, and the second color region corresponds to a color type.

[0109] Specifically, the third color area and the second color area are determined as a first color group, the color areas of the first color group are refreshed simultaneously, and the color type of the third color area in the first color group is updated to the first refresh color, that is, the color type of the third color area in the first color group is updated to the color that is to be refreshed first among those that need to be refreshed in a multi-color overlapping refresh.

[0110] In one example, as shown in one preferred embodiment in step S1208 above, the third color area and the second color area are determined as a first color group, the color type of the third color area is gray 4, the first refresh color for performing multi-color overlapping refresh on the third color area is white, and the color type in the color area where color 4 in the first color group is located is updated to white.

[0111] In S1210, the third color region is partitioned to obtain at least one second color group, and the color type of the third color region in the second color group is updated to a second refresh color.

[0112] In this embodiment, the second color group only includes a third color area, and the third color area corresponds to a second refresh color. The number of the second color groups is at least one.

[0113] Specifically, until all color areas in the multi-color image are refreshed to the target color, a third color area and color areas that require multi-color overlapping refresh are partitioned, at least one second color group is obtained, and the color type of the third color area in the second color group is updated to the second refresh color.

[0114] In S1211, the color types included in the first color group and the color areas corresponding to the color types included in the first color group are determined as the first refresh image data and a first refresh command which is a global refresh command corresponding to the first refresh image data.

[0115] Specifically, the color types included in the first color group and the color areas corresponding to the color types included therein are determined as first refresh image data and a first refresh command corresponding to the first refresh image data based on a coding rule, and a targeted refresh command operation is performed on the refresh image data, and the first refresh command is a global refresh command.

[0116] In one example, as shown in Figures 14a and 14b, a first color group and a second color group corresponding to a seven-color image are shown, where Figure 14a shows the first color group, which includes color 11, color 12, color 13, and color 14, and Figure 14b shows the second color group, which includes color 21, color 22, color 23, and color 24, of which color 24 is colorless.

[0117] As can be seen from FIG. 14a, for the correspondence between the first color group and the seven-color image, color 11 corresponds to color 2, region 11 corresponds to region 1, region 2, region 5 and region 6, and the code is 00, color 12 corresponds to color 3, region 12 corresponds to region 3, and the code is 01, color 13 corresponds to color 4, region 13 corresponds to region 4, and the code is 10, color 14 corresponds to color 7, and region 14 corresponds to region 7, and the code is 11. Taking a black, white, yellow, and red electronic paper screen as an example, if there are seven colors, color 1 can be black, color 2 can be white, color 3 can be yellow, color 4 can be red, color 5 can be gray 1, color 6 can be gray 2, and color 7 can be orange, so that color 11 is white like color 2, color 12 is yellow like color 3, color 13 is red like color 4, and color 14 is orange like color 7. Similarly, region 11 is a collection of four regions, namely region 1, region 2, region 5 and region 6, region 12 is the same region as region 3, region 13 is the same region as region 4, and region 14 is the same region as region 7. As can be seen, the first refresh image is obtained by adjusting three colors, namely black, gray 1 and gray 2, in the seven-color image to white. At the same time, the first refresh image data corresponding to the seven-color image is obtained according to the coding rule.

[0118] Among them, the refresh image refreshed for the first time is the first refresh image, the refresh count is the first refresh, the refresh command is a global refresh, the global refresh includes three steps, namely a charge balancing step, an activation step and a coloring step, the time length required for the charge balancing step is T11, the time length required for the activation step is T12, the time length required for the coloring step is T13, and the time length required for a single refresh is T11+T12+T13.

[0119] In S1212, the color types included in the second color group and the color areas corresponding to the color types included therein are determined as the second refresh image data and a second refresh command which is a local refresh command corresponding to the second refresh image data, and the first refresh command is executed before the second refresh command.

[0120] In one example, as can be seen from Fig. 14b, for the correspondence between the second color group and the seven-color image, color 21 corresponds to color 1, region 21 corresponds to region 1, and the code is 00, color 22 corresponds to color 5, region 22 corresponds to region 5, and the code is 01, color 23 corresponds to color 6, region 23 corresponds to region 6, and the code is 10, color 24 corresponds to color 2, color 3, color 4, and color 7, and region 24 corresponds to region 2, region 3, region 4, and region 7, and the code is 11, the pixels in region 21, region 22, and region 23 corresponding to color 21, color 22, and color 23 in the second color group need to be refreshed, but the pixels in region 24 corresponding to color 24 do not need to be refreshed. In this way, for the pixels that need to be refreshed, the driving waveform is adjusted according to the coding rule to realize the corresponding color refresh. Meanwhile, for pixels that do not need to be refreshed, the driving waveform of the code in the region 24 is set to match the output reference voltage (VCOM) of the display panel, where VCOM is a preset voltage threshold, and VCOM may be a non-fixed voltage threshold. The code in the region 24 is the protection code, and the driving voltage for driving the movement of the electronic ink in the pixel is always zero, so that the pixel remains motionless and stationary in the process of refreshing the electronic paper screen, thereby achieving the purpose of protecting the pixel without refreshing, and at the same time, when the color of the region corresponding to the protection code is colorless, the region 24 corresponding to the color 24 is colorless. Taking a black, white, yellow, and red electronic paper screen as an example, if there are seven colors, color 1 may be black, color 2 may be white, color 3 may be yellow, color 4 may be red, color 5 may be gray 1, color 6 may be gray 2, and color 7 may be orange. Thus, color 21 is black like color 1, color 22 is gray 1 like color 5, color 23 is gray 2 like color 6, and color 24 is colorless. Similarly, region 21 and region 1 are the same region, region 22 and region 5 are the same region, region 23 and region 6 are the same region, and region 24 is a collection of four regions, namely, region 2, region 3, region 4, and region 7. As can be seen from this, the second refresh image is obtained by adjusting the four colors, namely, white, yellow, red, and orange, in the seven-color image to be colorless.At the same time, according to the coding rule, the second refresh image data corresponding to the seven-color image is obtained.

[0121] Wherein, the refresh image refreshed for the second time is the second refresh image, the refresh count is the second refresh, the refresh command is an arbitrary position local fast refresh, one arbitrary position local fast refresh includes two stages, namely a charge balancing stage and a coloring stage, the time length required for the charge balancing stage is T21, the time length required for the coloring stage is T23, and the time length required for a single refresh is T21+T23, and the first refresh command is executed before the second refresh command.

[0122] In S1213, the refresh command and each refresh image data are sent to the controller of the electronic paper screen so that the controller refreshes the display content of the electronic paper screen based on each refresh command and the corresponding refresh image data.

[0123] The technical aspect of the embodiment of the present invention is to combine the first global refresh with at least one subsequent local refresh, to refresh the color region that can be divided and colored multiple times, to increase the number of colors in a single refresh and reduce the number of refreshes, thereby increasing the refresh speed and shortening the time required for refreshing, and realizing multi-color display on the electronic paper screen and increasing the number of display colors.

[0124] Preferably, the first refresh command is executed prior to the second refresh command, the first refresh command being used by the controller to refresh the display content of the electronic paper screen through a charge balancing phase, an activation phase and a coloring phase, and the second refresh command being used by the controller to refresh the display content of the electronic paper screen through a charge balancing phase and a coloring phase.

[0125] The first refresh command is a global refresh command and the second refresh command is a local refresh command, at the same time, the first refresh command is executed first and the second refresh command is executed later, and the first refresh color with which the third color region is refreshed in the first refresh command needs to be mixed with the second refresh color with which the third color region is refreshed in the second refresh command, in this case, the global pixel has already undergone an activation step in the first refresh command, so that the global pixel does not necessarily need to repeat the activation step in the subsequent second refresh command.

[0126] The first refresh is a global refresh, and since each pixel on the screen has been activated in the first refresh process, the activation step may be omitted in the second refresh process, thereby adopting a high-speed refresh method, reducing the refresh time and reducing the refresh power consumption.

[0127] Preferably, the polarity of the driving voltage corresponding to the first refresh color is opposite to the polarity of the driving voltage corresponding to the second refresh color, and the absolute value of the driving voltage corresponding to the first refresh color is smaller than the absolute value of the driving voltage corresponding to the second refresh color.

[0128] In this embodiment, the polarity may be positive or negative. For example, the polarity of the driving voltage corresponding to the first refresh color is positive, and the polarity of the driving voltage corresponding to the second refresh color is negative. Also, for example, the polarity of the driving voltage corresponding to the first refresh color is negative, and the polarity of the driving voltage corresponding to the second refresh color is positive.

[0129] The color types refreshed by the second refresh command are all second refresh colors, and the driving voltages corresponding to each color type corresponding to the second refresh command are all large driving voltages. Only in the refresh process of the first refresh command, a small driving voltage is adopted to drive the color, and the polarity of the driving voltage corresponding to the first refresh color is opposite to the polarity of the driving voltage corresponding to the second refresh color. Thus, the first refresh command drives all colors that are refreshed slowly to complete their color development, and the second refresh command drives only the color with the fastest speed, thereby increasing the color refresh speed.

[0130] Additionally, the polarity of the colored particles corresponding to the first refresh color is opposite to that of the colored particles corresponding to the second refresh color, and the absolute value of the charge-to-mass ratio of the colored particles corresponding to the first refresh color is different from the absolute value of the charge-to-mass ratio of the colored particles corresponding to the second refresh color.

[0131] In one example, the voltages correspond to five voltages, VSNH, VSNL, GND, VSPL and VSPH, in ascending order. VSNH is a large negative voltage (usually -15V), VSNL is a small negative voltage (usually -5V), GND is a ground voltage (usually 0V), VSPL is a small positive voltage (usually +5V), and VSPH is a large positive voltage (usually +15V). Different colored particles in the film for electronic paper are designed to have different charge-to-mass ratios so as to be effectively driven by different driving voltages. Taking the four-color electronic paper film of black, white, yellow and red as an example, the black particles are positively charged and have a large charge-to-mass ratio, corresponding to a large positive driving voltage VSPH, the white particles are negatively charged and have a small charge-to-mass ratio, corresponding to a small negative driving voltage VSNL, the yellow particles are negatively charged and have a large charge-to-mass ratio, corresponding to a large negative driving voltage VSNH, and the red particles are positively charged and have a small charge-to-mass ratio, corresponding to a small positive driving voltage VSPL. Therefore, VSNH corresponds to the driving voltage of the yellow particles, VSNL corresponds to the driving voltage of the white particles, VSPL corresponds to the driving voltage of the red particles, and VSPH corresponds to the driving voltage of the black particles. A small driving voltage has a slow refresh speed, and a large driving voltage has a fast refresh speed, and the refresh time can be reduced by using the fast refresh method.

[0132] By setting the driving voltage of the third color area in the first refresh command to be relatively small and the driving voltage of the third color area in the second refresh command to be relatively large, the first refresh command drives all the colors that are refreshed slowly to complete color development, and the second refresh command drives only the color that is refreshed the fastest, thereby increasing the color refresh speed.

[0133] In one example, the refresh process of a seven-color image is shown in Figures 15a and 15b. Because an e-paper screen using a 2-bit driving IC can only update at most four colors in one refresh, if a seven-color image is the target image, the e-paper screen needs to be completed by two refreshes.

[0134] Among them, in the first refresh, a refresh is performed based on the first refresh image data, the number of refreshes is the first refresh, the refresh type is a global refresh, and the global refresh includes three stages: a charge balance stage, an activation stage, and a coloring stage, the time length required for the charge balance stage is T11, the time length required for the activation stage is T12, the time length required for the coloring stage is T13, and the time length required for a single refresh is T11+T12+T13.

[0135] Among them, in the second refresh, the refresh is performed according to the second refresh image data, the number of refreshes is the second refresh, the refresh type is local fast refresh at any position, one local fast refresh at any position includes two stages, namely, a charge balancing stage and a coloring stage, the time length required for the charge balancing stage is T21, the time length required for the coloring stage is T23, and the time length required for a single refresh is T21+T23. A seven-color image needs to be refreshed twice, and the total time length of the refresh is the sum of the time lengths of the two refreshes, which is T11+T12+T13+T21+T23.

[0136] At room temperature, the time for one global refresh is about 20s, and the time for one local fast refresh at any position can be optimized to about 1s. As can be seen, compared with one global refresh of a four-color image at room temperature, if a method of realizing the update of a multi-color image with one global refresh + one local fast refresh at any position is adopted, the update time increases by only about 5%. Since the power consumption of the update is almost directly proportional to the update time, the power consumption of the update also increases by only about 5%. The global refresh is the refresh of all pixels on the screen, and one global refresh includes three stages: charge balancing, activation, and coloring. The local fast refresh at any position is the fast refresh of only pixels on the screen that correspond to a position having a specific color in the target image, and one local fast refresh at any position includes two stages: charge balancing and coloring. In the charge balancing stage, a reverse voltage is applied so that the total amount of positive charge and the total amount of negative charge in the entire refresh process are equal, thereby ensuring that no charge remains on the film for electronic paper. In the activation stage, various colored particles in the film for electronic paper are mixed uniformly by applying periodic high and low voltages of +15V or -15V. In the coloring stage, specific driving voltages and driving waveforms for each color are applied to drive the colored particles in the film for electronic paper to exhibit the required color.

[0137] As shown in FIG. 15a, a first driving waveform corresponding to a first color region is shown. Since the first refresh is a global refresh, all pixels in the screen need to be refreshed. By adjusting the driving waveforms of codes 00, 01, 10 and 11, the corresponding color refresh is realized. As shown in FIG. 15b, a second driving waveform corresponding to a second color region is shown. The pixels in regions 21, 22 and 23 corresponding to colors 21, 22 and 23 need to be refreshed for the second time, but the pixels in region 24 corresponding to color 24 do not need to be refreshed. By adjusting the driving waveforms of codes 00, 01 and 10, the corresponding color refresh is realized. The method of performing two refreshes completes the refreshing of the areas corresponding to colors 2, 3, 4, and 7 in the seven-color image, and refreshes the areas corresponding to colors 1, 5, and 6 to color 2 in the first refresh; and completes the refreshing of the areas corresponding to colors 1, 5, and 6 in the seven-color image in the second refresh, and protects the areas corresponding to colors 2, 3, 4, and 7 that have already been refreshed, without refreshing, thereby realizing multi-color display on the electronic paper screen.

[0138] Example 4 16 is a structural schematic diagram of a display content updating device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment of the present invention is applicable to the case of display content updating, the device can execute a display content updating method, the device can be realized in the form of hardware and / or software, and the device can be disposed in a vehicle.

[0139] Referring to the display content updating device shown in FIG. 16, the display content updating device includes a color region acquisition module 1601, an image conversion module 1602, and an image data control module 1603, among which: The color region acquisition module 1601 is used to acquire color regions included in a multi-color image and color types corresponding to the color regions; an image conversion module 1602 is used to convert the multi-color image into a plurality of refresh image data and refresh commands, which are different corresponding to each refresh image data and are executed asynchronously, based on the position and color type of each color region in the multi-color image; The image data control module 1603 is used to send refresh commands and respective refresh image data to the controller of the electronic paper screen, so that the controller refreshes the display content of the electronic paper screen based on each refresh command and the corresponding refresh image data.

[0140] The technical aspects of an embodiment of the present invention facilitate performing targeted operations on different color areas and color types corresponding to the different color areas by obtaining color areas and color types corresponding to the color areas contained in a multi-color image; converting the multi-color image into multiple refresh image data and refresh commands that are different and executed asynchronously corresponding to each refresh image data based on the position and color type of each color area in the multi-color image, thereby executing corresponding refresh commands for the different refresh image data, improving the accuracy of targeted operations on each refresh image data; and transmitting refresh commands and each refresh image data to a controller of the electronic paper screen so that the controller refreshes the display content of the electronic paper screen based on each refresh command and the corresponding refresh image data, thereby enabling the controller to perform corresponding operations on the electronic paper screen based on the refresh commands using targeted refresh commands for each refresh image data, thereby improving the efficiency and accuracy of image data processing.

[0141] Furthermore, the image conversion module 1602 a color statistics unit for calculating the number of color types; A refresh number statistic unit for calculating a single refresh number according to the bit number of the driving integrated circuit; a refresh count detection unit for detecting the refresh count based on the number of color types and the single refresh count; and a refresh command determination unit for determining a plurality of refresh image data and a refresh command corresponding to each refresh image data based on the number of color types, the number of refreshes, and the position and color type of each color area.

[0142] Furthermore, the refresh command determination unit a color group determination subunit for grouping each color region in the multi-color image according to a color type of each color region, and obtaining a number of color groups equal to or less than a single refresh number, the number of color types included in each color group being equal to or less than a single refresh number; and a refresh command detection subunit for determining refresh image data and a refresh command corresponding to the refresh image data based on a color area included in the color group and a color type corresponding to the included color area.

[0143] In addition, the color group determining subunit specifically includes: A first color area whose color type belongs to multi-color overlapping refresh is obtained, and the remaining color areas are determined as second color areas; Obtaining the color types of the colored particles driven by the driving integrated circuit and the driving voltages corresponding to the colored particles, and determining the driving voltages corresponding to the color types in each color region in the multi-color image; Obtain a first refresh color and a second refresh color of a first color region, in which the first refresh color is refreshed before the second refresh color, and the first refresh color and the second refresh color are used to refresh the same color region redundantly, such that the colors of the same color region are refreshed to obtain a target color; Selecting a third color area from the first color area based on the driving voltage for the color type of each color area, the first refresh color and the second refresh color of the first color area, and the color type of the second color area, and determining the remaining first color area as a second color area; The third color area and the second color area are determined as a first color group, and the color type of the third color area in the first color group is updated to a first refresh color; A third color area is partitioned, and at least one second color group is obtained, and a color type of the third color area in the second color group is updated to a second refresh color; The refresh command detection subunit determining the color types included in the first color group and the color areas corresponding to the color types included in the first color group as first refresh image data and a first refresh command which is a global refresh command corresponding to the first refresh image data; The method includes determining the color types included in the second color group and the color areas corresponding to the color types included therein as second refresh image data and a second refresh command which is a local refresh command corresponding to the second refresh image data, and the first refresh command is executed prior to the second refresh command.

[0144] Furthermore, the first refresh command is executed before the second refresh command, and the first refresh command is used by the controller to refresh the display content of the electronic paper screen through a charge balance stage, an activation stage and a coloring stage, and the second refresh command is used by the controller to refresh the display content of the electronic paper screen through a charge balance stage and a coloring stage.

[0145] Furthermore, the driving voltage corresponding to the first refresh color is smaller than the driving voltage corresponding to the second refresh color.

[0146] In addition, the refresh command detection subunit specifically includes: The color types included in the color group and the color areas corresponding to the included color types are determined as one refresh image data and a refresh command which is a local refresh command corresponding to the refresh image data; Alternatively, among the multiple color groups, the color group containing the largest number of color types is determined as the third color group, and the remaining color groups are determined as the fourth color group; The color types of the color areas other than the color areas included in the third color group are updated to color types included in the third color group and added to the third color group; The color types included in the third color group after the addition and the color areas corresponding to the color types included in the third color group are determined as third refresh image data and a third refresh command which is a global refresh command corresponding to the third refresh image data; The color types included in the fourth color group and the color areas corresponding to the color types included therein are used to determine the fourth refresh image data and a fourth refresh command which is a local refresh command corresponding to the fourth refresh image data, and the third refresh command is executed before the fourth refresh command.

[0147] The display content updating device according to the embodiment of the present invention can execute the display content updating method according to any embodiment of the present invention, and has functional modules and beneficial effects corresponding to the execution of the display content updating method.

[0148] Example 5 FIG. 17 shows a structural schematic diagram of a display content update device 1710 that can be used to implement an embodiment of the present invention.

[0149] As shown in Fig. 17, the display content updating device 1710 includes at least one processor 1711 and a memory communicatively connected to the at least one processor 1711, such as a read-only memory (ROM) 1712, a random access memory (RAM) 1713, etc., in which a computer program executable by the at least one processor is stored in the memory, and the processor 1711 can perform various appropriate operations and processes according to the computer program stored in the read-only memory (ROM) 1712 or the computer program loaded from the storage unit 1718 into the random access memory (RAM) 1713. The RAM 1713 can also store various programs and data required for the operation of the display content updating device 1710. The processor 1711, the ROM 1712, and the RAM 1713 are connected to each other by a bus 1714. An input / output (I / O) interface 1715 is also connected to the bus 1714.

[0150] The I / O interface 1715 is connected to several components in the display content updating device 1710, including an input unit 1716, e.g. a keyboard, a mouse, etc., an output unit 1717, e.g. various types of displays, speakers, etc., a storage unit 1718, e.g. a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc., and a communication unit 1719, e.g. a network card, a modem, a wireless communication transceiver, etc. The communication unit 1719 enables the display content updating device 1710 to exchange information / data with other devices, e.g. via a computer network of the Internet and / or various telecommunication networks.

[0151] The processor 1711 may be a general-purpose and / or special-purpose processing component having various processing and computing capabilities. Some examples of the processor 1711 include, but are not limited to, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), various specialized artificial intelligence (AI) computing chips, various processors that execute algorithms for machine learning models, digital signal processors (DSPs), and any suitable processor, controller, microcontroller, etc. The processor 1711 performs the methods and processes described above, such as the display content update method.

[0152] In some embodiments, the display content updating method can be implemented as a computer program, which is tangibly included in a computer-readable storage medium, such as the storage unit 1718. In some embodiments, the computer program can be partially or completely loaded and / or installed in the display content updating device 1710 via the ROM 1712 and / or the communication unit 1719. When the computer program is loaded into the RAM 1713 and executed by the processor 1711, it can perform one or more steps of the display content updating method described above. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the processor 1711 is configured to perform the display content updating method in any other suitable manner (e.g., by firmware).

[0153] Various embodiments of the systems and techniques described herein may be implemented in digital electronic circuitry systems, integrated circuit systems, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), application specific general purpose packages (ASSPs), systems on chips (SOCs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), computer hardware, firmware, software, and / or combinations thereof. These various embodiments may include being embodied in one or more computer programs that can be executed and / or interpreted by a programmable system including at least one programmable processor, which may be a special purpose or general purpose programmable processor that can receive data and instructions from a memory system, at least one input device, and at least one output device, and transmit data and instructions to the memory system, the at least one input device, and the at least one output device.

[0154] Computer programs for implementing the methods of the present invention may be written employing any combination of one or more programming languages. These computer programs may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that, when the computer programs are executed by the processor, the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams are performed. The computer programs may be executed entirely on the device, partially on the device, as a separate software package, partially on the device and partially on a remote device, or entirely on a remote device or server.

[0155] In the context of the present invention, a computer-readable storage medium may be a tangible medium that can contain or store a computer program for use in or in combination with an instruction execution system, device or apparatus. A computer-readable storage medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, device or apparatus, or any suitable combination of the above. Alternatively, a computer-readable storage medium may be a machine-readable signal medium. More specific examples of machine-readable storage media include an electrical connection by one or more lines, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical memory device, a magnetic memory device, or any suitable combination of the above.

[0156] To provide interaction with a user, the systems and techniques described herein can be implemented in a display device having a display (e.g., a cathode ray tube (CRT) or liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor) for displaying information to a user, and a keyboard and pointing device (e.g., a mouse or trackball) by which the user can provide input to the display device. Other types of devices can be used to provide interaction with a user, for example, feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback (e.g., visual feedback, auditory feedback, or haptic feedback), and input from the user can be received in any form (including audio, speech, or tactile input).

[0157] The systems and techniques described herein may be implemented in a computing system that includes background components (e.g., as a data server), or in a computing system that includes middleware components (such as an application server), or in a computing system that includes a front-end component (a user computer having a graphical user interface or network browser through which a user can interact with embodiments of the systems and techniques described herein), or in a computing system that includes any combination of such background components, middleware components, or front-end components. The components of the system may be connected to each other by any form or medium of digital data communication (e.g., a communication network). Examples of communication networks include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a blockchain network, and the Internet.

[0158] The computer system may include a client terminal and a server. The client terminal and the server are generally separate from each other and usually interact with each other via a communication network. The relationship between the client terminal and the server is established by a computer program running on a corresponding computer and having a client terminal-server relationship with each other. The server may be a cloud server, also called a cloud computing server or cloud host, which is a hosting product in a cloud computing service system, to solve the defects of traditional physical host and VPS (Virtual Private Server) services, such as difficult management and weak business deployment.

[0159] It should be understood that the various types of flows shown above can be used, and steps can be rearranged, added, or removed. For example, the steps described in the present invention can be performed in parallel, sequentially, or in a different order, and the present specification is not limited thereto, as long as the desired results of the technical solution of the present invention can be achieved.

[0160] The above specific embodiments do not limit the scope of protection of the present invention. Those skilled in the art should understand that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations and substitutions are possible based on design requirements and other factors. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. Obtaining color regions included in a multi-color image and color types corresponding to the color regions; converting the multi-color image into a plurality of refresh image data and refresh commands, different for each of the refresh image data, which are executed asynchronously based on a position and a color type of each of the color regions in the multi-color image; transmitting refresh commands and the respective refresh image data to the controller of the electronic paper screen, such that the controller refreshes display content of the electronic paper screen based on the respective refresh commands and the corresponding refresh image data. A display content updating method comprising:

2. Converting the multi-color image into a plurality of refresh image data and refresh commands that correspond to each of the refresh image data and are executed asynchronously based on the position and color type of each of the color regions in the multi-color image, Statistical counting of color types; Calculating a single refresh number according to the number of bits of the driving integrated circuit; Detecting the number of refreshes based on the number of color types and the number of single refreshes; determining a plurality of refresh image data and a refresh command corresponding to each of the refresh image data based on the number of color types, the number of refreshes, and the position and color type of each of the color regions; 2. The method of claim 1 .

3. Determining a plurality of refresh image data and a refresh command corresponding to each of the refresh image data based on the number of color types, the number of refreshes, and the position and color type of each of the color regions, as described above, grouping each of the color regions in the multi-color image according to a color type of each of the color regions in the multi-color image, and obtaining a number of color groups equal to the number of refreshes, each of which includes a number of color types equal to or less than the number of a single refresh; determining refresh image data and a refresh command corresponding to the refresh image data based on a color area included in the color group and a color type corresponding to the color area included in the color group; 3. The method of claim 2 .

4. The method of grouping the color regions in the multi-color image according to the color types of the color regions in the multi-color image and obtaining the number of color groups equal to the number of refresh times includes the steps of: Obtaining a first color area whose color type belongs to multi-color overlapping refresh, and determining the remaining color areas as second color areas; Obtaining a color type of colored particles driven by the driving integrated circuit and a driving voltage corresponding to the colored particles, and determining a driving voltage corresponding to the color type in each color region in the multi-color image; obtaining a first refresh color and a second refresh color of the first color region, the first refresh color being refreshed before the second refresh color, and the first refresh color and the second refresh color being used to refresh the same color region in an overlapping manner, such that the color of the same color region is refreshed to obtain a target color; Selecting a third color area from the first color area based on a driving voltage for a color type of each of the color areas, a first refresh color and a second refresh color of the first color area, and a color type of the second color area, and determining the remaining first color area as the second color area; determining the third color area and the second color area as a first color group, and updating a color type of the third color area in the first color group to a first refresh color; partitioning the third color region to obtain at least one second color group; and updating a color type of the third color region in the second color group to a second refresh color; The above-mentioned determining refresh image data and a refresh command corresponding to the refresh image data based on the color area included in the color group and the color type corresponding to the included color area is determining a color type included in the first color group and a color area corresponding to the color type included in the first color group as first refresh image data and a first refresh command which is a global refresh command corresponding to the first refresh image data; determining the color types included in the second color group and the color areas corresponding to the color types included in the second color group as second refresh image data and a second refresh command which is a local refresh command corresponding to the second refresh image data; the first refresh command is executed prior to the second refresh command; 4. The method according to claim 3 .

5. The first refresh command is executed prior to the second refresh command and is used by the controller to refresh the display content of the electronic paper screen through a charge balancing phase, an activation phase, and a coloring phase, and the second refresh command is used by the controller to refresh the display content of the electronic paper screen through a charge balancing phase and a coloring phase.

5. The method of claim 4.

6. a polarity of the driving voltage corresponding to the first refresh color is opposite to a polarity of the driving voltage corresponding to the second refresh color, and an absolute value of the driving voltage corresponding to the first refresh color is smaller than an absolute value of the driving voltage corresponding to the second refresh color; 5. The method of claim 4.

7. The above-mentioned determining refresh image data and a refresh command corresponding to the refresh image data based on the color types included in the color group and the color areas corresponding to the included color types is determining the color types included in the color group and the color areas corresponding to the color types included in the color group as one refresh image data and a refresh command which is a local refresh command corresponding to the refresh image data; Alternatively, among the plurality of color groups, the color group including the largest number of color types is determined as a third color group, and the remaining color groups are determined as a fourth color group; updating a color type of a color area other than the color area included in the third color group to a color type included in the third color group and adding the color area to the third color group; The color types included in the third color group after the addition and the color areas corresponding to the included color types are determined as third refresh image data and a third refresh command which is a global refresh command corresponding to the third refresh image data; determining a color type included in the fourth color group and a color area corresponding to the color type included in the fourth color group as fourth refresh image data and a fourth refresh command which is a local refresh command corresponding to the fourth refresh image data, and executing the third refresh command prior to the fourth refresh command; 4. The method according to claim 3 .

8. a color region acquisition module for acquiring color regions included in a multi-color image and color types corresponding to the color regions; an image conversion module for converting the multi-color image into a plurality of refresh image data and refresh commands, different for each of the refresh image data, which are executed asynchronously, based on a position and a color type of each of the color regions in the multi-color image; an image data control module for transmitting refresh commands and each of the refresh image data to the controller of the electronic paper screen, so that the controller refreshes display content of the electronic paper screen based on each of the refresh commands and the corresponding refresh image data; A display content updating device comprising:

9. At least one processor; a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor; The memory stores a computer program executable by the at least one processor, and the computer program is executed by the at least one processor so that the at least one processor can execute the display content update method according to any one of claims 1 to 7. A display content updating device characterized by:

10. A method for updating a display content comprising: storing computer instructions for, when executed by a processor, implementing a method for updating a display content according to any one of claims 1 to 7; A computer-readable storage medium comprising:

Images