Display module with electronic ink

Abstract

A display module based on electronic ink technology, such as E-Ink, comprising a TFT matrix with an electronic ink layer (1) having an active area (2) and an inactive area, a light guide plate (3), the light sources (4) located on one side of the light guide plate (3), and an upper protective layer (5). The dimensions of the light guide plate (3) of the display module are sufficient for partial or complete or excessive covering of the inactive area. The light guide plate (3) is located between the masking layer (6) and the upper protective layer (5). Display layers are arranged as follows (from bottom to top): the TFT matrix with the electronic ink layer (1), the masking layer (6), the light guide plate (3), light sources (4), the upper protective layer (5).

Description

DescriptionTitle of Invention: DISPLAY MODULE WITH ELECTRONIC INKThe Field of the Invention

[0001] The invention relates to displays of electronic devices for individual use implemented on the basis of the electronic ink technology intended for the visual reproduction of electronic text and graphic information.Prior Art

[0002] The "electronic ink" or "electronic paper" technology is known from the prior art as an information display technology that imitates conventional ink on paper.

[0003] The most common ways to implement this technology are the following technical solutions.

[0004] The use of "Janus particles", i.e. the spherical elements consisting of negatively charged black plastic on one side and positively charged white plastic on the other side. All the spheres are placed in a transparent silicone sheet, while each sphere is "suspended" in a lubricant bubble so that it can rotate freely. The polarity of the voltage applied to each pair of electrodes determines whether the white or black side of the sphere is oriented toward the user, thus setting the white or black color of the conventional pixel (see Crowley, J. M.; Sheridon, N. K.; Romano, L. "Dipole moments of gyricon balls" Journal of Electrostatics 2002, 55, (3-4), 247).

[0005] An electrophoretic display that forms an image by redistributing charged pigment particles using an electric field. In its simplest implementation, titanium dioxide particles with a diameter of about one micrometer are dispersed in mineral oil to which black dye and other additives are added. The mixture is placed between two conductive plates separated by a gap of 10 to 100 microns. When a voltage is applied along one of the plates, the particles move to the plate that carries the opposite charge. When the particles are closer to the front (face) panel of the display, it looks white because the light is reflected from the titanium particles with a high refractive index. When the particles are closer to the back side of the display, it looks dark due to the color of the mineral oil (see Srikanth, G; Kariyappa, B (2016). "Amorfinio silicio plonasluoksni . tranzistoriii parametrine analize". IEEE International: 1642-1646).

[0006] Unlike traditional liquid crystal displays, which use the backlight of a matrix to form an image, electronic paper reflects light like regular paper. It can display text and images for as long as needed without consuming electricity while allowing the user to change the image later. These features of the electronic ink technology are successfully used in e-books.

[0007] There are several technologies to create electronic devices based on the electronic ink technology. Some of them use a plastic substrate and electronic components to create a flexible display. Potentially, an electronic ink display should be easier to read than conventional displays. This is achieved through a stable image that does not require constant updating, a wide viewing angle, and the fact that an electronic ink display reflects ambient light instead of emitting its own. An electronic ink display can be read in direct sunlight without any image loss.

[0008] The main disadvantage of these devices is the inability to use them in low light conditions, which is also typical of conventional paper books. Constant use of such displays causes eye fatigue and strain.

[0009] The US patent No. US7777954B2 describes a display based on the electronic ink technology and equipped with the conventional backlight technology, which allows using devices equipped with such a display in low light conditions. This device consists of the following main layers (in order from bottom to top): a TFT matrix with an electronic ink layer; including the active area, i.e. the area of the electronic ink layer on which visual information is displayed; a light guide plate, i.e. a plate of thin optical plastic with a micro-capsule texture that evenly distributes light from the light source over its entire plane; the light sources, i.e. "warm" and "cold" LEDs soldered in parallel on a flexible printed circuit (FPC). The main disadvantage of the above solution is that only the active area of the display is lit and that it is impossible to cover other parts of the display which leads to significant limitations in the design of the device, namely, the need to cover inactive parts of the display with a case, decorative glass, etc., which in turn leads to a significant percentage of the inefficient area of the device (given the significant size of the technical parts of the display which cannot display information).Brief description of the invention

[0010] The aim of the claimed invention is to create a display module based on the technology of electronic ink, such as E-Ink, which will allow more efficient use of the active area without loss of user comfort, bring the appearance of the display closer to the appearance of a paper page, and allow the efficient use of various devices which contain the claimed invention in low light conditions without excessive strain on the user's eyes.

[0011] The display module based on the electronic ink technology comprises a TFT matrix with an electronic ink layer having an active area that displays the image and an inactive area, i.e. a part of the display module that does not display the image; a light guide plate; the light sources located on one side of the light guide plate and an upper protective layer.

[0012] The light guide plate is located between the masking layer and the upper protectivelayer. Whereas, the surface of the light guide plate has topographic dimensions sufficient for partial or complete or excessive covering of the surface of the inactive area. Whereas, the display layers are arranged in the following order (from bottom to top): a TFT matrix with an electronic ink layer; a masking layer, a light guide plate; the light sources; an upper protective layer.

[0013] The masking layer comprises light-tight elements and / or reflective elements applied to it with a color close to the color of the TFT matrix with the electronic ink layer.

[0014] The display module comprises an additional light source or sources located on other sides of the light guide plate.

[0015] The display module further comprises a touch panel placed between the TFT matrix and the masking layer.

[0016] The surface of the active area of the touch panel has topographic dimensions larger than the topographic dimensions of the surface of the active area of the TFT matrix.

[0017] The upper protective layer comprises a masking element made in the form of a silkscreen frame.

[0018] The claimed invention achieves an increase in the useful area of the active zone of the display by placing the light guide plate between the masking layer and the upper protective layer. Whereas, the light guide plate has topographic dimensions sufficient for partial or complete or excessive covering of the inactive area, the masking layer comprises light-tight elements and / or reflective elements applied to it with a color close to the color of the TFT matrix with an electronic ink layer, and the upper protective layer may comprise the masking element made in the form of the silk- screen frame.

[0019] These reflective elements reflect light and illuminate the fields to match the tone of the display, while the upper masking layer is designed to mask the light sources area (depending on the design of the device, the light sources area may also be masked by the case).

[0020] Since the reflective elements are made flush with the active area of the display, this allows the user to change the visual perception of the display size in the direction of its increase. This effect minimizes the visual boundaries between the text on the display and the edge of the active area and, depending on the display size, increases the amount of text that can be displayed on the display by about 10% to 20% without changing the width of the frame. These features also allow implementing a frameless design of the product which will look more similar to a page of a paper book and improve the visual perception of the text by the user.

[0021] The claimed invention allows to reduce eye fatigue of the user when using the device in low light conditions which is achieved by the presence of an additional light source or the additional light sources located on other sides of the light guide plate.

[0022] The claimed invention allows using an improved interface of software products developed for devices containing a display module based on electronic ink technology which improves interaction with the user, for example, allows tracking the position of holding the device, using additional gesture control elements, touch control scenarios that use a combination of a sensor over the active zone and over the inactive zone, additional touch buttons, etc. This technical result of the claimed invention is achieved by the presence of the active area of the touch panel, the surface of which has topographic dimensions larger than the topographic dimensions of the surface of the active area of the TFT matrix.Brief Description of Figures

[0023] Features of the invention that are new and non-obvious are presented in the claims. However, the invention may be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the invention, which, without limiting the scope of the invention, describes exemplary embodiments of the invention together with the accompanying figures showing the invention:

[0024] FIG. 1 shows a multilayer structure (cross-section) of the proposed display module according to the invention;

[0025] FIG. 2 is the comparative visualization of devices with a) a typical display module and b) a display module according to the invention.

[0026] The preferred embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to the figures. Each figure has the same reference number for the same or equivalent element.Detailed Description of the Invention

[0027] It is to be understood that the application sets forth many specific details to provide a complete and understandable description of the preferred embodiment of the invention. However, it will be clear to a person skilled in the art that the details of the preferred embodiments of the invention do not limit other embodiments that may be implemented without such specific instructions. Well-known methods, procedures, and components are not described in detail herein so that the invention embodiments' examples are not considered misleading. In addition, this description should not be considered limited to the given examples of the invention but should be taken as only one of the embodiments of the invention. The "electronic ink" or "electronic paper" technology, such as "e-ink", developed by E-Ink Corporation, is known and therefore is not detailed in the description.

[0028] A display module based on the electronic ink technology comprises a TFT matrix with an electronic ink layer (1) having an active area (2) and an inactive area (not shown in the figures), a light guide plate (3), the light sources (4) located on one sideof the light guide plate (3), an upper protective layer (5), a masking layer (6), lighttight elements (7), reflective elements (8), a touch panel (9), a masking element (10) made in the form of a silk- screen frame.

[0029] The dimensions of the said light guide plate (3) are such that its surface covers the surface of the inactive area partially (by 1 to 99%), completely, or excessively (by more than 101%). Whereas, the useful area of the active area of the display module is increased by placing the light guide plate (3) between the masking layer (6) and the upper protective layer (5). Whereas, display layers are arranged as follows (from bottom to top): the TFT matrix with the electronic ink layer (1), the masking layer (6), the light guide plate (3), light sources (4), the upper protective layer (5). The masking layer (6) is covered with light-tight elements (7) and / or reflective elements (8) having a color similar to the color of the TFT matrix with the electronic ink layer (1). These reflective elements (8) reflect light and illuminate the fields to match the tone of the display, while the masking layer (6) is designed to mask the area of light sources (4). Depending on the design of the device, the LED area (4) may also be masked by the case.

[0030] Since the reflective elements (8) are made flush with the active area of the display, this allows the user to change the visual perception of the display size in the direction of its increase. This effect minimizes the visual boundaries between the text on the display and the edge of the active area and, depending on the display size, increases the amount of text that can be displayed on the display by about 10% to 20% without changing the width of the frame. These features also allow implementing a frameless design of the product which will look more similar to a page of a paper book and improve the visual perception of the text by the user.

[0031] The electronic ink display module may further comprise one or more additional light sources (4) placed on the other sides of the light guide plate (3). Providing that, the light sources (4) may be placed on all sides of the light guide plate (3). This reduces the user's eye strain when using the device in low light conditions.

[0032] The claimed display module operates as follows. After powering up the device and switching on the light sources (4), the light flux formed by the LEDs enters the light guide plate (3), which distributes and directs the light flux towards the active area (2), which is part of the TFT matrix with the electronic ink layer (1), and a masking layer (6) with a complex structure that performs a light-tight and reflective function. Due to light-tight elements (7), the structural elements located under the layer (6) are masked, and due to reflective elements (8), the masking area is perceived as a continuation of the active area (2). Whereas, the light temperature and the intensity of the light flux of light sources (4) are set with the help of the control module, which is not a component of the display module. The upper protective layer (5) is considered the upper layer ofthe display module.

[0033] Optionally, the touch panel (9) can be used to control the device in which the display module is used. Preferably, the dimensions of the active area of the touch panel (9) are such that the surface of the active area of the touch panel (9) covers the surface of the active area (2) of the TFT matrix (1) by more than 100%. Thus, it becomes possible to use advanced features of the interface of software products for devices with the display module based on the electronic ink technology, which improves interaction with a user, for example, allows tracking the position of holding the device, using additional gesture controls, touch control scenarios using a combination of a sensor in the active and inactive areas, additional touch buttons, etc.

[0034] Optionally, the surface of the protective layer (5) may be covered with a masking frame (10), for example, by silk screen printing, which allows to hide light sources (4) and opaque areas of the touch panel (9) from the user.

Claims

Claims

1. A display module with electronic ink, comprising a TFT matrix with an electronic ink layer (1) having an active area (2) and an inactive area, a light guide plate (3), the light sources (4) located on one side of the light guide plate (3), and an upper protective layer (5), characterized in that the light guide plate (3) covers the surface of the inactive area, while the light guide plate (3) is located between a masking layer (6) and an upper protective layer (5) and display layers are arranged in the following order (from bottom to top): the TFT matrix with an electronic ink layer (1); the masking layer (6), the light guide plate (3); light sources (4); the upper protective layer (5).

2. The display module with electronic ink according to claim 1, characterized in that the masking layer (6) comprises the light-tight elements (7) and / or reflective elements (8) applied to it with a color close to the color of the TFT matrix with the electronic ink layer (1).

3. The display module with electronic ink according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that it comprises one or more additional light sources (4) located on other sides of the light guide plate (3).

4. The display module with electronic ink according to one of claims 1 to3, characterized in that it further comprises a touch panel (9) placed between the TFT matrix (1) and the masking layer (6).

5. The display module with electronic ink according to claim 4, characterized in that the surface of the active area of the touch panel (9) covers the surface of the active area (2) of the TFT matrix (1) by more than 100%.

6. The display module with electronic ink according to any of claims 1 to5, characterized in that the upper protective layer (5) comprises a masking element (10) made in the form of a silk- screen frame.

7. The display module with electronic ink according to any of claims 1 to6, characterized in that the surface of the light guide plate (3) covers the surface of the inactive area by 1 to 99%.

8. The display module with electronic ink according to any of claims 1 to6, characterized in that the surface of the light guide plate (3) covers the surface of the inactive area completely.

9. The display module with electronic ink according to any of claims 1 to6, characterized in that the surface of the light guide plate (3) covers the surface of the inactive area by more than 101%.

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