Electronic price tag and method for controlling appearance color of electronic price tag

Abstract

An electronic price tag and a method for controlling an appearance color of an electronic price tag, which relate to the technical field of Internet of Things. The electronic price tag comprises: a plastic thin film (1) coated with a specified color, a display module (2), a control module (3) and a housing (5); wherein the plastic thin film (1) coated with the specified color is connected to the display module (2); the control module (3) is electrically connected to the display module (2); the control module (3) is configured to: determine a color-changing region in a display region of the display module (2); and control the color-changing region to display a target color, such that the target color displayed in the color-changing region is mixed with the specified color coated on the plastic thin film, thereby obtaining an appearance color required to be displayed by the electronic price tag; and the housing (5) is configured to carry and protect the plastic thin film (1) coated with the specified color, the display module (2) and the control module (3).

Description

Electronic price tag and appearance color control method of electronic price tag

[0001] The present application claims priority to the Chinese patent application No. 202411111945.0, filed on August 13, 2024, with the Chinese Patent Office, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the technical field of Internet of Things, for example, to an electronic price tag and an appearance color control method of the electronic price tag. BACKGROUND

[0003] An electronic price tag, also known as an electronic shelf label (ESL), is an electronic display device with information receiving and transmitting function, mainly applied to supermarkets, convenience stores, pharmacies and other places, for displaying prices or commodity information. It is placed on the shelf and can replace the traditional paper price tag. Each electronic shelf label is connected to the computer database of the mall through wired or wireless network, and the latest commodity information is displayed on the screen of the electronic shelf label.

[0004] Currently, in the appearance design of the electronic price tag, customers have very clear and urgent expectations, that is, the appearance of the electronic price tag can support the display of multiple colors, for example, after the electronic price tag is deployed in a place, the appearance can display a color that matches the style of the place; for example, in the context of commodity promotion, the electronic price tag is expected to display different colors to prompt that the commodity is on promotion. The traditional approach is to cover different electronic price tags with different colored shells for different places or scenarios. This approach requires the design of colored shells that match different sizes of price tags, and when changing the colored shell of the electronic price tag, manual means are required to complete the installation and disassembly of the shell, resulting in very low efficiency, that is, the appearance display color of the electronic price tag cannot be efficiently modified. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application provides an electronic price tag and an appearance color control method of the electronic price tag.

[0006] According to an aspect of the present application, an electronic price tag is provided, comprising: a plastic film coated with a specified color, a display module, a control module and a shell;

[0007] The plastic film coated with the specified color is connected to the display module by adhesion or clamping.

[0008] The control module is electrically connected to the display module.

[0009] The control module is configured to determine a color-changing area in a display area of the display module, control the color-changing area to display a target color, and make the target color displayed by the color-changing area and the specified color coated on the plastic film mix to obtain an appearance color required to be displayed by the electronic price tag.

[0010] The shell is configured to carry and protect the plastic film coated with the specified color, the display module, and the control module.

[0011] In some embodiments, a projection area of the film area coated with the specified color in the plastic film on the display module coincides with the color-changing area.

[0012] In some embodiments, the specified color is coated on either side or both sides of the plastic film.

[0013] In some embodiments, the display module is any one of an electronic ink display, a liquid crystal display, a cholesteric display, and a reflective liquid crystal display; and the display mode of the display module includes dot matrix display and segment code display.

[0014] In some embodiments, the electronic price tag further comprises a colored lens and a color-changing film;

[0015] The inner boundary of the colored lens is located outside the outer boundary of the film area coated with the specified color in the plastic film.

[0016] The color-changing film is electrically connected to the control module and changes color states by receiving instructions from the control module; wherein the color states include a transparent state and a black state.

[0017] In some embodiments, the color-changing film comprises:

[0018] A color-changing film configured to display different color states according to different applied voltages, and an outer boundary of the color-changing film is connected to silver paste or conductive cotton.

[0019] An electrode layer located below the color-changing film.

[0020] A substrate located below the electrode layer.

[0021] In some embodiments, the color-changing film is connected to the display module in an integrated connection manner or a separate connection manner.

[0022] According to another aspect of the present application, an appearance color control method of an electronic price tag is provided, which is applied to a control module of an electronic price tag, the electronic price tag further comprising a plastic film coated with a specified color and a display module, and the method comprises:

[0023] In response to the plastic film coated with the specified color being connected to the display module by adhesion or clamping, a color-changing area is determined in the display area of the display module.

[0024] The color-changing area is controlled to display a target color, so that the target color displayed by the color-changing area and the specified color coated on the plastic film are mixed to obtain the appearance color to be displayed by the electronic price tag and display the appearance color.

[0025] In some embodiments, the projection area of the film area coated with the specified color in the plastic film on the display module coincides with the color-changing area.

[0026] In some embodiments, the specified color is coated on either side or both sides of the plastic film. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0027] FIG. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of an electronic price tag according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0028] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an appearance color of an electronic price tag according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0029] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an appearance color of an electronic price tag provided with a colored lens and a color-changing film according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0030] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an appearance color of another electronic price tag provided with a colored lens and a color-changing film according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0031] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an appearance color control method of an electronic price tag according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] FIG. 6 is a structural schematic diagram of an electronic price tag provided with a colored lens and a color-changing film according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] FIG. 7 is a partial structural schematic diagram of a color-changing film according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] Embodiment One

[0035] FIG. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of an electronic price tag according to an embodiment of the present application, which includes a plastic film 1 coated with a specified color, a display module 2, a control module 3, a power supply module 4, and a housing 5.

[0036] In the embodiments of the present application, the plastic film 1 coated with a specified color can be a protection sheet (PS) coated with a specified color. The PS can be a polystyrene film or a film made of other materials. The specified color can be any one of blue, red, yellow, and green. The above-mentioned specified colors are only examples. The present application mainly mixes the specified color with the color supported by the electronic price tag to obtain the appearance color to be displayed. Therefore, the specific type of the specified color needs to be determined according to the color supported by the electronic price tag. When the color supported by the electronic price tag increases, the number of optional specified colors also increases. In the embodiments of the present application, the size of the plastic film 1 coated with a specified color can be set according to actual needs. For example, in some embodiments, the size of the plastic film 1 coated with a specified color can be greater than or equal to the size of the display area of the display module 2. In the case of the same size, the plastic film 1 coated with a specified color overlaps the display area of the display module 2 in the projection area of the display module 2. The display area can be the area of the display screen in the display module 2. In other embodiments, the size of the plastic film 1 coated with a specified color can also be any size smaller than the display area of the display module 2. The specified color can be coated on any one side or both sides of the plastic film. The film area coated with a specified color in the plastic film 1 can be predetermined. For example, in the case of the size of the plastic film 1 coated with a specified color being greater than or equal to the size of the display area of the display module 2, the specified color can be coated on a part of the plastic film, for example, the edge area of the plastic film. In the case of the size of the plastic film 1 coated with a specified color being any size smaller than the display area of the display module 2, the specified color can be coated on the entire area or a part of the plastic film.

[0037] The style of the plastic film 1 coated with a specified color can be designed according to actual needs. For example, the plastic film 1 coated with a specified color can be designed as a hollow film in the middle.

[0038] In the embodiments of the present application, the plastic film 1 coated with a specified color can be connected to the display module 2 by an adhesive method or a clamping method. The adhesive method includes physical adhesion and electrostatic adsorption, for example. The clamping method includes snap connection and clamping groove connection, for example. After the plastic film 1 coated with a specified color is connected to the display module 2 by the adhesive method or the clamping method, the plastic film 1 coated with a specified color can be regarded as a component of the display module 2. The plastic film 1 coated with a specified color not only can be used for changing the appearance color of the price tag, but also can protect the display module 2.

[0039] In the embodiment of the present application, the display module 2 can be any one of an electronic ink display, a liquid crystal display, a cholesteric display, and a reflective liquid crystal display; the display mode of the display module 2 includes dot matrix display and segment code display. The bottom layer of the display module 2 is a base material, the layer above the base material is a thin film transistor array, the layer above the thin film transistor array is a front plane laminate (FPL), the layer above the front plane laminate is a common voltage indium tin oxide (ITO) layer (i.e., a common voltage (VCOM) layer), and the layer above the common voltage ITO layer is an optically transparent adhesive layer. The plastic film 1 coated with a specified color is bonded to the display module 2 and can be bonded to the layer above the optically transparent adhesive layer. In addition, the display module 2 further includes an integrated circuit (IC) for driving the display module 2 to display content and a flexible printed circuit (FPC) for communication connection with a control board.

[0040] In the embodiment of the present application, the control module 3 is electrically connected with the display module 2 and the power supply module 4, respectively, and the power supply module 4 is configured to supply power to the control module 3 and the display module 2; the power supply module 4 can be an energy storage battery or other power supply structures (such as a rail power supply). The control module 3 can be a printed circuit board carrying a control circuit of the display module 2 and includes a controller thereon; the display module 2 is a display component of main content of the electronic price tag and mainly displays content by receiving a display instruction of the control module 3.

[0041] The embodiment of the present application mainly controls the electronic price tag to automatically display an appearance color, and therefore the control module 3 is configured to: determine a color-changing area in a display area of the display module 2; and control the color-changing area to display a target color, so that the target color displayed by the color-changing area and the specified color coated on the plastic film are mixed to obtain an appearance color to be displayed by the electronic price tag.

[0042] In the embodiment of the present application, after the plastic film 1 coated with the specified color is connected to the display module 2 by adhesion or clamping, the projection area of the film area coated with the specified color in the plastic film 1 on the display module 2 coincides with the color-changing area. In this way, if the color-changing area in the display area of the display module 2 is determined first, for example, any part of the display area can be taken as the color-changing area, then the film area in the plastic film which needs to be coated with the specified color can be determined according to the color-changing area, and then the plastic film is coated with the specified color according to the determined film area. If the plastic film 1 coated with the specified color is generated first, the color-changing area can be determined according to the projection area of the film area coated with the specified color in the plastic film 1 on the display module 2.

[0043] On the basis of determining the color-changing area, the target color of the color-changing area is controlled to be displayed, so that the target color displayed by the color-changing area and the specified color coated on the plastic film are mixed, including: determining the current appearance color to be displayed by the electronic price tag, for example, determining the current appearance color to be displayed by the electronic price tag according to the received appearance color change instruction sent by the server; determining the target color to be displayed by the color-changing area when the current appearance color is generated according to the principle of mixing three primary colors of pigments and the specified color coated in the plastic film; for example, the current appearance color to be displayed is purple, and the specified color is blue, so according to the principle of mixing three primary colors of pigments, the target color to be displayed by the color-changing area is red; the target color of the color-changing area is controlled to be displayed, so that the target color displayed by the color-changing area and the specified color coated on the plastic film are mixed to obtain the appearance color to be displayed by the electronic price tag. The above is the principle of controlling the electronic price tag to display the appearance color.

[0044] For example, referring to FIG. 2, which shows a schematic diagram of the electronic price tag displaying the appearance color; wherein the area 21 marked by the dashed line refers to the display area of the display module 2, and the area filled with diagonal lines is the determined color-changing area; the plastic film 1 is adhered to the display module 2, and the plastic film 1 can exactly cover the area 21, and the film area coated with the specified color in the plastic film coincides with the area filled with diagonal lines in the figure. In this way, by controlling the color-changing area to display different colors, the color displayed by the color-changing area and the specified color coated in the plastic film can be mixed, so that the appearance color of the electronic price tag can be quickly changed.

[0045] In the embodiment of the present application, the electronic price tag further includes a shell 5, which can refer to the rear shell of the electronic price tag, and the shell 5 is configured to carry and protect the plastic film 1 coated with the specified color, the display module 2, the control module 3 and the power supply module 4.

[0046] In the embodiments of the present application, the specified color is coated on the plastic film needed to be adhered to the electronic price tag display module 2, and then the target color is displayed on part of the display module 2, and the target color and the specified color are mixed to dynamically modify the appearance color of the electronic price tag. Compared with installing a colored shell on the electronic price tag by manual work, the appearance color of the electronic price tag can be changed more efficiently.

[0047] In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 6, the electronic price tag can further include a colored lens 6 and a color-changing film 7. The colored lens 6 can be a colored lens with a middle hollow or a middle transparent material. The size of the middle hollow or the middle transparent region can be equal to the size of the display region of the display module 2. In some embodiments, the color-changing film 7 can be assembled on the outer surface of the colored lens 6 in a laminated form. The sizes of the two can be equal in size for laminated cooperation (the area of the color-changing film 7 is consistent with that of the colored lens 6), or non-equal in size for covering cooperation (the color-changing film 7 partially or completely covers the outer surface of the colored lens 6). In some embodiments, the colored lens can be connected to the shell 5 by clamping, and the plastic film 1 coated with the specified color and the display module 2 can be arranged between the colored lens and the shell 5. The shell 5 in the present application is the back shell of the electronic price tag, and the colored lens can be understood as the front shell of the electronic price tag. The inner boundary of the colored lens can be located outside the outer boundary of the film region of the plastic film coated with the specified color. Therefore, after the colored lens is installed in the electronic price tag, the middle hollow region or the middle transparent region can cover the display region, and at this time, the projection region of the colored lens on the display module 2 can fully or partially cover the region outside the display region of the display module 2. In addition, the middle hollow region or the middle transparent region can also be larger than the display region. In this way, the appearance color outside the display region of the electronic price tag can be changed by the colored lens. The color of the colored lens can be any one or more of black, white, red, yellow, orange, green, blue, and gray. The above-mentioned colors of the colored lens are only examples, and other colors can also be included. The material of the colored lens can include acrylic, polycarbonate (PC), and the like. The size specification of the color-changing film can be the same as that of the colored lens, that is, the color-changing film can be a middle hollow or middle transparent film, and the size of the middle hollow region or the middle transparent region is the same as that of the display region of the display module 2. The color-changing film is electrically connected to the control module 3. For example, the color-changing film can be connected to the control module 3 by a flexible circuit board, a wire, or the like, and the connection can be achieved by welding, crimping, particle blasting, or the like. The color-changing film changes the color state by receiving the instruction from the control module 3. The color state includes a transparent state and a black state.

[0048] Thus, the control module 3 controls the color-changing film to be in a transparent state, so that the part of the electronic price tag outside the display area displays the color of the colored lens, that is, the color of the colored lens is the appearance color of the price tag outside the display area; the control module 3 controls the color-changing film to be in a black state, so that the part of the electronic price tag outside the display area displays black, and at this time, the appearance color of the electronic price tag outside the display area is black.

[0049] For example, referring to FIG. 3, a schematic diagram of an electronic price tag provided with a colored lens and a color-changing film is shown; wherein the area marked by a dashed line is the display area of the display module 2 of the electronic price tag; the area filled with diagonal lines is the area where the color of the colored lens is displayed when the color-changing film is in a transparent state. The display mode of the color-changing film can be segment code display, for example, half of the color-changing film is in a transparent state and the other half is in a black state, at this time, the appearance color of the electronic price tag is composed of two segments, one segment is black and the other segment is the color of the colored lens.

[0050] In this embodiment, the colored lens can be composed of two colors of lenses or multiple colors of lenses. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the left half of the lens can be of the same color and the right half of the lens can be of another color, at this time, if the color-changing film is controlled to be in a transparent state, the appearance color of the electronic price tag is also composed of two segments.

[0051] As shown in FIG. 7, in the embodiment of the present application, the color-changing film 7 includes: a color-changing film 71 configured to display different color states according to different applied voltages, and the outer boundary of the color-changing film is connected with silver paste 74 or conductive cotton 74; a plastic film 75 without color coating, located above the color-changing film 71, configured to protect the color-changing film 71; an electrode layer 72 located below the color-changing film 71; a substrate 73 located below the electrode layer 72; wherein the electrode layer 72 and the substrate 73 can be transparent or semi-transparent. The color-changing film can be conductive through the silver paste or the conductive cotton to the common voltage ITO layer in the display module and the substrate.

[0052] In some embodiments, the display module includes the color-changing film 71, the electrode layer 72, the substrate 73, and the common voltage ITO layer is arranged in the color-changing film 71, and the color-changing film 7 can be conductive through the silver paste 74 or the conductive cotton 74 to the common voltage ITO layer in the color-changing film 71 and the substrate 73.

[0053] If the electronic price tag simultaneously includes a colored lens, a color-changing film and a plastic film coated with a specified color, the appearance color area displayed by the electronic price tag includes the edge part of the display area and the part outside the display area, and this combination can expand the appearance color display area and enhance the visual appeal of the electronic price tag.

[0054] In another implementation, after the colored lens and the color-changing film are arranged in the electronic price tag, the plastic film coated with the specified color can be replaced by a common plastic film; that is, the structure of the electronic price tag can include the color-changing film, the colored lens, the common PS, the display module, the control module, the power supply module, and the shell. In this way, part of the display area can be left for displaying the appearance color of the electronic price tag, so as to leave sufficient display area for displaying specific product information.

[0055] Embodiment Two

[0056] FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an appearance color control method of an electronic price tag provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method is applied to the control module of the electronic price tag in the above embodiments, and the electronic price tag further includes a plastic film coated with a specified color and a display module. As shown in FIG. 5, the method includes the following steps:

[0057] S501. In response to the plastic film coated with the specified color being connected to the display module by an adhesive or a clamping manner, a color-changing area is determined in a display area of the display module.

[0058] In the embodiment of the present application, the projection area of the film area coated with the specified color in the plastic film on the display module coincides with the color-changing area. Therefore, the color-changing area can be determined in the display area of the display module according to the projection area of the film area coated with the specified color in the plastic film on the display module.

[0059] In the embodiment of the present application, the specified color is coated on any one side or both sides of the plastic film; and the specified color is any one of blue, red, yellow, and green. The above specified color is only an example, and other colors can also be included.

[0060] S502. A target color displayed by the color-changing area is controlled, so that the target color displayed by the color-changing area is mixed with the specified color coated on the plastic film to obtain and display the appearance color required to be displayed by the electronic price tag.

[0061] In some embodiments, the current appearance color required to be displayed by the electronic price tag is determined first, for example, according to the received appearance color change instruction sent by the server, the current appearance color required to be displayed by the electronic price tag is determined; according to the pigment three-primary-color mixing principle and the specified color coated in the plastic film, the target color required to be displayed by the color-changing area when the current appearance color is generated is determined; for example, the current appearance color required to be displayed is purple, and the specified color is blue, so according to the pigment three-primary-color principle, the target color required to be displayed by the color-changing area is red; the target color displayed by the color-changing area is controlled, so that the target color displayed by the color-changing area is mixed with the specified color coated on the plastic film to obtain and display the appearance color required to be displayed by the electronic price tag.

[0062] In the embodiments of the present application, a specified color is coated on the plastic film that needs to be adhered to the electronic price tag display module, and then the target color is displayed on part of the display module, and the target color and the specified color are mixed to dynamically modify the appearance color of the electronic price tag. Compared with manually installing a colored shell on the electronic price tag, the appearance color of the electronic price tag can be changed more efficiently.

[0063] In some embodiments, the electronic price tag can further include a colored lens and a color-changing film; the colored lens is a colored lens with a hollow middle or a transparent middle; the size of the hollow middle or the transparent middle is equal to the size of the display area of the display module. In some embodiments, the colored lens can be connected to the shell by clamping, and the plastic film coated with the specified color and the display module can be arranged between the colored lens and the shell; the inner boundary of the colored lens can be located outside the outer boundary of the film area of the plastic film coated with the specified color. Therefore, after the colored lens is installed in the electronic price tag, the hollow middle or the transparent middle can cover the display area, and at this time, the projection area of the colored lens on the display module can fully or partially cover the area outside the display area of the display module, so that the appearance color outside the display area of the electronic price tag can be changed by the colored lens; the color of the colored lens can be any one of black, white, red, yellow, orange, green, blue, and gray; the color of the colored lens is only an example, and other colors can also be included; the size specification of the color-changing film can be the same as that of the colored lens, that is, the color-changing film can be a film with a hollow middle or a transparent middle, and the size of the hollow middle or the transparent middle can be the same as the size of the display area of the display module; the color-changing film is electrically connected to the control module and changes the color state by receiving the instruction of the control module; the color state includes a transparent state and a black state.

[0064] Therefore, the control process of the control module is as follows: the color-changing film is controlled to be in the transparent state, so that part of the display area of the electronic price tag displays the color of the colored lens, that is, the color of the colored lens is the appearance color of the price tag outside the display area; the color-changing film is controlled to be in the black state, so that part of the display area of the electronic price tag displays black, and at this time, the appearance color of the price tag outside the display area of the electronic price tag is black.

Claims

1. An electronic price tag, comprising: The electronic price tag comprises a plastic film coated with a specified color, a display module, a control module and a shell. The plastic film coated with the specified color is connected to the display module by an adhesive or clamping method. The control module is electrically connected to the display module. The control module is configured to determine a color-changing area in a display area of the display module, control the color-changing area to display a target color, and cause the target color displayed by the color-changing area to mix with the specified color coated on the plastic film to obtain an appearance color to be displayed by the electronic price tag. The shell is configured to carry and protect the plastic film coated with the specified color, the display module and the control module.

2. The electronic price tag of claim 1, wherein, A projection area of a film area coated with the specified color in the plastic film on the display module coincides with the color-changing area.

3. The electronic price tag of claim 1, wherein, The specified color is coated on either one side or both sides of the plastic film.

4. The electronic price tag of claim 1, wherein, The display module is any one of an electronic ink display, a liquid crystal display, a cholesteric display and a reflective liquid crystal display, and the display module has a dot-matrix display or segment code display.

5. The electronic price tag of claim 1, further comprising a colored lens and a color-changing film. An inner boundary of the colored lens is located outside an outer boundary of a film area coated with the specified color in the plastic film. The color-changing film is electrically connected with the control module and changes color state by receiving instructions from the control module. The color states include a transparent state and a black state.

6. The electronic price tag of claim 5, wherein, The color-changing film comprises: a color-changing film configured to display different color states according to different applied voltages, and an outer boundary of the color-changing film is connected to silver paste or conductive cotton; an electrode layer located below the color-changing film; and a substrate located below the electrode layer.

7. The electronic price tag of claim 5, wherein, The color-changing film is connected to the display module by an integrated connection method or a separate connection method.

8. An appearance color control method of an electronic price tag, applied to a control module of an electronic price tag, the electronic price tag further comprising a plastic film coated with a specified color and a display module, the method comprising: determining a color-changing area in a display area of the display module in response to the plastic film coated with the specified color being connected to the display module by an adhesive or clamping method; controlling the color-changing area to display a target color, causing the target color displayed by the color-changing area to mix with the specified color coated on the plastic film to obtain an appearance color to be displayed by the electronic price tag and display the appearance color.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, A projection area of a film area coated with the specified color in the plastic film on the display module coincides with the color-changing area.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein, The specified color is coated on either one side or both sides of the plastic film.

Images