TWM659363U - Serial electronic label - Google Patents

Abstract

A serial electronic label including a plurality of energy saving displays arranged in a row and a controller. Each of the energy saving displays has a frame update time when the display frame is updated. The controller is electrically connected to the energy saving displays, and configured to make the energy saving displays update display frames thereof in a sequence by a one-to-plurality control method, wherein frame update times of any two adjacent energy saving displays in the sequence overlap each other.

Description

Serial electronic label

The novel invention relates to an electronic label, and in particular to a serial electronic label.

The development trend of electronic labels (such as electronic shelf labels (ESL)) is influenced by multiple factors, including environmental protection, energy conservation, labor saving and smart retail. As an electronic label, electronic paper is favored for its advantages such as power saving and low carbon. Compared with traditional paper labels, electronic labels have the characteristics of instant replacement and can be updated in real time with the system, reducing the human error rate and saving the labor cost of replacing labels.

However, when using electronic paper as an electronic label, especially when updating and switching the display screen of three-color or more electronic paper, multiple flashes are required to move the electronic paper color particles to the required position to display the correct screen, so it takes more than 10 seconds to complete the update. During this period of waiting for the screen to update, the electronic label has no display effect, which causes inconvenience in use.

The novel invention provides a serial electronic tag, which can achieve a special display effect by allocating the screen update time of the energy-saving display, and is compatible with the effect of saving labor costs of the electronic tag.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a serial electronic tag, including a plurality of energy-saving displays arranged in a row and a controller. Each energy-saving display has a screen update time when updating the display screen. The controller is electrically connected to these energy-saving displays and is used to adopt a one-to-many control method to make these energy-saving displays update the display screen in sequence, wherein the screen update time of any two adjacent energy-saving displays in this sequence partially overlaps.

In the serial electronic tag of the embodiment of the novel invention, these energy-saving displays update the display screen in a sequence, and the screen update time of any two adjacent energy-saving displays in this sequence partially overlaps. Therefore, the serial electronic tag of the embodiment of the novel invention can achieve a special display effect, such as a ticker-like effect, by allocating the screen update time of the energy-saving display, and can be compatible with the effect of saving labor costs of the electronic tag.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a serial electronic tag of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a screen update timing diagram of the serial electronic tag of FIG. 1 . Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 , the serial electronic tag 100 of the present embodiment includes a plurality of energy-saving displays 110 arranged in a row (for example, energy-saving displays 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118 and 119 in FIG. 1 ) and a controller 120. In FIG. 1 , nine energy-saving displays 110 are used as an example, but the present invention does not limit the number of energy-saving displays 110. In other embodiments, the serial electronic tag 100 may also have other numbers of energy-saving displays 110. In the present embodiment, each energy-saving display 110 is an electrophoretic display. However, in other embodiments, each energy-saving display 110 may also be a reflective liquid crystal display or a cholesterol liquid crystal display. In this embodiment, the energy-saving display 110 (i.e., electrophoretic display) is an electronic paper display. Each energy-saving display 110 has a screen update time when updating the display screen. Since the electrophoretic display needs to redistribute the electrophoretic particles in the display medium layer when updating the screen, which takes some time, in one embodiment, the length T1 of the screen update time of each energy-saving display 110 is 10 seconds to 20 seconds, as shown in FIG. 2. During the screen update time, the display screen of the energy-saving display 110 may be blurred or flickering.

The controller 120 is electrically connected to these energy-saving displays 110 and is used to adopt a one-to-many control method to enable these energy-saving displays 110 to update the display screen in sequence, wherein the screen update time of any two adjacent energy-saving displays 110 in this sequence partially overlaps, and the partially overlapping time length TP is shown in FIG. 2 .

In FIG. 2 , the broken line in the column “111” represents the timing of the state of the energy-saving display 111, the broken line in the column “112” represents the timing of the state of the energy-saving display 112, and the meanings represented by “113” to “119” are similar. When the broken line is at the height of the update state in the figure, it means that the energy-saving display 110 (if you look at the first broken line, it is the energy-saving display 111) is in the state of the screen update process, and when the broken line is at the height of the display state in the figure, it means that the energy-saving display 110 (if you look at the first broken line, it is the energy-saving display 111) is in a state of stably displaying a static display screen.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2 , the order in “these energy-saving displays 110 update the display screen in sequence” is the same as the arrangement order of the energy-saving displays 110 from one end to the other end, which is the order from the energy-saving display 111 to the energy-saving display 119 in FIG. 2 . Therefore, the energy-saving display 111 and the energy-saving display 112 are two adjacent energy-saving displays 110 in this order, and the energy-saving display 112 and the energy-saving display 113 are two adjacent energy-saving displays 110 in this order. The screen update time of the energy-saving display 111 and the energy-saving display 112 partially overlaps, and the time length TP of this partial overlap is shown in FIG. 2 . In one embodiment, the partially overlapping time length TP of the frame update time of any two adjacent energy-saving displays 110 in this order is X% of the frame update time length T1 of each energy-saving display, where 5≤X＜100.

In the serial electronic tag 100 of the present embodiment, these energy-saving displays 110 update the display screen in a sequence, and the screen update time of any two adjacent energy-saving displays 110 in this sequence partially overlaps. Therefore, the serial electronic tag 100 of the present invention can achieve a special display effect by allocating the screen update time of the energy-saving display 110, such as a ticker-like effect, which can be used as an advertising effect and can be compatible with the effect of saving labor costs of the electronic tag.

In this embodiment, the serial electronic tag 100 further includes a battery pack 130 electrically connected to the controller 120 and the energy-saving displays 110, and supplies power to the energy-saving displays 110 with a single battery pack, thereby avoiding the high cost and the different power levels caused by different energy-saving displays 110 having their own batteries.

In this embodiment, the serial electronic tag 100 may further include an external power supply unit 140 electrically connected to the battery pack 130 to charge the battery pack. In one embodiment, the external power supply unit 140 is, for example, a solar power supply module. However, in other embodiments, the serial electronic tag 100 may not include the external power supply unit 140, and the external power supply unit 140 is optional.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1 , updating the display screen of the energy-saving displays 110 in sequence in the above order is to update the entire screen including all colors of the energy-saving displays 110. For example, the screen displayed by the energy-saving displays 114, 115, and 116 is a transition screen in the screen update state, which may be a flashing screen or a blurred screen. However, in an embodiment, updating the display screen of the energy-saving displays 110 in sequence in the above order may include updating a single color in the display screen or updating a local area in the display screen.

FIG3 is another screen update timing diagram of the serial electronic tag of FIG1. In FIG2, the order in the above “these energy-saving displays 110 update the display screen in sequence” is the same as the arrangement order of the energy-saving displays 110 from one end to the other end. In FIG3, the order in the above “these energy-saving displays 110 update the display screen in sequence” is different from the arrangement order of the energy-saving displays 110 from one end to the other end, and it can be any other order. For example, in FIG3 , the order in which the energy-saving displays 110 execute screen updates is the energy-saving displays 111, 113, 115, 117, 119, 112, 114, 116, and 118. That is, the energy-saving displays 111, 113, 115, 117, 119, 112, 114, 116, and 118 execute screen updates in sequence. FIG3 is only one example. In other embodiments, any other order may be used to achieve different display or advertising effects.

In one embodiment, the controller 120 is, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor (microprocessor), a digital signal processor (DSP), a programmable controller, a programmable logic device (PLD), or other similar devices or a combination of these devices, and the present invention is not limited thereto. In addition, in one embodiment, each function of the controller 120 can be implemented as a plurality of program codes. These program codes are stored in a memory and executed by the controller 120. Alternatively, in one embodiment, each function of the controller 120 can be implemented as one or more circuits. The present invention is not limited to implementing the functions of the controller 120 by software or hardware.

Please refer to FIG. 1 again. In this embodiment, the serial electronic tag 100 may include a carrier 150. The energy-saving displays 110 are disposed on the carrier 150 and arranged from one end of the carrier 150 to the other end of the carrier 150.

In summary, in the serial electronic tag of the embodiment of the novel invention, these energy-saving displays update the display screen in a sequence, and the screen update time of any two adjacent energy-saving displays in this sequence partially overlaps. Therefore, the serial electronic tag of the embodiment of the novel invention can achieve a special display effect, such as a ticker-like effect, by allocating the screen update time of the energy-saving display, and can be compatible with the effect of saving labor costs of the electronic tag.

100: Serial electronic label 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119: Energy-saving display 120: Controller 130: Battery pack 140: External power supply unit 150: Carrier T1: Screen update time TP: Partial overlap time

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a serial electronic tag of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG2 is a screen update timing diagram of the serial electronic tag of FIG1. FIG3 is another screen update timing diagram of the serial electronic tag of FIG1.

100: Serial electronic label

110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119: Energy saving Display

120: Controller

130:Battery pack

140: External power supply unit

150: Carrier seat

Claims (10)

A serial electronic tag includes: A plurality of energy-saving displays arranged in a row, each energy-saving display having a screen update time when updating the display screen; and A controller electrically connected to the energy-saving displays and used to adopt a one-to-many control method to make the energy-saving displays update the display screen in sequence, wherein the screen update time of any two adjacent energy-saving displays in the sequence partially overlaps. A serial electronic tag as described in claim 1, wherein the sequence is the same as the arrangement sequence of the energy-saving displays from one end to the other end. The serial electronic tag as described in claim 1, wherein the energy-saving displays are electrophoretic displays. The serial electronic tag as described in claim 1, wherein the energy-saving displays are reflective liquid crystal displays or cholesterol liquid crystal displays. In the serial electronic tag as described in claim 1, the screen update time of each energy-saving display is 10 seconds to 20 seconds. As described in claim 1, the length of time for which the screen update time of any two adjacent energy-saving displays partially overlaps in the sequence is X% of the length of the screen update time of each energy-saving display, where 5≤X＜100. The serial electronic tag as described in claim 1 further includes a battery pack electrically connected to the controller and the energy-saving displays, and supplies power to the energy-saving displays in the form of a single battery pack. The serial electronic tag as described in claim 7 further includes an external power supply unit electrically connected to the battery pack. A serial electronic tag as described in claim 8, wherein the external power supply unit is a solar power supply module. The serial electronic tag as described in claim 1, wherein causing the energy-saving displays to update the display screen in sequence includes updating a single color in the display screen or updating a local area in the display screen.

Images