Printable shelf label having a liquid crystal display

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6637650
  • Patent Number
    6,637,650
  • Date Filed
    Thursday, May 30, 2002
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, October 28, 2003
    21 years ago
Abstract
A method of making a programmable shelf tag, including the steps of supplying a display element having a single flexible transparent; mounting the display element substrate side down in a window formed in a web of adhesive backed print medium having a die cut area around the display element to form an adhesive label that includes the display element; printing static information on the label of the print medium; supplying a support for mounting the adhesive; and attaching the adhesive label to the support.
Description




FIELD OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates to a printable label having a flexible display with front electrical contacts to the display.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,257, issued May 12, 1998 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,190 issued Jun. 26, 2001 to Sutherland show a system including a programmable shelf tag having a bistable liquid crystal display for displaying price data and a Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code, wherein the information programmed in the display remains on the display in the absence of power. The shelf tag has a set of synchronizing indicators and corresponding electrical contacts on the front side of the display. The shelf tag is constructed by forming patterned conductive character elements on top and bottom substrates and sandwiching a polymer stabilized liquid crystal between the patterned character elements.




The shelf tag is programmable with a hand-held device that is connected to a central computer that contains inventory and price information. The hand held device can be used to scan the synchronizing indicators to identify the location of the electrical contacts, and supplies the electrical contacts with electrical signals to write appropriate information on the shelf tag. For inventory control and price updates, the hand held device is used to first read the UPC bar code on the shelf tag. If a price needs to be updated, the hand held device is then used to write the appropriate price information into the tag.




One problem with the system as described by Sutherland is that including the UPC as a writable element on the shelf tag significantly increases the complexity and cost of the shelf tag. The resolution needed to produce UPC information requires 113 modules of data, and therefore a corresponding number of contacts on the front of the display. Generally, the UPC bar code for a product is static and does not change for the life of the product.




Another problem is that shelf tags generally include other static information such as a human readable description of the product, unit identification (e.g. per oz. or per 100 sheets). The addition of this extra static information in writable form on the shelf tag would complicate the display structure of the tag to the point of impracticality.




There is a need therefore for an improved shelf tag that avoids the problems noted above.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The need is met according to the present invention by making a programmable shelf tag that includes a display element having a single flexible transparent substrate, one or more first transparent conductors located on the substrate, a layer of polymer dispersed material located over the first conductor(s), the polymer dispersed material being responsive to an applied electric field for displaying information and having first and second optical states that are both stable in the absence of an electrical field, one or more second conductors located over the polymer dispersed layer for applying the electric field to the polymer dispersed material between the first and second conductors and a plurality of display contacts located on the backside of the display for making electrical connection to the first and second conductors of the display; the display element is mounted substrate side down in a window formed in a web of adhesive backed print medium having a die cut area around the display element to form an adhesive label that includes the display element; printing static information on the label of the print medium; a support for mounting the adhesive label includes a plurality of support contacts having first conductive portions for providing contact to the conductors of the display element and second conductive portions in an area outside the adhesive label for making electrical contact with the display from the front of the display element, the support includes a layer of conductive adhesive over the first conductive portions of the support contacts. The adhesive label is attached to the support such that the display contacts are in electrical contact with the support contacts via the conductive adhesive, whereby the first and second conductors are electrically addressable from the front side of the display assembly.




ADVANTAGES




The present invention allows a completed sheet with displays attached to be sold to retail outlets. Retailers can buy the completed sheet and supports, print the static information on the sheet, detach the printed labels from the sheet and affix them to the support. When a price changes, the display on the label can readily be updated, leaving the static information unchanged.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a perspective front view of a shelf tag with displays attached from behind;





FIG. 2

is a front view of a seven segment display with display contacts on the reverse side;





FIG. 3

is a perspective of the reverse (adhesive) side of a shelf tag with the displays attached;





FIG. 4

is a front view of a printable sheet with individual die cut labels positioned in an array with perforated windows through the sheet and a backer for the displays to show through;





FIG. 5

is a rear view of the printable sheet of

FIG. 4

, showing the adhesive backer liner with perforated windows for the display to show through as well as a die cut insert in the liner which, when peeled off, exposes adhesive for the display to be adhered;





FIG. 6

is an exploded perspective view of the rear of a printable sheet showing the backer liner insert removed and the displays ready to be adhered;





FIG. 7

is a rear view of printable sheet with adhesive backer liner with the displays in place in the opening of the backer liner;





FIG. 8

is a front view of a printable sheet showing an array of die cut labels with displays showing through the perforated openings;





FIG. 9

is a front perspective view of a support with conductive strips inset into the surface and recesses for the shelf tag and displays;





FIG. 10

is a perspective view of the front of a support having conductive strips inset into the surface with anisotropically conductive tape strips with adhesive backer liner positioned over the conductive strips;





FIG. 11

is a perspective front view of a completed shelf tag assembly with conductive strips exposed along the bottom rim of the support available for electrical contacting to make changes to the display characters;





FIG. 12

is a back perspective view of a shelf tag having a bracket for attaching the shelf tag to an existing shelf tag rail system;





FIG. 13

is an exploded section view taken along section line A—A in

FIG. 11

showing the shelf tag assembly; and





FIG. 14

is a section view taken along section line A—A in

FIG. 11

showing the completed shelf tag assembly.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION





FIG. 1

shows a shelf tag


10


comprised of one or more displays


15


constructed by forming patterned conductive character elements


20


on top and bottom substrates and sandwiched polymer stabilized liquid crystals between patterned character elements


20


. The displays


15


can be made as shown in U.S. Ser. No. 10/134,185, filed Apr. 29, 2002 by Stephenson et al., which is incorporated herein by reference.




Shelf tag


10


has one or more perforated windows


18


to allow character elements


20


on displays


15


to be viewed from the front printable side


25


of a shelf tag


10


. Printable surface


25


allows the addition of static readable information such as bar code and item description to be applied via printing means, one of which is an inkjet printer.





FIG. 3

shows a shelf tag


10


having an adhesive backing


30


to allow attachment to a support as well as attachment of a display


15


to the back side of the shelf tag


10


. Display


15


being attached to adhesive backing


30


provides exposed electrically conductive display contacts


40


on display


15


to face the rear of the shelf tag


10


.





FIGS. 4 and 5

show a plurality of shelf tags


10


originating on a printable media sheet


45


. Perforated windows


18


are cut through the printable surface


25


and the adhesive backer liner


50


. The plurality of shelf tags


10


are die cut through the printable media


25


only.

FIG. 6

shows the reverse side of sheet


45


with the area around the perforated windows


18


being die cut through the backer liner


50


only, allowing a peel off segment


55


of the backer liner


50


to expose adhesive


30


for displays


15


to be attached.





FIGS. 7 and 8

refer to the obverse and reverse sides respectively of sheet


45


showing completed shelf tag


10


with displays


15


in place and attached to adhesive backing


30


.

FIG. 1

shows a completed tag


10


with displays


15


, singulated from printable sheet


45


and backer liner


50


.





FIG. 9

details a frontal perspective view of a support


35


with a plurality of conductive strips


60


inset within the support


35


. In one embodiment, an injection molded support


35


has conductive strips


60


molded within it. The support


35


defines a recess


65


for aligning the shelf tag


10


onto the support


35


with the proper positioning so that the display contacts


40


form electrical connection with conductive strips


60


. The support


35


also provides a clearance recess


70


for receiving the displays


15


, allowing the shelf tag


10


to adhere flatly onto support


35


in recess


65


.





FIG. 10

shows a front view of support


35


with conductive strips


60


and strips of anisotropic conductive adhesive tape


75


with backer liner


80


applied over the conductive strips


60


. Once the backer liner


80


is removed, the anisotropic conductive adhesive


75


is exposed to mate with the conductive contacts


40


of display


15


as the shelf tag


10


is applied to support


35


. The conductive adhesive


75


being adhered to the conductive contacts


40


on display


15


as well as adhered to the conductive strips


60


provides electrical contact between the conductive character elements


20


on display


15


and the conductive strips


60


.





FIG. 11

illustrates a completed shelf tag assembly


85


. The contact strips


60


are exposed to the front of support


35


to electronically program the changeable characters


20


on display


15


.





FIG. 12

shows a rear perspective view of an attachment bracket


90


to an existing shelf tag rail system.





FIG. 13

details an exploded section view from

FIG. 11

, showing the elements of the assembly prior to attachment; and





FIG. 14

shows a section view from

FIG. 11

with all components in place.




The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention.




PARTS LIST






10


shelf tag






15


display






18


perforated windows






20


conductive character elements






25


printable side of label






30


adhesive backing






35


support






40


contacts on display






45


printable sheet






50


adhesive backer liner






55


peel off segment from backer liner






60


conductive strips






65


recess in support for positioning shelf tag






70


clearance for displays






75


conductive adhesive






80


conductive adhesive backer liner






85


shelf tag assembly






90


attachment bracket



Claims
  • 1. A method of making a programmable shelf tag, comprising steps of:a) providing a display element having a single flexible transparent substrate, one or more first transparent conductors located on the substrate, a layer of polymer dispersed material located over the first conductor(s), the polymer dispersed material being responsive to an applied electric field for displaying information and having first and second optical states that are both stable in an absence of an electrical field, one or more second conductors located over the polymer dispersed layer for applying the electric field to the polymer dispersed material between the first and second conductors and a plurality of display contacts located on backside of the display for making electrical connection to the first and second conductors of the display; b) mounting the display element substrate side down in a window formed in a web of adhesive backed print medium having a die cut area around the display element to form an adhesive label that includes the display element; c) printing static, information on the label of the print medium; d) providing a support for mounting the adhesive label, the support including a plurality of support contacts having first conductive portions for providing contact to the first and second conductors of the display element and second conductive portions in an area outside the adhesive label for making electrical contact with the display from the front of the display element, the support including a layer of conductive adhesive over the first conductive portions of the support contacts; and e) attaching the adhesive label to the support such that the display contacts are in electrical contact with the support contacts via the conductive adhesive, whereby the first and second conductors are electrically addressable from the front side of the display assembly.
  • 2. The method claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of printing an image of a product on the adhesive label.
  • 3. The method claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of providing a second display element and mounting the second display element in a second window formed in the adhesive label, and wherein the support includes conductors for providing contact to the second display element.
  • 4. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the static information includes information from the group comprising a universal product code, a product description, and a unit description.
  • 5. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the adhesive backed print media is inkjet print paper.
  • 6. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the support includes an attachment feature for attaching the support to an existing shelf tag rail system.
  • 7. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of die cut labels having display elements are formed on a sheet of the adhesive backed print medium.
  • 8. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the display element is mounted on the adhesive backed print medium by forming a first window smaller than the display element in the adhesive print material, forming a second window larger than the display element in a releasable backing layer, joining the adhesive print material and the releasable backing layer such that the larger window surrounds the smaller window to expose an adhesive border, and placing the display element in the larger window of the adhesive backing, whereby the display element is attached to the adhesive print material by the exposed adhesive border.
  • 9. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the adhesive backed print material is in a roll and the printing step is performed with a roll fed printer.
  • 10. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the adhesive backed print material is in a sheet and the printing step is performed with a sheet fed printer.
  • 11. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the conductive adhesive is an anisotropic adhesive.
  • 12. A programmable shelf tag label, comprising:a) a display element having a single flexible transparent substrate, one or more first transparent conductors located on the substrate, a layer of polymer dispersed material located over the first conductor(s), the polymer dispersed material being responsive to an applied electric field for displaying information and having first and second optical states that are both stable in an absence of an electrical field, one or more second conductors located over the polymer dispersed layer for applying the electric field to the polymer dispersed material between the first and second conductors and a plurality of display contacts located on the backside of the display for making electrical connection to the first and second conductors of the display; and b) a sheet of adhesive print medium having a die cut label area, and defining a window in the label area, the display element being mounted substrate side down in the window, and including a releasable backing layer, whereby static information can be printed on the label and the printed label can be removed from the backing layer and attached to a support having contacts for making electrical connection to the first and second conductors of the display element.
  • 13. The label claimed in claim 12, wherein the static information is an image of a product on the adhesive label.
  • 14. The label claimed in claim 12, further comprising a second display element mounted in a second window formed in the adhesive label, and wherein the support includes conductors for providing contact to the second display element.
  • 15. The label claimed in claim 12, wherein the static information includes information from a group comprising a Universal Product Code, a product description, and a unit description.
  • 16. The label claimed in claim 12, wherein the adhesive print media is inkjet print paper.
  • 17. The label claimed in claim 12, wherein a plurality of die cut labels having display elements are provided on a sheet of the adhesive print medium.
  • 18. The label claimed in claim 12, wherein the display element is mounted on the adhesive backed print medium in a first window smaller than the display element in the adhesive print material, and further comprising a releasable backing layer having a second window larger than the display element, the adhesive print material and the releasable backing layer being laminated such that the larger window surrounds the smaller window to expose an adhesive border, and the display element being located in the larger window of the adhesive backing, whereby the display element is attached to the adhesive print material by the exposed adhesive border.
  • 19. The label claimed in claim 12, wherein the adhesive backed print material is in a roll whereby the static information can be printed with a roll fed printer.
  • 20. The label claimed in claim 12, wherein the adhesive backed print material is in a sheet, whereby the static information can be printed with a sheet fed printer.
  • 21. A support for receiving a programmable shelf tag label that includes a display element having a single flexible transparent substrate, one or more first transparent conductors located on the substrate, a layer of polymer dispersed material located over the first conductor(s), the polymer dispersed material being responsive to an applied electric field for displaying information and having first and second optical states that are both stable in an absence of an electrical field, one or more second conductors located over the polymer dispersed layer for applying the electric field to the polymer dispersed material between the first and second conductors and a plurality of display contacts located on backside of the display for making electrical connection to the first and second conductors of the display, and a sheet of adhesive print medium having a die cut label area, and defining a window in the label area, the display element being mounted substrate side down in the window, and including a releasable backing layer, whereby static information can be printed on the label and the printed label can be removed from the backing layer and attached to the support, the support comprising:a) a body having a surface for receiving the programmable shelf tag, the body defining alignment features for precisely locating the tag on the surface; b) contacts on the body having exposed portions on the surface and located with respect to the alignment feature for making electrical connection to the first and second conductors of the display element and exposed portions that extend beyond the display element, whereby the first and second conductors are electrically addressable from the front side of the shelf tag label; and c) conductive adhesive located over the exposed portions of the contacts on the receiving surface.
  • 22. The support claimed in claim 21, wherein the adhesive is an anisotropic adhesive.
  • 23. The support claimed in claim 21, further comprising an attachment feature for attaching the support to an existing shelf tag rail system.
  • 24. The support claimed in claim 21, further comprising a releasable protective layer over the conductive adhesive.
  • 25. The support claimed in claim 21, wherein the contacts are printed circuits on the body.
  • 26. The support claimed in claim 21, wherein the body is an injection molded plastic part and the contacts are conductive plastic molded in the body.
  • 27. The support claimed in claim 21, wherein the body is an injection molded plastic part and the contacts are metal conductors molded into the body.
  • 28. The support claimed in claim 21, wherein the contacts are a conductive applique.
  • 29. A display tag assembly, comprising:a) programmable label, having: i) a display element having a single flexible transparent substrate, one or more first transparent conductors located on the substrate, a layer of polymer dispersed material located over the first conductor(s), the polymer dispersed material being responsive to an applied electric field for displaying information and having first and second optical states that are both stable in an absence of an electrical field, one or more second conductors located over the polymer dispersed layer for applying the electric field to the polymer dispersed material between the first and second conductors and a plurality of display contacts located on backside of the display for making electrical connection to the first and second conductors of the display; and ii) a sheet of adhesive print medium having a die cut label area, and defining a window in the label area, the display element being mounted substrate side down in the window, and including a releasable backing layer, whereby static information can be printed on the label and the printed label can be removed from the backing layer and attached to a support having contacts for making electrical connection to the first and second conductors of the display element; and b) a support for receiving the label having: i) a body having a surface for receiving the label, the body defining alignment features for precisely locating the label on the surface; ii) contacts on the body having exposed portions on the surface and located with respect to the alignment feature for making electrical connection to the first and second conductors of the display element and exposed portions that extend beyond the display element, whereby the first and second conductors are electrically addressable from the front side of the display tag assembly; and iii) conductive adhesive located over the exposed portions of the contacts on the receiving surface.
  • 30. The display tag assembly claimed in claim 29, wherein the static information is an image of a product on the adhesive label.
  • 31. The display tag assembly claimed in claim 29, further comprising a second display element mounted in a second window formed in the adhesive label, and wherein the support includes conductors for providing contact to the second display element.
  • 32. The display tag assembly claimed in claim 29, wherein the static information includes information from the group comprising a Universal Product Code description, and a unit description.
  • 33. The display tag assembly claimed in claim 29, wherein the adhesive print media is inkjet print paper.
  • 34. The display tag assembly claimed in claim 29, wherein a plurality of die cut labels having display elements are provided on a sheet of the adhesive print medium.
  • 35. The display tag assembly claimed in claim 29, wherein the conductive adhesive is an anisotropic adhesive.
  • 36. The display tag assembly claimed in claim 29, wherein the adhesive is an anisotropic adhesive.
  • 37. The display tag assembly claimed in claim 29, wherein the support further comprises an attachment feature for attaching the support to an existing shelf tag rail system.
  • 38. The display tag assembly claimed in claim 29, wherein the contacts are printed circuits on the body.
  • 39. The display tag assembly claimed in claim 29, wherein the body is an injection molded plastic part and the contacts are conductive plastic molded in the body.
  • 40. The display tag assembly claimed in claim 29, wherein the body is an injection molded plastic part and the contacts are metal conductors molded into the body.
  • 41. The display tag assembly claimed in claim 29, wherein the contacts are a conductive applique.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Number Name Date Kind
5111196 Hunt May 1992 A
5751257 Sutherland May 1998 A
6217966 Finster et al. Apr 2001 B1
6253190 Sutherland Jun 2001 B1
6269342 Brick et al. Jul 2001 B1
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry
USSN: 10/134,185, filed Apr. 29, 2002 by Stephenson et al.