Patent Application
20060071925
Electronic displays are becoming popular in retail, manufacturing and other environments where manually updating displays can be time consuming and prone to error. Electronic displays can provide useful information about items on a shelf, in a container, and the like while providing the ability to be easily updated. For example, supermarkets can provide displays with current pricing for products. A tablet type display can indicate a log of items placed in or to be placed in a container. Movie show times can be displayed and updated at a movie theater. However, electronic displays can be expensive due to power source requirements. Batteries and power connections are prohibitively expensive and cumbersome when a large number of displays are attached to portable items or shelves.
The present invention may be better understood, and its numerous features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth. However, it is understood that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description.
References to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “example embodiment,” “various embodiments,” etc., indicate that the embodiment(s) of the invention so described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodiment necessarily includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Further, repeated use of the phrase “in one embodiment” does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although it may.
As used herein, unless otherwise specified the use of the ordinal adjectives “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., to describe a common object, merely indicate that different instances of like objects are being referred to, and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner.
Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the specification discussions utilizing terms such as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” or the like, refer to the action and/or processes of a computer or computing system, or similar electronic computing device, state machine and the like that manipulate and/or transform data represented as physical, such as electronic, quantities into other data similarly represented as physical quantities.
RFID technology is well known. A RFID reader/writer sends out electromagnetic waves to one or more RFID tags that induce a current in the tag's antenna. The tag antenna is tuned to receive these waves. A passive RFID tag draws power from the field created by the reader/writer and uses the power to power a microchip's circuits. The chip then modulates the waves that the tag sends back to the reader/writer to be converted into digital data. Additional blocks of data can be used to store additional information about the items the tag is attached to. The tag could be powered and information exchanged through either inductive coupling or backscatter. RFID systems use many different frequencies, but generally the most common are low (around 125 KHz), high (13.56 MHz) and ultra-high (850-900 MHz. Microwave (2.45 Ghz) is also used in some applications.
RFID reader/writer 102 is capable of sending and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals with display update unit 106. RFID reader/writer 102 is different from standard RFID reader/writers in at least that RFID reader/writer 102 transmits display update information to display update unit 106. Display update unit 106 receives RF signals from RFID reader/writer 102, processes the signals utilizing power gained from the RF signals, and updates bi-stable display device 110 according to information received in the RF signals. Display update unit 106 and bi-stable display 110 do not contain a local power source and derive all power from the received RF signals.
Display device 110 retains the desired message after the power is removed due to the bi-stable nature of the display. As the term bi-stable implies, picture elements of display device 110 are stable in two or more states. Display device 110 needs power only when the information displayed changes.
Bi-stable display device 110 may utilize, for example, magnetic or liquid crystal display technologies. Magnetic display technology uses electrostatic charges on tiny spheres that are suspended in a plane. One side of each sphere may be, for example, black, the other may be, for example, white. Each side of a sphere is attracted to an opposite electrical charge. When a charge is placed across the front and back layers of the panel, the spheres respond. Thus, for example, a first charge causes the white sides to be displayed, and a second charge causes the black sides to be displayed. When power is removed, the spheres retain their current orientation. Liquid crystal display technology uses standard liquid crystal material. The material normally loses its image when the electrical charge is removed. For bi-stable displays the alignment bond of the bottom layer of the liquid crystal substrate is broken so that it can come to rest in its alternative state. Two types of bi-stable display technologies are described. Alternate embodiments of display device 110 may utilize other technologies. The invention is not limited in this context.
In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, processing of the RF signal by display update unit 106 may include decryption and authentication to protect against malicious update of display device 110. Any type of authentication protocol may be used, for example, one-way and two-way protocols. The invention is not limited in this context.
In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, display update unit 106 may send a status or confirmation message back to RFID reader/writer 102.
In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, display device 110 may be capable of communicating the current displayed information to display update unit 106.
In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, system 100 may comprise, for example, multiple display update units 106 and bi-stable display devices 110 in any number of different topologies. Further, a single display update unit 106 may be configured to update multiple bi-stable display devices 110. The embodiments are not limited in this context.
Display controller and signal processing unit 208 receives and processes the RF signal 204 with state machine 214. This processing may include, for example, demodulation, decryption, and authentication of the signal. Additionally, display update information in RF signal 204 is used to generate display controls 218. In one embodiment, display information received in RF signal 204 is compared to current display information stored in storage 216. Storage 216 may also include a key for decryption, a device identification for signal authentication and other such information.
Although discussed above with reference to RFID like systems, other types of wireless communication systems are intended to be within the scope of the present invention including, although not limited to, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN), Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WMAN), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) cellular radiotelephone communication systems, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) cellular radiotelephone systems, North American Digital Cellular (NADC) cellular radiotelephone systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Extended-TDMA (E-TDMA) cellular radiotelephone systems, third generation (3G) systems like Wide-band CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA-2000, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and the like, although the scope of the invention is not limited in this respect. In at least one implementation, for example, a wireless link is implemented in accordance with the Bluetooth short range wireless protocol (Specification of the Bluetooth System, Version 1.2, Bluetooth SIG, Inc., November 2003, and related specifications and protocols). Other possible wireless networking standards include, for example: IEEE 802.11 (ANSI/IEEE Std 802.11-1999 Edition and related standards), IEEE 802.16 (ANSI/IEEE Std 802.16-2002, IEEE Std 802.16a, March, 2003 and related standards), HIPERLAN 1, 2 and related standards developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Broadband Radio Access Networks (BRAN), HomeRF (HomeRF Specification, Revision 2.01, The HomeRF Technical Committee, July, 2002 and related specifications), and/or others.
Realizations in accordance with the present invention have been described in the context of particular embodiments. These embodiments are meant to be illustrative and not limiting. Many variations, modifications, additions, and improvements are possible. Accordingly, plural instances may be provided for components described herein as a single instance. Boundaries between various components, operations and data stores are somewhat arbitrary, and particular operations are illustrated in the context of specific illustrative configurations. Other allocations of functionality are envisioned and may fall within the scope of claims that follow. Finally, structures and functionality presented as discrete components in the various configurations may be implemented as a combined structure or component. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements may fall within the scope of the invention as defined in the claims that follow.
