Seiko Epson Corporation ("Epson", TSE: 6724) recently announced that it has begun shipping industrial electronic paper display platforms. These platforms consist of electronic paper ("e-paper") display microcontrollers with integrated firmware that controls the basic device functions.
Customers can combine these platforms with an electronic paper display to easily develop their own industrial e-paper products, even if they lack advanced information about the unique driving schemes used for e-paper.
Epson's e-paper platform series now consists of the S1C17F57, a microcontroller for small segmented displays, and the new S1D13T03, a timing microcontroller for small, active-matrix e-paper displays (*1). Samples of the S1D13T03 will begin shipping in late January 2012. Epson plans to continue expanding the line-up, and in March, will begin shipping samples of a new microcontroller for medium-sized active-matrix e-paper displays.
Electronic paper displays (EPDs) are superior to other display technologies in several important respects: they display text that is as sharp and easy to read as print on paper; they use no power while displaying an image; and because they do not need a backlight, they are thin and lightweight.
Given these advantages, e-paper displays are expected to rapidly supplant current electronic shelf tags, digital signage, advertising displays, and point of purchase displays, most of which use either paper or liquid crystal technology. However, e-paper driving requires specific technical knowledge for optimising the display control for individual applications. The need for e-paper-specific technical understanding multiplies the difficulty of product development and implementation for product planners and engineers not familiar with e-paper. Epson has vast experience and resources that it will make available to its customers to significantly support the integration of its electronic paper solution.
"Epson has a storehouse of knowledge and technology from a decade's worth of e-paper research and development," explains Masayuki Morozumi, executive vice-president at Epson. "We have accumulated business experience, know-how, and intellectual property as a market share leader(*2) in EPD microcontrollers for e-readers, and are drawing on these to provide customers with the industrial e-paper platforms they need to maximise the performance of their e-paper displays, whatever their application and environment."
Epson can recommend the best platforms for any e-paper application based on strong partnerships with electronic paper display manufacturers and industry leaders, such as E Ink Holdings, and Pervasive Displays, (PDI). Now customers who shied away from developing e-paper products in the past because of concerns over the time and labour needed to develop and integrate e-paper driving waveforms, can use Epson's e-paper platforms and extensive knowledge and documentation to efficiently and quickly develop effective electronic paper products and solutions for the industrial sector.
"Epson's new EPD controller products help to bring E Ink's revolutionary e-paper displays to applications where the easy readability and ultra-low power of E Ink displays is the key to unlocking new markets," said Sriram Peruvemba, chief marketing officer at E Ink Holdings.
"Pervasive Displays is excited to partner with Epson to expand their offering of electronic paper solutions," said Damon Hess, business development vice-president for Pervasive Displays. "We've created and perfected the world's leading low-power electronic paper display module and work with select worldwide partners, such as Epson, to expand the applications for electronic paper and to create reliable, innovative and effective electronic paper solutions."
Epson is committed to using its expertise in e-paper driving schemes and other e-paper technologies to rapidly respond to customers' needs and problems, with an extensive line of e-paper products and strong customer support.
(*1) Segmented displays are often in digital watches and calculators. They are used when certain fixed segments of the display contain characters or digits. They are generally superior in terms of energy consumption, response speed and thinness compared to the active matrix-type displays that use fine dots to show detailed images. Both methods are likely to be used with e-paper displays, with the usage increasingly dependent on the type of application.
(*2) Epson is the number one supplier of microcontrollers for market leader E Ink's electronic paper displays, based on calculations taking into account market research company estimated e-reader shipments in 2010 and Epson's 2010 display microcontroller unit shipments.
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