Patent Publication Number: US-2009225023-A1

Title: Panel With Non-volatile Display Media

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/034,706, filed Mar. 7, 2008, titled “Panel With Non-Volatile Display Media.” 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Consumers often desire to change or customize the appearance of their personal devices. For example, decals, stickers, and custom side panels are available for gaming computers and decorative covers are available for cellular phones. While these items allow a user to change the appearance of a device, they must be physically removed and replaced if the user desires to again change the appearance of the device. Some consumer products such as, for example, personal computers, include one or more decorative displays on an exterior surface. These displays may allow a user to change the color of the display for a custom look. Because these displays are constructed of volatile display media, such as liquid crystal, it is necessary to provide power to the display to maintain its appearance. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a personal computer tower featuring a panel constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a functional block diagram of a display panel system constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a cross section of non-volatile image display media used in the practice of one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a flow chart listing steps for displaying an image on a panel in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic illustration of a selection interface used in practice of one embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     SUMMARY 
     A display panel system for use on a device surface is provided. The panel includes, for example, a non-volatile image display media configured to be connected to the device surface, an image controller configured to address the image display media to display an image, and an image selection interface configured to communicate one or more images to a user of the device and to communicate a selected image to the image controller. 
     DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a personal computer tower  15  is shown that includes a display panel system  10  that displays an image. In the described embodiment, the display panel system  10  is for decorative purposes, however, the display panel system  10  could also be used to communicate any information selected for display by a user of the personal computer tower. This information includes, for example, personal information about the user or user supplied images. In addition, the panel  10  may be used with any consumer device, such as, for example laptops, cellular phones, and personal data devices. The panel  10  may be installed on any exterior surface of a device, including computer towers, desktop computers, laptops, or peripheral devices such as a mouse or a monitor. 
       FIG. 2  is a functional block diagram of the display panel system  10 . A selection interface  20  allows a user to select an image for display and communicates the selected image to an image controller  30  that alters the image displayed on non-volatile image display media  40  that is fixed to the computer tower  15  or other consumer device. The image controller may be implemented, for example, as a stand-alone hardware device that communicates with the CPU of the computer. The display panel system may include, or have access to, electronic storage that stores a plurality of images. These images may be provided by the manufacturer of the display panel system. The display panel system  10  may also include the capability for a user to store images for display in, for example, a jpeg or tiff file format. 
     The user interface  20  may be, for example, a software component (not shown) that generates a display  23  ( FIG. 5 ) of one or more images A-E on a monitor associated with the computer tower. The software component registers selection of one of the images by a user via, for example, a keyboard or mouse. Alternatively, the user interface may permit a user to display an image that is presently on the computer&#39;s monitor, similar to a “print screen” function. In this manner, the user may display a scene from a game in which they are involved or a damage status or score screen associated with the game. The image controller  30  addresses the non-volatile image display media  40  to display the selected image. The image controller  30  may also automatically display pre-selected information related to computer status such as an amount of remaining memory, names of recently accessed files, or a representation of a display that was recently present on the monitor. When computer status information is displayed on the display panel system, it may be updated periodically when power is available to re-assign the image state of the display panel. 
     An alternative user interface  20  is a user actuable selector, such as toggle button  25 . The toggle button may be implemented, for example, as a touch screen portion or overlay on the non-volatile display or as a mechanically actuable switch. The user may actuate the selector to display a different image on the non-volatile image display media  40 . 
     The non-volatile image display media  40  is capable of maintaining its image state in the absence of power while being re-writable when power is supplied. This attribute allows the image to remain on display when the user is away from a power source without requiring battery back up. The non-volatile image display media  40  requires power when it is transitioning states to present a different image. The power used to transition can be provided by a consumer device&#39;s on board power supply or by a battery if the consumer device on which the panel display system is being used does not use power. 
     In a particular embodiment, the non-volatile image display media  40  is an electronic paper display  40 ′, a schematic cross section of which is depicted in  FIG. 3 . One source of electronic paper display is E-Ink Corporation of Cambridge, Mass. The electronic paper display may be glued or otherwise connected to an exterior surface of the consumer device. Electronic paper display includes microcapsules  61  encased between transparent top and bottom film electrodes  62 ,  63 , respectively. Each microcapsule includes positively charged white particles  64  and negatively charged black particles  65  suspended in a clear fluid. In areas in which a negative electric field is applied between the electrodes  62 ,  63 , the white particles  64  move toward the top electrode  62  while the black particles  65  move toward the bottom electrode  63 . In areas where a positive electric field is applied, the black particles  65  move toward the top electrode  62  while the white particles mover toward the bottom electrode  63 . When an electronic paper display  40 ′ is employed, the image controller  30  is operable to control the electric field across the electrodes  62 ,  63  to achieve the desired microcapsule states for display of the selected image. Of course, other non-volatile image display media, such a liquid crystal that includes pixels that are capable of maintaining their state in the absence of power can be used as part of the display panel system  10 . 
       FIG. 4  is a flowchart outlining a method  50  that displays an image on the display panel system. At  55 , the method detects whether a new image has been selected for display. If no new image has been selected, no action is taken. When a new image is selected at  60 , the selected image is retrieved at  60  and displayed on non-volatile image display media at  65 . As already discussed above, the image may be selected by displaying a plurality of images on a personal computing device monitor and registering an image selection from a user input such as a mouse or keyboard. Alternatively, the image may be selected by actuating a selector that causes a different image to be displayed. In this case the image retrieved by the method is the “next” image in a queue of stored images. 
     As can be seen from the foregoing description, the use of non-volatile image display media to display a user selected image on a surface of a consumer device provides a readily changeable and low power consuming display. While the present invention has been illustrated by the description of embodiments thereof, and while the embodiments have been described in considerable detail, it is not the intention of the applicants to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. For example, various types of non-volatile image display media may be used to display user selected images. Therefore, the invention, in its broader aspects, is not limited to the specific details, the representative apparatus, and illustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly, departures may be made from such details without departing from the spirit or scope of the applicant&#39;s general inventive concept.