Epson and E Ink announce display controller
Seiko Epson Corporation and E Ink Corporation announced a jointly developed display controller IC enabling new capabilities for E Ink’s Vizplex enabled electronic paper displays
Seiko Epson Corporation (“Epson”), a global supplier of semiconductor solutions, its subsidiary Epson Electronics America, and E Ink Corporation, the developer and marketer of electronic paper display (EPD) technology, announced a jointly developed display controller IC enabling new capabilities for E Ink’s Vizplex enabled electronic paper displays. EPD low-power consumption screen technology is driving an emerging class of new mobile applications, such as eBooks, eNewspapers, tablet PCs, laptop secondary displays, eNotebooks, and eDictionaries.
The new EPD controller IC (part number S1D13521B) was developed by combining technologies from both Epson and E Ink. It will be offered in production quantities by Epson and as part of E Ink’s upcoming AM300 Broadsheet prototype kit.
The Epson display controller will bring functionality to EPDs using E Ink technology by speeding up the user interface via seamless navigation, drop down/popup menus, responsive cursors and real-time keyboard entry. The controller enables the display to perform up to 16 tasks in parallel, and supports smooth and responsive pen input devices for annotations and sketches.
“Epson developed the powerful S1D13521 with E Ink to support new ePaper applications such as electronic newspapers, portable web browsers and industrial tablets,” said Russ Wilcox, President and CEO of E Ink, “With the ability to address many screen regions simultaneously, future devices using this chip could offer a fast menu interface, simple animations, higher grayscale levels, and user input through typing and touch.”
“Epson has, for many years, been offering various display controllers to the market. With this new controller IC, we are very excited to develop the emerging EPD display market together with E Ink. This new product development reflects our shared commitment to developing electronic solutions that help to conserve energy and natural resources and are friendly to the environment,” said Ryuhei Miyagawa, Division Manager for Epson’s Semiconductor Operations Division.