Patents by Inventor Kenneth R. Crounse

Kenneth R. Crounse has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11450286
    Abstract: An apparatus for driving an electro-optic display may comprise a first switch designed to supply a voltage to the electro-optic display during a first driving phase, a second switch designed to control the voltage during a second driving phase and a resistor coupled to the first and second switches for controlling the rate of decay of the voltage during the second driving phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: E Ink Corporation
    Inventors: Kenneth R. Crounse, Teck Ping Sim, Karl Raymond Amundson, Zdzislaw Jan Szymborski
  • Patent number: 11423852
    Abstract: A variety of methods for driving electro-optic displays so as to reduce visible artifacts are described. Such methods includes updating a display having a plurality of display pixels with a first image, identifying display pixels with edge artifacts after the first image update, and storing the identified display pixels information in a memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: E Ink Corporation
    Inventors: Teck Ping Sim, Yuval Ben-Dov, Joanna F. Au, Kenneth R. Crounse
  • Publication number: 20220244612
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a sealing layer that comprises a poly(vinyl alcohol) homopolymer or a poly(vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene) copolymer, a polyurethane, and a conductive filler. The sealing layer shows good barrier properties to a non-polar fluid. The sealing layer can be used to seal microcells of electro-optic devices, contributing to improved good electro-optic performance of the device, especially at low temperatures.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 2, 2022
    Publication date: August 4, 2022
    Inventors: Ali SARVI, Abraham BERHANE, Mary E. PARENT, Kenneth R. CROUNSE, Stephen J. TELFER
  • Patent number: 11404013
    Abstract: An electrophoretic display having a plurality of display pixels, each of the plurality of display pixels may include a pixel electrode for driving the display pixel, a single thin film transistor (TFT) coupled to the pixel electrode for transmitting waveforms to the pixel electrode, a front plane laminate (FPL) coupled to the single thin film transistor, and a storage capacitor coupled to the pixel electrode and placed in parallel with the FPL, where the storage capacitor is configured to be sufficiently ohmically conductive to allow the discharge of remnant voltages from the FPL through the storage capacitor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: E Ink Corporation
    Inventors: Pierre-Yves Emelie, Teck Ping Sim, Kenneth R. Crounse, Karl Raymond Amundson, Chih-Hsiang Ho, Aaron Chen
  • Patent number: 11404012
    Abstract: A method for driving an electro-optic display having a front electrode, a backplane, and a display medium including at least three differently-colored particles, wherein the medium is positioned between the front electrode and the backplane. The method includes applying a DC balance reset phase to first and second pixel electrodes such that the sum of all impulses results in an offset that maintains a DC-balance across the display medium. The invention additionally includes controllers for executing the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: E Ink Corporation
    Inventors: Stephen J. Telfer, Christopher L. Hoogeboom, Kenneth R. Crounse
  • Patent number: 11398196
    Abstract: A driving method is provided for an electric-optic display having a plurality of display pixels, the method including dividing the plurality of display pixels into multiple groups of pixels, applying at least one waveform structure to the multiple groups of pixels, the at least one waveform structure having a driving section for updating the multiple groups of pixels, and updating the multiple groups of pixels in a contiguous fashion such that only one group of display pixels completes the driving section at any given time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: E Ink Corporation
    Inventors: Pierre-Yves Emelie, Ana L. Lattes, Kenneth R. Crounse, Chih-Hsiang Ho
  • Patent number: 11398197
    Abstract: A display device is operated by using several iterations of a scan phase followed by a global drive phase. In the scan phase, the state of each pixel in the display device is set to either “enabled” or “disabled”, during which time a global drive generator is inactive. Then, in the global drive phase, a global drive signal is sent to the display device. Only the subset of enabled pixels is affected by the global drive signal, which causes the enabled pixels to perform a transition to a desired display state. The sequence of the scan phase followed by the global drive phase is then repeated up to the number of unique transitions required to update the display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: E Ink Corporation
    Inventor: Kenneth R. Crounse
  • Publication number: 20220180824
    Abstract: There are provided methods for driving an electro-optic display having a plurality of display pixels, a such method includes receiving an image, converting the image into a YCbCr image; and processing the YCbCr image to generate a luma image. The method further includes calculating variations in a local area for the YCbCr image to obtain a variation map, and calculating an effect ratio map using the calculated variation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 7, 2021
    Publication date: June 9, 2022
    Inventors: Yuta ASANO, Kenneth R. CROUNSE
  • Publication number: 20220139341
    Abstract: There are provided methods for driving an electro-optic display A method for driving an electro-optic display having a plurality of display pixels, the method comprises receiving an input image, processing the input image to create color separation cumulate, and using a threshold array to process the color separation cumulate to generate colors for the electro-optic display.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2021
    Publication date: May 5, 2022
    Inventor: Kenneth R. CROUNSE
  • Publication number: 20220139339
    Abstract: A method for driving electro-optic displays so as to reduce visible artifacts are described. Such methods include driving extra pixels where the boundary between a driven and undriven area would otherwise lead to artifact by providing paired sets of driving instructions, allowing the undriven area to be driven while maintain the desired (undriven) optical state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 1, 2021
    Publication date: May 5, 2022
    Inventors: Kenneth R. CROUNSE, Yuval BEN-DOV, Stephen J. TELFER, Jaya KUMAR
  • Publication number: 20220139338
    Abstract: Methods for efficiently clearing previous state information when driving a multi-particle color electrophoretic medium, for example, wherein at least two of the particles are colored and subtractive and at least one of the particles is scattering. Typically, such a system includes a white particle and cyan, yellow, and magenta subtractive primary colored particles. The clearing pulse may include two different portions of alternating impulses and the overall waveform may be DC balanced.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2021
    Publication date: May 5, 2022
    Inventors: Irina PAYKIN, Stephen J. TELFER, Kenneth R. CROUNSE
  • Publication number: 20220068229
    Abstract: A method for driving an electrophoretic display having a plurality of display pixels, the method comprising dividing the plurality of display pixels into a plurality of groups, updating one group of display pixels from the plurality of groups of display pixels, the one group of display pixels includes at least n number of adjacent display pixels being updated at the same time, wherein n is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and applying an edge clearing waveform to no more than (n×2)+2 number of cardinal pixels of the one group of display pixels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2021
    Publication date: March 3, 2022
    Inventors: Teck Ping Sim, Paroma Palchoudhuri, Kenneth R. Crounse, Yuval Ben-Dov, Karl Raymond Amundson
  • Patent number: 11265443
    Abstract: An image is rendered on a display having a limited number of primary colors by (104) combining input data representing the color of a pixel to be rendered with error data to form modified input data, determining in a color space the simplex (208—typically a tetrahedron) enclosing the modified input data and the primary colors associated with the simplex, converting (210) the modified image data to barycentric coordinates based upon the primary colors associated with the simplex and (212) setting output data to the primary having the largest barycentric coordinate. calculating (214) the difference between the modified input data and the output data for the pixel, thus generating error data, applying (106) this error data to at least one later-rendered pixel, and applying the output data to the display and thus rendering the image on the display. Apparatus and computer-storage media for carrying out this process are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: E Ink Corporation
    Inventor: Kenneth R. Crounse
  • Publication number: 20220019119
    Abstract: An electrophoretic medium includes a fluid, a first, light scattering particle (typically white) and second, third and fourth particles having three subtractive primary colors (typically magenta, cyan and yellow); at least two of these colored particles being non-light scattering. The first and second particles bear polymer coatings such that the electric field required to separate an aggregate formed by the third and the fourth particles is greater than that required to separate an aggregate formed from any other two types of particles. Methods for driving the medium to produce white, black, magenta, cyan, yellow, red, green and blue colors are also described.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2021
    Publication date: January 20, 2022
    Inventors: Stephen J. TELFER, Richard J. PAOLINI, JR., Karl Raymond AMUNDSON, Kenneth R. CROUNSE, Alain BOUCHARD, Sunil Krishna SAINIS
  • Publication number: 20220004073
    Abstract: An electro-optic display is provided that may include a layer of light-transmissive conductive material, a substrate, a layer of an electro-optic medium disposed between the layer of conductive material and the substrate, a color filter array, and a light emitting layer. The electro-optic medium may include a photo-luminescent material that functions as either a down-converter or an up-converter that may be excited by the light received from the light emitting layer. The photo-luminescent material may be excited by radiation having a first wavelength transmitted by a filter within the color filter array and emit radiation having a second wavelength transmitted by the filter. The photo-luminescent material may also be excited by radiation at a wavelength within a first and second range of wavelengths transmitted by two filters within the color filter array and emit radiation at a wavelength within one of the first and second ranges.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2021
    Publication date: January 6, 2022
    Inventors: Kenneth R. CROUNSE, Stephen J. TELFER, Dirk HERTEL
  • Patent number: 11195481
    Abstract: An electrophoretic display comprising a fluid including a first species of particles and a charge control agent disposed between first and second electrodes. When a first addressing impulse have an electrical polarity is applied to the medium, the first species of particles move in one direction relative to the electric field, but when a second addressing impulse, larger than the first addressing impulse but having the same electrical polarity, is applied to the medium, the first species of particles move in the opposed direction relative to the electric field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: E Ink Corporation
    Inventors: Stephen J. Telfer, Stephen Bull, Alain Bouchard, Craig A. Herb, Kosta Ladavac, Ana L. Lattes, Jennifer M. Morrison, Richard J. Paolini, Jr., Michael Thomas Regan, Luke M. Slominski, Lee Yezek, Kenneth R. Crounse, J. Ryan Kruse, Christopher L. Hoogeboom, Jason D. Feick, David Darrell Miller
  • Patent number: 11195480
    Abstract: There are provided display controllers and driving methods related to those described in US Published Patent Application No. 2013/0194250.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: E Ink Corporation
    Inventors: Pierre-Yves Emelie, Kenneth R. Crounse, Karl Raymond Amundson
  • Publication number: 20210375183
    Abstract: There are provided methods for driving an electro-optic display having a plurality of display pixels, a such method includes detecting a white-to-white graytone transition on a first pixel; and determining whether a threshold number of cardinal neighbors of the first pixel are not making a graytone transition from white to white, or if the first pixel is a color pixel, and apply a first waveform.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 30, 2021
    Publication date: December 2, 2021
    Inventor: Kenneth R. CROUNSE
  • Publication number: 20210375217
    Abstract: A variety of methods for driving electro-optic displays so as to reduce visible artifacts are described. Such methods include (a) applying a first drive scheme to a non-zero minor proportion of the pixels of the display and a second drive scheme to the remaining pixels, the pixels using the first drive scheme being changed at each transition; (b) using two different drive schemes on different groups of pixels so that pixels in differing groups undergoing the same transition will not experience the same waveform; (c) applying either a balanced pulse pair or a top-off pulse to a pixel undergoing a white-to-white transition and lying adjacent a pixel undergoing a visible transition; (d) driving extra pixels where the boundary between a driven and undriven area would otherwise fall along a straight line; and (e) driving a display with both DC balanced and DC imbalanced drive schemes, maintaining an impulse bank value for the DC imbalance and modifying transitions to reduce the impulse bank value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2021
    Publication date: December 2, 2021
    Inventors: Karl Raymond AMUNDSON, Matthew J. APREA, Kenneth R. CROUNSE, Demetrious Mark HARRINGTON, Jason LIN, Theodore A. SJODIN, Chia-Chen SU
  • Publication number: 20210366346
    Abstract: An electro-optic display having a plurality of pixels is driven from a first image to a second image using a first drive scheme, and then from the second image to a third image using a second drive scheme different from the first drive scheme and having at least one impulse differential gray level having an impulse potential different from the corresponding gray level in the first drive scheme. Each pixel which is in an impulse differential gray level in the second image is driven from the second image to the third image using a modified version of the second drive scheme which reduces its impulse differential The subsequent transition from the third image to a fourth image is also conducted using the modified second drive scheme but after a limited number of transitions using the modified second drive scheme, all subsequent transitions are conducted using the unmodified second drive scheme.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 28, 2021
    Publication date: November 25, 2021
    Inventors: Demetrious Mark HARRINGTON, Kenneth R. CROUNSE, Karl Raymond AMUNDSON, Teck Ping SIM, Matthew J. APREA