E Ink Holdings, the leading innovator of electronic ink technology, announced that the E Ink Spectra 3100 All-in-One Driver IC won the Computex Taipei 2021 Best Choice Award, Category Award for its creative features and innovative values after winning 2019 Best Choice Category Award with E Ink Hardware TCON (T1000).
In April 2021, E Ink announced the four-color E Ink Spectra™ 3100 as a next generation ink platform to support Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) and retail signage. E Ink Spectra 3100 features four colored pigments within each Microcup, giving the displays highly saturated Black, White, Red and Yellow vs the prior generation’s three.
The E Ink Spectra 3100 All-in-One (AIO) Driver IC Series was co-developed by E Ink, Solomon-Systech, ITE Tech. Inc, and Himax Technologies, respectively. It integrates TFT source/gate drivers, power management, and an E Ink specific timing controller for the newly launched four-color ePaper, and it also has the ability to drive up to eight colors on the ePaper display.
The Spectra 3100 AIO Driver IC Series design has upgraded specifications in order to match the needs and requirements in Smart Retail 2.0. New features included in this IC:
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Sharper text
Spectra 3100 with four colors is able to present more information and image combinations compared with the previous three-color or monochrome ePaper display. The Spectra 3100 AIO Driver IC can make the text-edge sharper with the E Ink image algorithm implemented on the IC.
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More power efficient
Smart Retail uses dynamic pricing more often than before. Retailers are expected to update price tag information more than three times during a day, and the tag battery life time needs to last between five to seven years. ePaper displays need to be more power efficient when updating images. The Spectra 3100 AIO Driver IC consumes less power than the previous generation of driver IC.
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Data security
The Spectra 3100 AIO Driver IC integrates encrypted E Ink specific algorithms which prevents hacking during data transmission and ensures correct and vivid images are displayed.
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Enabling more interactive images
Smart Retail requires more interaction with consumers than before. The E Ink Spectra 3100 AIO Driver IC has the capability of incorporating the sparkling flashing mode, E Ink Sparkle™, when changing images, offering more flexibility to retailers during promotion campaigns.
Using the Spectra 3100 AIO Driver IC total solution makes design-in fast and easy. Electronic shelf label system integrators are able to shorten their time to market when adopting the four-color Spectra 3100 ePaper. In addition, the Spectra 3100 AIO Driver IC can support multi-color ePaper, such as the seven-color E Ink Gallery™ Palette, which can be used in areas such as smart digital badges, movable advertisement, indoor signage and more.
E Ink co-developed the Spectra 3100 AIO Driver IC Series with ecosystem partners. Low power consumption is one of the key features and aligns with the UN ESG that helps companies meet their ESG considerations for sustainable development and environmental friendliness; which have become critical criterion to be considered for key component selection. The Spectra All-in-One driver IC makes the four-color ePaper, E Ink Spectra 3100, and the multi-color ePaper, E Ink Gallery Palette, perfect candidates for sustainable display technologies.
“E Ink is excited to be awarded the Computex Best Choice Award,” said FY Gan, President of E Ink. “We have worked closely with our ecosystem partners throughout the years to continue improvements that provide value and innovation to our customers. The entire team is to be congratulated on their close teamwork.”
About E Ink Holdings
E Ink Holdings Inc. (8069.TWO), based on technology from MIT’s Media Lab, has transformed and defined the eReader market, enabling a new multi-billion dollar market in less than 10 years. E Ink’s low power products are ideal for IoT applications ranging from retail, home, hospital, transportation and more, enabling customers to put displays in locations previously impossible. The Company’s corporate philosophy aims to deliver revolutionary products, user experiences and environmental benefits through advanced technology development. This vision has led to its continuous investments in the field of ePaper displays as well as expanding the use of its technologies into a number of other markets and applications including smart packaging and fashion. Its Electrophoretic Display products make it the worldwide leader for ePaper. Its Fringe Field Switching (FFS) technologies are a standard for high-end LCD displays and have been licensed to all major liquid crystal display makers in the world. Listed in Taiwan’s Taipei Exchange (TPEx) and the Luxembourg market, E Ink Holdings is now the world’s largest supplier of ePaper displays.
