Source: Economic Daily
When discussing patents for e-paper, one cannot overlook the foresight of E Ink Technology. Over 20 years ago, E Ink actively laid out its e-paper patent strategy, establishing a comprehensive patent network through acquisitions. According to the intellectual property office, E Ink’s e-paper patent family exceeds 700 patents, and with applications in other regions, it is estimated to have at least over 3000 approved patents related to e-paper.
The vast patent pool has established E Ink’s exclusive dominance in the e-paper industry, deterring newcomers from entering the market. Additionally, the marginal benefits of acquiring the Korean Hydis panel factory, obtaining FFS technology patents, and being adopted by Apple for mobile phones have made wide-angle LCD displays mainstream. Over the years, E Ink has licensed major panel manufacturers to produce, generating hundreds of billions in royalties, which has been a key factor in E Ink’s transition from losses to current success.
The patents for e-paper are generally distributed across four main areas: the production of electronic ink, the creation of microcapsules and microcup films, the driving methods for e-paper, and the structure of e-paper modules. The original patents for black and white electronic ink, microcapsules, and microcup films have expired, while the electronic ink for multi-color particles is still under patent protection. The driving patents for black and white colors and the original patents for Array glass backplanes have also expired, but the patents for driving multi-color particles are still protected. This is the main reason E Ink focuses on the research and development of multi-color particle inks and driving ICs, as these two patents can support E Ink’s dominance in e-paper for another 5 to 10 years.
Patents, driving ICs, and four-color particle inks are E Ink’s most important assets. No one understands the principles of e-paper better than E Ink, which has invested over 20 years and hundreds of millions in research and development. Chinese competitors have struggled in the driving IC area, unable to keep pace with E Ink; even if they successfully create electronic ink or replace microcapsules with microcup films, they will still struggle to succeed without effective driving ICs.
In light of this, Speedy Innovation has researched the principles of e-paper with a different approach from E Ink, integrating years of R&D experience to discover new working principles, thus pioneering an innovative full-color e-paper structure and color algorithm.
Speedy Innovation’s breakthrough idea is that when the road ahead seems long and uncertain, going backward may actually be the fastest way to reach the destination. Their solution is to take a reverse approach, which has indeed resolved long-standing issues in e-paper through reverse thinking. Speedy Innovation has developed a new solution comparable to mainstream e-paper with minimal manpower, resources, time, and costs.
From the back view of the e-paper, it is evident that Speedy Innovation’s new technology and patents are the core. This change alters the structure and driving methods of e-paper from the source, diverging from E Ink’s driving principles, resulting in two completely different approaches. Speedy Innovation took only six months to develop the patented technology into a driving IC and validate its excellence, proving that the new method is indeed simple and feasible.
Speedy Innovation states that the new technology focuses on a full-color e-paper solution using color filters, directly integrating the color filters into the transparent Array control backplane using yellow light processing (Color filter On Array). This thoroughly addresses the yield issues caused by the precise alignment required between the existing color filter solutions and the color ink film, significantly reducing the overall production costs of this full-color e-paper solution; the larger the size, the greater the reduction.
Speedy Innovation has invested tens of millions in e-paper patent layout, deploying over 110 patent applications in key countries, with more than 70 patents already approved, completing the first phase of patent network deployment.As a result, Speedy Innovation has become the second upstream company after E Ink to engage in patent licensing and technology transfer.Speedy Innovation has established a complete and entirely new set of upper-level patents for e-paper, which is conducive to promoting significant changes and vigorous development in the e-paper industry.
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ePaper Insight is a sub-brand under CINNO focused on e-paper industry research. ePaper Insight provides professional industry consulting and customized reports based on years of in-depth observation and data accumulation in the e-paper industry, offering comprehensive services for corporate future development planning, strategic layout, investment mergers and acquisitions, IPO consulting, etc., accompanying the entire growth cycle of enterprises.