Malvern-based bistable LCD firm ZBD Displays has chosen a proprietary wireless protocol for its shelf-edge display system.
“The key requirement is very low power consumption. We looked at ZigBee but it was not mature and the very low power requirement was not satisfied,” MD Clive Mayne told
EW. “ZigBee is something that we might move towards, but it is not quite there yet.”
Excessive power consumption made Wi-Fi and Bluetooth non-starters, said Mayne.
Few details of the protocol are available. “We worked with TTPCom to develop it and assembled our own team of software and electrical engineers to build-up our expertise,” said Mayne whose firm previously only developed display intellectual property (IP).
The result is a self-contained display unit (pictured) complete with radio that runs for five years between battery changes.
ZBD is calling the display unit ‘epop’ (electronic point-of-purchase) and its wireless protocol ‘bounce’.
The actual LCD, based on the firm’s in-house zenithal bistable technology is QVGA (320x240) with 100dpi resolution. Being bistable, it only needs power to change the image, and not to maintain it.
Although ZBD has developed grey-scale IP, Mayne has concentrated the company’s efforts on two-state monochrome with maximum contrast. “Our monochrome displays totally satisfy the market we are aiming at,” he said.
To increase acceptance amongst supermarket operators, the firm has had to develop all the hardware for a complete system, including a central radio which plugs straight into a store’s Ethernet network.
It has also signed-up with supermarket systems companies to recognise the existence of epops. “Instead of printing a paper label, they send a file to our displays,” said Mayne.
As many foreseen applications are for delicatessen counters and other ‘loose’ labelling areas, the back of the epops has space for a product barcode which can be scanned to immediately connect any particular epop’s unique wireless code to a particular product.