Remote control/bluetooth lcd display

[jhmagic1]

Hello,

I am currently researching an idea and wanted to se if anyone can give me an insight to the project I am working on.

I ultimately want to find a way of using the attached circular display (approx 1.5 inches) as a display that can store 10 images that can be changed by remote control (one click of the remote displays the next stored image). The circular display must not be physically connected to anything storing the images.

I understand that photo frames are available on the market (picture also attached) that use this technology and was looking for a way of combining the two.

Is it even possible?

Thanks

 

[rjenkinsgb]

As long as you can get the technical data on the display - eg. what type of internal driver IC it uses and what signals it needs - it should be quite possible.

I have a prototype of a product on my bench right now that uses a 1.8" full colour LCD screen, with a DSPIC33 series microcontroller feeding it with graphics. That's displaying a user interface, mostly text plus small icon images, but there is no reason you cannot do the same with full screen images.

You can store a number of images in the internal flash memory of an MCU such as that (the one we are using has half a megabyte of flash), or also have an interface to an SD card and read images from the card for display, as with the photo frame type units.
That allows many gigabytes of storage for images, depending on the SD card in use.

 

[jhmagic1]

Thanks rjenkinsgb

Attached a mock up of how it would look. The two circular screens would go back to back and would be on a necklace with the screens looking like a pendant. Both screens would have separate remotes.

 

[gophert]

How frequently do you want to update the image from a remote device and how long should the battery last? How big can the battery be?

Do you have a link to the display so we can budget that power draw into the battery life expectancy?

 

[Pommie]

If the display is not connected to the device storing the images then it becomes tricky. Why can't the images be stored on the device?

Mike.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

As long as you can get the technical data on the display - eg. what type of internal driver IC it uses and what signals it needs - it should be quite possible.

I have a prototype of a product on my bench right now that uses a 1.8" full colour LCD screen, with a DSPIC33 series microcontroller feeding it with graphics. That's displaying a user interface, mostly text plus small icon images, but there is no reason you cannot do the same with full screen images.

You can do it with 8 bit PIC's as well, particularly the 18F series. I've had a number of simple 'picture frame' examples running feeding various different sizes of TFT displays - the trick is to convert the pictures to the exact resolution of the display, and store them as non-compressed BMP files. Obviously you have to store them in external data storage, an SD card makes the ideal solution.

Displaying JPG files takes MUCH longer, and a great deal more processing power.

So he needs the display, a processor, an SD card slot, a remote control receiver (of whatever type he wishes), a power supply, the various interconnecting circuitry, and a big chunk of software.

As Pommie has already mentioned, it's pretty well essential to store the pictures in the device (on an SD card for example), there's also some concern about how long the batteries are expected to last?.

 

[jhmagic1]

Pommie Attached a mock up of how it would look. The two circular screens would go back to back and would be on a necklace with the screens looking like a pendant. Both screens would have separate remotes.

 

[Pommie]

Pommie Attached a mock up of how it would look. The two circular screens would go back to back and would be on a necklace with the screens looking like a pendant. Both screens would have separate remotes.

And the answer to my question is?

Mike.

 

[jhmagic1]

And the answer to my question is?

Mike.

Because the screens would essentially have to look like a pendant on a necklace it would mean it couldn't be attached physically to any external device. So would an SD card with the images on and a bluetooth receiver for each screen suffice?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Are the two pendants not connected in any way?.

 

[jhmagic1]

Are the two pendants not connected in any way?.

The two circular screens will be back to back to essentially look like a pendant. Can be connected if needed.

 

[gophert]

Again, how do you plan to power these two displays and the hardware needed to put pictures on the screens?
How many milliamps and, what voltage do the displays need?

How long do the displays have to operate on one set of batteries?

 

[jhmagic1]

Again, how do you plan to power these two displays and the hardware needed to put pictures on the screens?
How many milliamps and, what voltage do the displays need?

How long do the displays have to operate on one set of batteries?

This is what Im trying to find out. The displays will only have to be on for about 1 minute at a time. Would cell batteries work? Here is the link with specs http://www.lcddisplaymodule.com/sal...d-display-1-39-inch-amoled-module-screen.html

 

[Dr_Doggy]

what if we take 2 galaxy gears cut off the wrist band and glue them back to back , not sure if they can display photos though?

 

[gophert]

This is what Im trying to find out. The displays will only have to be on for about 1 minute at a time. Would cell batteries work? Here is the link with specs http://www.lcddisplaymodule.com/sal...d-display-1-39-inch-amoled-module-screen.html

All batteries are cells. Can you be more specific? Are you talking about a coin cell battery?

 

[jhmagic1]

All batteries are cells. Can you be more specific? Are you talking about a coin cell battery?

Yes sorry, coin cell.

 

[gophert]

Yes sorry, coin cell.

You'll have to contact the manufacturer of the display. There is no info on the current draw.

A Bluetooth module can be found that transmits/receives at only 10mA. You'll need a microcontroller to drive it.

If you have stock objects that the display will show, you may as well load them onto a microcontroller and just just blutooth to say which image (1, 2, 3...) needs to be displayed.

Battery life will depend on display current.

 

[Pommie]

As the display is intended to be used for a watch I would assume battery life would not be a problem. Do the images need to be generated as needed or can they be preprepared - such as a pack of cards.

Mike.

 

[jhmagic1]

As the display is intended to be used for a watch I would assume battery life would not be a problem. Do the images need to be generated as needed or can they be preprepared - such as a pack of cards.

Mike.

Not sure what you mean by 'generated as needed or can they be preprepared'.

 

[Pommie]

If the trick involes a deck of cards then 52 image s are required and can be stored on an sd card. If it's a word, place, person then the lmage will have to be generated. In the first case a number from 0 (no image) to 52 need be transmitted, in the later case the whole image has to be transmitted.

Mike.