Fast Updates on Sharp Memory LCDs
Background Monochrome liquid crystal displays have been in existence for many years. The original use case was for super low power segmented displays on calculators and watches. Each display segment was directly controlled by the microcontroller and required a tiny bit of power to hold it in the 'on' state. Over time, APA (all points addressable) aka dot matrix displays were created to show images and more complex data. The traditional method of creating a dot matrix LCD display is to have a dedicated controller (simple MCU), RAM and a communications interface. This is how almost all modern dot matrix LCDs are made (see Sitronix LCD controllers). This allows for very high resolution displays to be managed with a simpler command interface and the dedicated controller chip is responsible for scanning the rows and columns to keep the LCD pixels current with the RAM contents. Dedicated dot matrix LCD controllers simplify utilizing these displays in products, but they come at a cos...