epd 3.0.1

EPD library for MpicoSys Timing Controllers (TC/TCM), including color conversion

EPD (ePaper Display) library for MpicoSys Timing Controller Modules (TCM) for E Ink displays

MpicoSys timing controllers (TCM) can be used to drive large size E ink displays, providing the conversion from an image file to the timing signals that are needed to display the image on the screen. The MpicoSys TCMs use a specific image file format (.epd) to send the image data to the TCM. This Library provides tools to convert any image format to the MpicoSys .epd format.

Available MpicoSys TCM's for E ink displays

There are currently two generations of TCM's available TCM2 (generation2) and TCM3 (Generation3), where TCM3 offers a graphical library. TCM2 and TCM3 are available in 2 versions - Flash for limited number of updates and SRAM for high amount of updates, e.g. Realtime Passenger Information.

1. TCM for Monochrome (B/W) E Ink displays

Display	E-INK code	MpicoSys TCM
7.8"	ED078KC1	TCM2
9.7"	ED097TC2	TCM2
11.3"	ED113TC1	TCM2
13.3"	ED133UT2/UT3	TCM2 and TCM3
28"		TCM3
31.2"	ED312TT2	TCM2
42"	ED420TT1	TCM2

2. TCM3 for COLOR - Kaleido E Ink displays - SRAM version

Display	E-INK code	MpicoSys TCM
13.3"	SD1452-NCB	TCM3

The differences between TCM2 and TCM3 are

	TCM2	TCM3
Interface	SPI	RS485 or USB
Greylevels	2 or 4	2,4 or 16
Graphical lib	no	yes

How to find out controller version?

The TCM3 boards have a printed logo "Timing controller Module V3"

TCM3 (Timing Controller Module version 3)

The example below uses USB to connect to the TCM3 from the host.

This library requires:

• Pillow (image conversion)
• pyusb (for use with TCM as USB device, test code)

Black-white, grey scale

import epd.tcm3_usb
import epd.tcm.TCGen3
import epd.image
from PIL import Image
import os

path = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))

dev = epd.tcm3_usb.USBDevice(vendor_id=0x6666, product_id=0x6666)
TCM3 = epd.tcm.TCGen3.TCGen3()

# for BW display
img = Image.open(os.path.join(path,"skm.png"))              # open image
img = epd.image.pilimage_to_1bit(img)                       # make sure the image is: paletted and 1 bit only
                                                            # conversion to 2 bit and 4 bit to be done

epd_file = TCM3.get_epd_file(img=img)                       # create epd file data format
epd_file_command = TCM3.WriteToDisplay(epd_file)            # create epd command with file data

dev.write(0x01, epd_file_command)                           # send file to usb device (default endpoint 0x01)
TCM3.parse_response(dev.read(0x81, 60, 5000))               # read response

dev.write(0x01, TCM3.DisplayUpdate(0))                       # send Display Update command to the display
TCM3.parse_response(dev.read(0x81, 60, 5000))               # read response

see full example at: epd.test.epd_test_tcm3

Color, E Ink Kaleido™

As for now (20-03-2024) this library was tested on 13.3 E Ink Kaleido display only. https://shopkits.eink.com/en/product/detail/13.3%27%27Kaleido3ePaperDisplay The color is achieved by having a color fiter on each pixel (CFA, color filter array)

import epd.tcm3_usb
import epd.tcm.TCGen3
import epd.kaleido
from PIL import Image
import os

path = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))

dev = epd.tcm3_usb.USBDevice(vendor_id=0x6666, product_id=0x6666)
TCM3 = epd.tcm.TCGen3.TCGen3()

img = Image.open(os.path.join(path,"domek.jpg"))            # open image

# for kaleido colour display 1 bit per pixel driving
epd_file = epd.kaleido.convert_1bpp(img.tobytes())          # convert image bytes to epd TCM3 file format

epd_file_command = TCM3.WriteToDisplay(epd_file)            # create epd command with file data

dev.write(0x01, epd_file_command)                           # send file to usb device (default endpoint 0x01)
TCM3.parse_response(dev.read(0x81, 60, 5000))               # read response

dev.write(0x01, TCM3.DisplayUpdate())                       # send Display Update command to the display
TCM3.parse_response(dev.read(0x81, 60, 5000))               # read response


# for kaleido colour display 2 bit per pixel driving
epd_file = epd.kaleido.convert_2bpp(img.tobytes())          # convert image bytes to epd TCM3 file format

epd_file_command = TCM3.WriteToDisplay(epd_file)            # create epd command with file data

dev.write(0x01, epd_file_command)                           # send file to usb device (default endpoint 0x01)
TCM3.parse_response(dev.read(0x81, 60, 5000))               # read response

dev.write(0x01, TCM3.DisplayUpdate())                       # send Display Update command to the display
TCM3.parse_response(dev.read(0x81, 60, 5000))               # read response


# for kaleido colour display 4 bit per pixel driving
epd_file = epd.kaleido.convert_4bpp(img.tobytes())          # convert image bytes to epd TCM3 file format

epd_file_command = TCM3.WriteToDisplay(epd_file)            # create epd command with file data

dev.write(0x01, epd_file_command)                           # send file to usb device (default endpoint 0x01)
TCM3.parse_response(dev.read(0x81, 60, 5000))               # read response

dev.write(0x01, TCM3.DisplayUpdate())                       # send Display Update command to the display
TCM3.parse_response(dev.read(0x81, 60, 5000))               # read response

TCM2 (Timing Controller Module version 2)

This library consist of the following parts:

• image preparation for use with 1 and 2 bit color ePaper display,
• image conversion and compression to TCM format,
• commands formatting for use with TCM,

Image preparation

from PIL import Image
import epd.image

img = Image.open("test_image.png")
img1bit = epd.image.pilimage_to_1bit(img)
img2bit = epd.image.pilimage_to_2bit(img)

### Image conversion to EPD data
import epd.convert
not_compressed_epd_data = epd.convert.toType0_1bit(img1bit.tobytes())
compressed_data =  epd.convert.compress_lz(no_compressed_data)

### TCM Commands formatting 
import epd.tcm

img = Image.open("test_133_image.png")
tcm = epd.tcm.TCM(system_version_code)
epd_data = tcm.get_epd_header(img)+tcm.convert(img)

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