MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Aura HD IR touch after display swap inoperative

rscheff · 01-20-2022, 04:03 PM

Hi,

I would appreciate some detailed instructions as to how to make the IR touch work again.

The ordeal started, when my Aura HD (N204B) got fully stuck - neither of the usual options to hard reset it would work. Thus I decided to make it really boot up anew by pulling the battery..

However, while opening the case, the glue between front bezel and display was not coming off well enough, and part of the display broke.

Good news, however, the hard power boot restored the Aura to its function, albeit part of the display was broken now - but IR touch still worked.

I went to buy a replacement e-Ink display with the proper connectors, and fully removed the old display - including that sticky glue from the IR waveguide and front bezel.

After conneting the new display, the e-Ink display would initalize and properly show the sleep screen with the cover of my last book, or the PIN login display.

However, I can no longer get the IR curtain ("touch") to work. I cleaned the bezel / waveguide multiple times.

I finally even got a camera without IR filter, and found that the zForce controller (NN1001) would only start the vertial IR LEDs, when it apparently "sees" some light from the horizontal IR LEDs. (Using a Raspi 2 Camera, which I could hack to 150-180 Hz framerate, but at the standard 30Hz framerate I can see the Nyquist flickering on the IR LED strip indicating the neonode IR controller runs at the 100Hz/33Hz).

All the minute IR waveguide plastic pins slide nicely into the PCB holes, and properly assembled, the IR cam can see all the LEDs on top/left to shine across the display surface...

The only thing I have not done was to put some IR-blocking tape in between the new display and the IR waveguide, to prevent it to couple "too much" IR into the glass panel, if that may interfere with the "shadows" and preventing the touch to get registered...

I have read that it can be really finnikey in getting "touch" work again after a display swap - but are there any more details to this process?

Also, there are 3 serial console ports - has anyone looked what these do, if they could be used to interface with the MCU?

Unfortunately, I have not found any datasheet on the zforce NN1001 A AS6P 2CI neonode controller - more modern ones appear to be emulating a USB HID plus having an I2C interface - I presume that old one may only have I2C...

if the aura hd would accept USB HID, I would even go to try out a USB mouse as new input device

If all else fails, I would appreciate hints how to open the firmware, and make the old Aura into a fancy e-Ink Clock or other semi-static display without user interaction need...

01-20-2022, 04:03 PM	#1
rscheff Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2022 Device: Kobo Aura HD	IR touch after display swap inoperative Hi, I would appreciate some detailed instructions as to how to make the IR touch work again. The ordeal started, when my Aura HD (N204B) got fully stuck - neither of the usual options to hard reset it would work. Thus I decided to make it really boot up anew by pulling the battery.. However, while opening the case, the glue between front bezel and display was not coming off well enough, and part of the display broke. Good news, however, the hard power boot restored the Aura to its function, albeit part of the display was broken now - but IR touch still worked. I went to buy a replacement e-Ink display with the proper connectors, and fully removed the old display - including that sticky glue from the IR waveguide and front bezel. After conneting the new display, the e-Ink display would initalize and properly show the sleep screen with the cover of my last book, or the PIN login display. However, I can no longer get the IR curtain ("touch") to work. I cleaned the bezel / waveguide multiple times. I finally even got a camera without IR filter, and found that the zForce controller (NN1001) would only start the vertial IR LEDs, when it apparently "sees" some light from the horizontal IR LEDs. (Using a Raspi 2 Camera, which I could hack to 150-180 Hz framerate, but at the standard 30Hz framerate I can see the Nyquist flickering on the IR LED strip indicating the neonode IR controller runs at the 100Hz/33Hz). All the minute IR waveguide plastic pins slide nicely into the PCB holes, and properly assembled, the IR cam can see all the LEDs on top/left to shine across the display surface... The only thing I have not done was to put some IR-blocking tape in between the new display and the IR waveguide, to prevent it to couple "too much" IR into the glass panel, if that may interfere with the "shadows" and preventing the touch to get registered... I have read that it can be really finnikey in getting "touch" work again after a display swap - but are there any more details to this process? Also, there are 3 serial console ports - has anyone looked what these do, if they could be used to interface with the MCU? Unfortunately, I have not found any datasheet on the zforce NN1001 A AS6P 2CI neonode controller - more modern ones appear to be emulating a USB HID plus having an I2C interface - I presume that old one may only have I2C... if the aura hd would accept USB HID, I would even go to try out a USB mouse as new input device If all else fails, I would appreciate hints how to open the firmware, and make the old Aura into a fancy e-Ink Clock or other semi-static display without user interaction need...