Scientists create new electronic paper that may even be able to show movies

CNews ^ | 09/26/03 | RICK CALLAHAN

[bedolido]

(AP) - Scientists have created a new type of "electronic paper" that may one day enable books and newspapers to show full-colour movies.

Tiny dots packed in columns and rows on the paper can change colours in just one one-hundredth of a second, fast enough that a whole array of these dots could display video images, said Robert A. Hayes, a scientist at Philips Research Laboratories in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. But before the movies can begin, Hayes said researchers need to devise a system to control each dot's rapid changes.

He said the first products are three or four years away, and would probably have only one colour at first.

The findings are reported in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, the latest in a series of developments in producing paper that can change the images it shows.

"You could see this leading to displays everywhere, the sides of trucks with live displays on them - like Times Square but moving," Robert Wisnieff, senior manager of IBM Corp.'s Advanced Display Technology Laboratory in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. "Imagine the traffic accidents."

The electronic paper is not really paper at all, but electronics embedded in a flexible piece of plastic as thin as a sheet of paper. It would have to be connected to a power source, such as a cellphone or a handheld organizer.

The paper's display surface is four times brighter than reflective liquid-crystal displays, such as those seen on mobile phones and personal digital assistants, Hayes said.

The Philips researchers developed two kinds of electronic paper. In the first system, each dot in the experimental paper contains water with a single layer of coloured oil, along with an underlying transparent electrode and white foil.

The viewer sees the colour of the oil, unless an electrical signal is applied that moves the oil aside. That reveals the white foil underneath.

The researchers have taken that system a step further by creating dots that contain two layers of coloured oil. Each of these dots is divided into three compartments, each containing combinations of cyan, magenta or yellow oils.

Each compartment is covered by a coloured filter. Its hue depends on the colours of the oils beneath.

These compartments can be switched independently and are capable of displaying a variety of colours. That is achieved by varying which of the two coloured oils in each compartment is pushed aside or left in place.

Hayes said this system can display a full palette of red, blue, green, cyan, magenta or yellow and black along with intermediate shades.

The researchers are not the first to produce a form of electronic paper.

But Aris Silzars, former president of the Society of Information Display in San Jose, Calif., said the new material has some advantages over other forms, including its apparent ability to rapidly switch among a range of colours.

If Philips researchers can overcome the technical challenges, he said its first use would probably be in cellphones or handheld organizers.

[bedolido]

Talk about flat screen TV's

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

Check out Universal Display........PANL............

[Dr. Frank fan]

I think Neal Stephenson already wrote a book about this.

[kaktuskid]

It'll make reading Playboy a whole new experience!

[MineralMan]

"Talk about flat screen TV's"

More extreme than that. Consider that if they're planning this material to be cheap enough to be disposable, big screen TVs could come down in cost to just a couple hundred dollars or so. Bye-bye to $3K plasma screens.

I like the sound of this.

[mtbopfuyn]

Kewl! Just like Harry Potter's Chocolate Frog candy.

[bedolido]

maps that move with you by GPS. Magazines that don't need pages (just one), phone books, playboy, drivers licenses, how about toilet paper that says "please don't!" or comes with it's own crap.

[ArrogantBustard]

The really neat feature of this sort of thing is that it doesn't have to be flat. One could, theoretically, cover a vehicle with this stuff or make clothing out of it. The possible applications are mind boggling.

The IEEE "Spectrum" magazine featured this within the last year or so. There's another possible technology employing organic LEDs, arrays of which can be printed in several layers using a machine similar to an inkjet printer. Again, the substrate is cheap and flexible.

[MineralMan]

"The really neat feature of this sort of thing is that it doesn't have to be flat. One could, theoretically, cover a vehicle with this stuff or make clothing out of it. The possible applications are mind boggling.
The IEEE "Spectrum" magazine featured this within the last year or so. There's another possible technology employing organic LEDs, arrays of which can be printed in several layers using a machine similar to an inkjet printer. Again, the substrate is cheap and flexible.


"

I like the printed idea. How about a car body covered with these things, complete with a controller in the car that would let you control color or even graphics on the car. The Rice Boys would love it!

[bedolido]

The IEEE "Spectrum" magazine featured this within the last year or so. There's another possible technology employing organic LEDs, arrays of which can be printed in several layers using a machine similar to an inkjet printer. Again, the substrate is cheap and flexible.

What about clothing? Something similar to the Kings New Clothes. It could reflect your mood.

[ArrogantBustard]

Ricers, Lowriders, Uncle Sam ...

Imagine clothing with the sort of psychedelic displays as come with WinAmp and other PC music players. The techno dance club crowd would certainly get into that...

Somebody's going to make a fortune off this, and it won't just be the people selling TVs and computer monitors.

[demnomo]

Alien back-engineering...;)

[Blood of Tyrants]

If you have seen "Red Planet" (the one with Val Kelmer), you will have seen a preview as he unrolls his electronic plastic film map.

[Prodigal Son]

Pretty cool.

[IGOTMINE]

This could be used in fabric for camouflage uniforms. I think there is already a program under way to provide this chameleon like capability.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Hmmm, sounds like the "cloak of invisiblity" that the aliens wore on "Predator".

[Junior]

I'd like my cubicle walls to be made of this stuff. I could get rid of my monitor and have the computer controll the display on all four walls. Instead of static webshots, I could have one wall display an animated beach scene or forest (complete with sounds). I could use the wall in front of me for data work and I could use another wall for calendars and notes. It would be awesome.

[Mark17]

Bye-bye to $3K plasma screens.

Where do you live? I want to go there and buy a plasma TV. I went to the Good Guys here in Northern California a few days ago, and I wish I could have gotten one for $3K.

[Lokibob]

The invisable man wasn't really invisable, he was translucent.

To be truly invisable, you need something like this that blends into the background.

I will do a search on the DARPA web site and see if they are looking at this technology. Bet they are.

[Jotmo]

Just think of this. A military vehicle (Take your pick) covered with this stuff. Small digital cameras all around it. The digital paper/cloth displays the scenery that is directly opposite the side of the vehicle of the display. Almost perfect camouflage adaptable to all conditions. Practically invisible.