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Brian · 02-07-2006, 07:38 PM

You may have seen an artist's futuristic renderings of flexible digital newspapers in movies like Minority Report. As more readers satisfy their appetite for text online while hitting the books less frequently, the need for foldable, rollable, flexible color displays is increasing with every passing day.

Flexible tablet-sized E-Ink displays are promising, and while their grayscale-only screens provide excellent readability for text, their slow refresh rates are not suitable for full motion video and other rich media content. With the help of some U.S. Department of Defense funding, Universal Display Corporation of Ewing, New Jersey, has created a prototype display that could allow for that futuristic digital newspaper to soon become a reality.

Universal Display showed off their rollable four inch diagonal full color active matrix OLED prototype display today at the United States Display Consortium's Fifth Annual Flexible Displays and Microelectronics Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The display is only .04 inches thick and weighs in at .2 ounces, and runs full motion video using metal foil. According to the company, their display technology has the potential to "create exciting, new product possibilities" which include:

Low-power, bright, colorful cell phones
Full color, high-resolution, personal communicators
Wrist-mounted, featherweight, rugged PDAs
Wearable, form-fitting, electronic displays
Full-color, high resolution, portable Internet devices and palm size computers
High-contrast automotive instrument and windshield displays
Heads-up instrumentation for aircraft and automobiles
Automobile light systems without bulbs
Flexible, lightweight, thin, durable, and highly efficient laptop screens
Roll-up, electronic, daily-refreshable newspaper
Ultra-lightweight, wall-size television monitor
Office windows, walls and partitions that double as computer screens
Color-changing lighting panels and light walls for home and office
Low-cost organic lasers
Computer-controlled, electronic shelf pricing for supermarkets and retail stores
Smart goggles/helmets for scuba divers, motorcycle riders
Medical test equipment
Wide area, full-motion video camcorders
Global positioning systems (GPS)
Integrated computer displaying eyewear
Rugged military portable communication devices

This new display technology could allow for some interesting new form factors, giving portable device designers the freedom to escape from their quandary. Universal Display hopes to use this display technology to develop their "Universal Communication Device", which they described as a pen-like device that would allow a user to unroll a thin, metal screen for visual and verbal communication.

Read the full press release here.

Related: As E Ink approaches the performance of newspaper

Source: The Inquirer via Gizmodo

02-07-2006, 07:38 PM	#1
Brian MobileRead Editor Posts: 447 Karma: 84 Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Massachusetts Device: Treo 700p, Zodiac2	Rollable color OLED prototype display You may have seen an artist's futuristic renderings of flexible digital newspapers in movies like Minority Report. As more readers satisfy their appetite for text online while hitting the books less frequently, the need for foldable, rollable, flexible color displays is increasing with every passing day. Flexible tablet-sized E-Ink displays are promising, and while their grayscale-only screens provide excellent readability for text, their slow refresh rates are not suitable for full motion video and other rich media content. With the help of some U.S. Department of Defense funding, Universal Display Corporation of Ewing, New Jersey, has created a prototype display that could allow for that futuristic digital newspaper to soon become a reality. Universal Display showed off their rollable four inch diagonal full color active matrix OLED prototype display today at the United States Display Consortium's Fifth Annual Flexible Displays and Microelectronics Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The display is only .04 inches thick and weighs in at .2 ounces, and runs full motion video using metal foil. According to the company, their display technology has the potential to "create exciting, new product possibilities" which include: Low-power, bright, colorful cell phones Full color, high-resolution, personal communicators Wrist-mounted, featherweight, rugged PDAs Wearable, form-fitting, electronic displays Full-color, high resolution, portable Internet devices and palm size computers High-contrast automotive instrument and windshield displays Heads-up instrumentation for aircraft and automobiles Automobile light systems without bulbs Flexible, lightweight, thin, durable, and highly efficient laptop screens Roll-up, electronic, daily-refreshable newspaper Ultra-lightweight, wall-size television monitor Office windows, walls and partitions that double as computer screens Color-changing lighting panels and light walls for home and office Low-cost organic lasers Computer-controlled, electronic shelf pricing for supermarkets and retail stores Smart goggles/helmets for scuba divers, motorcycle riders Medical test equipment Wide area, full-motion video camcorders Global positioning systems (GPS) Integrated computer displaying eyewear Rugged military portable communication devices This new display technology could allow for some interesting new form factors, giving portable device designers the freedom to escape from their quandary. Universal Display hopes to use this display technology to develop their "Universal Communication Device", which they described as a pen-like device that would allow a user to unroll a thin, metal screen for visual and verbal communication. Read the full press release here. Related: As E Ink approaches the performance of newspaper Source: The Inquirer via Gizmodo