E Ink and Electronic Paper Display Technology
Viva La E Ink Revolution
"Is this your first time to Philips/LG VCC, Mr. Mitchum?" The hover cabbie asks in that detached tone that says I don’t really give a damn.
"Yeah," I answer back as my fingertips fish through my breast pocket.
"So what do you think of our lovely Processing Zone?" He shoots a sarcastic smile into the back seat monitor as we pass over an eco-lab, belching steam into our path.
"Too damn far from the Star-port," I answer, hoping to end this exercise. I unfold a sheet of e-paper from my jacket and tap it twice to bring up directions to the hotel. A colorful E Ink animation displays the route I’ll take from my current location. It determines the side lobby from Intel Way will be practically empty by the time we arrive.
"I'm gonna' need to enter on Intel Way," I tell the cabbie.
"Yessir, you here for the Autobot convention?" he asks.
"Never mind that, just drive." I jot a quick note down on my e-paper to have the company send a shuttle next time they want me back on this God forsaken Processing Zone. Small talk with cloying service people is killing me.
It’s a common device in science-fiction for digital paper to function as a standard medium of communication and method of organizing information. E-paper comes equipped with memory, the ability to produce animations, and a form of GPS tracking to provide directions and maps. All of this comes in a flexible package as thin and, more importantly, as cheap as a piece of paper is today. We have a long way to go before this is fully realized, but this technology is certainly on the horizon.
E Ink Corporation started in 1997 as a result of E Paper research that began at MIT. Today, E Ink provides electronic paper display technologies that go inside some of today’s cutting-edge devices. The E-Paper technology developed by E Ink uses millions of tiny capsules about the diameter of a human hair. Each microcapsule is filled with a clear fluid with both positively charged white and negatively charged black pigments. Electric current through the microcapsules accurately controls the presence of black or white on the surface of the display. Each microcapsule can be split between both black and white, creating the potential for very high-resolution images. The black/white display developed by E Ink creates a high contrast reflective surface that requires no internal light source. In effect, the reflective surface shares the characteristics of paper.
"E Ink is being developed into the display technology of the very near future."
All this technology goes into a display that can be as thin as a sheet of paper. Light bounces off the surface and does not emanate from within the display. This type of display makes it easier to read than any cell phone display or PDA with an LCD screen. In fact, the technology uses 90% less power than a conventional LCD. In the near future we’ll begin seeing E Ink replacing LCD. The advantages of Cell Phones and PDAs using E Ink are not only the tremendous energy savings, but that the display can be seen clearly in any lighting conditions.
E Ink is being developed as the display technology of the very near future. E Ink's technology has been developed using a flexible substrate. This flexible substrate provides E-paper with flexibility and durability. Seiko Watch Corporation will build the first watch to use an electronics paper display. A joint development venture between Epson and E Ink has developed a display that will fit into a Seiko watch that wraps around the wrist in a flexible band.
E Ink has already developed a color display that can be used for static or slow motion animations. On 18 October 2005 E Ink announced their color electronic paper prototype. The color E Ink prototype featured 12bit colors in a 400x200 pixel display. Microsoft has already used an E Paper design for a promotional game cover for a new Xbox game. In the near future many companies may use E-paper technology as marketing tools, which are designed to capture your attention and tantalize you into buying the product.
Get ready for E Ink, it’s about to become a household brand.