Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Advantages of e-paper


Advantages of e-paper

  • Flexible, or at least bendable

  • Cheap maybe not as cheap as paper, but easily affordable by everyone

  • Bistable, once a display is written it will stay displayed even when power is switched off.

  • Light weight, at most comparable to an equal sized sheet of card.

  • Excellent ergonomic features, easy to hold, carry, and use.

  • readable in any ambient light conditions.
Clearly, a great progress has been made in the field of e-paper since the invention of Gyricon. Companies such as E Ink, Sipix, and Polymervision, as well as such giants as Sony, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Philips, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Siemens, Epson, and many others, are continuing to develop e-paper technology. Xerox, in partnership with 3M, has created an e-paper called Gyricon and Lucent, in partnership with a company called E Ink, is working on a device, also called E Ink. Both of these technologies enable a black or other color and white display. Philips is working on a type of e-paper that will be full-color. Neither the Lucent/E Ink version nor the Gyricon version require a constant power source. The initial charge creates the display, which then remains fixed until another charge is applied to change it. Low power demand is an important advantage for a technology that is intended to supplant a power-independent, standalone application like paper. In fact, e-paper must be lightweight, flexible, glare-free, and affordable. The Gyricon-based electronic newspaper is expected to be available in the future.

Siemens developed wafer-thin color displays that can be printed onto paper or foil. They can be manufactured very inexpensively, compared to LCDs. Wafer-thin displays offer great market potential in the area of future advertising and information provision by means of interactive packaging. Color displays could in the future display information practically everywhere on cardboard foodstuff containers, drug boxes, or even admission tickets.

Potential advantage of e-paper technology is staggering. In addition to a new method for labelling foods and drugs, it could be used to label anything from shelves to office binders. One of the original uses of the Gyricon e-ink was in advertising and billboards. The bi-stable nature of the technology made the Gyricon a useful and cost-effective billboard technology. E-paper displays can also be used as low-power digital screens for a variety of electronic appliances, from microwaves to MP3 players.

References:
1. http://www2.parc.com/hsl/projects/gyricon/
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6bkmPjVF-k
3. http://www.eink.com/

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