Videos on digital paper: electronic ink come to life
The invention of electronic paper represented an important advance in the development of the new technologies, but it has not yet been possible to bring it into general use due to the problems presented by the slowness of the display or the lack of shine. This has made it enormously difficult to read as the act of passing from one image to another slows down as the text becomes richer in images and colour. Furthermore, in some cases it is uncomfortable to use due to the display's level of shine.
Robert Hayes and B.J. Feentra, inventors at Philips in Eindhoven, have managed to overcome such obstacles thanks to the use of a technology called "electrowetting". This technique consists in controlling an interface made up of tiny chambers of oil and water through the application of electrical charges at a certain voltage.
This invention will allow ultra-flat and flexible screens to be developed, ever more similar to a sheet of paper, on which it will be possible to visualize not only text and images with much brighter and well-defined colours, but also to show videos thanks to the speed of the new technology.
Links:
news.bbc.co.uk
www.research.philips.com
www.research.philips.com
BBC:
A video illustrating the invention:
ntstream2.ddns.ehv.campus.philips.com
The patent application may be viewed at:
l2.espacenet.com
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