This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to develop a system to solve two fundamental problems in personal mobile image information communications: 1) sun-light readability and environmental awareness 2) personal mobile communications device display screen size, weight, resolution, cost, and power consumption. Up-to-now, no existing mobile display solutions solve above two problems satisfactorily. Here we propose a solution that uses fast transient MEMS based dynamically transparency variable display screen to solve both above problems and will result in an all-light usable, thin, light-weight, low power consumption, and low-cost wearable display devices for mobile computing, personal mobile communications and entertainments.
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is bringing mobile users high resolution viewing experience. This technology will enable broad commercial applications in mobile computing and mobile communications as a personal viewer accessory for laptop computers, cellular phones, personal data assistants (PDAs), portable TV, and video player such as iPod. It will find broad application in education, industry and military. For example, through this proposed transparent screen and supported by virtual reality software with alignment/registration functions, a student can use empty test tubes to do chemistry experiments with all processes and results displayed virtually to avoid the expense and danger of real chemistry experiments, some of which can be flammable, explosive or toxic. Therefore, this technology will open a broad market across wide range of mobile internet access, education, industry training, consumer wireless, and gaming market sectors.
Project Outcome Report With the funding support from the National Science Foundation, Ximax Technologies has completed this project titled "Pixel Variable Display Device". During the period of this project, mathematical, optical, mechanical, and electrical simulations have been conducted to prove the feasibility of the proposed new display concept and its implementation technologies. As the results, it is found that new display technology can be developed to implement high pixel resolution display without increase display devices’ complexity, weight, power consumption and cost. That contradicts to common understanding that in order to increase display system’s pixel resolution, their complexity, weight, power consumption and manufacture cost will increase proportionally. Therefore, high end, high pixel resolution display systems, especially high end compact small size, low power consumption personal display devices for mobile communication applications can be designed, manufactured, and applied broadly at low cost. Besides technology development, market research and commercialization planning has been conducted in this NSF supported project. As the results, we found that with the market booming of personal smart phone represented by Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s (Research In Motion) Black Berry, personal display device is in high demand with great growth potential in the following five years. Several personal display products based on micro LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) technology are already in the market at this time. However, due to their coherent disadvantages, such as can not seeing through and sun-light readability issue, they are not very successful in the market. A few new products base on retina scanning technology have been developed. They overcome some LCD displays’ disadvantages but the way those display products are implemented introduce some other problems such as complexity, size, weight, cost etc. Plus, none of products in the market can be completely see through yet. They suffer the sun-light readability problem as well. Therefore, technologies development in this field as well as their commercialization will worth attention of technology research and development community and investment from government agencies and businesses related to personal communications, mobile computing, and gaming etc in the following few years. New technologies that could replace current popular but decades old LCD may be on the horizon.
