Competing technologies - Page 49

The Australian government is proposing regulations that would ban most plasma and LCD HDTVs by the year 2011.

After commissioning a report that found the popularity of high power-drawing TVs like plasma and LCD TVs is growing. The bigger and brighter screens get, the more power is required, and Australia is trying to crack down on energy consumption. This is the government that was looking into banning incandescent bulbs in favor of fluorescent bulbs earlier this year.

By 2011, plasma and LCD TVs could be replaced with less energy consuming technologies like SED TV and OLED TV. But for now, the planet heats up because of our TVs.

OSRAM has recently stopped making PMOLED modules, and several companies have been looking for replacement modules. Yesterday we reported that OSD is offering replacement PLED modules, and now we are told that Batron also offer replacement modules - LCD ones. Batram offers replacment for the Calgary (2.7"), Stockholm (1.54") and Rio (3.2").

Thanks Philip for the update!

Canon said it aims to take a majority stake in Tokki, a supplier of flat panel-making equipment, for $69 million or more to speed development of OLED panels.

Canon has been developing OLED panels in a bid to replace liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, which it now procures from outside suppliers for digital camera, camcorder and printer displays. Canon said it may offer small-sized flat TVs using OLED displays in the future, and will use SED for large-sized TVs.

LG Philips has applied for a patent for a flexible displays, which uses oil and water to 'make the pixels', connecting them to plastic electrodes. The oil floats on the water and covers a colored surface beneath it. You apply an electric charge to make the oil reveal the surface and thus change the color of the pixel. It is supposed to be a simple and cheap process. 

Read more here (Engadget)

Canon and Toshiba have been developing their SED technology since 1999 and the launch had originally been delayed until July 2007. That date has now slipped to the end of 2007.

Canon blamed part of the delay on the falling price of flat-panel TVs and said it needed to improve the efficiency of its mass production facilities.

Sharp it has developed advanced LCD panels that would offer sharper moving images on portable devices such as mobile phones, pitting it against OLED displays. The new panels have a response speed three times as fast as its conventional panels and the world's highest contrast ratio for 2-inch LCDs used in mobile devices, Sharp said.

The Osaka-based company plans to make a sample shipment of the new liquid crystal display (LCD) panels by the end of the year for cellphones and aims for ¥100 billion ($836 million) in sales from the new products in the year ending March 2009.

Comparative OLED displays, which are also known for high-contrast ratios and high response speeds, could cost twice or three times as much as conventional LCD displays, it said.

A novel display technology that claims to be simpler in construction than an LCD and better performing than organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) or plasma appears to be inching closer to commercialization.

UniPixel Displays Inc. developed its Time Multiplexed Optical Shutter (TMOS) technology to address display requirements in avionics applications, particularly heads-down cockpit deployments. The Woodlands, Texas, company has engineering prototypes and expects "to have the display in a television application by the fourth quarter," said CFO James Tassone.

A UniPixel display consists of just six layers, compared with 15 for plasma and 30 for LCDs, and takes only 12 steps to manufacture, versus 128 steps for an LCD. Using a "frustrated total internal reflection" technique, red, green or blue light enters a light guide from the edge of the display. The display structure enables daylight readability.

The colors cycle for an equal amount of time in very rapid succession, reflecting off a mirror at the opposite edge that scatters the light and produces a uniform distribution across the display. Materials used in the construction of the light guide keep light from escaping, so that total internal reflection is achieved, according to the company.

A simple lens/shutter mechanism is constructed above the light guide by sandwiching the microlens and standoff layers between transparent conductors. When the two conductive layers are oppositely charged at any given pixel, they attract. The lens is squeezed down through the standoff layer.  

A Texan judge ruled in a summary judgment that Canon did indeed violate the terms of the technology licensing agreement with Nano-Proprietary by bringing Toshiba in as a partner in SED manufacturing. The court has yet to determine what damage this has caused, but at this point a monetary fine may not be the worst of what Canon will undergo in continuing in SED production.

Unless Canon is successful in appealing the judgment, the company will have to renegotiate a new licensing agreement for Nano-Proprietary's technology if it is going to continue with plans to produce SED displays. With Canon now on the defensive it remains to be seen how aggressively Nano-Proprietary will leverage its apparent legal advantage. Regardless, the recent ruling will likely lead Canon to pause its plans for SED manufacturing yet again.

Canon and Toshiba today announced an agreement by which Canon will purchase from Toshiba all of Toshiba's outstanding shares of SED Inc., which was jointly established by both companies. On completion of the purchase, SED Inc. will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon, effective January 29, 2007.

The decision was reached following discussions between Canon and Toshiba based on the assumption of prolonged litigation pending against Canon in the United States with respect to SED technology. As a result of the discussions, it was decided that Canon will carry out the SED panel business independently in order to facilitate the earliest possible launch of a commercial SED television business.

SED television sets are to be introduced in Japan in the fourth quarter of this year as originally scheduled, although Canon will reassess its future mass-production plans for SED panels.

Plastic Logic announced today that it will build the first factory to manufacture plastic electronics on a commercial scale. The facility will produce flexible active-matrix E Ink display modules for ‘take anywhere, read anywhere’ electronic reader products. It will utilize Plastic Logic’s unique process to fabricate active-matrix displays that are thin, light and robust; enabling a reading experience closer to paper than any other technology.

To fund this comprehensive commercialization program, Plastic Logic has completed a first closing of $100 million of equity finance led by Oak Investment Partners and Tudor Investment Corporation. Existing investors Amadeus, which led the seed financing of Plastic Logic, Intel Capital, Bank of America, BASF Venture Capital, Quest for Growth and Merifin Capital also participated. The financing is one of the largest in the history of European venture capital.