Would you Believe: A Contact Lens Display
By Art Berman
Insight Media Consultant Since 2008, Babak Parviz, an Associate Professor at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA) has been leading a team developing a contact lens-based display. If the project is fully successful, the resulting display should be capable of providing an augmented reality experience, overlaying 3D imagery directly on the user’s field of view.
To convert a conventional contact lens into a display system, the researchers are merging transparent, eye compatible materials with microelectronics and an array of semi-transparent LEDs. Consider some of the issues that must be addressed in producing the display.
First, fitting a contact lens with circuitry is a considerable challenge. Most biocompatible plastic materials cannot withstand the processes used during microfabrication. To address this problem, most of the microcomponents are fabricated independently utilizing silicon on insulator wafers. Each microcomponent includes metal interconnects and is etched into a unique physical shape. The result of this initial processing is a collection of microcomponents that have an almost powder-like appearance. The next step is to embed the microcomponents into the lens "substrate" using a self-assembly process.
The substrate is a 100 µm thick slab of polyethylene terephthalate. The substrate has photolithographically defined metal interconnect lines and binding sites. The binding sites can be pictured as tiny wells about 10 µm deep. The bottom of each well contains a microscopic pool of a low melting point alloy.
The next step is to submerge the lens substrate in a hot carrier liquid that contains the microcomponents. The liquid is made to flow over the substrate. Since the shapes of the wells match the shapes of the microcomponents, the microcomponents will eventually fall into corresponding wells. Each time this occurs, the metal pads on the surface of the microcomponent come into contact with the alloy at the bottom of the well. Capillary force will then act to finish moving the microcomponent into place.
After all the microcomponents have found wells, the temperature is lowered to solidify the alloy. This is a "micro-soldering-like" process in which the alloy bonds the interconnects on the microcomponents to those on the substrate. This process assures mechanical and electrical contact between the microcomponents and the connection matrix of the substrate.
Now, consider the optics. The LEDs are only millimeters from the retina, so how can you focus any image created with these emitters? The solution is to use an array of microlenses on the surface of the contact lens between the eye and the pixels. When the distance between the pixels and the microlenses to be about 360 microns, an image is visible that appears to approximately half a meter from the eye. At this distance, focus should not be a problem.
When the LEDs are off, the contact lens display will be essentially transparent.
Another key design issue is that of power consumption. Not only must the display’s power consumption be very low for the sake of the energy budget, it must also avoid generating eye-damaging heat.
The solution adopted by the U of W group to power the display is to transmit energy wirelessly from a loop antenna located near the user to a resonating antenna in the lens itself. This method is similar to that used in RFID tag technology. Data is transmitted by the same means.
The team has fabricated prototype lenses with an LED, a small radio chip and an antenna. Energy has been successfully transmitted to the lens wirelessly, illuminating an LED. Both red and blue pixels have been developed as has an 8×8 array of LEDs.
To demonstrate that the lens is safe, prototypes have been encapsulated in a biocompatible polymer. These were molded into the shape of a contact lens and successfully tested in trials with live rabbits.
One other difficulty that can be anticipated in placing a display on the eye is the need to prevent it from moving. One potential solution might be to adopt a means similar to that used in normal contact lenses that correct for astigmatism. That is, the lenses are weighted on the bottom to roughly maintain the desired orientation.
The U of W group has yet to combine the optics and the LEDs in the same contact lens. None-the-less, all the basic technologies needed to build an operational contact lens based display have been demonstrated. Next steps include showing that all the subsystems can work together, to further reduce the size of some of the components and to improve RF power collection efficiency and transmission range. I can’t wait to see (through) one of these displays. Art Berman is a consultant for Insight Media. Reach him at aberman@insightmedia.info Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top MTI Launches New ReAct
By Dave Haynes
Editor, Sixteen:Nine MTI has been working around the edges of the digital signage retail sector for many years, with software and displays that popped up content based on shoppers lifting up and interacting with its core products – secured tethers for merchandising displays.
When you are about to stuff that sexy Samsung AM-OLED smart phone into your pocket and bolt for the door of a consumer electronics retailer, there’s a good chance it is an MTI alarmed tether that keeps that from happening.
Now there’s word from Portland (and MTI is also a client) that the company has a new, more broadly offered digital signage offer – built in-house and designed for retail.
What’s interesting is the hardened, totally solid state, button-less box that plays full HD (no price point, but told it is low), and the baked-in integration with social media. That part is not all that hard to do, but then again I don’t see it being done out there by more than a handful of vendors. Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top DSE Show Registration Opens Registration is open for the DSE 2011 Show February 22-25 in Last Vegas. It’s THE annual digital signage show and is on a growth path to top 10,000 attendees next year. To sign up, go here: https://www.compusystems.com/servlet/ar?evt_uid=320 Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top rAVe NOW OnDemand at ISE rAVe NOW reporters will be at ISE in Amsterdam next week, bringing you videos of Tweets and blogs from the show floor. This year’s Integrated Systems Europe includes a separate digital signage pavilion that promises at least 15 new digital signage products you’ve never seen before.
We’ll be covering it with our Social Media arm rAVe NOW LIVE so check the site daily and it will be just like you’re actually at the show, in Amsterdam. Be sure to follow us on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/ravepubs Check out our ISE portal here: http://www.rAVeNowISE.com Back to Top The End of VGA Coming in 2015 AMD, Dell, Intel Corporation, Lenovo, Samsung Electronics LCD Business and LG Display today announced intentions to accelerate adoption of scalable and lower power digital interfaces such as DisplayPort and High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) into the PC.
Intel and AMD expect that analog display outputs such as Video Graphics Array (VGA) and the low voltage differential signaling technology (LVDS) panel interface would no longer be supported in their product lines by 2015. HDMI has increasingly been included in new PCs for easy connection to consumer electronics devices. DisplayPort is expected to become the single PC digital display output for embedded flat panels, PC monitors and projectors.
DisplayPort and HDMI allow for slimmer laptop designs, and support higher resolutions with deeper color than VGA — a technology that is more than 20 years old. Additionally, as laptops get smaller and their embedded flat panel resolutions increase for more immersive experiences, the power advantages, bi-directional communications and design efficiency benefits of DisplayPort make it a superior choice over LVDS, the previous standard for LCD panel inputs.
Intel plans to end support of LVDS in 2013 and VGA in 2015 in its PC client processors and chipsets. Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Intel's Avalos to Keynote DSE Intel’s Jose Avalos, Retail & Digital Signage Worldwide Director, Embedded & Computing Division, to keynote at DSE 2011 on Thursday, February 24, 2011, in Las Vegas.
In his address titled, “Key Trends Affecting the Future of Digital Signage,” Avalos will talk about trends and challenges facing those operating in this space, including: - How to deal with rising customer expectations of the experience,
- The increased need for Anonymous Video Analytics for Proof of Play and Proof of Impression for Advertising Return on Investment (ROI),
- The challenge of increasing cost of ownership (TCO),
- Technology solutions that address market share,
- Judging Return on Operations (ROO).
Avalos leads Intel’s worldwide Retail and Digital Signage businesses, and his organization is responsible for delivering Intel’s Intelligent Retail and Intelligent Digital Signage Platforms, as well as initiatives to fuel the growth of the Industry. He has a multi-faceted career with numerous general management and director level positions at Intel in business, marketing and engineering. Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Navori's New Software Platform to be Released at IS Europe The Navori QL digital signage software suite, set to debut at next week’s Integrated Systems Europe trade show (being covered LIVE by rAVe NOW) makes playing what the company calls “broadcast-quality video” possible even on low-cost PCs — making them instant DS media players.
Navori’s QL software suite uses the Swiss company’s proprietary graphics rendering engine to optimize how computers play out full HD video and other rich media. According to Navori, QL enables high-end content features that have been limited, until now, to the complicated, expensive specialty software and hardware of broadcast vendors. How? Well, Navori tells rAVe that its QL’s media playback engine has frame by frame video accuracy down to 1/30th of a second. The momentary black gaps common to most systems when playing back-to-back videos are gone using QL. If required, those gaps would need to be designed and programmed back in.
The official launch of Navori QL is at the massive Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) show in Amsterdam, February 1-3. Navori or you can see all the details here: http://www.navori.com/ Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Merel Finally Ships mTouch Multi-Touch Table Last Week Merel Technologies has finally started shipping its long-awaited multi-touch table, mTouch, and, as promised, stayed in the $4,000 price range.
In case you don’t remember what this is, the mTouch is designed to take the place of a traditional coffee table or walk-up kiosk and provide businesses with an innovative and creative way to showcase or market its products or services. Merel hopes these interactive tables will end up as interactive digital signage in public areas such as lobbies, restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, and waiting rooms.
The 32” (1280 x 720) LCD-based mTouch table includes some creative technology: - Gesture Recognition
- Multi-user Compatibility – The table can support up to 20 simultaneous touch inputs.
- Bluetooth Connectivity – Users can transfer media on the table that they like to their smart phones using the built in Bluetooth hardware.
- Liquid Resistance – The mTouch tabletop is sealed to prevent any spills from damaging the electronics.
To see all the specs, go here: http://www.mereltechnologies.com/ Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top VISIX 2011 Expression Awards: CALL FOR ENTRIES VISIX tells rAVe that this year’s Expressions Awards will include better prizes, fewer categories and an easier entry form. They’ve also moved up the schedule to better align with our higher education clients' calendars.
Awards will be given for: - Best Still Design
- Best Motion Design
- Best Screen Design
Winners in each category will receive: - An Apple – iPad™ with Wi-Fi – 16GB
- A mounted, personalized Expression Award
- Recognition in Visix's e-newsletter, website and press releases
- Featured publication of the winning entry on the Visix User Forum
- Use of the official 2011 Expression Award winner logo
- Bragging rights forever
Deadline for entries is April 29, 2011 and you can enter here: http://www.visix.com/expressionawards.html Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Nascar Hall of Fame Fan Board Lit Up With 250 Plus Christie MicroTiles
By Dave Haynes
Editor, Sixteen:Nine (Disclosure: I do some writing for Christie, and prepared a case study on this project)
One of the first BIG projects to come along for Christie Digital’s much-covered, much-praised MicroTiles technology is a signature installation at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, NC.
The facility opened this spring and a focal point is a grand hall that includes a race track feature called Glory Road, showing cars on a track that starts in the dirt road stock car days and runs through to the deep-ramped speedway tracks of today. Above it is a big scoreboard that is made up of 252 MicroTiles.
That’s a lot of Tiles, and what attracted the AV designers and integrators, as well as the people paying the bills, was the vivid saturated colors, seams that disappear at a distance, enertgy savings and the front access that makes servicing far easier than things like LEDs and flat panels.
“Glory Road is a centerpiece of the Great Hall and the Fan Billboard which crowns Glory Road is ideally suited to MicroTiles,” added Zoran Veselic, vice-president of Christie’s Visual Environments Division. “Whether they are displaying historic NASCAR footage or bringing the excitement of a live race to visitors, the Christie MicroTiles are the largest installation of the technology, to date, and deliver a larger-than-life experience fans have never seen before.”
One of the biggest reasons that NASCAR is as popular as it is right now is its absolute focus on the fan experience. NASCAR has jumped the gap from an interest to a lifestyle for millions of people, and you can see how that gets worked in at this new shrine to racing.
The big MicroTile’d Fan Billboard runs archival footage from the early days of stock-car racing and video montages through the day, but also schedules in an interactive application called the NASCAR Hall of Fame Showdown. When guests pay to get in, they get personalized “hard cards” – like building access cards with embedded RFID chips. Visitors can use those cards at 50 interactive kiosks throughout the attraction, including four in the great hall that sync up with the big MicroTiles screen looming nearby. So people can put their cards on a reader and compete on a trivia screen running on the giant screen.
As noted, I do some work for Christie but I’d like this technology anyway. It’s great to see examples of digital displays that are at the scale and position they need to be, and then go beyond playing loops and actually engage with vistors.
Very cool. Also a great city. LOVE Charlotte.
Interesting side note: The Hall is owned and run by the city and its visitor bureau. NASCAR just rents it. There was an Olympics-like bidding war to get it, and the winning city was obligated to build the space.
Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top So, that's rAVe DS [Digital Signage] for this month! Remember, we are here to HELP the AV market penetrate the DS market. Only 12 percent of the DS market is integrated by AV companies. The other 88 percent is IT-based. Now, there are AV publications and even an association that would like to draw those IT people in to AV (it would increase readers, right? – and more readers means they can charge more for ads). That is NOT what we are doing. rAVe DS is specifically designed to pull AV into the DS market and teach AV companies how to take business away from the currently dominated by IT market.
For those of you NEW to rAVe, you just read a 100% opinionated ePublication that's designed to help AV integrators. We not only report the news and new product stories of the digital signage industry, but we stuff the articles full of our opinions. That may include (but is not limited to) whether or not the product is even worth looking at, challenging the manufacturers on their specifications, calling a marketing-spec bluff and suggesting ways integrators market their products better. But, one thing is for sure, we are NOT a trade publication that gets paid for running editorial or product stories. Traditional trade publications get paid to run product stories — that's why you see what you see in most of the pubs out there. We are different: we run what we want to run and NO ONE is going to pay us to write anything good (or bad).
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