A quick‐response liquid‐powder display (QR‐LPD®) with plastic substrate

Abstract— Paper‐like displays as thin as 290 μm have been developed using QR‐LPD technology. We fabricated two types of displays. One is a dot‐matrix type with a 160 × 160 array of pixels and a 3.1‐in.‐diagonal viewable image size. The other is a segmented type for clock use. Each display has a paper‐like appearance and exhibits high contrast. Plastic substrates with a thickness of 120 μm were used, resulting in flexible displays that can be bent up to a radius of curvature of 20 mm.     

Spatial optical modulator (SOM): Samsung's light modulator for next‐generation laser displays

Abstract— A new type of diffractive spatial optical modulators (SOMs) has been developed for projection‐display and other applications such as holographic data storage, programmable lithography, and optical communications. It exhibits the inherent advantages of fast response time and high‐performance light modulation, suitable for high‐quality and high‐resolution projection displays. The ±1st‐order efficiency and contrast ratio of 39% and 1000:1 was achieved for a prototype SOM. The response time can be as fast as 0.7μsec with a 400‐nm displacement, enough to make a full‐HD display, being driven by 10‐V. A laser display in full‐HD format (1920 × 1080) was successfully demonstrated by using prototype projection engines having SOM devices, signal‐processing circuits, and projection optics.     

Investigation of perceived image quality and colourfulness in mobile displays for different cultures,ambient illumination,and resolution

This study explored the effects of culture, ambient illumination, and resolution on perceived image quality and colourfulness of mobile displays. Thirty Taiwanese and 30 American students participated in the experiment. Two types of culture (Taiwanese and American), two types of illumination level (1500 lux and 7000 lux), and five types of resolution level (320×240, 260×208, 200×160, 140×112, and 80×64) were investigated in the experiment. Interactions between culture and resolution, and between illumination and resolution, were found for both perceived image quality and colourfulness. The results indicated that subjects were able to detect smaller differences in perceived image quality but not for colourfulness, and Taiwanese subjects could detect smaller differences than could the American subjects for both perceived image quality and colourfulness. The results further indicated that Taiwanese subjects were able to detect smaller differences at most of the resolution levels for colourfulness in 1500 lux than were the American subjects.

Practitioner Summary: This study found, from culture differences and ergonomics considerations, that Taiwanese subjects could detect smaller differences than could American subjects when evaluating perceived image quality and colourfulness on mobile displays. Mobile display manufacturers can use the results of this study as a reference for future mobile display design.     

Fabrication and performance characteristics of black‐dielectric electroluminescent 160 × 80‐pixel displays

Abstract— We report on recent technological progress in black‐dielectric electroluminescent (BDEL) displays. Fabrication of the first monochrome BDEL 160 × 80‐pixel 4‐in. displays driven with commercial low‐power (<5 W) drive circuitry is presented. Preliminary results on blue‐dielectric EL full‐color displays are also reported. Improvements in both BDEL display performance and display manufacturability underscore the recent development path.     

Effects of Information Organization and Presentation on Human Performance in Simulated Main Control Room Procedure Tasks

The organization and presentation of information are critical in designing a display for industrial safety‐critical systems. How they affect human performance is not fully studied yet. Functional displays are newly proposed for nuclear power plant (NPP) main control rooms. The effect of functional organization and the choice of information presentation styles need to be examined. This study aims to explore the effects of information organization (process display vs. functional display), parameter presentation (text vs. bar chart), and component presentation (mimic vs. simplified graph) for better understanding the pros and cons of functional displays designed following function based task analysis (FBTA). Performance data were collected from simulated procedure tasks using eight (2 × 2 × 2) displays. The results indicate that the functional display based on FBTA was more effective than the process display, and this could be mainly attributed to its functional information organization rather than to its presentation styles of parameters and components.     

Flexible electronic‐paper active‐matrix displays

Abstract— A100‐μm‐thick 320 × 240‐pixel active‐matrix display integrated into a functional‐device prototype is presented. The active matrix is composed of alternating layers of organic materials and gold. A six‐mask photolithographic process is used. An electrophoretic electronic imaging film is laminated on top of the active matrix. The display is bendable to a radius of 7.5 mm for more than 30,000 repetitions.     

After-effects of TFT-LCD display polarity and display colour on the detection of low-contrast objects

Participants performed a word–non-word discrimination task within a car control display emulated on a thin film transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT-LCD). The task simulated an information read-out from a TFT-LCD-based instrument panel. Subsequently, participants performed a low-contrast object detection task that simulated the detection of objects during night-time driving. In experiment 1, words/non-words were presented black-on-white (positive polarity) or white-on-black (negative polarity). In experiments 2 and 3, display colour was additionally manipulated. A positive polarity advantage in the discrimination task was consistently observed. In contrast, positive displays interfered more than negative displays with subsequent detection. The detrimental after-effect of positive polarity displays was strong with white and blue, reduced with amber and absent with red displays. Subjective measures showed a preference for blue over red, but a slight advantage for amber over blue. Implications for TFT-LCD design are derived from the results.

Statement of Relevance: When using TFT-LCDs as car instrument panels, positive polarity red TFT-LCDs are very likely to lead to good instrument readability while at the same time minimising – relative to other colours – the negative effects of an illuminated display on low-contrast object detection during night-time driving.     

Wide field of view compressive light field display using a multilayer architecture and tracked viewers

In this paper, we discuss an intuitive extension to compressive multilayer light field displays that greatly extends their field of view and depth of field. Rather than optimizing these displays to create a moderately narrow field of view at the center of the display, we constrain optimization to create narrow view cones that are directed to a few viewers' eyes, allowing the available display bandwidth to be utilized more efficiently. These narrow view cones follow the viewers, creating a wide apparent field of view. Imagery is also recalculated for the viewers' exact eye positions, creating a greater depth of field. The view cones can be scaled to match the positional error and latency of the tracking system. Using more efficient optimization and commodity tracking hardware and software, we demonstrate a real‐time, glasses‐free 3D display that offers a 100° × 40° field of view.     

Implementation of an LED backlight for avionics displays

Abstract— The replacement of conventional light sources used to backlight displays with LEDs is very attractive in avionics. Today's LED technology provides devices suitable to implement display backlight sources but specific requirements need to be satisfied for avionics displays. This paper covers the development of an innovative LED backlight dedicated to avionics displays, realized in a new box geometry in order to generate more than 10,000 cd/m² on a 6 × 5‐in. active area using less than 28 W of power.     

Active matrix monolithic micro‐LED full‐color micro‐display

An active matrix monolithic micro‐LED full‐color micro‐display with a pixel density of 317 ppi is demonstrated. Starting from large‐scale and low‐cost GaN‐on‐Si epilayers, monolithic 64 × 36 blue micro‐LED arrays are fabricated and further transformed to full‐color micro‐displays by applying a photo‐patternable color conversion layer. This full‐color fabrication scheme shows feasible manufacturability, suggesting a potential for volume production of micro‐LED full‐color micro‐display.     

High‐luminance 1.8‐mm‐pixel‐pitch CNT‐FED for ubiquitous color character displays

Abstract— A high‐luminance 1.8‐mm‐pixel‐pitch CNT‐FED for color character displays has been developed. The display panel has 32 × 256 color pixels, and the subpixel size is 0.6 × 1.8 mm. The display panel can provide good visibility when installed even in outdoor locations. The power consumption is low enough for the display to be battery driven. The practical application is the display of important messages regarding the evacuation from disaster areas, even under emergent no‐power conditions similar to the messages on vending machines.     

Balance with the interactive size effects of display,target, and key spacing in tablet tapping,dragging, and typing tasks

This study aimed to expand the current demonstration of display size effects from pointing tasks to dragging and tap‐typing tasks to investigate the effects of influential factors on the performance of touchscreen tablets. From 7‐ to 11‐in. displays, the index of difficulty was kept constant by increasing the target amplitudes and widths (6.0–9.5 mm) proportionally, and the key spacing were, respectively, 13.5 × 7.3–21.5 × 11.5 mm with 0‐mm key gaps. The results demonstrated that simple task types (complexities) reinforced the display size effects and that the effects interacted with target sizes (including amplitude/width scaling) and key spacing to reflect increasing efficiency and usability with increasing sizes. Gender effects were only significant in subjective assessments. Display sizes approaching 10 in., target sizes not less than 7 mm (optimal 9–10 mm) and key spacing larger than 17.5 mm induced the effects of motor scale (the scale of the upper limb joint coordination) and interacted with one another to result in the optimal performance and usability.     

An integrated poly‐Si TFT current data driver with a data‐line pre‐charge function

Abstract— We have developed an integrated poly‐Si TFT current data driver with a data‐line pre‐charge function for active‐matrix organic light‐emitting diode (AMOLED) displays. The current data driver is capable of outputting highly accurate (±0.8%) current determined by 6‐bit digital input data. A novel current‐programming approach employing a data‐line pre‐charge function helps achieve accurate current programming at low brightness. A 1.9‐in. 120 × 136‐pixel AMOLED display using these circuits was demonstrated.     

Relationship between phoria and visual fatigue in autostereoscopic 3D displays

Many people complain about visual fatigue arising from viewing three‐dimensional (3D) displays. This paper investigates relationship between visual fatigue and viewers' phoria for viewing autostereoscopic 3D displays. Visual fatigue is evaluated through subjective symptoms with a questionnaire and optometric indicators comprising fusion range as well as accommodation convergence/accommodation (AC/A) ratio to measure the variation in visual functions. A screening test is adopted to divide the subjects into two groups based on whether they suffer from phoria. Then a 2 × 2 × 2 mixed design experiment is conducted with display type, viewing stage, and visual state as factors to examine visual fatigue during viewing session. The results show that phoria subjects obtain more severe visual fatigue than normal on subjective evaluation. The normal subjects reveal a more marked difference with phoria in fusion range and AC/A ratio after viewing 3D video clip. Fusion range can significantly distinguish between the two‐dimensional (2D) and 3D condition as well as between the pre‐ and post‐viewing stages. The sensitivity and specificity of fusion range is higher than AC/A ratio with respect to viewing of 3D contents, so it is more appropriate as an optometric indicator of visual fatigue for autostereoscopic 3D displays.     

Electro‐optical parameters of FLC layers stabilized by a typical polymer net

Abstract— A typical polymer net with microcells of different sizes (from 25 × 25 to 200 × 200 μm) was formed by using a lithographic process, both on glass and flexible polymeric substrates. To investigate the influence of polymeric walls on FLC‐display cell operation, the typical electro‐optical parameters of FLC layers — light transmission and scattering, optical contrast ratio and response time — were measured under different conditions, such as display cell preparation and processing, driving voltage, microcell dimensions, and temperature.     

A submillisecond‐response liquid crystal for color sequential projection displays

We report a new LC with low viscosity and high clearing point (T_c ~102 °C) for color‐sequential projection displays. Using a 1.95‐µm mixed‐mode twisted nematic cell, the averaged gray‐to‐gray response time is less than 1 ms, which is ~3.6× faster than the current state of the art. Such a mixed‐mode twisted nematic liquid‐crystal‐on‐silicon can be used for near‐to‐eye wearable projection displays and head‐up displays in vehicles.     

Sharpness and noise characteristics of a half‐mirror stereoscopic display

Stereoscopic displays are becoming popular in entertainment and industrial applications. We characterize the spatial resolution and noise properties of a stereoscopic display with a half‐mirror and passive polarizing glasses. The upper display images reflected off the mirror have slightly degraded sharpness and reduced high spatial‐frequency noise resulting in modulation transfer functions (MTFs) of 0.59 and 0.50 at the Nyquist frequency with corresponding noise power spectra (NPS) values of 4.79 × 10^?6 and 5.17 × 10^?6 mm² at 10 mm^?1 in the horizontal and vertical directions. These results are compared to the characteristics of the individual displays with MTF values of 0.64 and 0.53 and NPS values of 6.24 × 10^?6 and 5.87 × 10^?6 mm². The polarizing glasses cause minimal reduction in sharpness and high‐frequency noise. The MTFs in the upper images observed with glasses are decreased to 0.54 and 0.47, while the NPS are decreased to 2.86 × 10^?6 and 2.01 × 10^?6 mm². When both displays are turned on and using the mirror and glasses, the observed luminance for each eye is increased from the luminance of the individual displays owing to crosstalk. We find that sharpness and noise are not affected by the interaction between the displays at the particular geometry tested in this study.     

Circular displays with thumbwheels: Hong Kong Chinese preferences

Direction‐of‐motion stereotypes for circular displays and thumbwheels were tested with a computer display. The influence of pointer position, instruction of turn, and control plane on the direction‐of‐motion stereotype was investigated. For both horizontal and vertical thumbwheels, strong response preferences and reversible stereotypes were found for clockwise and anticlockwise turn instructions when the pointer was perpendicular to the motion axis. The results provided significant implications for the design and selection of thumbwheels and check reading displays in the man‐machine interface of facilities used in industries. In a check reading display, we should use a horizontal thumbwheel when the normal pointer position is at 6 or 12 o'clock; a vertical thumbwheel should be used when the normal pointer position is at 3 or 9 o'clock. Analysis on response times showed that the average values of the majority responses were found shorter and more narrowly dispersed than that of the minority responses. The results of this study provide recommendations for interface design with circular displays and thumbwheels on control panels used in manufacturing systems. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Contrast of displays on the retina

Abstract— When the eye projects an image on the retina, contrast degradation takes place because of stray light in the eye. This letter shows that for a 24 × 18° display, the maximum achievable retinal contrast for a 4 × 4 checkerboard image is approximately 80:1 for young persons, going down to approximately 37:1 for a 70‐year‐old person. This information is important for both display consumers and manufacturers because it puts the display contrast specification into perspective and may affect the contrast design target of a display system.     

Regenerating boreal forest structure estimation using SPOT‐5 pan‐sharpened imagery

Forested stand structure is an important target variable within the fields of wildlife ecology. Remote sensing has often been suggested as a viable alternative to time consuming field and aerial investigations to determine forest structural attributes. In this study, 44 stands of recently harvested, regenerating, and old growth forest within the Foothills Model Forest in west‐central Alberta were selected to test the ability of pan‐sharpened SPOT‐5 spectral response to classify stand structure. For each stand, a Structural Complexity Index (SCI) was calculated from field data using principal components analysis. To complement the spectral response data set and further increase accuracy, the normalized difference moisture index (NDMI) and three window sizes (5×5, 11×11, and 25×25) of first‐ (mean and standard deviation) and second‐order (homogeneity, entropy, contrast, and correlation) textural measures were calculated over the pan‐sharpened image. Stepwise multivariate regression analysis was used to determine the best explanatory model of the SCI using the spectral and textural data. The NDMI, first‐order standard deviation and second‐order correlation texture measures were better able to explain differences in SCI among the 44 forest stands (r² = 0.79). The most appropriate window size for the texture measures was 5×5 indicating that this is a measure only detectable at a very high spatial resolution. The resulting classified SCI values were comparable to the actual field level SCI (r² = 0.74, p = 0.01) and were limited by the strong variability within stands. Future research may find this measure useful either as a separate parameter or as an indicator of forest age for use in wildlife habitat modelling.