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Electronic Paper: Merging between Traditional Publishing & e-Publishing |
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Publishing is the activity of putting information into public area.
Traditional publishing can refer to the distribution of printed works such as books and newspapers.
e-publishing is defined as the distribution of data on electronic media such as floppy discs or CD-ROMs or via online services, instead of using traditional print technology.
Electronic paper = traditional publishing + e-publishing
In the future, e-paper will surely be a standard in publishing.
2. Background
Current e-publishing:
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| Advantages | Disadvantages | |
Traditional publishing |
- less eye strain over extended reading time - very portable and require no electric poower source (except light to read) - robust and durable - readable when severely damaged. |
- price might be high, especially for high quality printing cost, such as color printing - difficult to amend errata - take time to search text - can be put out of print and made unavaillable to readers. |
Current technology of e-publishing |
- text is searchable - take little space (one CD can store hunddred of books) - use less paper, so that it's environmentt friendly - display media can be reused - can be read in total darkness - content can be updated easily - can be read by multiple readers at the ssame time - multimedia can be attached to the e-bookk - can be used with text-to-speech softwaree - instantly copied - distributed at low cost and instantly. | - might be incompatible with different kind of hardware and software - require care in handling the reader and storage device (not dropping the laptop for example) - copyright issue is very vulnerable - not a good format for works that has larrge size, such as paintings, art history, large maps, newspapers, etc. |
3. Current Technology
It’s possible to add electronic control device on this toy, to become e-paper.
1. Xerox’s Gyricon
Gyricon was developed in the 1970s by Nick Sheridon at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (Xerox PARC).
2. E-Ink
E-ink was developed since 1997 by Joseph Jacobson at E Ink Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Electrophoretic display technology:
Thickness comparison:
In May 2003, E Ink partnership with Royal Philips Electronics developed reflective TFT active matrix electrophoretic display panel.
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8 inch wide screen size 103 x 134 x 4.25 mm weighted 35 grams 2 bit grayscale 800 x 600 pixels 160 pixels/inch |
In April, 2004, Sony announced the first commercially available electronic paper device, the LIBRIé. It uses e-Ink technology.
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4 level grayscale monochrome density: 170 dots/inch 6-inch wide screen 600 x 800 dots weighted 300 grams size 126 x 190 x 13 mm |
3. Toshiba e-blue™
- Decolorable printing ink.
- This ink is invisible by heating (aroundd 140oC).
- Toshiba erasing machine (100 pages/hour)).
- Commercialization in December 2003.
4. Fujitsu Bendable Colour e-Paper (with image memory function)
4. New Technologies
5. Conclusion & Future Trends
In the future, e-paper will be surely a standard of publishing.
Oct 20, 2005
- Announced on July 2005.
- Uses 3 displaying layers: red, green, blue.
- Commercialization is targeted in 2007.
Very broad applications of e-paper are possible in the future:
- Smart cards that can display the credit balance of your train fare.
- Clothes that can change color and motivee every day.
- You can have the wall of your house channge scenery every day, without re-painting it.
- Store signs and billboards that can dispplay today's sale, without re-painting it.
- Intelligent household products.
- Point of sale displays, restaurant menu,, shelf display tags.
- Transportation signage.
- Digital picture frame.
- e-Paper television.
- 3D e-Paper.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ...
In conclusion, the key features of e-paper are:
- optimum readability
- zero/ultra-low power consumption
- flexible material (thin, robust, bendablle, weather proof, light weight)
- low cost (e.g. software operated contentt).
It merges traditional publishing and e-publishing. It combines the advantages of both traditional publishing and e-publishing.