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Microsoft Engineers Invent Displays That Top LCDs For Efficiency
Posted by
timothy
on Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:51 PM
from the fewer-electrons-means-more-money-for-food dept.
from the fewer-electrons-means-more-money-for-food dept.
MechEMark writes with this excerpt from a hope-inspiring article at the IEEE Spectrum, which says "Researchers from Microsoft say they've built a prototype of a display screen using a technology that essentially mimics the optics in a telescope but at the scale of individual display pixels. The result is a display that is faster and more energy efficient than a liquid crystal display, or LCD, according to research reported yesterday in Nature Photonics ... The design greatly increases the amount of backlight that reaches the screen. The researchers were able to get about 36 percent of the backlight out of a pixel, more than three times as much light as an LCD can deliver. But Microsoft senior research engineer Michael Sinclair says that through design improvements, he expects that number to go up — theoretically, as high as 75 percent."
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One problem. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:One problem. (Score:5, Funny)
The only colour plane that works right now is blue.
But how do you know whether to reboot the display or the PC?
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:One problem. (Score:5, Funny)
The Random Victim Limerick Troll:
he likes to poke fun at our holes.
He clicks 'post anon'
as he shouts at his mom -
cause the basement is getting too cold.
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Re:One problem. (Score:5, Funny)
The only colour plane that works right now is blue.
The blue is a feature. It has a calming effect while you contact tech support to ask why your computer was bricked by the new and exciting upgrade you just installed. The loud hum coming from the monitor is also supposed to be a relaxing sound and the smoke is supposed to remind you of a warm fireplace much like the smoke from an Xbox does.
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Re:One problem. (Score:4, Funny)
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I get some good ones when I go to the toilet...sometimes.
You can have one of them, if you like. ...or perhaps you'd prefer to make some of your own. I recommend a diet with a lot of eggs.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
As an owner of a Microsoft Natural keyboard that is still going strong, I'd say that you are mistaken... some of their hardware has been quite good!
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
That's really unfair. Their hardware is way more reliable than their software.
If they've figured out how to put a lens in front of an LED I can't see how reliability will be a problem.
OLED (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Yeah but they're a pain to manufacture still (still stuck to small form factors,) expensive for the number of square inches you get, hard to get really awesome brightness out of and then there's still problems with one of the colors (blue, I believe) fading much faster than the others.
For that matter, aren't quantum dot based displays a lot more efficient? Well, yes. But.
Re:OLED (Score:4, Interesting)
Where have you been? OLEDs are easy to make these days. There was even an article on PRINTING OLEDs on poster size paper some months back.
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Re:OLED (Score:4, Insightful)
Then where's my cheap 24" OLED monitor?
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OLEDs? SEDs? (Score:3, Informative)
OLEDs and SEDs have many advantages over LCD (the big disadvantage being that they're not mass-produced cheaply currently: OLEDs are produced but they're not cheap)..
So I'm not very excited about a technology which only cuts the power consumption of LCDs..
Re:OLEDs? SEDs? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:OLEDs? SEDs? (Score:4, Insightful)
Except that OLEDs and SEDs in theory also reduce the power consumption over normal LCD, as the pixels themselves emit light so there's no need of backlight.
Sure SEDs and OLEDs are not really mass produced currently, but neither is this new technology for LCDs.
And SEDs and OLEDs have many other advantage over LCDs: better refresh rate, contrast, viewing angle (reliability for SEDs).
So this new LCD technology isn't very exciting..
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contrast ratio: 20:1 (Score:3, Informative)
And that's uselessly low.
It's easy to make an LCD more efficient, just block less light. The problem is that the contrast ratio is the difference between the least amount of light you can block and the most you can block. They've just basically made a system that isn't capable of blocking much light and so it's brighter. But at the expense of the contrast ratio.
Re:contrast ratio: 20:1 (Score:5, Informative)
"The first prototype's contrast ratio was 20:1, mainly due to the use of non-collimated back light. This was a limitation of the current prototype, not of the technology. This is supported by simulations
20:1 may not be particularly useful, but 800:1 is certainly usable, and modified with "at least" makes this a technology "at least" worthy watching for future development. It's not reasonable to judge a technology by its first prototype.
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Microsoft's niche (Score:4, Interesting)
I always said that Microsoft was pretty good as a hardware company.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
They also make really good mice (Score:3, Interesting)
I have no clue why. Dell/HP/Logitech mice, meh, they're essentially disposable -- I get a new one with every new computer because they're generally on their last legs by then. Persistent gunk issues, laser malfunctioning when running over certain colors, total hardware failure, button responsiveness drops, what have you.
I got a Microsoft laser mouse for ~$50 back in, crikey, must have been about 2000. It isn't a gamer anything -- just two buttons and a wheel -- but that thing is an absolute tank. If its
Re:Microsoft's niche (Score:5, Insightful)
I always said that Microsoft was pretty good as a hardware company.
My dead Xbox360 would respectfully disagree with you.
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The OLPC screen already does this (Score:5, Interesting)
Not to be ignored... (Score:5, Interesting)
...is the faster switching speed. Considering this prototype has a ~1ms switching time, and LED backlights are already popular, it may be feasible to create, in effect, a flat panel DLP display by rapidly cycling the backlight color.
Current flat panel displays have three sub-pixels in every pixel. One only allows red light, one blue, and one green. It's very inefficient: You need three LCD elements to display each pixel, and two-thirds of the backlight is blocked outright by the color filters.
With a color-cycling display, every element displays every color in turn, so (all else being equal) you triple the resolution *and* the efficiency.
The only downside is a possible rainbow effect if the display does not cycle colors quickly enough.
Different point of view (Score:5, Insightful)
it's microsoft... (Score:5, Funny)
... quickly bash them, before they do anything good.
Viewable angle (Score:5, Interesting)
If this really works like a telescope, then wouldn't that mean the display would have a very low viewable angle? After all, a telescope is just a telephoto lens. And telephoto lenses have a narrow field-of-view.
So, you'd probably have to look directly at the display from a perpendicular angle. Move a little to the side, and you're going to lose the image altogether, or have it severely degraded. LCDs are already bad enough in this respect.
Service Pack (Score:3, Funny)
Red Colour Hue on MVLB Displays
Some users have noticed a slight rosy color hue on their new Microsoft(TM) MVLB (MakeVistaLookBetter) displays. This is a design feature, but users who have downgraded their computer systems to vastly inferior Operating Systems (Windows XP or Lin.. [MSKb Editor: REMOVED - Mention that and you're sacked]) may wish to obtain MVLB Service Pack 1 to re-balance the colors to a more natural 'look-and-feel'.
Article ID : 45888372
Last Review : July 25, 2008
Revision : 1.0
SYMPTOMS:
You look at your MVLB display and the world seems rosy.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
MVLB display optics have been chromatically adjusted to emphasise the red end of the color spectrum to enhance the user experience with Windows(TM) Vista.
RESOLUTION:
Users can obtain MVLB Service Pack 1, which comprises 3932160 (1280x1024x3) colour-corrected nano-dots. Using the supplied grid alignment device (ruler) and tweezers, one dot should be carefully applied to the surface of the MVLB immediately above each pixel. Note that each nano-dot is color-balanced for a specific pixel color (red, green and blue) and so must be applied above the correct display pixel - each nano-dot has an identifying letter ('R', 'G' and 'B') stamped on its edge. Users will require a tube of superglue and possibly a scanning electron microscope.
NOTE: Do not sneeze whilst applying the nano-dots.
APPLIES TO:
MVLB V1.0 displays
KEYWORDS: MVLB, rosy, tinted, Vista
This looks like a variation on DLP (Score:3, Interesting)
Something that was invented 20 years ago. I wonder if Texas Instruments have their lawyers on standby...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DLP [wikipedia.org]
Filling efficiency (Score:3, Insightful)
Pixels are placed next to each other so that the maximum possible fill factor of 78% is achieved. [...]
The maximum transmission of a single pixel in the on state can be derived from the fact that the secondary mirror has a diameter equal to half that of the primary mirror and blocks 25% of the backlight. Thus, 75% of the backlight will reach the primary mirror. Simulations indicate that 95% of the light from the primary mirror can reach the pixel's output. In the experiment it was measured to be 61%, which can be further optimized.
The total amount of backlight that can be transmitted by a telescopic pixel display based on the experiment is pi/4 times 0.75 times 61% approximately 36%, and simulations show that up to 56% is possible. The current experimental value is 3.5-7 times greater than that of LCDs, and therefore for the same backlight intensity, the telescopic pixel is 3.5-7 times brighter.
That pi/4 (78.5%) filling density comes from the fact that the circle-shaped pixels are aranged in a square grid, if they arrange them in a hexagonal grid, they would achieve efficiency of pi/(2*sqrt(3)) - 90.7%.
Great hardware company (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not joking here, I'm genuinely confused.
Why is it that Microsoft is actually a pretty good hardware company? All their peripherals are pretty good. Xbox has a few issues but it's really a one off.
Intel on the other hand is just about the worlds best software company. I spent a lot of time at university working with intel developer tools and libraries without ever encountering a single issue.
Re:Great hardware company (Score:4, Insightful)
My guess is because when making the hardware, they don't have to deal with the last 25 years of legacy code and support. With the Zune, the Xbox, their mice, etc. they're generally just free to go crazy and not care about whether MS Works '97 will work or not.
Of course the 360 was backwards compatible with the original Xbox and users are experiencing widespread problems with that. Probably more of a coincidence than anything though.
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Go Team USA! (Score:3, Insightful)
The one thing that I really do like about the closed model is that Apple and Microsoft seem to be the only two American companies capable of actually taking on foreign competition in their core competencies and winning.
They are just kicking the shit out of Sony and as guy who watched RCA flounder and go down for an answer to the Walkman every iPod and xBox 360 sold just gives me great delight. And now, the even possibility of Microsoft taking back at least the design of electronic screens back from asian manufacturers is pretty damned sweet.
You all may hate Microsoft and Apple and love Linux, but is there any doubt that if Ford and GM were as adeptly run as Microsoft and Apple were, American car companies wouldn't be caught building giant trucks -again- and then take seemingly 5 years to turn around.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Anna Pyayt led the research as part of her Ph.D. thesis at the University of Washington in collaboration with two Microsoft engineers. Microsoft funded the work and has also applied for a patent on the technology.
See, they may not manufacture it themselves, but they'll certainly be getting license fees for each unit sold...
They need something to make up for their lack of Vista sales.
Who knows, maybe the display will incorporate a TCPA/Palladium chip, so a licensed OS will be required also.
e.g. For
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
It was done by a student, the Microsoft engineers were probably taking notes ;-) business as usual.
obviously (Score:5, Funny)
I can even think of two ways to block Linux.
If you can too, SHUT UP ABOUT IT!
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Re:OS Agnostic? (Score:5, Insightful)
Who cares? Insofar as Microsoft is in the hardware business, they don't seem to discriminate except by providing only Windows and Mac driversâ"but everyone does that, so no biggie. Lots of people use their Intellimouse or their Microsoft Natural Keyboard on their pet OS. I don't see what Microsoft would gain by doing more work to discriminate: they'd just give people a reason to buy some other excellent monitor. It's more of an Apple thing to do, and even *their* displays work fine on any OS.
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Re:OS Agnostic? (Score:4, Insightful)
I think you are being paranoid. MS didnt do that with any of their other hardware. (joysticks/keyboards/mouse/etc) Really, is there any practical way to keep someone from plugging a monitor into a linux box?
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Your quite valid point aside, here's another one to throw into the mix...
Dont OLEDs obsolete this technology already? And I am pretty sure they get more than just blue out of an OLED display... :-)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah OLEDs are superior by nature. No backlight thus no efficiency problems.
The light is generated on demand.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:OS Agnostic? (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, all they need to do is follow the DRM laden specs that high end monitors on HDMI are supposed to use in Vista - and lock the monitors in that mode.
All Linux and other OS's need to do is enable DRM... MS isnt locking them out of anything... they arent implementing the right technology to use it, even though they "can" (or can't because the video card manufacturers wont release the specs needed to modify drivers under Linux).
This would have the same effect, and put the blame at someone else's feet (ie: not Microsoft's).
Note the sarcasm in the words... yet it is quite possible the truth will follow that path nonetheless... but it would be a stupid move. Especially with other technologies out there that would be competing against this.
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Re:OS Agnostic? (Score:5, Interesting)
You mean require HDCP? Why would they do that? So that suddenly 75% (guess) of their customer base couldn't use their choice of monitor? For what possible gain?
HDCP is only required when you play blu-ray or hd-dvd discs. I suppose Microsoft could agree to require it on DRMed media -- but they've never even hinted that they would be stupid enough to require it for general purpose computing. What would be the point?!
Honestly, this train of thought looks like the paranoid rantings of a delusional conspiracy theorist.
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Re:OS Agnostic? (Score:4, Insightful)
Nothing Linux cant adapt to.
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Re:OS Agnostic? (Score:4, Insightful)
Unless you consider adaptation to be waiting 2.5-5 year for something that works about 90%, I won't be eagerly awaiting the reverse engineering!
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Re:DLP rainbows (Score:5, Informative)
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Haha, let's see "Linux" do something like that (Score:5, Insightful)
You're all wrong - open source software IS capable of innovation. For instance, take a look at LyX [lyx.org], a document processor that beats all else hands down. For that matter, LaTeX itself is open source and is the gold standard in creating technical documents. Neither of these is a copy of a closed source original.
The free software/open source approach works well where people can scratch their own itches - in fields where those who need technical innovation are also capable of developing the technology to do it, such as science and mathematics. It fares less well for products which are developed to be sold to someone else - `office suite' software, or for that matter computer monitor hardware (to get us back onto topic). However, saying that open source is incapable of innovation is like saying that all major discoveries are made by commercial entities rather than universities.
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Re:Haha, let's see "Linux" do something like that (Score:5, Interesting)
'Invention' is compatible with open source 'schtuf', but the GP is right that Linux is a unix-clone and therefore, limited in the amount of (software) invention it will allow. Granted, /any/ OS is limited and unix is a better choice than most, but there /are/ better models out there, including, ironically, models invented by the very inventors of unix that were already available when Linux was still in its infancy. All you get from cloning unix is a lot of eyeballs and a lot of already compilable source-code. But many choices of better desktop-OS-es and better server-OS-es and better embedded-OS-es have since come and gone.
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Re:Haha, let's see "Linux" do something like that (Score:5, Insightful)
Your point has been repeated over and over. You are -1, Redundant.
Linus Torvalds is not a great thinker, but he has some reasonable ideas. Not long ago he said that innovation is overrated. Anybody can come up with new ideas. The thing is implementing them, and good.
Xerox was great, but Macintosh was more important in bringing the desktop to people.
There are good ideas everywhere, we don't need new ideas, we already know what we want, what is needed is good implementations.
Aside from that, MS is not that good an innovator, either. They didn't come up with WIMP, they didn't come up with the idea of selling it to the masses. They didn't come up with office productivity software. They didn't come up with media players, consoles, mouses, anything.
The thing they are good at is building a product that is good enough (good, when it comes to hardware), and selling it. They rule at marketing. They are the kings of it. They are innovators in that area. But that doesn't benefit the users, so I think it's not important for us, but for their shareholders.
GNU/Linux is a way to get good software, on _my_ terms. It's what I want, and it works. There are alternatives, a lot worse in most regards, and somewhat better in other, but they are not provided on terms that are fair to me, so it's a no-brainer who I will choose. It's not about innovation either. It's about fulfilling my needs, without asking for my first born baby in return.
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