Fuji
and Aurora to Build Rear-projection TV
San Jose, California, February 19 - Aurora Systems, Inc., a developer of LCoS microdisplay chipsets and LCD display controllers, announced today a partnership with Fuji Photo Optical Co., Ltd., a pioneer of optical technologies based in Japan. Fuji will develop a new optical engine for LCoS products based on the off-axis patent licensed from Aurora, with the intention of engines to projection TV set manufacturers. The company plans to be involved in other aspects of the projection arena in order to provide projection equipment makers with optical engines for any category of projectors.
Aurora's ASI 3200 achieves XGA resolution along with a 0.72" display diagonal, and was designed to dovetail with Aurora Systems' ASI 3100 driver chip. "Aurora Systems views the new partnership as an endorsement by Fuji Photo Optical, celebrating Aurora Systems' expertise within the LCOS marketplace," said Aurora Systems' Senior Director, Poking Li.
Information: Norman Chan.
Tel: (408) 432-7971, nchan@aurora-sys.com,
www.aurora-sys.com.
Kent Renews ChLCD Licensing
Kent, Ohio, February 15 -- Kent Displays Systems announced that it has resumed licensing its portfolio of
cholesteric-liquid-crystal-display patents. The company has not been actively licensing its "no-power" bi-stable reflective technology while it dealt with a challenge from Advanced Display Systems (ADS) to one of its key patents, the West patent, in the U.S. courts.
"Having received a jury verdict in favor of the validity of the West patent plus the issuance of that patent in the People's Republic of China, we now feel the timing is appropriate to license our portfolio to others," said Gene A. Miceli, President and COO of Kent Displays. The jury also awarded $1.5 million in damages to Kent.
ADS had its own response to the verdict. "The company is clearly disappointed," stated James Lupino, President of ADS (Wylie, Texas). "We intend to appeal once a judgment is rendered some months from now. Our legal counsel feels that ADS has meritorious issues to present which should result in reversal at the Federal Circuit."
In response to a question from Information Display On-Line, Lupino said, "We have sufficient funds to operate our business and pay attorneys for the many battles yet ahead through judgment, which is expected this summer, and to file and argue an appeal."
Information: Kent Displays, gmiceli@kentdisplays.com,
www.kentdisplays.com.
ADS, lupino@advanceddisplay.com,
www.advanceddisplay.com.
Digital Projection And NEC Announce Strategic Alliance
Manchester, UK, and Kennesaw, Georgia, February 15 - Digital Projection International (DPI) and NEC Viewtechnology Ltd. (NEC) today announced a strategic alliance for the development, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of advanced digital projection systems. The agreement is intended to bring both companies accelerated growth in entertainment, large-venue imaging, digital-cinema and critical-projection markets.
"We are delighted to join NEC [the world's leading manufacturer of electronic projection systems] in the expansion of our companies' development resources, product lines and business plans. NEC's innovation and manufacturing prowess complement Digital Projection's renowned expertise in DLPTM-based projection displays. We look forward to a long and mutually successful collaboration," said Brian Critchley, DPI's Managing Director and CEO.
"We are excited with the results we achieved together in the past with our OEM agreement where we supplied some mid-range products to DPI. We have
decided to take the next step in our relationship," said Takashi Ogawa,
President of NEC Viewtechnology. "We will expand our partnership and
cooperate not only in production, but also in development and global sales
and marketing. This alliance will allow us a more efficient and faster
development of advanced products and broaden the support to our customers."
Information: www.digitalprojection.com,
www.digitalprojection.co.uk,
www.nec-pj.com.
PFE Imports Yank as New CEO
Oxford, UK, February 11 - Printable Field Emitters (PFE) today announced that it has appointed US display-industry veteran Thomas Martin Holzel as its new CEO.
"Holzel's experience will help transition PFE's technology from the development laboratory to the marketplace," a company announcement said. "Everest mountaineer Holzel aims to position PFE's technology as the industry standard for large-screen TV and will head up negotiations with the world's leading electronic display companies," continued the announcement.
Holzel, formerly of Boston, Massachusetts, has been associated with FEDs since initiating an advanced avionics display program at Raytheon, a major U.S. defense contractor, in 1988. He subsequently was appointed the VP of Marketing for the French firm PixTech, a pioneer in the manufacturing of first-generation FEDs and ran their U.S. operations in Silicon Valley. Most recently he held the post of VP of Marketing for MicroOptical Corp near Boston, the developer of a tiny eyeglass-mounted personal viewing system. Holzel is a serious mountain climber. He mounted the first expedition to search for the cameras of Mallory & Irvine, during which he spent 47 days on Mount Everest, and he co-authored "The Mystery of Mallory & Irvine," now in its 2nd edition and translated into 4 languages.
"After 3 years of research & development resulting in significant technical advances and a very impressive patent position, PFE is beginning to show the first practical small-scale examples of wall-TVs," Holzel stated. "The 5-inch samples being made now are convincing proof-of-concept that the PFE process can be scaled up to produce 40-inch wall-TVs that will ultimately sell for $1700 and 32-inch TVs at $1200. At these price points flat wall-TVs will become the mass-market commodity items that consumers can afford."
PFE intends that its cold-cathode technology for use in field-emission displays (FEDs) will replace the cathode-ray tube found in traditional TV screens with a tube that is less than 1 cm thick, and that this advance - along with the company's development of new materials and low-cost screen-printing techniques - will produce a thin, consumer-priced, hang-on-the-wall TV screen up to 40 inches on the diagonal.
Information: Bridget Fishleigh.
Tel: +44-1273-624-442, bridget@nomadcomms.com,
www.pfe-ltd.com.
Toshiba and Matsushita Announce LCD Joint Venture
Tokyo, Japan, January 29 - Toshiba Corporation and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. today announced that their new joint venture, Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., Ltd. would start operation on April 1, 2002. Mr. Yasusuke Sumitomo, currently Corporate Vice President of Toshiba Corporation and Executive Vice President of Toshiba's Display Devices & Components Company, will be president of the new company.
Established under the terms of an October 17, 2001 agreement between Toshiba and Matsushita, the new company will assume responsibility for all the partners' operations in liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and organic light emitting displays (OLEDs), from development to manufacturing and sales. It will make best use of the economies of scale resulting from the unification and work for early standardization of design methodologies and manufacturing processes. The company will also develop high-density mounting technology and seek to simplify production processes, so as to be the cost leader in the global market.
The JV will be capitalized at ¥10 billion and will have 2900 employees. Sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2003 projected at ¥340 billion. Ownership of the JV will be 60 percent by Toshiba; 40 percent by Matsushita.
Information: www.toshiba.co.jp,
www.panasonic.co.jp/global/top.html.
Kent Victorious in 6-Year Patent Lawsuit with ADS
Kent, Ohio, January 15 - On December 21, 2001, an 8-person jury in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, United States Magistrate Judge Jeff Kaplan presiding, unanimously found in favor of Kent Display Systems, Inc. (KDS) , Kent Research Corp. (KRC), and Kent State University (KSU). In an Order dated January 7, 2002, Judge Kaplan wrote:
…At the conclusion of the trial, the jury found that U.S. Patent No. 5,453,863 ("the West patent") is valid and enforceable in all respects, that ADS infringed Claims 1-8 and 10 of the West patent both literally and under the doctrine of equivalents, that ADS and Bao Gang Wu…induced infringement, and that the infringing activities of ADS and Wu were willful. The jury awarded damages in the amount of $1.5 million to compensate KDS for such infringement or inducement of infringement.
The dispute between Advanced Display Systems, Inc., (ADS) and KDS began in May of 1996 when ADS filed a Complaint in United States District Court, Dallas Division, alleging that the West patent, a KSU patent exclusively licensed to KDS, was invalid and that ADS did not infringe it, after which KDS sued for infringement.
The West Patent teaches how to make a novel liquid-crystal display that, among other things, allows the user to place images on a display and for those images to remain on the display after power has been removed. This specialized capability makes the technology extremely valuable in the portable-equipment markets where power consumption is critical.
ADS initially prevailed in a 1997 trial, only to have the jury verdict reversed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and a new trial ordered. The new trial began on December 3, 2001 and concluded on the 21st with the jury delivering its verdict in favor of KDS, KRC, and KSU.
Headquartered in Kent, Ohio, KDS is the world leader in the advancement of cholesteric liquid-crystal-display (ChLCD) technology through ongoing development of cholesteric materials and advanced drive methods. The results of these efforts can be seen in KDS's advancements in plastic-based assemblies, color systems, active-matrix formats, and night-vision-goggle-compatible reflective systems, all specifically created to enhance the performance of cholesteric displays. These developments are financed internally, in collaboration with strategic partners, and in some instances, under contract with the United States Department of Defense. KDS's cholesteric technology is the subject of an extensive global patent portfolio, which it licenses on a limited basis.
Displays utilizing KDS cholesteric-display technology can be used in portable products such as global positioning systems and navigation products, instruments and measuring devices, hand-held personal digital assistants, radio and telecommunications products,
and other applications in which low power consumption and high-contrast viewing are important design criteria.
Information: Products: sales@kentdisplays.com,
www.kentdisplays.com. Technology licensing: Gene A.
Miceli. Tel: (330) 673-8784, Fax: (330) 673-4408, gmiceli@kentdisplays.com.
Opsys Produces First OLEDs from New Prototyping Line
Oxford, UK, February 8 - Oxford-based Opsys Limited has produced the first passive-matrix organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays from its new prototyping line in Fremont, California. The new prototypes mark the successful and rapid implementation of the fluorescent small-molecule OLED technology that Opsys has licensed from Eastman Kodak Company.
The 31.37-mm (1.24-inch) diagonal displays are designed for use in mobile
phones. They are just 1.8 mm (0.07 inch) thick, have 128 x 64 pixels, a
luminance of 40 cd/m², and contrast greater than 100:1, compared with the 5:1 that is typical for an LCD mobile-phone display.
The displays can be manufactured in various colors, and feature built-in
controllers for brightness and "sleep" mode. In addition, because the
switching speed of OLED displays is much faster than that of LCDs, these
displays are capable of high-speed text and image scrolling.
The prototyping line, installed in October 2001, handles 200x200-mm
substrates and gives Opsys the capability to sample small to medium sized
displays suitable for mobile applications. Opsys is currently sampling
these prototypes to potential customers.
Full-color 2-inch OLED display prototypes are also under development.
Damoder Reddy, Opsys' Chief Operating Officer, commented, "To have produced
these displays in January from a facility which was still an empty shell in
August is a major achievement. We are pleased to have made this rapid
development, aided with close co-operation from Kodak."
Opsys established its 42,000 sq. ft. US facility in Fremont, California to
gain access to the excellent flat-panel-display R&D and manufacturing skills
in the Silicon Valley area. Since opening the facility Opsys has recruited
over 20 experienced technologists to the operation.
Information: www.opsysdisplays.com
