news archive
Lambda's
TracePro® 3.3 Makes Backlight Design Easier
Littleton,
Massachusetts, November 15 - Lambda Research Corporation
announced today that Release 3.3 of its award-winning
product TracePro® is now undergoing final testing and will
be commercially available on January 3, 2005. TracePro is 3D
virtual prototyping software to facilitate the design and
analysis of almost any optical or illumination system.
Release 3.3 features an enhanced RepTile algorithm, Spatial
Corporation's ACIS® R14 solid modeling kernel, upgraded
property editors, updates in the non-ray-splitting mode,
enhancements in Irradiance/Illuminance maps, ensquared
energy irradiance viewing, and enhanced ray selection
criteria for irradiance and candela maps.
The RepTile
algorithm simulates thousands, millions, or billions of
repetitive surface features and is used for designing the
backlights found in flat-panel displays. With Release 3.3,
RepTile features are parameterized so they can be defined by
an expression that can depend on the row and column number.
Further RepTile enhancements include a random-number feature
to randomly vary parameters, and decentering of geometry
within a tile. Additional enhancements include the ability
to define ring geometry into segmented rings and allow
placement of geometry within these rings, as well as a new
RepTile geometry type: ellipsoid bumps or holes.
The
polarization function now works in both ray-splitting and
non-ray-splitting mode, allowing polarization effects to be
accommodated in RepTile geometry. This revised functionality
will simulate realistic polarization in microstructures used
in backlights for flat-panel displays.
Other
improvements include updating of Property Editors for Bulk
Scatter, Gradient Index, Thin-film Stacks, and RepTile
properties. Enhancements in the Irradiance/Illuminance map
viewer include the capability to select a region and display
the corresponding rays and ensquared flux.
TracePro 3.3
incorporates the power, precision, and functionality of the
latest version of the ACIS solid modeling kernel - the R14
Release. According to Ray Bagley, Product Manager for 3D
Modeling Products, "TracePro is one of the first
products to be released on the R14 version of Spatial's 3D
Modeling and InterOp products."
Information:
Petra Klimoszova, Lambda Research Director of Marketing, at petra@lamdares.com,
or access www.lambdares.com.
Samsung
Unveils 17-Inch LCD Monitor with Ultra-High Contrast Ratio
Irvine,
California, November 8 - Today, Samsung, introduced its
SyncMaster 711t LCD monitor, which features a 1000:1
contrast ratio - one of the highest LCDs contrast ratios in
the marketplace today. The SyncMaster 711t is currently
shipping.
Most 17-inch
LCDs today offer 600:1 contrast ratios. The SyncMaster
711t's 1000:1 contrast ratio results in greater legibility
when reading or viewing content on the monitor's screen.
Higher contrast ratio also reduces eye fatigue and offers
several major benefits, including deeper shadows that are
easier to distinguish, better colors, and text that is
sharper, a company statement said.
Samsung's
high-end 711t features the company's proprietary Patterned
Vertical Alignment (PVA) liquid-crystal cell structure for
improved viewing. The display offers an extra-wide
178-degree viewing angle, the widest viewing angles of any
17-inch display on the market today. In addition to its
1000:1 contrast ratio, the 711t offers a luminance of 250 cd/m5.
The pixel format is 1280 x 1024. The unit sports a very
narrow bezel - just 0.5-inches thick - and a removable base.
It also features Pivot® software by Portrait Displays for
switching between portrait and landscape viewing.
The
SyncMaster 711t utilizes Samsung's proprietary MagicTune™
software and MagicBright™ technology. MagicTune, a true
launching pad for future technology, enables users to have
full control over all display features with extensive color
adjustment capability, and gives them the ability to save
the various personalized display profiles for whatever
environment or mode the user is in. MagicTune gives users
the ability to adjust the monitor's various settings with a
simple click of a mouse. This functionality is completed
with no additional cable or interface; MagicTune
communication is completed through the video cable.
MagicBright
technology allows users to change the brightness of the
display to adjust to various applications with a push of one
button. MagicBright offers settings for text computing,
viewing video on the Internet, and entertainment
applications such as gaming, video streaming, or viewing
DVD's on your display through your computer.
Recent
monitor market research shows that approximately 30 percent
of all LCD monitors sold incorporate a digital interface.
Paying attention to this data, Samsung offers its consumers
both analog and digital inputs in the SyncMaster 711t.
Samsung backs
all of its monitors with a three-year parts and labor
warranty, as well as toll-free technical support 24 hours a
day, 365 days a year. Estimated street prince for the 711t
is $599.
Information: www.samsungusa.com/monitor.
Sharp
Introduces a 2.2-inch QCIF+ LCD Display
CAMAS,
Washington, October 25, 2004 - Sharp Microelectronics of the
Americas has announced its 2.2-inch QCIF+ Advanced-TFT LCD
(AD-TFT LCD) module to meet the needs of design engineers in
North America developing new and emerging mobile devices
capable of showing text, video content, and still images.
Sharp is the first company to offer this size display as a
standard part for both mobile phone and other portable
handheld applications, the company said.
As
mobile-phone users upgrade to new, multi-feature models, and
as new categories of A/V products - such as portable media
players - emerge, there is a growing demand for small,
high-resolution, color display modules capable of showing
text, still photos, and video. These displays must meet
stringent display requirements and do so at price points
necessary to attract consumers at every level of entry.
The QCIF+
display complements Sharp's line of AD-TFT displays
optimized for portable electronics, which now includes
displays with QCIF+, QVGA, and VGA formats.
"The
demand for portable devices has been a major driver of the
electronics industry. In fact, the market for mobile phones
and newly emerging mobile A/V devices is expected to grow
sharply in the coming years as consumers look for ways to
manage audio, images, and video on a single hand-held
platform," said Dave Hagan, Senior Product Manager at
Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas. "These devices
fuel demand for better quality color display solutions than
were previously available. Sharp has foreseen this need, and
offers design engineers a QCIF+ display module capable of
displaying full-motion video and images on a standard
cell-phone-size display."
The 2.2-inch
QCIF+ AD-TFT module is thin, rugged, lightweight, features
low power consumption, fast response rate and supports
full-motion color, the company said. Developed using
Advanced-TFT (transflective) display technology, images are
readable in a full range of ambient lighting conditions both
inside and outdoors. This is accomplished because the
transflective mode is optimized with an emphasis on
reflectivity, and the panel more closely resembles the
characteristics of paper than other LCDs. To reduce power
consumption, this display module is backlit using white LEDs,
and can be used in different modes to reduce color, reduce
refresh rate, or to write to only part of the screen.
The new
display shows 262,000 colors, consumes less than 300 mW at
full brightness, has a contrast ratio of 60:1, and has a
response time of 18 ms.
The new
display, called the LQ022B8UD04, is now in production.
Information: www.sharpsma.com.
