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Seminar Archive - 2009

December 15, 2009 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Speaker: Jurgen Daniel, Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)
Title: Printed Electronics – Prospects and Challenges for Displays and Sensing Devices 


Abstract: Printed electronics is predicted to see substantial market growth in the near future. Although printing techniques have been routinely used for electronics applications in the past, the recent activities in printed electronics address a much wider materials set with the intent to achieve fully printed functional electronic devices. In the pursuit of this goal, the definition of ‘printing’ becomes often rather broad. This talk will give an overview of printed electronics and address prospects and challenges. The emphasis will be on inkjet technology which has the advantage of digital data printing and non-contact materials deposition. PARC’s activity in printed electronics includes flexible backplanes for electrophoretic displays and disposable sensor tapes to record events that can trigger traumatic brain injury. 

Speaker Background: Jurgen H. Daniel is Senior Scientist at the Palo Alto Research Center where his research includes printed electronics, display technologies, micro-electro-mechanical systems, and photovoltaics. Previously, he has worked at Oxford Instruments and at FEI Europe and in 1998 he was visiting scientist at the Matsushita Research Institute, Tokyo. He holds a Dipl. Phys. degree from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Cambridge, UK. 

Click here to access Jurgen Daniel's slides in PDF format.

November 19, 2009 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Speaker: Geoff Walker, Product Marketing Manager, NextWindow 
Title: LCD In-Cell Touch


Abstract: As the touch market has grown, the LCD manufacturers have become increasingly interested in participating in the market through integration of touch capability into LCDs. This technology, known as "LCD In-Cell", is a bit more complex than it seems at first glance. The LCD manufacturers are actually developing three different technologies (optical, contact-closure, and capacitive) and three different forms of integration (in-cell, on-cell, and out-cell). This seminar explores the characteristics, advantages, disadvantages and implications of all of these possibilities. Since all three of these technologies support multi-touch, the seminar begins with a definition & exploration of multi-touch as a foundation, as well as a very brief review of the touch market. 

Speaker Background: Geoff Walker is the Product Marketing Manager at NextWindow, the leading supplier of optical touchscreens used in Windows-7 touch monitors and all-in-one touch computers. A mobile-computing industry pioneer, Geoff was an early employee at startup GRiD Systems, where he worked on the first laptop in 1982 and the first pen tablet in 1989. Geoff served as product architect and VP of Marketing at startup Fujitsu Personal Systems, where he architected all of Fujitsu’s pen tablet products from 1993-1999. Geoff was an early employee at startup Handspring, where he worked on the Visor Prism (Handspring's first color PDA) and the VisorPhone (the predecessor of the Treo smartphone). After Handspring, Geoff ran his own consulting firm (Walker Mobile, LLC) for seven years, focusing on touchscreens, mobile displays and mobile computers. During that time Geoff also served as the Guest Editor for Touch of SID's Information Display magazine (2007), the Associate Editor of the Veritas et Visus series of display-industry newsletters (2005-2007), and the Technology Editor of Pen Computing magazine (2001-2007). Most recently Geoff was the Global Director of Product Management and Business Development for Elo TouchSystems, a business unit of Tyco Electronics. Geoff holds BS-Electrical Engineering and BS-English degrees from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (formerly the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn), and has completed the coursework for an MBA in Marketing from New York University’s Graduate School of Business.

Click here to access Geoff Walker's slides in PDF format.

October 27, 2009 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Speaker: Robert Sprague, Sr. VP of RD&E, SiPix Technology Inc.
Title: Advances in Microcup Electrophoretic Displays 


Abstract: SiPix is developing high quality microcup electrophoretic displays for ebooks and other applications such as retail signage, credit card, and indicator displays. Such applications utilize the high reflectivity and bistability of this media to enable new levels of performance in readability and battery life. This presentation will discuss the current status of the technology and describe the challenges in meeting performance requirements for such displays in black and white and color. These challenges exist in materials design of particles and fluids for electrophoretic dispersions, microcup embossing and sealing fluids, adhesive layers, and color dyes, all of which need to be optimized to meet a wide range of performance requirements.

Speaker Background: Dr. Sprague is the Senior VP of Research Development, and Engineering at SiPix Imaging, Inc. and is well known as the CTO and founder of Gyricon LLC, one of the first companies to commercialize electronic paper. Dr. Sprague spent 25 years at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), were he was Associate Director and Lab Manager. He holds over 70 patents, is a Fellow and past president of SPIE and a fellow of OSA. Dr. Sprague has a Ph.D. and B.S. in optics from the Institute of Optics, University of Rochester. 

Click here to access Robert Sprague's slides in PDF format.

September 22, 2009 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Speaker: Paul Semenza, Senior Vice President, Analyst Services, DisplaySearch 
Title: TV After HD: Where is it Headed? 

Abstract: Having gone through transitions from analog to digital and from fat to flat, where is TV technology, functionality, and performance headed? This talk will describe current developments and future paths for TV, and also discuss how TV is impacting the display industry 

Speaker Background: Paul is responsible for managing the worldwide analyst teams at DisplaySearch. Previously Paul served as Vice President of Display Research for iSuppli Corporation from 2000-2008 and for Stanford Resources, Inc. from 1997-2000. Prior to Stanford Resources, Paul was a Program Officer at the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council, where he directed studies on IT policy, and was an Analyst for the US Congress Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), covering emerging technologies such as flat panel displays. Paul received his Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and Master's degree in Electro-optics from Tufts University. In 1994, he received a Master's degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Click here to access Paul Semenza's slides in PDF format.

May 5, 2009 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Speaker: Professor Martin S. Banks, University of California, Berkeley
Title: Stereo displays: Visual perception, performance, and fatigue


Click here to access Marty Bank's slides in PDF format. 

April 8, 2009 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Speaker: Paul Drzaic
Title: Flexible Displays


Abstract: In this talk I will describe a short history of flexible electronic displays, some of the technical approaches towards achieving flexibility using both silicon-based and organic-based materials, with particular focus on manufacturing issues associated with flexible electronic displays. Despite the fact that plastic-based electronic displays were demonstrated around 30 years ago, there are still few commercial examples of flexible electronic displays. Therefore, I will also discuss some of the issues that have slowed adoption of flexible displays in the marketplace, and some technical and market challenges to enable these technologies to flourish. 

Speaker Background: Paul S. Drzaic is Principal at Drzaic Consulting Services, providing expert assistance to organizations in areas of flat panel display technology. He is a Fellow of the SID, and is serving as President of the SID. Previously, he has held positions as Chief Technology Officer at Unidym, Inc., Vice President for Advanced Development Programs at Alien Technology Corporation, Director of Technology at E Ink Corporation, and Principal Scientist at Raychem Corporation. Much of Drzaic's professional career has been in the development of flexible electronic technologies. He is the author of a book, 19 journal publications, and 55 US patents. He is a winner of the 2002 National Team Innovation Award from the American Chemical Society, as well as an Editor's Choice award for the R&D 100 awards for 2001. He is Chair of the Editorial Board for the MRS Bulletin. Dr Drzaic has a PhD from Stanford University. 

Click here to access Paul Drzaic's slides in PDF format.

March 10, 2009 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Speaker: Dr. Nikhil Balram, Marvell Semiconductor, Inc.
Title: Qdeo™ award-winning video processing suite for the present and future


Abstract: The last several years have seen an explosion of new types of video content ranging from iTunes and YouTube all the way up to Full-HD and now even 4Kx2K.. Handling the unique challenges of this extraordinarily wide set of content requires a new class of highly adaptive video processing algorithms that are based on QuietVideoTM principles. This seminar will discuss and demonstrate core elements of the award-winning Qdeo technology that has been used in products as diverse as an HD iPod dock, AVReceiver, DVD Recorder, Blu-ray player, Blu-ray recorder, and LCD-TV.

Speaker Background: Nikhil Balram has over 20 years of experience in the area of digital signal/image/video/display processing. He has served as an executive at several public companies in the display and consumer electronics industries including Faroudja, Sage, Genesis Microchip, SONICblue and National Semiconductor. Since May, 2006 he has been at Marvell Semiconductor Inc., as Vice President and General Manager of the Digital Entertainment Business Unit which develops innovative IC solutions for the worldwide consumer electronics market. At Marvell, he has developed the DE27xx family of adaptive digital video format converter ICs which use Marvel?s award-winning QdeoTM video technology (www.ClearlyQdeo.com) to produce world-class image quality for a variety of applications ranging from low-resolution internet video, all the way up to Full-HD and 4Kx2K. Dr. Balram has over 35 technical publications and over two dozen filed or issued US patents and applications, and has given invited lectures and keynotes at major conferences around the world. He has a BS, MS. and Ph.D in electrical engineering, all from Carnegie Mellon University. 

Click here to access Nikhil Balram's slides in PDF format.

February 18, 2009 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Speaker: Dr. James Larimer, President of ImageMetrics, LLC 
Title: Image Artifacts in the Digital Era

Abstract: Over the past 40 years digital imaging technology has replaced analog technology for capturing, storing, transporting and reconstructing imagery. There has been a revolution and resulting technology paradigm shift in the imaging business. Today digital signal processing enables the creation of image content and has revolutionized the way artists use post-production technologies to alter the look of natural imagery or combine it with CGI. Liquid crystal light valves, micro-cavity light emitting plasmas, LEDs, OLEDs, and MEMS devices coupled with CCDs and CMOS sensors have invaded the imaging marketplace. One hundred years of experience with film and CRT based television produced an essential understanding of the unique distortion and artifacts produced by these technologies; these lessons must now be relearned as new technologies replace old ones. This lecture will outline the basic concepts to understand the interplay between the human visual system and the manner in which images today are processed by these new technologies. Image artifacts such as flicker, judder, jaggies, tone-scale distortion, color breakup, tone-scale banding, image smear, blurring, scaling and codex artifacts can be understood based upon the visual ergonomics or perceptual salience of artifactual signals produced by digital imaging technologies. Digital technologies have created a new array of image artifacts that compromise image quality and our ability to control it. Artifacts can be understood and managed if we understand how the eye codes and processes the image on the screen. Why these artifacts are particularly salient to the human visual system and how to control them is the subject of this talk.

Speaker Background: Dr. Larimer started his career as a university Professor and eventually Department Chairman, he directed the Sensory Physiology and Perception Program at the National Science Foundation before joining NASA as a Senior Scientist at the Ames Research Center. A 20-year career at NASA transformed his interests from human vision to the interaction of human vision with electronic imaging media.. He has held every office in the Bay Area Chapter of the Society for Information Display, and served as SID VP for the Americas and is an Associate Editor of JSID. He is now a consulting engineer in imaging technology. 

Click here to access Jim Larimer's slides in PDF format.
January 6, 2009 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Speaker: James Schuessler, National Semiconductor
Title: Display Interfacing – Managing the transitions and looking to the future

Abstract: The move to high speed serial display interfaces in handhelds is well underway, especially at HVGA formats and higher, yet a careful analysis that balances power, volume (size) and EMI with costs and your supply chain is always necessary. We’ll look at the capabilities of the new MIPI Alliance Display Serial Interface and VESA’s MDDI and show block diagrams of simple and more complex systems these interfaces allow. Perhaps the most active current debate is the optimal location of frame buffers that trade off cost and power consumption. Looking to the near future, display-as-subsystem concepts (touch and more complex backlight control for instance) highlight the need for a more universal or abstracted interface. Distributed mobile architectures that MIPI UniPro and concepts like Network on Terminal (NoTA) allow would provide a path to the next generation. I would like to reserve an extended time for discussion.

Speaker Background: James E (Jim) Schuessler currently works in system architecture and strategic marketing with National Semiconductor’s Personal Mobile Device segment. He chair’s the Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) Alliance Technical Steering Group and is past chair of the working group that created MIPI SLIMbus™. Prior to those roles, he ran Applications Engineering for TriTech Microelectronics, a Singapore Technologies company, and participated in several other standards organizations including ANS, IEEE and VESA. 

Click here to access Jim Schuessler's slides in PDF format.