One performance goal of a digital paper device is to provide the user with a reading and writing experience that is indistinguishable from that experienced with actual pen on paper. In an attempt to enable this goal, E Ink Holdings Inc. (headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan) presented the company’s latest digital paper during Breakout Session 2 on Leading Edge Technology at the Connected Ink 2018 conference recently held in Tokyo, Japan.
E Ink’s latest technology is called JustWrite. The digital paper film incorporates one of E Ink’s proprietary electronic inks. Used in a digital paper device, the JustWrite film provides a high contrast, reflective display – and eliminates the need for a backlight. The display is bistable. That is, once an image is written on the film, it will remain visible for an extended period of time. The image can be erased from the display when the user chooses to press a button that applies an electric field to the film.
The display is produced on a durable, lightweight plastic substrate using an efficient roll to roll process. The film can be configured into almost any shape in a size that is up to three feet wide (0.9m). In fact, it is possible to cut holes into the film. In addition, the film is flexible and quite conformable. Given these mechanical properties, the film can be attached to a wide range of substrates thus allowing for the inclusion of an electronic writing surface on a wide range of products.
A JustWrite display can be written upon in several different ways. Included are the use of a “pen, pencil, brush, marker and stamps.” In addition, JustWrite technology is compatible with an optional digitizer.
A particular feature claimed for the JustWrite film is that it can be written on with close to zero latency. It is this feature in particular that makes writing on a JustWrite display seem so much like writing on paper.Latency is minimized by driving the display with the stylus itself. One consequence of this operating mode is that a TFT backplane is not required in the display. The absence of a TFT backplane makes the JustWrite film simpler and, thus, easier and less expensive to manufacture.
Another consequence of this operating mode is that a JustWrite based digital paper device requires very little power. The stylus consumes power only when it is used to write an image and the display requires only a small amount of power and that only during the process of erasing the image.
A video that contains a demonstration of a JustWrite based display device in operation can be found at the end of this article. The figure below is a screen capture from the video and illustrates the appearance of an image on a JustWrite based display.
A photo of an image on a JustWrite based display
A recent e Ink press release includes speculation on possible uses for JustWrite Display technology. Potential applications mentioned range from small, post-it-notes sized displays to large digital whiteboards.
E Ink has not disclosed when JustWrite film will be available to customers. -Arthur Berman
