Gyricon
Encyclopedia
Gyricon is a type of electronic paper
developed at the Xerox PARC
(Palo Alto Research Center). It has many of the same properties as paper: It's flexible, contains an image, and is viewable from a wide angle, but it can be erased and written thousands of times.
A Gyricon sheet is a thin layer of transparent plastic in which millions of small beads, somewhat like toner particles, are randomly dispersed. The beads, each contained in an oil-filled cavity, are free to rotate within those cavities. The beads are "bichromal," with hemispheres of two contrasting colors (e.g. black and white, red and white), and charged so they exhibit an electrical dipole. When voltage is applied to the surface of the sheet, the beads rotate to present one colored side to the viewer. Voltages can be applied to the surface to create images such as text and pictures. The image will persist until new voltage patterns are applied
As of December, 2005, Xerox closed down the direct subsidiary Gyricon LLC, their Gyricon e-paper display business, and is focusing on licensing the technology.
The company have said that the reason for their closure has been their inability to source backplane
technology for their Gyricon frontplane at a price of less than $10 per sqft. Being able to achieve a price of under $10 was said to be critical to the success of marketing their e-paper based electronic signage products. Although the company will stop direct manufacture and sale of Gyricon e-paper display products it will, however, still be licensing their frontplane technology to other users.
Electronic paper
Electronic paper, e-paper and electronic ink are a range of display technology which are designed to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike conventional backlit flat panel displays, electronic paper displays reflect light like ordinary paper...
developed at the Xerox PARC
Xerox PARC
PARC , formerly Xerox PARC, is a research and co-development company in Palo Alto, California, with a distinguished reputation for its contributions to information technology and hardware systems....
(Palo Alto Research Center). It has many of the same properties as paper: It's flexible, contains an image, and is viewable from a wide angle, but it can be erased and written thousands of times.
A Gyricon sheet is a thin layer of transparent plastic in which millions of small beads, somewhat like toner particles, are randomly dispersed. The beads, each contained in an oil-filled cavity, are free to rotate within those cavities. The beads are "bichromal," with hemispheres of two contrasting colors (e.g. black and white, red and white), and charged so they exhibit an electrical dipole. When voltage is applied to the surface of the sheet, the beads rotate to present one colored side to the viewer. Voltages can be applied to the surface to create images such as text and pictures. The image will persist until new voltage patterns are applied
As of December, 2005, Xerox closed down the direct subsidiary Gyricon LLC, their Gyricon e-paper display business, and is focusing on licensing the technology.
The company have said that the reason for their closure has been their inability to source backplane
Backplane
A backplane is a group of connectors connected in parallel with each other, so that each pin of each connector is linked to the same relative pin of all the other connectors forming a computer bus. It is used as a backbone to connect several printed circuit boards together to make up a complete...
technology for their Gyricon frontplane at a price of less than $10 per sqft. Being able to achieve a price of under $10 was said to be critical to the success of marketing their e-paper based electronic signage products. Although the company will stop direct manufacture and sale of Gyricon e-paper display products it will, however, still be licensing their frontplane technology to other users.