PVI Developing Touch and Animation-Capable, Flexible EPDs

Prime View International is planning on developing a number of new types of electrophoretic displays (EPD). Seeing the popularity of touch capabilities, as well as the public demand for more e-readers and other consumer electronics with more features, the company has reportedly decided to invest in plans for the making of EPDs with touch capabilities, as well as color screens and flexible displays.

Like many market rumors, the report was published by Digitimes and says that PVI Chairman Scott Liu stated that PVI was in the process of developing pressure touch sensors that could be placed behind the actual screen, with the purpose of reducing transmittance.

This technology would be different from the one used in current products, where the touch panel is added on top of the screen. Among the examples given by Liu were Sony's e-reader, with resistive touch technology, Hanwang products, with electromagnetic touch panels, and other devices that employed capacitive touch functions.

PVI is also developing color EPDs for use in e-readers. While the chairman did mention that e-readers had, thus far, not been able to support animation because of their very low response time, improvements had been made in this area and animation support should emerge during the ongoing year.

The company is also planning on developing and mass-producing flexible EPD screens. In their creation, according to Liu, PVI will be using its existing TFT LCD equipment “plus a small amount of extra tools.” Flexible displays will give way to new types of consumer electronics and might allow current products to become more versatile.

Color and flexible screens may prove to be an especially profitable venture, especially considering the popularity of e-readers and the rapid growth predicted for tablets. In fact, a recent study found that a fair amount of consumers would like to see e-readers equipped with color capabilities, among other things. Of course, it remains to be seen if adding animation support to e-readers will not have too great an impact on the battery life, which is another area where customers would like to see improvements.