The Road to The Integration of Pico Projectors into Portable Devices Starts at Displaytech

The idea of fitting a portable device (as for example, a mobile phone, a PDA, a GPS navigator, a digital camera, etc.) with an integrated projector seems to be quite attractive for an increasingly higher number of manufacturers, since this extra-feature might really boost the sales of just about any portable device out there. And proving that interest is very real, the Displaytech company, an important supplier of liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) microdisplays, announced today that it has entered a very lucrative partnership with no less than 13 companies from all around the world that are developing ultra small image projectors that can be either embedded in or attached as an accessory to personal consumer electronics.

The proprietary Displaytech Ferroelectric-LCOS (FLCOS) microdisplays have been selected by these companies to develop ultra small projectors because of their unique characteristics like: small size, only 11.5mm in height; low power, less than 100mW for the FLCOS panel and integrated display controller; and efficient use of LEDs as the light source, thus avoiding the difficult problem of image speckle that comes when lasers are used as a light source.

Prototype projectors, small enough to be embedded into cell phones, are being shown to major consumer electronics companies. Displaytech expects a number of ultra small projectors containing its FLCOS panels to be demonstrated at CES in January 2008, the respective devices being able to provide image resolutions of VGA and SVGA.

"Our customers recognize that by using the Displaytech FLCOS panels there is no need to compromise the design of ultra small projectors. They are able to simultaneously achieve ultra small size and low power, while projecting an image that is usable for both video and text, thus opening up broader use models for mobile projection," said Richard Barton, CEO of Displaytech.

Unfortunately, due to contractual agreements, Displaytech can't disclose the name of its partners, but we'll probably be able to find this out for ourselves in the near future, when the first products that use the company's very innovative technology will hit the shelves.

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