Paper Mounted CPUs

Roland Piquepaille writes "Rafe Needleman discovered an interesting young Swedish company which is printing really cheap chips. "The company, Cypak, has technology to mount a very small microprocessor, which it created, on paper (or inside a credit card), as well as a technique to print sensors, switches, and very short-range antennae on the same paper, using special conductive inks." Here is one possible application designed for drug trials. "Drug trials need data about how and when subjects consume the drugs being tested. In this application, a pill pack registers when individual pills are popped out of their plastic bubbles; it then can beep and ask the user a question like, 'Are you feeling better today? Press Yes or No.' (The answer buttons are on the pack itself.) When the patient visits the doctor, the package is placed on a Cypak reader and the data is downloaded to the physician's computer." Visit this page for more information about Cypak or read the full Business 2.0 article."

Comments

Smart Toilet Paper

[chrispix]

I am waiting for smart toilet paper so it can tell me when I have wiped enough.. No more brown streaks!!

Reinventing the Printed Circuit Board

[Snoochie Bootchie]

It seems like the only possible innovation here is in the conductive inks. Effectively, they using a paper substrate rather than FR4 (or other PCB material) and the conductive "ink" rather than copper to make connections. The ability to make a very thin chip and embedded it into a thin form factor is not new.

The more interesting thing is the non-traditional markets that are being explored. They're not trying to do another smartcard rehash. (although they appear to talk about smartcard-lke devices on their web site)

Re:Disposables?

[ideonode]

The idea of disposable computers might seem appealing and convenient, but should the current thrust in technology really be towards disposables when there's already an environmental issue over dead tech today? Dead mobiles, obsolete computers, fridges - all these dead consumer devices cost a lot to dispose of. And you're proposing adding to the mix?

The trendy application for this paper technology you've described is wholly unnecessary. Why bother taking notes on e-paper and uploading to your server at home? Why not think about developing tablet technology which is always connected (GPRS, 3G, WiFi) with your desktop PC at the office. Then you write in realtime to your PC with your tablet. Realtime paperless office with no redundant technology building up.

Serious medications already have this (in a way)

[adzoox]

Serious medications or trial medications from most resources like Pfizer have been coming in little 30 day pill boxes for about a year that do "alarm" when needed. and DO document whether the little "box containing the pill" was opened within 30 minutes of the alarm. My grandmother has such a dosage meter/alarm for her parkinson's medication. It looks like a 3D calendar and she has to go exchange it for the "next month" every month - the pills are already placed in the proper compartments. (Some days have different dosage and some days have different medication)