New Film Renders Screen Reflection Almost Non-Existent

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

New Film Renders Screen Reflection Almost Non-Existent

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday June 20, 2012 @08:06PM from the flat-screen dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Sony has used the SID 2012 conference to demonstrate a brand new combination of conductive film and low-reflection film that promises to render screen reflection almost non-existent in devices like smartphones and tablets. Sony achieved such low reflections by combining its new conductive film with a moth-eye low reflection film. The key to the low reflectance is the formation of an uneven surface, which consists of both concave and convex structures (tiny bumps) that cover the entire film. The uneven surface means that light won't just bounce back off the screen creating a reflection, and therefore making the screen usable in a wider range of lighting conditions."

29 of 112 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Moth-eye by Phibz · 2012-06-20 20:12 · Score: 4, Informative

I was wondering what they meant by moth-eye and I found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-reflective_coating#Moth_eye
1. Re:Moth-eye by PatPending · 2012-06-20 20:32 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  I'll see your Wikipedia reference and raise you two USPTO patents granted to SONY for this:
  8,027,090 and 7,633,045.
  Note: according to another of SONY's patents, moth-eye can also be used to record info on optical media:
  "Today, there are seven primary methods by which information can be recorded on optical media. All methods heat the recording layer to a certain temperature. The methods are known as ablative, alloying, bubble-forming, moth-eye, phase-change, dye/polymer and magneto-optic which cause or could cause some mechanical deformation of the substrate."
  P.S.
  Unlike TFA these patents include detailed drawings and SEM photographs.
  P.S.S.
  I remember when the authors of tech articles did this kind of background research. Sigh.
  
  --
  What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
2. Re:Moth-eye by justforgetme · 2012-06-21 01:28 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Research?! On teh Internetz?! You crazy, crazy man!
  
  --
  -- no sig today
3. Re:Moth-eye by kanweg · 2012-06-21 01:37 · Score: 2
  
  To the contrary. The purpose of patents is to spread information, which is what we as a society get in return for a temporary monopoly as a reward for the inventor. For an all you can eat link on any (technical ) subject go here: http://worldwide.espacenet.com/
  Please note that what you can find on this site is patent applications. They are (or will) not necessarily granted. If the patent is granted but not for your country, is expired or the owner stopped paying renewal fees and the patent lapsed, you can use this info free of charge!
  Bert
SONY "do not patronize" by Anonymous Coward · 2012-06-20 20:13 · Score: 5, Insightful

SONY has been on my "do not patronize" list for years and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
1. Re:SONY "do not patronize" by EdIII · 2012-06-20 20:26 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  SONY has been on my "do not patronize" list for years and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
  Cue the people telling us to just get over the root-kit or whatever else Sony has done.
  NEVER.
  Sony long ago declared war against the consumer, and much like an aged convict in prison, it does not matter how goody two-shoes they are today. They still murdered somebody. Parole Denied. Let them turn to dust.
  Only the complete destruction of Sony will assuage they deep and intense desire for justice against Sony and their evil deeds.
  I don't care if they release the fucking cure for cancer tomorrow. The execution is still going to proceed on schedule.
2. Re:SONY "do not patronize" by Thanshin · 2012-06-20 20:43 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  You will regret those comments when SONY becomes a branch of your government.
3. Re:SONY "do not patronize" by omglolbah · 2012-06-20 20:57 · Score: 2
  
  They have quite a few researchers which are far from the decisions to be asshats to consumers.
  I loathe the company's customer fuckups and asshattery in general, but love the researchers doing this kind of work even so.
4. Re:SONY "do not patronize" by PatPending · 2012-06-20 21:29 · Score: 2
  
  Or Sony could moth-ball it.
  
  --
  What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
5. Re:SONY "do not patronize" by samoanbiscuit · 2012-06-20 23:22 · Score: 3
  
  Sony is a lot like Samsung in that they're really more like a network of affiliated companies that use the same brand. While I don't mean to disagree on why you don't patronise them, the possibility exists that other devices from other companies will use screens manufactured by them, as they seem to have a patent on this tech. Would you buy a device from Apple, Samsung or HTC using a Sony made screen?
6. Re:SONY "do not patronize" by omglolbah · 2012-06-21 00:34 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  I do not buy sony products. I do not 'forgive' them for the asshattery.
  The researchers in the article are not doing "evil crap". They're doing research into reducing glare.
  It is an interesting piece of tech and has very little to do with rootkits or screwing the customer.
  When it comes to morality it is worth pointing out that almost no research is immune to being used for Evil(tm). No matter who you work for, or what research it is, someone will use it in a negative way.
  In addition almost all corporations have some form of Evil in its past or present... To varying degrees for sure, but refusing to acknowledge positive contributions because of previous negative ones is just plain stupid.
  Weighting the positive and negative and making an informed decision is the way to go, not going all out 'hurr durr rootkitz!!!' like so many seem to be stuck doing.
7. Re:SONY "do not patronize" by CastrTroy · 2012-06-21 00:55 · Score: 2
  
  That's quite a grudge you carry. What about in 50 years when none of the people involved in the root-kit fiasco even work there anymore. Sony isn't a single person. You could probably find plenty of anti-consumer actions taken by just about any company out there. If you want to boycott any company who ever did anything anti-consumer, you'd probably have to live self sustained on a desert island. Sony has done some truly stupid things over the years. But they've also brought us some pretty cool products.
  
  --
  
  Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
8. Re:SONY "do not patronize" by mikecvelide · 2012-06-21 02:48 · Score: 2
  
  You will regret those comments when SONY becomes a branch of your government.
  Don't you mean when our government becomes a branch of SONY? Let's remember who writes the checks here...
9. Re:SONY "do not patronize" by EdIII · 2012-06-21 04:06 · Score: 2
  
  It is the magnitude of the past crimes.
  Sony's past crimes, combined with their well known war against the consumer, justifies the death sentence and avoidance at all costs.
  They would need to stop their war against the consumer today, eliminate DRM in their products, actively push for sane copyright reform and customer protections under the law, and engage in behavior beneficial to society for decades to make up for what they did.
  I can refuse to acknowledge positive contributions because when weighed against the negative contributions, just the current ones, it is so massively one sided, that Sony is seriously evil to the customers.
And Apple will ... by giorgist · 2012-06-20 20:16 · Score: 2, Funny

And Apple will make your screen like those 80s mirror glasses and call it a feature.
1. Re:And Apple will ... by mwvdlee · 2012-06-20 23:08 · Score: 2
  
  75 percent less reflection and 29 percent higher contrast than the previous generation."
  Which is 75% reflection than what is pretty much a perfect mirror.
  I hope Apple finally wizened up and start to make their displays usable, because I detest the fact that they made mirror-monitors popular, so all the idiot bosses decide to buy monitors that look good only when switched off. I still occasionally see reflective screens advertised as a feature instead of hidden shamefully in the small print. My Galaxy S+ has a reflective screen which was "fixed" by adding a matte screen protector. The screen protector makes the display a bit muddy, but atleast I can SEE that it's muddy.
  
  --
  Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
Not even diffuse reflection? by c0lo · 2012-06-20 20:16 · Score: 2

The uneven surface means that light won't just bounce back off the screen creating a reflection
What, the film absorbs (almost) everything? If so, where the energy goes? In heating the screen?
(not to mention the "light won't just bounce back..." invites a continuation on the line of "... but also...")

--
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
1. Re:Not even diffuse reflection? by Thanshin · 2012-06-20 20:46 · Score: 2
  
  The uneven surface means that light won't just bounce back off the screen creating a reflection
  What, the film absorbs (almost) everything? If so, where the energy goes? In heating the screen?
  (not to mention the "light won't just bounce back..." invites a continuation on the line of "... but also...")
  Two options:
  1 - Absorbed: It will heat the screen just as much as having it turned upside down heats the back; not much.
  2 - Scattered: You can avoid reflection by just scattering the light in a very large angle.
  My guess is that it will be a mix of both.
2. Re:Not even diffuse reflection? by Thanshin · 2012-06-20 20:50 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Eventually (in the next few years) we'll learn to refract all light coming from one side in an angle that sets it parallel to the screen.
  At that point we might consider collecting that light on the edges of the screen to charge the device. Or just leave the screen edges uncovered and rounded to let it disperse, leaving a beautiful light "halo" around the device.
3. Re:Not even diffuse reflection? by Immerman · 2012-06-21 02:58 · Score: 2
  
  The uneven surface means that light won't just bounce back off the screen creating a reflection
  What, the film absorbs (almost) everything? If so, where the energy goes? In heating the screen?
  (not to mention the "light won't just bounce back..." invites a continuation on the line of "... but also...")
  No, the film doesn't absorb the incoming light, the nanostructures create a region that has a smooth transition in refractive index, so instead of light bending sharply at the boundary and losing some of the energy to reflection it all curves smoothly and hits the screen. So yeah, now 99% of the incoming light will hit the screen instead of 75%, and it will heat up a little faster.
  
  --
  --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
How about by redcliffe · 2012-06-20 20:24 · Score: 2

just not making laptop screens deliberately shiny so tards will buy them because oooh shiny?
An uneven surface? by lxs · 2012-06-20 20:30 · Score: 4, Insightful

The key to the low reflectance is the formation of an uneven surface, which consists of both concave and convex structures (tiny bumps) that cover the entire film.
From that description it sounds like Sony has reinvented screens with matte finish. Surely there is more to this.
1. Re:An uneven surface? by 6031769 · 2012-06-20 21:02 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Indeed there is more to it. This is a screen for "smartphones and tablets" ie. a touchscreen with a matt finish. That is the novelty here.
  
  --
  Burns: We're building a casino!
  McAllister: Arrr. Give me 5 minutes.
2. Re:An uneven surface? by fgouget · 2012-06-20 23:25 · Score: 2
  
  From that description it sounds like Sony has reinvented screens with matte finish. Surely there is more to this.
  Yes. The answer comes from Wikipedia's description of the nanoscale structure found in Moth Eyes:
  
  Moths' eyes have an unusual property: their surfaces are covered with a natural nanostructured film which eliminates reflections. [...] The structure consists of a hexagonal pattern of bumps, each roughly 200 nm high and spaced on 300 nm centers. This kind of antireflective coating works because the bumps are smaller than the wavelength of visible light, so the light sees the surface as having a continuous refractive index gradient between the air and the medium, which decreases reflection by effectively removing the air-lens interface.
Moth eye coating by teslar · 2012-06-20 20:32 · Score: 3, Informative

Philips has a television with a moth-eye coating (just that though; not a combination with other coatings as in Sony's approach) available. Just read the review this morning. Seems a bit fragile though - I wonder if this will also apply to Sony's new film (I guess it won't since that'd be rubbish on a smartphone, but TFA does not actually address it):

Amazingly, it works - but thereâ(TM)s a caveat. The filter requires extreme care, so much so that Philips supplies a proprietary cleaning solution to remove any thumbprint smudges. This fragility makes the screen a questionable purchase for those with young families.
One major hurdle to overcome prior to production by PatPending · 2012-06-20 21:07 · Score: 2

Before Sony can commercially produce this, they have to overcome one hurdle: how to stop a device with this coating from gravitating to bright lights!

--
What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
Re:One major hurdle to overcome prior to productio by PatPending · 2012-06-20 21:34 · Score: 2

Each product with this coating will have this warning prominently displayed:
WARNING: DO NOT PLACE NEAR MOTHBALLS

--
What one fool can do, another can. (Ancient Simian Proverb)
Willful blindness by tepples · 2012-06-21 00:19 · Score: 2

How so? Is it to avoid knowledge that leads to treble damages? If so, the concept of "willful blindness" is emerging from recent exclusive rights cases.
Forget computing devices by killmenow · 2012-06-21 01:37 · Score: 3, Insightful

How about they put this shit on car windshields? I'd love to stop getting blinded by the sun's reflection bouncing off the rear glass of the car in front of me.