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Sharp Developing LCD Screens In Almost Any Shape

Posted by Soulskill on from the looking-forward-to-my-dodecahedral-computer-display dept.

jfruh writes: Traditional LCD panels are rectangular because the tiny chips that drive each pixel of the display are fitted along the edge of the glass panel on which the screen is made. But in a new breed of screens from Sharp, the chips are embedded between the pixels so that means a lot more freedom in screen shape: only one edge of the screen needs to be a straight line, which could give rise to a host of new applications.

60 comments

  1. The Simpson Special by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This would be for dedicated sports fans: a spherical LCD with the screen on the inside surface. The user would enter the sphere through a small hatch (which would also be a screen on the inside) and go out on a catwalk to the center of the sphere where his strap-in, gimbleable, joystick-controlled La-Z-Boy would be. Game on, total immersion!

    His family would never see him agains.

    1. Re:The Simpson Special by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      This would be for dedicated sports fans: a spherical LCD with the screen on the inside surface. The user would enter the sphere through a small hatch (which would also be a screen on the inside) and go out on a catwalk to the center of the sphere where his strap-in, gimbleable, joystick-controlled La-Z-Boy would be. Game on, total immersion!

      His family would never see him again.

      I stood inside a flight simulator like that at the NASA Langley Research Center when I worked there in the late 1980's. It was nice.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    2. Re:The Simpson Special by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      This would be for dedicated sports fans: a spherical LCD with the screen on the inside surface. The user would enter the sphere through a small hatch (which would also be a screen on the inside) and go out on a catwalk to the center of the sphere where his strap-in, gimbleable, joystick-controlled La-Z-Boy would be. Game on, total immersion!

      His family would never see him agains.

      So it's a win-win for the whole family?

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    3. Re:The Simpson Special by boris111 · · Score: 1

      Cerebro has prior art.

    4. Re:The Simpson Special by Teresita · · Score: 1

      A spherical LCD would primarily be used for pr0n. It would be called an Orgasmatron.

    5. Re:The Simpson Special by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Such things have existed since the late 80s, and were popular in the 90s. Typically the walls were projection screens and the projectors were placed on the outside.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    6. Re:The Simpson Special by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Funny

      His family would never see him agains

      My wife wants to know if these will be available by Christmas.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  2. Just because you could... by coffecup · · Score: 2

    .. does it mean you should? I could have my house shaped as an upside down pyramid, but like most of my neighbours if preferred the more square looking layout..

    1. Re:Just because you could... by sumdumass · · Score: 2

      You see, your problem is that you got neighbors that can see your house. People do things because they can. If sharp wants to because they can, someone will buy it because they can. Now imagine all your neighbors doing a can can dance to thank you for having a square house.

  3. Screens need not be Sharp anymore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With rounded corners, they can be dull.

    1. Re: Screens need not be Sharp anymore by jd2112 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sounds like an invitation for a lawsuit from Apple.

      --
      Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
  4. What shape would you like by Lotana · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I am very happy with rectangular shape of the screen. It is very intuitive and practical. GUI windows are rectangular after all.

    What shape would you like your screen if you had a chance to customize?

    1. Re: What shape would you like by jd2112 · · Score: 4, Funny

      GUI windows are rectangular now. Just wait until GNOME 4 is released...

      --
      Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
    2. Re:What shape would you like by silverkniveshotmail. · · Score: 1

      The article implies this might be used mostly in cars.

    3. Re:What shape would you like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Semi-circular screens could be useful for vehicle dashes, or even just rectangular with the upper two corners rounded. There are limits, though, has to how close you can display imagery to the edges of the screen before it may no longer be visible to the driver at all times. Because of that limitation you can get away with rectangular screens in the majority of situations.

    4. Re:What shape would you like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'd be completely happy if I could buy 2.5 inch diameter displays to act as gauges in my racecar.

      The gauges I've been looking at sell for between $100-$300 EACH,
      https://www.google.com/search?q=phantom+ii+autometer#q=phantom+ii+autometer&safe=off&tbm=shop ...so if I could avoid spending $1600 for a full set of gauges by going digital, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

    5. Re:What shape would you like by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The gauges I've been looking at sell for between $100-$300 EACH,...so if I could avoid spending $1600 for a full set of gauges by going digital, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

      Somehow, I suspect that the same people that are able to convince you to spend $300 on a premium analog gauge are going to be able to sell you a $300 digital version just as easily.

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
    6. Re:What shape would you like by JasonGoatcher · · Score: 0

      I am very happy with rectangular shape of the screen. It is very intuitive and practical. GUI windows are rectangular after all.

      What shape would you like your screen if you had a chance to customize?

      How about a screen that's shaped like a part of a sphere and can change it's concavity based on where the bridge of my nose is?

    7. Re:What shape would you like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      in my car, on the back of my range finder gun, my watch screen, in helmet hud display, etc

    8. Re:What shape would you like by Trogre · · Score: 1

      Go HUD.

      He says, with absolutely no idea of whether it will be practical for your situation. It just sounds cool.

      --
      "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
  5. OK by tylersoze · · Score: 1

    I'll take the biggest rectangle they have.

  6. Unleash The Power Of The Pyramid! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It begins:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9L3YjyJ_IY

  7. One Side? by jklovanc · · Score: 3, Informative

    only one edge of the screen needs to be a straight line

    Take a look at the examples on this page. Notice that three sides are straight. Only one side has any variation. Could it be that the drivers for one axis must be at the edge?

    1. Re:One Side? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Well if you notice both of those screens have cutaways on the sides. Sure they are at least partially straight but it doesnt go the full length. In both examples there is only one side that is a straight line along the entire length of the screen.

    2. Re:One Side? by jklovanc · · Score: 1

      It depends on how you look at it. You see it as the side being "cut away". I see it as the side ending where the "cutout begins". The entire complex curved line is the end. So in my view there are three straight sides and one curved side.

    3. Re:One Side? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dumbass.

    4. Re:One Side? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Said the dumbass anon, in response to a guy that is actually technically correct.

  8. Triangles... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For making those alien screens (esp Klingon?) out of Star Trek.

    Do they have triangular shaped touchscreens available yet, and if not how long until they market them as a single unit combined with the weird shaped panels?

    We're literally almost there! :)

    1. Re:Triangles... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those alien screens are usually just backlit transparencies made by Michael and Denise Okuda. The few live-action screens you saw in the TV series were just overlaid in post production.

    2. Re:Triangles... by 91degrees · · Score: 1

      You want to make an interocitor?

  9. I dont think its the chips by Osgeld · · Score: 1

    Just about LCD I have torn open (and there's been lots) has the chips on a bit of flex circuit, usually folded over behind the light defusers, sometimes on the outside of the metal shell. I bet its been at least 2 decades since I have seen one with chips ridgedly attached to the edges of the sceen!

    I see no reason why that the driver chips could not be arranged in another shape and traces on kapton film ran over to the actual panel, cause thats what they already do. So there must be a reason why we dont see circle screens ala 1930-50's CRT or any other shape other than everything you film is is in rectangular format

    1. Re:I dont think its the chips by 50000BTU_barbecue · · Score: 4, Informative

      As a (mostly) PCB designer, I find these TAB (tape automated bonding) attachments to the panel to be fascinating. The chips are the column and row drivers, that is, these chips have the job to drive the gates of the transistors that control each and every sub-pixel on the panel.
      So your typical 1920x1080 LCD panel has 1920x3=5760 columns to drive. That's R G and B for every pixel. There are 10 such chips arranged along the top of the panel, which means each chip (about 10x3mm) has to have 576 analog outputs driven from the RSDS digital bus, itself generated from the TCON (timing controller) which receives the video in whatever format and translates it to the particular panel's needs (ie, bit depth, refresh type, etc).
      Oh yeah, each LCD shutter must never have a DC potential on it for too long, so on each alternate cycle the polarity of the control signal is inverted.
      This has something to do with the crystals themselves becoming "denatured" if they're in the same position too long.
      Not only that, but the gate drive is non-linear and the column driver has to compensate for that, of course each type of compensation depends on the exact chemistry of the crystals used.
      Anyways, if you look at the little PCB it's 1 mil thick (~0.025mm), and has hundreds of traces packed into a few mm... Not to mention the hundreds of contacts on the chip, all perfectly aligned to the PCB.

      Ever wonder how the distance between the front and back panels is kept so uniform across the panel?
      There's thousands of tiny ceramic beads in the panel to maintain the precise separation ...
      Ahhhh yeah, this stuff is cool, amazing what we can afford to make and throw out if it doesn't work.

      --
      Mostly random stuff.
    2. Re:I dont think its the chips by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      It's not the cable, look closer. Specifically look at the edge of the sheet of the LCD display with a microscope.

      These aren't chips in the sense of little black pieces of plastic with metal wires. These are simply circuits scribed directly into the silicon of the LCD panel. The edges of a sheet of LCD silicon look much like the surface of any other microchip.

    3. Re:I dont think its the chips by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should take your own advice. There's no "silicon" of the LCD panel, it's ON the glass panel. Furthermore you have an odd idea of what a chip is.

      http://www.datamath.org/Graphi...

      This doesn't look like a bare die bonded to a flex PCB that attaches to a glass panel?

    4. Re:I dont think its the chips by Osgeld · · Score: 1

      as the AC said, its not silicon, its flex pcb bonded to the metalized and etched glass, there's no reason what so ever that it HAS to be in a line or a circle, other than it makes the most since on the edge of a rectangle to make it a line of contact points, even if it WAS silicon there's no reason it has to be square either as its the same principal

      trust me, I make flex circuits in all sorts of weird ass shapes, heck I have one that stair-steps in the Z axis as it circles a perimeter. So again there is no reason the driver ic's have to be bonded to a perfect line

    5. Re:I dont think its the chips by Osgeld · · Score: 1

      As someone who designs flex PCB for a living I agree with your facts, though I dont see how it makes much difference if the bonds are in line or in a arch, which was the point of my op

    6. Re:I dont think its the chips by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Some of it is mounted on the flex that is true but not in all cases and not all the time.

      Again take some of those small screens and look at the edge of the display with a microscope. Rip that flex off so it doesn't distract you from what you're supposed to look at it. Also I have yet to see a commercial LCD panel produced where you can see what I'm talking about without disassembling the panel. If you get a chance to play with a broken LCD, pull it apart completely to the point where you can see the traces running to the individual pixels (you'll need a microscope and then follow the result to the edge of the substrate and you'll see exactly what I'm on about.

    7. Re:I dont think its the chips by Osgeld · · Score: 1

      if you photomask a line or an arch or a zig zag it doesnt matter! its photomasked and etched, you could make it in the shape of a pumpkin and not alter the basic construction methods

    8. Re:I dont think its the chips by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      That depends if you have space to put them somewhere. From what I can gather that is the claim they are making. They found space to put them somewhere other than the row / column edges allowing LCDs to run to the edge of peculiar shapes.

      CCDs and CMOS had this evolution as well. Previously the switching component of each pixel sat next to that pixel. The result was that some large portion of the light hitting the sensor was not absorbed by a photosite. One of the great evolutions came in the ability to design the sensor in a way that the switching component of a photosite sits behind it, increasing the effective area of the sensor.

      You're right we could make the electronics in any shape or form, but if you can't put them at the edge then you need to put them between the pixels, and that *may* affect performance.

  10. Original press release from four months ago by kelk1 · · Score: 1

    Sharp Develops Free-Form Display:

    http://sharp-world.com/corporate/news/140618.html

    Looks like one edge has to be straight

  11. Bring an Interocitor to market, please! by TomR+teh+Pirate · · Score: 1

    https://www.google.com/search?...

    It looked so cool in "MSTK3000: The Movie" and "This Island Earth"

  12. Don't bother RTFA by stoploss · · Score: 1

    Yes, I know, who RTFA around here anyway? Well, I was intrigued by the concept so I wanted to see some images of products, prototypes, mockups... hell, I would have even settled for scammy kickstarter-type "product renderings".

    Instead, it's just a wall of text. That wall of text is useless without pictures.

    1. Re:Don't bother RTFA by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      wall of text is exactly what I want for most news

      here's a picture of a Sharp dashboard concept
      http://www.digitaltrends.com/h...

  13. Any Shape? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Sign me up for one shaped like a vagina.

    2D is fine, I won't get close enough for it to matter.

    1. Re:Any Shape? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      va gee jay!

  14. 2D, Feh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I want it one pixel high and about a kilometer wide. Can they do that?

    1. Re:2D, Feh by Wolfrider · · Score: 1

      --Bloody Stupid Johnson, is that you?? :b

      --
      .
      == WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
  15. Round? by xlsior · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Surprised that one side needs to be straight, considering that there's already round LCD's out there as well -- e.g. "LG G Watch R" smartwatch (completely round), or the Motorola Moto 360 (while the latter does have a straight edge, it's still narrower than the center of the display itself)

    1. Re:Round? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are those displays OLEDs?

    2. Re:Round? by Misagon · · Score: 1

      The Moto 360 is cut off at the bottom so that they could put the ambient light sensor there. Without it, the screen could have been a full circle.

      --
      "We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
  16. Blue Leds be damned! by MouseTheLuckyDog · · Score: 1

    They should be giving the Nobel Prize to the guys inventing these!

  17. tubes are back by thygate · · Score: 1

    don't you think it's funny that 20 years ago everyone wanted -flat screens-, and now everyone wants to back to curved displays.

    1. Re:tubes are back by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Atleast they are curved the other way around, so SOME changes are there :p

  18. I can finally finish my interocitor! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'd upload a pic for everybody, but all i get is blank fog.

  19. Hardware Shape extension by aquabat · · Score: 1

    This is like the X Window Shape extension for hardware. When can I order a hardware copy of xeyes that creepily watch me as I move around my bedroom?

    --
    A republic cannot succeed till it contains a certain body of men imbued with the principles of justice and honour.
  20. MOD PARENT UP by khchung · · Score: 1

    I intended to post exactly this when I see the headline!

    Too bad, seems no moderator got the Office reference.

    --
    Oliver.
  21. Time to unleash... THE POWER OF THE PYRAMID! by ArcSecond · · Score: 1

    Looks like The Office was right.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    --

    I've got a bad attitude and karma to burn. Go ahead. Mod me down.

  22. Obligatory Pyramid by hammeraxe · · Score: 1

    from The Office
    http://phandroid.s3.amazonaws....

  23. IP addressing by michelcolman · · Score: 1

    I predict a time when pixel data will be routed through the screen via IP protocol and every pixel will have its own IPv8 address. Any shape you like, no straight edge needed. I know, it would be nuts. But I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen in my lifetime.