计算机专业时文选读之二十四

E-paper is a thin, flexible polymer sheet with the look of paper. But e-paper is a bit thicker than regular paper and weighs more because it contains microscopic electronic ink particles sandwiched between two polymer sheets that display as either white or black in response to an electrical charge.

E-paper is reflective, like real paper, so it can be read in any light. E-paper is also bi-stable, which means that the display uses power only to change the content.

Those two main characteristics are what give a paperlike display its good qualities—it's comfortable to read because it's reflective, and the bi-stable aspect allows you to have low power and lightweight batteries so the whole device could be extremely thin and lightweight.

E Ink and Gyricon both offer e-paper products. The basic technology the vendors use is the same, but each takes a slightly different approach.

E Ink's e-ink consists of millions of microcapsules about the diameter of a human hair. These clear capsules contain a clear fluid, as well as tiny black and white particles. The two colors each carry opposite charges. When an electrical field is applied, the particles move up and down within the capsules. A negative electric field makes the white particles move to the top of the microcapsule, where they are visible to the user. A positive charge pulls the black particles to the bottom of the microcapsules, hiding them. The technology is used for e-paper and can be embedded in electronic displays.

SmartPaper, an e-paper technology from Gyricon LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox Corp, consists of two sheets of thin plastic with millions of tiny beads embedded between them. Each bead, smaller than a grain of sand, has a different color on each side. The hemispheres also carry opposite charges. Each bead resides in its own oil-filled cavity within the flexible sheet, and under the influence of a voltage applied to the surface, it rotates to present one side or the other to the viewer. The image stays in place until a new voltage pattern is applied, which erases the previous image and generates a new one.

Several companies are developing commercial applications of e-paper technology. SmartPaper is used in an e-paper pricing-sign system for retail stores. The sign is controlled by software that links it wirelessly to in-store pricing databases. So the price on the sign can be updated instantly. And it's always the same as the price in the point-of-sale database.

Gyricon also offers SmartPaper in a line of dynamic message boards, which it sells to hotels, conference centers and large campuses. The message boards sell for $1,295 each.

In April, E Ink Corp., Royal Philips Electronics and Sony Corp. together launched their first-generation e-ink display in Sony's e-book reader, the Librie, in Japan. The e-book incorporates the e-ink technology used in e-paper into a traditional display.

Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. is developing a paperlike display that it says could be used with a terminal for reading business documents downloaded from a PC. The paper should be in production by 2006, and Fujitsu is bullish on its prospects. This invention may pave the way to a paperless office and reduce paper consumption.

Although e-paper technology is progressing, there are some downsides. One is that e-paper lacks color. And while e-ink has been incorporated into displays, the bi-stable e-paper technology can't support full-motion video because updating or rewriting a page takes too long.

Today, e-paper is still looking for a killer application. While a few retailers are experimenting with e-paper pricing labels, the technology has yet to catch on. But that could change.

In three to five years, we'll see second-generation technologies will probably have better characteristics, reduce costs and add flexibility to the mix.

时文选读

电子纸

电子纸是一张柔软的聚酯薄片，看上去像纸。但电子纸比普通的纸厚一些，也重一些，因为它含有夹在两层聚酯薄片之间的电子墨水微粒，它们根据被加载的电荷显示出白或黑。

电子纸像真正的纸那样也能反光，因而能在任何光线下阅读。电子纸还是双稳态的，这意味着此种显示只在改变内容时耗电。

这两个主要的特性使这种像纸一样的显示器拥有很好的品质——由于它是反光的，所以阅读起来很舒服，而它的双稳态让你拥有低功率的轻型电池，从而整个系统可以做得非常薄、非常轻。

E Ink公司和Gyricon公司都提供电子纸产品。两家供应商使用的基础技术是相同的，但每家各自采用了稍微不同的方法。

E Ink公司的电子墨水由数以百万计直径为人头发那样的微型胶囊组成。这些清晰透明的胶囊包含了透明液体和细微的黑白两种颗粒。这两种颜色的微粒各自带有相反的电荷。当加上一个电场时，这些微粒上下移动。负电场使白色微粒移到胶囊的顶部，用户就能看见它们。而正电荷把黑色的微粒拉到胶囊的底部藏起来。此技术用于电子纸，能嵌入电子显示器。

施乐的全资子公司Gyricon公司的SmartPaper电子纸技术，由两层塑料薄片组成，它们之间嵌入了数以百万计的细微珠子。每个比沙粒还要小的珠子在两端有不同的颜色。珠子的两个半球带有相反的电荷。这些珠子都装在柔软薄片中充满油的腔体内。在加在表面的电压的作用下，珠子转动，不是这个半球就是另外一个半球对着观察者。图像保持不变，直到新的电压加载，才擦去以前的图像，生成新的图像。

有几家公司正在开发电子纸技术的商业应用。SmartPaper用于零售商店的电子纸定价标签系统。这种标签由软件控制，通过无线与店内的定价数据库相连。因此，标签上的价格能即时更新，而且它始终与销售点(POS机)数据库中的价格相同。

Gyricon公司还在动态信息牌的产品线中提供SmartPaper,该产品卖给旅馆、会议中心和大型园区。每个信息牌卖1295美元。

(2004年)4月，E Ink公司、皇家飞利浦电子公司和索尼公司联合推出了用于索尼的电子书阅读器的第一代电子墨水显示器。该电子书将用于电子纸的电子墨水技术引进传统的显示器。

富士通公司正在开发像纸一样的显示器，该公司称，它将用于终端，供阅读从PC机下载的商业文档。这种“纸”将在2006年投产，富士通公司看好其前景。此项发明可能为无纸办公和减少纸的消耗铺平道路。

虽然电子纸技术在不断进步，但它也有不足之处。其中一个就是电子纸缺少颜色。虽然电子墨水已经进入显示器，但双稳态电子纸技术不支持全动感视频，因为更新或重写一页的时间太长。

今天，电子纸仍在寻找杀手级应用。虽然有些零售商正在试验电子纸定价标签，但此技术还需抓住机会。情况可能会有变化的。

在今后的三至五年中，我们将看到第二代技术可能有更好的性能、更低的成本以及更灵活。