Interesting idea. The outrigger or reflector clearly wouldn't make it to market, but I can imagine a bezel or lid material that would collect light, then channel it, perhaps via fiber optics, to a diffuser screen that would then provide the backlight. One nifty thing would be if a material could be developed that would permit transmission of light in only one direction, so that if the laptop is indoors, running on the internal LEDs, their light would all be directed out the lcd, rather than leaking out through the collector apparatus. Leaking light means less effective brightness (flux being distributed in some directions where it's not useful). Kinda like a one-way mirror. Sorta.
Come on how is this new. Transflective screens already exist and I think in a Toshiba Notebook they already had them. There is no need to do this weird thing here.
They work very well.
This is a bogus patent and I doubt it will be approved.
The question IMO is what happens when OLEDs finally show up or will they never. Because a Transflective screen probably won't work with an OLED. It is either TFT or OLED.
Colour accurary?? As any photographer knows, the white balance of the sun is very different to that of artificial light, so a clever system of balancing colours would be required.
Phil
Yes, but you can filter and shift light. It does not say that this would be direct sun light. It is just a matter of normalization after filtering. Sun light does not have gaps - it has just different spectral distribution.
While I worked at 3M, one of the products that I saw being developed was a unique form of light piping for roadways. It was meant to augment/replace reflectors on guardrails for curves, especially at night. The forward end of the adhesive-backed, flat-format material had basically an optical fiber reception surface - or open fiber ends that took light from headlamps and channelled it down-pipe. The fibers were processed to allow controlled "light leakage" along the length of the pipe. The net effect was to have the light from the oncoming headlamps illuminate the entire 50 feet or so of the guardrail with a wide band of light - calling attention to the curve. It was very effective, but more expensive than just adhering a bunch of reflective tape (also made by 3M) to the same guardrail.
There is a lot of lightfiber technology which could be applied to this concept outside of the rather dated approach shown as "one concept" int he patent application. For example a similar light fabric could be part of the top surface of the laptop lid and channel ambient sunlight into a diffusion panel to light the screen. A simple set of lumen-level sensors could be used to balance use of LED back lighting and the ambient source. Not a bad concept at all, hardly revolutionary, but as with a lot of Apple ideas - they could make it work profoundly better than anything to date.
Apple doesn't even like removable batteries. I doubt they'll ever use the sun for anything.
I wouldn't say either statement.
It's not that Apple doesn't like removable batteries. it's that they want long lasting batteries and right now that means using every bit of space to have a larger battery. Including the rigs needed to allow removal.
as for the sun. if they could find a way to solar power a notebook or even something like the ipad/iphone without heat damage to the device to complement the internal chemical battery (or even recharge it), they would investigate.
As someone above said, it's been done, in a way. I remember in high school, about 10 years ago, we had these Sony Mavcia digital cameras, and at the top of the screen, there was a see though slot thingy, so when you turned the back light off, the sun would light up the back of the screen. Since I cant' describe it well, here is a picture: http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/so...camera-top.jpg
The color was a bit off when using it, but it was brilliant as saving batteries, it usually trippled the battery life of the camera. But, in modern laptops, with LED back-lite screens, how much power do you really save with this? Wouldn't it be better to have REALLY advanced sleep modes for the CD drive etc, so if the drive isn't being used, all power is cut to the drive? And if the wireless/BT are not connected, they are disabled automatically?
Colour accurary?? As any photographer knows, the white balance of the sun is very different to that of artificial light, so a clever system of balancing colours would be required.
Hot spots? If the reflector is not set up correctly, it could produce hot spots which would ultimately damage the screen.
How many keys on the keyboard!?!
Phil
Phil it is possible the Color profile wouldn't be affected by the light source however, i haven't ever heard of a photographer wanting to edit in anything other than a control lit environment so I cant imagine anyone including myself editing my photos outside or in my car ever...as i am a photographer.
This would be perfect for the military and it wouldn't be too far fetched that this news comes after the article about the military paying a visit to apple recently.
Mirasol/MEM tech has the potential to bring down power consumption of the display down.
The Mirasol tech uses a fraction of the energy used by a LCD. It is a reflective tech like the Amazon e-ink, except it has colors but is not static in terms of power consumption. The refresh rate is a little slow for fast action. I am not sure about the contrast and pixel density.
Half the energy in a laptop device is probably from the LCD display.
Comments
Not gonna frackin' happen... This is just patenting an idea for the sake of claiming it. It will NEVER be used by Apple.
Apple doesn't even like removable batteries. I doubt they'll ever use the sun for anything.
C
They work very well.
This is a bogus patent and I doubt it will be approved.
The question IMO is what happens when OLEDs finally show up or will they never. Because a Transflective screen probably won't work with an OLED. It is either TFT or OLED.
Colour accurary?? As any photographer knows, the white balance of the sun is very different to that of artificial light, so a clever system of balancing colours would be required.
Phil
Yes, but you can filter and shift light. It does not say that this would be direct sun light. It is just a matter of normalization after filtering. Sun light does not have gaps - it has just different spectral distribution.
I've created a "light harness" which would serve as a collector of light that would then be displayed onto the screen of an "LCD Display"...
I'm Dr. Evil and I approve this frick'n technology...
"This light is conduted using electricity therefor I shall call it the Electric Light Orchestra, or ELO for short. Whaa?"
This sounds like it should be sold via infomercial and bundled with the in-egg-scrambler.
Well I've said it before and I'll say it again. As soon as Apple get their notebooks fitted with a tea-maker the UK market is wide open to them!
There is a lot of lightfiber technology which could be applied to this concept outside of the rather dated approach shown as "one concept" int he patent application. For example a similar light fabric could be part of the top surface of the laptop lid and channel ambient sunlight into a diffusion panel to light the screen. A simple set of lumen-level sensors could be used to balance use of LED back lighting and the ambient source. Not a bad concept at all, hardly revolutionary, but as with a lot of Apple ideas - they could make it work profoundly better than anything to date.
Apple doesn't even like removable batteries. I doubt they'll ever use the sun for anything.
I wouldn't say either statement.
It's not that Apple doesn't like removable batteries. it's that they want long lasting batteries and right now that means using every bit of space to have a larger battery. Including the rigs needed to allow removal.
as for the sun. if they could find a way to solar power a notebook or even something like the ipad/iphone without heat damage to the device to complement the internal chemical battery (or even recharge it), they would investigate.
The color was a bit off when using it, but it was brilliant as saving batteries, it usually trippled the battery life of the camera. But, in modern laptops, with LED back-lite screens, how much power do you really save with this? Wouldn't it be better to have REALLY advanced sleep modes for the CD drive etc, so if the drive isn't being used, all power is cut to the drive? And if the wireless/BT are not connected, they are disabled automatically?
Colour accurary?? As any photographer knows, the white balance of the sun is very different to that of artificial light, so a clever system of balancing colours would be required.
Hot spots? If the reflector is not set up correctly, it could produce hot spots which would ultimately damage the screen.
How many keys on the keyboard!?!
Phil
Phil it is possible the Color profile wouldn't be affected by the light source however, i haven't ever heard of a photographer wanting to edit in anything other than a control lit environment so I cant imagine anyone including myself editing my photos outside or in my car ever...as i am a photographer.
This would be perfect for the military and it wouldn't be too far fetched that this news comes after the article about the military paying a visit to apple recently.
I've created a "light harness" which would serve as a collector of light that would then be displayed onto the screen of an "LCD Display"...
I'm Dr. Evil and I approve this frick'n technology...
Dude, I am your biggest fan now! Haha! I love Dr EVIL!
Mirasol/MEM tech has the potential to bring down power consumption of the display down.
The Mirasol tech uses a fraction of the energy used by a LCD. It is a reflective tech like the Amazon e-ink, except it has colors but is not static in terms of power consumption. The refresh rate is a little slow for fast action. I am not sure about the contrast and pixel density.
Half the energy in a laptop device is probably from the LCD display.