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blueChute is a demonstrator platform for active matrix
electronic ink displays I am working on for my job at E Ink. The idea is to have an
ultrathin, lightweight, and relatively rugged portable screen
linked by bluetooth to others of its kind and the world in
general. Exact functionality is TBD and depends on software
which probably won't ever get written, but at minimum it needs
to be able to replace our current demo platform and so needs
to function as a rudimentary image viewer.
It is built from two thin layers of aluminum
sandwiching an acrylic core. At just over 5mm thick, it is
thinner than an ipod nano. About as thick as a stack of three
US quarters, as shown below. Power is from four 2.6mm thick lithium
polymer cells which have a combined capacity of 1360mAh. If
the software does good power management this should be able to
give a pretty long life.
Expected Features:
- microSD storage card slot
- bluetooth communications
- long battery life
- case design easily produced at machine shop
- 8Track display controller board
- LPC2148 ARM 7 host processor
- hybrid (custom hardware/software) frame scanner
- short animation sequences (with fast display panels)
This project was started to bring together two efforts I
wanted to pursue in the first half of 2007. First, to improve
E Ink's demo ebook case system and make it more production
friendly, and second to provide a compelling example of using
our upcoming 8Track display controller to its fullest but
without hammering the host system and consuming all its
resources.
Things you might do with this device:
- navigate file tree on card, read txt or prerendered
pages
- send your favorite files to your friend's blueChute
- send emails or maps to your blueChute from your phone
(this is the Osprey concept promoted by E Ink a few years
ago)
- have you computer send weather updates, google news, or
daily schedule automatically
More pics of my first handbuild unit (with no controller,
since I'm still working on that):
Some size comparisons
Side view
The pictures shown here are for the 6 inch 800x600 model,
which will be used with production panels from PVI, research
ink panels from E Ink, and color displays built on old Philips
TFTs. I also plan on designing a similar system for PVI's 9.7
inch 1200x825 display. Eventually I would like a flip out
white led reading light from the back of the case, and
possibly some pull-out solar panels to charge the device while
you are reading in the sun...
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