Three-Five Systems Ships Microdisplays in Pre-Production Volumes

Three-Five Systems, Inc.y manufacturer <%=company%> (Tempe, AZ) has begun shipping pre-production volumes of liquid crystal on silicon (LcoS) Three-Five Systems, Inc.ys to privately-held Inviso Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA), which focuses on portable Internet appliances and related markets. The two companies teamed to develop a display module that combines Inviso's digital CMOS backplane and display driver with Three-Five's reflective LCoS Three-Five Systems, Inc.y technology.

The 0.5-in. diagonal display delivers SVGA resolution of 800 columns x 600 rows (480,000 pixels). When used in a near-to-the-eye application with viewing optics, the display produces a virtual image equivalent to a 19-in. SVGA desktop monitor viewed at 2.5 ft, and allows the user to view an entire web page at one time without scrolling or translation software. The low-power, high-resolution display is suitable for the wireless handset market. The jointly developed product is referred to as the MD800D by Three-Five and the Optiscape II by Inviso.

Delivering Internet content to wireless handsets was the talk of this week's CTIA Wireless 2000 show (New Orleans), where companies touted the infant Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) products and nascent 3G technologies, both of which are touted as being able to deliver web pages to the handset.

Inviso is Optiscape II in two products in Hanover, Germany at CeBIT 2000. The first demonstration product, a pair of glasses that Inviso calls eShades, weighs only about 3.5 oz. and is designed to be connected to a laptop computer for private, battery prolonging viewing. The second product, eCase, is a PDA-like device utilizing Optiscape II that allows the user to see 'big screen' desktop or web-based content while on-the-go without compromising portability or content. Both products take advantage of Inviso's patented optics.

Edited by Kristin Lewotsky