Big screen projection from your cellphone

Stuart Corner
Monday, 31 March 2008 05:25

Business IT - Technology

Microvision is this week demonstrating at the CTIA Wireless 2008 show in Las Vegas the prototype of a device that could be incorporated into a cellphone to enable the screen image to be projected large size onto a wall.

Microvision claims that the prototype device - dubbed 'Show' and based on its PicoP technology - has already attracted the interest and joint development initiatives of mobile handset device manufactures, carriers and content providers, and could be made available either a mobile device accessory or embedded into a handset.

It claims that mobile devices that integrate the PicoP display engine into their products will be able to project "any kind of digital content in a large, full-colour, high-resolution format onto any surface." The image size, diagonal is equal to the distance of the device from the projection surface and the optimal size is 2 metres.

The prototype device takes the image signal in RGB, NTSC/PAL or S-Video format, weighs 220gms and has a claimed battery life of 1.5 hours. It is scheduled to be available to OEMs and mobile operators before mid year.

The PicoP technology uses three lasers in the primary colours - red, green and blue whch are combined and varied in intensity to create each pixel of the display in the correct colour and intensity. The full image is created by reflecting this combined laser beam from a tiny mirror which pivots on two axes so that the beam scans the projection surface line by line building up the image a pixel at a time.

The image resolution is a total of 407,000 pixels (480 lines by 848 per line with a 16:9 aspect ratio). Refresh rate is 60Hz and the16- bit colour range is 150 percent greater than the NTSC US colour TV standard.

ASX-listed Arasor International (WSXL ARR) is also working on similar technologies that it says will enable the creation of pocket-sized and cellphone embedded large image projectors, but does not appear to be as close to commercialisation as Microvision.