Delegates at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2004) being held in Las Vegas, US, have had their first glimpse of an 800x600 pixels (SVGA) head-mounted display based on organic light-emitting display (OLED) technology. The display, named X-eye, is the result of a collaboration between the US OLED specialist eMagin and Leadtek Research of Taiwan.
Both monocular and binocular versions are on display at CES 2004. Leadtek says that the headset provides a screen size equivalent to a 15-inch notebook computer or a 60-inch television. The device will initially be targeted at PC, PC DVD and PC game users.
The display plugs into an RGB port and can be used a second “virtual” monitor for notebook PCs for editing multiple documents or to provide data privacy while travelling. This allows a user to view a document on the notebook screen while simultaneously viewing a second document on the headset screen.
Leadtek says that the binocular version of the X-eye can provide true 3D stereovision imaging when used with specially-designed computer software that provides frame-sequential 3D.
“eMagin’s OLED display power requirement is many times lower than that of LCDs, enabling the headset to be powered by a USB connection without separate batteries or AC power,” said Leadtek’s president K.S. Lu. “The high visual quality provided by eMagin’s displays has enabled such a product to be created with great portability.”
Author
Jacqueline Hewett is news reporter on Optics.org and Opto & Laser Europe magazine.