The History of iRex' Technology

The Electrophoretic Display technology, better known as the Electronic Paper Display (EPD) had been researched for decades. In September 2001 Royal Philips Electronics encouraged a team of specialists to mature the technology from a lab demonstrator to a consumer product for commercial applications. In this team of specialists and in the development of the EPD technology lies the foundation of iRex Technologies. Later iRex attracted more dedicated experts who joined forces with the founders to form a team of people who dedicate their effort to create Electronic Paper Products centered on the user and their digital printed content.

The history of iRex’ technology began with the release of the first Electronic Paper Display component designed for commercial products.

Several demonstrators showing customers that the first commercially available Electronic Paper Display was a fact.

1. Genesis of the first Electronic Paper Display

The beginning of commercial Electronic Paper Displays starts with the collaboration between Royal Philips Electronics and E Ink Corporation. The basic material, the electronic ink was supplied by E Ink Corporation and Philips contributed their vast resources and know-how. These consisted of:-production facilities that manufactured and assembled displays in Kobe, Japan; - the development of driving electronics in Heerlen, The Netherlands and the conceptualization of the driving algorithms at the High Tech Campus, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. In September 2001 Philips assigned a dedicated team of specialists to, manage the EPD project, develop the technology and bring the first commercial Electronic Paper Display to the world.

In March 2004 the display component was implemented in the very first commercially E-ink based available electronic book; the Librié that was brought to the mass market by Sony Corporation. Later that year, Philips Royal Electronics decided to stop the further industrialization of the EPD project, due to a strategy redirection of the company.

2. Seeing is believing

The Philips specialists responsible for the Electronic Paper Display Project saw and believed in the technology they created. Their enthusiasm fueled the development of commercial EPD products and their expertise matured while on the EPD project. Their conviction was so persistent that, when the project was ended, they took it upon themselves to shape the world of electronic reading and writing.

A conceptualization of an Electronic Paper Product.

iRex Technologies was founded with the vision that EPD technology is the next step in the history of paper that started in Egypt 5000 years ago. The iRex Team has set itself the challenge to make sure Electronic Paper earns a rightful place among the new technologies of the digital age in the 21st century

3. Many do not make a whole

The tricky part in a world governed by standardized mass production processes is that many good ideas and technologic components will not get commercialized. Creating a working sample in a laboratory and providing the users with commercialized product takes immense human effort and financial resources. One of the key factors that brought about the Electronic Paper Display, apart from the clear enhancement of the reading experience, was the fact that the components used to manufacture an EPD could be produced with standard mass production processes. Yet bringing many of these components, including driving software, together required a whole new field of research. This fundamental knowledge was developed by the founders of iRex Technologies, while under the employment of Royal Philips Electronics and was greatly extended in the creative environment that iRex provided, making iRex Technologies rightfully the leading edge company in commercial Electronic Paper Display technology.

So instead of papyrus, cloth or wood pulp, we can now use a new technology composed of a glass back pane fitted with a Thin Film Transistor (TFT), driving electronics and algorithms to provide a display which allows people to read and write digital texts with the comfort of ordinary paper. Naturally the true history of iRex is reflected in the technology itself;

3.1 TFT back pane

The Thin Film Transistor (TFT) is the most widely used component for Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD). One TFT has the size of a pixel and can be described as a switch that can be turned ‘on’ or ‘off’. A TFT array is a very thin layer of switches and connections, set in a matrix pattern that is “printed” on a glass pane. Each switch controls one pixel; if the switch is turned ‘on’, the pixel is activated.

3.2 Driving Algorithms (or how the ink reacts)

The main component that the user has direct experience with is the performance of the display. The electronic ink in the display needs to be driven, in simple terms it needs to be told how to make black grey or white. Thanks to the fundamental research done by the founders of iRex technologies, this know-how became one of the core competencies of iRex and sustains the pioneering development of future Electronic Paper Technologies.

This driving algorithm is called a Waveform. It is a wave of different voltages over time that mixes the black and white particles to the correct displayed color or image. The Waveform actually pulls the black or white particles up or down to create black or white image. If the Waveform only pulls the particles shortly, black and white get mixed, which we perceive as grey. Now the real science lays in achieving 16 shades of grey, which require a very precise mixing of black and white, a feature that is originated by iRex Technologies.

3.3 Driving Electronics (or when a pixel is activated)

The Waveform is software and needs to be controlled by a chip or Integrated Circuit (IC). This IC controls all the switches of the TFT display, in simple terms it tells the pixel when it is activated. This together with the waveform tells the electronic ink when and how it has to make black, grey or white. The IC that controls these processes is the beating hart of the Electronic Paper Technology. The first IC created for commercial EPD applications was “Apollo” and developed by the same people who later founded iRex Technologies. It could display images in black, white and 4 grey scales. The Apollo was in its day the only, commercially available chip and used for every Electronic Paper Display Device in the world

4. The Unique iLiad

Apart from major steps in the development of waveforms, iRex Technologies also developed the next generation display controller. The “Delta” chip encompasses many of the unique skills and knowledge’s, built up over the years by the iRex Team and is now readily available in the iRex iLiad which explains its uniqueness among other Electronic Paper Devices. With this product the boundaries of the electronic paper experience has been pushed even further, from E-Book to an actual Electronic Paper Device. The latter carries an EPD that can display black, white, 16 levels of grey and that is enabled with writing and sets a distinct course for electronic paper devices to come.