Confused by looking at the Topic?? Actually didn’t have any other way of describing this concept. The words Invisible and Monitor does not go together, however, that is what this whole concept is about. One second, some of you might have already guessed it, as to what really is this post all about, since you are one among those rare species of human, who still tries to use their neurological senses to really think and imagine.
Would you really be interested to have a pocket size PC cum phone with a resizable invisible monitor suspended in mid air, which you can carry along in your pocket or purse like an ipod or mobile phones. Imagine, you are walking down a road or a park and you pick up your call and you are able to interact with a life-sized person who might be in some other part of the world. You will be able to watch you favorite movie at a park or at a café or anywhere with screen size of your choice.
Too much of imagination right? Now lets come to the practical aspect, as to how this can be achieved, how can a screen be displayed in mid air and as well as be interactive, like the touch screens which we have today. This product would actually bring down our normal huge PCs to a pocket sized one, along with functionalities of a cell phone.
So guys you will no longer need to have a desktop or laptop and phone as separate entities. Great, I am predicting the merging of PC and Cellphone as a single entity. The era of laptops, desktops and cell phones will come to an end, if this product comes out.
So, what components will be really required to create such a product? Lets make a list-
1. We will be requiring a microcomputer, which you might have heard off. Like Yinlips G80 Micro PC or Sony Vaio UX Micro Computer
2. An invisible monitor or in real terms a screen suspended in mid air or to be more precise, a Free Space Display Unit.
We have already come across mini pc and most of you will be knowing about the micro computers as I have mentioned above. So, getting such a device or creating one in today’s world is not an impossible task.
However, the second component is the one, which really makes us dream about the sci fi movies and keep us wondering whether such a product is really possible.
Lets see the feasibility of such a product, for a normal projector to display an image requires a non-transparent medium, like screen, walls or even water, however, displaying it in air, which is non-transparent is not feasible. So, how do we go about it? One logical way, which everyone will agree is to bring the air molecules closer in an enclosed environment, so that it forms a screen on which you can display the image. Fair enough, but you might be thinking that this can only be a theory but not practical.
You will be wrong, if you think that way, because the products are available in the market, though expensive as of now. Two of the companies who are into this technology are Fogscreen and IO2 technology. Both of them have a bit different technologies which are patented for the same concept.
FogScreen, creates an image in midair by employing a large, non-turbulent airflow to protect the dry fog generated within from turbulence. The result is a thin, stable sheet of fog, sandwiched between two layers of air, on which an image can be projected and even walked through.
Heliodisplay , a product of IO2 technology , creates a similar effect, but, instead of fog, it uses a cloud of microscopic particles whose specific nature is one of the secrets. It creates a particle cloud by passing the surrounding air through a heat pump, which in turn cools the air to a level below its dew point, where it condensates, and is then collected to create an artificial cloud. The particle cloud is composed of a vast number of individual micro droplets, between 1-10 microns in diameter, too small to be visible to the naked eye, held together by surface tension. The focus and illumination intensity of the projected image can be controlled by changing some of the cloud’s properties, enabling a sharper and brighter image.
I guess most of your minds are now clear that you can just go ahead, purchase these products and play around to create the product, which we were discussing till now an Hybrid of PC and Cellphone. I guess just you need to plug and play as mentioned in few of the company sites of IO2 Technology.
The exact product, which we want to see, is predicted to come by end of the next decade or so. But, hope through this article few of you might have started questioning as to why cannot it be done now or at the earliest, why do we have to wait till the end of next decade. I would say, please go ahead and bring such a product in the market for which everyone is eagerly waiting for and I request you to please come up with a great name for it, since I was unable to figure out one other than Cellputer – the next Hybrid of Computer and Cellphones.
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