Biomimicry

Both electronic paper (e-paper) and certain biological organisms share the need for adaptive, reflective surfaces to communicate information. The goal of each is to use numerous colors, textures, polarization, and contrast variations without optical losses in order to maximize and control (in an energy-efficient way) the desired physical appearance. Recognizing these display commonalities, researchers at the University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH), the USA Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole, MA), the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (Dayton, OH), and the Army Research Laboratory (Adelphi, MD) are attempting to merge the knowledge base of biomimetics used for biological adaptive coloration and appearance (with a focus on cephalopods such as squid, cuttlefish, and octopus) and synthetic reflective e-paper displays (such as Amazon’s Kindle and the Sony Reader) using a series of scientific metrics

"PenTile® technology is biomimetic, meaning it is designed to compliment the complex mechanics of the eye-brain system. As a simple example of eye mechanics consider how the eye utilizes the color blue. The eye has cone receptors that sense color and brightness, and discern patterns. These cones are sensitive to different wavelengths of color—primarily red, green, and blue. The blue cones detect mostly color (chroma) information, while the red and green cones do most of the work resolving images by discerning luminance, edges, and structural details of images, as well as contributing to color vision. The red and green cones are used independently, each cone seeing a "dot" of black and white—ignoring its color to produce high resolution luminance perception—and are used in opposition, comparing the amount of red versus green, to produce low resolution color perception.

The PenTile RGBW™ layout uses each red, green, blue and white subpixel to present high-resolution luminance information to the red and green cones, while using the combined effect of all the color subpixels to present lower-resolution chroma (color) information to all three cone types. Combined, this optimizes the match of display technology to the biological mechanisms of human vision."

Photo details: Brown eyes, 2007 by Alecgarci 149. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.