LinkNotes: Sharp's LCD and Scanner

2007-10-12

Sharp's LCD and Scanner

A 3.5" LCD screen integrated an optical scanner and multi-touch input device.

Sharp LCD has built-in scanner

Novel display offers touchscreen alternative

The screen, on show at the Ceatec exhibition, features an optical scanner for each LCD pixel, and could also be used to recognise fingers or other objects. Because it determines the position of fingers using a scanner input and not a touchscreen, it's possible to touch the screen in more than two places and have all fingers recognised. Additionally, the lack of a touchscreen or other filters means the image from the screen remains clear and bright.

Sharp also demonstrated the screen working as a name card scanner. It has a resolution of 320x480 pixels and completed the scanning task in about one second.