(1888PressRelease)
June 16, 2007 - Arlington, Texas. – Researchers from Sweden have recently discovered a means to provide excitement to billboards by turning them into interactive displays. No more ‘hohum’ images and layout for billboards. The researchers claim that this breakthrough will be the fourth generation of paper to be invented.
By incorporating conductive inks to print touch sensors and speakers and then applying them to paper, the Swedish researchers’ claim that this will make rather boring billboards into interactive displays that will excite onlookers and passersby. Prototypes of the ‘interactive paper’ are currently being used on billboards displayed at a university in Sweden.
According to the Swedish researchers, the 2 meter high billboards have surfaces made in paper that responds to human touch. The users can interact with the billboard by choosing the music they want played on the billboards, or the spoken dialect used by a comedian featured on some. The billboards are currently very popular among students and visitors to the university.
The researchers further claim that the billboards are cheap and recyclable due to the materials used came entirely from paper materials. According to them, similar roll-to-roll methods were utilized to duplicate the process of the paper industry.
So how did the surface become interactive? The team of Swedish researchers screen printed the patterns to the surface by using conductive inks that has particles of overlapping silver. This allows the current to flow, thus making the surface interactive to touch.
According to the team, they made the billboard in layers made up of three centimeters of thick black layer of Wellboard for the base. Conductive ink is also used on a sheet of screen printed paper found at the base. While a second sheet is placed on top of the base which carries the design of the interactive billboard. Then on top of that second sheet is the middle layer which holds the power supply and simple microelectronics system that provides the play pause and rewind features of the billboard when the right sensors are activated.
On the other hand, the touch sensors are made with the same principles used in laptop computers- a fine pattern of conductive lines is utilized to help current flows to change every time a hand touches the screen.
Whereas, the speakers are made up of electromagnets, still made of conductive ink, and stretched out on paper over a cavity-like speaker found at the back of the billboard. This allows for the electromagnets to vibrate and create a sound while keeping pace with the current flow.
The end result is a material made of paper but has electronic and interactive features to it- ultimately, an exciting new billboard.
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