Summary:
Authors Johnny Chung Lee, Scott E. Hudson, and Edward Tse (from Carnegie Mellon's HCI Institute and Smart Technologies respectively) discuss their research on foldable displays in this paper. Most "flexible display" prototypes that are typically reported about are based on OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology, which are still limited in their implementation and offer no form of touch input. The foldable displays discussed by the authors are actually flexible screens with embedded infrared (IR) LEDs that allow a camera/projector combination to track the display and project an appropriately-sized image onto it. The IR LEDs basically function as fiducial markers in an augmented-reality system where digital images (in this case, whatever is supposed to show up on the display) are superimposed over real life. The authors discussed the advantages and drawbacks of four main foldable shapes -- the newspaper, scroll, fan, and umbrella -- as well as how IR tracking is accomplished on each shape.
Discussion:
When I read the title of the paper, I assumed that the displays would be driven by OLED and that the authors had somehow solved the problem of touch input on such a display. Alas, it was not to be as they basically rigged an augmented-reality system together with IR LEDs and a Wii-mote which allowed camera-based tracking and projection onto the static, un-interactive surface. The displays they discussed could have been made of anything -- paper, cloth, plastic, whatever. The whole system is driven by the camera tracking. I suppose I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up so high, but it's difficult to see how this system could be used anywhere outside of a classroom or research facility with the necessary technologies already installed. The point of smaller, mobile displays is to be able to carry them with you without the need for external equipment. The only real advantage I can see here (other than the orientation-sensitivity, which was kind of cool) is that a user would be able to carry a movie-screen-sized display in a backpack or even their pocket and set it up with minimal effort, assuming that the IR-tracking and camera equipment is available wherever they planned on watching a movie.
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