The Electronic Book...

E-Books…A presentation by Max PearceDirector Technology Assessment

What is an E-Book?

• A portable device that can display text and images stored in internal memory, thereby mimicking the conventional book.

• E-Books potentially offer the user additional features not possible with the conventional printed page, including note-taking and dictionary capabilities.

• Can you think of others?

Similar Technologies...

• Notebook and palm-top computers incorporate the types of technology necessary to build E-Books.

• Devices like the Casio Cassiopeia and 3-Com Palm Pilot PDAs have essentially identical architectures to the E-Book products currently on offer.

The PDA...

• One E-Book manufacturer claims that it is possible to use a Palm Pilot or Windows CE PDA to read electronic titles.

• Presumable this would require special applications software within the PDA.

• Most PDA’s have small screens and are probably not an ideal E-Book platform.

The Cassiopeia...

The Casio Cassiopeiais a Windows CE basedpersonal digital assistantdevice with 8 Mbytes ofmemory. It retails in Australia for around $750.

E-Book Technology Enablers...

• Display technology

• Packaging technology

• Battery Technology

• Integrated Circuit Technology

• The Internet

• Technological Convergence

E-Book Architecture...

• Display Unit

• Navigation Controls

• Communications Interface

• Microprocessor controller and OS

• Memory

• Power supply

‘Currently’ available hardware...

1. RocketeBook2. EB: Dedicated Reader3. SoftBook4. Millennium E-Reader

4

RocketeBook...

• Manufacturer: NuvoMedia

• Price: About US$500

• Capacity: 4000 pages

• Weight: 570 gm

• Dimensions: 19 (h) x 12.5 (w) x 3.5 (d) cm

• Screen: 14 cm diagonal

• Battery life: 17 hr back-light, 33 hr without

RocketeBook... SoftBook...

SoftBook...

• Manufacturer: SoftBook Press• Price: US$299 + $19.95/mth minimum purchase• Capacity: up to 100,000 pages text & gray-scale

• Weight: 1.3 kg

• Dimensions: 28 (h) x 21.6 (w) x 2.5 (d) cm

• Screen: 24 cm diagonal

• Battery Life: Six hours.

RocketeBook... SoftBook...

The SoftBook…

• The SoftBook does not require a computer to download titles.

• The SoftBook incorporates a dial-up modem and internal software to allow the download of the selected title(s).

• If a title is deleted from the SoftBook it can be retrieved at no charge.

EB: Dedicated Reader...

• Manufacturer: Everybook

• Price: US$1400 to US$1600

• Capacity: 500,000 colour pages

• Weight: 1.68 kg

• Dimensions: 30 (h) x 24 (w) x 4.6 (d) cm

• Screen: Two screens, 33.8 cm diagonal

• Battery life: Four to six hours

EB: Dedicated reader...

Millennium E-Reader...

• Manufacturer: Librius

• Price: US$199

• Capacity: 8000 pages

• Weight: 0.34 kg

• Dimensions: unknown

• Screen: 480 x 320 pixels

• Battery Life: 22 hours

Millennium E-Reader...

The Millennium E-Reader isexpected in US Summer 1999.Librius indicate that the electronictitles can be read on Palm Pilot orWindows CE devices. An E-Readeris therefore not necessary if you own an existing palm computerdevice.

The printed page...

• A typical page of text from a printed book is both high resolution and very high contrast.

• White paper and black ink are difficult to duplicate with conventional display technologies.

• Printing costs are very low, typically less than a couple of dollars for a paperback.

The electronic future...

• The world-wide book market has been reported at some US$72 billion/year.

• Publishers are naturally cautious, however it is assumed that they appreciate the potential implications of technological convergence and the printed page.

• A high-performance, low-cost E-book would be an interesting development.

E-Book Building Blocks...

• The technology necessary to build E-Books is available now. Microprocessors, memory and related components are here today.

• Unfortunately, there is no currently available display technology that can offer high contrast, high resolution, low cost, low power consumption and able to operate in a hostile environment.

Display Technology…

• E-books currently offer Liquid Crystal Display panels; some are touch sensitive.

• LCDs require back-lights for use in dull lighting conditions, have limited viewing angles, suffer from low contrast, can exhibit slow response in cold conditions are mechanically fragile and consume considerable power.

LCDs...

• High performance LCD display panels have been developed and are now used in laptop and personal computers.

• These new displays still however suffer from viewing angle restrictions, excessive power consumption, limited contrast range in daylight and mechanical fragility.

New display technologies...

• While thin film transistor (TFT) LCD devices are currently the display of choice for laptop PC applications, alternative technologies are under development.

• Two new developments are:Field Emission Displays (FEDs)

Light Emitting Polymer displays (LEPs)

FEDs...

• FEDs should compete with existing LCD panels and may allow the development of flat-panel home cinema - perhaps one day.

• Their power consumption is claimed to be about 50% of a comparable LCD panel.

• FEDs are still fabricated using glass and are have similar fragility properties to LCDs.

Typical FED construction...

FED Display View Angle...

FED

LCD

Light Emitting Polymers...

• Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) have developed the concept of the Light Emitting Polymer.

• LEP is a substance that can be deposited onto a substrate and made to emit light when connected to a source of electric current.

LEPs...

• The chemical is known as: Poly(p-xylene-alpha-tetrahydrothiophenium bromide)

• LEPs can be fabricated on flexible substrates, thereby increasing display ruggedness.

LEPs potentially offer...

• A low-cost high-performance display solution for a variety of applications including electronic books.

• CDT and Seiko-Epson are currently collaborating to develop the “Plastic Television” - a full colour LEP video display.

• Prototype was due in late 1998!

The CIE triangle…

A LEP Display - a first attempt...

A LEP E-Book...

• LEP display technology is probably fundamental to the development of low cost E-Books.

• Once the manufacturing is mastered it is expected that rugged low cost, low power, high contrast, wide viewing angle displays will be readily available.

• But don’t hold your breath!

In summary...

• Practical E-Books depend on the availability of better display technology like Light Emitting Polymers.

• Despite the current technological limitations, E-Books are seeing the light of day.

• The RocketeBook is a good example.

RocketeBook...

• The RocketeBook is produced by NuvoMedia and is assembled in Taiwan

• Barnes & Noble provides the book titles via their Internet Web site

• You need a PC with Win95/98 and an Internet connection with a spare serial port for connection to the RocketeBook

RocketeBook security...

• Each RocketeBook must be registered with NuvoMedia via the web.

• The Registration process loads a secure Rocket Certificate (A Rocket Key and Rocket ID) into the RocketeBook.

• When you order an electronic title, the book file is encrypted for use with your RocketeBook only.

RocketeBook...

• E-Book titles are available at the Barnes and Noble Web site [www.barnesandnoble.com]

• An account is established using a suitable Credit Card (MC, Visa or Amex).

• An e-commerce system allows the user to select and buy RocketEditions.

• An e-mail is sent to the buyer with Web details to allow downloading of selected titles.

RocketeBook Memory...

• Total memory 4096 kbytes

• Operating System 664 kbytes

• User memory 3432 kbytes

• Necromancer text is about 200 k characters.

• Necromancer E-Book files is 166 kbytes

• Memory would hold about 20 similar titles

RocketeBook title costs...

• Necromancer [Gordon R. Dickson] ISBN 0-812-54530-3 US$5.99 paperback

• Necromancer E-Book US$4.95.

• Other titles checked indicate a similar discount of about 10 - 15% for the E-Book title over the paper product.

Some RocketeBook features...• Touch screen control• Four-way display• Last page memory• Hyperlinks (selected titles)• Page navigation bar• Bookmarking• Shortcuts• IR communications port• Large/Small fonts• Note annotation• Text search/Dictionary

E-Book WWW addresses...

• www.softbook.com [SoftBook]

• www.nuvomedia.com [RocketeBook]

• www.everybk.com [EB: Dedicated Reader]

• www.librius.com [Millennium E-Reader]

The Rocket Demonstration...

Any Questions...

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E-Books...

The End