A Mobile Touchscreen Projectable On Any Flat Surface

This tiny projector casts images that you can click and swipe

By Darren Murph Posted 04.16.2010 at 9:52 am 11 Comments

Light Blue Optics Light Touch Price not set; lightblueoptics.com Gregor Halenda

When you go to a restaurant in the near future, you might order your food by poking at icons on your table -- they'll vanish when the plates arrive, and spilled drinks won't do them any harm. Light Blue Optics's pico projector is the first to turn any flat surface into a computer touchscreen. It beams a 10-inch display, which can show photos, videos, Web sites or apps running on its simple interface, and uses an infrared sensor to track your fingers' movements. Done browsing? Tap a virtual off button to make the screen disappear. Look for the Light Touch, in a form similar to the current 6.5-inch prototype, in retail stores or restaurants later this year. Next, a smaller version will show up inside portable gadgets, so when you tire of a cellphone's tiny buttons, you can project yourself a keyboard.

How it Creates a Touchable Image
The Light Touch casts a big image from up close by bouncing lasers off a 0.4-inch microdisplay, using techniques from holography to keep the picture in focus despite the sharp projection angle. Then it covers the image in a horizontal plane of infrared light that lies just above the table. An infrared camera watches for spots where a finger (or similarly sized object) breaks the plane and scatters the light.The machine figures out and executes the action corresponding to that location. It detects fast moves like swipes; an upgrade will sense multiple taps at once.

Four More Pocket-Size Projectors

AAXA Technologies M1 Plus : Coutesy AAXA Technologies

The Brightest

The 4x4-inch M1 Plus is one of the few small projectors whose image is visible in a brightly lit room. Its LEDs provide 66 lumens of brightness, more than twice the norm. AAXA Tech-
nologies M1 Plus $360; aaxatech.com

3M MPro: Courtesy 3m

The All-in-One

3M's latest handheld projector has its own flash memory and processor, so it can display videos, Excel files and PowerPoint presentations without a PC. 3M MPro 150 $400; 3m.com

Syndiant, Foryou Multimedia and ASTRI R&D Prototype: Courtesy Syndiant

The Highest-Def

The mini display in Syndiant's prototype pico projector has more pixels than any other. That means the projected image has nearly the same resolution as a high-def TV.
Syndiant, Foryou Multimedia and ASTRI R&D Prototype syndiant.com

Samsung W9600 Projector Phone: Courtesy Samsung

The Phone

The W9600 phone builds in a DVD-quality, 854x480-pixel projector. With its cellular link and computing power, it can download -- and instantly project -- several movie formats. Samsung W9600 Price not set; samsung.com

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11 Comments

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Surge64

04/16/10 at 12:19 pm

These look like things from CES 2010. Anyone seen it?

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dylanjrex

04/16/10 at 12:39 pm

this will be a huge advance in portable computers and will allow you to do more because you can use it on any surface.

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Ariana

04/16/10 at 1:04 pm

This is one of the biggest revolutionary inventions in projector history. Pico projectors are the smallest projectors available right now and they can even fit on your phone. Now if you will be able to use it as a menu aa restaurant, you wont have to have the inconvience of a menu taking up all the space and restaurants could easily update there menu in a couple touches of a button.
This new projector called pico projector could easily fit in ones pocket and they get smaller every year. Now in office meetings you will be easily able to show your excel and powerpoint presentations.

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RiverWaffleDonkey

04/16/10 at 1:08 pm

Projectors can be a big help to people. It is like a computer without a monitor or a mouse. The screen projects on to the surface and it is a touch screen. It is like something from the future

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RiverWaffleDonkey

04/16/10 at 1:09 pm

Projectors can be a big help to people. It is like a computer without a monitor or a mouse. The screen projects on to the surface and it is a touch screen. It is like something from the future

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animemaster

04/16/10 at 6:26 pm

I was promised pocket high def laser projectors... what happened to them?

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newyorkdude

04/16/10 at 8:52 pm

Maybe 4-5 years ago I invested in a penny stock that did sort of the same thing. They projected a keyboard on any flat surface. The problem was that the product was unacceptable on airplanes and many other places. There are a lot of places that don't want you to project laser images. It sounds like a great idea, but it has limits that make it unviable as a commercial product.

newyorkdude
domainmonday.com

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manit

04/19/10 at 1:03 pm

I seriously doubt this will be the future of portable devices. I think the future will be paper thin touch capable organic displays. But that will only be temporary until we connect our brains directly to Google's cloud computer.

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thegetback

04/25/10 at 12:22 pm

I see you are missing Microvision's laser based pico projector that uses their PicoP technology. When I first saw this pico projector I was amazed with the always in focus projection and how vivid the colors are to other projectors. I think this technology is worthy of an article discussing those attributes.

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valterchaves

10/03/10 at 11:57 am