TEMPE, Ariz., Mar. 2 -- Three-Five Systems Inc. has begun shipping pre-production volumes of liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) microdisplays to inViso Inc., a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based developer of portable Internet appliances. Three-Five and inViso have jointly developed a display module product that combines inViso's digital CMOS backplane and display driver with Three-Five's reflective LCoS microdisplay technology. Three-Five refers to the new product as the MD800D, while inViso calls it the Optiscape II.
According to Three-Five, the display in this standardized product measures one-half inch in diagonal and delivers SVGA resolution of 800 columns x 600 rows, or 480,000 pixels. When used in a near-to-the-eye application with inViso's viewing optics, the companies say the display is a virtual image equivalent to a 19-inch SVGA desktop monitor viewed at 2.5 feet. The new product allows the user to view an entire web page at one time without scrolling or translation software, Three-Five explained.