Gyricon is a reusable electronic paper developed by Xerox that uses two-color suspended electrically charged plastic beads to display information. It can be charged to change the display and erased for reuse. Xerox licensed the product to other companies. The development of electronic paper is complicated by durability and size concerns. Many companies have developed electronic paper products, and research is ongoing to make them competitive in terms of price, image clarity, and usability.
Gyricon is a type of electronic paper developed by Xerox at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), a world-renowned facility for the development of electronic technology. Research and development on this product dates back to the 1970s, making it an early entrant in the race to develop functional electronic paper. The idea behind products like the Gyricon is that they could be used over and over again to display material, for anything from reading the morning news to making copies of printed material.
This product contains a series of two-color suspended electrically charged beads made of plastic. When a charge is applied to a sheet of Gyricon, it causes the beads to rotate, changing the display as they spin. The image can remain static, or be changed again with another charge, as well as being erased. In theory, a single sheet could be used on thousands of occasions, providing a highly efficient and reusable way of displaying written information and other visual information.
Working on the product, developers at Xerox envisioned running Gyricon through miniature printers and using wand-like devices to apply charges to paper. Wand tools could also scan, allowing people to collect information in one location and transfer it to electronic paper, a useful tool for people like students to take notes. While Xerox stopped investing in product development for commercial purposes, it did license the product to other companies interested in electronic paper products, a common practice used to make profits on new technologies without having to invest in production costs.
The development of products like Gyricon is complicated by a number of factors, including concerns about making electronic paper durable and strong enough to withstand years of use, while keeping it thin enough to feel comfortable and easy to handle. The width of such products is a major concern, as the technology required to produce electronic paper can be cumbersome, and development requires not only applying the technology in new ways but also reducing it to a more usable size and format.
Numerous companies have developed electronic paper products, and no one product has dominated the market. E-paper research is ongoing at a number of companies interested in making products competitive in terms of price, image clarity, and usability. There is a wide range of potential applications for such products, and innovations in the industry are closely watched by developers interested in using electronic paper and creating documents to display on such products.
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