Could this be the answer to our problems as blind voters in terms of 
casting our votes with paper ballots as well as one day identifying 
paper currency?
'Talking paper' seeks cheap printing to be viable
Swedish researchers are studying ways to print loudspeakers and 
keyboards on paper
By John Blau, IDG News Service
June 08, 2007
E-mail
Someday consumers may find themselves listening to paper to learn 
more about products,
receive instructions, or heed warnings. That's the hope of Swedish 
researchers studying
ways to print loudspeakers and keyboards on paper.
"The technology could be used in many ways," said Kristina Brink, a 
professor at
Mid Sweden University and coordinator of the Paper Four research 
project. "In addition
to advertising, it could help people with seeing problems use 
products or provide
instructions on taking medication or even warn children of the risks 
of smoking cigarettes."
But the researchers, who have shown how to use printable ink instead 
of wires or
other embedded devices like chips in greeting cards to communicate 
signals on paper,
concede that without a way to print the interactive paper cheaply, 
their invention
may never leave the lab.
"Our prototype is handmade, which makes it expensive" but the idea is 
to be able
to print on a large scale, Brink said. "That would make it cheap."
A new research phase starting later this year will focus on using 
interactive paper
in packaging, said Brink. This phase follows the construction and 
successful testing
last month of a prototype display that provides information about 
tourist attractions
and examples of CD recordings.
Finding ways to prevent messages from being unintentionally activated 
is a challenge
researchers face as they tinker with interactive packaging. Store 
clerks and shoppers,
for instance, could become annoyed by products they handle constantly 
speaking to
them. "This is something that will have to be looked at," Brink said.
The current prototype uses an electronically conductive ink that 
responds to pressure,
by a finger or hand, for instance. It also uses printed speakers 
created with the
conductive ink spread over a material -- in this case aluminium foil 
-- which covers
an empty cavity to form a diaphragm. The areas covered by the 
conductive ink are
linked at the edge of the paper to wires, which relay the signals to 
a chip embedded
with audio files.
The prototype display consists of three different layers of paper. 
The back of the
display is made of cardboard. The middle layer is printed with the 
conductive ink
on regular paper. And the top layer, the "skin," which uses paper 
designed for glossy
pictures, contains the graphic elements, such as pictures of cities 
and CDs. The
skin layer is also used to cover the conductive ink.
The system works like this: When you touch, say, a picture of a new 
CD recording,
the pressure of your hand or finger sends a signal, which is captured 
by the wire
at the end of the paper and forwarded to the chip. The chip, in turn, 
activates an
audio file, which is streamed through the printed speaker also 
connected to the wire
and conductive ink system.
The paper printed with the conductive ink can be recycled or thrown away.
A video clip of the Four Paper project, which is receiving funds from 
the European
Union and Sweden's paper industry, can be viewed on the project team's
Web site
.


-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
Version: 7.5.467 / Virus Database: 269.8.7/830 - Release Date: 6/3/2007
12:47 PM



The Missouri-L Listserve
To post a message to the Missouri-L list, send to:
[log in to unmask]
To unsubscribe from the Missouri-L list, send an email message to:
[log in to unmask]
with the word, unsubscribe in the subject field.
Visit the MCB home Page at:
WWW.MoBlind.Org

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
Version: 7.5.472 / Virus Database: 269.8.11/838 - Release Date: 6/7/2007
2:21 PM
 

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
Version: 7.5.472 / Virus Database: 269.8.11/838 - Release Date: 6/7/2007
2:21 PM
 


    VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
Archived on the World Wide Web at
    http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html
    Signoff: [log in to unmask]
    Subscribe: [log in to unmask]