In the field of displays, LCD, Plasma, and Organic EL are well-known types of display. They are usually used for showing dynamic images and photographs. But now Bridgestone Corp. has developed a display for displaying static images for reading. Apart from when rewriting the displays, Electronic Paper requires no electrical power to maintain the image. This leads to energy-savings and it will be useful in reducing the strain on the environment as it gets used as a substitute for paper for paper price tags in retail stores in Japan.

Their bistable display called the "Quick Response Liquid Powder Display" features quick response times similar to LCD displays (in contrast, Sony Librie owners will most likely tell you how slow their screen refreshes with current E-Ink technology). In Japan, retail store owners can now use this technology to power price tags as part of a new billing system called ESL.


The electronic display contains Bridgestone's Electro Liquid Powder, a 0.12mm thick substrate which has the characteristics of both powder and liquid. This "Electronic Liquid Powder" is highly fluid and is easily suspended. It also reacts sensitively to electricity.
With this the displays aim to generate greater brightness, faster responses, and a broader range of viewing angles than comparable LCDs.

In the future, Bridgestone tries to replace real paper with Electronic Paper. The present Electronic Paper still uses glass substrates, but by replacing them with plastic substrates, while maintaining visibility, memory, and energy-saving characteristics, it can be made more flexible, lighter and saver to use.

In supermarkets electronic shelf tags raise the efficiency of store management by saving labor involved in installing and replacing shelf tags or point of purchase displays, reducing purchasing opportunity losses through timely display changes, and eliminating price display errors. Bridgestones electronic paper display module can read barcodes or 2D codes, and display a range of contents such as product images and information about where the product originated. (Bridgestone Corp.)