DLP Front Projector Technology Turns Virtually Every Surface Into Interactive Experience

Inventor Marshall Capps recognized as 'Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business' for 2010

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Jun 09, 2010, 11:00 ET

LAS VEGAS, June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Texas Instruments (TI) (NYSE: TXN) DLP® Products invented the ability for consumers to interact with a projector's beam of light from anywhere in the room; on virtually any surface without the need for cumbersome calibration.

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The interactive functionality from DLP technology has already been recognized and adopted by multiple leading manufacturers. Specific models from the following manufacturers will include the option to display content as either 3D or as 2D with interactivity:

Acer
BenQ
Dell
InFocus
ViewSonic

This technology was invented by TI engineer Marshall Capps and DLP was the first projection technology to implement interactive projection. Marshall was recently acknowledged for this innovation in the June issue of Fast Company as one of the "100 Most Creative People in Business."

"My mom is a teacher and I heard her frustration expressed more than once about the limitations of being tied to the front of the room when teaching – she couldn't help kids out in the back of the class without stopping the lesson and having kids out of their chairs creating a disturbance," said Capps of his invention. "I thought of a way to remedy these issues and created something that allows presenters to spend more time sharing information in a collaborative way."

DLP's interactive technology allows users to digitally make notes on the projected image with a handheld pen device. Digital patterns from the pen are detected and then sent to the projector over a radio frequency. All information is passed to the computer in the same way as any other mouse or pointer device – you can use this with any software, on any surface without purchasing any additional hardware beyond the pen and projector.

Unlike other interactive projectors, this DLP technology doesn't require calibration steps and doesn't tie the presenter to the screen or front of the room. He or she can move about the room, or hand the pen to someone at the back of the room to interact with the projected content.

"The value of an interactive solution is undeniable," said John R. Martin, Ed.D., Director of Learning Resources, Tarrant County College Northwest Campus. "When people have the opportunity to be a part of the presentation, information seems to be better understood and retained, making a DLP Projector more of a collaboration tool than before."

DLP Projector technology including interactivity, 3D-ready and lamp-free projectors will be on display at DLP booth #C4717.

You can access press releases and digital content online: www.dlp.com/infocomm2010 and catch TI DLP news updates from the show on Twitter @TI_DLP and www.YouTube.com/DLPTechnology. For more information on DLP products please visit www.dlp.com.

About Texas Instruments DLP Products

DLP display technology from Texas Instruments offers clarity down to the most minute detail, delivering pictures rich with color, contrast and brightness projectors for business, home, professional venue, digital cinema (DLP Cinema®) and large screen HDTVs. Many of the world's top projection and display manufacturers design, manufacture and market products based on DLP technology. DLP is the only imaging technology with a legacy in digital cinema where it set the industry standard demonstrated by the deployment of DLP Cinema technology in over 14,000 screens worldwide. At the heart of every DLP chip is an array of up to 2.2 million microscopic mirrors, which switch incredibly fast to create a high-resolution, highly reliable, full-color image. DLP technology's chip architecture and inherent speed advantage provides razor-sharp images and excellent reproduction of fast motion video. Since early 1996, more than 20 million DLP subsystems have been shipped. For more information, please visit www.dlp.com.

About Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) helps customers solve problems and develop new electronics that make the world smarter, healthier, safer, greener and more fun. A global semiconductor company, TI innovates through design, sales and manufacturing operations in more than 30 countries. For more information, go to www.ti.com.

SOURCE Texas Instruments