Sharp Puts a Billion Colors on Display

Sharp is adding even more colors to liquid crystal displays. The company has developed software that allows LCDs to display more than 1 billion colors, Sharp announced Thursday.

Developers researched how human eyes perceive brightness and color, then applied their findings to one of the characteristics of an LCD--the fact that it can control the brightness and color of each pixel.

Current LCD hardware can hold up to 8 bits per RGB (red, green, and blue) color level, which is the equivalent of 16.77 million colors, according to Heihachiro Ochiai, a spokesperson for Sharp. The new technology makes these 8-bit RGB colors look like 10-bit RGB colors, he says.

The company, one of Japan's leading LCD manufacturers, plans to install its software in LCDs within the next two to three years--hoping that it will be adopted on large scale integrated circuit chips--or to license it to other manufacturers, Ochiai says.

Recently, computer software developers such as Microsoft have been developing software with 10 to 12 bits per RGB level; but this level of color cannot be displayed on current LCDs, says Ochiai. With Sharp's new development, users will be able to see displays in full color.

Software can also be used in fields that LCDs have not been able to enter before. For example, X-ray pictures, which are reproduced on film to show smooth and detailed gray-scale gradations, will be able to be displayed on LCDs.

With current technologies, digital data can hold 13 to 15 bits of color at most. Sharp's software will allow these colors to be displayed so that moving images such as movies distributed via broadband (which is expected to be more available in Japan in the near future) can have richer color, says Ochiai.