Literally just days ago (July 3, 2012) Hewlett Packard succeeded in patenting its first "See-through display". The U. S. patent is filed under patent number 8,212,744. It is fairly well known that other technology companies (such asSamsung) have their own plans for similar transparent displays. Samsung so far has the most interesting YouTube video on the development and it appears in the sidebar. The technology is so advanced that they have not placed press releases on their websites at this writing.
Searching for information and images on this technology may prove challenging as it really seems to be a front-line technological development. Of course, see-through technology has been in development since around 2000 (see the Microvision image in sidebar). This is an apparent technological coup for HP as a search for a similar Samsung U. S. patent was not successful - at least at this writing. The see-through concept has been developing slowly - perhaps in "jumps" - and examples appear in the Slideshow.
You can link to a brief video from HP on their developmenthere. Their video "360 View of the HP Flex" shows a similar development (seen in the film "Real Steel".) It seems certain that the Samsung display/s consists of AMOLEDmaterial/s and the HP SeeThru is based on another type of material. A review of patent "744" gives only a list of some the materials used in its suggested "embodiment". Silicon is not mentioned - which is the base material for glass. The other materials encountered (carbon, titanium and chromium oxide) could imply a type of transparent ceramic- but that would likely be too expensive.
Based on cost it is suggested that the base material of theHewlett Packard SeeThru display be built from glass with at least one side covered with a thin deposit of aluminum. The other patented ingredients (mentioned above) would also be applied very thinly to this substrate. The SeeThru display also utilizes one other key concept: a number of "louvers" allowing light to pass through at a certain incident angle. The finished see-through monitor display should allow an image, data and observers to be seen from either side of the screen.
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