Car windscreens that display a restaurant's menu may soon be a reality

Washington, April 10 : Scientists have reached a step closer to realising car windscreens that will display the menu of cuisines being served at a user's favourite restaurant on a particular day.

Purdue University researchers say that they have created a proof-of-concept screen from nanowires, which represents a model for future technologies that may create Minority Report-style newspapers or display the menu of a restaurant as the user walks down the street.

"It could be used to project GPS navigation information on a car windshield. It would be like driving in a video game," Discovery News quoted David Janes, a scientist at Purdue University and a study author, as saying.

The researchers embedded organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) in transparent nanowires to create the new display.

They say that such displays may be placed directly on a car windshield or on eyeglasses to overlay information on real objects.

Coupled with a computer, the same material may allow a user to look at a restaurant while walking down the street, and view its menu, without stopping in.

Given the transparency and flexibility of the display, it may also be used to create e-paper or e-books capable of being continually updated with videos and images.

The researchers hope to develop a a large-scale prototype within five years.

A research paper describing the progress appears in Nano Letters.

ANI