Like the Blue Monster Hugh MacLeod created for Microsoft, this well-expressed thought, "all good ideas must die (so that great ideas might live)" seems apropos the Boogie Board, a quintessential writing tool with the magical "erase" button that instantly creates a "clean slate" ready for your next great idea to come to life.

iMPROV Electronics, a Kent Displays Company, was named by Igor, as was the Boogie Board.

The eTablet is developing into a major product of Kent Displays, Inc. Based upon the bistable cholesteric technology, the tablet is a writing surface in which an image can be drawn with the touch or light pressure of an untethered stylus such as pointed object or even the finger or finger nail. The unique feature of the eTablet is that the written image is instantly erased with the push of a button and a new image written. Kent Displays, Inc. has issued patents (US Patents 6,104,448, 6,061,107, 5,453,863 and 5,437,811) and patent applications (US Patent Applications 11/762,174 and 12/217,158) on file basic to the eTablet for two different modes of operation.

Searching IP.com's Library, can one find subsequent patent applications and technical disclosures by Kent Displays Inc. that might indicate features that could possibly be included in future evolutions of the eTablet?

Multiple color writing tablet (05-Feb-2009)

Selectively erasable electronic writing tablet (16-Apr-2009)

Handwritten Messaging with the eTablet (26-Aug-2009)

Who knows? One can dream of future applications that IMPROV Electronics might bring to market with the name and trademark Boogie Board.

For the latest information, visit myboogieboard.com on the web and follow @Boogie_Board on Twitter.

Schools are making the Boogie Board tablet a must have learning aid used in place of note pads, loose leaf paper and chalk, magnetic and dry erase boards for a wide variety of student activities such as handwriting/arithmetic practice, solving equations, and drawing pictures. The Boogie Board tablet’s ease of use has also made it a favorite of individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities, including as a basic means of communication for those with limited speech and hearing. A pilot program allows schools to purchase up to 30 units at a significant discount. Discounts for larger education and institution-related purchases are also available.

Although the initial launch focused on the U.S., global demand for the tablet was immediate and has grown steadily. It has been featured by the Today Show, the Bonnie Hunt Show, What Now (New Zealand), Popular Science and hundreds of newspapers, magazines, web sites and blogs worldwide.

"The heavy demand created numerous out of stock situations for which we apologize," said Taesun Cha, VP, Global Operations. "To meet ongoing global demand, we dramatically increased production and created its own online store, with low shipping rates to many international addresses." The Boogie Board tablet can also be purchased at amazon.com, brookstone.com, Brookstone stores (U.S.), taobao.com (China) and Ziho International (Korea). Other resellers and e-tailers will be added in coming months.

Based on market input, several new features will be added to the Boogie Board tablet beginning with a stylus holder and protective sleeve this summer. New standard colors, image save, and a larger size will be available in 6-12 months. Custom colors and graphics are available now for promotional product orders (minimum 100 units). 

About Kent Displays

Founded in 1993, Kent Displays, Inc. is a world leader in the research, development and manufacture of Reflex No Power LCDs for unique, sustainable applications including electronic skins, writing tablets, smartcards and eReaders.

Kent Displays announced it is expanding global distribution and developing new product features for the Boogie Board Paperless LCD Writing Tablet based on heavy demand. Kent Displays subsidiary Improv Electronics launched the Boogie Board tablet in the United States in January 2010. It is the first paperless writing tablet to utilize a pressure-sensitive, Reflex™ LCD from Kent Displays for its writing surface.  Information in this post is from a press release published by Kent Displays, which has investors and shareholders also affiliated with IP.com.

For more information, technical disclosures, patents, patent applications, and prior art, search "Kent Displays" in The IP.com Library.

Boogie Board, Reflex and Push Green are trademarks of Kent Displays, Inc.

The first product sold under the Improv Electronics name, the Boogie Board LCD Writing Tablet, is now available. This product is the first paperless writing tablet to utilize a pressure-sensitive Reflex LCD for the writing surface. While most other LCDs are made on glass, the Reflex LCDs used in Boogie Board tablets are made of impact-resistant, flexible plastic. They are mass produced exclusively in the U.S. on the world's first roll-to-roll line for fabrication of flexible LCDs.

Because all Reflex LCDs are reflective and bi-stable, the Boogie Board tablet requires no power to generate or retain an image, and only a small amount to erase (supplied by a small watch battery, which will execute over 50,000 erase cycles). At a retail price of $29.97 USD, the Boogie Board tablet's cost per erase is 15 times less than the per sheet cost of paper in a comparable steno notepad.

Written and graphic images are created with an included stylus or any other instrument that will apply the desired pressure (even a finger nail). Unlike traditional LCDs that have a poor response to pressure, the Boogie Board's Reflex LCD is highly responsive to variable amounts of pressure. This allows different line thicknesses to be easily created (great for sketching) and provides a writing experience very similar to paper and pencil.

Part of Kent Displays' Push Green™ initiative, the Boogie Board tablet provides a highly-effective vehicle to reduce everyday paper consumption. While most reduction strategies have focused on computer-related activities, an equally significant amount of paper is used for everyday writing tasks such as writing memos, jotting down ideas, making reminders/lists, practicing handwriting/arithmetic (young children), playing games, drawing pictures, and diagramming plays (coaches). The paperless Boogie Board tablet can be used for all these activities, replacing memo/note pads and sticky notes in the home, office, school, car and field. It also replaces chalk, magnetic and dry erase boards. Like all the above writing and drawing mediums, the Boogie Board tablet consumes no electrical energy to produce an image.

OEM versions of the Boogie Board tablet for integration into third party devices (e.g., computer keyboard) will also be sold.

Founded in 1993, Kent Displays, Inc., is a world leader in the research, development and manufacture of Reflex No Power LCDs for unique, sustainable applications including electronic skins, writing tablets, smartcards and eReaders. In October 2008, Kent Displays installed a new roll-to-roll production line at its headquarters in Kent, Ohio, U.S.A. to mass produce Reflex LCDs from rolls of plastic. The line is the first of its kind in the world and produces no waste water/chemicals and less solvent emissions than sheet-based processes. The flexibility, durability and exceptional thinness of our plastic displays, combined with no power image retention and superior optical characteristics, result in a versatile, environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional paper and backlit LCDs – with nearly endless applications!

For more information about Boogie Board LCD Writing Tablets, go to www.myboogieboard.com

Become a Boogie Board fan on Facebook and follower on Twitter.

For more information about Kent Displays or Improv Electronics, go to www.kentdisplays.com

Kent Displays, Inc. has shareholders in common with IP.com, so we know and like these folks, and we're happy to help spread the news about this innovative application of its patented technology.

By the way, it looks like we're going to be able to read  "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and other eBooks in vivid color thanks to Fujitsu, which recently announced its new color ebook reader called FLEPia, with color LCD technology licensed from Kent Displays.

After a protracted international legal battle, one of the basic liquid crystal patents held by Kent State University and licensed by Kent Displays has withstood a legal challenge by several parties across Europe and the Pacific Rim.

The European Patent Office where the patent challenge was heard took place in Munich, Germany. The court found in favor of Kent Displays and Kent State University in late July. That action upholds the patent, as the intellectual property of the two entities in Kent. The patent is key to Kent Displays' Reflex(TM) Technology, which enables displays that don't require any power to maintain an image, have paper-like viewing angles and incomparable viewing quality in bright sunlight.

Dr. Albert Green, CEO of Kent Displays says, "It is gratifying to know that we were able to convey the integrity of the patent as written, in front of the European Tribunal."

The patent, invented by Drs. John West and Deng-Ke Yang of Kent State University, previously had been challenged in U.S. courts. The challenge to the United State patent entangled Kent Displays and Kent State in legal proceedings in U.S. District Court in Texas from 1996 until the patent was upheld in 2001. This ruling now confirms the validity of the corresponding European patent.

Dr. John West, currently the vice president for research and dean of graduate studies at Kent State, says the recent win proves that Kent State's Liquid Crystal Institute leads the world in its discipline. "With much credit to our partner Kent Displays, it is obvious that our collaborative work sets the standard in the liquid crystal field," West says.

Kent Displays has an active roster of licensees around the world that are commercializing the Reflex(TM) Display(TM) technology in a variety of end uses. Customers and licensees of Kent Displays' Reflex(TM) displays can be assured that Kent Displays will continue to defend its intellectual property vigorously. Kent State has exclusively licensed Reflex(TM) technology to Kent Displays for all display uses.

Kent Displays was founded in 1993 by Dr. J. William Doane, director emeritus of the Liquid Crystal Institute (LCI), and William Manning of Manning Ventures of Rochester, NY. Using a strong foundation upheld by in-depth research and development, Kent Displays is a leader in developing Reflex™ displays, its cholesteric liquid crystal displays that has been successfully licensed to corporations worldwide.

Headquartered in Kent, Ohio, Kent Displays is home to Reflex(TM) displays. Using a strong foundation upheld by in-depth research and development, Kent Displays is a leader in developing Reflex(TM) displays that have been successfully licensed to corporations worldwide. Engineers at Kent Displays create applications for portable devices that are thin, flexible, rugged, demand long battery life, have wide viewing angles, and paper-like viewing in all ambient lighting conditions including bright sunlight.

Reflex™ displays don't require any power to maintain an image, have wide viewing angles, and incomparable viewing quality in bright sunlight. These displays are be produced to be rugged, thin and flexible, and have many advantages.

Kent Displays has developed products that wrap around wrists, change colors according to taste, and next-generation writing tablets that offer both function and fun. This ability to embed liquid crystals in flexible plastics is expected to give rise to a flood of new products and applications, and will lead to the creation of numerous jobs as the technology continues to advance. Kent Displays is on a roll with new LCD process.

What are the possibilities?

Television station WKYC in Cleveland/Akron Ohio reported recently on the bright future for Kent Displays, which develops breakthough LCD technology invented at Kent State University.

The company has developed a paper thin, electronic skin for cell phones and mobile devices that allow consumers to change colors with the touch of a finger. The "eGo" skin uses no power to maintain any color already rendered on the surface.

Albert Green, Ph.D, CEO of Kent Displays, held a cell phone with the new eGo skin. "This unit can be made to match a woman's outfit. She can pick that color because that's what she wanted to wear that day.

"We let the user decide how to personalize the unit, not the manufacturer. And we can do this with laptops and computers, MP3 players, video game controllers, stereos, toys, clocks, furniture and even jewelry."

Another hot application is the eTablet, electronic writing tablet that allows the user to write on a screen and erase everything with the bush of a button. The LCD coating called "Reflex" makes it possible for the display to be viewable at wide angles and in bright sunlight, unlike conventional LCDs.

Employee Holly Burton walked out of the clean room and pulled off her mask that was hiding a big smile. "This company is really going somewhere," said Burton. "I'm a mother of three children. You never hear of LCD tech companies making anything in the United States and I am so glad to be working close to home and helping my family grow."

Kent Displays now has a roll-to-roll machine that is capable of producing millions of plastic displays per year. The new technology allows the company to dramatically reduce the cost of manufacture and compete with overseas companies.

"I couldn't be prouder of what we've accomplished here in Kent," said co-founder J. William Doane, Ph.D. while standing outside one of the clean rooms.

The display technology of Kent Displays has its origin at the Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University. In 1965 Doane came to Kent with his family to join the Physics faculty and helped form the Liquid Crystal Institute.

"Do you realize that until now, almost all of our new technology developed in Kent was leaving Ohio," said Doane. "Now we can make things right here at home."

Production on the manufacturing line at Kent Displays is expected to begin in January, 2009.

Kent Displays is located close to the LCI, the world's largest research facility to link basic liquid crystal research to flat panel displays, and is considered to be the main street in Ohio's "Crystal Corridor." Kent Displays currently has manufacturer's representatives in 16 countries.

Kent State one of the public Ohio universities for undergraduate and graduate students is ranked by the Carnegie Foundation among the nations top 77 public research universities, and among the 76 top colleges and top universities in community engagement.

And it wouldn't be Ohio if there weren't a football angle to this story.

But it's the Buckeyes, 2008 BigTen Champions, who see a bright future for high school football all star Adam Bellamy, whose team, the Aurora Greenmen, just won the Ohio High School State Championship.

Adam Bellamy is wide enough to stand in front of a noon sun and make it seem like midnight. He's big enough to lift more than 500 pounds. He's strong enough to haul teammate Steven Yung around a football field with one arm.

You can do that when you're 6-4, 280 pounds and headed to Ohio State to play football on the offensive line for head coach Jim Tressel.

Adam is the grandson of Bill Manning, a co-founder of Kent Displays and IP.com.