Fujitsu demonstrated on Tuesday a meter-square, full-color display panel that is curved so it can be mounted around corners and pillars.
The panel features a Plasma Tube Array (PTA) screen made by standing hundreds of millimeter-high plasma tubes on end, one after another. The tubes are organized in batches of three, one each representing red, green and blue, and this is repeated across the display. The orientation of the tubes means the display can be gently curved, for example to fit around a pillar.
The basic display technology for the screen was developed by Japan's Shinoda Plasma. The company first demonstrated its technology in 2008 when it unveiled a 125-inch panel made up of six of the meter-square panels.
Fujitsu Frontech, a subsidiary of Fujitsu, developed the screen into a meter-square display module suitable for commercial use.
Visitors to the company's Fujitsu Forum event in Tokyo got a taste of the displays on Tuesday as they arrived. Four pillars, each featuring two meter-square displays, one above the other, were on show at the entrance to the event.
The screens will be commercially available in the latter half of this year. Pricing details were not announced.
Shinoda Plasma and Fujitsu have long had links through Tsutae Shinoda, chairman of the company that bears his name. Shinoda is best known as the inventor of the PDP display and previously worked as a fellow at Fujitsu Laboratories on development of plasma tube arrays.
