Amazon Kindle ereaders may one day be as thin as the paper they replaced, if the company follows through on the intriguing plans outlined in a recent patent filing.
The retailer and digital content champion has brainstormed a super-slim and light Kindle that would not require a battery, a processing unit or local storage to be built into the body.
Instead, the device would simply communicate with a remote basestation that would transmit power and data to the display, offering a "substantially longer" lifespan than on a rechargeable battery.
The patent, uncovered by GeekWire, lists company CEO Jeff Bezos as co-inventor and explains how voice commands and gestures, like turning a page, could be registered by the display and sent to the station.
Not just Kindle readers...
In one possible application for the technology, the company explains the benefits of placing multiple basestations around a college campus and equipping students with displays.
It would allow those going from class-to-class to use the display all day without worrying about charging the battery, not to mention condemning the paper textbook once and for all.
Beyond the Kindle, the patent also details how the portable display technology could be used within the windshield of an automobile and a user's glasses to enable a Google Glass-like experience.
Do you think Amazon will be pushing this tech as its next big ebook innovation? What happens when users are out of range of the basestation? Let us know in the comments section below.
Via T3
