ACTO to sponsor Universiade over 1000 pico-projectors powered by ASTRI

Aug. 9, 2011 - PRLog -- After three years of hard-work in collaboration with the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), Shenzhen ACTO Digital Video Technology Co. Ltd., the sole sponsor of portable projectors of the forthcoming World University Games 2011, has successfully developed a WinCE-based, portable smart pico-projector S1, of which ACTO will provide more than 1,000 pieces to on-site reporters for free use during the event. By using the pico-projector with wireless connection to the event’s official website, press members can pick a game to view real time anytime, anywhere for detailed reporting.

Of a size comparable to an ordinary mobile phone, S1 can project images with clarity to a screen as big as 60 inches. With a net weight of 190g, the pico-projector is convenient to carry around and can be used together with various audio-visual electronic devices. The gadget can also read directly from USB to play image, video, PPT, excel and pdf files. It employs an LED light source, which can work for around 50,000 hours.

In the China Solid State Lighting (SSL) Innovation Contest 2008, ASTRI won a product innovation award with its home-grown pico-projector, the technology of which optimizes the device’s performances in illuminating and imaging, two critical functions of a pico-projector. Furthermore, it employs the LED chips that are commonly used in general lighting instead of the LED light source tailored for projection. This helps reduce hurdles due to shortage in supply, as well as the resulting high cost, as far as mass production is concerned.

ASTRI has also developed a brand-new polarization light recycling part, which can be applied to S1 to boost the efficacy of the product’s system and extend its life span.

A leading provider of projectors for cinema and home theatre on the Chinese mainland, ACTO has employed ASTRI’s intellectual properties and patents generated from its researches in pico-projectors to develop S1 at a comparatively low cost. By rolling out S1, ACTO not only successfully expands the projector market into consumer electronics, but also establishes itself as a leader of the industry. Through sponsoring the Universiade, ACTO hopes to further boost the development of Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) projector technology in China by its leading independent innovation.

ACTO’s Chief Technology Officer Mr Liang Xiangdong said, “ACTO has been partnering with ASTRI since 2008, and with mutual trust we has established a close working relationship. Apart from collaboration in new and high tech R&D, we also planned to join hands in promoting the pico-projector that we have co-developed.”

ACTO and ASTRI have been working closely together to promote independent innovations in LCoS projector technology and commercialize them in the Pearl River Delta Region. Technological breakthrough in pico-projector is one of the fruits that the collaboration bears, suggesting that the two work with shared goals.

Mr Kenny Chan, Senior Manager of ASTRI, said, “ACTO’s success in launching S1 means not only an encouragement to ASTRI on its commercialization endeavours, but also a vote of confidence to Hong Kong’s R&D outputs. To further cultivate the Shenzhen-Hong Kong partnership, ASTRI will join the Trade Development Council of Hong Kong in its nine major exhibitions catered to worldwide buyers to promote S1.”

ASTRI’s pico-projector technology has experienced stages of breakthrough. More recently, the research institute has successfully developed the world’s first 3D dual-mode pico-projector, which adopts polarization technology based on LCoS micro-display panel, allowing switching between 2D and 3D images. The hand-sized pico-projector can project 3D images with high brightness, high contrast and high resolution anytime anywhere. It has won a product innovation award in the Nanhai Cup National SSL Innovation Contest 2010 and was showcased in the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 2010.

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The Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company Limited (ASTRI) was founded by the HKSAR Government in 2000 with a mission to enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness in technology-based industries through applied research.