Speculated about for decades, the ultimate in energy efficiency—pixel-free images—has been the dream of computer graphics creators and scientists since the first raster scan line.
No pixels were harmed in the creation of this image.
As stroke writers (calligraphic displays) were phased out despite their superior screen accuracy, the idea of finding a similar pixel-free, yet accurate and economical-to-manufacture, display system has always lingered in the minds of the adventurous. Not unlike the introduction of the almost-for-free LLM from DeepSeek, a pixeless display would be the ultimate ROI on an image in your eye. Some developers with an obvious bias toward their own devices suggested liquid-ink and quantum-dot microLEDs were such devices. Of course, as soon as one addresses the addressing issue of lighting up those displays, the boast and promise faded like a CRT cooling into a bright, disappearing dot.
That was until the brilliant Nvidia computer architect Zanofski Rhobonocheque astonished not only the ISSCC and SID with his pixel-terminating paper, “Light without dots,” but IEEE and ACM Siggraph as well.
Alvey Ray Smith laid the foundations for wave theory in displays with his seminal book, “A Biography of the Pixel,” which Disney is rumored to be looking at for a TV series that may carry the title A Day or a Picosecond in the Life of a Pixel.
Rhobonocheque, who says he hadn’t read Smith’s treatise because he doesn’t like the boring flat writing of Americans—“They just don’t understand the richness of language as Russians do”—expressed praise for Smith’s work and said that had he read it, he might not have undertaken his breakthrough investigation.
Samsung, LG, and Sony are rumored to be trying to buy the patents and all related documentation from Nvidia. Some industry observers like Omid Rahmat, Rob Enderle, and Bob O’Donnell speculate that Samsung and the others want to bury the discovery, like Guillette buried the very sharp razor blade.
When questioned about that, Rhobonocheque said he had no control over what Nvidia did with his work, as he had made the discovery on Nvidia time, signed NDAs and rights papers, and was paid for his work. “But,” he added, “ I vould not be hoppy bout it.”
Nvidia could not be reached for comment, and stories in the Financial Times about the company buying a couple of display companies persist.
Nvidia’s share price jumped to $220 after the announcement at Siggraph, and Rhobonocheque was seen waving goodbye from his Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and wearing a San Jose Sharks hat.
Stay tuned to JPR for additional news on this development and other interesting things about what Jon used to chase.
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