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Business processes of all types are becoming increasingly mobile. In an attempt to remain competitive and responsive to customers while off-site, everyone from appliance repair workers to on campus service desks, to business owners and their mobile workers, are finding that bar code scanning is a productive means to efficient workflow.
There are a growing number of applications that support the hand-held, barcode ROV Scanner by Microvision, and the company says that their Wedge Software makes practically any application on any mobile device barcode enabled. Whether users are BlackBerry aficionados or die hard Palm users, the ROV Scanner in conjunction with software from hundreds of developers, can make mobile data capture simple and affordable.
The ROV Scanner (pronounced “rove"), is being launched as a re-engineering of their previous model, the Flic Scanner. Instead of an internal, mechanical, spinning mirror like the Flic had, the ROV Scanner uses MEMS or Micro Electro Mechanical Systems technology. These new scanners contain a silicon chip that is essentially a tiny silicon mirror and when activated by electrical current, vibrates on a tiny tiny scale to direct the laser light as it scans to read a bar code symbol.
“That is the core competency of Microvision”, says communications Director, Matt Nichols. “We’ve been working on moving light via mirrors since day one, and we continually get smarter and smarter about it. That’s where the majority of our intellectual property is - in how we direct light using this micro-mirror to display or capture images.” There are several reasons why Microvision moved to a MEMS-based laser bar code scan engine vs. the Flic scan engine.
Nichols says that the inherent advantages to MEMS devices include “high reliability, low power operation, small size, low cost to manufacture, and high scalability to volume productions”. Its improved reliability is a key benefit of a MEMS-based laser bar code scanner technology compared to other similar technologies. “Even after millions of scans, the integrity of the MEMS-engine does not degrade due to the properties of silicon. The oscillating silicon mirror is extremely small and lightweight, reducing susceptibility to performance degradation that result from bumps and vibrations often experienced with a handheld device.”
The micro mirror is the size of the head of a pin, and the company says that its’ manufacturing design process is very cost-efficient. “We can deploy batch processing on a silicon wafer; hundreds of these micro mirrors on a die can be stamped out versus one at a time. This hi-volume manufacturing efficiency is extremely important since we also design the MEMS scanner as a key component into our PicoP™ technology platform.”
PicoP is Microvision’s ultra-miniature modular display engine designed to enable next generation display products for pico projectors, vehicles displays, and wearable displays that interface to mobile devices.
ROV Scanner is now ready for high volume orders for in the field and is available through a variety of master distributors. The price point is still low with the ROV Scanner, and customers can also purchase a wide variety of accessories and software.
For Microvision’s available products and investor information:
www.microvision.com | 1-866-333-3542 (toll-free) or 425-354-3542 (outside U.S.)
* At is less than one milimeter square, the full-subassembly (MEMS mirror, light source, ASICS, etc.) will vary depending on the end-product design, but is in development toward standardization components for every product application.