Epson and E Ink have announced a controller chip for E Ink's electrophorescent e-paper at the Electronic Systems Conference in Silicon Valley.

"Epson developed the S1D13521 with E Ink to support e-paper applications such as electronic newspapers, portable web browsers and industrial tablets," said Russ Wilcox, CEO of E Ink. "With the ability to address many screen regions simultaneously, future devices using this chip could offer a fast menu interface, simple animations, higher greyscale levels, and user input through typing and touch."

The chip allows drop down and pop-up menus, cursors, and real-time keyboard entry. "It enables the display to perform up to 16 tasks in parallel, and supports smooth and responsive pen input devices for annotations and sketches," said Epson.

Samples will be available in May, with production in August.

There is also an evaluation kit, the Broadsheet AM300. "The Broadsheet kit will enable engineers to prototype and develop rapidly next-generation e-paper products. Compatible with 5, 6, 8, and 9.7in active matrix displays," said E Ink. "The kit allows users to create functional, low-profile product mock-ups quickly. It will be shipping in June."