Hewlett Packard is back in the invention business after the Company was granted a patent for new see-through screen technology.

The new technology allows HP to create transparent displays allowing navigtation data to be displayed on a screen that can be seen through. 

Users will be able to see both the screen’s computer graphics and the backdrop of the room or an object behind the device said HP.

First lodged in 2006 the patent describes using light-reflective slats to display images produced by a computer on a transparent screen while also allowing light from behind the device to shine through.

HP acknowledges that alternative see-through technology using angled half-silvered mirrors is already used by TV broadcasters in teleprompters to allow newsreaders to see text superimposed over camera lenses.

The US Compay who has been laying off staff of late said its technology will allow users to place the display directly against an object in order to superimpose information.

This could be a “chart, picture or other image,” they wrote, “For example [the] see-through display may be placed upon a map so as to provide an observer with a navigation route.”

They added that it might be advantageous to make such screens flexible so that they could be rolled away for storage.