FLEXIBLE PIXEL HARDWARE AND METHOD
First Claim
1. A graphical display assembly, comprising:
- a plurality of flexible pixel strings, each flexible pixel string including a plurality of pixel units connected by a flexible connection, the flexible connection including one or more of electrical, data, or activation connections configured to pass electrical power or graphical image data to and from one or more of the pixel units; and
wherein the plurality of flexible pixel strings are arranged so that the plurality of pixel units are formed in a non-grid-like pattern to define an arbitrary shaped display.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A graphical display station of arbitrary shape such as channel letters or other shaped structures is populated with pixels which are components of flexible pixel strings which can be arranged to fit the arbitrary shape(s). The flexible pixel strings provide for straightforward and cost effective fabrication of channel letter or other shaped displays. The invention also includes pixel units which comprise lighting elements together with such control circuits as are needed to roperly drive the lighting elements to form a graphical image. Addressing of the particular pixels is provided to accommodate the arbitrary arrangement of pixels of the flexible pixel strings. Methods of fabricating a channel letter display are also disclosed.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A graphical display assembly, comprising:
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a plurality of flexible pixel strings, each flexible pixel string including a plurality of pixel units connected by a flexible connection, the flexible connection including one or more of electrical, data, or activation connections configured to pass electrical power or graphical image data to and from one or more of the pixel units; and wherein the plurality of flexible pixel strings are arranged so that the plurality of pixel units are formed in a non-grid-like pattern to define an arbitrary shaped display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of fabricating an arbitrary shape graphical display, comprising the steps of:
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providing one or more flexible pixel strings having a plurality of pixel units and a plurality of flexible connections which pass data to the pixel units; positioning the pixel units of at least one flexible pixel string into a non-grid-like pattern to define an arbitrary shaped display; and addressing the plurality of pixel units of the one or more flexible pixel strings, including; defining a pixel array of at least two dimensions, with one dimension comprising a unique designation corresponding to each pixel string, and with another dimension comprising a unique designation corresponding to each pixel unit within the pixel string; and using the pixel array to address each individual pixel unit in the display so that the particular graphical data for each individual pixel unit can be transferred to and received by the individual pixel unit to form a graphical image. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of addressing pixels in a display having a plurality of pixel strings of arbitrary shape configuration comprising:
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defining an array of at least two dimensions, with one dimension comprising a unique designation corresponding to each pixel string, and with another dimension comprising a unique designation corresponding to each pixel within the pixel string; and using the array to address each pixel in the display so that the particular graphical data for each pixel can be transferred to and received by each pixel to form a graphical image using the pixels. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification