Color fluorescent liquid crystal display
First Claim
1. A method for image display employing an apparatus comprising:
- a front end unit including;
(a) an array of row electrodes and an array of column electrodes transverse to the row electrodes;
(b) a layer of liquid crystal material placed between and overlapping the two arrays at a pixel plane, wherein the row electrodes intersect the column electrodes over areas of intersection of the layer at the pixel plane to define a spatial sequence of a first through nth linear arrays of pixels, n being a positive integer, said n arrays arranged spatially consecutively in the plane from the first array to the nth array;
a back light unit adjacent to the front end unit and having an array of elongated light emitting elements arranged in a light emitting plane alongside the pixel plane so that each light emitting element is spatially aligned and corresponds to at least one array of pixels, said elements including at least elements that emit light of a first color defining first color elements, and elements that emit light of at least one additional color defining additional color elements, wherein the total thickness of the apparatus is less than 2 cm;
said method comprising;
applying electrical signals to the two arrays of electrodes to cause each of the n arrays of pixels to modulate their light transmittance and one at a time during a corresponding scanning cycle defining the scanning of each such pixel array and so that the pixel arrays are sequentially scanned from the first to the nth array to sequentially modulate their light transmittance, said applying step applying a first sequence of first color data signals to modulate the light transmittance of the pixels for displaying and controlling the brightness of images of the first color, said applying step applying at least one additional sequence of other color data signals to modulate the light transmittance of the pixels for displaying images of said at least one additional color, said at least one additional sequence of signals being applied subsequent to or preceding the application of the first sequence of signals;
during the application of the first sequence, causing each of the first color elements aligned with and corresponding to at least one pixel array to emit light at a time delay after electrical signals are applied to the electrodes during the scanning cycle for such at least one pixel array to modulate the light transmittance of the corresponding at least one array of pixels for displaying and controlling the brightness of images of the first color; and
during the application of the at least one additional sequence, causing each of the additional color elements aligned with and corresponding to at least one pixel array to emit light at a time delay after electrical signals are applied to the electrodes during the scanning cycle for such at least one pixel array to modulate the light transmittance of the corresponding at least one array of pixels for displaying and controlling the brightness of images of said at least one additional color, so that different elements emitting light of the same color are caused to emit light sequentially over time and sequentially spatially across the light emitting plane;
said time delay or delays being such that each element emits light substantially at or near the end of the corresponding scanning cycle of the corresponding at least one array of pixels.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic fluorescent device (EFD) is used as the back light source for a black/white LCD. Where the EFD provides red, green and blue light, the LCD displays multi-color or full-color images. The EFD includes a number of cathodes disposed in a vacuum chamber, an anode, phosphor strips near the anode, and grid electrodes for controlling the timing of the light generation and sequential color addressing. The control system may be such that the transmission rate of the LCD is proportional to the amplitude of the input signal forming an analog system; the EFD then simply provides sequential red, green and blue light pulses of constant intensity. Alternatively, selected pixels of the LCD may be addressed digitally to be either on or off, and the intensities of the red, green and blue pulses provided by the EFD are varied. In both instances, full scale gray tone monochromatic, multi-color or full-color images can be achieved.
81 Citations
40 Claims
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1. A method for image display employing an apparatus comprising:
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a front end unit including; (a) an array of row electrodes and an array of column electrodes transverse to the row electrodes; (b) a layer of liquid crystal material placed between and overlapping the two arrays at a pixel plane, wherein the row electrodes intersect the column electrodes over areas of intersection of the layer at the pixel plane to define a spatial sequence of a first through nth linear arrays of pixels, n being a positive integer, said n arrays arranged spatially consecutively in the plane from the first array to the nth array; a back light unit adjacent to the front end unit and having an array of elongated light emitting elements arranged in a light emitting plane alongside the pixel plane so that each light emitting element is spatially aligned and corresponds to at least one array of pixels, said elements including at least elements that emit light of a first color defining first color elements, and elements that emit light of at least one additional color defining additional color elements, wherein the total thickness of the apparatus is less than 2 cm; said method comprising; applying electrical signals to the two arrays of electrodes to cause each of the n arrays of pixels to modulate their light transmittance and one at a time during a corresponding scanning cycle defining the scanning of each such pixel array and so that the pixel arrays are sequentially scanned from the first to the nth array to sequentially modulate their light transmittance, said applying step applying a first sequence of first color data signals to modulate the light transmittance of the pixels for displaying and controlling the brightness of images of the first color, said applying step applying at least one additional sequence of other color data signals to modulate the light transmittance of the pixels for displaying images of said at least one additional color, said at least one additional sequence of signals being applied subsequent to or preceding the application of the first sequence of signals; during the application of the first sequence, causing each of the first color elements aligned with and corresponding to at least one pixel array to emit light at a time delay after electrical signals are applied to the electrodes during the scanning cycle for such at least one pixel array to modulate the light transmittance of the corresponding at least one array of pixels for displaying and controlling the brightness of images of the first color; and during the application of the at least one additional sequence, causing each of the additional color elements aligned with and corresponding to at least one pixel array to emit light at a time delay after electrical signals are applied to the electrodes during the scanning cycle for such at least one pixel array to modulate the light transmittance of the corresponding at least one array of pixels for displaying and controlling the brightness of images of said at least one additional color, so that different elements emitting light of the same color are caused to emit light sequentially over time and sequentially spatially across the light emitting plane; said time delay or delays being such that each element emits light substantially at or near the end of the corresponding scanning cycle of the corresponding at least one array of pixels. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An apparatus for image display comprising:
a front end unit including; (a) an array of row electrodes and an array of column electrodes transverse to the row electrodes; (b) a layer of liquid crystal material placed between and overlapping the two arrays at a pixel plane, wherein the row electrodes intersect the column electrodes over areas of intersection of the layer at the pixel plane to define a spatial sequence of a first through nth linear arrays of pixels, n being a positive integer, said n arrays arranged spatially consecutively in the plane from the first array to the nth array; a flat panel back light-unit adjacent to the front end unit and defining a vacuum chamber therein and an array of elongated light emitting elements in the chamber arranged in a light emitting plane alongside the pixel plane so that each light emitting element is spatially aligned and corresponds to at least one array of pixels, said elements including at least elements that emit light of a first color defining first color elements, and elements that emit light of at least one additional color defining additional color elements, wherein the total thickness of the front end and back light units is less than 2 cm; a first device applying electrical signals to the two arrays of electrodes to cause each of the n arrays of pixels to modulate their light transmittance one at a time during a corresponding scanning cycle defining the scanning of each such pixel array and so that the pixel arrays are sequentially scanned from the first to the nth array to sequentially modulate their light transmittance, said first device applying a first sequence of first color data signals to modulate the light transmittance of the pixels for displaying and controlling the brightness of images of the first color, said first device applying at least one additional sequence of other color data signals to modulate the light transmittance of the pixels for displaying images of said at least one additional color, said at least one additional sequence of signals being applied subsequent to or preceding the application of the first sequence of signals; a second device causing each of the first color elements aligned with and corresponding to at least one pixel array to emit light at a time delay after electrical signals are applied to the electrodes during the scanning cycle for such at least one pixel array and during the application of the first sequence, to modulate the light transmittance of the corresponding at least one array of pixels for displaying and controlling the brightness of images of the first color; and wherein during the application of the at least one additional sequence, said second device causes each of the additional color elements aligned with and corresponding to at least one pixel array to emit light at a time delay after electrical signals are applied to the electrodes during the scanning cycle for such at least one pixel array to modulate the light transmittance of the corresponding at least one array of pixels for displaying and controlling the brightness of images of said at least one additional color, so that elements emitting light of the same color are caused to emit light sequentially over time and sequentially spatially across the light emitting plane; said time delay or delays being such that each element emits light at a time substantially at or near the end of the scanning cycle of the corresponding at least one array of pixels. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A flat panel display apparatus comprising:
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a layer of liquid crystal material; a first device for addressing locations on said layer to cause said layer to modulate the intensity of light transmitted through said layer at selected pixel locations, said locations arranged in linear pixel arrays; and a back light source comprising; a plurality of cathodes disposed in a chamber; a second device for causing the cathodes to emit electrons; an anode in the chamber overlapping entirely a plurality of the arrays of pixels; at least a first and a second set of control electrodes in the chamber substantially parallel to the layer, said two sets of control electrodes being on different planes between the anode and cathodes; elements disposed in the chamber at or near the anode and responsive to said electrons for generating and directing light towards the layer of liquid crystal material, said elements arranged in arrays aligned with and corresponding to the linear pixel arrays, at least one of said cathodes not overlapping or aligned with any element; and a third device for applying electrical signals to the anode, cathodes and control electrodes, causing the electrons emitted by the cathodes to travel towards the anode, and electrons emitted by said at least one cathode to travel toward an element; wherein the electrical signals applied to the first or the second set of control electrodes are such that electrons emitted by the cathodes are caused to spread out laterally in the chamber and the cathodes and control electrodes and the electrical signals are such that electrons from different cathodes are directed towards a selected element to cause light emitted by the selected element to be directed to the corresponding pixel array to generate images. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification