Display with a light modulator and a light source

• US 6,111,560 A
• Filed: 09/02/1997
• Issued: 08/29/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: IPIFS Guarantee Corp.
• Original Assignee: Cambridge Display Technology Limited (Sumitomo Chemical Company Limited)
• Inventors: May, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Liang, Regina
• Application Number:
  US08/894,901
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• Field of Search: 345/102, 345/5, 345/66, 345/76, 345/94, 349/62, 349/61
• US Class Current: 345/102
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133622 Colour sequential illumination
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/024 Scrolling of light from the illumination source over the display in combination with the scanning of the display screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3413 Details of control of colour illumination sources
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/342 using several illumination sources separately controlled corresponding to different display panel areas, e.g. along one dimension such as lines

Abstract

A display comprises a light modulator defining an array of pixels arranged in rows (2) and columns (3) and addressable to select between at least an opaque state for each pixel and a transparent state for each pixel. The display includes a light emitting device arranged adjacent the light modulator to act as a light source for the display. The light modulator is a passive matrix liquid crystal display device and the light source is an electromumninescent LED. The light source is addressable to emit light from selected regions LER, each region overlapping at least a plurality of rows (2) of the light modulator. In this way, the problem of electrical cross-talk in the display is reduced.

Claims

1. A display comprising:

a light modulator defining an array of pixels arranged in rows and columns and addressable to select between at least an opaque state for each pixel and a transparent state for each pixel, the light modulator comprising a layer of liquid crystal material disposed between a first set of row electrodes and a second set of column electrodes, said pixels being defined where the row electrodes and column electrodes overlap;

a light emitting device arranged adjacent the light modulator to act as a light source for the display and addressable to emit light from selected regions, each region overlapping at least one of said rows, the light emitting device comprising a layer of an organic electroluminescent material arranged between a first substantially planar electrode and a plurality of substantially planar second electrodes, overlapping said first electrode, each second electrode defining with the first electrode one of said light emitting regions; and

addressing circuitry comprising column driver circuitry for applying, for each selected row, data voltages on selected ones of said column electrodes, and row addressing circuitry for sequentially addressing said rows with a row select voltage, wherein the ratio of the row select voltage to the data voltages is less than ten.

2. A display according to claim 1 wherein the liquid crystal material is in a super twisted nematic (STN) alignment configuration.

3. A display according to claim 1, wherein said addressing circuitry further comprises selection circuitry for sequentially selecting said regions to emit light, selection of said regions being synchronised with operation of said row addressing circuitry to address said rows so that after each of the at least one row has been addressed, a next region is selected to emit light.

4. A display according to claim 3, wherein said selection circuitry, said row addressing circuitry and said column drive circuitry are controlled by a common clock circuit to ensure synchronisation thereof.

5. A display according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting layer comprises a semiconductive conjugated polymer.

6. A display according to claim 5 wherein the semiconductive conjugated polymer is polyphenylenevinylene (PPV) or a derivative thereof.

7. A display according to claim 6 wherein the first electrode constitutes an anode of indium tin oxide and the second electrodes constitute cathodes of aluminium.

8. A display according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting layer comprises an organic molecular film.

9. A display according to claim 1, wherein each region of the light source is arranged to selectively emit light of one of a plurality of colours.

10. A display according to claim 9 wherein each region of the light source comprises a plurality of adjacent light emitting zones operable to emit light of respectively different colours.

11. A method of addressing a display including a light modulator having a layer of liquid crystal material disposed between a first set of row electrodes and a second set of column electrodes, pixels being defined where the row electrodes and the column electrodes overlap;

and a light emitting device arranged adjacent the light modulator to act as a light source for the display and having a plurality of selectable light emitting regions, each region overlapping at least one of said row electrodes, in which method a first of said light emitting regions is selected to emit light while each of the at least one row electrodes overlapped by said first light emitting region is addressed in sequence and, when each of the at least one row electrodes have been addressed, the first light emitting region is deselected and a next light emitting region is selected, wherein the method comprises directly addressing each pixel by simultaneously applying a row select voltage to the selected row electrodes on one side of the liquid crystal material and a column data voltage to the selected column electrodes on the other side of the liquid crystal material, the ratio of the row select voltage to the column data voltage being less than ten.

12. A method according to claim 11, wherein the selection of said rows, the application of column data to said columns and the sequential addressing of the light emitting regions are controlled by a common clock circuit to ensure synchronisation thereof.

13. A method according to claim 12, wherein each light emitting region is arranged to selectively emit light of one of a plurality of colors, the method comprising selecting an appropriate one of said colors when the light emitting region is selected.

14. A method according to claim 11, wherein each light emitting region is arranged to selectively emit light of one of a plurality of colours, the method comprising selecting an appropriate one of said colours when the light emitting region is selected.

15. A display comprising:

a light modulator defining an array of pixels arranged in rows and columns and addressable to select between at least an opaque state for each pixel and a transparent state for each pixel, the light modulator comprising a layer of liquid crystal material having a response time of less than 100 ms disposed between a first set of row electrodes and a second set of column electrodes, said pixels being defined where the row electrodes and column electrodes overlap;

a light emitting device arranged adjacent the light modulator to act as a light source for the display and addressable to emit light from selected regions, each region overlapping at least one of said rows, the light emitting device comprising a layer of an organic electroluminescent material arranged between a first substantially planar electrode and a plurality of substantially planar second electrodes, overlapping said first electrode, each second electrode defining with the first electrode one of said light emitting regions; and

addressing circuitry comprising column driver circuitry for applying, for each selected row, data voltages on selected ones of said column electrodes, and row addressing circuitry for sequentially addressing said rows with a row select voltage, wherein the ratio of the row select voltage to the data voltage is less than ten.

16. A method of addressing a display comprising a light modulator comprising a layer of liquid crystal material having a response time of less than 100 ms disposed between a first set of row electrodes and a second set of column electrodes, pixels being defined where the row electrodes and column electrodes overlap;

and a light emitting device arranged adjacent the light modulator to act as a light source for the display and having a plurality of selectable light emitting regions, each region overlapping at least one of said rows, in which method a first of said light emitting regions is selected to emit light while each of the at least one rows overlapped by said light emitting region are addressed in sequence and, when each of the at least one rows have been addressed, the first light emitting region is deselected and a next light emitting region is selected, wherein the method comprises directly addressing each pixel by simultaneously applying a row select voltage to selected row electrodes on one side of the liquid crystal material and a column data voltage to selected column electrodes on the other side of the liquid crystal material, the ratio of the row select voltage to the data voltage being less than ten.