BIT-PLANE PULSE WIDTH MODULATED DIGITAL DISPLAY SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A digital-drive display system, comprising an array of display pixels, each display pixel having a light emitter, a digital memory for storing a digital pixel value, and a drive circuit that drives the light emitter to emit light in response to the digital pixel value stored in the digital memory.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A digital-drive display system, comprising an array of display pixels, each display pixel having a light emitter, a digital memory for storing a digital pixel value, and a drive circuit that drives the light emitter in response to the digital pixel value. The drive circuit can respond to a control signal provided to all of the display pixels in common by a display controller that loads digital pixel values in the digit memory of each display pixel.
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Citations
95 Claims
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1. A digital-drive display system, comprising an array of display pixels, each display pixel having a light emitter, a digital memory for storing a digital pixel value, and a drive circuit that drives the light emitter to emit light in response to the digital pixel value stored in the digital memory.
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 92, 93, 94)
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2. The digital-drive display system of claim 1, wherein the drive circuit provides a voltage or a current corresponding to the value of the stored digital pixel value.
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3. The digital-drive display system of claim 1, wherein the drive circuit provides a constant current that is supplied to the light emitter for a time period corresponding to the value of the stored digital pixel value.
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4. The digital-drive display system of claim 1, wherein the time period is formed with a counter controlled by a clock signal.
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5. The digital-drive display system of claim 4, wherein different display pixels in the array of display pixels have clock signals that are out of phase.
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6. The digital-drive display system of claim 1, wherein the light emitter is an inorganic light-emitting diode or an organic light-emitting diode.
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7. The digital-drive display system of claim 1, wherein the light emitter is a red light emitter that emits red light and comprising a blue light emitter that emits blue light and a green light emitter that emits green light, wherein the digital memory stores a red digital pixel value, a green digital pixel value, and a blue digital pixel value, and wherein the drive circuit drives the red, green, and blue light emitters to emit light in response to the corresponding red, green, and blue digital pixel values stored in the digital memory.
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8. The digital-drive display system of claim 1, comprising a display substrate on which the array of display pixels is disposed and wherein the light emitter comprises a light-emitter substrate and wherein the display substrate is separate and distinct from the light-emitter substrate.
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9. The digital-drive display system of claim 8, comprising a pixel controller having a pixel substrate on or in which the digital memory and the drive circuit are formed and wherein the pixel substrate is separate and distinct from the light-emitter substrate and the display substrate.
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10. The digital-drive display system of claim 1, wherein, for each pixel, the digital memory is a digital digit memory for storing at least one digit of a multi-digit digital pixel value, and the drive circuit drives the light emitter to emit light when the digit memory stores a non-zero digit value and a control signal for the respective pixel is enabled.
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11. The digital-drive display system of claim 10, wherein the multi-digit digital pixel value is a binary value, the digit places correspond to powers of two, and the period of time corresponding to a digit place is equal to two raised to the power of the digit place minus one times a predetermined digit period ((2**(digit place−
- 1))*digit period) and a frame period is equal to two raised to the power of the digit place times the predetermined digit period ((2**(digit place))*digit period).
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12. The digital-drive display system of claim 10, wherein the multi-digit digital pixel value is an 8-bit value, a 9-bit value, a 10-bit value, an 11-bit value, a 12-bit value, a 13-bit value, a 14-bit value, a 15-bit value, or a 16-bit value.
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13. The digital-drive display system of claim 10, wherein the digit memory is a one-bit memory.
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14. The digital-drive display system of claim 10, comprising a display controller for controlling the display pixels that comprises a loading circuit for loading at least one digit of the multi-digit digital pixel value in the digit memory of each display pixel and a control circuit for controlling a control signal connected to each display pixel in common.
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15. The digital-drive display system of claim 14, comprising:
a color image having pixels comprising different colors and a multi-digit digital pixel value for each color of each pixel in the image, wherein each display pixel in the array of display pixels comprises a color light emitter for each of the different colors that emits light of the corresponding color, a digit memory for storing at least one digit of a digital pixel value for each of the different colors, and a drive circuit for each of the different colors that drives each color of light emitter to emit light when the corresponding digit memory stores a non-zero digit value and the control signal is enabled.
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16. The digital-drive display system of claim 15, wherein the loading circuit comprises circuitry that loads the digit of the same digit place of each digital pixel value for each of the different colors before enabling the control signal for a period of time corresponding to the digit place of the loaded digits.
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17. The digital-drive display system of claim 15, wherein the loading circuit comprises circuitry for independently loading the digit memories for each of the different colors in a sequence or in parallel.
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18. The digital-drive display system of claim 15, wherein the digit memories for each of the different colors in each display pixel are connected in a serial shift register and the loading circuit comprises circuitry for serially shifting a digit of each multi-digit digital pixel value for each of the different colors into the digit memories of each display pixel.
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19. The digital-drive display system of claim 15, wherein the different colors are red, green, and blue.
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20. The digital-drive display system of claim 19, wherein the digit memory comprises a red, a green, and a blue one-bit memory, each one-bit memory storing a digit of a corresponding red, green, or blue multi-digit digital pixel value.
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21. The digital-drive display system of claim 15, wherein the loading circuit comprises circuitry for loading the different digits of the multi-digit digital pixel value in ascending or descending digit-place order.
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22. The digital-drive display system of claim 15, wherein the loading circuit comprises circuitry for loading the different digits of the multi-digit digital pixel value in a scrambled digit-place order that is neither ascending nor descending.
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23. The digital-drive display system of claim 15, wherein the loading circuit comprises circuitry for repeatedly loading a digit of each multi-digit digital pixel value into a corresponding display pixel and the control circuit enables the control signal for each of the repeated loadings for the period of time divided by the number of times the digit is repeatedly loaded, wherein the loading circuit comprises circuitry for loading a different digit of the multi-digit digital pixel value into a corresponding display pixel between the repeated loadings of the digit.
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24. The digital-drive display system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein each of the light emitters has a width from 2 to 5 μ
- m, 5 to 10 μ
m, 10 to 20 μ
m, or 20 to 50 μ
m.
- m, 5 to 10 μ
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25. The digital-drive display system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein each of the light emitters has a length from 2 to 5 μ
- m, 5 to 10 μ
m, 10 to 20 μ
m, or 20 to 50 μ
m.
- m, 5 to 10 μ
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26. The digital-drive display system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein each of the light emitters has with a height from 2 to 5 μ
- m, 4 to 10 μ
m, 10 to 20 μ
m, or 20 to 50 μ
m.
- m, 4 to 10 μ
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27. The digital-drive display system of any one of the preceding claims, comprising a display substrate.
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28. The digital-drive display system of claim 27, wherein the display substrate has a thickness from 5 to 10 microns, 10 to 50 microns, 50 to 100 microns, 100 to 200 microns, 200 to 500 microns, 500 microns to 0.5 mm, 0.5 to 1 mm, 1 mm to 5 mm, 5 mm to 10 mm, or 10 mm to 20 mm.
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29. The digital-drive display system of claim 27 or 28, wherein display substrate has a transparency greater than or equal to 50%, 80%, 90%, or 95% for visible light.
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30. The digital-drive display system of any one of claims 27 to 29, wherein the display substrate has a contiguous display substrate area, the plurality of light emitters each have a light-emissive area, and the combined light-emissive areas of the plurality of light emitters is less than or equal to one-quarter of the contiguous display substrate area.
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31. The digital-drive display system of claim 30, wherein the combined light-emissive areas of the plurality of light emitters is less than or equal to one eighth, one tenth, one twentieth, one fiftieth, one hundredth, one five-hundredth, one thousandth, one two-thousandth, or one ten-thousandth of the contiguous display substrate area.
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32. The digital-drive display system of any one of claims 27 to 31, wherein display substrate has a transparency greater than or equal to 50%, 80%, 90%, or 95% for visible light.
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33. The digital-drive display system of any one of claims 27 to 32, wherein the display substrate is a member selected from the group consisting of polymer, plastic, resin, polyimide, PEN, PET, metal, metal foil, glass, a semiconductor, and sapphire.
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34. The digital-drive display system of any one of claims 27 to 33, wherein the display substrate is flexible.
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35. A method for controlling a digital display system, comprising:
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providing an array of display pixels according to claim 1; providing a display controller for receiving an image having a digital pixel value for each image pixel in the image, each image pixel corresponding to a display pixel; and the display controller for loading the digital pixel values into the digital memory of the corresponding display pixel so that the drive circuit drives the light emitter to emit light in response to the digital pixel value stored in the digital memory.
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36. A method for controlling a digital display system, comprising:
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providing an array of display pixels and a display controller according to claim 14; the display controller receiving an image having a multi-digit digital pixel value for each image pixel in the image, each image pixel corresponding to a display pixel; and the display controller repeatedly loading a different digit of each image pixel value into a corresponding display pixel and enabling the control signal for a period of time corresponding to the digit place of the loaded digit until all of the digits in the image pixel value have been loaded and enabled.
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37. The method of claim 36, wherein:
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the image is a color image having pixels comprising different colors and a multi-digit digital pixel value for each color of each pixel in the image; and each display pixel in the array of display pixels comprises a color light emitter for each of the different colors that emits light of the corresponding color, a digit memory for storing at least one digit of a multi-digit digital pixel value for each of the different colors, and a drive circuit for each of the different colors that drives each color of light emitter when the corresponding digit memory stores a non-zero digit value and the control signal is enabled.
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38. The method of claim 37, wherein the display controller loads the digit of the same digit place of each digital pixel value for each of the different colors before enabling the control signal for a period of time corresponding to the digit place of the loaded digits.
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39. The method of claim 37, wherein the digit memories for each of the different colors are independently loaded in a sequence or in parallel.
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40. The method of claim 37, wherein the digit memories for each of the different colors in each display pixel are connected in a serial shift register and a digit for each digital image pixel value for each of the different colors is serially sifted into the digit memories of each display pixel.
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41. The method of claim 37, wherein the different colors are at red, green, and blue.
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42. The method of claim 41, wherein the digit memory comprises a red, a green, and a blue one-bit memory, each memory storing a digit of a corresponding red, green, or blue multi-digit digital pixel value.
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43. The method of claim 36, wherein the different digits are loaded in ascending or descending digit-place order.
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44. The method of claim 36, wherein the different digits are loaded in a scrambled digital-place order that is neither ascending nor descending.
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45. The method of claim 36, wherein:
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a digit of each image pixel value is repeatedly loaded into a corresponding display pixel and the control signal is enabled for each of the repeated loadings for the period of time divided by the number of times the digit is repeatedly loaded, and a different digit of each image pixel value is loaded into a corresponding display pixel between the repeated loadings of the digit.
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46. The method of claim 36, wherein the image is a two-dimensional image and the display controller loads all of the image pixel values into the array of display pixels before enabling the control signal.
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47. The method of claim 36, wherein the image is a row of a two-dimensional image and the display controller loads the row into the array of display pixels before enabling the control signal.
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48. The method of claim 36, wherein the display pixels are arranged in rows and at least one row of display pixels is loaded or enabled out of phase with another row of di splay pixels.
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92. The digital-drive display system of claim 1, wherein the drive circuit provides a voltage corresponding to the value of the stored digital pixel value.
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93. The digital-drive display system of claim 1, wherein a current corresponding to the value of the stored digital pixel value.
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94. The digital-drive display system of claim 1, wherein the light emitter is an inorganic light-emitting diode.
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2. The digital-drive display system of claim 1, wherein the drive circuit provides a voltage or a current corresponding to the value of the stored digital pixel value.
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49. A pixel circuit for a digital display system, comprising:
a light emitter, a digital digit memory for storing at least one digit of a digital pixel value, a control signal, and a drive circuit that drives the light emitter when the digit memory stores a non-zero digit value and the control signal is enabled. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51)
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50. The pixel circuit of claim 49, comprising a counter responsive to the stored digital pixel value, the counter generating a control signal enabling light output for a period of time corresponding to the digital pixel value.
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51. The pixel circuit of claim 50, wherein the counter comprises output counter values representing the digital value stored in the counter and comprising an OR logic circuit combining the output counter values of the counter to provide the control signal enabling light output for a period of time corresponding to the digital pixel value.
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50. The pixel circuit of claim 49, comprising a counter responsive to the stored digital pixel value, the counter generating a control signal enabling light output for a period of time corresponding to the digital pixel value.
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52. A method of micro assembling a digital-drive display system, the method comprising:
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providing a display substrate; and micro transfer printing the plurality of printable light emitters onto a display substrate to form an array of display pixels, wherein each display pixel having a light emitter, a digital memory for storing a digital pixel value, and a drive circuit that drives the light emitter to emit light in response to the digital pixel value stored in the digital memory. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 95)
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53. The method of claim 52, comprising:
micro transfer printing the digital memory for each pixel onto the display substrate.
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54. The method of claim 52 or 53, comprising:
micro transfer printing the drive circuit for each pixel onto the display substrate.
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55. The method of any one of claims 52 to 54, wherein each pixel comprises a red printed micro inorganic light-emitting diode, a green printed micro inorganic light-emitting diode, and a blue printed micro inorganic light-emitting diode.
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56. The method of any one of claims 52 to 55, wherein the display substrate is non-native to the plurality of printable micro LEDs.
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57. The method of claim 52, wherein the drive circuit provides a voltage or a current corresponding to the value of the stored digital pixel value.
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58. The method of claim 52, wherein the drive circuit provides a constant current that is supplied to the light emitter for a time period corresponding to the value of the stored digital pixel value.
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59. The method of claim 52, wherein the time period is formed with a counter controlled by a clock signal.
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60. The method of claim 59, wherein different display pixels in the array of display pixels have clock signals that are out of phase.
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61. The method of claim 52, wherein the light emitter is an inorganic light-emitting diode or an organic light-emitting diode.
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62. The method of claim 52, wherein the light emitter is a red light emitter that emits red light and comprising a blue light emitter that emits blue light and a green light emitter that emits green light, wherein the digital memory stores a red digital pixel value, a green digital pixel value, and a blue digital pixel value, and wherein the drive circuit drives the red, green, and blue light emitters to emit light in response to the corresponding red, green, and blue digital pixel values stored in the digital memory.
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63. The method of claim 52, wherein the light emitter comprises a light-emitter substrate and wherein the display substrate is separate and distinct from the light-emitter substrate.
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64. The method of claim 63, wherein the display system comprises a pixel controller having a pixel substrate on or in which the digital memory and the drive circuit are formed and wherein the pixel substrate is separate and distinct from the light-emitter substrate and the display substrate.
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65. The method of claim 52, wherein, for each pixel, the digital memory is a digital digit memory for storing at least one digit of a multi-digit digital pixel value, and the drive circuit drives the light emitter to emit light when the digit memory stores a non-zero digit value and a control signal for the respective pixel is enabled.
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66. The method of claim 65, wherein the multi-digit digital pixel value is a binary value, the digit places correspond to powers of two, and the period of time corresponding to a digit place is equal to two raised to the power of the digit place minus one times a predetermined digit period ((2**(digit place−
- 1))*digit period) and a frame period is equal to two raised to the power of the digit place times the predetermined digit period ((2**(digit place))*digit period).
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67. The method of claim 65, wherein the multi-digit digital pixel value is an 8-bit value, a 9-bit value, a 10-bit value, an 11-bit value, a 12-bit value, a 13-bit value, a 14-bit value, a 15-bit value, or a 16-bit value.
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68. The method of claim 65, wherein the digit memory is a one-bit memory.
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69. The method of claim 65, wherein the display system comprises a display controller for controlling the display pixels that comprises a loading circuit for loading at least one digit of the multi-digit digital pixel value in the digit memory of each display pixel and a control circuit for controlling a control signal connected to each display pixel in common.
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70. The method of claim 69, wherein each display pixel in the array of display pixels comprises a color light emitter for each of the different colors that emits light of the corresponding color, a digit memory for storing at least one digit of a digital pixel value for each of the different colors, and a drive circuit for each of the different colors that drives each color of light emitter to emit light when the corresponding digit memory stores a non-zero digit value and the control signal is enabled.
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71. The method of claim 70, wherein the loading circuit comprises circuitry that loads the digit of the same digit place of each digital pixel value for each of the different colors before enabling the control signal for a period of time corresponding to the digit place of the loaded digits.
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72. The method of claim 70, wherein the loading circuit comprises circuitry for independently loading the digit memories for each of the different colors in a sequence or in parallel.
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73. The method of claim 70, wherein the digit memories for each of the different colors in each display pixel are connected in a serial shift register and the loading circuit comprises circuitry for serially shifting a digit of each multi-digit digital pixel value for each of the different colors into the digit memories of each display pixel.
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74. The method of claim 70, wherein the different colors are red, green, and blue.
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75. The method of claim 74, wherein the digit memory comprises a red, a green, and a blue one-bit memory, each one-bit memory storing a digit of a corresponding red, green, or blue multi-digit digital pixel value.
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76. The method of claim 70, wherein the loading circuit comprises circuitry for loading the different digits of the multi-digit digital pixel value in ascending or descending digit-place order.
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77. The method of claim 70, wherein the loading circuit comprises circuitry for loading the different digits of the multi-digit digital pixel value in a scrambled digit-place order that is neither ascending nor descending.
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78. The method of claim 70, wherein the loading circuit comprises circuitry for repeatedly loading a digit of each multi-digit digital pixel value into a corresponding display pixel and the control circuit enables the control signal for each of the repeated loadings for the period of time divided by the number of times the digit is repeatedly loaded, wherein the loading circuit comprises circuitry for loading a different digit of the multi-digit digital pixel value into a corresponding display pixel between the repeated loadings of the digit.
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79. The method of any one of claims 52 to 78, wherein the display substrate has a thickness from 5 to 10 microns, 10 to 50 microns, 50 to 100 microns, 100 to 200 microns, 200 to 500 microns, 500 microns to 0.5 mm, 0.5 to 1 mm, 1 mm to 5 mm, 5 mm to 10 mm, or 10 mm to 20 mm.
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80. The method of any one of claims 52 to 79, wherein display substrate has a transparency greater than or equal to 50%, 80%, 90%, or 95% for visible light.
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81. The method of any one of claims 52 to 80, wherein the display substrate has a contiguous display substrate area, the plurality of light emitters each have a light-emissive area, and the combined light-emissive areas of the plurality of light emitters is less than or equal to one-quarter of the contiguous display substrate area.
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82. The method of claim 81, wherein the combined light-emissive areas of the plurality of light emitters is less than or equal to one eighth, one tenth, one twentieth, one fiftieth, one hundredth, one five-hundredth, one thousandth, one two-thousandth, or one ten-thousandth of the contiguous display substrate area.
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83. The method of any one of claims 52 to 82, wherein display substrate has a transparency greater than or equal to 50%, 80%, 90%, or 95% for visible light.
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84. The method of any one of claims 52 to 83, wherein the display substrate is a member selected from the group consisting of polymer, plastic, resin, polyimide, PEN, PET, metal, metal foil, glass, a semiconductor, and sapphire.
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85. The method of any one of claims 52 to 84, wherein the display substrate is flexible.
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86. The method of any one of claims 52 to 85, wherein each pixel comprises:
a printed micro-system of a plurality of printed micro-systems disposed on the display substrate, each printed micro-system of the plurality of printed micro-systems comprising; a pixel substrate of a plurality of pixel substrates on which the printed micro inorganic light-emitting diodes for a respective pixel are disposed, and a fine interconnection having a width of 100 nm to 1 μ
m electrically connected to the light emitter for the respective pixel.
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87. The method of claim 63, comprising micro transfer printing a pixel controller having a pixel substrate on or in which the digital memory and the drive circuit are formed onto the display substrate, wherein the pixel substrate is separate and distinct from the light-emitter substrate and the display substrate.
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88. The method of claim 65, comprising micro transfer printing a display controller onto the display substrate for controlling the display pixels that comprises a loading circuit for loading at least one digit of the multi-digit digital pixel value in the digit memory of each display pixel and a control circuit for controlling a control signal connected to each display pixel in common.
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89. The method of any one of claims 52 to 88, wherein each light emitter has a width from 2 to 5 μ
- m, 5 to 10 μ
m, 10 to 20 μ
m, or 20 to 50 μ
m.
- m, 5 to 10 μ
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90. The method of any one of claims 52 to 89, wherein each light emitter has a length from 2 to 5 μ
- m, 5 to 10 μ
m, 10 to 20 μ
m, or 20 to 50 μ
m.
- m, 5 to 10 μ
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91. The method of any one of claims 52 to 90, wherein each light emitter has a height from 2 to 5 μ
- m, 4 to 10 μ
m, 10 to 20 μ
m, or 20 to 50 μ
m.
- m, 4 to 10 μ
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95. The method of claim 52, wherein the light emitter is an inorganic light-emitting diode.
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53. The method of claim 52, comprising:
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Specification
- Resources
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Current AssigneeX Display Company Technology Limited (Sensinnovat BVBA)
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Original AssigneeX-Celeprint Limited
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InventorsCok, Ronald S., Rotzoll, Robert R., Bower, Christopher Andrew
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Granted Patent
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Time in Patent OfficeDays
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Field of Search
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US Class Current
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CPC Class CodesF21K 9/90 Methods of manufactureG09G 2300/0408 Integration of the drivers ...G09G 2300/0452 Details of colour pixel set...G09G 2300/0465 Improved aperture ratio, e....G09G 2300/0819 used for counteracting unde...G09G 2300/0857 Static memory circuit, e.g....G09G 2310/027 Details of drivers for data...G09G 2310/0286 Details of a shift register...G09G 2310/0294 Details of sampling or hold...G09G 2310/08 Details of timing specific ...G09G 2320/0247 Flicker reduction other tha...G09G 2320/0666 for control of colour param...G09G 2330/028 Generation of voltages supp...G09G 2360/12 Frame memory handlingG09G 3/2003 Display of colours specific...G09G 3/2022 using sub-framesG09G 3/32 semiconductive, e.g. using ...G09G 3/3208 organic, e.g. using organic...