Image-display panel with breakdown-switch addressing

Abstract

Abstract A PLURALITY OF DISPLAY ELEMENTS, SUCH AS LIGHT GENERATORS OR MODULATORS, ARE DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT NAN IMAGE DISPLAY PANEL IN HORIZONTAL ROWS AND VERTICAL COLUMNS. EACH ELEMENT IS CAPACITIVE AND DISPLAYS LIGHT OF AN INTENSITY PROPORTIONAL TO ITS LEVEL OF ENERGINZATION. A LIKE PLURALITY OF BREAKDOWN TYPE SWITCHES ARE CONNECTED INDIVIDUALLY IN SERIES WITH THE RESPECTIVE ELEMENTS, EACH SWITCH AS SUMING A CONDUCTIVE OR LOW-IMPEDANCE CONDITION IN RESPONSE TO A CONTROL POTENTIAL EXCEEDING A FIRING LEVEL AND ASSUMING A NON-CONDUCTIVE OR HIGH-IMPEDANCE CONDITION WHEN THE APPLIED VOLTAGE FALLS BELOW A PREDETERMINED LOWER LEVEL. THE COMBINATION OF EACH SWITCH AND THE CAPACITANCE OF ITS ASSOCIATED DISPLAY ELEMENTS EXHIBITS A BISTABLE SWITCHING CHARACTERISTIC. IN REPONSE TO COLUMNSELECTION SIGNALS, DIFFERENT COLUMNS ARE SELECTIVELY ADDRESSED WITH PULSES EXCEEDING THE FIRING LEVEL. THE DIFFERENT COLUMNS ARE ALSO ADDRESSED AFTER FIRING WITH INDIVIDUAL MODULATING PULSES WHOSE AMPLITUDE REPRESENTS THE PICTURE INFORMATION. AT THE SAME TIME, ROW-SELECTION SIGNALS SELECTIVELY ADDRESS DIFFERENT ROWS OF THE SWITCHES AND DISPLAY ELEMENTS IN ORDER TO COMPLETE RESPECTIVE RETUEN CIRCUITS FOR THE FIRING AND MODULATING PULSES. VARIOUS SCANNING CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS, ALL EMPLOYING BREAKDOWN SWITCHES OF A TYPE AMENABLE TO INTEGRATION WITH THE DISPLAY PANEL, ARE ALSO DESCRIBED.

Inventors

• 👤 A Sobel

Bibliographic Details