Electric lamp and discharge devices – With gas or vapor – Three or more electrode discharge device
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-05
2003-06-10
Wong, Don (Department: 2821)
Electric lamp and discharge devices
With gas or vapor
Three or more electrode discharge device
C313S243000, C313S306000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06577060
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device comprising plural elongated illuminators.
There is a limit to enlarging a screen of a display having a single structure. A very large display of self-luminous type that is used in a stadium or an event place is made of plural light sources such as cathode-ray tubes or light emitting diodes (LEDs) arranged in a matrix. Normally, the total number of the light sources is several hundreds of thousands or more, and a lot of labors and costs are required for assembling the display. Therefore, it is asked to realize a bright screen having a dimension of several meters easily.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A very large display utilizing a light emission principle of a plasma display panel (PDP) has been suggested by the present applicant as a “large gas discharge display panel,” which is disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 61-103187.
The suggested display has a combination structure of plural elongated illuminators arranged in one direction. Each of the illuminators corresponds to a PDP having a single row or column. This display has following advantages over other kinds of displays.
(1) The illuminators are arranged in one direction, so the number of man-hours for assembling them can be smaller than the case where they are arranged in two directions (row and column directions).
(2) The cells of a row are formed as a unit, so a lighter and less expensive display can be realized than the case where an independent light source is arranged for each cell.
(3) The illuminator has a higher luminance than a light emitting diode.
In addition, though the dimension (the numbers of rows and columns) of a PDP having a structure is determined by the size of a glass substrate, the suggested display having the combination structure can realize any rows (or columns) of display by increasing or decreasing the number of arranged illuminators. Though the number of rows (or columns) depends on a length of a light emission module, it is much easier elongating the illuminator than enlarging a PDP. It is not realistic to manufacture a glass substrate having a very large area from the viewpoint of a plant and a conveyance. Namely, when trying to manufacture a large display by a single structure, a glass plate that is larger than a screen size should be handled, and a size larger than 100 inches is not realistic. The upper limit of the dimension of a display (such as a pixel size or a screen size) that can be produced depends on manufacturing facilities. In order to produce a large display having a larger dimension than the manufacturing facilities, new manufacturing facilities have to be constructed. In contrast, if the production is performed by a unit of line (row), an engineering change for easy assembling and for responding to the dimension of the display can be performed without a large change of the manufacturing facilities. Therefore, various sizes of displays can be realized at a low cost.
Other conventional examples of such arrangement of elongated illuminators are explained in Japanese unexamined patent publications No. 11-3649 and No. 11-162358. The former discloses a display device having a structure in which fibers with embedded electrodes are arranged on the front side of the illuminators arranged in the horizontal direction. The latter discloses a display device in which illuminating tubes are arranged on a substrate with column electrodes and row electrodes are formed on the front side of the illuminating tubes.
In the conventional above-mentioned display device disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 61-103187, electrodes of many illuminators should be connected so as to form an electrode matrix after arranging the illuminators, and the wire connection is a burdensome job. In the conventional display device disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publications No. 11-3649 or No. 11-1623358, the electrodes extending in one direction of the electrode matrix are arranged in the front side of the illuminator, so a consideration of decreasing a light shield by using a transparent material is required. In addition, when forming a row electrode over the illuminators after arranging them, it is difficult to secure an accuracy of the position of a paste print for a large screen if a thick-film process is used. In contrast, if a thin-film process is used, a unit of production becomes not a line but a surface, so the above-mentioned advantage of the production facilities fades out.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a display device made of a group of elongated illuminators, which enable an electrode matrix to be formed easily.
FIGS. 1A-1C
are diagrams showing a basic concept of the present invention.
The display device
10
of the present invention has illuminators
40
arranged on a substrate
20
, and electrode supporters
50
are arranged along each of the illuminators
40
. In order to let plural portions (cells) of the illuminator
40
in the longitudinal direction emit light selectively in any desired combination, the electrode supporter
50
is provided with electrodes X, Y. The substrate
20
is provided with wiring conductive patterns
30
x
,
30
y
for supplying electricity to the electrodes X, Y. The electrodes X, Y and the wiring conductive patterns
30
x
,
30
y
are connected electrically by assembling the substrate
20
and the electrode supporter
50
, so that an electrode matrix is formed that enables any image display.
REFERENCES:
patent: 6340824 (2002-01-01), Komoto et al.
patent: 61-103187 (1986-05-01), None
patent: 11-3649 (1999-01-01), None
patent: 11-162358 (1999-06-01), None
Betsui Keiichi
Ishimoto Manabu
Shinoda Tutae
Tokai Akira
Fujitsu Limited
Staas & Halsey , LLP
Tran Thuy Vinh
Wong Don
LandOfFree
Display device does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Display device, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Display device will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3140394