Optical waveguides – Optical fiber waveguide with cladding
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-15
2001-07-10
Palmer, Phan T. H. (Department: 2874)
Optical waveguides
Optical fiber waveguide with cladding
C385S131000, C385S901000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06259846
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a light-emitting fiber.
The desire for large-size display screens has exceeded the limits of conventional cathode ray tube (CRT) technology in which both the weight and depth of a display tube become excessive when the diagonal of the screen size exceeds about 90 to 100 cm (about 36 to 40 inches). Although rear projection and front projection displays have, at least temporarily, filled a need for larger screen displays in the range of about 90 to 150 cm (about 36 to 60 inches) diagonal, however, such projection displays are also quite deep to accommodate the projection optics, behind the screen in a rear projection display and in the projector in a front projection display, and also have difficulty in achieving and maintaining optical alignment and image registration.
Moreover, as other technologies such as plasma displays and active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCD) have been considered for application to large size screen displays that are relatively thin, production yield and cost have become a significant problem. This problem arises from the fact that as the diagonal dimension of the display screen increases, the number of picture elements or pixels in the display increases as the square of the dimension increase, i.e. in relation to the area, and so increases the probability of any display having a defective pixel. Thus a 20% increase in screen diagonal results in about a 44% increase in the screen area and thus in the number of pixel elements and, disregarding the increased difficulty of manufacturing a larger structure, the likelihood of a defective pixel also increases by about 44%. For example, a process having a 90% yield in producing 50 cm (about 20 inch) diagonal displays would have about a 40% yield for 125-cm (about-50 inch) diagonal displays, and about a 10% yield for 150-cm (about 60-inch) diagonal displays.
Displays with defective pixels are generally not repairable and so must be discarded—any one visible defect can be enough to cause the entire display panel to be scrapped, and the defect can only be found after the expensive panel processing is completed, thereby creating expensive waste. In addition, the capital cost of processing facilities capable of producing such large-area displays is very high, as is the per unit processing cost owing to the need for precision processing, such as lithography, for example. These are major disadvantages of these technologies.
A further disadvantage of the foregoing conventional technologies is that each display device size and configuration must be specifically designed and must be specially tooled for manufacture, both of which require substantial time and resources to accomplish. It would be desirable to avoid such specialized designs, and designs in which the defect rate does not increase as the square of a screen dimension increase.
Accordingly, there is a need for a linear light-emitting element that provides a linear array of light-emitting elements.
To this end, the fiber of the present invention comprises a length of a fiber of an optically transparent material, an electrical conductor disposed along the length of the fiber, a light-emitting material disposed on top of the electrical conductor, and a plurality of electrical contacts disposed on the light-emitting material along the length of the fiber, wherein the light-emitting material disposed between a given one of the electrical contacts and the electrical conductor emits light responsive to an electrical signal applied between the given one of the electrical contacts and the electrical conductor.
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Chiang William
Patel Vipulkumar K.
Roach William Ronald
Shen Zilan
Singh Bawa
Burke William J.
Palmer Phan T. H.
Sarnoff Corporation
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