Optical waveguides – With optical coupler – Input/output coupler
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-15
2001-07-10
Palmer, Phan T. H. (Department: 2874)
Optical waveguides
With optical coupler
Input/output coupler
C385S131000, C385S901000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06259838
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a display and, in particular, to a light emitting fiber as for a display.
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). Alternatives in both 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 suitable 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 scraped, 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.
In addition, where the display screen size is greater than that which can be realized with a single structure in a conventional display technology, as is the case, for example, with wall-size displays, very-large screen television displays, billboards, scoreboards, highway and other signs and the like, it becomes necessary to array (or “tile”) a number of display sections side-by-side to together form a larger display screen, thereby introducing seams between the tiled sections that produce objectionable lines or distortions in the displayed composite image.
Accordingly, there is a need for a display device that is suitable for large-size displays and that is not excessively deep or heavy. It would also be desirable that such display not require tiling to form large display screens and that the defect rate not increase as the square of a screen dimension increase.
To this end, the light-emitting fiber of the present invention comprises an elongated fiber substrate, at least one electrical conductor disposed along the fiber substrate for conducting an electrical signal along the fiber substrate, and a plurality of light-emitting elements disposed along a surface of the fiber substrate, each light-emitting element having first and second electrodes between which the electrical signal is applied to cause the light-emitting element to emit light. Means operably associated with the fiber substrate propagates an information-representative signal along the fiber substrate, and a plurality of detectors are disposed along the fiber substrate, each operably associated with one of the plurality of light-emitting elements for selectively applying the electrical signal thereto in response to the information-representative signal propagating along the fiber substrate.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a display for displaying information comprises a plurality of fibers disposed in side-by-side arrangement to define a viewing surface of the display, at least one electrical conductor disposed along each of the plurality of fibers for conducting an electrical signal along each of the fibers, and a plurality of light-emitting elements disposed along a surface of each of the plurality of fibers, each light-emitting element having first and second electrodes between which the electrical signal is applied to cause the light-emitting element to emit light. Means operably associated with each of the plurality of fibers propagates an information-representative signal along each fiber, and a plurality of detectors are disposed along each of the fibers and each is operably associated with one of the plurality of light-emitting elements for selectively applying the electrical signal thereto in response to the information-representative signal propagating along said fiber, thereby causing ones of the light-emitting elements to emit light to display the information.
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Atherton James Harold
Cherukuri Satyam Choudary
Kalish Israel
Roach William Ronald
Singh Bawa
Burke William J.
Palmer Phan T. H.
Sarnoff Corporation
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