Electric lamp and discharge devices: systems – Plural power supplies – Plural cathode and/or anode load device
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-01
2002-04-30
Wong, Don (Department: 2821)
Electric lamp and discharge devices: systems
Plural power supplies
Plural cathode and/or anode load device
C315S169100, C315S169300, C315S226000, C313S509000, C345S077000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06380686
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus displaying characters and/or images using the rotation of light emitting diodes (LEDs), and more specifically, to an apparatus for displaying a bit map image from a basic display unit of 24 dots (vertical)×256 dots (horizontal)×1 (color) up to a display unit of 64 dots×512 dots×3 (full color) or more.
BACKGROUND ART
A conventional image display apparatus is shown in PCT Application No. PCT/EP97/03145, filed on Jun. 17, 1997 by Lumino Company in Germany. This image display apparatus comprises a casing made of a transparent and/or semitransparent material, which contains an electric motor. The electric motor has a rotary shaft rotating around a symmetry axis. Rotatably mounted to the motor shaft is a rotary wing assembly on which a series of LEDs are attached in the vertical direction of the motor shaft.
The conventional image display apparatus further comprises a logic control board for controlling the above LEDs, and a photoelectronic measurement device for measuring a rotation speed of the rotary wing assembly. The photoelectronic measurement device includes a transmitter/receiver unit mounted to a rotary part of the apparatus at its one end and to a stationary part of the apparatus at its other end, both ends being spaced at a short distance from each other and facing each other at the opposite sides.
The conventional image display apparatus further comprises a mechanical balance unit provided at a position symmetrically opposite to the rotary wing assembly. The balance unit has an arbitrary sectional area and may preferably be a bar adjustable in length. The conventional apparatus keeps its balance by adjusting the length of the bar, which maintains its horizontal state while the motor rotates, or while the apparatus is operated.
This display apparatus is adapted to display a bit map image in a basic display unit of 16 dots (vertical)×256 dots (horizontal)×1 (color). Further, the apparatus is disadvantageous in that it provides no color expression and is very short in life due to mechanical defects. The motor shaft of the display apparatus is asymmetrical around the symmetrical axis.
Another conventional technique related to the image display is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Heisei 2-61693 (Mar. 1, 1990), which shows a contactless energy transfer technique for supplying power from a generator to a control unit.
Another conventional technique related to the image display is disclosed in PCT Application No. PCT/EP98/00284, filed on Jan. 20, 1998 by Lumino Company in Germany, which shows a display apparatus wherein the transfer of energy to a logic control unit for control of LEDs is conducted in a contactless induction manner as in the above Japanese publication. This display apparatus is desirable to use a generator, transformer or electrostatic capacitor for the energy transfer, but has a disadvantage in that it has no feedback arrangement for accurately performing the energy transfer.
The above display apparatus employs a pole shading motor, which is simple in construction, but low in efficiency, resulting in a large amount of heat being generated. The pole shading motor further employs a light amateur as its rotor, thereby exhibiting a severe variation in its rotation speed due to an air resistance or weight even after it reaches a predetermined speed.
The above conventional display apparatus further comprises a serial electrically erasable and programmable read only memory (EEPROM) as a backup memory for storing data to be displayed by the logic control unit for the control of the LEDs. As a result, a larger amount of data to be stored increases the amount of memory load and, in turn, a processing time.
FIG. 1
a
is a front view of a conventional LED, indicated by the reference numeral
120
. As shown in this drawing, the LED
120
consists of three parts, a head
122
, a flange
124
and legs
126
, configured in one LED chip, and is of a single-color type. In the case where a plurality of LEDs, for example, sixteen LEDs, each of which is the LED
120
, are mounted to a rotary wing assembly, the adjacent ones of them have a gap therebetween resulting from the flanges
124
over the legs
126
, which leads to a reduction in resolution, thereby making it impossible to express a fine image or characters. Further, adjacent pads cannot help being arranged apart from each other at a distance resulting from the flanges
124
, thereby causing the LEDs
120
to be arrayed on both sides of the pads. Here, the pads signify copper foils on which the LED legs
126
are soldered and fixed.
In a conventional display apparatus, a logic control unit is inserted into a motor shaft via a hole. This hole is not positioned in the center of the circular portion but leans toward the rear of the circular portion, and this circular portion has no cover, thereby making it difficult to assemble the apparatus.
Further, the conventional display apparatus is adapted to adjust the length of a balance plate so as to keep its balance during its rotation. Also, the motor body is not rotated symmetrically about the motor shaft. Moreover, only the logic control unit is coupled with the motor shaft such that it rotates.
The conventional display apparatus comprises a transmitter and a receiver mounted to the lower part of the logic control unit separately from each other. This apparatus further comprises a reflector mounted to its stationary part. With this construction, the logic control unit is adapted to detect a light beam reflected by the reflector. As a result, a photoelectronic measurement device of this display apparatus is degraded in performance due to noise, etc., as compared with a transmission-type device.
Conventionally, a secondary voltage is generated and transferred either in a contact manner or in a contactless manner. A contact-type secondary voltage generation/transfer method, for example, a brush method is adapted to transfer an external direct current (DC) supply voltage to a secondary side through a contact surface of a brush. A contactless-type secondary voltage generation/transfer method, for example, a generator method is adapted to utilize a voltage induced in a generator with rotation as a secondary voltage. In this case, the generator acts as a converter for converting an alternating current (AC) voltage into a DC voltage. Also, a regulator is used to convert a voltage of +8V or more into a voltage of +5V. However, in the contactless-type method, a secondary voltage is not induced under the condition of no rotation, which leads to a reduction in rotation speed and occurrence of noise when the amount of load on the secondary side is increased. Therefore, it is impossible to raise the resolution by increasing the number of LEDs and, in turn, the number of dots.
In the contact-type secondary voltage generation/transfer method, no distinction is made between a primary voltage and a secondary voltage. The contactless-type secondary voltage generation/transfer method employs a personal computer (PC) serial communication port for inputting external data.
The conventional display apparatus has no front board acting as a keyboard. Further, this apparatus has a unitary body and a display bulb colored only brown.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for displaying characters and/or images to overcome the above problems.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by a provision of a character and/or image display apparatus, comprising a rotary wing assembly consisting of a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) and a rotary wing; a logic control unit controlling the LEDs of the rotary wing assembly to allow the LEDs to display desired characters and/or desired images; a balance unit consisting of a balance plate and a balance weight, the balance unit being assembled with the logic control unit at a positi
Kim Jae Chul
Kim Yung Chul
Park Ho Guen
Prochips Technology Inc.
Vu Jimmy T.
Webb Ziesenheim Logdson Orkin & Hanson, P.C.
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