Display system

Claim 2

A plasma display device including: a gas panel consisting of an illuminable gas sealed in a flat envelope, a plurality of X lines disposed on one side of the flat envelope, and a plurality of Y lines disposed on the other side of the flat envelope with the Y lines oriented orthogonally with respect to the X lines, the crossover regions of the X and Y lines defining coordinate intersections, the gas in the region of each coordinate intersections forming an individual gas cell, each such gas cell being illuminated in response to a firing potential difference from the X and Y lines and each illuminated cell being maintained in such state by a holding potential difference from the X and Y lines, an X selection matrix coupled to the X lines, and a Y selection matrix coupled to the Y lines, the X selection matrix having a plurality of selection lines and a plurality of capacitors coupled between each X line and various selection lines, the Y selection matrix having a plurality of selection lines and a plurality of capacitors coupled between each Y line and various selection lines.

Claim 3

The device of claim 1 further including: first selection means coupled to the X selection matrix for applying a first AC signal to a fixed number of the selection lines of said X selection matrix, and second selection means coupled to the Y selection matrix for applying a second AC signal to a fixed number of the selection lines of said Y selection matrix, whereby said X selection matrix energizes a selected X line and said Y selection matrix energize a selected Y line with a potential differEnce which exceeds the firing potential of the gas cell at the selected coordinate intersection.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 2 further including means to apply a holding potential difference to each illuminated gas cell.

Claim 5

A display device comprising: a gas panel including a container filled with a gas which may be illuminated by an electrical potential applied thereacross, X drive lines and Y drive lines disposed in close proximity to said gas panel, a first selection matrix connected to said X drive lines, and a second selection matrix connected to said Y drive lines, a first signal source having a frequency F1 connected directly to the X drive lines, and a second signal source having a frequency F1 connected directly to the Y drive lines, said first and second signal source being equal in magnitude but opposite in phase, a third signal source having a frequency F2 connected to the first selection matrix, and a fourth signal source having a frequency F2 connected to the second selection matrix, the frequency F2 being higher than the frequency F1, said third and fourth signal sources being equal in magnitude but opposite in phase, selection means connected to the first selection matrix and the second selection matrix which operates the first and second matrices to connect the respective third and fourth signal sources to selected X and Y drive lines respectively, said gas panel responding to signals on the X and Y drive lines from said first, second, third and fourth signal sources in combination to illuminate the gas in the region of the coordinate intersection of the selected X and Y drive lines, and said gas panel responding to signals on the X and Y drive lines from the first and second signal sources in combination to maintain illumination of all ignited regions.

Claim 6

A display device comprising: a gas panel including a container filled with a gas which may be illuminated by an electrical potential applied thereacross, X drive lines and Y drive lines disposed in close proximity to said gas panel, a first selection matrix connected to said X drive lines, and a second selection matrix connected to said Y drive lines, a first signal source having a frequency F1 connected directly to the X drive lines, and a second signal source having a frequency F1 connected directly to the Y drive lines, said first and second signal source being equal in magnitude but opposite in phase, a third signal source having a frequency F2 connected to the first selection matrix, and a fourth signal source having a frequency F2 connected to the second selection matrix, the frequency F2 being higher than the frequency F1, said third and fourth signal sources being equal in magnitude but opposite in phase, selection means connected to the first selection matrix and the second selection matrix which operates the first and second matrices to connect the respective third and fourth signal sources to selected X and Y drive lines respectively, said gas panel responding to signals on the X and Y drive lines from said first, second, third and fourth signal sources in combination to illuminate the gas in the region of the coordinate intersection of the selected X and Y drive lines, and said gas panel responding to signals on the X and Y drive lines from the first and second signal sources in combination to maintain illumination of all ignited regions.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 4 wherein: the said first selection matrix has a plurality of selection lines, a plurality of capacitors connected between each X line and various ones of said selection lines, and said selection means supplies said third signal source to a fixed number of said selection lines, said second selection matrix has a plurality of selection lines, a plurality of capacitors connected between each Y line and various ones of said selection lines in said second selection matrix, and said selection means supplies said fourth signal source to a fixed number of said selection lines in said second selection matrix.

Claim 8

A display device including: a gas panel, and gas panel including an illuminable gas disposed in a sealed container, a plurality of X drive lines disposed on one side of said panel, and a plurality of Y drive lines disposed on the opposite side of said panel, the crossover regions of said X and Y drive lines defining coordinate intersections and the gas in each such region defining a gas cell, a first signal source of frequency F1 connected to all of said X drive lines and a second signal source of frequency F1 connected to all of said Y drive lines, An X drive matrix having a plurality of first selection lines, a first plurality of pairs of condensers connected in series and having a common point therebetween, an individual pair of said first plurality of pairs of condensers being connected between each of said first selection lines and each of the remaining ones of said first selection lines, means connecting said common point of different pairs of said first plurality of pairs of condensers to different ones of said X drive lines, a third signal source having a frequency F2, first means selectively connecting said third signal source to any pair of said first selection lines, whereby the associated pair of condensers supply a signal of a given magnitude to the associated X drive line, a Y drive matrix having a plurality of second selection lines, a second plurality of pairs of condensers connected in series and having a common Point therebetween, an individual pair of said second plurality of pairs of condensers being connected between each of said second selection lines and each of the remaining ones of said second selection lines, means connecting said common point of different pairs of said second plurality of pairs of condensers to different ones of said Y drive lines, a fourth signal source having a frequency F2, second means selectively connecting said fourth signal source to any pair of said second selection lines, whereby the associated pair of condensers supply a signal of a given magnitude to the associated Y drive line, whereby the gas cell at the coordinate intersection of a selected X line and a selected Y line is energized with sufficient signal magnitude by all of said signal sources combined to exceed the ignition potential of said gas cell, and the magnitude of the first and second signal sources combined exceeds the holding potential but is less than the ignition potential of said gas cell.

Claim 9

A display device including: a gas panel, and gas panel including an illuminable gas disposed in a sealed container, a plurality of X drive lines disposed on one side of said panel, and a plurality of Y drive lines disposed on the opposite side of said panel, the crossover regions of said X and Y drive lines defining coordinate intersections and the gas in each such region defining a gas cell, a first signal source of frequency F1 connected to all of said X drive lines and a second signal source of frequency F1 connected to all of said Y drive lines, An X drive matrix having a plurality of first selection lines, a first plurality of pairs of condensers connected in series and having a common point therebetween, an individual pair of said first plurality of pairs of condensers being connected between each of said first selection lines and each of the remaining ones of said first selection lines, means connecting said common point of different pairs of said first plurality of pairs of condensers to different ones of said X drive lines, a third signal source having a frequency F2, first means selectively connecting said third signal source to any pair of said first selection lines, whereby the associated pair of condensers supply a signal of a given magnitude to the associated X drive line, a Y drive matrix having a plurality of second selection lines, a second plurality of pairs of condensers connected in series and having a common Point therebetween, an individual pair of said second plurality of pairs of condensers being connected between each of said second selection lines and each of the remaining ones of said second selection lines, means connecting said common point of different pairs of said second plurality of pairs of condensers to different ones of said Y drive lines, a fourth signal source having a frequency F2, second means selectively connecting said fourth signal source to any pair of said second selection lines, whereby the associated pair of condensers supply a signal of a given magnitude to the associated Y drive line, whereby the gas cell at the coordinate intersection of a selected X line and a selected Y line is energized with sufficient signal magnitude by all of said signal sources combined to exceed the ignition potential of said gas cell, and the magnitude of the first and second signal sources combined exceeds the holding potential but is less than the ignition potential of said gas cell.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the third signal source supplies less than half of the ignition potential, the fourth signal source supplies more than half of the ignition potential, and the combined effect of the third signal source and the fourth signal source exceeds the ignition potential.

Claim 11

A display device comprising: a gas-filled panel, X drive lines located on one side of said panel, and Y drive lines located on the other side of said panel and disposed orthogonally to the X drive lines, first and second selection matrices connected to the respective X drive lines and Y drive lines, potential means connected to said matrices, said matrices responding to said potential means and energizing said X drive lines and the Y drive lines with ignition potential and holding potential, the ignition potential firing or igniting selected regions of said gas to cause illumination and the holding potential maintaining illumination of such regions, selection means connected to said first and second matrices which operates said matrices to control the energization of said X drive lines and said Y drive lines, said first and second selection matrices each have a plurality of selection lines, and a plurality of capacitors connected between each associated drive line and different ones of the selection lines of the associated selection matrix.

Claim 12

A display device comprising: a gas-filled panel, X drive lines located on one side of said panel, and Y drive lines located on the other side of said panel and disposed orthogonally to the X drive lines, first and second selection matrices connected to the respective X drive lines and Y drive lines, potential means connected to said matrices, said matrices responding to said potential means and energizing said X drive lines and the Y drive lines with ignition potential and holding potential, the ignition potential firing or igniting selected regions of said gas to cause illumination and the holding potential maintaining illumination of such regions, selection means connected to said first and second matrices which operates said matrices to control the energization of said X drive lines and said Y drive lines, said first and second selection matrices each have a plurality of selection lines, and a plurality of capacitors connected between each associated drive line and different ones of the selection lines of the associated selection matrix.

Claim 13

The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the selection means energizes a fixed number of the selection lines of each of said matrices.

Claim 14

The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the potential means and said matrices energize the X drive lines with one magnitude of potential and the Y drive lines with another magnitude of potential.

Claim 15

The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the potential means supplies a sinusoidal wave to the X drive lines and Y drive lines, and the phase of the wave on the X drive lines is 180* out of phase with the wave on the Y drive lines.