Full select-half select plasma display driver control

Claim 2

An electroluminescent driver control comprising, in combination, an electroluminescent cell including a plurality of wall elements and an electroluminescent material contained within said wall elements; first and second normally nonconducting signal-translating devices, each having a plurality of electrodes including an input gate; said electroluminescent cell being capacitively signaltranslating to certain electrodes of said signal-translating devices, said electrodes being further connected to a common source for the application of a voltage level commensurate with the ignition voltage of said cell, the ignition of said electroluminescent material causing a wall charge to be attached to the interior wall surfaces of said electroluminescent cell, said wall charge being of a polarity which is subtractive with respect to the applied voltage causing the ignition; and means connected to the input gates of said normally nonconducting signal-translating devices capable of rendering them conducting alternately so that the electroluminescent cell is ignited in a first direction upon rendering said first signal-translating device conducting, and is ignited in a second direction upon rendering said second signal-translating device conducting.

Claim 3

THe driver control of claim 1 which said control means also includes means rendering it capable of repeatedly rendering only one of said normally nonconducting signal-translating devices conducting, in which event the electroluminescent cell is ignited only in response to the first rendering of said one of the signal-translating devices conductive by the control means, due to the subtractive effect of the wall charge upon subsequent voltages applied across the electroluminescent cell in the same direction as the initial application.

Claim 4

The driver control of claim 1 in which said electroluminescent cell comprises first and second transparent plates, said plates each having inner and outer surfaces, where said first plate has an image etched on its inner surface and said second plate has a mirror image of the image on said first plate etched on its inner surface, said plates assembled together so that said image and said mirror image are in full registration with each other, thereby forming a cavity in which an electroluminescent gas is encapsulated.

Claim 5

An electroluminescent driver control comprising, in combination, a plurality of electroluminescent cells, each having at least one wall portion associated with an electroluminescent element forming part of said cell, said wall portion acting as a capacitor on which a wall charge is formed when said cell is ignited, each cell also having first and second electrodes connected thereto, at least one of which is connected to a wall portion; a plurality of first signal-translating devices, each corresponding to one of the electroluminescent cells, and each having a first electrode acting as an input gate, a second electrode connected to a base reference potential, and a third electrode connected to one of said electrodes of each of said electroluminescent cells; a second signal-translating device having a first electrode acting as an input gate, a second electrode connected to a base reference potential, and a third electrode connected to the other electrode of each of said electroluminescent cells; a source of potential connected to the third electrodes of said first and second signal-translating devices; and control means for applying pulses alternatively to the input gates of selected ones of the first signal-translating devices and to the input gate of the second signal-translating devices, whereby the selected electroluminescent cells corresponding to the selected first signal-translating devices are ignited repeatedly so long as the corresponding input gates are pulsed, with unselected electroluminescent cells corresponding to the selected first signal-translating devices being ignited only during the initial pulsing of the second signal-translating devices, the wall charges on the unselected electroluminescent cells thereafter opposing ignition of these cells.

Claim 6

An electroluminescent driver control comprising, in combination, a plurality of electroluminescent cells, each having at least one wall portion associated with an electroluminescent element forming part of said cell, said wall portion acting as a capacitor on which a wall charge is formed when said cell is ignited, each cell also having first and second electrodes connected thereto, at least one of which is connected to a wall portion; a plurality of first signal-translating devices, each corresponding to one of the electroluminescent cells, and each having a first electrode acting as an input gate, a second electrode connected to a base reference potential, and a third electrode connected to one of said electrodes of each of said electroluminescent cells; a second signal-translating device having a first electrode acting as an input gate, a second electrode connected to a base reference potential, and a third electrode connected to the other electrode of each of said electroluminescent cells; a source of potential connected to the third electrodes of said first and second signal-translating devices; and control means for applying pulses alternatively to the input gates of selected ones of the first signal-translating devices and to the input gate of the second signal-translating devices, whereby the selected electroluminescent cells corresponding to the selected first signal-translating devices are ignited repeatedly so long as the corresponding input gates are pulsed, with unselected electroluminescent cells corresponding to the selected first signal-translating devices being ignited only during the initial pulsing of the second signal-translating devices, the wall charges on the unselected electroluminescent cells thereafter opposing ignition of these cells.

Claim 7

The driver control of claim 4 in which each of said electroluminescent cells comprises first and second transparent plates, said plates each having inner and outer surfaces, where said first plate has an image etched on its inner surface and said second plate has a mirror image of the image on said first plate etched on its inner surface, said plates assembled together so that said image and said mirror image are in full registration, thereby forming a cavity in which a mixture of neon, argon, and nitrogen gas is encapsulated.

Claim 8

The driver control of claim 5 in which said first and second electrodes of the electroluminescent cells are attached to the outer surfaces of said first and second plates, at least one of said electrodes being transparenT.

Claim 9

A matrix electroluminescent driver control comprising, in combination, a plurality of segment electrodes extending in a first direction; a plurality of character electrodes extending in a second direction; a plurality of electroluminescent cells, each having at least one wall portion associated with an electroluminescent element forming part of said cell, said wall portion acting as a capacitor on which a wall charge is formed when said cell is ignited, each cell also having first and second electrodes connected thereto, at least one of which said electrodes is capacitively coupled to said cell, and each cell being further connected to a segment and character electrode at each crossover point formed by said segment and character electrodes; a plurality of first signal-translating devices each corresponding to one of said segment electrodes and each having a first electrode acting as an input gate, a second electrode connected to a base reference potential, and a third electrode connected to a corresponding segment electrode; a plurality of second signal-translating devices, each corresponding to one of said character electrodes and each having a first electrode acting as an input gate, a second electrode connected to a base reference potential, and a third electrode connected to a corresponding character electrode; a source of potential connected to said segment and character electrodes; and control means for applying pulses alternately to the input gates of selected ones of said first signal-translating devices and selected ones of said second signal-translating devices, whereby selected electroluminescent cells, connected at the crossover points of the selected segment and character electrodes corresponding to the selected first and second signal-translating devices, are ignited repeatedly so long as the corresponding selected first and second signal-translating devices are pulsed into conduction, with half-selected electroluminescent cells connected to selected segment electrodes and unselected character electrodes being ignited only during the initial pulsing of the corresponding selected first signal-translating devices, and with half-selected electroluminescent cells connected to unselected segment electrodes and selected character electrodes also being ignited only during the initial pulsing of the corresponding second signal-translating devices, the wall charges on the half-selected electroluminescent cells thereafter opposing ignition of these cells.

Claim 10

A matrix electroluminescent driver control comprising, in combination, a plurality of segment electrodes extending in a first direction; a plurality of character electrodes extending in a second direction; a plurality of electroluminescent cells, each having at least one wall portion associated with an electroluminescent element forming part of said cell, said wall portion acting as a capacitor on which a wall charge is formed when said cell is ignited, each cell also having first and second electrodes connected thereto, at least one of which said electrodes is capacitively coupled to said cell, and each cell being further connected to a segment and character electrode at each crossover point formed by said segment and character electrodes; a plurality of first signal-translating devices each corresponding to one of said segment electrodes and each having a first electrode acting as an input gate, a second electrode connected to a base reference potential, and a third electrode connected to a corresponding segment electrode; a plurality of second signal-translating devices, each corresponding to one of said character electrodes and each having a first electrode acting as an input gate, a second electrode connected to a base reference potential, and a third electrode connected to a corresponding character electrode; a source of potential connected to said segment and character electrodes; and control means for applying pulses alternately to the input gates of selected ones of said first signal-translating devices and selected ones of said second signal-translating devices, whereby selected electroluminescent cells, connected at the crossover points of the selected segment and character electrodes corresponding to the selected first and second signal-translating devices, are ignited repeatedly so long as the corresponding selected first and second signal-translating devices are pulsed into conduction, with half-selected electroluminescent cells connected to selected segment electrodes and unselected character electrodes being ignited only during the initial pulsing of the corresponding selected first signal-translating devices, and with half-selected electroluminescent cells connected to unselected segment electrodes and selected character electrodes also being ignited only during the initial pulsing of the corresponding second signal-translating devices, the wall charges on the half-selected electroluminescent cells thereafter opposing ignition of these cells.

Claim 11

The driver control of claim 7 in which each segment electrode and each character electrode are serially connected by a corresponding diode and transistor to said potential source.

Claim 12

The driver of claim 7 in which each segment electrode and each character electrode are serially connected by a corresponding register to said potential source.

Claim 13

The driver control of claim 7 in which each of said electroluminescent cells comprises first and second substantially transparent plates, said plates each having inner and outer surfaces, where said first plate has an image etched on its inner surface and said second plate has a mirror image of said first plate etched on its inner surface, said plates assembled together so that said image and said mirror image are in full registration, thereby forming a cavity in which an electroluminescent gas is encapsulated.

Claim 14

The driver control of claim 10 in which the electroluminescent gas is a mixture of neon, argon, and nitrogen gas.

Claim 15

The driver control of claim 9 in which said segment and character electrodes are attached to the outer surfaces of said first and second plates.

Claim 16

The driver control of claim 12 in which the character electrodes are transparent.

Claim 17

The driver control of claim 7 in which said segment and character electrodes are connected to a common voltage source for the establishment of a voltage level commensurate with the ignition level of said electroluminescent cells.