Flat screen color video display

Claim 2

A video display having a display area of a width W and a height H, comprising: light producing means for producing a column of light which substantially spans the height of the display area and is substantially narrower than the width thereof, said light producing means including light source means for emitting the light and including means for directing and reflecting the light to form said column; shutter means arranged so that the light produced is incident thereon for selectively controlling transmission of at least a portion of the incident light, said shutter means having a plurality of vertically aligned, elongated horizontal strip apertures selectively controllable to transmit and block said light; and sweeping means for sweeping the light produced substantially across the width of the display area.

Claim 3

A video display having a display area of a width w and a height H, comprising: light producing means for producing a column of light which substantially spans the height of the display area and is substantially narrower than the width thereof; shutter means arranged so that the light produced is incident thereon for selectively controlling transmission of at least a portion of the incident light, said shutter means having a plurality of vertically aligned, elongated horizontal strip apertures selectively controllable to transmit and block said light; and sweeping means for sweeping the light produced substantially across the width of the display area, said light producing means including: light source means for emitting the light; and a plurality of elongated optical light guide means arranged side by side across at least a portion of the width of the display area for guiding light from said light source means, each guide means having an entrance surface and a front face, each front face extending over at least a portion of the height of said display, each entrance surface being positioned to receive emitted light from said light source means, said optical light guide means directing the light from said entrance surface to said front surface, said shutter means being located in front to said front faces so as to receive at least a portion of the light escaping from said front faces.

Claim 4

A video display having a display area of a width w and a height H, comprising: light producing means for producing a column of light which substantially spans the height of the display area and is substantially narrower than the width thereof; shutter means arranged so that the light produced is incident thereon for selectively controlling transmission of at least a portion of the incident light, said shutter means having a plurality of vertically aligned, elongated horizontal strip apertures selectively controllable to transmit and block said light; and sweeping means for sweeping the light produced substantially across the width of the display area, said light producing means including: light source means for emitting the light; and a plurality of elongated optical light guide means arranged side by side across at least a portion of the width of the display area for guiding light from said light source means, each guide means having an entrance surface and a front face, each front face extending over at least a portion of the height of said display, each entrance surface being positioned to receive emitted light from said light source means, said optical light guide means directing the light from said entrance surface to said front surface, said shutter means being located in front to said front faces so as to receive at least a portion of the light escaping from said front faces.

Claim 5

The display as claimed in claim 2, wherein said plurality of optical light guide means are collimators having first and second mirrored surfaces facing each other and being positioned and constructed such that the light entering said collimators through said entrance surface diverges and comes into contact with said first mirrored surface and is reflected therefrom so as to come into contact with said second mirrored surface, from which the light is reflected through the front face of said collimators as light rays substantially parallel to each other.

Claim 6

The display as claimed in claim 3, wherein said first mirrored surface is convex parabolic in shape and said second mirrored surface is concave hyperbolic in shape.

Claim 7

The display as claimed in claim 3, wherein at least one of said collimators has cladding members along side surfaces that are adjacent to other collimators, said cladding members having a reflective surface facing into said collimators for reflecting the light, said cladding members preventing light interference between said collimators.

Claim 8

The display as claimed in claim 2, wherein said shutter means is a liquid crystal display.

Claim 9

The display as claimed in claim 2, wherein said light sources are light emitting diodes.

Claim 10

The display as claimed in claim 2, wherein said shutter means is placed against said optical light guide means so as to minimize light loss.

Claim 11

The display as claimed in claim 2, wherein said apertures extend across the width of said display area and are located one above the other, said sweeping means comprising: horizontal sweep means for activating said light sources so as to illuminate, in a predetermined sequence, each of said optical light guide means with light from said light source means; and vertical sweep means for selectively opening said apertures to allow light to pass therethrough in a predetermined sequence, said apertures being normally closed.

Claim 12

The display as claimed in claim 9, further comprising: means for interlacing an image scan to give the appearance of a continuous moving image, said vertical sweep means being responsive to said interlacing means to selectively allow light to pass through a first field of said apertures extending at least partly over the width and height of said display, and said vertical sweep means allowing light to pass through a second field of said apertures of similar size to, but offset from, the first field so as to cause said fields to interlace each other.

Claim 13

The display as claimed in claim 2, further comprising: a synchronization separator for separating composite video signals into vertical sync pulses, horizontal sync pulses and video intensity and color signals; video amplifiers for converting the video intensity signals into amplitudes corresponding to a plurality of color intensities; clock circuit means for dividing up the period between horizontal sync pulses by the number of optical light guide means so as to form clocked horizontal pulses and for dividing up the period between vertical sync pulses so as to form clocked vertical pulses; counter circuit means responsive to said clock circuit means for counting the number of clocked horizontal pulses and the number of clocked vertical pulses; and means for actuating the light sources to illuminate the optical light guide means with light in response to the counter circuit means counting the clocked horizontal pulses and for actuating the apertures in response to said counter circuit means counting the clocked vertical pulses.

Claim 14

The display as claimed in claim 11, further comprising: persistence means located across the light source means for keeping the light source means activated for a predetermined period of time in response to said actuating means.

Claim 15

The display as claimed in claim 2, wherein said light source means includes a vacuum tube having excitable phosphor and means for exciting said phosphor to produce the light.

Claim 16

The display as claimed in claim 13, wherein said phosphor exciting means includes means for varying the flow of electrons, means for focussing said electrons into beams directed toward said phosphor and means for selectively blocking said beams from reaching said phosphor.

Claim 17

The display as claimed in claim 14, wherein said phosphor exciting means includes means for suppressing the flow of electrons toward said phosphor.

Claim 18

The display as claimed in claim 14, wherein said means for varying includes a cathode and an anode, said phosphor being coated on said anode, said cathode generating said electrons.

Claim 19

The display as claimed in claim 14, wherein said light source means includes a plurality of strips of phosphor each strip being excitable for giving off different colors of light, said varying means including a plurality of cathodes generating the electrons, said focussing means being arranged so that varying the intensity of the electrons from a respective one of said cathodes by said varying means causes a change in an amount of light given off from a respective one of said phosphor strips.

Claim 20

The display as claimed in claim 14, wherein said means for selectively blocking includes a plurality of blocking elements, said blocking elements being aligned with said plurality of optical guide means, respectively.

Claim 21

The display as claimed in claim 2, wherein said light source means includes: light emitting elements; a rotatable mirror positioned to intercept light emitted from said light emitting elements; means for rotating said rotatable mirror, said light emitting elements emitting light to strike said rotatable mirror, said mirror reflecting the light, said rotating means rotating said rotatable mirror so as to direct the light reflecting off said rotatable mirror to the entrance surface of each of said optical light guide means.

Claim 22

The display as claimed in claim 19, wherein said entrance surface of each of said optical guide means is angled relative to said rotatable mirror so that the light reaching the entrance surface refracts into said optical guide means as light rays that travel parallel to each other in each of said plurality of optical guide means.

Claim 23

The display as claimed in claim 19, wherein said light emitting element is a laser.

Claim 24

The display as claimed in claim 2, wherein said light source means includes a light emitting element and a piezoelectric flapper mirror, which responds piezoelectrically to reflect light emitted from said light emitting surface to the entrance surface of each of said plurality of optical light guide means individually.

Claim 25

The display as claimed in claim 22, wherein said entrance surface of each of said optical guide means is angled relative to said flapper mirror so that the light reaching the entrance surface refracts into said optical light guide means as light rays which travel parallel to each other in each of said optical light guide means.

Claim 26

The display as claimed in claim 22, wherein said flapper mirror is composed of polyvinylfluoride.

Claim 27

The display as claimed in claim 2, wherein all of said light source means, optical light guide means and shutter means are a single piece construction.

Claim 28

The display as claimed in claim 2, wherein said light source means includes groups of different colored light emitting elements, said elements of said groups all respectively directing their emitted light into the entrance surfaces of corresponding optical light guide means.

Claim 29

A video display having a display area of a width W and a height H, comprising: light producing means for producing a column of light which substantially spans the height of the display area and is substantially narrower than the width thereof; shutter means arranged so that the light produced is incident thereon for selectively controlling transmission of at least a portion of the incident light, said shutter means having a plurality of vertically aligned, elongated horizontal strip apertures selectively controllable to transmit and block said light; and sweeping means for sweeping the light produced substantially across the width of the display area said light producing means including a mirror reflecting the light to said shutter means, said sweeping means including means for moving said mirror so that the light reflecting off the mirror sweeps across the display.

Claim 30

A video display having a display area of a width W and a height H, comprising: light producing means for producing a column of light which substantially spans the height of the display area and is substantially narrower than the width thereof; shutter means arranged so that the light produced is incident thereon for selectively controlling transmission of at least a portion of the incident light, said shutter means having a plurality of vertically aligned, elongated horizontal strip apertures selectively controllable to transmit and block said light; and sweeping means for sweeping the light produced substantially across the width of the display area said light producing means including a mirror reflecting the light to said shutter means, said sweeping means including means for moving said mirror so that the light reflecting off the mirror sweeps across the display.

Claim 31

The display according to claim 27, wherein said mirror is a rotatable mirror.

Claim 32

The display according to claim 27, wherein said mirror is a piezoelectric flapper mirror.

Claim 33

The display according to claim 4, wherein said collimator also has a lens arranged at said entrance surface to focus light from outside said collimator so as to strike against said first mirrored surface.

Claim 34

A color video flat screen display system having a display area of width W and height H, comprising: a plurality of groups of three light emitting diodes, each of said diodes in each group emitting light which differs in color from each other; a plurality of light guide means each for collimating the light emitted by the diodes of a corresponding group to a respective front face of said light guide means which has a height at least equivalent to a portion of the height of said display area, said plurality of light guide means being located side by side across at least a portion of the width of the display area; and a liquid crystal display having a plurality of horizontal apertures extending across the width of the display and being located one above the other.

Claim 35

A color video flat screen display system having a display area of width W and height H, comprising: a plurality of groups of three light emitting diodes, each of said diodes in each group emitting light which differs in color from each other; a plurality of light guide means each for collimating the light emitted by the diodes of a corresponding group to a respective front face of said light guide means which has a height at least equivalent to a portion of the height of said display area, said plurality of light guide means being located side by side across at least a portion of the width of the display area; and a liquid crystal display having a plurality of horizontal apertures extending across the width of the display and being located one above the other.

Claim 36

The color flat screen display as claimed in claim 31, wherein the front face of each light guide means is the width of a picture element.

Claim 37

The color flat screen display as claimed in claim 32, wherein the height of the apertures corresponds to a picture element.

Claim 38

The color flat screen display as claimed in claim 33, wherein each light guide means is a collimator.

Claim 39

The color flat screen display as claimed in claim 31 further comprising: horizontal sweep means for activating said light sources and illuminating, in a predetermined sequence, each of said light guide means with light from said light sources; and vertical sweep means for selectively allowing light to pass through said apertures in a predetermined sequence.

Claim 40

The color flat screen display as claimed in claim 35, further comprising: means for interlacing to give the appearance of a continuous moving image, said vertical sweep means being responsive to said interlacing means to selectively allow light to pass through a first field of said apertures extending substantially over at least a portion of the width and height of said display, and then to allow light to pass through a second field of said apertures of similar size to, but offset from, the first field so as to cause said fields to interlace each other.

Claim 41

The color flat screen display as claimed in claim 31, further comprising: a synchronization separator for separating composite video signals into vertical sync pulses, horizontal sync pulses and video intensity and color signals; video amplifiers for converting the video intensity signals into amplitudes corresponding to a plurality of color intensities; clock circuit means for dividing up the period between horizontal sync pulses by the number of light guide means so as to form clocked horizontal pulses and for dividing up the period between vertical sync pulses by the number of apertures so as to form clocked vertical pulses; counter circuit means responsive to said clock circuit means for counting the number of clocked horizontal pulses and the number of clocked vertical pulses; and means for actuating the light sources to illuminate the light guide means in response to the counter circuit means counting the clocked horizontal pulses and for actuating the apertures in response to said counter circuit means counting the clocked vertical pulses.

Claim 46

The method as claimed in claim 38, wherein the step of selectively controlling transmission includes rearranging molecules of a liquid crystal display so that the liquid crystal display serves as a shutter.

Claim 47

The method as claimed in claim 38, wherein the step of sweeping includes selectively illuminating portions of the display area by directing the produced light through optical guides in sequence, and the step of selectively controlling transmission includes activating apertures in sequence to allow the light to pass.

Claim 48

The method as claimed in claim 41, wherein the step of sweeping includes activating every other aperture in sequence to interlace a plurality of fields of the display which are offset from one another.

Claim 49

The method as claimed in claim 39, wherein the step of producing includes collimating the light through optical guides.

Claim 50

The method as claimed in claim 43, wherein the step of sweeping includes reflecting the produced light substantially across the width of the display to each entrance surface of optical light guides.

Claim 51

The method as claimed in claim 44, wherein the step of producing includes exciting phosphor to produce the light by bombarding the phosphor with electrons at selected areas of the phosphor.

Claim 52

A collimator, comprising: first and second mirrored surfaces in spaced facing relationship; and a front face of substantially greater height than width, said first mirrored surface being shaped and arranged so that light incident on said first mirrored surface is diverged and reflected to said second mirrored surface, said second mirrored surface being shaped and arranged so that the diverged and reflected light incident thereon is collimated and reflected through said front face.

Claim 53

A collimator, comprising: first and second mirrored surfaces in spaced facing relationship; and a front face of substantially greater height than width, said first mirrored surface being shaped and arranged so that light incident on said first mirrored surface is diverged and reflected to said second mirrored surface, said second mirrored surface being shaped and arranged so that the diverged and reflected light incident thereon is collimated and reflected through said front face.

Claim 54

The collimator as claimed in claim 46, wherein said first mirrored surface is parabolic and said second mirrored surface is hyperbolic.

Claim 55

The collimator as claimed in claim 46, wherein said mirrored surfaces are elliptical.

Claim 56

The collimator as claimed in claim 46, wherein said mirrored surfaces are circular.

Claim 57

A display as claimed in claim 1, wherein said sweeping means sweeps the light across the width of said display at a horizontal scan rate, said shutter means opening and closing said strip apertures in sequence over the height of said display at a vertical scan rate, said horizontal scan rate being faster then said vertical scan rate.

Claim 58

A display as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: separating means for separating composite video signals into vertical and horizontal sync pulses and video intensity and color signals; converting means for converting the video intensity signals into amplitudes corresponding to a plurality of color intensities; clock means for dividing up the period between horizontal sync pulses into clocked horizontal pulses and for dividing up the period between vertical sync pulses into clocked vertical pulses; counter means responsive to said clock means for counting a number of clocked horizontal pulses; and actuating means for actuating said light source means to form said column of light in response to said counter means counting the clocked horizontal pulses and for actuating the apertures in response to said counter means counting the clocked vertical pulses.

Claim 59

A display as claimed in claim 1, wherein said light producing means including a plurality of light sources each producing a light of a different color, said light sources being arranged for mixing the light together prior to producing said column of light.

Claim 60

A video display having a display area of a width W and a height H, comprising: light producing means for producing a column of light which substantially spans the height of the display area and is substantially narrower than the width thereof; shutter means arranged so that the light produced is incident thereon for selectively controlling transmission of at least a portion of the incident light, said shutter means having a plurality of vertically aligned, elongated horizontal strip apertures selectively controllable to transmit and block said light; sweeping means for sweeping the light produced substantially across the width of the display area; separating means for separating composite video signals into vertical and horizontal sync pulses and video intensity and color signals; converting means for converting the video intensity signals into amplitudes corresponding to a plurality of color intensities; clock means for dividing up the period between horizontal sync pulses into clocked horizontal pulses and for dividing up the period between vertical sync pulses into clocked vertical pulses; counter means responsive to said clock means for counting a number of clocked horizontal pulses; and actuating means for actuating said light source means to form said column of light in response to said counter means counting the clocked horizontal pulses and for actuating the apertures in response to said counter means counting the clocked vertical pulses.

Claim 61

A video display having a display area of a width W and a height H, comprising: light producing means for producing a column of light which substantially spans the height of the display area and is substantially narrower than the width thereof; shutter means arranged so that the light produced is incident thereon for selectively controlling transmission of at least a portion of the incident light, said shutter means having a plurality of vertically aligned, elongated horizontal strip apertures selectively controllable to transmit and block said light; sweeping means for sweeping the light produced substantially across the width of the display area; separating means for separating composite video signals into vertical and horizontal sync pulses and video intensity and color signals; converting means for converting the video intensity signals into amplitudes corresponding to a plurality of color intensities; clock means for dividing up the period between horizontal sync pulses into clocked horizontal pulses and for dividing up the period between vertical sync pulses into clocked vertical pulses; counter means responsive to said clock means for counting a number of clocked horizontal pulses; and actuating means for actuating said light source means to form said column of light in response to said counter means counting the clocked horizontal pulses and for actuating the apertures in response to said counter means counting the clocked vertical pulses.