Modular flat-screen television displays and modules and circuit drives therefor

Claim 1

A flat-screen television display comprising: A. a plurality of modules positioned adjacent each other to form an array the size of the desired flat-screen display; B. each of said modules having a substrate with first and second major surfaces and edge surfaces and being capable of transmitting light, a matrix of picture elements extending over the first major surface of the substrate in a regular pattern with boundary picture elements adjacent the edge surfaces of the substrate to distances such that the regular pattern is continued substantially uninterrupted between adjacent modules, where said picture elements are formed of a thin film of a dispersion of liquid crystal droplets in a polymeric medium, a matrix of electrical switching elements extending over the first major surface of the substrate with each of said switching elements capable of activating a picture element upon receiving electrical signals through both said row and column conductive strips, row and column conductive strips each extending over the first major surface from adjacent an edge surface to adjacent an opposite edge surface of the substrate such that said each switching element can be electrically activated by a row conductive strip and a column conductive strip; C. a light source positioned adjacent the second major surface of the substrate of at least one of said modules in the array; D. an electrical drive circuit positioned adjacent the second major surface of each said substrate and capable of electrically activating the switching elements in correspondence to desired visual images to be formed by the picture elements over the first major surface; E. interconnecting conductors adjacent the edge surfaces of the substrate and electrically connecting the drive circuit with the row and column conductive strips on the first major surface and electrically insulated from similar interconnecting conductors of an adjacent module; and F. an electrical control circuit capable of categorizing incoming video signals corresponding to the modules in the array and directing the electrical signals to the drive circuit of said each module according to the portion of the television picture to be reproduced by the picture elements on that module.