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

Claim 1

A flat-screen color 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 a distance such that the regular pattern is continued substantially uninterrupted between adjacent ones of said modules, where said picture elements are formed of a thin film 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 row and column conductive strips, a color filter positioned adjacent the picture elements such that a color video image can be displayed by the module, said row and column conductive strips each extending over the first major surface of said substrate 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 module in the array; D. an electrical drive circuit positioned adjacent the second major surface of 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 of said substrate; 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 of said substrate and electrically insulated from similar interconnecting conductors of an adjacent module; and F. an electrical control circuit capable of separating 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.