Claims
- 1. A display panel comprising
- a gas-filled envelope including a base plate and a face plate having a viewing window,
- a plurality of columns of coplanar operating cathode areas which are electrically connected in each such column, each column of operating areas including display cathode areas and printing cathode areas, said priming cathode areas providing excited particles for said display areas through restricted gas communication paths extending along said columns of cathode areas,
- the areas of the cathodes which form the priming and display areas being exposed to the gas within said envelope, and the restricted gas communication paths being formed by additional surface areas on said cathodes which are also exposed to the ionizable gas and which interconnect the surface areas forming the display and scan areas,
- each such gas communication path, between a scan and display region, being constricted in its width by a material different from that of the cathode resting on the cathode surface, to constrict, without completely blocking, the width of the cathode surface in the gas communication path, said display areas and priming areas being disposed in rows and columns,
- a priming anode overlying each row of priming cathode areas, and
- a display anode overlying each row of display cathode areas.
- 2. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein said priming cathode areas are hidden from view.
- 3. The panel defined in claim 1 including
- means for applying each of a succession of groups of information signals to said display anodes and said columns of display cathode areas, and
- means for producing a glow discharge in each column of priming cathode areas, and then in the remaining columns of priming cathode areas, one after the next, to scan said columns of priming cathode areas, one at a time, in synchronism with the application of said successive groups of information signals, to produce glow discharges in selective cells of the display cell grouping adjacent the priming cell region being scanned, one after the next, to provide an overall glow discharge pattern directly in the display cells.
- 4. A display panel comprising
- a gas-filled envelope including a base plate and a face plate having a viewing window,
- a plurality of coplanar cathode electrode pairs supported on said base plate, each pair comprising a first cathode and a second cathode, said cathode electrode pairs being arrayed in rows and columns,
- each first cathode comprising a display cathode and each second cathode comprising a priming cathode for supplying excited particles for its associated display cathode,
- a conductive member connecting each such priming cathode and display cathode,
- each said conductive member being exposed to the gas within said envelope but having an exposed surface of a width less than that of the width of the connected priming cathode, and
- anode electrode means for said first and second cathodes including a separate anode electrode for each row of first cathodes.
- 5. A display panel comprising
- a gas-filled envelope including a base plate and a face plate having a viewing window,
- a plurality of cathode electrode strips supported in said envelope with their operating surfaces facing said viewing window,
- means dividing said operating surfaces of said cathode electrode strips into a plurality of columns of operating cathode areas including display cathode areas and priming cathode areas, said display cathode areas being aligned in rows and columns,
- the priming and display areas being in gas communication and glow priming relationship so that each priming area, when it glows, primes at least one display region for glowing,
- each cathode including surface areas which interconnect priming and display areas to form glow priming gas communication paths,
- each such interconnecting area, between a scan and display area, being constricted in its width by a material different from that of the cathode resting on the cathode surface, to constrict the width of the cathode surface in the interconnecting area without completely blocking the surface in such region,
- priming anode electrode means in glow discharge relationship with each of said priming cathode areas, and
- a display anode electrode overlying each row of display cathode areas.
- 6. A display device comprising
- a gas-filled envelope including a base plate and a face plate hermetically sealed together, said face plate having a viewing window,
- a plurality of strip-like cathode electrodes disposed parallel to each other in a series within said envelope and having their upper surfaces facing said viewing window,
- means forming the upper surface of each cathode into a plurality of coplanar operating areas facing said viewing window,
- selected ones of said cathode areas being connected as display areas for generating display cathode glow, and others of said areas being connected as glow priming areas for generating glow priming cathode glow,
- there being a path through the gas in said envelope for the flow of excited particles along each cathode electrode between selected priming and display areas thereof so that excited particles generated at a priming area can flow to a display area,
- said paths including exposed areas of the cathode electrodes, between said priming and display areas, each such exposed area having a lesser width than that of the priming areas, and
- anode electrode means in glow discharge relationship with said cathodes, and
- conductor means for energizing said scan cathode regions in a scan pattern and synchronously energizing selected groups of said display cathode regions.
- 7. A display device as in claim 6 wherein said anode electrode means includes an anode electrode adjacent each of said operating areas, at least some of said anode electrodes being transparent and extending along the interior surface of the face plate.
- 8. A gaseous discharge display panel comprising
- an envelope formed of a face plate, at least portions of which are transparent, and a base plate,
- said plates being spaced closely to one another and sealed together to form a gas-tight enclosure,
- an ionizable gas within said enclosure at a pressure capable of sustaining a cathode glow discharge,
- a plurality of cathode electrodes mounted on said base plate in an array of rows and columns,
- each of such cathode electrodes having first and second surface portions exposed to the ionizable gas, the first of which forms a scan cathode region and the second a display cathode region, the surface portion which forms the display cathode region being in alignment with a transparent portion of the face plate,
- the scan and display regions of each cathode being in gas communication and glow priming relationship, so that each scan region, when it glows, primes the display region,
- each cathode including an additional surface portion which is exposed to the ionizable gas and which interconnects the surface portions forming the display and scan regions to form a glow transfer and gas communication path,
- each such interconnecting region having a width exposed to the ionizable gas which is substantially smaller than the width of the exposed surface of the scan region, to provide a constricted glow transfer and gas communication path, and
- anode electrode means in glow discharge relationship with said cathodes for energizing said scan cathode regions in a scan pattern and synchronously energizing selected groups of said display cathode regions.
- 9. A display panel as in claim 8 wherein each of said interconnecting regions is restricted in its width by a material different from that of the cathode resting on the cathode surface, without completely blocking the surface in such region.
- 10. A display panel as in claim 8 further including
- conductor means for scanning said scan cathodes one column after another, by causing all of the scan cathodes to glow in one column after another in a sequential scan,
- wherein said anode electrode means includes a plurality of anodes, each of which is in glow discharge relationship with a respective row of said display cathodes.
- 11. A display panel as in claim 10 further including conductor means for applying successive groups of information signals to said row anodes, one group after another, in synchronism with the scanning of the scan cathodes, to produce a predetermined glow pattern in said panel.
- 12. A display panel as in claim 8 wherein said anode electrode means includes an anode electrode adjacent each of said scan cathodes, all of said anode electrodes being connected electrically.
- 13. A display panel as in claim 8 further including a plurality of conductors, each of which connects electrically in common all of the scan cathodes of a respective one of said columns.
- 14. A display panel as in claim 13 further including a plurality of n energizing circuits, each of which is connected electrically to a different group of said conductors, the conductors in each such group being connected to scan cathodes which are n columns apart, to provide n phase scanning of said scan cathodes.
- 15. A display panel as in claim 8 wherein each column of cathodes is formed of a single strip-like elongated cathode having scan and display regions interspersed along its length, with constricted surface regions along its length in each region interconnecting a display region with its associated scan region.
- 16. A display panel as in claim 8 wherein said scan regions are hidden from view through the face plate.
- 17. A display panel as in claim 8 wherein the constrictions in the width of the interconnecting regions, between the display and cathode regions, are formed by a center sheet of insulating material, disposed between said base plate and said face plate, said center sheet having portions which define each of the constricted areas.
- 18. A display panel as in claim 17 wherein the anode electrode means comprises display anodes and scan anodes which extend along the surface of said center sheet.
- 19. A gaseous discharge display panel comprising
- an envelope formed of a face plate, at least portions of which are transparent, and a base plate,
- said plates being spaced closely to one another and sealed together to form a gas-tight enclosure,
- an ionizable gas within said enclosure at a pressure capable of sustaining a cathode glow discharge,
- a plurality of elongated cathode electrodes within said envelope,
- each of such cathode electrodes including surface portions along its length which form scan cathode regions and different surface portions which form display cathode regions, the scan and display regions being interspersed along the length of each cathode and at least the display regions being in alignment with certain of the transparent portions of the base plate,
- said scan and display regions being disposed in an array of rows and columns, with each scan region being in gas communication and glow priming relationship with at least one display region and with the corresponding scan region in the next succeeding column, so that each scan region, when it glows, primes the corresponding scan region in the next succeeding column and at least one display region,
- the surface portions forming the scan and display regions being exposed to the ionizable gas within said enclosure, and each cathode including additional surface portions which are also exposed to the ionizable gas and each of which interconnects surface portions forming display and scan regions to form a glow transfer and gas communication path,
- each such interconnecting region, between a scan and display region, being constricted in its width by a material different from that of the cathode resting on the cathode surface to constrict, without completely blocking, the width of the cathode surface in the interconnecting region,
- anode electrode means in glow discharge relationship with said elongated cathodes, and
- conductor means for energizing said scan cathode regions in a scan pattern and synchronously energizing selected groups of said display cathode regions.
- 20. A display panel as in claim 19 wherein said anode electrode means includes a plurality of row conductors serving as display anodes.
- 21. A display panel as in claim 20 including
- means for sequentially scanning said scan electrodes, one column after another, and
- means connected to said row anodes for applying successive groups of signals to said row anodes in synchronism with the scan of the scan electrodes.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 635,918; filed Nov. 28, 1975 now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
3882342 |
Kamegaya et al. |
May 1975 |
|
3886389 |
Ogle |
May 1975 |
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Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
635918 |
Nov 1975 |
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