Claims
- 1. A gas discharge display panel comprising
- an envelope containing an ionizable gas and having a viewing window through which glow discharges within said envelope may be viewed,
- a succession of priming cells including a first cell, a last cell, and intermediate cells, each such cell being in glow discharge priming relation to the next and substantially hidden from view through said viewing window,
- first electrode means for continually and repetitively scanning said succession of priming cells to cause each priming cell in the succession to exhibit priming glow discharge wherein excited particles are generated, by establishing a priming glow discharge within each of said priming cells, one after the other beginning with the first and continuing to the last, each such priming cell after the first being scanned to establish a priming glow discharge in it while it is being primed by the priming glow discharge of the next preceding cell,
- reset cell adjacent to said first priming cell of said succession of priming cells and positioned to supply excited particles therefor,
- second electrode means coupled to said reset cell for insuring that said reset cell exhibit glow discharge and generate excited particles before said first priming cell is energized by said first electrode means,
- a plurality of display cells, at least one of which is disposed adjacent each of said priming cells, to be primed by glow discharge in the priming cell, and
- third electrode means adjacent said display cells for applying data signals simultaneously to display cells adjacent different ones of said priming cells to establish a glow discharge in selective ones of said display cells, in response to the data signals applied, only when their corresponding priming cells are being scanned,
- the glow discharge in said display cells being visible through said viewing window.
- 2. A gas discharge display panel comprising
- a gas-filled envelope including a matrix of rows and columns of gas discharge display cells, including a first column, a last column and intermediate columns,
- each column of cells being in glow discharge priming relation to the next column in the matrix,
- first electrode means for scanning said columns of display cells, separately and in turn, by priming with excited particles and turning on the first column of display cells and causing said first column of cells to produce priming glow discharge, and successively priming and turning on the remaining columns of display cells, in turn, one column at a time and one after the next to effectively scan the cells, column by column, each producing priming glow discharge,
- said first electrode means also serving to apply groups of data signals to the rows of display cells, one such group after another, in synchronism with the column by column priming scan, to produce a display glow discharge in selective cells of said matrix, one column at a time,
- a column of reset cells adjacent to said first column of said matrix and positioned to supply excited particles to the cells of said first column, and
- second electrode means coupled to said column of reset cells for insuring that all of said reset cells exhibit glow discharge and generate excited particles before said first column of cells is energized by said first electrode means.
- 3. A gas discharge display panel as in claim 2 wherein the electrode means for scanning the priming cells includes at least two electrodes associated with each priming cell, further including a plurality of conductors each interconnecting the electrodes of every n.sup.th priming cell, where n is an integer greater than "1" for multi-phase scanning said priming cells.
- 4. A display panel comprising
- a gas-tight envelope having a viewing window and containing an ionizable gas,
- a plurality of gas discharge priming cells disposed within said envelope in an array of side-by-side groupings, and including a first, a last, and intermediate groupings,
- a reset priming cell grouping disposed adjacent to said first priming cell grouping in said array,
- said reset priming cell grouping and said priming cell groupings not being intended to be used in displaying information or to be viewed,
- first means coupled to said reset priming cell grouping for energizing and turning on said entire reset priming cell grouping before said first priming cell grouping is energized so that excited particles will be available for said first priming cell grouping from said reset priming cell grouping and subsequent turn-on of said first priming cell grouping is thus facilitated, said first priming cell grouping being turned on first in a scanning cycle in which all of said priming cell groupings are turned on sequentially from the beginning to the end of said array,
- second means for producing glow discharges in display regions contiguous selective ones of said priming cells in each grouping thereof, said glow discharge being visible through the viewing window,
- said second means including a plurality of elongated electrodes each in gas discharge relationship with at least one priming cell of each of said priming cell groupings,
- means for producing a glow discharge in all of the priming cells of the first of said priming cell groupings, after said reset priming cell grouping is energized and turned on, and then in all of the cells of the remaining priming cell groupings, one grouping after the next, to scan the array of priming cells, and
- means for applying each of a succession of groups of information signals selectively to said second means and across selective priming cells in each of said priming cell groupings, in synchronism with the scanning of the priming cell groupings, to produce glow discharges selectively in the regions adjacent the priming cell grouping being scanned, one after the next, to provide an overall glow discharge pattern visible through said viewing window.
- 5. A display panel comprising
- a gas-tight envelope having a viewing window and containing an ionizable gas,
- a plurality of gas discharge priming cells disposed within said envelope in an array of side-by-side groupings, and including a first, a last, and intermediate groupings,
- a reset priming cell grouping disposed adjacent to said first priming cell grouping in said array,
- said reset priming cell grouping and said priming cell groupings not being intended to be used in displaying information or to be viewed, first means coupled to said reset priming cell grouping for energizing and turning on said entire reset priming cell grouping before said first priming cell grouping is energized so that excited particles will be available for said first priming cell grouping from said reset priming cell grouping and subsequent turn-on of said first priming cell grouping is thus facilitated, said first priming cell grouping being turned on first in a scanning cycle in which all of said priming cell groupings are turned on sequentially from the beginning to the end of said array,
- second means for producing glow discharges in display regions contiguous selective ones of said priming cells in each grouping thereof, said glow discharges being visible through the viewing window,
- said second means including a plurality of elongated electrodes each in gas discharge relationship with at least one priming cell of each of said priming cell groupings,
- means for producing a glow discharge in all of the priming cells of the first of said priming cell groupings, after said reset priming cell grouping is energized and turned on, and then in all of the cells of the remaining priming cell groupings, one grouping after the next, to scan the array of priming cells, and
- means for applying each of a succession of groups of information signals selectively to said elongated electrodes, and across selective priming cells in each of said priming cell groupings, in synchronism with the scanning of the priming cell groupings, to produce glow discharges selectively in the regions adjacent the priming cell grouping being scanned, one after the next, to provide an overall glow discharge pattern visible through said viewing window.
- 6. A display panel comprising
- a gas-tight envelope containing an ionizable gas,
- a plurality of gas discharge priming cell regions disposed side-by-side in a series within said envelope, each such region being in gas coupling relationship to the adjacent regions to prime said adjacent regions, and including a first, a last, and intermediate regions,
- a reset priming cell region disposed adjacent to said first priming cell region in said series,
- said reset priming cell region and said priming cell regions not being intended to be used in displaying information or to be viewed,
- first means coupled to said reset priming cell region for energizing and turning on said entire reset priming cell region before said first priming cell region is energized so that excited particles will be available for said first priming cell region, from said reset priming cell region, and subsequent turn-on of said first priming cell region is thus facilitated, said first priming cell region being turned on first in a scanning cycle in which all of said priming cell regions are turned on sequentially from the beginning to the end of said series,
- second means for producing glow discharges in display regions contiguous selective ones of said priming cells in each said region thereof, said glow discharges being visible through the viewing window,
- means for producing a glow discharge in all of the priming cells of the first of said priming cell groupings, after said reset priming cell grouping is energized and turned on, and then in all of the cells of the remaining priming cell groupings, one grouping after the next, to scan the array of priming cells, and
- means for applying each of a succession of groups of information signals selectively to said second means and across selective priming cells in each of said priming cell regions, in synchronism with the scanning of the priming cell regions, to produce glow discharges selectively in the regions adjacent the priming cell regions being scanned, one after the next, to provide an overall glow discharge pattern visible through said viewing window.
- 7. A display panel comprising
- a gas-tight envelope containing an ionizable gas,
- a plurality of gas discharge priming cell regions disposed side-by-side in a series within said envelope, each such region being in gas coupling relationship to the adjacent regions to prime said adjacent regions, there being a first, a last, and intermediate priming cell regions in said series,
- a plurality of gas discharge display cells disposed within said envelope in an array of side-by-side groupings, one such grouping being located adjacent each of said priming cell regions, with an open area of predetermined dimensions between the priming cell region and at least one of the display cells of the adjacent display cell grouping to effect a controlled amount of gas coupling therebetween,
- at least a first and second electrode in gas coupling relationship with each of said display cells,
- a reset gas discharge priming cell region disposed adjacent to said first priming cell region in said series,
- means for energizing and turning on said reset priming cell region before said first priming cell region is scanned in each scanning cycle,
- means for sequentially and repetitively producing a glow discharge in said first priming cell regions, and then in the remaining priming cell regions, one after the other, to scan said priming cell regions, one at a time in said series, and
- means for scanning said groupings of display cells in turn, one after another, during the scanning of said priming cell regions, and applying groups of information signals selectively across the first and second electrodes of selected display cells of each display cell grouping, the application of a group of information signals to selected display cells of a grouping being generally in synchronism with the production of glow discharge in the region of priming cells disposed adjacent to the grouping of display cells so that excited particles generated by the glow of the priming cells is available to the selected display cells.
- 8. A gas discharge panel comprising
- a gas-tight envelope containing an ionizable gas,
- a plurality of gas discharge priming cells disposed within said envelope in an array of rows and columns, each such column being in gas coupling communication with its adjacent columns, so that each such column, while it is energized to produce a gas discharge, serves to prime its adjacent columns, there being a first column, a last column and intermediate columns in a series,
- a reset priming cell column disposed adjacent to said first priming cell column in said series,
- said reset priming cell column and said priming cell columns not being intended to be used in displaying information or to be viewed,
- means coupled to said reset priming cell column for energizing and turning on all of the cells of said reset priming cell column before said first priming cell column is energized so that excited particles will be available for said first priming cell column from said reset priming cell column and subsequent turn-on of said first priming cell column is thus facilitated, said first priming cell column being turned on first in a scanning cycle in which all of said priming cell columns are turned on sequentially from the beginning to the end of said series,
- at least first and second electrodes in gas discharge relationship with each of said priming cells,
- means including a plurality of column conductors, each of which is connected to all of the first electrodes of a column of said priming cells, and every third one of which is connected electrically in common for producing a glow discharge in all of the cells of a column of said priming cells, and then in all of the cells of the remaining priming cell columns, one column after the next, to scan the priming cells in a column-by-column scan throughout said series.
- 9. A gas discharge panel as in claim 8 further including
- a plate-like member of insulating material with a plurality of apertures therein forming said priming cells and said reset priming cells, and
- a plurality of grooves in said plate-like member, each extending between a row of said priming cells and said priming cells to afford the gas coupling communication between adjacent priming cell columns and between said reset priming cells and said first column of priming cells.
Parent Case Info
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 487,955, filed July 12, 1974 as a continuation of application Ser. No. 255,133, filed May 19, 1972, now abandoned, as a continuation of application Ser. No. 850,984, filed Aug. 18, 1969, now abandoned, as a Continuation-in-Part of application Ser. No. 828,793, filed May 28, 1969, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
3334269 |
L'Heureux |
Aug 1967 |
|
3644925 |
Kupsky |
Feb 1972 |
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Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
487955 |
Jul 1974 |
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Continuations (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
255133 |
May 1972 |
|
Parent |
850984 |
Aug 1969 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
828793 |
May 1969 |
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