GB1336729A - Gas discharge display panel systems - Google Patents

Abstract

1336729 Matrix displays BURROUGHS CORP 19 Nov 1970 [3 Dec 1969] 55014/70 Heading G5C [Also in Division H1] A multi-cell gas discharge display panel in which physical communication channels 60, 110 are provided between cells along predetermined paths, as described in Specification 1,317,221, is connected in a circuit arrangement whereby a single cell 90E may be readily selected and fired to initiate scanning along said predetermined paths. In one arrangement, Fig. 3, a matrix of display cells 30 having anode electrodes 70 connected to a driver 140 and cathode electrodes 80 connected in groups of three to drivers 120A, 120B, 120C, is provided at each end with a column of cells 90, the cathodes 100 of which are connected in pairs to drivers 130E, 130F, 130G. With the anode driver 140 energized, the first cathode driver 130E is energized and the first cell 90E is turned on preferentially over the other cell 90E by a starter cell 131 located adjacent thereto. The drivers 130F and 130G are then energized in turn to step the discharge to a selected row, whereupon the drivers 120A, 120B and 120C are energized in turn to step the discharge to a selected column. By carrying out this procedure at a sufficiently high rate, a stationary but changeable message or character made up of selected cells may be displayed, or TV-type scanning can be carried out. Alternatively, once a cell has been turned on, the firing potential can be removed and the glow sustained by applying sustaining pulses as described in Specification 1,273,595. Since excited particles diffuse in two directions along the channels 110 from a discharging cell 90, an auxiliary cell (Figs. 4 and 5, not shown) may be provided in each row between a cell 90 and a cell 30 to ensure that stepping is effected along the correct row. The arrangement described can be applied to the scanning layer of a two-layer panel (Fig. 7, not shown) described in Specification 1,317,221. A wire coated with insulating material may be associated with each cell (Figs. 8-12, not shown) to form a capacitor electrode enabling each cell to be set at a different potential or groups of cells to be set at the same potential.