The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 24, 1996
Filed:
Sep. 21, 1993
Arie Ravid, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Robert G Poli, Campbell, CA (US);
Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL (US);
Abstract
Redundant segment display characters are used to provide a fail-safe indication of critical parameters. In one preferred form of the invention, selected segments of a redundant segment character include pairs of segments that are arranged proximate to each other and extend generally parallel to each other. The pairs of redundant segments are activated simultaneously in response to multiplexed fore plane and back plane drive signals applied to conductive regions of a liquid crystal display. The remaining portions of the redundant segment character each comprise single activated regions. The portions of the display character that include redundant segments are selected to minimize errors in reading a numeric value indicated by the character in the event that one of the segments fails to operate properly. In another preferred form of the invention, all of the portions of the character are pairs of redundant segments. In yet another embodiment, the pairs of redundant segments are arranged serially, end-to-end. In the event that one of the redundant segments fails to activate or always remains activated, such failure is visually apparent to an operator by comparison to the other segment of the redundant pair.