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:
Mar. 18, 1997
Filed:
Aug. 22, 1995
Thomas C Christensen, Johnston, IA (US);
Jack L Carter, Ankeny, IA (US);
Douglas E DeVries, Johnston, IA (US);
Alan S Foster, Des Moines, IA (US);
Jacques Y Foster, Des Moines, IA (US);
William G Phelps, Mitchellville, IA (US);
Timothy J Prachar, San Jose, IA (US);
Daniel W Smith, Des Moines, IA (US);
Michael W Walter, Des Moines, IA (US);
Fairtron Corporation, Des Moines, IA (US);
Abstract
A large scale video display of the present invention is designed to receive a standard NTSC video signal and display it on a large scale array of low cost, voltage or current controlled lamp transducers. The video signals are received by a video capture device which receives and digitizes the video signal. A host processor formats the digital data into a number of 16 bit data words each corresponding to a pixel. A coprocessor receives the 16 bit data words and reformats the data. The reformatted data is connected to a large scale display by a fiber optic connection. The display includes a number of transceivers which receive the formatted video data in a memory buffer. The transceivers also receive a board map from the coprocessor. The map indicates which light boards correspond to each part of the memory where the frame image is stored. This information is used by a number of controllers to determine which lights to turn on and at what level of brightness for any given time.