Patent ID: 6035180
Filing Date: 2000-03-07
Classification: B33Y,G06F,H01H,H04M

Abstract:
An outer housing for a modular telecommunication device comprising:an upper and lower shell sealed to one another and formed of a material which is impervious to moisture and oxygen with at least a portion of said upper shell being transparent to light;an organic electroluminescent display assembly contained within said sealed upper and lower shells which includes,a composite layer of organic electroluminescent material having the characteristic of producing illumination in response to voltage across the material;a first layer of electrically conductive material on one side of said layer of composite organic electroluminescent material, said first layer comprising a plurality of parallel elongate conductive strips separated from one another and connected to an electrical terminal on the outside of said sealed upper and lower shells;a second layer of electrically conductive material on the other side of said layer of composite organic electroluminescent material from said first layer, said second layer comprising a plurality of parallel elongate conductive strips separated from one another and extending in a direction at an angle to the conductive strips in said first layer to define a pixel area within the organic electroluminescent layer between each crosspoint region between an overlying and underlying conductive strip, each of said strips in said second layer also being connected to an electrical terminal on the outside of said sealed upper and lower shells; anda circuit for selectively applying electrical power to the electrical terminals connected to selected ones of said separate strips within said first and second conductive layers to illuminate said pixel areas at the crosspoint regions between each underlying and overlying conductive strip to which electrical power is selective applied and allow said illuminated pixels to be visible through portions of said upper and lower shell which are transparent.