ADDRESSING LIQUID CRYSTAL CELLS

Abstract: A method of addressing a matrix addressed ferroelectric liquid crystal cell is described that uses parallel entry of balanced bipolar data pulses on one set of electrodes to co-operate with serial entry of unipolar strobe pulses on the other set of electrodes. Data entry is preceded with blanking (erasing) pulses applied to the strobe lines. The polarity of the strobing and blanking pulses is periodically reversed to maintain charge balance in the long term.

Description: This invention relates to the addressing of matrix array type ferroelectric liquid crystal cells. Hitherto dynamic scattering mode liquid crystal cells have been operated using a d.c. drive or an a.c. one, whereas field effect mode liquid crystal devices have generally been operated using an a.c. drive in order to avoid performance impairment problems associated with electrolytic degradation of the liquid crystal layer. Such devices have employed liquid crystals that do not exhibit ferroelectricity, and the material interracts with an applied electric field by way of an induced dipole. As a result they are not sensitive to the polarity of the applied field, but respond to the applied RMS voltage averaged over approximately one response time at that voltage. There may also be frequency dependence as in the case of so-called two-frequency materials, but this only affects the type of response produced by the applied field. In contrast to this, a ferroelectric liquid crystal exhibits a permanent electric dipole, and it is this permanent dipole which will interact with an appplied electric field. Ferroelectric liquid crystals are of interest in display, switching and information processing applications because they are expected to show a greater coupling with an applied field than that typical of a liquid crystal that relies on coupling with an induced dipole, and hence ferroelectric liquid crystals are expected to show a faster response. A ferroelectric liquid crystal display mode is described for instance by N.A.Clark et al in a paper entitled 'Ferro-electric Liquid Crystal Electro-Optics Using the Surface Stabilized Structure' appearing in Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. 1983 Volume 94 pages 213 to 234. By way of example reference may also be made to an alternative mode that is described in the specification of British Patent Application GB-A-2166256 filed on 25 October 1986 and published on 30 April 1986 which is later than the priority date of the present specification. A particularly significant characteristic peculiar to ferroelectric smectic cells is the fact that they, unlike other types of liquid crystal cell, are responsive differently according to the polarity of the applied field. This characteristic sets the choice of a suitable matrix-addressed driving system for a ferroelectric smectic into a class of its own. A further factor which can be significant is that, in the region of switching times of the order of a microsecond, a ferroelectric smectic typically exhibits a relatively weak dependence of its switching time upon switching voltage. In this region the switching time of a ferroelectric may typically exhibit a response time proportional to the inverse square of applied voltage or, even worse, proportional to the inverse single power of voltage. In contrast to this, a (non-ferroelectric) smectic A device, which in certain other respects is a comparable device exhibiting a long-term storage capability, exhibits in a corresponding region of switching speeds a response time that is typically proportional to the inverse fifth power of voltage. The significance of this difference becomes apparent when it is appreciated first that there is a voltage threshold beneath which a signal will never produce switching however long that signal is maintained; second that for any chosen voltage level above this voltage threshold there is a minimum time t S for which the signal has to be maintained to effect switching; and third that at this chosen voltage level there is a shorter minimum time t P beneath which the application of the signal voltage produces no persistent effect, but above which, upon removal of the signal voltage, the liquid crystal does not revert fully to the state subsisting before the signal was applied. When the relationship t S = f(V) between V and t S is known, a working guide to the relationship between V and t P is often found to be given by the curve t P = g(V) formed by plotting (V₁, t₂) where the points (V₁, t₁ and V₂, t₂) lie on the t S = f(V) curve, and where t₁ = 10t₂. Now the ratio of V₂/V₁ is increased as the inverse dependence of switching time upon applied voltage weakens, and hence, when the working guide is applicable, a consequence of weakened dependence is an increased intolerance of the system to the incidence of wrong polarity signals to any pixel, that is signals tending to switch to the '1' state a pixel intended to be left in the '0' state, or to switch to the '0' state a pixel intended to be left in the '1' state. Therefore, a good drive scheme for addressing a ferroelectric liquid crystal cell must take account of polarity, and may also need to take particular care to minimise the incidence of wrong polarity signals to any given pixel whether it is intended as '1' state pixel or a '0' state one. Some drive schemes that satisfy these criteria are described in the specification of Australian Patent Application No AU-A-3285584. All the addressing schemes of that specification employ balances bipolar data pulses, and the specification explains that the advantage of using this type of data pulse is that any given pixel is thereby prevented from being subject to staircase effects whilst others lines of pixels are being strobed. Staircase effects are avoided because, each data pulse to which that given pixel is exposed while other lines are being strobed, first provides an impulse tending to drive that pixel one way, and then immediately succeeds that impulse with an equal magnitude, but oppositely directed, impulse that restores the balance. The Australian specification is not however expressly concerned with another desirable feature of a good drive scheme for addressing a ferroelectric liquid crystal cell, namely that the waveforms applied to the individual electrodes by which the pixels are addressed need to be charge-balanced at least in the long term. If the electrodes are not insulated from the liquid crystal this is so as to avoid electrolytic degradation of the liquid crystal brought about by a net flow of direct current through the liquid crystal. On the other hand if the electrodes are insulated, it is to prevent a cumulative build up of charge at the interface between the liquid crystal and the insulation. The two drive schemes of the Australian specification specifically described with reference to its Figures 2 and 3 employ balanced bipolar strobe pulses to co-operate with the balanced bipolar data pulses. It is explained that with this form of strobe pulse it is possible to employ a single strobe pulse not only to switch some pixels in one direction, but also to switch others in the opposite direction. Accordingly there is no need with such a drive scheme to employ page or line blanking to set all pixels of a page or line to the same state prior to the commencement of the addressing of a line of pixels with the requisite data. It follows that such drive schemes that employ not only balanced bipolar data pulses, but also balanced bipolar strobe pulses, automatically satisfy the desired electrode charge balancing, not only in the long term, but also in the short term. The drive scheme of the Australian specification specifically described with reference to its Figure 1 employs unipolar (unidirectional) strobe pulses to co-operate with the balanced bipolar data pulses. It is thus clear that, though the desired electrode charge balancing condition is met in respect of the electrodes on which the data is applied; the condition is not met, at least in the short term, in respect of the electrodes on which the strobe pulses are applied. However the Australian specification does explain that, when using unipolar strobe pulses, some form of blanking is required, and explains that such blanking can conveniently be effected by the use of blanking pulses whose polarity is the opposite of that of the strobe pulses. It is in principle therefore possible to achieve electrode charge balance in the long term by employing a form of blanking pulse waveform applied to the strobe electrodes that will produce an impulse that exactly compensates that provided by the application of the strobe pulses. The present invention is directed to an alternative way of achieving the desired long term electrode charge balance. According to the present invention a method of addressing a matrix-array type liquid crystal cell with a ferroelectric liquid crystal layer whose pixels are defined by the areas of overlap between the members of a first set of electrodes on one side of the liquid crystal layer and the members of a second set on the other side of the layer, wherein the pixels are addressed on a line-by-line basis after erasure, wherein unipolar blanking pulses are applied to the members of the first set of electrodes to effect erasure, and wherein for selective addressing of the pixels unipolar strobing pulses are applied serially to the members of the first set of electrodes while charge balanced bipolar data pulses are applied in parallel to the members of the second set, the positive going parts being synchronised with the strobe pulse for one data significance and the negative going parts being synchronised with the strobe pulse for the other data significance, and characterised in that the polarities of the strobe and blanking pulses are periodically reversed to provide a charge balance for the individual members of the first set of electrodes. There follows a description of a ferroelectric liquid crystal cell and of a number of ways by which it may be addressed. With the exception of the first method, which has been included for the purposes of comparison, all these methods embody the present invention in preferred forms. The first method is one of the methods described in Australian Patent Specification No. AU-A-3285584. The description refers to the accompanying drawings in which:- Figure 1 depicts a schematic perspective view of a ferroelectric liquid crystal cell; Figure 2 depicts the waveforms of a drive scheme previously described in Australian Patent Specification No. AU-A-3285584, and Figures 3 to 9 depict the waveforms of seven alternative drive schemes embodying the invention in preferred forms. Referring now to Figure 1, a hermetically sealed envelope for a liquid crystal layer is formed by securing together two glass sheets 11 and 12 with a perimeter seal 13. The inward facing surfaces of the two sheets carry transparent electrode layers 14 and 15 of indium tin oxide, and each of these electrode layers is covered within the display area defined by the perimeter seal with a polymer layer, such as polyimide (not shown), provided for molecular alignment purposes. Both polyimide layers are rubbed in a single direction so that when a liquid crystal is brought into contact with them they will tend to promote planar alignment of the liquid crystal molecules in the direction of the rubbing. The cell is assembled with the rubbing directions aligned parallel with each other. Before the electrode layers 14 and 15 are covered with the polymer, each one is patterned to define a set of strip electrodes (not shown) that individually extend across the display area and on out to beyond the perimeter seal to provide contact areas to which terminal connection may be made. In the assembled cell the electrode strips of layer 14 extend transversely of those of layer 15 so as to define a pixel at each elemental area where an electrode strip of layer 15 is overlapped by a strip of layer 14. The thickness of the liquid crystal layer contained within the resulting envelope is determined by the thickness of the perimeter seal, and control over the precision of this may be provided by a light scattering of short lengths of glass fibre (not shown) of uniform diameter distributed through the material of the perimeter seal. Conveniently the cell is filled by applying a vacuum to an aperture (not shown) through one of the glass sheets in one corner of the area enclosed by the perimeter seal so as to cause the liquid crystal medium to enter the cell by way of another aperture (not shown) located in the diagonally opposite corner. (Subsequent to the filling operation the two apertures are sealed.) The filling operation is carried out with the filling material heated into its isotropic phase as to reduce its viscosity to a suitably low value. It will be noted that the basic construction of the cell is similar to that of for instance a conventional twisted nematic, except of course for the parallel alignment of the rubbing directions. Typically the thickness of the perimeter seal 13, and hence of the liquid crystal layer, is about 10 microns, but thinner or thicker layer thicknesses may be required to suit particular applications depending for instance upon whether or not bistability of operation is required and upon whether the layer is to be operated in the S * / C phase or in one of the more ordered phases such as S * / I or S * / F. Some drive schemes for ferroelectric cells are described in Patent Specification No. 2146473A. Among these is a scheme that is described with particular reference to Figure 1 of that specification, a part of which has been reproduced herein in slightly modified form as Figure 2. This employs bipolar data pulses 21a, 21b to co-act with unipolar strobe pulses 20. The strobe pulses 20 are applied serially to the electrode strips of one electrode layer, while the data pulses 21a, and 21b are applied in parallel to those of the other layer. In this particular scheme the unipolar nature of the strobe pulses dictates that pixels are capable of being switched by these pulses in one direction only. Accordingly, some form of blanking is required between consecutive addressings of any pixel. In the description it is suggested that this may take the form of a pulse (not shown) applied to the strobe line which is of opposite polarity to that of the strobe pulses. A pixel is switched on by the coincidence of a voltage excursion of V S , of duration t S , on its strobe line with a voltage excursion of -V D , for an equal duration, on its data line. These two voltage excursions combine to produce a switching voltage of (V S + V D ) for a duration t S . Since the switching voltage threshold for duration t S is close to (V S + V D ), a blanking pulse applied to the strobe lines without any corresponding voltage excursion on the data lines will not be sufficient to achieve the requisite blanking if it is of amplitude V S and duration t S . Therefore, if no voltage is to be applied to the data lines, the amplitude of the blanking pulse must be increased to (V S + V D ), or its duration must be extended beyond t S . Both these options have the effect of removing charge balance from the strobe lines. Attention will now be turned to Figure 3 which depicts waveforms according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention. Blanking, strobing, data '0' and data '1' waveforms are depicted respectively at 30, 31, 32 and 33. As before, the data pulse waveforms are applied in parallel to the electrode strips of one of the electrode layers 14, 15, while strobe pulses are applied serially to those of the other electrode layer. The blanking pulses are applied to the set of electrode strips to which the strobe pulses are applied. These blanking pulses may be applied to each electrode strip in turn, to selected groups in turn, or to all strips at once according to specific blanking requirements. The data pulses 32 and 33 are balanced bipolar pulses, each having positive and negative going excursions of magnitude |V D | and duration t S to give a total duration 2t S . If the operating constraints allow consecutive lines to be addressed without interruption, then unaddressed pixels receiving consecutive data pulses may see a data 1 followed immediately by a data '0', or alternatively a data '0' followed immediately by a data '1'. In either instance the liquid crystal layer at such a pixel will be exposed to a potential difference of V D for a period of 2t S . Therefore, the magnitude of V D must be set so that this is insufficient to effect switching from either data state to the other. The first illustrated strobe pulse 31a is a positive going unipolar pulse of amplitude V S and duration t S . All strobe pulses are synchronised with the first half of their corresponding data pulses. (They could alternatively have been synchronised with the second halves, in which case the data significance of the data pulse waveforms is reversed.) The liquid crystal layer at each pixel addressed by that data pulse will, for the duration of that strobe pulse, be exposed to a potential difference of (V S - V D ) if that pixel is simultaneously addressed with a data '0' waveform, or a potential difference of (V S + V D ) if it is simultaneously addressed with a data '1' waveform. The magnitudes of V S and V D are chosen so that (V S + V D )_ applied for a duration t S is sufficient to effect switching, but (V S - V D ), and V D , both for a similar duration t S , are not. The data pulses are thus seen to be able to switch the pixels in one direction only, and hence, before they are adressed, they need to be set to the other state by means of blanking pulses 30. The blanking pulse preceding any strobing pulse needs to be of the opposite polarity to that of the strobing pulse. Thus positive going strobe pulses 31a are preceded by negative going blanking pulses 30a, while negative going strobe pulses 31b are preceded by positive going blanking pulses 30b. Each blanking pulse is of sufficient amplitude and duration to set the electrode strip or strips to which it is applied into data '0' or '1' state as dictated by polarity. It may for instance be of magnitude |V S + V D | and duration t S , but a shorter or longer duration pulse, with correspondingly increased or reduced amplitude, may be preferred to suit specific requirements. The first blanking pulse of Figure 3 is a negative going pulse which sets the pixels to which it is applied into the data '0' state. If it is applied to only one electrode strip, then a fresh blanking pulse will be required before the next strip is addressed with a strobing pulse, whereas if the blanking pulse is applied in parallel to group of electrode strips, or to the whole set of electrode strips of that electrode layer 14 or 15, then each one of the strips which have been blanked can be serially addressed once with an individual strobe pulse before the next blanking pulse is required. Periodically the polarity of the blanking pulse is reversed, directly after which the polarity of the succeeding strobe pulse or pulses is also reversed. Such polarity reversals may occur with each consecutive blanking of any given electrode strip, or such a strip may receive a small number of blanking pulses and addressings with strobe pulses before it is subject to a plarity reversal. The periodic polarity reversals may be effected on a regular basis with a set number of addressings between each reversal, or it may be on a random basis. A random basis is indicated for instance when the blanking pulses are applied to selected groups of strips, and a facility is provided that enables the sizes of those groups to be changed in the course of data refreshing. These polarity reversals ensure that in the course of time each strip is individually addressed with equal numbers of positive going and negative going blanking pulses. A consequence of this is that each strip is also addressed with equal number of positive going and negative going strobe pulses. Hence over a period of several addressings charge balance is maintained. Previously it was suggested that if the blanking pulse were to have a duration t S , it should have a magnitude |V S + V D | in order to be sufficient to effect blanking. This is true if the set of electrode strips to which the blanking pulses are not applied are kept at zero volts when the blanking pulses are applied to the other set of electrodes. The blanking pulse voltage can however in certain circumstances be reduced to V S without expanding the duration provided that, while this is applied to (selected) members of one set of strips, it is synchronised with an oppositely directed voltage excursion of -V D applied to all the members of the other set of strips. This introduces a momentary charge imbalance on the individual members of this other set of strips, but in the longer term this is removed by the periodic inversion of the polarity of the blanking pulses. When an electrode strip is addressed with a negative going blanking pulse 30a the pixels associated with that strip are all set into the data '0' state. The succeeding strobe pulse is a positive going pulse 31a. The only data pulse to co-operate with a positive going strobe pulse to develop a potential difference of (V S + V D ) across the liquid crystal layer is a data '1' waveform 33. When however, the strip is addressed with a positive going blanking pulse 30b, the pixels associated with that strip are set into the data '1' state. The succeeding strobe pulse 31b is negative going. This cooperates with the data '1' waveform 33 to develop a potential difference of on (V S -V D ) across the liquid crystal layer, and hence the effect upon pixels addressed with this data waveform is to leave those pixels in the data '1' state. Thus it is seen that the data significance of the two data waveforms is invariant under change of polarity of the strobe and blanking pulse waveforms. When using the pulse waveforms of Figure 3 for addressing a ferroelectric cell in a frame blanking mode in which the blanking pulse is applied in parallel to all the electrode strips of one of the electrode layers 14, 15, the minimum line address time is seen to be 2t S . There is then an interval between frames to allow for frame blanking. The minimum value of the line address time 2t S is related to the choice of the full switching voltage (V S + V D ). It has been found however, that in some circumstances the minimum conditions for achieving switching are adversely affected if the switching stimulus is immediately followed by a stimulus of the opposite polarity. This is the situation prevailing when using the data entry waveforms of Figure 3. Each time a pixel is switched by strobe and data pulse waveforms co-operating to produce a potential difference across the liquid crystal layer of (V S + V D ), this is immediately followed by an oppositely directed potential difference of V D . At least under some conditions the switching criteria can be somewhat relaxed, for instance to allow a shortening of the duration t S , or a reduction of the switching voltage V S + V D . This may be achieved by introducing a gap of duration t₀₁ between the two halves of the data pulse waveforms 42 and 43 as depicted in Figure 4. In all other respects the waveforms are the same as those depicted in Figure 3. The corresponding strobe pulse waveform 41 still has its leading and trailing edged synchronised with the leading and trailing edges of the parts of the data pulses preceding the zero voltage gaps t₀₁. Typically the duration t₀₁ is approximately 60% of the duration t S . It should be noted however, that any relaxation of the switching criteria afforded by this introduction of the zero voltage gap between the positive and negative going parts of the data pulse waveforms is achieved at the expense of increasing the line address time from 2t S to (2t S + t₀₁). A similar effect has also been found upon occasion where switching response has been adversely affected by a reverse polarity stimulus that immediately precedes the switching stimulus. This is alleviated by including a further gap of t₀₂ (not shown) to precede the first halves of the data pulses, thereby increasing the line address time to (2t S + t₀₁ + t₀₂). The durations of t₀₁ and t₀₂ may be the same, but are not necessarily so. Examination of the switching characteristics of certain ferroelectric cells has revealed that it is possible in some circumstances to modify the data pulse waveforms of Figure 3 to achieve a line address time of less than 2t S . The modified data '0' and data '1' waveforms are depicted respectively at 52 and 53 in Figure 5. The parts before the zero-crossing are unchanged: they are synchronised with the strobe pulse of magnitude |V S | and duration t S , and are themselves of magnitude |V D | and duration t S . For each type of data pulse the voltage excursion of the second part, the part after the zero-crossing, is m times that of the first part, but charge balance is restored by reducing the duration of the second part by a factor m in relation to the duration of the first. The factor m is typically not more than 3. The line address time is reduced by the use of these asymmetric waveforms from 2t S to (1+1/m)t S . The Figure 5 data entry waveforms involve following a switching stimulus immediately with a stimulus of opposite polarity. This can be avoided by incorporating a short duration gap between the two parts of the data waveforms after the manner previously described with reference to Figure 4. This produces the '0' and '1' data waveforms 62 and 63 of Figure 6. The line address time in this instance is (1 + 1/m)t S + t₀₁. When operating a ferroelectric cell of n lines with waveforms as depicted in Figures 3, 4, 5 or 6, if the line address time is t L and the blanking time is t B , then the time taken to refresh a whole frame is nt L + t B when the cell is operated in frame blanking mode. However, if it were operated in line blanking mode in which each line is individually blanked, the refresh time is expanded to n(t L + t B ). This problem is avoided with the waveforms of Figure 7. This uses a modified form of strobe pulses 71 the first part of which functions to blank one line during the data entry for the preceding line. The strobe pulses 71 are bipolar pulses, but are individually unbalanced and therefore exist in two forms 71a and 71b which are the inverse of each other and are periodically alternated to provide charge balance in the long term. Strobe pulse 71a is negative going to a voltage -V S for a duration 2t S , is then immediately positive going to a voltage +V S for a duration t S and then remains at zero volts for a further duration t S . The co-operating '0' and '1' data pulses 72 and 73 are identical with those of Figure 3, being balanced bipolar pulses ranging from +V D to -V D , and of total duration 2t S . The leading edges of the strobe pulses are synchronised with those of the data pulses so that a data pulse that is synchronised with the first half of a strobe pulse applied to electrode strip 'p' is also synchronised with the second half of the strobe pulse applied to electrode strip (p-1). From a study of these waveforms of Figure 7 it is seen that a data '0' synchronised with the first half of the first type of strobe pulse 71a will set a pixel to the '0' state in the first half of that data '0', and leave it in the '0' state for the second half. If on the other hand the data waveform was that of a data '1' pulse, then the pixel would not be switched in the first half of that data pulse waveform, but would be set into the '0' state by the second half of the data pulse. Then the next data pulse will co-operate with the second half of the strobe pulse waveform to set the pixel into the data '1' state if that next data pulse is a data '1' pulse, but will leave it in the data '0' state if it is a data '0' pulse. Similarly, it will be seen that with the second type of strobe pulse 71b a pixel is set into the data '1' state by a data pulse synchronised with the first half of the strobe pulse, and is left in that '1' state if the next data pulse is a data '1' pulse, but will be restored to the '0' state if that next data pulse is a data '0' pulse waveform. Typically, the strobe pulse waveforms 71a and 71b are alternated with each frame. The waveforms of Figure 7 illustrate another example of drive system in which a switching stimulus is immediately followed by a stimulus of opposite plarity. Hence it is another example of a system that can be modified to introduce gaps in the waveforms which separate the reverse polarity stimulus from the switching stimulus by a short duration period during which no field is maintained across the liquid crystal layer. The resulting waveforms are depicted in Figure 8 The data '0' and data '1' pulse waveforms 82 and 83 each have a zero voltage gap of duration t₀₁ inserted between their first and second halves which remain of amplitude V D and duration t S . Additionally, a zero voltage of duration t₀₂ is introduced between consecutive data waveforms. The durations of t₀₁ and t₀₂ may be the same, but are not necessarily so. Corresponding gaps are also inserted into the strobe pulse waveforms 81a and 81b. Since however, the potential across the liquid crystal is not reversed at a pixel between the first and second parts of the strobe pulse, there is no need for the strobe potential to return to zero for the period t₀₁ between these two parts, and it may be found more convenient to maintain the potential for the full period of (2t S + t₀₁) as indicated by broken lines 81c. Alternatively the line blanking may be performed more than one line in advance of the data entry as for instance depicted in Figure 9. As before, strobe pulses 91a and 91b, which are the inverse of each other, are periodically alternated to provide charge balance in the long term. Strobe pulse 91a has a total duration of 6t S . In the first third it is negative going to a voltage -V S for a duration 2t S . In the second third it remains at zero volts for the whole duration 2t S , and in the final third it is first positive going to a voltage +V S for a duration t S and then reverts to zero volts for the final duration t S . The co-operating '0' and '1' data pulses 92 and 93 are identical with those of Figure 3, being balanced bipolar pulses ranging from +V D to V D , and of total duration 2t S . The leading edges of the strobe pulses are synchronised with those of the data pulses so that a data pulse that is synchronised with the first third of a strobe pulse applied to electrode strip 'p' is also synchronised with the middle third of the strobe pulse applied to electrode strip (p-1), and with the final third of the strobe pulse applied to electrode strip (p-2). From a study of these waveforms it is seen that the first third of a strobe pulse 91a will set a pixel into '0' state whether it is synchronised with a '0' data pulse or a '1' data pulse; that in the second third the voltages are insufficient for switching; and that in the final third the pixel will be left in the '0' state if that final third is synchronised with a data '0' pulse wavefrom, but will be restored to the '1' state if it is synchronised with a data '1' waveform. A line is then blanked for two line address times before being written instead of for only one line address time provided by the waveforms of Figure 7. However, whereas with the waveforms of Figure 7 data entry that induces switching of a pixel in a period t S can be preceded by exposure of that pixel in the immediately preceding period of duration t S by an opposite polarity stimulus of magnitude |V S + V D | , with the waveforms of Figure 9 the maximum reverse polarity stimulus that can occur in this period t S immediately preceding the data entry switching is a reverse polarity stimulus of magnitude |V D |.

Claims: A method of addressing a matrix-array type liquid crystal cell with a ferroelectric liquid crystal layer whose pixels are defined by the areas of overlap between the members of a first set of electrodes on one side of the liquid crystal layer and the members of a second set on the other side of the layer, wherein the pixels are addressed on a line-by-line basis after erasure, wherein unipolar blanking pulses are applied to the members of the first set of electrodes to effect erasure, and wherein for selective addressing of the pixels unipolar strobing pulses are applied serially to the members of the first set of electrodes while charge balanced bipolar data pulses are applied in parallel to the members of the second set, the positive going parts being synchronised with the strobe pulse for one data significance and the negative going parts being synchronised with the strobe pulse for the other data significance, and characterised in that the polarities of the strobe and blanking pulses are periodically reversed to provide a charge balance for the individual members of the first set of electrodes. A method as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the polarities of the strobe and blanking pulses are periodically reversed on a regular basis. A method as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the polarities of the strobe and blanking pulses are periodically reversed on a random basis. A method as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that a gap separates the positive and negative going portions of each balanced bipolar data pulse. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, characterised in that a gap always precedes or follows each data pulse. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, characterised in that the positive and negative going portions of each balanced bipolar data pulse are asymmetric, one part having m times the amplitude of the other and 1/m th the duration. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the blanking pulses and strobing pulses are combined so that, while the strobing part of one of these combined blanking and strobing pulses is being used for data entry on one line, the same data co-operates with the blanking part of the succeeding, and partially overlapping in time, combined blanking and strobing pulse to effect blanking of a succeeding line. A method as claimed in claim 7, characterised in that the succeeding line is the next succeeding line. A method as claimed in claim 7, characterised in that the succeeding line is the next but one succeeding line.

Inventors: AYLIFFE, PETER JOHN, DAVEY, ANTHONY BERNARD
Applicants: STC PLC
Application year: 1986
Main classification: G09G3
IPC codes: G02F1, G09G3