Patent ID: 8144304

Claim:
An apparatus for use in a display device having a defective signal line with a defect that isolates a first signal line portion from a second signal line portion of the defective signal line, comprising: a signal driver to drive a plurality of signal lines and comprising: a driver output terminal electrically connected to the first signal line portion; a first repair buffer having an input terminal, a control terminal and an output terminal, wherein when the control terminal receives an enable signal, activation of the first repair buffer is controlled by the enable signal applied to the first repair buffer; and a second repair buffer; a first lead connected to the first repair buffer and covering a first signal line and a second signal line of the signal lines; a second lead connected to the second repair buffer and covering a third signal line and a fourth signal line of the signal lines, wherein the first lead does not cover the third and the fourth signal lines and the second lead does not cover the first and the second signal lines; and a repair line, wherein the output terminal of the first repair buffer is electrically connected to one end of the repair line, and the second repair buffer is electrically connected between the driver output terminal and the repair line; wherein the input terminal of the first repair buffer is initially electrically isolated from the defective signal line, and wherein to repair the defective signal line, the input terminal of the first repair buffer is electrically connected to the defective signal line via the first lead to enable a signal from the signal driver to travel through the first repair buffer over the repair line to the second signal line portion of the defective signal line when the enable signal activates the first repair buffer.