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Adot-matrix display is a low-cost electronic digitaldisplay device that displays information on machines such as clocks, watches, calculators, and many other devices requiring a simple alphanumeric (and/or graphic) display device of limited resolution.[1]
The display consists of adot matrix of lights or mechanical indicators arranged in a rectangular configuration (other shapes are also possible, although not common) such that by switching on or off selected dots, text or graphics can be displayed. These displays are normally created usingLCD,OLED, orLED technology.[2][3] Some laterVF Displays also use a dot-matrix instead of aSeven-segment display. A dot-matrix display controller converts instructions from a processor into signals that control the individual dots in the matrix so that the required display is produced.
In 1913Frank C Reilly filed a patent application for his Electric display control[4]. In 1914 Danish inventorViggo Jensen put some of the first signs in Europe into operation[5].
In London Daily Express used one of the first examples of real animated dot-matrix built from light bulbs from 1923 on their publishing building[6]. An improved similar screen was later the 1926 proposedMotograph News Bulletin used on Times Square in New York.
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The dot-matrix display is also known by the obsolete term “punktmatrix display”[citation needed] (German for dot-matrix) due to the dot matrix being created inGermany byRudolf Hell in 1925.
In September 1977, theUS Army wrote up a form to the Westinghouse Research and Development Center requesting a more effective energy source that soldiers could use in their technology in the field.[2][non sequitur]Japan andAmerica were using the LCD matrices to develop Casio TVs from 1984 to 2000 creating and experimenting with different display setups.[7] In the 1980s and 1990s, dot-matrix displays were introduced into several technologies including televisions, computers, video game systems, and pinball machines. Dot-matrix displays were added into new pieces of technology as a background part of LCD or OLED displays[8] as the technology improved.
Common sizes of dot-matrix displays:
Other sizes include:
