Developments of Plasma Tubes Array Technology for Extra Large Area Film Display

Plasma tubes array is a film display that is able to realize an extra large area emissive display, and also be expected to realize the new industrial applications of wall size display because of its attractive characteristics such as ultra-thin, lightweight, flexible and low power consumption. We had successfully developed a prototype display of 3 m × 2 m screen size which consisted of 6 of 1 m × 1 m sub-modules with seamless connected structure. The weight, thickness and power consumption of the display film were 7.5 kg, 1 mm, and 1200 W, respectively. It enables people to get an immersive experience with high quality real-size images shown on this display, which opens a door to the new world of natural communication in a virtual environment.

I. Introduction

The flat panel display (FPD) was very successful for TV market and has changed the display world. Moreover, FPDs are becoming much thinner and larger and will resemble a big window [1] in a paper thickness. This kind of display will no longer be a traditional “information display” like TVs, but a totally new “ambient display”. Recently, this “ambient display” has become a very attractive candidate for future display systems. An ambient display provides a virtual environment by displaying human size (or real size) images. With this ambient displays and high speed network system, two different places can be connected and people can communicate together in a visual space with a real size picture that helps them share information directly and participate in a co-shared environment. Also, this kind of display will be used as an image-wallpaper that displays not only information but also beautiful landscape. It looks like a typical window anywhere.