Date:2016-01-06 03:05 Share it：           

Possibly the first true all LED flat panel television TV screen was developed, demonstrated and documented by J. P. Mitchell in 1977. The modular, scalable display was initially designed with hundreds of MV50 LEDs and a newly available TTL memory addressing circuit fromNational Semiconductor. The ¼ in thin flat panel prototype and the scientific paper were displayed at the 29th ISEF expo sponsored by theSociety for Science and the Public in Washington D.C. May 1978. The technical display received awards and recognition.Awards included NASA, General Motors Corporation, and recognition from faculty and area Universities and the IEEE. Themonochromatic LED prototype remains operational.

An LCD (liquid crystal display) matrix design was also cited in the LED paper as an alternative x-y scan technology and as a future alternate television display method. The replacement of the 70 year+ high-voltage analog system (cathode-ray tube technology) with a digital x-y scan system has been significant. Displacement of the electromagnetic scan systems included the removal of inductive deflection, electron beam and color convergence circuits. The digital x-y scan system has helped the modern television to “collapse” into its current thin form factor.

In 1978, Mitchell also submitted his paper to the Westinghouse Science Talent Search contest, where he received an Honorable Mention.

Mitchell also presented his paper at the 90th Session of The Iowa Academy of Science April 21–22, 1978, at the University of Northern Iowa,Cedar Falls, Iowa.

The 1977 model was monochromatic by design. Efficient blue LEDs did not arrive for another decade. Large displays now use high-brightness diodes to generate a wide spectrum color palette. It took three decades and organic electroluminescent materials for Sony to introduce an LED TV: the Sony XEL-1.