Active row backlight, column shutter LCD with one shutter transition per row

A flat-panel display device for displaying images formed from a sequence of frames comprising:

• a linear array of longitudinal active backlights disposed in a first plane, each backlight successively emitting light once per frame for a fixed duration time interval t in successive time periods of duration p, where t.ltoreq.p,
• a linear array of longitudinal liquid-crystal shutters disposed in a second plane parallel to said first plane and oriented perpendicularly to said backlights, each of said shutters having first and second states,
• a liquid-crystal modulator disposed in a third plane parallel to said first and second planes on the same side of said first plane as said second plane, said modulator having first and second states,
• a modulator driver for causing said modulator to make a single transition between its states during each successive time period, and
• a shutter driver for causing each shutter to make at most one transition between its states during each time period, so that light is transmitted during a fraction of the associated time interval delimited by a transition time of said modulator and a transition time of the column shutter.