Linearly-addressed light-emitting fiber, and flat panel display employing same

Light-emitting apparatus comprising:

• an elongated substrate having a length;
• at least one electrical conductor disposed along the length said elongated substrate for conducting an electrical signal along the length of said elongated substrate;
• a plurality of light-emitting elements disposed along the length of and on one surface of said elongated substrate, each said light-emitting element having first and second electrodes and a light-emissive material therebetween, wherein the electrical signal is selectively applied between the first and second electrodes of each light-emitting element to cause said light-emitting element to emit light;
• a source of an information-representative signal operably associated with said elongated substrate for propagating the information-representative signal along the length of said elongated substrate;
• and
• a plurality of detectors disposed along the length of said elongated substrate and each operably associated with one of said plurality of light-emitting elements for selectively applying the electrical signal thereto in response to the information-representative signal propagating along said elongated substrate.

A display for displaying information comprising:

• a plurality of fibers disposed in side-by-side arrangement to define a viewing surface of the display;
• at least one electrical conductor disposed along each of said plurality of fibers for conducting an electrical signal along each of said fibers;
• a plurality of light-emitting elements disposed along a surface of each of said plurality of fibers, each said light-emitting element having first and second electrodes between which the electrical signal is applied to cause said light-emitting element to emit light;
• means operably associated with each of said plurality of fibers for propagating an information-representative signal along each said fiber;
• and
• a plurality of detectors disposed along each of said fibers and each operably associated with one of said plurality of light-emitting elements for selectively applying the electrical signal thereto in response to the information-representative signal propagating along said fiber,
• thereby causing ones of said light-emitting elements to emit light to display the information.