Passive and Active Matrix

LCDs are a familiar name to everyone household as they offer some real advantages over other display technologies. They are thinner, lighter and draw less power in comparison to cathode ray tubes.

Passive and Active Matrix

Passive matrix LCDs utilizes a grid to supply the charge to a specific pixel on the display. The grid comprises of two glass layers called substrates. A substrate is given column while the other one is given rows built from a transparent conductive material known as indium-tin-oxide. Both the substrates are attached to integrated circuits that control when a charge is sent down a specific column or row.

The liquid crystal material is inserted in between the two glass substrates, and a polarizing film is added to the external side of every substrate. To start a pixel, the integrated circuit sends a charge down the proper column of one substrate and a ground activated on the exact row of the other. When the row and column intersect at the selected pixel, it results in the delivery of desired voltage to untwist the liquid crystal at that pixel.

Active matrix LCDs rely on thin film transistors (TFT) that are mainly tiny switching transistors and capacitors arranged in a matrix on a glass substrate. To deal with a specific pixel, the appropriate row is turn on and a charge is sent down to proper column. Since only the capacitor at the chosen pixel receives a charge it can hold the charge until the subsequent refresh cycle.

Color LCD

LCD that displays color should posses’ three sub-pixels with red, green and blue color filters to create each color pixel. With judicious control and difference of the voltage applied, the strength of each sub-pixel can range more than 256 shades. An amalgamation of sub-pixels generates an approximate palette of 16.8 million colors.

With persistently developing technology LCD utilizes numerous variants of liquid crystal technology that includes super twisted nematics (STN), dual scan twisted nematics (DSTN), ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) and surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal (SSFLC).

Flat panel display

Today Flat panel displays are widely used. They cover a growing number of technologies that enable video displays that are lighter and much thinner compared to the traditional television and video displays which mostly use cathode ray tubes. They are usually less than 4 inches (100 mm) thick. And are divided into two general categories, viz. Volatile or Static.

Volatile

Volatile displays require constant power output to refresh the image on screen many times a second. The image appears steady because the images are refreshed more often than the human eye can perceive.

Examples of Volatile Displays:

• DLP (Digital Light Processing)
• Plasma displays
• Liquid crystal displays (LCDs)
• Organic light-emitting diode displays (OLEDs)
• Light-emitting diode display (LED)
• Electroluminescent displays (ELDs)
• Surface-conduction electron-emitter displays (SEDs)
• Field emission displays (FEDs)
• Nano-emissive display (NEDs)

Only the first five of these displays are commercially available today, though OLED displays are beginning deployment only in small sizes (mainly in cellular telephones).

Static

Static flat panel displays rely on materials whose color states are bistable. This means that the image they hold requires no energy to maintain, but instead requires energy to change. This results in a much more energy efficient display, but with a tendency towards slow refresh rates which are undesirable in an interactive display.

Examples of Static displays are:

• electrophoretic displays (e.g. E Ink's electrophoretic imaging film)
• bichromal ball displays (e.g. Xerox's Gyricon)
• Interferometric Modulator displays (e.g. Qualcomm's iMod, a MEMS display.)
• Cholesteric displays (e.g. MagInk, Kent Displays)
• Bistable nematic liquid crystal displays (e.g. ZBD).

Bistable flat panel displays are beginning deployment in limited applications (Cholesteric displays, manufactured by Magink, in outdoor advertising; electrophoretic displays in e-book products from Sony and iRex; and bistable liquid crystal displays from ZBD in store shelf labels).

Flat panel displays balance their smaller footprint and trendy modern look with high production costs and in many cases inferior images compared with traditional CRTs. In many applications, specifically modern portable devices such as laptops, cellular phones, and digital cameras, whatever disadvantages are overcome by the portability requirements.

Digital Signage: Issues

Though Digital Signage (through LED ticker signs and LED video walls) has been in vogue for decades in the past it has however, not yet become a major public medium. The following are the likely reasons:

** Uncertain ROI: The cost of deploying digital signage currently stands prohibitive. Not only are large outdoor screens expensive (the LED signs in front of the Las Vegas Wynn Resort cost $15 million, for example) but much more common & cheaper form of digital signs based on LCD and plasma screens still represents a significant chunk of investment when a large network is planned.

For example, the cost of installing one screen in a single restaurant in a large fast-food chain runs to millions of dollars. Any such investment has to be justified by a clear ROI plan before receiving approval;

** Unproven advertising effectiveness: Like the Internet in the early 1990s, the digital signage medium has not yet been widely accepted as a cost-effective advertising medium compared to the traditional means (TV, radio, flyers, etc.);

** Lack of proven technology –The technology used today has largely been originated from consumer-grade personal computer and DVD technology, which has not been designed to stand up to 24x7x365 pattern. Today, the demand by professional digital signage is 24x7x365 usage. Often under stress these systems can break, resulting in damage to brand image and liability disputes between advertisers and network operators.

The above issues are being addressed in the following ways:

** ROI: Studies have shown digital signage to be effective in aiding customer recall and retention of displayed information in large-scale merchandising applications, especially taking into account the downward trend in LCD panel and playback device prices. Today a small-scale retail or restaurant digital signage installation can be implemented for just $4-6,000, whose ROI may be realized immediately.

** Outdoor advertising picking up momentum – advertising dollars have been consistently shifting from traditional media such as TV and radio into outdoor advertising, creating a double-digit-growth new advertising segment which includes digital signage. However, ad agencies are still slow to explore the potential of out-of-home TV.

** Development of dedicated platform solutions – new technology has been developed that features reliability magnitudes greater than consumer-grade technology. Like professional TV broadcasting systems, the new technology enables worldwide content distribution and playback to stand up to the test of time.

CAT 5 Matrix KVM Switch

Data Center

Data center refers to a physical place that houses all the essential conveniences of a computer network like computer hardware, security devices, back power supplies, environmental controls, and data communication maintained by an organization for the purpose of handling the data essential for its operations.

As the dedicated server room is required to render dependable uptime more than 99.999% successful administration is needed to prevent any omission and error. The KVM solution possess the features of resource simplification and sharing along with several sophisticated functions that are required to fulfill the needs of present IT environments.

CAT 5 Matrix KVM Switch:

Enhanced and extended corporate server room is the need of the hour; the KM series permits a customized solution to be offered for several computer hardware and managers. Moreover, the cutting edge design of KM series not only permits the use of Cascade but Daisy Chain link method as well. The ease of using both the methods provides the ease of managing several hundreds of server computers individually and offers corporations the much needed flexibility to expand their system or equipment progressively and in accordance to their customized schedule.

What Advantages does the CAT 5 Matrix KVM Switch Offer the Data Center?

CAT 5 Matrix KVM Switch Offer various advantages to the Data Center:

1. Individual management of several hundreds of server computer with the help of various link methods by many command consoles thus, offering flexible expandability.

2. A highly cost effective method as they facilitate minimization of hardware requirement in the data center to a considerable extent and also support multiple operation systems at the same time.

3. Offers the ease of individual administration competence as the exactness of the matrix architecture enable the effective integration of server room administration operations. Every local command console can individually manage all server computers attached to it and remain unaffected by other command consoles.

4. Can be installed without much difficulty and proffers extensive range of applications.

Digital Signage - Minicom Advanced System

Jerusalem based, Minicom advanced system is a leading manufacturer of KVM server and device management solutions. Established in 1987 with the aim of creating and making the best use of state-of-the-art technology to develop, manufacture and market exceptionally high quality products that facilitates greater access, control and interaction in the computers and networking environments.

Minicom with presence in over 50 countries around the world has made its mark in the field of multimedia distribution systems for the digital signage market. Company has not only transformed the KVM world with KVM-over-CAT5 and distributed switching technologies but also revolutionized the computer and networking landscapes.

They strive hard to be a partner of choice to their customers by constantly delivering advanced market lending solutions for centralized KVM access and real-time multimedia distribution. In-fact their culture for reputation and reliability has not only attracted the most promising talents but highly judicious customers as well.

At Minicom, the mission is simple: to understand and meet technical needs of the client by delivering high quality products that assures better price performance, unravel exceptional business problems and guarantees excellent Return on Investment.

Minicom an ISO 9001:2000 company fully complies with the guideline issued by European Union concerning the manufacture, use, and disposal of electronic goods (RoHS) and has always maintained impeccable quality as the nerve center for all their thoughts and actions. The huge customer retention record enjoyed by them is definitely the result of their dedication to preserve quality at all cost.

Nowadays, KVM systems form a significant constituent of any IT hardware infrastructure. KVM solutions from the house of Minicom facilitate local or remote BIOS level access along with the centralized management of computers, servers, network devices, and power control appliances. They are highly suitable for server rooms, data centers, remote-support providers, testing services that enable high maintenance efficiency and establish immediate problem solving ability.

The advent of LCD/Plasma screens and expansion of digital advertising has resulted in escalating demand for advanced player to display distribution technologies. The advanced CAT5 distribution system provided by Minicom set the vital stage of connectivity for Digital Signage infrastructure, creating instant multimedia at multiple screen locations. The Audio/Video and Serial products manufactured by them are perfect for in-store retail environment and ease the process of digital messaging thus, making them the most economical means of deploying multimedia content.

Posted by Sunlight LCD