Passive matrix thin-film electro-luminescent display

1. A passive-matrix, thin-film electro-luminescent display system, comprising:

a) a display including:

i) a substrate;

ii) a first electrode layer patterned to form lines along a first dimension of the substrate;

iii) one or more thin-film electro-luminescent layers, formed on the first electrode layer;

iv) a second electrode layer formed on the one or more thin-film electro-luminescent layer(s), wherein the second electrode layer is patterned to form lines along a second dimension of the substrate different from the first dimension;

v) wherein the intersection of the lines of the first and second electrode layers define individual light-emitting elements comprising an electro-luminescent unit; and

b) one or more display drivers that

i) receives an input image signal for addressing the light-emitting elements of the display;

ii) decomposes the signal into a low-resolution component signal and a high-resolution component signal, each of which consists of different addressable locations during a single frame cycle, wherein the low-resolution component signal contains one half or less of the number of the addressable locations as the high-resolution component signal, and the low-resolution component signal and the high-resolution component signal are driven alternately; and

iii) provides a drive signal for driving the display wherein the low-resolution component signal and the high-resolution component signal are independently provided to the display to form a combined image.

2. The display according to claim 1 , wherein multiple light-emitting elements along both dimensions of the display are activated when the low-resolution component signal is provided to the display and multiple light-emitting elements along only one dimension of the display are activated when the high-resolution component signal is provided to the display.

3. The display according to claim 1 , wherein the display further comprises one or more thin-film electro-luminescent layers and at least a third electrode layer which together comprise a second electro-luminescent unit and wherein the low-resolution component signal is used to drive a first electroluminescent unit at a first refresh rate and the high-resolution component signal is used to drive a second electro-luminescent unit at a second refresh rate.

4. The display according to claim 3 , wherein the first refresh rate is at least twice the second refresh rate.

5. The display according to claim 1 , wherein the display further comprises a second substrate and wherein a first plurality of electroluminescent units are formed on the first substrate and is driven by the low-resolution component signal and a second plurality of electroluminescent units are formed on the second substrate and is driven by the high-resolution component signal.

6. The display according to claim 5 , wherein the first plurality of electroluminescent units are formed at a relatively lower resolution on the first substrate and the second plurality of electroluminescent units are formed at a relatively higher resolution on the second substrate.

7. The display according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises two sides and wherein a first plurality of electroluminescent units are formed on a first side of the substrate and is driven by the low-resolution component signal and a second plurality of electroluminescent units are formed on the second side of the substrate and is driven by the high-resolution component signal.

8. The display according to claim 1 , wherein the low-resolution signal drives a plurality of contiguous elements in one or more rows or columns simultaneously with the same signal and the high-resolution signal alternately drives one row or column.

9. The display according to claim 1 , wherein the low-resolution signal is displayed more frequently than the high-resolution signal.

10. The display according to claim 1 , wherein the low-resolution signal and high-resolution signal are interleaved full-frame signals.

11. The display according to claim 1 , wherein the low-resolution signal and high-resolution signal are interleaved row or column signals.

12. The display according to claim 1 , wherein the rows or columns are grouped into disjoint sets of contiguous rows or columns, respectively, and the low-resolution signal is displayed on some or all of the rows or columns in the group and the high-resolution signal is alternately and cyclically displayed on one or more of the rows or columns, respectively, in the group.

13. The display according to claim 1 , wherein the rows or columns are grouped into a plurality of disjoint sets of contiguous rows or columns, respectively, and the low-resolution signal is displayed on some or all of the rows or columns in the group and the high-resolution signal is alternately displayed on one or more of the rows or columns in a different group.

14. The display according to claim 1 , wherein display is a color display comprising different electro-luminescent that emit different colors of light and wherein the refresh rate for electro-luminescent elements that emit one color of light is different from the refresh rate for electroluminescent elements that emit a different color of light.

15. The display according to claim 14 , wherein the refresh rate for electro-luminescent elements that emit green or white light is higher than the refresh rate for electro-luminescent elements that emit red or blue light.

16. The display according to claim 10 , wherein electro-luminescent layers are layers of OLED materials.