The online computery journal thingy of a turtle - KTLDD6

(Recent Entries) (Archive) (Friends) (User Info) (KT's website)

Mar. 11th, 2006

08:03 pm - KTLDD6

Previous Entry Add to Memories Tell a Friend Next Entry

You've seen those numerical digital displays, like on watches and calculators, where each digit is formed from a pattern of seven segments, right? Here at KT Labs, we have developed a design in which each digit requires only six segments. The savings of one segment per digit, when multiplied by all the electronic gadgets in the world, could potentially add up to billions of dollars saved every year. Below are some samples of the new KTLDD6 display series:


KTLDD6 BLOCK GREEN LED, ANGULAR BLUE VFD, ANGULAR LCD


As you can see, some artistic license was used with the shapes of the digits. The 0 is half-height, the 5 has a small gap (barely noticeable in everyday use), the 7 now curves from upper right to lower left as it was originally meant to instead of thrusting straight down along the right side, and in the Angular design, the 3 has what can best be described as a nose, which our design team feels gives it more personality.

The KT Labs design team is currently working on a 5-segment digital display. However, they would desperately like to deny rumors that the head of the KT Labs marketing department, upon hearing that a 14-segment display is necessary to represent all the letters of the alphabet, was heard to exclaim, "Fourteen? Hah! We can do it in ten!"

Current Mood: [mood icon] creative
Current Music: XTC - Wonderland
(Leave a comment)

Comments:

[User Picture]
From:[info]wolflahti
Date:March 12th, 2006 02:20 am (UTC)
(Link)
You have a frighteneing brain.
(Reply) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]wbwolf
Date:March 12th, 2006 02:51 am (UTC)
(Link)
KT was the head of Muppet Labs in a previous life.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]bassfingers
Date:March 12th, 2006 03:17 am (UTC)
(Link)
You must be new here. :)
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]wolflahti
Date:March 12th, 2006 05:08 am (UTC)
(Link)
Oh, not at all. I made that statement with absolute conviction based on years of close personal experience.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]yakko
Date:March 12th, 2006 03:15 am (UTC)
(Link)
In all seriousness, the current 7-segment italic display (and derivatives) was used specifically to ease readability. Of course, dot-matrix displays have become cheaper, so we can now make all sorts of characters (at least in VFD and LCD form; an LED dot-matrix display is a bit pricey still).
(Reply) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]orv
Date:March 12th, 2006 03:51 am (UTC)
(Link)
I think the most readable electronic digital displays were Nixie tubes. I have some surplus ones I plan to make a clock with, some day. One of those projects I never quite seem to get around to.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]yakko
Date:March 12th, 2006 04:00 am (UTC)
(Link)
Oh yeah... forgot about the nixie tubes. Though I think they were only available in numeric form. I think it's nifty that they put a bunch of numbers in a tube.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]qaianna
Date:March 12th, 2006 04:40 am (UTC)

Nix

(Link)
I wondered what those things were called. Oddly enough, they used Nixie-like displays for time counters in Final Fantasy 7 ...
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]thecanuckguy
Date:March 12th, 2006 06:17 am (UTC)

Re: Nix

(Link)
And in some James Bond movie I believe it was as the "countdown clock" on the explosive device that Our Hero had to deactivate before the clock ran out (which, of course, it never did)
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]orv
Date:March 12th, 2006 07:12 pm (UTC)

Re: Nix

(Link)
And also in the movie Monsters, Inc.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]kinkyturtle
Date:March 12th, 2006 06:19 am (UTC)
(Link)
There are people who do that. Someone even made a Nixie wristwatch!
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]kinkyturtle
Date:March 12th, 2006 10:51 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Why is it italic anyway? Does the tilt help legibility?
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]ceruleanst
Date:March 13th, 2006 01:21 am (UTC)
(Link)
It does. Also, if you happen to see it in a mirror, it helps you notice it's backwards.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
From:[info]awolf
Date:March 12th, 2006 03:36 am (UTC)

1337

(Link)
Your next task is to draw the Karnaugh maps for each of those segments and set them up in a sequential fashion. Or I could do it for you, if you asked nicely. :)

Trickster
(Reply) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]kinkyturtle
Date:March 12th, 2006 06:39 am (UTC)

Re: 1337

(Link)
Could you do it for me, pretty please with sprinkles on top?
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
From:[info]awolf
Date:March 12th, 2006 06:52 am (UTC)

Re: 1337

(Link)
Hmmm. Okee, I can, but remind me after Morphicon. I'm dead short on time until then.

Trickster
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]gedrean
Date:March 12th, 2006 04:39 am (UTC)
(Link)
Actually those look coolness!
(Reply) (Thread)
From:[info]jinxtigr
Date:March 12th, 2006 04:55 am (UTC)
(Link)
Block is a LOT more legible but the angular one looks incredibly cyberpunk :D
(Reply) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]kinkyturtle
Date:March 12th, 2006 07:22 am (UTC)
(Link)
That's what I was going for, on both counts!
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]cargoweasel
Date:March 12th, 2006 05:57 am (UTC)
(Link)
Sweet! The tiny zero is kind of a dealbreaker though. There's got to be some kind of site you can submit these to for feedbakc. The angular one is cool but hard to read, the block one could work.

(Reply) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]anfael
Date:March 12th, 2006 06:01 am (UTC)
(Link)
'angular' is quite stylish, nice work!
(Reply) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]kinkyturtle
Date:March 12th, 2006 08:24 am (UTC)
(Link)
Thanks!
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]thecanuckguy
Date:March 12th, 2006 06:33 am (UTC)
(Link)
So what is the difference between the VFD and LCD versions, besides the colour? (and what exactly dothose TLAs stand for anyways?)

And, I can do it in *two* segments! Granted, you have to know binary first ...
(Reply) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]kinkyturtle
Date:March 12th, 2006 06:43 am (UTC)
(Link)
VFD = Vacuum-Fluorescent Display, nice bright glowing display most often seen on the front of modern VCRs, CD & DVD players.
LCD = Liquid Crystal Display, most commonly seen on watches and solar-powered calculators.
I just wanted to show off the angular style in two different kinds of displays, that's all.

You can't display all the digits 0-9 with just two segments! Although if you know binary, you could get away with 4 segments. 5 for the alphabet.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]kinkyturtle
Date:March 12th, 2006 08:02 am (UTC)
(Link)
VF displays, btw, are recognizable by their bright colors, clear contrast, and a grid pattern of tiny hexagons visible close up.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]waywind
Date:March 12th, 2006 07:02 am (UTC)
(Link)
*jaw hangs open* That is really cool. I wonder why nobody did that before?

The 3 in Angular also looks sort of like a croissant, which makes this the yummiest digital display.
(Reply) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]byackley
Date:March 12th, 2006 07:56 am (UTC)
(Link)
Okay, this is awesome. When do these go into production so I can get a watch with 'em on it? =)
(Reply) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]kinkyturtle
Date:March 12th, 2006 08:03 am (UTC)
(Link)
I dunno! Maybe someday.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]byackley
Date:March 12th, 2006 08:11 am (UTC)
(Link)
By the way, I managed to get a legible alphabet and 0-9 into 11 segments. I'll post about it tomorrow after I've done some mockups of it.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]ceruleanst
Date:March 12th, 2006 10:38 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Nine should be all you need: the standard seven and two down the middle. With a little license one can make a passable lowercase distinct from the uppercase.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]thecanuckguy
Date:March 13th, 2006 12:52 am (UTC)
(Link)
Nice but needs work. Especially with the Zs IMHO. Possibly also the S, V, g, and s. LOVE the i and j (creative!). Would also be nice to see all lower case letters at their "proper" heights (ie fixing a, e, g, p, q, s, x, z, and possibly y (though I've seen y represented at "full height" sometimes). But then, you need more segments.

Isn't it sad how the creative minds in this thread aren't emplooyed in actually creating this, where there's probalby some industry person somewhere asking how this can be done?
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]kinkyturtle
Date:October 3rd, 2006 07:11 am (UTC)

EDIT img url

(Link)
You mean like so?

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]deckardcanine
Date:March 12th, 2006 01:50 pm (UTC)
(Link)
I've considered a clock that shows the usual seven segments, only two are missing. You probably know which two aren't needed to distinguish the numbers.
(Reply) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]kinkyturtle
Date:March 12th, 2006 10:05 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Yes! Segments c and d.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]thecanuckguy
Date:March 13th, 2006 12:54 am (UTC)
(Link)
Which ones are c and d?
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]kinkyturtle
Date:March 13th, 2006 12:59 am (UTC)
(Link)
The two that meet at the lower right corner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_segment_display
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]nefaria
Date:March 12th, 2006 01:56 pm (UTC)
(Link)
That's really cool, I love seeing when an old classic gets optimized. :) Good luck trying to get it down to five, I think you'll have your work cut out for you on that one!
(Reply) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]nefaria
Date:March 13th, 2006 03:56 am (UTC)
(Link)
Actually I'm impressed. The 7 doesn't quite work for me, but the other nine digits are acceptable.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]kinkyturtle
Date:October 3rd, 2006 07:13 am (UTC)
(Link)
Funny you should mention that! Here's my latest prototype:



A few more concessions had to be made to achieve this. Now the 1 and 7 are half-height as well, and the 3, 5 and 9 are, um, kind of embarrassed in the locker room, if I may.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]jmaynard
Date:March 12th, 2006 02:37 pm (UTC)
(Link)
For extra credit, make it a hexadecimal display, with the letters A-F. As it happens, the six-segment LED display you have here does fine with that. (Hint: B, C, and D are displayed lower-case; C is a bit hard to read at first, though.)
(Reply) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]kinkyturtle
Date:October 3rd, 2006 07:16 am (UTC)
(Link)
Easy!

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]normanrafferty
Date:March 12th, 2006 02:52 pm (UTC)
(Link)
Fourteen? That's nonsense. You could do a 3x4 block matrix, easily.
(Reply) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]kinkyturtle
Date:March 13th, 2006 12:06 am (UTC)
(Link)
See my 62-character response to [info]ceruleanst above. :}
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]ceruleanst
Date:March 13th, 2006 12:40 am (UTC)

Five pieces. Booyah.

(Link)
(Reply) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]kinkyturtle
Date:March 13th, 2006 08:08 am (UTC)

Re: Five pieces. Booyah.

(Link)
Five easy pieces! Or not-so-easy pieces, as the case may be.
(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)
[User Picture]
From:[info]jbadger
Date:March 14th, 2006 04:27 am (UTC)
(Link)
hmmmm How long before marketing appoves it all? You know, all that paperwork.
(Reply) (Thread)