The effect of picture element failure on the legibility of a matrix display image

A technique is described that enables an image processor to emulate both the spatial structure and contrast capabilities of a matrix display. It is possible to store a large number of precomputed spatial patterns to allow specific failure types to be added to text images. One could thus observe how defects in the matrix, created during the fabrication process, would affect legibility. It was revealed that certain failure types could be tolerated by the human operator much more than others. Display yield could be increased by devising techniques to convert intolerable failures into failure types which were more acceptable to the operator. Photographic images are presented to exemplify the procedure.