Seven-segment

display

A typical 7-segment LED display component, with

decimal point
A seven-segment display (SSD), or seven-
segment indicator, is a form of electronic
display device for displaying decimal
numerals that is an alternative to the more
complex dot matrix displays.

Seven-segment displays are widely used in

digital clocks, electronic meters, basic
calculators, and other electronic devices
that display numerical information.[1]

Concept and visual structure

The individual segments of a seven-segment display

16x8-grid showing the 128 states of a seven-segment

display
The common segment displays shown side by side:
7-segment, 9-segment, 14-segment and 16-segment
displays.

The seven elements of the display can be

lit in different combinations to represent
the Arabic numerals. Often the seven
segments are arranged in an oblique
(slanted) arrangement, which aids
readability. In most applications, the seven
segments are of nearly uniform shape and
size (usually elongated hexagons, though
trapezoids and rectangles can also be
used), though in the case of adding
machines, the vertical segments are
longer and more oddly shaped at the ends
in an effort to further enhance readability.

The numerals 6 and 9 may be represented

by two different glyphs on seven-segment
displays, with or without a 'tail'.[2][3] The
numeral 7 also has two versions, with or
without segment F.[4]

The seven segments are arranged as a

rectangle of two vertical segments on
each side with one horizontal segment on
the top, middle, and bottom. Additionally,
the seventh segment bisects the rectangle
horizontally. There are also fourteen-
segment displays and sixteen-segment
displays (for full alphanumerics); however,
these have mostly been replaced by dot
matrix displays. Twenty-two segment
displays capable of displaying the full
ASCII character set[5] were briefly available
in the early 1980s, but did not prove
popular.

The segments of a 7-segment display are

referred to by the letters A to G, where the
optional decimal point (an "eighth
segment", referred to as DP) is used for
the display of non-integer numbers.[6][7]

Implementations
 A
An mechanical
incandesce seven-
nt filament- segment
type early display for
seven- displaying
segment automotive
display, fuel prices
a.k.a.
Numitron
Typical pinout of a common cathode electronic
seven-segment display.

Seven-segment displays may use a liquid

crystal display (LCD), a light-emitting diode
(LED) for each segment, an electrochromic
display, or other light-generating or
controlling techniques such as cold
cathode gas discharge (Panaplex),
vacuum fluorescent, incandescent
filaments (Numitron), and others. For
gasoline price totems and other large
signs, vane displays made up of
electromagnetically flipped light-reflecting
segments (or "vanes") are still commonly
used. An alternative to the 7-segment
display in the 1950s through the 1970s
was the cold-cathode, neon-lamp-like nixie
tube. Starting in 1970, RCA sold a display
device known as the Numitron that used
incandescent filaments arranged into a
seven-segment display.[8]
In a simple LED package, typically all of
the cathodes (negative terminals) or all of
the anodes (positive terminals) of the
segment LEDs are connected and brought
out to a common pin; this is referred to as
a "common cathode" or "common anode"
device.[7] Hence a 7 segment plus decimal
point package will only require nine pins,
though commercial products typically
contain more pins, and/or spaces where
pins would go, in order to match standard
IC sockets. Integrated displays also exist,
with single or multiple digits. Some of
these integrated displays incorporate their
own internal decoder, though most do not:
each individual LED is brought out to a
connecting pin as described.

A multiplexed 4-digit, seven-segment display with

only 12 pins

Multiple-digit LED displays as used in

pocket calculators and similar devices
used multiplexed displays to reduce the
number of I/O pins required to control the
display. For example, all the anodes of the
A segments of each digit position would
be connected together and to a driver
circuit pin, while the cathodes of all
segments for each digit would be
connected. To operate any particular
segment of any digit, the controlling
integrated circuit would turn on the
cathode driver for the selected digit, and
the anode drivers for the desired
segments; then after a short blanking
interval the next digit would be selected
and new segments lit, in a sequential
fashion. In this manner an eight digit
display with seven segments and a
decimal point would require only 8
cathode drivers and 8 anode drivers,
instead of sixty-four drivers and IC pins.[9]
Often in pocket calculators the digit drive
lines would be used to scan the keyboard
as well, providing further savings; however,
pressing multiple keys at once would
produce odd results on the multiplexed
display.

Although to a naked eye all digits of an

LED display appear lit, the implementation
of a typical multiplexed display described
above means that in reality only a single
digit is lit at any given time.

A single byte can encode the full state of a

7-segment-display. The most popular bit
encodings are gfedcba and abcdefg,
where each letter represents a particular
segment in the display. In the gfedcba
representation, a byte value of 0x06 would
(in a common anode circuit) turn on
segments 'c' and 'b', which would display a
'1'.

History
Seven-segment representation of figures
can be found in patents as early as 1903
(in U.S. Patent 1,126,641 ), when Carl
Kinsley invented a method of
telegraphically transmitting letters and
numbers and having them printed on tape
in a segmented format. In 1908, F. W.
Wood invented an 8-segment display,
which displayed the number 4 using a
diagonal bar (U.S. Patent 974,943 ). In
1910, a seven-segment display illuminated
by incandescent bulbs was used on a
power-plant boiler room signal panel.[10]
They were also used to show the dialed
telephone number to operators during the
transition from manual to automatic
telephone dialing.[11] They did not achieve
widespread use until the advent of LEDs in
the 1970s.

They are sometimes used in posters or

tags, where the user either applies color to
pre-printed segments, or applies color
through a seven-segment digit template, to
compose figures such as product prices or
telephone numbers.

For many applications, dot-matrix LCDs

have largely superseded LED displays,
though even in LCDs 7-segment displays
are very common. Unlike LEDs, the shapes
of elements in an LCD panel are arbitrary
since they are formed on the display by a
kind of printing process. In contrast, the
shapes of LED segments tend to be simple
rectangles, reflecting the fact that they
have to be physically moulded to shape,
which makes it difficult to form more
complex shapes than the segments of 7-
segment displays. However, the high
common recognition factor of 7-segment
displays, and the comparatively high visual
contrast obtained by such displays relative
to dot-matrix digits, makes seven-segment
multiple-digit LCD screens very common
on basic calculators.

The seven-segment display has inspired

type designers to produce typefaces
reminiscent of that display (but more
legible), such as New Alphabet (typeface),
"DB LCD Temp", "ION B", etc.

Displaying letters
LED-based 7 segment display which cycles through
the common glyphs of the ten decimal numerals and
the six hexadecimal "letter digits" (A, b, C, d, E,
F)[12][13][14][15]

Hexadecimal digits can be displayed on

seven-segment displays. Today, a
combination of uppercase and lowercase
letters is commonly used for A–
F;[12][13][14][15] this is done to obtain a
unique, unambiguous shape for each
hexadecimal digit (otherwise, a capital 'D'
would look identical to a '0' and a
capital 'B' would look identical to an '8').
Also the digit '6' must be displayed with
the top bar lit to avoid ambiguity with the
letter 'b'.[12][13][14][15][3]

Hexadecimal encodings for displaying the digits 0 to F[12][13]

Digit Display gfedcba abcdefg a b c d e f g

0 0x3F 0x7E on on on on on on off

1 0x06 0x30 off on on off off off off

2 0x5B 0x6D on on off on on off on

3 0x4F 0x79 on on on on off off on

4 0x66 0x33 off on on off off on on

5 0x6D 0x5B on off on on off on on

6 0x7D 0x5F on off on on on on on

7 0x07 0x70 on on on off off off off

8 0x7F 0x7F on on on on on on on

9 0x6F 0x7B on on on on off on on

A 0x77 0x77 on on on off on on on

b 0x7C 0x1F off off on on on on on

C 0x39 0x4E on off off on on on off

d 0x5E 0x3D off on on on on off on

E 0x79 0x4F on off off on on on on

F 0x71 0x47 on off off off on on on

However, this modern scheme wasn't

always followed in the past, and various
other schemes could be found as well:

The Texas Instruments seven-segment

display decoder chips
7446/7447/7448/7449 and
74246/74247/74248/74249 and the
Siemens FLH551-7448/555-8448 chips
used truncated versions of "2", "3", "4",
"5" and "6" for digits A–E. Digit F (1111
binary) was blank.[3][16][17]
Soviet programmable calculators like
the Б3–34 instead used the symbols "−",
"L", "C", "Г", "E", and " " (space) to display
hexadecimal numbers above nine,
allowing the error message EГГ0Г to be
displayed.
 Not all 7-segment decoders were
suitable to display digits above nine at
all. Many earlier chips provided logic
designed for only for 0–9 and higher
numbers produced whatever pattern
resulted. For comparison, the National
Semiconductor MM74C912 displayed
"o" for A and B, "−" for C, D and E, and
blank for F. The CD4511 even just
displayed blanks.

In addition, seven-segment displays can

be used to show various other letters of
the Latin, Cyrillic and Greek alphabets
including punctuation, but few
representations are unambiguous and
intuitive at the same time.[18] Short
messages giving status information (e.g.
"no dISC" on a CD player) are also
commonly represented on 7-segment
displays. In the case of such messages it
is not necessary for every letter to be
unambiguous, merely for the words as a
whole to be readable.

Similar displays with fourteen or sixteen

segments are available allowing less-
ambiguous representations of the
alphabet.

Using a restricted range of letters that look

like (upside-down) digits, seven-segment
displays are commonly used by school
children to form words and phrases using
a technique known as "calculator spelling".

See also
Nine-segment display
Fourteen-segment display
Sixteen-segment display

References
1. "Seven Segment Displays" . Archived
from the original on 2012-04-04.
2. Nührmann, Dieter (1981). Written at
Achim, Bremen, Germany. Werkbuch
Elektronik (in German) (3 ed.).
 Munich, Germany: Franzis-Verlag
GmbH. p. 695. ISBN 3-7723-6543-4.
3. BCD-to-Seven-Segment
Decoders/Drivers:
SN54246/SN54247/SN54LS247,
SN54LS248
SN74246/SN74247/SN74LS247/SN7
4LS248 (PDF), Texas Instruments,
March 1988 [March 1974], SDLS083,
archived (PDF) from the original on
2017-03-29, retrieved 2017-03-30, "[…]
They can be used interchangeable in
present or future designs to offer
designers a choice between two
indicator fonts. The '46A, '47A, 'LS47,
and 'LS48 compose the 6 and the 9
 without tails and the '246, '247,
'LS247, and 'LS248 compose the 6
and the 0 with tails. Composition of
all other characters, including display
patterns for BCD inputs above nine, is
identical. […] Display patterns for BCD
input counts above 9 are unique
symbols to authenticate input
conditions. […]"
4. For example the fx-50F calculator
from Casio and other models from
the same manufacturer.
5. "DL-3422 4-digit 22-segment
alphanumeric Intelligent Display™
preliminary data sheet" . Internet
 Archive. Litronix 1982
Optoelectronics Catalog. p. 82.
Retrieved 2016-09-03.
6. "Seven Segment Displays" . Archived
from the original on 2012-01-05.
Retrieved 2012-11-14.
7. Elektrotechnik Tabellen
Kommunikationselektronik (3rd ed.).
Braunschweig, Germany:
Westermann Verlag. 1999. p. 110.
ISBN 3142250379.
8. "Advert for RCA NUMITRON Display
Devices" . Electronic Design. Hayden.
22 (12): 163. 1974-06-07.
9. e.g. DCR 1050m
10. Rogers, Warren O. (1910-02-01).
"Power Plant Signalling System" .
Power and the Engineer. 32 (5): 204–
206.
11. Clark, E. H. (December 1929).
"Evolution of the Call-Indicator
System" (PDF). Bell Laboratories
Record. 8 (5): 171–173.
12. "Driving 7-Segment Displays" . Maxim
Integrated. 2004. Archived from the
original on 2017-03-20. Retrieved
2017-03-20.
13. electronic hexadecimal
calculator/converter SR-22 (PDF)
(Revision A ed.). Texas Instruments
 Incorporated. 1974. p. 7. 1304-389
Rev A. Archived (PDF) from the
original on 2017-03-20. Retrieved
2017-03-20.
14. electronic calculator – TI
programmer (PDF). Texas
Instruments Incorporated. 1977. p. 7.
Archived (PDF) from the original on
2017-03-28. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
15. electronic calculator – TI LCD
programmer (PDF). Texas
Instruments Incorporated. 1981. p. 8.
Archived (PDF) from the original on
2017-03-28. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
16. Beuth, Klaus; Beuth, Annette (1990).
Digitaltechnik. Elektronik (in German).
4 (7 ed.). Würzburg, Germany: Vogel
Buchverlag. pp. 301–303. ISBN 3-
8023-0584-1.
17. Datenblatt FLH551-7448, FLH555-
8448, 74248 (in German). Siemens.
18. Downie, Neil A. (2003). Ink
Sandwiches, Electric Worms and 37
Other Experiments for Saturday
Science . Johns Hopkins University
Press. p. 271.

External links
 Wikimedia Commons has media
related to Seven segment display.

Interactive Demonstration of a Seven

Segment Display
Interfacing Seven Segment Display to
8051 Microcontroller
Interfacing 7 Segment Display with AVR
Microcontroller

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