Patents by Inventor Nobuaki Yamada

Nobuaki Yamada has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6344883
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device of the present invention includes a pair of substrates and a liquid crystal layer provided between the substrates, wherein liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer have a negative dielectric anisotropy, and the liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a direction substantially vertical to the substrates when no voltage is being applied and are axis-symmetrically aligned in each of a plurality of pixel regions under application of a voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 1997
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2002
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Nobuaki Yamada, Fumikazu Shimoshikiryo, Yasuhiro Kume, Shuichi Kozaki, Takako Adachi, Shinichi Terashita, Takashi Kurihara
  • Publication number: 20010055088
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device of the present invention includes: a first substrate and a second substrate; a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate; and a vertical alignment layer provided on at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate on a side which is closer to the liquid crystal layer. The liquid crystal layer includes a plurality of liquid crystal regions partitioned by at least one partition wall provided on the first substrate on a side which is closer to the liquid crystal layer. The liquid crystal layer has a liquid crystal material with a negative dielectric anisotropy. Liquid crystal molecules in the plurality of liquid crystal regions are oriented in a direction substantially perpendicular to the first substrate and the second substrate in an absence of an applied voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 17, 1999
    Publication date: December 27, 2001
    Inventors: YASUHIRO KUME, MASAHIKO KONDO, MASATOSHI YOSHIMI, KATSUYUKI HIMESHIMA, NOBUAKI YAMADA, KAZUYUKI KISHIMOTO
  • Patent number: 6330049
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device of the present invention includes: a first substrate and a second substrate; a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, and a vertical alignment layer provided on at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate on a side which is closer to the liquid crystal layer. The liquid crystal layer includes a plurality of liquid crystal regions partitioned by at least one partition wall provided on the first substrate on a side which is closer to the liquid crystal layer. The liquid crystal layer has a liquid crystal material with a negative dielectric anisotropy. Liquid crystal molecules in the plurality of liquid crystal regions are oriented in a direction substantially perpendicular to the first substrate and the second substrate in an absence of an applied voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2001
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Kume, Masahiko Kondo, Masatoshi Yoshimi, Katsuyuki Himeshima, Nobuaki Yamada, Kazuyuki Kishimoto
  • Patent number: 6327016
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display includes a first substrate having a substrate surface, a second substrate disposed facing the first substrate, a liquid crystal layer having liquid crystal molecules, interposed between the first and second substrates, a protrusion-like structure provided on the substrate surface facing the liquid crystal layer, and a vertical alignment layer provided on the first substrate so as to cover the protrusion-like structure. The liquid crystal layer is divided by the protrusion-like structure into a plurality of liquid crystal regions. The liquid crystal molecules have negative dielectric anisotropy and, in the presence of an applied voltage, are aligned axially symmetrically within at least one of the plurality of liquid crystal regions about an axis substantially perpendicular to the substrate surface. The protrusion-like structure includes a side wall sloped with respect to the substrate surface, and a pit region in a top portion of the protrusion-like structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2001
    Assignees: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Nobuaki Yamada, Takashi Kurihara, Masato Imai
  • Patent number: 6281960
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes: a first substrate; a second substrate; and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first and second substrates, wherein the liquid crystal layer includes a plurality of liquid crystal regions separated by a polymer wall formed on the first substrate, liquid crystal molecules within each of the plurality of liquid crystal regions are axially symmetrically aligned with respect to an axis which is perpendicular to the first and second substrates, and the polymer wall is formed from a black resin layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2001
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Katsuhiko Kishimoto, Kenji Hamada, Nobuaki Yamada
  • Publication number: 20010006410
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device of the present invention includes a pair of substrates and a liquid crystal layer provided between the substrates, wherein liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer have a negative dielectric anisotropy, and the liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a direction substantially vertical to the substrates when no voltage is being applied and are axis-symmetrically aligned in each of a plurality of pixel regions under application of a voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 1997
    Publication date: July 5, 2001
    Inventors: NOBUAKI YAMADA, FUMIKAZU SHIMOSHIKIRYO, YASUHIRO KUME, SHUICHI KOZAKI, TAKAKO ADACHI, SHINICHI TERASHITA, TAKASHI KURIHARA
  • Patent number: 6175398
    Abstract: The axial symmetric polarizing plate of this example includes at least one portion where light transmission easy axes are arranged with axial symmetry so that light transmission for incident light is equivalent omnidirectionally in one plane, wherein the axial symmetric polarizing plate contains at least a dichroic dye fixed in a polymer matrix formed of a polymerized liquid crystal material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2001
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Nobuaki Yamada, Masayuki Okamoto, Shuichi Kozaki
  • Patent number: 6154267
    Abstract: A method of the present invention for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device including a liquid crystal region surrounded by a polymer material, includes the steps of: attaching a pair of substrates to each other, each having at least an electrode film; disposing a precursor mixture containing a liquid crystal material, a polymerizable resin material and a polymerization initiator, between the pair of substrate; precipitating a liquid crystal droplet by varying a temperature of the precursor mixture; growing the precipitated liquid crystal droplet; curing the polymerizable resin material at a temperature allowing the liquid crystal droplet to be 80% or more of a pixel in size and to be independently present within a pixel region; and applying an external field across the substrates to pre-tilt the molecules of the liquid crystal droplet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2000
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masahiko Kondo, Yasuhiro Kume, Makoto Shiomi, Wataru Horie, Nobuaki Yamada
  • Patent number: 6140988
    Abstract: A color filter includes a lattice-shaped black mask made of each beam in row and column directions on a substrate, a coloring layer being disposed in each display region defined by the lattice-shaped black mask, wherein a height of each beam in the row direction of the black mask is different from a height of each beam in the column direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2000
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Nobuaki Yamada
  • Patent number: 6067141
    Abstract: The liquid crystal display device of this invention includes a pair of substrates and a liquid crystal layer including liquid crystal molecules having a negative dielectric anisotropy interposed between the pair of substrates, vertical alignment layers being formed on surfaces of the pair of substrates in contact with the liquid crystal layer, a voltage being applied across the liquid crystal layer by voltage application means formed on the pair of substrates, the liquid crystal molecules being oriented substantially vertical to the pair of substrate when no voltage is applied, wherein a plurality of column structures are provided so as to be at least partly in contact with the pair of substrates, and the liquid crystal layer has a plurality of liquid crystal domains in a direction in the plane of the substrates, and, when a voltage is applied, orientation directions of the liquid crystal molecules are continuous in each of the liquid crystal domains, while the orientation directions of liquid crystal molecul
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2000
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Nobuaki Yamada, Toshikazu Hirata, Takashi Kurihara, Masato Imai, Kazuyuki Endo
  • Patent number: 6061117
    Abstract: A liquid crystal device includes a pair of electrode substrates opposing each other, a polymer wall, and a liquid crystal region surrounded by the polymer wall, the polymer wall and the liquid crystal region being sandwiched by the pair of electrode substrates. At least one of a concave portion and a convex portion is formed on a surface of at least one of the pair of electrode substrates facing the liquid crystal region, and liquid crystal molecules are oriented in the liquid crystal region axial-symmetrically around the vicinity of the at least one of concave portion and convex portion as an axis vertical to the electrode substrates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2000
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Wataru Horie, Masayuki Okamoto, Motohiro Yamahara, Makoto Shiomi, Nobuaki Yamada, Shuichi Kozaki
  • Patent number: 6052161
    Abstract: A plasma address liquid crystal display device having a flat panel structure which is composed of display cells and plasma cells bonded to one another with an intermediate sheet, and in which position registration tolerance between the display and plasma cells can be made less strict. A plasma cell 2 has discharge channels 5 extending in the row direction. The display cell 1 has a electro-optical device 9 and signal electrodes 10 extending along the column direction. Pixels 11 are defined at the points of intersections of the signal electrodes 10 and the discharge channels 5. The electro-optical device 9 is a set of finely partitioned liquid crystal areas 15 and is controlled in orientation to axis-symmetrical orientation. The liquid crystal areas 15 are continuously arrayed at a constant pitch DP finer than an arraying pitch CP of the pixels 11 at least in the column direction. This structure can be extensively applied to the active matrix type liquid crystal display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2000
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Nobuaki Yamada, Yasuhiro Kume, Toshikazu Hirata, Masahiko Kondo, Masato Imai, Kazuyuki Endo
  • Patent number: 6014188
    Abstract: The liquid crystal display device of this invention includes a display medium sandwiched between a plasma generation substrate having channels for generating plasma and a counter substrate. In this liquid crystal display device, the display medium includes liquid crystal regions and polymer regions, wherein the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal regions are axisymmetrically aligned.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2000
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Nobuaki Yamada, Shuichi Kozaki, Kenji Majima
  • Patent number: 5995190
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes a display medium containing at least liquid crystal between a pair of substrates at least one of which is transparent. At least one of the pair of substrates is provided with a film having a concave portion on the side of the display medium. The concave portion has a bottom portion in a vicinity of a center when viewed from a normal direction of the substrate. Liquid crystal molecules contained in the display medium are oriented axisymmetrically around the bottom portion or the vicinity thereof. The contour defining the concave portion in a vertical plane bisecting the bottom portion is a curve and the sign of a second differential of the curve is positive or negative or partially positive and partially negative or the gradient of a surface of the film having the concave portion continuously changes at a border between a pixel portion where the liquid crystal region lies and a non-pixel portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 30, 1999
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Nobukazu Nagae, Nobuaki Yamada, Shinichi Terashita, Shuichi Kozaki
  • Patent number: 5880797
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device having a pair of substrates with a display medium interposed therebetween, includes: a plurality of scanning lines and a plurality of data lines provided on one of the pair or substrates so as to cross each other; a plurality of switching elements, each of the switching elements being connected with one of the scanning lines and one of the data lines; an insulating layer provided so as to cover the plurality of scanning lines, the plurality of data lines, and the plurality of switching elements; a plurality of pixel electrodes provided on the insulating layer, each of the pixel electrodes partially overlapping at least one scanning line and at least one data line; and a plurality of contact holes formed in the insulating layer, through each of which an output terminal of a respective switching element and a respective pixel electrode are connected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 9, 1999
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Nobuaki Yamada, Shuichi Kozaki
  • Patent number: 5877829
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display apparatus includes: a liquid crystal display device; an illumination device for irradiating the liquid crystal display device with collimated light; and a control device for electrically controlling a direction of travel of light going out from or entering the liquid crystal display device, thereby having adjustable viewing angle characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 2, 1999
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masayuki Okamoto, Nobuaki Yamada, Shuichi Kozaki, Yoshito Hashimoto, Shigeaki Mizushima
  • Patent number: 5850273
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes: a first substrate; a second substrate; a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first and the second substrates; a plurality of electrodes for applying a voltage to the liquid crystal layer; a first alignment film provided on a surface of the first substrate in contact with the liquid crystal layer; a second alignment film provided on a surface of the second substrate in contact with the liquid crystal layer; and a plurality of pixels. The liquid crystal layer in each of the pixels includes first and second liquid crystal regions, liquid crystal molecules in the first and the second liquid crystal regions have an identical twisting direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 1996
    Date of Patent: December 15, 1998
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shin-Ichi Terashita, Nobuaki Yamada, Takako Adachi, Akihiro Nammatsu, Seiji Makino, Shigeaki Mizushima
  • Patent number: 5844643
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes a pair of electrode substrates at least one of which is transparent, a display medium having a liquid crystal region surrounded by a polymer region, and a plurality of pixels. The display medium is interposed between the pair of substrates. A difference between an upper limit value and a lower limit value of a phase transition temperature between a liquid crystal phase and an isotropic liquid phase of a liquid crystal composition constituting the liquid crystal region is 7.0.degree. C. or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 1996
    Date of Patent: December 1, 1998
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Noriaki Onishi, Nobuaki Yamada
  • Patent number: 5831704
    Abstract: A substrate for a liquid crystal display device, which is used as one of a pair of substrates provided so as to face each other with a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween. The substrate includes a plate, an electrodeposition layer formation electrode and an electrodeposition layer provided so that the electrodeposition layer formation electrode is disposed closer to the plate than the electrodeposition layer. The electrodeposition layer formation electrode includes a region having a surface conductivity lower than that of another region in each pixel region and the low surface conductivity region has a shape of at least one line. The surface of the electrodeposition layer has a concave shape having a lowermost portion at a position corresponding to the low surface conductivity region so that liquid crystal regions each having a different orientation direction of liquid crystal molecules partitioned by the low surface conductivity region are formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 3, 1998
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Nobuaki Yamada, Shuichi Kozaki
  • Patent number: 5814378
    Abstract: The present invention provides a polymerizable compound represented by Formula (I): ##STR1## where X represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl group; 1 represents an integer in the range of 0 to 14; m represents 0 or 1; n represents 0 or 1; p represents an integer in the range of 0 to 6; and q represents an integer in the range of 0 to 9, wherein m is 0 under the condition 1=0, and 1 under the condition 1.noteq.0.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 29, 1998
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Noriaki Onishi, Nobuaki Yamada, Kenji Suzuki, Hoyo Mizobe, Masahiko Yoshida