Patents Assigned to NEC LCD Technologies
  • Patent number: 7226865
    Abstract: A process for forming a pattern contains steps of: forming a first mask pattern on a film to be etched on a substrate; forming a first pattern of the film to be etched by using the first mask pattern as a mask; forming a second mask pattern having a plane shape different from that of the first mask pattern by deforming the first mask pattern; and forming a second pattern of the film to be etched different from the first pattern by using the second mask pattern. By applying the process for forming a pattern, for example, to the formation of a semiconductor layer and source and drain electrodes of a TFT substrate of a liquid crystal display apparatus, the above-stated formation requiring two photoresist process steps in a conventional manufacturing method of a liquid crystal display apparatus can be carried out by only one process step, thereby reducing manufacturing cost thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventor: Shusaku Kido
  • Patent number: 7227608
    Abstract: An in-plane switching type liquid crystal display device includes (a) a first substrate on which a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data lines are formed such that the gate lines are substantially perpendicular to the data lines, and on which at least one pixel electrode and at least one common electrode are alternately formed in each of pixels defined by the gate and data lines, (b) a second substrate facing the first substrate, and (c) a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first and second substrates, wherein when a voltage is applied across the pixel electrode and the common electrode, liquid crystal existing on extensions of the data lines are caused to rotate in a plane substantially in parallel with the first substrate. Both the pixel electrode and the common electrode have at least one bending point at which the pixel electrode and the common electrode bend, and are designed to bend such that both an intensity and a direction of a field generated by the voltage successively vary.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kimikazu Matsumoto, Shinichi Nishida
  • Patent number: 7224414
    Abstract: An active matrix liquid crystal display device which has color filters disposed on a TFT (Thin-Film Transistor) substrate, and which reduces the effect of light leakage regions over data lines for an increased viewing angle. The liquid crystal display device has the data lines disposed on the TFT substrate at respective gaps between adjacent two of pixel electrodes, for supplying data signals to TFTs to drive pixel electrodes, and a black matrix disposed on the TFT substrate in association with the data lines for blocking light passing in a predetermined viewing angle range through a light leakage region created in the liquid crystal layer depending on a potential difference between adjacent two of the pixel electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventors: Michiaki Sakamoto, Muneo Maruyama, Yuji Yamamoto, Mamoru Okamoto
  • Patent number: 7224423
    Abstract: A double-sided LCD device includes a double-sided backlight unit, front and rear LCD panels, and first and second circuit boards connected to the front and rear LCD panels, respectively, by TCPs. Each TCP has first and second slits for bending the TCP. The TCP connecting the first circuit board to the front LCD panel is bent at the second slit, whereas the TCP connecting the second circuit board to the rear LCD panel is bent at the first slit, to achieve overlapping arrangement of the first and second circuit boards as viewed parallel to the LCD panels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventor: Shin-Ichirou Ono
  • Publication number: 20070115229
    Abstract: A display device has a data-holding circuit with a capacitance and a display portion with a plurality of pixel electrodes, formed on a first carrier substrate. In the display device, a second carrier substrate disposed opposite the first carrier substrate is placed above the display portion, but the opposing substrate is not present above the area in which the data-holding circuit is disposed. The parasitic capacitance of the data-holding circuit can thereby be reduced. Therefore, the capacitance in the data-holding circuit can be reduced and the area required can be reduced as well. The display data of all the pixels is sent serially to the liquid crystal module without high-speed transfer for each frame time interval, and size can be reduced because the controller IC and interface circuit are formed on the same substrate as the display device substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 19, 2006
    Publication date: May 24, 2007
    Applicants: NEC Corporation, NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenichi Takatori, Hiroshi Haga
  • Patent number: 7221415
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display apparatus of a front light type includes a liquid crystal display panel, a light guide plate, a light source optically connected with the light guide plate and irradiating light to the light guide plate, a space holding member which supports and fixes the liquid crystal panel and the light guide plate in a region outside a display area of the liquid crystal display panel to have a predetermined gap. The space holding member having a base member and an adhesive material layer on at least one side of the base member. A refractive index of the adhesive material layer is smaller than that of the light guide plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventors: Shin-ichirou Ono, Hirokazu Fukuyoshi
  • Patent number: 7220625
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes (a) a first substrate, (b) a second substrate spaced away from and facing the first substrate, (c) a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first and second substrates, (d) a transistor formed on the first substrate, (e) a wiring layer formed on the first substrate and electrically connected to the transistor, (f) a reflection electrode formed on the first substrate, an external incident light being reflected at the reflection electrode towards a viewer, and (g) a compensation layer formed directly on the wiring layer. The reflection electrode does not cover the wiring layer therewith, and the compensation layer has almost the same height as a height of the reflection electrode, the height being measured from a surface of the first substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies
    Inventors: Yuichi Yamaguchi, Hironori Kikkawa, Hiroshi Kanoh, Teruaki Suzuki, Hidenori Ikeno
  • Patent number: 7218368
    Abstract: An orientation processor (i.e., rubbing roller) for manufacturing a high quality liquid crystal display apparatus by subjecting orientation films formed on glass substrates of a relatively large-size liquid crystal display apparatus to a uniform orientation process. An orientation processor (i.e., rubbing roller) 10 is formed by applying a plurality of rubbing cloth pieces 12A and 12B applied with double-side bond tape to the outer periphery of the rotational roller 11. Another orientation processor (i.e., rubbing roller) 20 is formed by at least one parallel quadrilateral rubbing cloth piece 22B and 22C and substantially triangular rubbing cloth pieces 22A and 22D disposed on the opposite sides of the cloth pieces 22B and 22C. The orientation processor 10 or 20 is used to execute an orientation process of rubbing orientation films formed on the surface of glass substrates (panels) and a liquid crystal display apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventor: Makoto Mori
  • Patent number: 7214473
    Abstract: A photo-resist mask of organic compound is stripped off after the pattern transfer to a layer thereunder, wherein the photo-resist mask is firstly exposed to vapor of organic solvent for reducing the thickness through a reflow, and, thereafter, the photo-resist mask is ashed in an oxygen plasma, whereby the dry ashing is completed within a short time period by virtue of the reduction of thickness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies Ltd.
    Inventor: Shusaku Kido
  • Patent number: 7215401
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display has a first substrate formed with a picture character pixel electrode for displaying a picture character represented by a fixed pattern, a second substrate formed with a common electrode opposite to the picture character pixel electrode, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first substrate and the second substrate. The picture character pixel electrode is formed on an interlayer insulating film, and is connected to a picture character signal electrode formed below the interlayer insulating film through a plurality of contact holes formed through the interlayer insulating film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshiaki Ishiyama, Takahiko Watanabe, Shinya Ikeda, Kazutoshi Takahashi, Kosei Miyabe, Kanetaka Sekiguchi, Takakazu Yano
  • Patent number: 7215394
    Abstract: A reflection-type liquid crystal display according to the invention includes two glass substrates, a transparent electrode provided on one glass substrate, an insulator film which is provided on another glass substrate and on which an uneven structure is formed, a reflecting electrode provided on the insulator film, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between a side of the transparent electrode and a side of the reflecting electrode. The insulator film includes a first insulating layer in which a large number of depressions isolated as surrounded by protrusions are irregularly arranged and a second insulating layer covering the insulating layer entirely. The protrusions are all connected in a network, so that if some of these protrusions have weaker adherence with an underlying layer, they can be supported by the surrounding protrusions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2007
    Assignees: NEC Corporation, NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Kanou, Yuichi Yamaguchi, Teruaki Suzuki, Hironori Kikkawa
  • Publication number: 20070097290
    Abstract: An optical element comprises a pair of substrates each having an electrode and bonded together with a gap therebetween and a light adjusting material including a liquid crystal and enclosed in the gap. Each of the pair of substrates has an electrode connecting portion to be connected to an external circuit. At least a part of the electrode connecting portion of each of the substrates is located on the same side as that of the optical element. The electrode connecting portion of one of the substrates and the electrode connecting portion of the other of the substrates have respective electrode portions at regions that are not opposed to each other. The electrode portion of each of the electrode connecting portions is connected to the external circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2006
    Publication date: May 3, 2007
    Applicants: NEC Corporation, NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd., Seiko Electric, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kouji Mimura, Ken Sumiyoshi, Fujio Okumura, Shigetoshi Hayata, Tamio Uchino, Yoshiaki Furuya, Youhei Saitou, Katsuhisa Ishii, Takahiko Kanamori
  • Patent number: 7212722
    Abstract: A backlight unit that makes it sure to assemble many optical members in a casing in a right order with their right attitude in its assembly stage is provided. Each of the optical members to be assembled in a predetermined order has a protruding part including at least one protrusion. A count of the protrusions of each member is increased according to the predetermined assembly order. The casing has a depressed part for receiving the protrusions of the members, the depressed part including notches or depressions corresponding to the protrusions of the optical members. Each of the notches or depressions has a depth in a stacking direction that varies according to stacking state of the optical members. The notches or depressions may be formed to penetrate through the casing to thereby confirm easily the order and attitude of the assembled members after the assembly operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventor: Toshiya Shinohara
  • Patent number: 7202845
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device which divides a pixel into a plurality of sub-pixels. In the liquid crystal display device, a gradation and a brightness in each of the sub-pixels have a non-linear relation to each other, and a desired brightness for the pixel is selected by selecting a gradation in each of the sub-pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventors: Koichi Koga, Tohru Kume
  • Patent number: 7202844
    Abstract: In a liquid crystal display controller, a digital image input signal is input to the controller for data-processing and output to a liquid crystal driver which drives a liquid crystal panel which can be normally white or normally black. The liquid crystal display controller comprises an inverter for inverting the digital image input signal, a selector for choosing and outputting the signal inverted by the inverter and the digital image input signal depending on a switching signal, and a data processor for controlling the voltage luminance (VT) of the signal transmitted by the selector and transmitting the signal to the liquid crystal driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventor: Kazuhiro Nakamigawa
  • Patent number: 7196755
    Abstract: A reflector for a reflection-type LCD device is provided, which reflects efficiently incident light to the viewer's side and that suppresses the change of color tone. The reflector comprises a roughened surface having a protrusion pattern. The protrusion pattern gives inclination angle to the surface according to a specific distribution where a first component with an inclination angle value of 0° is 15% or less in area and a second component with an inclination angle value from 2° to 10° is 50% or greater in area. The protrusion pattern gives a variation range of chromaticity coordinates (x, y) on a chromaticity diagram dependent on an angle of view. The variation range is limited in a circle on the chromaticity diagram. The circle has a radius of approximately 0.05 and a center at a point corresponding to white color.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventors: Michiaki Sakamoto, Yuichi Yamaguchi, Hidenori Ikeno, Fumihiko Matsuno, Hironori Kikkawa
  • Patent number: 7193678
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes an array substrate having a plurality of first seal frames each forming a panel area to become a display portion and a second seal frame containing these seal frames thereinside and being of a completely closed shape as a whole outside these first seal frames. The liquid crystal display device of the invention has a structure in which the whole inside of the second seal frame including the insides of the first seal frames of the array substrate is filled with liquid crystal by a liquid crystal dripping method and thereafter the color filter substrate is stuck on the array substrate. This display makes it possible to manufacture a liquid crystal display device of an aggregate liquid crystal display panel structure improved in uniformity of gap between both substrates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Ueyama
  • Patent number: 7193679
    Abstract: A method of fabricating a substrate for a display device prevents the problems occurring in the pattering process of a photosensitive organic material layer, such as the “stage image transfer” and “mask image reflection”. A photosensitive organic material layer is formed on or over a transparent plate, the layer being divided into a display section and a terminal section located outside the display section. The photosensitive organic material layer has a first thickness in the display section and a second thickness different from the first thickness in the terminal section. The layer is exposed to exposing light in such a way that the layer in the display section is exposed at a first exposure value according to the first thickness and the layer in the terminal section is exposed at a second exposure value according to the second thickness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventors: Michiaki Sakamoto, Hironori Kikkawa, Naohito Toyomaki
  • Patent number: 7190423
    Abstract: A liquid crystal monitor incorporating therein a liquid crystal module having a direct backlight is configured to have receiving portions in a reflector 8 of the direct backlight that constitutes a liquid crystal module 13, in order to attach together the liquid crystal module 13 and a liquid crystal monitor member 12. The receiving portions are constituted by reflector extensions 111 that are formed by extending a bottom face of the reflector 8 toward a space between an inclined face of the reflector and an upper frame 2 of the liquid crystal module 13. Then, the liquid crystal monitor member 12 is fixed to the reflector extensions 111 by screws 407. Thus, the use of a space near the inclined face of the reflector allows a liquid crystal monitor to be thinned and reduced in its size and the width of monitor frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideaki Sugawara, Hiroshi Ishida
  • Patent number: 7182500
    Abstract: An elastic member (3b) is fixed to a space between a front surface of an intermediate frame (4a) and a rear surface of a liquid crystal panel (2) constituting a liquid crystal display module (12), or a space between a rear surface of an upper frame (1) and the rear surface of the liquid crystal panel (2) constituting the liquid crystal display module (12). Alternatively, the elastic members (3b) are fixed to both of the spaces. A peak portion (14a) of the elastic member (3b) is formed to possess a flexible structure. The liquid crystal display module is configured to hermetically seal the space between a back light (11a) and the liquid crystal panel (2), the space between the upper frame (1) and the liquid crystal panel (2), or both of the spaces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2007
    Assignee: NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventor: Hideaki Sugawara