Patents Examined by Shean C Wu
  • Patent number: 9034219
    Abstract: Described herein are compounds generally comprising an indeno[2?,3?:3,4]naptho[1,2-b]pyran structure. Such compounds may be useful for their photochromic properties, and be used in certain photochromic compositions. Such compositions may further comprise other photochromic compositions and/or materials. Additionally, such compounds and/or compositions may be suitable for preparing certain photochromic articles. Also described herein are methods for preparing certain photochromic compounds, compositions, and articles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: Transitions Optical, Inc.
    Inventors: Meng He, Darrin R. Dabideen, Xiao-Man Dai, Wenjing Xiao, Ruisong Xu, Sujit Mondal, Anil Kumar, Anu Chopra
  • Patent number: 9028713
    Abstract: The present invention provides a mixture for liquid crystal medium and a liquid crystal display using the same. The mixture for liquid crystal medium comprises: at least one anisotropic liquid crystal material and a polymerizable monomer which will polymerize under UV irradiation. The weight percentage of the polymerizable monomer accounts for 0.1% to 1% of the total mixture for liquid crystal medium. In the mixture for liquid crystal medium and a liquid crystal display using the same according to the present invention, by using a polymerizable monomer which will polymerize under UV irradiation and the appropriate content ratio, the polymer bump with small size and good uniformity can be obtained within the mixture for liquid crystal medium after the polymerization, which avoids the bad liquid crystal alignment and the light spot occurred at the dark state of the liquid crystal panel, and then increases the response rapid of the liquid crystal panel to obtain high contrast ratio and stable mass production.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Xing Feng, Xinhui Zhong
  • Patent number: 9023439
    Abstract: A nematic liquid crystal composition according to the invention is used for a liquid crystal display element for an active matrix drive for TV applications or the like for which a quick switching and a wide viewing angle are required. The liquid crystal composition has a negative dielectric anisotropy having a large absolute value and also has a sufficiently low viscosity. Therefore, the liquid crystal composition has excellent characteristic properties, that is, a quick switching, good display quality and a suppressed display defect, and is therefore suitable as a practical liquid crystal composition. Further, a liquid crystal display element produced using the liquid crystal composition can be used favorably as a liquid crystal display element of a VA type or the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignee: DIC Corporation
    Inventors: Gou Sudou, Shotaro Kawakami
  • Patent number: 9025110
    Abstract: A horizontal electric field-type liquid crystal display (LCD) device is provided. The LCD device includes first and second substrates disposed opposite and apart from each other, a first electrode formed on an inner surface of the first substrate, a second electrode corresponding to the first electrode and configured to generate an electric field, and a liquid crystal (LC) layer formed between the first and second substrates, the LC layer including a polymer network and LC molecules confined in multiple domains by the polymer network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignees: LG Display Co., Ltd., Pusan National University Industry-University Cooperation Foundation
    Inventors: Sung-Il Park, Sung-Gu Kang, Yu-Ri Shim, Sun-Yong Lee, Tae-Hoon Yoon, Byung-Wok Park, Byeong-Hun Yu, Dong-Han Song, Sun-Wook Choi
  • Patent number: 9011988
    Abstract: A liquid-crystal compound denoted by general formula (I) below wherein each of the groups is defined and Dye denotes an azo dye residue denoted by general formula (II) with X and n also being defined. The azo liquid-crystal compound is capable of orientation with a high degree of orientation order.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2015
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventor: Ryoji Goto
  • Patent number: 9011990
    Abstract: The invention relates to a liquid crystal display utilizing a vertically aligned state of liquid crystal molecules when no voltage is applied and to a method of manufacturing the same. The liquid crystal display includes a monofunctional monomer having a structure expressed by X-R (where X represents an acrylate group or a methacrylate group, and R represents an organic group having a steroid skeleton). A liquid crystal material is sandwiched between substrates which is then irradiated with ultraviolet rays to cure the monofunctional monomer, thereby forming a polymer film at an interface of a substrate. The monofunctional monomer has a hydrophobic skeleton such as an alkyl chain and a photoreactive group on one side of the skeleton.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2015
    Assignee: Unified Innovative Technology, LLC
    Inventors: Shingo Kataoka, Hideaki Tsuda, Katsufumi Ohmuro, Jin Hirosawa, Seiji Tanuma, Yoshio Koike
  • Patent number: 9011989
    Abstract: Defective display by a liquid crystal display device is reduced. In a liquid crystal composition which contains a liquid crystal material exhibiting a blue phase and has a transmission spectrum with a single peak in a temperature range where the liquid crystal material exhibits a blue phase, it is found that the blue phase of the liquid crystal material can be stabilized in a wide temperature range by polymer stabilization treatment. Thus, the liquid crystal composition allows the polymer stabilization treatment to be achieved in a wider temperature range. This makes it possible to reduce defective orientation in a composite of polymer and liquid crystal formed by subjecting the liquid crystal composition to the treatment. As a result, it is possible to reduce defective display by a liquid crystal display device which includes the composite of polymer and liquid crystal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2015
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Daisuke Kubota, Takahiro Yamamoto, Makoto Ikenaga
  • Patent number: 9005720
    Abstract: Disclosed are liquid-crystal (LC) media for use in LC displays of the PS (polymer stabilized) or PSA (polymer sustained alignment) type which contain a liquid-crystal (LC) mixture that contains one or more compounds of formula I
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Merck Patent GmbH
    Inventors: Achim Goetz, Melanie Klasen-Memmer, Stephan Derow, Sabine Schoen, Peter Best
  • Patent number: 9005475
    Abstract: An aromatic amide compound having the following general formula (I) is provided: wherein, X1 and X2 are independently C(O)HN or NHC(O); G1, G2 and G3 are independently hydrogen, C(O)HN-phenyl, or NHC(O)-phenyl, wherein at least one of G1, G2 and G3 is C(O)HN-phenyl or NHC(O)-phenyl; Q1, Q2, and Q3 are independently hydrogen, C(O)HN-phenyl, or NHC(O)-phenyl, wherein at least one of Q1, Q2, and Q3 is C(O)HN-phenyl or NHC(O)-phenyl; R5 is halo, haloalkyl, alkyl, alkenyl, aryl, heteroaryl, cycloalkyl, or heterocyclyl; and m is from 0 to 4.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Ticona LLC
    Inventors: Kamlesh P. Nair, Steven D. Gray
  • Patent number: 9005721
    Abstract: Disclosed are liquid-crystal (LC) media for use in LC displays of the PS (polymer stabilized) or PSA (polymer sustained alignment) type which contain a liquid-crystal (LC) mixture that contains one or more compounds of formula I
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Merck Patent GmbH
    Inventors: Achim Goetz, Melanie Klasen-Memmer, Stephan Derow, Sabine Schoen, Peter Best
  • Patent number: 9005476
    Abstract: Polyarylene sulfide/liquid crystal polymer alloys are described as are methods of forming the polyarylene sulfide/liquid crystal polymer alloys. The polyarylene sulfide/liquid crystal polymer alloys are formed according to a melt processing method that includes melt processing a polyarylene sulfide with a reactively functionalized disulfide compound and a liquid crystal polymer in a one or two step process. The reactively functionalized disulfide compound is added in a stoichiometric amount to react with a portion of the polyarylene sulfide. The melt processing forms a polyarylene sulfide/liquid crystal polymer copolymer that is a compatibilizer in the alloy. The polyarylene sulfide/liquid crystal polymer alloys may provide low chlorine content products having excellent strength characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Ticona LLC
    Inventors: Rong Luo, Xinyu Zhao, Paul C. Yung
  • Patent number: 8999465
    Abstract: The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device in which display defects are not easily generated even when an alignment film is not formed. The liquid crystal display device of the present invention includes a pair of substrates; and a liquid crystal layer that is held between the pair of substrates, wherein both substrates of the pair of substrates do not substantially include an alignment film, at least one substrate of the pair of substrates includes a polymer layer that controls the alignment of liquid crystal molecules adjacent thereto, the polymer layer is formed by polymerization of monomers of at least one kind included in a liquid crystal layer composition, and the monomers of at least one kind contain a compound represented by the following formula (1): (wherein A represents an acrylate group, a methacrylate group, an ethacrylate group, a vinyl group, or an allyl group; a represents 0 or 1; and m represents a natural number of 4 to 12).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Youhei Nakanishi, Takeshi Noma
  • Patent number: 8999195
    Abstract: A liquid crystal smectic A composition that can be switched by the application of different electric fields across it between a first stable state (left hand block in FIG. 4) and at least one second stable state (right hand block in FIG. 4) in which the composition is less ordered than in the first state. The radiation transmission properties of the first and second states are different.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: Cambridge Enterprise Limited
    Inventors: Daping Chu, Huan Xu, William Alden Crossland, Anthony Bernard Davey
  • Patent number: 8999460
    Abstract: The invention relates to compounds of the formula I, and to a liquid-crystalline medium, preferably having a nematic phase and negative dielectric anisotropy, which comprises one or more compounds of formula I, defined herein, for use in an electro-optical display, particularly in an active-matrix display based on the VA, ECB, PALO, FFS or IPS effect, and to the use of the compounds of the formula I for the stabilization of a liquid-crystalline medium which comprises one or more compounds of the formula II and one or more compounds of the formulae III-1 to III-4, defined herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: MERCK PATENT GmbH
    Inventors: Mark Goebel, Rocco Fortte, Detlef Pauluth
  • Patent number: 8999461
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an electro-optical light modulation element and to electro-optical displays and display systems, such as television screens and computer monitors, containing elements of this type. The light modulation elements according to the invention contain a mesogenic modulation medium which is in the isotropic phase during operation of the light modulation elements and are particularly distinguished by very short response times in addition to good contrast and low viewing-angle dependence. The mesogenic modulation media used in the electro-optical light modulation elements are likewise a subject-matter of the present invention.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignee: Merck Patent GmbH
    Inventors: Michael Heckmeier, Achim Gotz
  • Patent number: 8992796
    Abstract: The present invention provides a polymerizable liquid crystal composition containing polymerizable liquid crystal compounds and a photoinitiator, wherein the photoinitiator has a light absorption band in a wavelength range of 280 to 400 nm; and at least one of the polymerizable liquid crystal compounds has a light absorption band in a wavelength range of 320 to 400 nm or a light-absorbing agent having a light absorption band in a wavelength range of 280 to 400 nm is contained. Thus, there is provided a material that can be cured in the air without replacing the atmosphere with an inert gas during irradiation with ultraviolet rays and that can achieve the characteristics required for a biaxial film, such as a sufficiently large front phase difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: DIC Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroshi Hasebe, Yasuhiro Kuwana, Isa Nishiyama
  • Patent number: 8994900
    Abstract: According to embodiments of the invention, there are provided a display module, a display device and a method of manufacturing the display module. The display module comprises an array structural layer and a color filter layer provided on a surface of the array structural layer. The color filter layer comprises black matrixes and color pixel layers, and the color pixel layers are formed between adjacent black matrixes, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mingchao Li, Jaegeon You
  • Patent number: 8982197
    Abstract: An optical filter for stereoscopic image display device and a stereoscopic image display device may be provided. In one embodiment, the optical filter for stereoscopic image display device may include a plastic substrate; an alignment layer; and a retardation layer, and the stereoscopic image display device may include the optical filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: LG Chem, Ltd.
    Inventors: Sin-Young Kim, Moon-Soo Park, Byoung-Kun Jeon, Sang-Choll Han, Bu Gon Shin, Hyuk Yoon
  • Patent number: 8980384
    Abstract: A liquid crystal composition of the present invention has a liquid phase over a wide temperature range, low viscosity, good solubility at a low temperature, high resistivity and voltage holding ratio, and stability to heat and light, and can thus provide, in high yield, a liquid crystal display device having good display quality and causing little display defects such as image sticking, dropping marks, and the like. A liquid crystal display device using the liquid crystal composition of the present invention is useful, particularly useful for a liquid crystal display device for active matrix driving, because both fast response and suppression of display defects are achieved, and the liquid crystal display device can be applied to a liquid crystal display device for a VA mode, a PSVA mode, or a TN mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: DIC Corporation
    Inventor: Jouji Kawamura
  • Patent number: 8980383
    Abstract: A method of making a wide temperature-range smectic liquid crystal material comprises taking a wide temperature-range nematic mixture and doping this with a mesogenic silicon-containing material. Aspects of the invention provide wide temperature-range smectic materials and devices using the smectic materials.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Cambridge Enterprise Limited
    Inventors: Harry J. Coles, Damian J. Gardiner