Patents Examined by Tai V. Duong
  • Patent number: 6563554
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display is furnished with: a liquid crystal display element having a pair of substrates, to which alignment members are provided to their respective opposing surfaces, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched by the pair of substrates; an alignment mechanism for providing at least two different director configurations simultaneously on different arbitrary regions used for display in the liquid crystal layer; and a reflection film provided to at least one of the different arbitrary regions showing different director configurations; wherein the different arbitrary regions showing different director configurations are used for a reflection display section for showing reflection display and a transmission display section for showing transmission display, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2003
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masayuki Okamoto, Hajime Hiraki, Seiichi Mitsui
  • Patent number: 6529252
    Abstract: A polymer dispersion type liquid crystal (PDLC) display element comprising a complex of polymers and liquid crystal droplets held between a pair of substrates. The liquid crystal droplets are deformed into a compressed structure of their being contracted in a cell gap direction and an amount of deformation of the liquid crystal droplets is set to be in range in which a phenomenon of liquid crystal molecules rising up in the cell gap direction is not caused by excluded volume effects of the liquid crystals. The amount of deformation of the liquid crystal droplets, is set to be in range in which the phenomenon of liquid crystal molecules rising up in the cell gap direction is not caused by excluded volume effects of the liquid crystals can provide an increased tendency of the liquid crystal molecules to align in parallel to a phase boundary of the substrates. The DPLC display element having excellent threshold characteristics and scattering characteristics and high display characteristics can be achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2003
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenji Nakao, Shinya Kosako, Tsuyoshi Uemura, Hirofumi Kubota, Masao Yamamoto, Kazuo Inoue, Seiji Nishiyama
  • Patent number: 6519013
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display (LCD) is improved. A driving method for a LCD which has a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode so that voltages to be applied to pixels are changed, wherein voltage levels in a selection time in a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) driving method are the same level between two successive column electrodes so as to obtain a color display or a gray scale display which corresponds to an intermediate voltage applied to a pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 1997
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2003
    Assignees: Asahi Glass Company Ltd., Optrex Corporation
    Inventors: Makoto Nagai, Takeshi Kuwata, Masao Ozeki
  • Patent number: 6496240
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display apparatus containing an image sensor, which comprises a liquid crystal display part comprising an active matrix circuit, a peripheral driver circuit for driving the active matrix circuit, and a sensor part, integrated on one substrate, wherein the sensor part is sealed and protected with a sealing part and a counter substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2002
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hongyong Zhang, Masayuki Sakakura
  • Patent number: 6490021
    Abstract: A reflective type active matrix liquid crystal display device is provided which is capable of offering preferred images. The present invention provides a reflective type display device comprising an insulation substrate, a TFT array formed over the insulation substrate and having a plurality of pixel TFTs formed in a matrix form, at least one driver circuit formed over the substrate and having a plurality of driver TFTs to drive the TFT array, a reflective pixel electrode connected to the pixel TFTs and arranged above part or an entire of the driver circuit, and at least one power source interconnect connected to the driver circuit and formed between the reflective pixel electrode and one of a source electrode and a drain electrode of the driver TFTS. This power source interconnect serves to shield against electrical noise caused by the driver TFTs constituting the driver circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2002
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Jun Koyama
  • Patent number: 6483567
    Abstract: To prevent a pitch shift between sensor panels when the temperature changes, in an image processing device having first boards having a thermal expansion coefficient a and a plurality of semiconductor elements or/and wiring lines formed on at least one board at an equal pitch P, and a second board having a thermal expansion coefficient b and opposing and bonded to the first board through bonding means, letting L be a length of the first board in a direction of array of the semiconductor elements or/and the wiring lines on the first board opposing the second board and T be a width of a temperature guarantee range of the image processing device, −P/2<LT(a−b)<P/2 is satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2002
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Satoshi Okada
  • Patent number: 6465876
    Abstract: A semiconductor device which can improve the connection reliability of solder bumps and productivity in manufacturing. Insulating tape having wiring patterns on its surface is bond ed to a lead frame. Semiconductor elements are loaded and circuit formed surfaces and sides of the semiconductor elements are sealed with sealing resin. After arrangements of individual semiconductor devices are formed, the lead frame is separated into individual metal plates to form individual semiconductor devices. Such simultaneous production of a plurality of semiconductor devices enhances productivity, and improves flatness of the insulating tape, whereby the connection reliability of solder bumps is improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2002
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Makoto Kitano, Akihiro Yaguchi, Naotaka Tanaka, Takeshi Terasaki, Ichiro Anjoh, Ryo Haruta, Asao Nishimura, Junichi Saeki
  • Patent number: 6452657
    Abstract: An in-plane switching scheme LCD (IPS-LCD) unit includes front and rear substrates, a LC layer sandwiched therebetween and having a uniform initial orientation alignment. The rear substrate has in each pixel area a plurality of zones formed by stripes of a pixel electrode and stripes of a common electrode. The electric fields generated by the pixel electrode and the common electrode extend alternately in opposite directions to form a checkered pattern, thereby suppressing color change due to the view angle for the LCD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2002
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Teruaki Suzuki, Shin-ichi Nishida, Masayoshi Suzuki
  • Patent number: 6452647
    Abstract: A receiver receives a signal transmitted by a time-division multi-access method that divides one frame into a plurality of communication slots in conducting communication. In this receiver, a detection circuit detects whether a received RF signal is stronger than a predetermined level. The received RF signal is demodulated by a demodulation circuit. An oscillation circuit generates a clock that is used to decode the data obtained by demodulation. The data obtained by demodulation is stored in a memory in synchronism with a clock reproduced from the received signal, and is then retrieved from the memory in synchronism with the clock generated by the oscillation circuit. This eliminates jitters. After jitter elimination, the data is decoded by a processing circuit. The writing/reading operation against the memory is initialized in accordance with a result output from the detection circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2002
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventor: Paul McKay Moore
  • Patent number: 6452650
    Abstract: A polymer dispersion type liquid crystal display element according to the invention is structured such that a complex of polymer and liquid crystal droplets is held between a pair of substrates. The liquid crystal droplets are deformed into a compressed structure of their being contracted in a cell gap direction and an amount of deformation of the liquid crystal droplets is set to be in range in which a phenomenon of liquid crystal molecules rising up in the cell gap direction is not caused by excluded volume effects of the liquid crystals. This construction that the amount of deformation of the liquid crystal droplets is set to be in range in which the phenomenon of liquid crystal molecules rising up in the cell gap direction is not caused by excluded volume effects of the liquid crystals can provide an increased tendency of the liquid crystal molecules to align in parallel to a phase boundary of the substrates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2002
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenji Nakao, Shinya Kosako, Tsuyoshi Uemura, Hirofumi Kubota, Masao Yamamoto, Kazuo Inoue, Seiji Nishiyama
  • Patent number: 6445427
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device which can protect a cell region from ESD and improve a display area, is disclosed. A liquid liquid crystal display device according to the present invention, includes: a cell region arranged on the overall region of an array substrate; a gate line and a data line arranged in the shape of matrix on the cell region; an ESD protection part disposed at one side of a cross portion of the gate line and the data line, the ESD protection part protecting the gate line and the data line from ESD; and a thin film transistor disposed at the other side of the cross portion, the thin film transistor acting as a switching element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2002
    Assignee: Hyundai Display Technology Inc.
    Inventors: Han Seung Lee, Young Hoon Kim, Young Ki Son
  • Patent number: 6433843
    Abstract: A liquid crystal reflective display comprising cholesteric liquid crystal capable of selectively reflecting spectral rays of a specific wavelength in a visible range; and a carrier carrying said cholesteric liquid crystal, wherein at least one of said cholesteric liquid crystal and said carrier contains a coloring agent absorbing spectral rays in a wavelength range different from the selective reflection wavelength of said cholesteric liquid crystal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2002
    Assignee: Minolta Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masakazu Okada, Takuji Hatano, Kiyofumi Hashimoto
  • Patent number: 6433853
    Abstract: A cholesteric liquid crystal layer has a helical pitch changing in the thickness direction and shows circular dichroism over a wavelength region having a width of at least 50 nm and including a wavelength of 520 nm, wherein the linearly polarized light obtained through a quarter-wavelength plate has a maximum degree of polarization at a wavelength not longer than 520 nm, or the degree of polarization thereof in a wavelength region on the shorter-wavelength side of 520 nm is higher than that in a wavelength region on the longer-wavelength side of 520 nm. The optical element comprises a multilayer structure composed of the cholesteric liquid crystal layer and at least one optical layer superposed thereon which is a retardation compensating plate, a polarizing plate, a light conductive plate, or a quarter-wavelength plate having an Nz of −0.8 to −2.0 and disposed on the longer-helical pitch side of the liquid crystal layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2002
    Assignee: Nitto Denko Corporation
    Inventors: Tadayuki Kameyama, Hironori Motomura, Naoki Takahashi
  • Patent number: 6429907
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display has an increased aperture ratio achieved by an increased area surrounded by the pixel electrode in a pixel area. However, this may result in poor image quality due to the excited interference voltage that is generated by parasitic capacitance created by the overlap of the pixel electrode and the data lines. At different portions of the data lines, the area of overlap between the pixel electrode and the data lines are different. Thus, to eliminate the excited interference voltage and enhance image quality, the thickness of the dielectric member between the pixel electrodes and the data lines is different so that the parasitic capacitance of the parasitic capacitors is about the same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2002
    Assignee: LG Philips LCD Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Sung-Il Park, Jae-Young Chung
  • Patent number: 6429913
    Abstract: A holographic universal display according to the present invention uses reflective lighting for a liquid-crystal panel. The system comprises at least two waveguide holograms in a matched configuration that redirects incident light beams as diffracted beams so that the beams passing out of the display are targeted towards the viewer. That is to say, light beams that are incident to the display at large angles, over a wide range, with respect to normal are redirected into a set, narrow range of angles close to the required angle for optimal viewing. The required angle for optimal viewing is nominally perpendicular to the plane of the display (i.e., normal), but is optionally selectable (by design of the holograms) to be an angle varies from the strict perpendicular.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2002
    Assignee: NeurOK, LLC
    Inventor: Andrey N. Putilin
  • Patent number: 6424398
    Abstract: A liquid crystal material having a negative dielectric constant anisotropy is provided between first and second substrates and aligned homeotropically. Pixel electrodes each having a slit are provided on the first substrate. Color filters for giving red, green and blue are arranged in the pixels. A projection pattern is formed on the second substrate so as to divide the pixels into small areas. The slit of each pixel electrode is spaced from the projection pattern so as to divide, together with the projection pattern, the pixels into domains. The width of the slit of a pixel among the red, green, and blue pixels is different from that of the other pixel. The coloring of the display screen occurring during white display is suppressed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2002
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Yoji Taniguchi
  • Patent number: 6414728
    Abstract: A transportable image display system having direct and projection viewing modes of operation. The image display system comprises a spatial light modulation structure for spatially modulating the intensity of light produced from a light source, and light diffusing panel of electro-optical construction having a light scattering state in which light being transmitted therethrough is scattered in a diffusive manner, and a light transmission state in which light being transmitted therethrough is transmitted without substantial scattering. In the illustrative embodiments, the spatial light modulation structure can be an electrically-addressable LCD panel, or slide-film structures to be viewed. During the direct viewing mode, light produced from the light source is scattered by the light diffusing panel and spatial intensity modulated by the spatial light modulation structure to form a first image for direct viewing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2002
    Assignee: Reveo, Inc.
    Inventors: Sadeg M. Faris, Le Li
  • Patent number: 6411348
    Abstract: An active matrix is furnished with an insulating substrate; a plurality of scanning lines and signal lines provided on the insulating substrate in a matrix pattern; pixel electrodes provided in areas enclosed by the scanning lines and signal lines, respectively; switching elements electrically connected to the scanning lines, signal lines, and pixel electrodes, respectively; a resistance control element for electrically connecting two lines selected arbitrary from the scanning lines and signal lines while controlling its own resistance value in response to a voltage applied thereto. According to the above arrangement, it has become possible to increase a margin of the active matrix substrate for the static electricity and improve the production yield without increasing the number of the producing steps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 1997
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2002
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Katsuhiro Kawai, Shinya Yamakawa, Masaya Okamoto, Takayuki Shimada, Mikio Katayama
  • Patent number: 6404463
    Abstract: A display device is created in particular for a combination instrument of a motor vehicle and has an electro-optic display device; at least one scale device for at least one analog display device which is arranged adjacent to the electro-optic display device, with one section of the scale device covering at least one section (10a; 10b) of the electro-optic display device; and a luminous layer applied to the scale device by which the section of the scale device covering the electro-optic display device as well as the remainder of the scale device can each be lighted at least in part. In this way, space can be saved between the electro-optic display device and the scale device and an esthetic transition is achieved in terms of illumination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2002
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Peter Knoll, Ralf Sybrichs, Bernhard Herzog
  • Patent number: 6396557
    Abstract: A tape carrier package comprising a tape carrier, a semiconductor chip, and an anisotropic conductive resin. The tape carrier includes an insulating film having a through-hole, a conductor pattern formed on the insulating film including leads projecting into the through-hole, and inner wiring electrically connected to a part of the conductor pattern. The semiconductor chip is provided in the through-hole and has connecting bumps electrically connected to end portions of the leads. The anisotropic conductive resin are provided so as to cover at least a portion of the semiconductor chip including a junction of the connecting bumps and the end portions of the leads.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2002
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Naoyuki Tajima