Patents Examined by Tai V. Duong
  • Patent number: 6384885
    Abstract: A reflective-type liquid crystal display device is disclosed which comprises first and second substrates; a metal layer having a convex-concave surface over the insulating layer; a &lgr;/4 phase retardation optical film over the second substrate. The convex portion of the metal has a long width in a first direction perpendicular to the main viewing angle direction of the user. Polarization direction of the polarizer is at 90° with respect to the first direction, and slow axis of the optical film is at 45° with respect to the polarization direction. This reflective-type LCD has a high reflective luminance in the main viewing angle direction. Further, because TE(transverse electric) polarized light is incident on the metal transverse electric, the reflective luminance is much more improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2002
    Assignee: LG.Philips LCD Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yong Beom Kim, Woo Hyun Kim, Hyun Ho Son
  • Patent number: 6380672
    Abstract: In order to provide an active matrix display device in which a thick insulating film is preferably formed around an organic semiconductive film of a thin film luminescent device without damaging the thin film luminescent device, the active matrix display device is provided with a bank layer (bank) along a data line (sig) and a scanning line (gate) to suppress formation of parasitic capacitance in the data line (sig), in which the bank layer (bank) surrounds a region that forms the organic semiconductive film of the thin film luminescent device by an ink-jet process. The bank layer (bank) includes a lower insulating layer formed of a thick organic material and an upper insulating layer of an organic material which is deposited on the lower insulating layer and has a smaller thickness so as to avoid contact of the organic semiconductive film with the upper insulating layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2002
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Ichio Yudasaka
  • Patent number: 6356324
    Abstract: A retardation film made of a polymerized liquid crystal material of the present invention includes: a first region having a first flat surface pattern; and a second region having a second flat surface pattern, wherein a thickness in the first region is different from that in the second region, thereby retardations in the first region and in the second region are different from each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2002
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kenji Nishiguchi, Makoto Shiomi
  • Patent number: 6351299
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device is disclosed, comprising a cholesteric liquid crystal layer which has an intrinsic helical pitch of approximately twice as large as a thickness of the liquid crystal layer and also has a bistable character capable of switching by an application of voltage, and further provided with at least one birefringent medium layer between a polarizer and a substrate. This construction of the liquid crystal display device results in a reduction of birefringent effects, whereby achieving a high contrast, satisfactory color purity, and other display characteristics such as a higher duty ratio operation and faster time response, suitable for displaying a large volume of information data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 1997
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2002
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuyuki Takiguchi, Hiroyuki Takahashi, Akihiko Kanemoto
  • Patent number: 6346976
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device effectively absorbs static electricity which enters from outside, and prevents damage to switching elements or the like. In the liquid crystal display device, an active matrix substrate has a plurality of scanning signal lines for applying driving signals to a plurality of switching elements for selecting pixels formed in a display area, a plurality of video signal lines, pixel electrodes and common electrode connecting terminals, and the active matrix substrate is bonded to a color filter substrate having common electrodes which constitute the pixels, with a liquid crystal layer interposed between the substrates. The common electrode connecting terminals and the common electrodes are connected to each other via a conductive layer, and the periphery of the display area is secured with a sealing material clamped therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2002
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hitoshi Komeno, Tsutomu Sato
  • Patent number: 6346974
    Abstract: A retardation film type guest host liquid crystal display is arranged to reduce coloring in dark representation and to be energy-effective. The liquid crystal display includes a liquid crystal layer containing a given amount of dichroic dye and having a twist alignment, a reflective plate, and a phase plate located between the liquid crystal layer and the reflective plate. The phase plate has a slow axis set at 45 degrees against the alignment direction of the liquid crystal and a retardation set at a half of a phase difference between an ordinary ray before reflection by said reflective plate and an extraordinary ray after reflection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2002
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Itou, Shinichi Komura
  • Patent number: 6342937
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes first and second substrates, a plurality of gate bus lines and data bus lines on the first substrate, the gate bus lines being perpendicular to the data bus lines, a plurality of pixels defined by the gate bus lines and the data bus lines, the pixels having a plularity of regions, at least a pair of electrodes in each region having a common direction, and a plurality of liquid crystal molecules between the substrates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2002
    Assignee: LG.Philips LCD Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Komatsu Hiroshi
  • Patent number: 6341002
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device, includes: a first substrate, a second substrate, a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween, and a plurality of pixel regions defined by a pair of electrodes for applying a voltage to the liquid crystal layer. Each of the plurality of pixel regions includes a reflection region and a transmission region, and the liquid crystal layer is made of a liquid crystal material having positive dielectric anisotropy. A first polarizing element is provided on the first substrate opposite to the liquid crystal layer; a second polarizing element is provided on the second substrate opposite to the liquid crystal layer; a first phase difference compensator is provided between the first polarizing element and the liquid crystal layer; and a second phase difference compensator is provided between the second polarizing element and the liquid crystal layer. A twist angle &thgr;t of the liquid crystal layer is in a range of 0° to 90°.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2002
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masahiro Shimizu, Yasuhisa Itoh, Masumi Kubo
  • Patent number: 6339463
    Abstract: A non-polarizing, Bragg-reflecting liquid crystal display is provided including a first and second substrate, liquid crystal material located between the first substrate and the second substrate. A fiber-optic faceplate may function as a first surface. Alternatively, a fiber-optic faceplate may be located on the side of the first substrate opposite from the liquid crystal layer. The fiber-optic faceplate may include optical fibers that extend between a front face and a rear face and fiber cladding materials located between the optical fibers. The fiber cladding material may be further opaquely masked on the front face.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 1997
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2002
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Louis D. Silverstein, Thomas G. Fiske, Greg P. Crawford
  • Patent number: 6337731
    Abstract: An active matrix display device for suppressing voltage variation &Dgr;V due to off-operation of a gate pulse, including TFTs and picture-element electrodes, at least one of the TFTs being assigned to each picture element, and each of the TFTs having a gate electrode connected to a gate line (first gate line), and a source and a drain one of which is connected to a data line, wherein a picture-element electrode concerned is formed so as to be overlapped with the first gate line through an insulator, and also so as to be overlapped through an insulator with a gate line other than the first gate line or a wiring disposed in parallel to the first gate line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2002
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yasuhiko Takemura
  • Patent number: 6331878
    Abstract: A reflected light absorbing plate is divided into plural areas by light absorbing walls and is adapted to satisfy a predetermined condition among a width of one area, a thickness thereof t, and a refraction index of an absorbing plate n. The reflected light absorbing plate is applied to a display panel having a polymer dispersed liquid crystal layer as a light modulating layer via a light coupling layer. The reflected light absorbing plate and the light modulating layer are spaced by a predetermined distance taking MTF into consideration. While the light diffused at a minute area A is reflected at the interface with air, the light is absorbed by the light absorbing wall and never returns to the light modulating layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2001
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Takahara
  • Patent number: 6327010
    Abstract: An electrooptical system contains: (a) a twisted nematic liquid-crystal layer, with an input side and an output side, which is positioned between a first substrate and a second substrate, each of whose inside surface is provided with an electrode coating and an alignment layer thereon, the director of said liquid crystal layer having a parallel edge alignment and a twist angle of 0°≦&bgr;≦1000, (b) at least one compensation layer for compensating the optical path difference of the liquid-crystal layer d·&Dgr;n, and (c) at least one device for linear polarization of light in such an arrangement that light, before entering and after exiting the liquid-crystal layer, passes through a polarization device, I.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 1996
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2001
    Assignee: Merck Patent Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung
    Inventors: Bernhard Scheuble, Günter Baur, Waltraud Fehrenbach, Barbara Staudacher
  • Patent number: 6323918
    Abstract: A capacitor electrode is formed simultaneously with drain bus lines. This capacitor electrode is electrically connected to the contact of two TFT's through the medium of a contact hole. Then, an interlayer insulating film is formed on the entire face and a black matrix of such light blocking metal film as Ti is formed on the interlayer insulating film so as to overlie the channel parts and the contacts of the TFT's and the capacitor electrode. The capacitor electrode, the interlayer insulating film formed thereon, and the black matrix jointly form a capacitor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2001
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Koji Yoshioka, Masafumi Itokazu, Keizo Morita, Munehiro Haraguchi, Mitsuharu Nakazawa, Hiroshi Murakami
  • Patent number: 6320635
    Abstract: Disclosed is a liquid crystal element capable of reducing the threshold voltage value, temperature-dependence on light transmittance, and hysteresis phenomenon. The liquid crystal element basically includes a pair of substrates each having a liquid crystal orientation film, wherein the surface sides, on which the liquid crystal orientation films are formed, of the substrates are opposed to each other with a specific gap put therebetween and a liquid crystal is arranged in the gap. The liquid crystal orientation film includes: a SiOx obliquely vapor-deposited film (x: positive number less than 2); and a polyvinyl alcohol based thin film stacked on the obliquely vapor-deposited film to a thickness of 0.1 &mgr;m or less (the concentration of the polyvinyl alcohol based water solution is 1 wt % or less) allowed to keep irregularities of oblique pillars of the obliquely vapor-deposited film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2001
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Eriko Matsui
  • Patent number: 6320629
    Abstract: The liquid crystal display device of this invention includes: a plurality of pixels including right-eye pixels and left-eye pixels; a display screen constructed of the plurality of pixels; a first substrate including a first display electrode; a second substrate including a second display electrode arranged to oppose the first display electrode; a polarizing layer disposed in at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate; and a reflection film disposed in one of the first substrate and the second substrate, wherein the polarizing layer has first regions arranged to correspond to the right-eye pixels and second regions arranged to correspond to the left-eye pixels, the first regions selectively transmitting first polarized light while the second regions selectively transmitting second polarized light which is different from the first polarized light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2001
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Akitsugu Hatano, Hiroshi Hamada
  • Patent number: 6320631
    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: November 20, 2001
    Assignee: Minolta Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masakazu Okada, Takuji Hatano, Kiyofumi Hashimoto
  • Patent number: 6317179
    Abstract: A reflection liquid crystal display of the multilayered interference film type with both sufficient color purity and sufficient white level is provided using interference films having a large difference in refractive index, &Dgr;n, between two kinds of dielectric. In this reflection type liquid crystal display, at least two combinations of a transparent substrate, a multilayered film, and a light transmission layer, each for a different color, are stacked on a plane of the display. It is desirable that the difference between refractive indexes of the two different kinds of dielectric layers is &Dgr;n>1.2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2001
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroyuki Kamiya
  • Patent number: 6307604
    Abstract: Light source having a luminescent layer (3,8) whose light is guided through an optical filter (5,9) comprising at least one cholesteric crystal layer (cholesteric filter).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2001
    Assignee: U.S. Philips Corporation
    Inventors: Rifat Hikmet, Ralf Raue, Thomas Welker
  • Patent number: 6304310
    Abstract: An liquid crystal apparatus, includes: (a) a liquid crystal device including: a pair of substrates each provided with a uniaxial alignment axis, and a chiral smectic liquid crystal having a negative dielectric anisotropy disposed between the pair of substrates and capable of forming a higher-temperature bistable alignment state and a lower-temperature bistable alignment state in its chiral smectic C phase, the chiral smectic liquid crystal being further placed in the lower-temperature bistable alignment state formed by cooling from the higher-temperature bistable alignment state; and (b) voltage application means including: an AC voltage application means for applying to the chiral smectic liquid crystal an AC voltage insufficient to cause a switching from one to the other or from the other to one of the bistable alignment state, and a switching voltage application means for applying to the chiral smectic liquid crystal a voltage of one polarity sufficient to cause a switching from one to the other of the bis
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 1992
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2001
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hideyuki Kawagishi, Yutaka Inaba
  • Patent number: 6295101
    Abstract: In a tablet integrated type liquid crystal display apparatus, a first transparent substrate is provided on a view side. The first substrate is a plastic substrate having a thickness equal to or thinner than 0.6 mm, and a counter electrode is formed on the first substrate. A second substrate on which a driving layer composed of switching elements and pixel electrodes respectively connected to the switching elements is formed. The second substrate is a glass substrate having a thickness in a range of 0.6 mm to 1.1 mm. A guest host liquid crystal layer sandwiched by the first substrate and the second substrate such that the guest host liquid crystal is driven by a voltage applied between the counter electrode and the pixel electrode. A tablet electrode layer may be provided between the first substrate and the counter electrode. Alternatively, a tablet electrode layer may be provided on the first substrate on an opposite side of the counter electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2001
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Naoyasu Ikeda, Eishi Mizobata, Yoshihiko Hirai