Patents by Inventor Hitoshi Tsuchiya

Hitoshi Tsuchiya 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).

  • Publication number: 20060170847
    Abstract: The invention provides a thin reflective plate having cholesteric liquid crystal that can prevent or reduce a decrease of reflection efficiency. A reflective plate includes a cholesteric liquid crystal layer, and the cholesteric liquid crystal layer includes a plurality of regions in which the helical axes of the cholesteric liquid crystal are aligned in different directions in the plane of a substrate, and therefore, the regions can reflect color light components having different wavelengths. Consequently, the cholesteric liquid crystal layer can reflect light formed of light components of different colors (for example, white light) as a whole. When the reflective plate is applied to a reflective liquid crystal display device or the like, it is possible to appropriately reflect white light for display.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2006
    Publication date: August 3, 2006
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Maeda, Kimitaka Kamijo, Kinya Ozawa, Hitoshi Tsuchiya
  • Patent number: 7046322
    Abstract: The invention provides a transflective liquid crystal display device that has less defects, such as incidental images both in reflective display and transmissive display modes, and that has high luminance and high contrast. The liquid crystal display device according to the invention can include a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between a pair of substrates. Each dot area of the display device has a reflective display area and at least two transmissive display areas. The liquid crystal layer can include liquid crystal with negative dielectric anisotropy. The initial alignment state of molecules of the liquid crystal is vertical. An adjusting layer is provided between the liquid crystal layer and one substrate of the pair of substrates. The adjusting layer makes the thickness of the liquid crystal layer different in the reflective display area and the transmissive display area and is provided in the reflective display area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2006
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Hitoshi Tsuchiya
  • Publication number: 20060098142
    Abstract: The invention provides a semi-transparent reflective liquid crystal display device in which bright display, high contrast, and less viewing-angle dependency are possible in a transmission mode. In the liquid crystal display device according to the present invention, a polarizing plate can be disposed on the upper side of a liquid crystal cell in which a semi-transparent reflective layer is formed on a lower substrate and the thickness of a liquid crystal layer in a transmissive display region can be made to be different from the thickness of a liquid crystal layer in a reflective display region by a layer-thickness adjusting layer. A uniaxially stretched phase difference film can be interposed between the polarizing plate and the liquid crystal cell, and a liquid crystal film fixed in nematic hybrid alignment can be interposed between the phase difference film and the liquid crystal cell.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 20, 2005
    Publication date: May 11, 2006
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hitoshi Tsuchiya
  • Publication number: 20060050212
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes: a pair of substrates including an element substrate and a counter substrate; a liquid crystal layer interposed between the pair of substrates, the liquid crystal layer being composed of liquid crystal having negative dielectric anisotropy, an initial alignment state thereof being vertical; pixel electrodes provided on the element substrate to drive the liquid crystal layer; and a transmissive display region for transmissive display and a reflective display region for reflective display provided within one dot region. At least an outer region of the pixel electrodes and a region overlapping edges of the pixel electrodes in plan view become the reflective display region, and the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the reflective display region is approximately equal to that of the liquid crystal layer in the transmissive display region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 24, 2005
    Publication date: March 9, 2006
    Inventor: Hitoshi Tsuchiya
  • Publication number: 20060050210
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes an element substrate; a counter substrate opposite to the element substrate; a liquid crystal layer that is formed between the element substrate and the counter substrate; and dot sections each having a transmissive display section for performing transmissive display and a reflective display section for performing reflective display. The element substrate includes switching elements, an insulating film formed on the switching elements, and pixel electrodes formed on the insulating film. The switching elements are electrically connected to the pixel electrodes through contact holes that are formed in the insulating film. Each of the pixel electrodes has a transparent electrode portion for the transmissive display and a reflective electrode portion for the reflective display. The switching element is arranged below the reflective electrode portion of a second dot section adjacent to a first dot section that is driven by the switching element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 16, 2005
    Publication date: March 9, 2006
    Inventor: Hitoshi Tsuchiya
  • Publication number: 20060044496
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display device includes a first substrate, a second substrate, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, the liquid crystal display device having a dot region as an image display unit, the dot region including a transmissive display region and a reflective display region, wherein a thickness adjustment layer for adjusting the thickness of the liquid crystal layer is disposed between the liquid crystal layer and at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate, the thickness adjustment layer decreasing the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the reflective display region compared with the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the transmissive display region, and a metal line is placed on the second substrate so as to overlap, in plan view, an inclined region of the thickness adjustment layer disposed between the transmissive display region and the reflective display region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 23, 2005
    Publication date: March 2, 2006
    Inventor: Hitoshi Tsuchiya
  • Publication number: 20050128396
    Abstract: To provide a liquid crystal display device and an electronic apparatus in which deterioration of contrast due to a protrusion or a slit used for division of alignment can be prevented in the liquid crystal display device including a liquid crystal which has a negative dielectric anisotropy exhibiting vertical alignment as an initial alignment state. There is provided a liquid crystal display device comprising a liquid crystal layer, which includes a liquid crystal having a negative dielectric anisotropy exhibiting vertical alignment as an initial alignment state, between a pair of substrates and disposed to be opposite to each other, in which alignment control means for controlling alignment of the liquid crystal layer is provided on at least one of electrodes provided on the pair of substrates, and in which a light-shielding film BM two-dimensionally overlapped with the alignment control means is provided on at least one substrate of the pair of substrates.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2004
    Publication date: June 16, 2005
    Applicant: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Hitoshi Tsuchiya, Joji Nishimura
  • Patent number: 6882210
    Abstract: A switching device receives two pairs of balanced signals and outputs one of the two pairs of the signals. The device is composed of two SPDT switches which share two control signals provided to the gates of the FET of the SPDT switches. The package of the device has eight external electrodes on the back side of the package. The eight external electrodes are configured so that they are aligned symmetrically with respect to the center line of the package. The device requires only a small package space and is suitable for mobile communication application such as cell phone accommodating CDMA and GPS signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2005
    Assignee: Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd.
    Inventors: Tetsuro Asano, Hitoshi Tsuchiya, Toshikazu Hirai
  • Publication number: 20040212763
    Abstract: The invention provides a transflective liquid crystal display device that has less defects, such as incidental images both in reflective display and transmissive display modes, and that has high luminance and high contrast. The liquid crystal display device according to the invention can include a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between a pair of substrates. Each dot area of the display device has a reflective display area and at least two transmissive display areas. The liquid crystal layer can include liquid crystal with negative dielectric anisotropy. The initial alignment state of molecules of the liquid crystal is vertical. An adjusting layer is provided between the liquid crystal layer and one substrate of the pair of substrates. The adjusting layer makes the thickness of the liquid crystal layer different in the reflective display area and the transmissive display area and is provided in the reflective display area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 17, 2004
    Publication date: October 28, 2004
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hitoshi Tsuchiya
  • Publication number: 20040160556
    Abstract: To provide a transflective liquid crystal display device capable of obtaining a display with a high brightness, a high contrast, and a wide viewing angle. According to the liquid crystal display device of the present invention, the vertical alignment mode using liquid crystal layer 50 whose initial alignment state represents a vertical alignment is utilized, the reflective display region R is provided to surround the periphery of the transmissive display region T within a single dot region, and an insulating film 21 for regulating the thickness of the liquid crystal layer is provided in a region corresponding to the reflective display region R in the periphery of the dot. In addition, in the substrate (counter substrate 25) opposite to the side where the insulating film 21 is formed, an opening 31s is provided in a common electrode 31 at a position corresponding to the boundary between the reflective display region R and the transmissive display region T.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2003
    Publication date: August 19, 2004
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hitoshi Tsuchiya, Toshiharu Matsushima
  • Publication number: 20040119914
    Abstract: The invention provides a semi-transparent reflective liquid crystal display device in which bright display, high contrast, and less viewing-angle dependency are possible in a transmission mode. In the liquid crystal display device according to the present invention, a polarizing plate can be disposed on the upper side of a liquid crystal cell in which a semi-transparent reflective layer is formed on a lower substrate and the thickness of a liquid crystal layer in a transmissive display region can be made to be different from the thickness of a liquid crystal layer in a reflective display region by a layer-thickness adjusting layer. A uniaxially stretched phase difference film can be interposed between the polarizing plate and the liquid crystal cell, and a liquid crystal film fixed in nematic hybrid alignment can be interposed between the phase difference film and the liquid crystal cell.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 6, 2003
    Publication date: June 24, 2004
    Applicant: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Hitoshi Tsuchiya
  • Publication number: 20040061816
    Abstract: A structure of a multi-gap liquid crystal display is provided in which high-quality images can be displayed even when the orientation of the crystal molecules is disordered in the border regions between a transmissive display region and a reflective display region and between adjacent pixel regions that can be easily manufactured at low cost. The liquid crystal display has a first substrate, a second substrate, and a liquid crystal layer. A light-reflecting layer for defining a reflective display region and a transmissive display region is formed in a pixel region. A thickness-adjusting layer having a recess corresponding to the transmissive display region inside an opening is formed above the light-reflecting layer. A color filter overlap is formed at the border region between the reflective display region and the transmissive display region. The color filter overlap is either in direct contact with or distant from the thickness-adjusting layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2003
    Publication date: April 1, 2004
    Inventors: Hitoshi Tsuchiya, Nobutaka Urano
  • Publication number: 20030142256
    Abstract: The invention provides a thin reflective plate having cholesteric liquid crystal that can prevent or reduce a decrease of reflection efficiency. A reflective plate includes a cholesteric liquid crystal layer, and the cholesteric liquid crystal layer includes a plurality of regions in which the helical axes of the cholesteric liquid crystal are aligned in different directions in the plane of a substrate, and therefore, the regions can reflect color light components having different wavelengths. Consequently, the cholesteric liquid crystal layer can reflect light formed of light components of different colors (for example, white light) as a whole. When the reflective plate is applied to a reflective liquid crystal display device or the like, it is possible to appropriately reflect white light for display.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2003
    Publication date: July 31, 2003
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Maeda, Kimitaka Kamijo, Kinya Ozawa, Hitoshi Tsuchiya
  • Publication number: 20020153585
    Abstract: A switching device receives two pairs of balanced signals and outputs one of the two pairs of the signals. The device is composed of two SPDT switches which share two control signals provided to the gates of the FET of the SPDT switches. The package of the device has eight external electrodes on the back side of the package. The eight external electrodes are configured so that they are aligned symmetrically with respect to the center line of the package. The device requires only a small package space and is suitable for mobile communication application such as cell phone accommodating CDMA and GPS signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2001
    Publication date: October 24, 2002
    Inventors: Tetsuro Asano, Hitoshi Tsuchiya, Toshikazu Hirai