2986 results about "Liquid crystal cell" patented technology

According to this liquid crystal cell, a vacuum to be established between two electrode substrates as a result of the volume shrinkage of a liquid crystal having a high viscosity at the room temperature can be damped by communicating between two of a plurality of filling portions formed between two electrode substrates by a plurality of barrier walls through the intervening barrier walls. An anti-ferroelectric liquid crystal (AFLC) is used as the liquid crystal. The liquid crystal cell has a lower electrode substrate and an upper electrode substrate, between which a smectic liquid crystal is disposed together with a plurality of barrier walls on the inner side of a band seal. Each barrier wall has through holes to communicate between the two filling portions located on the two sides of the barrier walls.

Various embodiments disclosed herein relate to optical elements comprising an at least partial coating having a first state and a second state connected to at least a portion of a substrate, the at least partial coating being adapted to switch from the first state to the second state in response to at least actinic radiation, to revert back to the first state in response to thermal energy, and to linearly polarize at least transmitted radiation in at least one of the first state and the second state. Other embodiments relate to optical elements comprising a substrate and at least one at least partially aligned photochromic-dichroic compound connected to at least a portion of the substrate and having an average absorption ratio greater than 2.3 in the activated state as determined according to CELL METHOD. Still other embodiments relate to security devices, liquid crystal cells and methods of making the same.

A liquid crystal display (LCD) viewable under all lighting conditions without excessive power consumption is described. The LCD comprises a first dichroic polarizer, a second dichroic polarizer, an anti-reflection layer positioned in front of the first dichroic polarizer and a liquid crystal cell positioned between the first dichroic polarizer and the second dichroic polarizer. In addition, the LCD comprises a backlight assembly positioned behind the second dichroic polarizer. Finally, the LCD comprises a diffusing transflector positioned between the backlight assembly and the second dichroic polarizer. The diffusing transflector comprises a diffusing element and a transflective element.

Technology to reduce the manufacturing cost of a manufacturing process of a light emitting device is provided. The manufacturing cost of a device using a light emitting element can be reduced by using a multilayout process for forming a plurality of light emitting devices from a large-sized substrate. In particular, an existing line for manufacturing liquid crystal cells can be diverted to a process of encapsulating light emitting elements, which can greatly reduce the manufacturing cost including the investment in plant and equipment.

A method of operating a liquid crystal cell includes DC-balancing by displaying an inverse image with electric fields of increased magnitude relative to the image producing electric fields. While the inverse image is displayed the image is prevented from being visible by either turning off the light source or re-directing or blocking the light from reaching the viewing area. The image producing electric fields and the inverse image producing electric fields are such that the cumulative time integral of the electric fields that are present in one direction across the liquid crystal material is substantially equal to the cumulative time integral of the electric fields that are present in the opposite direction during the given period of time during the operation of liquid crystal cell. The time duration of the inverse image portion is shorter than the time duration of the image portion by an amount proportional to the increased magnitude of the additional electric fields. Because of the shorter time period when no image is visible, the system brightness is increased.

The present invention relates to an LCD device having a touch screen function. The LCD device of the present invention includes a plurality of gate lines, a plurality of data lines intersecting the gate lines, and a plurality of signal lines that are insulated from and juxtaposed with the data lines. First to third switching elements are formed in each of a plurality of pixel regions in the form of a matrix, which are surrounded by the gate lines and the data lines. Here, a gate electrode of the first switching element is connected to a gate line Gn, a source electrode thereof is connected to the data line, and a drain electrode thereof is connected to a pixel electrode. Further, liquid crystal capacitance and storage capacitance are formed between the pixel electrode and a common electrode. At this time, the liquid crystal capacitance is changed due to variation in the liquid crystal cell gap. The second and third switching elements are designed to read variation in the liquid crystal capacitance. A source electrode of the second switching element is connected to the pixel electrode, a drain electrode thereof is connected to the signal line, and a gate electrode thereof is connected to a previous gate line Gn-1. Furthermore, a source electrode of the third switching element is connected to the data line, a drain electrode thereof is connected to the pixel electrode, and a gate electrode thereof is connected to a second previous gate line Gn-2. Each signal line is connected to each signal amplifier.

The liquid crystal display device comprises a liquid crystal cell with liquid crystals sealed thereinbetween, sandwiched between two transparent substrates having an electrode on each of the inner surfaces thereof facing each other, a first reflective polarizing film disposed on the visible side of the liquid crystal cell, a second reflective polarizing film disposed on the side of the liquid crystal cell, opposite from the visible side, and a light absorption film disposed on the side of the second reflective polarizing film, opposite from the visible side. The first reflective polarizing film as well as the second reflective polarizing film is a polarizing sheet reflecting a light linearly polarized in the direction orthogonal to the transmission axis thereof. A light absorption film and / or a backlight may preferably be disposed under the second reflective polarizing film. Further, an absorption-type polarizing film or a light diffusion layer may preferably be disposed on the visible side of the first reflective polarizing film.

A birefringent interferometer system is described which uses nematic liquid crystal cells to produce variable optical path differences (OPD) between light of different polarization states that are interfered at a polarizing analyzer. Fixed retarders may also be incorporated to extend the range of OPD. The interferometer provides wide field-of-view, continuously variable path difference over a large range, and an on-board monitor of OPD for ensuring accurate settings of path difference, and hence, an accurate wavelength scale in the spectra produced by the apparatus. The system can further incorporate additional polarizing optics so it responds equally well to light of any incident polarization state without loss of efficiency.

A thermal control system for a liquid crystal cell is presented that may utilize a time division scheme to multiplex temperature sensing and heating functions across active thermal elements such that the cell may generally be kept at a constant temperature. A calibration process characterizes the profile of the cell and generates a polynomial regression formula that provides the voltage drive output for a temperature and cell state input. The control system stores the state of the liquid crystal cell, the regression formula, and reads the temperature of the liquid crystal cell to compute end assert the temperature compensated voltage drive.

A liquid crystal glare-proof mirror is capable of displaying a picture in which a non-glare-proof mode and a glare-proof mode is switched, including a first polarizing plate for selecting a polarization component to be transmitted; a liquid crystal cell disposed at a back of the first polarizing plate, the liquid crystal cell having two control areas, each of which is controlled independently; a second polarizing plate disposed at a back of the liquid crystal cell, the second polarizing plate transmitting either one of two orthogonal polarization components of light and reflecting the other one of the polarization components; and an image generating apparatus disposed at a part of a back of the second polarizing plate, the part corresponding to either one of the two control areas, the image generating apparatus ejecting picture light having a polarization component which is transmitted through the second polarizing plate.

An adjustably opaque window including an external pane, an internal pane, a light transmission control layer and a shock-absorbing layer is provided. The external pane and the internal pane provide a cavity between them, and the light transmission control layer and the shock-absorbing layer are positioned in the cavity. The shock-absorbing layer is a flexible sheet that supports and protects the light transmission control layer. The light transmission layer consists of liquid crystal cells. The transmission ratio of the cells can be controlled variably.

It is one object of the present invention to reduce the number of inputs to an LCD driver and to reduce manufacturing costs by employing the COG&WOA technique. For a liquid crystal display device, source driver ICs 20, among which video signals are transmitted and distributed via a video I / F 3, are cascade-connected, and the connection lines to the source driver ICs 20 are reduced as much as possible to employ the COG&WOA technique. That is, a liquid crystal display device comprises: a liquid crystal cell 2, which forms an image display area on a substrate, and a source driver 7, which applies a voltage to the liquid crystal cell 2 based on a video signal input via a video I / F 3. The source driver 7 includes a plurality of source driver ICs 20 that are mounted on the same substrate as the liquid crystal cell 2 and that are cascade-connected by signal lines.

An apparatus for driving a liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display panel having liquid crystal cells in respective regions defined by a plurality of gate and data lines, a data driver providing video signals to the data lines, a gate driver providing scan signals to the gate lines, a timing controller controlling the gate and data drivers, and generates a plurality of dimming signals by resetting a dimming curve in accordance with input data, and a light emitting diode backlight unit driving light emitting diode groups in accordance with the plurality of dimming signals to provide light to the liquid crystal display panel.

A liquid crystal display panel includes liquid crystal cells forming a matrix in a display area of the liquid crystal display panel; odd and even gate driving circuits provided at an outer area of the display area, the display area being positioned between the odd and even gate driving circuits, the odd driving circuit including a plurality of odd stages, the even driving circuit including a plurality of even stages; a plurality of gate lines, including even gate lines and odd gate lines in the liquid crystal cell matrix, the odd gate lines being driven by the odd driving circuit, and the even gate lines being driven by the even driving circuit, wherein a pitch of each of the odd stages and the even stages corresponds to size larger than a pitch of the liquid crystal cell.

The present invention provides a laminated retardation optical element that never lowers contrast and thus never degrades display performance even when placed between a liquid crystal cell and a lambda / 4 retardation film. In a liquid crystal display 90, a laminated retardation optical element 10 is placed between a polarizer 102A on the incident side and a liquid crystal cell 104, and a lambda / 4 retardation film 102C is placed between a polarizer 102B on the emergent side and the liquid crystal cell 104. The laminated retardation optical element 10 comprises: a lambda / 4 retardation layer 14 having the function of bringing, to light that passes through this retardation layer, a phase difference corresponding to a quarter of the wavelength of the light; and a C plate-type retardation layer 16 that acts as a negative C plate. The lambda / 4 retardation layer 14 and the C plate-type retardation layer 16 are laminated to a transparent substrate 12 in the order mentioned, and are optically bonded to each other. The lambda / 4 retardation layer 14 comprises as its main component a horizontally-aligned, cross-linked nematic liquid crystal, while the C plate-type retardation layer 16 comprises as its main component a cross-linked chiral nematic liquid crystal (a cross-linked nematic liquid crystal and a cross-linked chiral agent) or cross-linked discotic liquid crystal.

A liquid crystal display comprises a liquid crystal cell of a bend alignment mode or a homogeneous alignment mode and two polarizing elements. Each of the elements is arranged on each side of the liquid crystal cell. At least one of the polarizing elements is an ellipsoidal polarizing plate. The ellipsoidal polarizing plate comprises a lamination of an optically anisotropic layer, a transparent substrate and a polarizing membrane. The optically anisotropic layer contains discotic compounds. The transparent substrate is optically anisotropic. The polarizing membrane is arranged as an outermost layer of the liquid crystal display. The optically anisotropic layer and the transparent substrate are so arranged that an angle between a normal discotic direction and a slow axis in plane of the transparent substrate is essentially 45 DEG . The normal discotic direction is an average of directions obtained by projecting normal lines of discotic planes of the discotic compounds on plane of the substrate. The transparent substrate and the polarizing membrane are so arranged that a slow axis in plane of the transparent substrate is essentially parallel to or essentially perpendicular to a transmission axis in plane of the polarizing membrane.

A color filterless display device performing color display for expressing one pixel by three RGB sub-pixels includes: a light source; a diffraction grating for separating a light irradiated from this light source into lights of a plurality of wavelength regions; a cylindrical lens array for receiving the separated light and condensing the light while corresponding to each of the sub-pixels; and a liquid crystal cell including a structure portion for correcting an angle of the condensed light for all sub-pixels, wherein, in the structure portion of this liquid crystal cell, a side onto which a light from the cylindrical lens array is made incident is made of a high refractive index layer, an emitting side from which the light is emitted is made of a low refractive index layer, and a Fresnel-type microprism structure is formed by the high refractive index layer and the low refractive index layer.

Disclosed is a liquid crystal display (LCD) device which is capable of minimizing deterioration in picture quality caused by a kickback voltage, and a driving method thereof. The LCD device includes an LCD panel having a plurality of liquid crystal cells to which a pixel voltage signal is supplied, and a compensating common voltage generator for generating different compensating common voltages according to a pixel voltage signal which is fed back from the LCD panel.

A liquid crystal display device has first and second liquid crystal panels (101, 102) mainly comprising liquid crystal cells (107, 108), respectively, disposed back to back to enable the visual recognition of the liquid crystal panels (101, 102). A light guide plate (112) is disposed between the first liquid crystal panel (101) and the second liquid crystal panel (102) with a light source (114) located adjacent to its one end face (112c), and a polarization separator (110) located between the first liquid crystal panel (101) and the light guide plate (112). Light emitted from the light guide plate (112) is split into two beams of polarized light: one is emitted to the first liquid crystal panel (101), and the other to the second liquid crystal panel (102) through the light guide plate (112). This constitution thins down a both-sided display liquid crystal display device and reduces power consumption.

A three-dimensional imaging system and related methods is provided that utilizes a composite transmissive LCD panel. The composite LCD panel contains at least two layers of stacked liquid crystal cells positioned on top of one another relative to the imaging direction, is utilized to display at least two calculated images superimposed over one another at different distances within the panel from the viewer. Each layer of liquid crystal cells create multiple pixels from the cells, which pixels collectively can be operated to form independent images on each liquid crystal layer. The composite LCD panel can be used to create a continuous 3-D image field in a large viewing area or in multiple viewing areas in conjunction with a suitable 3-D image generation system.

A light-scattering sheet having a phase separation structure comprised of a plurality of solid components varying in refractive index is used to construct a liquid crystal display device. In a first embodiment, the light-scattering sheet is disposed in a defined position within a reflecting LCD device. Thus, in a reflecting LCD device comprising a liquid crystal cell constituted of a transparent front electrode plate having a substrate carrying a transparent conductive layer, a back electrode plate having a substrate carrying a conductive layer and a liquid crystal and, as disposed forwardly of the liquid crystal cell, a polarizer, the light-scattering sheet is interposed (i) between the polarizer and the front electrode plate or (ii) between the back electrode plate and a reflector disposed behind the back electrode plate. Alternatively, (iii) the substrate sheet may be constituted of the light-scattering sheet. In a second embodiment, a light-scattering sheet having an isotropic bicontinuous phase structure comprised of a plurality of polymers varying in refractive index is used.

The present invention provides a vertical alignment film having a polymerizable liquid crystal compound having negative dielectric constant anisotropy, where the polymerizable liquid crystal compound is vertically aligned against the surface of the substrate, and then the polymerizable liquid crystal compound is fixed to form the vertical alignment film.

The present invention provides a liquid crystal display method capable of when a screen thereof is observed through a polarizer such as sunglasses, ensuring an excellent visibility regardless of the angle of observation. In a liquid crystal display device at least having a backlight light source, a liquid crystal cell, and a polarizer disposed on a viewing side of the liquid crystal cell, a white light-emitting diode is used as the backlight light source; and a polymer film having a retardation of from 3,000 nm to 30,000 nm is used so as to be disposed on the viewing side of the polarizer so that an angle between an absorption axis of the polarizer and a slow axis of the polymer film becomes about 45 degrees.

A liquid crystal display is composed of a liquid crystal cell which comprises a pair of transparent substrates at least one of which is provided with an electrode thereon and liquid crystal sealed therebetween, a polarizing sheet arranged on at least one side of the cell, the liquid crystal aligning parallel to a plane of the substrate and varying its direction of molecular major axis in a plane parallel to the plane of the substrate under variation of voltage applied to the liquid crystal cell. The liquid crystal display has an optical compensatory sheet between at least one side of the liquid crystal cell and the polarizing sheet, the optical compensatory sheet having an optically negative uniaxial property and an optic axis parallel to a plane of the sheet.

Provided is a liquid crystal display device that has excellent visibility while using a protective film comprising a polyester film. The liquid crystal display device comprises a backlight light source, and a liquid crystal cell disposed between two polarizers; the backlight light source being a white light-emitting diode; each of the polarizers comprising a polarizing film and protective films laminated on both sides of the polarizing film; and at least one of the protective films being a polyester film having a retardation of 3,000 to 30,000 nm.

Disclosed are an optical compensator element, which can realize switching between a wide angle of visibility and a narrow angle of visibility through a simple operation, and a liquid crystal display using the same. An optical compensation layer 4B′ comprising, for example, a liquid crystal material having positive dielectric anisotropy sealed between two substrates comprising a transparent electrode and an aligning film stacked on top of each other is provided. An optical compensation layer 4A as a negative C plate and the optical compensation layer 4B′ are stacked in that order on a homeotropically aligned liquid crystal cell 2A to constitute a liquid crystal display 1. Upon the application of voltage to the optical compensation layer 4B′, a narrow angle of visibility is provided, while, when no voltage is applied, a wide angle of visibility is provided.

A liquid crystal is sealed with a sealing member between first and second transparent substrates, whereby a liquid crystal cell capable of transmitting ultraviolet light is produced. The liquid crystal cell is inserted into a mould into which an ultraviolet-setting resin is dropped and which is used to produce a light control member. The ultraviolet-setting resin is pressed to be bonded to the liquid crystal cell. In this state, ultraviolet light is irradiated to the liquid crystal cell in the mould from outside the mould. Thus, the ultraviolet-setting resin is set while bonding to the liquid crystal cell. Thereafter, the liquid crystal cell is removed from the mould. Consequently, the light control member is directly formed on the liquid crystal cell.

A first polarizer (absorption-type polarizer) (21) is disposed in a visible side of a liquid crystal cell (1) in which a liquid crystal layer (15) is sealed in-between a pair of transparent substrates (2, 5), and a second polarizer (reflection-type polarizer) (22), a third polarizer (an absorption-type polarizer or a reflection-type polarizer) (25), and an auxiliary light source (31) are disposed in order in the opposite side to the visible side and by polarizing emitted light from the auxiliary light source 31 by the third polarizer (25) and the second polarizer (22), polarization degree of light emitted from the second polarizer (22) into the liquid crystal cell (1) is improved, thereby unevenness of display caused by lack of the polarization degree and distribution of the polarization degree of the second polarizer (22) and contrast ratio are improved.