Citizen Watch Company, Ltd.

Citizen Holdings Company, Ltd.

Masaaki Matsunaga

Sadao Masubuchi

Masafumi Yokoyama

Akira Shiota

Shinichi Nonaka

Chikara Aizawa

Yasushi Kaneko

Maki Wakita

Shigeru Futakami

Sigeru Futakami

Toshihide Hirohara

Makoto Yasunaga

Yoshio Iinuma

Shigeyuki Takahashi

Kiyoshi Kamiya

Hideyuki Kawashima

Eiichi Tajima

Teruaki Takahashi

Takashi Ogura

Kazunari Takahashi

Hiroshi Maruyama

Tetsuo Tanaka

Naotake Ando

A color liquid crystal exposure apparatus includes a color light source for emitting a plurality of colored light beams, a liquid crystal shutter having a plurality of liquid crystal pixels arrayed in a direction orthogonal to the direction of the relative movement, and a driving circuit for switching the color light source from one color to another, and for driving the plurality of liquid crystal pixels. The plurality of liquid crystal pixels are divided into a plurality of pixel groups. The liquid crystal pixels in each pixel group are arrayed, one displaced from another by a prescribed distance, in the direction orthogonal to the direction of the relative movement. The driving circuit drives the plurality of liquid crystal pixels in time-division fashion so that the liquid crystal pixels having the same displaced position in the plurality of pixel groups are driven at one time.

Liquid crystal exposure device

A liquid crystal shutter comprises a liquid crystal device including a nematic liquid crystal sealed in between a first transparent substrate and a second transparent substrate on whose inner surfaces are formed respective transparent electrodes, the liquid crystal device having a twisted angle equal to or greater than 180&#xb0;; and a pair of polarizing plates between which are sandwiched the first transparent substrate and the second transparent substrate, the polarizing films having respective absorption axes () which are substantially orthogonal to each other, the absorption axes () of the polarizing films being angled within a range of &#xb1;40&#xb0; to &#xb1;50&#xb0;0 relative to a direction () in which intermediate liquid crystal molecules are orientated, the direction indicating a direction of orientation of the liquid crystal in the intermediate portion in the direction of thickness of the liquid crystal device. Alternatively, &#x394; nd may lie within a range of 600 to 900 nm, &#x394; nd being the product of a birefringence &#x394; n of the nematic liquid crystal and a gap d between the first transparent substrate and a second transparent substrate.

Liquid crystal shutter

A liquid crystal shutter comprises a liquid crystal device including a nematic liquid crystal sealed in between a first transparent substrate and a second transparent substrate on whose inner surfaces are formed respective transparent electrodes, the liquid crystal device having a twisted angle equal to or greater than 180&deg;; and a pair of polarizing plates between which are sandwiched the first transparent substrate and the second transparent substrate, the polarizing films having respective absorption axes ( ) which are substantially orthogonal to each other, the absorption axes ( ) of the polarizing films being angled within a range of &plusmn;40&deg; to &plusmn;50&deg; relative to a direction ( ) in which intermediate liquid crystal molecules are orientated, the direction indicating a direction of orientation of the liquid crystal in the intermediate portion in the direction of thickness of the liquid crystal device. Alternatively, &Dgr; nd may lie within a range of 600 to 900 nm, &Dgr; nd being the product of a birefringence &Dgr; n of the nematic liquid crystal and a gap d between the first transparent substrate and a second transparent substrate.

Liquid crystal shutter and method of driving the same

An optical printer device which includes an exposure device which makes relative movements, in a predetermined direction, with respect to a photosensitive body. The optical printer also has a plurality of first, second and third light-emitting elements which emit lights of a first, second and third colors. These light-emitting elements are mounted on a first, second and third mounting substrates, independent of one another, which correspond to the first, second and third colors.

Optical printer device that forms color images

In an optical printer apparatus designed so that an optical head ( ) having an LED light source ( ) therein is moved relatively to a sensitized sheet ( ) and an image is formed by emitting a plurality of color light beams in regular order from the LED so that the light beams are focused at given spaces on the sensitized sheet, an image pitch P for the color light beams is substantially equal to an integer multiple of the maximum exposure distance D.

Optical printer

A line-scanning optical printer, which forms an image on a sensitized sheet ( ) by projecting a linear light having a given width and length thereto while successively scanning individual lines in the direction of the width, comprises a casing ( ) having light shielding properties and including a window portion for radiating the linear light to the outside, a light emitting element ( ), which substantially functions as a point light source and is stored in the casing, an optical system ( ) for guiding light from the light emitting element ( ) as the linear light to the window portion, and a liquid crystal optical shutter ( ) attached to the window portion.

Line-scanning optical printer

The present invention uses LEDs as the light source in a optical printer employing a line scanning method in which an image is produced by relative motion of the light to a photosensitive medium. LEDs are arranged on a mounting substrate with LED pairs, each pair being of the same color, disposed symmetrically as to the center point of the line. Similarly, the power supply lead wires for the LEDs are also disposed symmetrically. In mounting the components on the mounting substrate, a light-intercepting material is used for intercepting light from the side faces of the LEDs.

Optical printer apparatus

The present invention employs LEDs and a liquid crystal shutter driven in synchronization with the position of the photosensitive paper, thereby eliminating image distortion even where the head of the optical printer apparatus is subjected to unanticipated load during scanning by the head. A rotary encoder (,) is provided on the rotating shaft of the motor (,) that drives the optical head (,), and the drive timing for the LEDs (,) and the liquid crystal shutter (,) is synchronized with the output of the rotary encoder.

Disclosed in a ferroelectric liquid crystal display element in which oblique alignment layers are inclined with respect to a substrate surface and have opposite inclination directions which are formed on opposing surfaces of a pair of substrates having transparent electrodes. A ferroelectric liquid crystal is sandwiched between the substrates. The liquid crystal is injected into the space between the substrates only in a direction opposite to the inclination direction of the oblique alignment layers.

Method of manufacturing ferroelectric liquid crystal display element

There is disclosed a ferroelectric liquid crystal device which sandwiches a ferroelectric liquid crystal between a pair of substrates having transparent electrodes on opposing surfaces thereof, and in which the ferroelectric liquid crystal can take three stable states of a twisted aligned state, and two uniform aligned states, wherein alignment films are formed by oblique deposition of an inorganic insulating member so that inclination direction of each substrate is opposing, and a thickness of a liquid crystal layer between the substrates is set to fall within a range of 1.5 .mu.m to 4 .mu.m. There is also disclosed a method of driving the ferroelectric liquid crystal device.

Ferroelectric liquid crystal display having opposingly inclined

An IC chip is connected to terminal portions of conductive films on a lower substrate of a liquid crystal display panel by face down bonding. The IC chip and conductive films are coated with resin to protect the IC chip and films.

Liquid crystal display device having a resin-coated IC chip

A liquid crystal display panel is hinged on a body comprising a case provided with an electric circuit therein. On the case, a mirror is provided for watching an image on the liquid crystal display panel by the light passing through the display panel. An electroluminescence device is detachably provided in a receptacle in the case. The electroluminescence device can be positioned at a position adjacent the liquid crystal display panel so as to light the panel.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Masaaki Matsunaga