Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Takeshi Togano

Takao Takiguchi

Takashi Iwaki

Shinichi Nakamura

Masahiro Terada

Yoko Yamada

Kenji Shinjo

Masataka Yamashita

Masanobu Asaoka

Shosei Mori

Kazuharu Katagiri

Hiroyuki Kitayama

Hideaki Takao

Akio Yoshida

Yasufumi Asao

Makoto Kojima

Yoko Kosaka

Junko Sato

Takashi Moriyama

Yoshiko Kimura

Ikuo Nakazawa

Hiroyuki Nohira

Toshiharu Uchimi

Yasushi Shimizu

Ryuichiro Isobe

Junichiro Kanbe

Yukio Hanyu

Hideo Mori

Seishi Miura

Nobutaka Ukigaya

Tsutomu Ikeda

Koji Noguchi

Katsumi Arai

Chieko Hioki

Akira Sakaigawa

Kenji Shingo

A reflective display apparatus that creates a display by moving particles includes a front substrate and a back substrate, a plurality of colored charged particles and an insulated liquid sandwiched between the front substrate and back substrate. A reflective first electrode and a second electrode are placed on the back substrate, and a support member is provided to keep a distance between the front substrate and the back substrate. A first portion of an area of the first electrode which borders on the second electrode is covered by a colored layer, which color is the same as the color of the charged particles.

Display apparatus

A display apparatus is constituted by a display device including a plurality of pixels and control means for effecting a plurality of displaying operations at each pixel. Each of the displaying operation includes at least a first operation for displaying a first image at a first luminance and a second operation for displaying a second image substantially identical to the first image at a second luminance, said first and second luminances being non-zero and different from each other. One of the first and second luminances may preferably be smaller than &#x2155; of the other luminance.

Display apparatus, liquid crystal display apparatus and driving method for display apparatus

A display apparatus is constituted by a display device including a plurality of pixels and control means for effecting a plurality of displaying operations at each pixel. Each of the displaying operation includes at least a first operation for displaying a first image at a first luminance and a second operation for displaying a second image substantially identical to the first image at a second luminance, said first and second luminances being non-zero and different from each other. One of the first and second luminances may preferably be smaller than &frac15; of the other luminance.

A liquid crystal device is constituted by a layer of a chiral smectic liquid crystal, a pair of substrates oppositely disposed to sandwich the liquid crystal and each provided with an electrode for applying a voltage to the liquid crystal, at least one of the substrates being provided with a uniaxial aligning axis for aligning the liquid crystal, and a polarizer disposed on at least one of the substrates. The liquid crystal has an alignment characteristic such that it is aligned to provide an average molecular axis to be placed in a monostable alignment state under no voltage application, is tilted from the monostable alignment state in one direction when supplied with a voltage of a first polarity at a tilting angle which varies depending on magnitude of the supplied voltage, and is tilted from the monostable alignment state in the other direction when supplied with a voltage of a second polarity opposite to the first polarity at a tilting angle, said tilting angles providing maximum tilting angles &bgr; and &bgr; formed under application of the voltages of the first and second polarities, respectively, satisfying &bgr; or &bgr; . The liquid crystal layer in the liquid crystal device is set to have a refractive index anisotropy and a layer thickness giving a retardation under voltage application which is in an optimum retardation range determined based on an arrangement of the polarizer and a wavelength of light passing through the liquid crystal layer, thus improving a resultant transmittance.

Liquid crystal device and liquid crystal apparatus including same

A driving method is described for a liquid crystal display device of the active matrix type which includes a pair of substrates and a liquid crystal disposed between the substrates so as to form a matrix of pixels provided with a plurality of pixel electrodes arranged in rows and columns, a plurality of row electrodes and a plurality of column electrodes, respectively, for applying a voltage to the pixels via the pixel electrodes, and a plurality of active elements each provided to a pixel and connected to a pixel electrode, a row electrode and a column electrode, respectively. The driving method includes a field-inversion drive scheme wherein the liquid crystal display device is driven while inverting a polarity of voltage applied to each pixel every picture scanning field. The voltage applied to each pixel is corrected based on a voltage to be applied to a column electrode connected to the pixel for a period from a time of selecting an active element at the pixel in a field period to a time of selecting the active element in a subsequent field period.

Drive method for liquid crystal display device

A liquid crystal device suitable for analog gradational display according to active matrix drive is formed using a chiral smectic liquid crystal. The voltage-transmittance (V-T) characteristic change accompanying a cell thickness change can be minimized to allow the production of such a liquid crystal device at a higher yield. In the liquid crystal device, the liquid crystal is placed in such an alignment state that the liquid crystal is monostabilized under no voltage application and is tilted in response to the application of voltages of opposing polarities so that the saturation voltage becomes larger at small cell thickness (liquid crystal layer thickness).

Liquid crystal device

A liquid crystal device comprises chiral smectic liquid crystal, two substrates and electrodes for applying a voltage to the liquid crystal to form pixels, each provided with an active element connected to an associated electrode on at least one substrate. The liquid crystal alignment forms domains D and D wherein the liquid crystal is aligned to provide an average molecular axis in a monostable alignment state under no voltage application, is tilted from such state in one direction when supplied with a voltage of a first polarity at a tilting angle which varies with the magnitude of the supplied voltage, and is tilted in the other direction when supplied with a voltage of a second and opposite polarity. Maximum tilting angles &bgr; and &bgr; formed under application of the voltages of the first and second polarities, respectively, satisfy: &bgr; 0 in domain D and 0< in domain D

Liquid crystal device and display apparatus including the device

Liquid crystal device and driving method for the device

A liquid crystal device has a pair of oppositely disposed substrates and a liquid crystal having chiral smectic C phase disposed therebetween. The liquid crystal is placed in an alignment state in chiral smectic C phase with smectic molecular layers forming a chevron structure. Under no electric field application, the liquid crystal has an average molecular axis substantially in alignment with the uniaxial alignment axis and/or a bisector of a maximum angle formed between two extreme molecular axes established under electric field application, while under electric field application, the liquid crystal provides an effective tilt angle and a transmittance that continuously changes depending on an electric field applied thereto.

Liquid crystal device and liquid crystal display apparatus having a chevron structure in monostable alignment

A layer of discotic liquid crystal having a molecular structure including a disk-shaped core and plural side chains connected to the core is disposed in contact with a substrate boundary provided with a homeotropic alignment power for aligning the side chains of the discotic liquid crystal molecules vertically to the boundary, whereby a uniform columnar structure vertical to the substrate of the discotic liquid crystal is formed. As a result, a discotic liquid crystal device having a stable homeotropic monodomain alignment can be formed from a wide scope of discotic liquid crystal materials.

Discotic liquid crystal device and alignment method therefor

A liquid crystal device is constituted by a pair of substrates each provided with an electrode, and a chiral smectic liquid crystal composition disposed between the substrates. At least one of the substrates is provided with an alignment control film of a polyimide represented by the following formula (I): ##STR1## in which A denotes a planar tetravalent organic residue group; B denotes a divalent group represented by --CR.sub.1 (R.sub.2)-- where R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 independently denote H or alkyl group; a, b and c are independently 0 or 1; x and y are independently an integer of at least 0 and x+y=at least 1; and n is an integer of at least 2.

A mesomorphic compound of the formula (I) according to Claim 1 characterized by having at least two ether groups between alkylene groups in a specific alkoxy perfluoroalkyl terminal group is suitable as a component for a liquid crystal composition providing improved response characteristics and a high contrast. A liquid crystal device is constituted by disposing the liquid crystal composition between a pair of substrates. The liquid crystal device is used as a display panel constituting a liquid crystal apparatus providing good display characteristics.

Mesomorphic compound, liquid crystal composition containing the

An optically active compound represented by the formula R.sub.1 --A.sub.1 --A.sub.2 --X.sub.1 --A.sub.3 --(CH.sub.2).sub.p --L--A.sub.4 --R.sub.2, in which R.sub.1 is F, CN or straight chain, branched or cyclic alkyl and R.sub.2 is H, F, CH or straight chain or branched alkyl; A.sub.3 is 1,4-phenylene, pyridine-2,5-diyl, pyrimidine-2,5-diyl, pyrazine-2,5-diyl, pyridazine-3,6-diyl, 1,4-cyclohexylene, 1,3-dioxane-2,5-diyl, 1,3-ditiane-2,5-diyl, thiophene-2,5-diyl, thiazole-2,5-diyl, thiaziazole-2,5-diyl, benzoxazole-2,5-diyl, benzoxazole-2,6-diyl, benzothiazole-2,5-diyl, benzothiazole-2,6-diyl, benzofuran-2,5-diyl, benzofuran-2,6-diyl, quinoxaline-2,6-diyl, quinoline-2,6-diyl, 2,6-naphthylene, indane-2,5-diyl, 2-alkylindane-2,5-diyl, indanone-2,6-diyl, 2-alkylindane-2,6-diyl, coumarane-2,5-diyl and 2-alkylcoumarane-2,5-diyl; A.sub.1, A.sub.2 and A.sub.4 are single bond or A.sub.3 ; X.sub.1 ' is a single bond, --COO--, --OCO--, --CH.sub.2 O--, --OCH.sub.2 --, --CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 --, --CH.dbd.CH-- or --C.tbd.C--; p is an integer from 2 to 20; and L is optically active.

Optically active compound, liquid crystal composition containing the

A mesomorphic compound of the formula (I) having a coumaran skeleton is suitable as a component for a liquid crystal composition providing improved response characteristics. A liquid crystal device is constituted by disposing the liquid crystal composition between a pair of electrode plates. The liquid crystal device is used as a display panel constituting a display apparatus providing good display characteristics.

Mesomorphic compound, liquid crystal composition, liquid crystal device,

A mesomorphic compound represented by a formula (I) containing a quinoline-2,6-diyl skeleton is suitable as a component for a liquid crystal composition providing improved response characteristics and a high contrast. A liquid crystal device is constituted by disposing the liquid crystal composition between a pair of electrode plates. The liquid crystal device may preferably be used as a display panel constituting a liquid crystal apparatus providing good display characteristics.

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Yokohama, Japan

Takeshi Togano