Flexenable Limited

Plastic Logic Limited

Flexenble Limited

William Henry Reeves

Barry Wild

Kieran Reynolds

James Harding

Catherine Ramsdale

Duncan Barclay

Sharjil Siddique

Kevin Jacobs

Henning Sirringhaus

Carl Martin Hayton

David Fisher

Ben Watson

Anusha Nirmalananthan

James Watts

Guillaume Fichet

May Wheeler

A manufacturing process for forming a flexible assembly suitable for a curved sensor or display including a stack of layers defining electrical control circuitry is presented. The flexible assembly has a curved configuration and comprises at least first and second components () laminated together in a stressed configuration due to their curvature. While the assembly is in said curved configuration at least the first and second components () are cut to obtain one or more edges which are aligned to each other.

Curved display and sensor devices

Described are methods for assembling a display device by forcibly flexing a first component to conform to a curved surface, adhering the first component to the curved surface, forcibly flexing a second component to conform to an outer surface of the first component and adhering the second component to the first component. The first and second components each comprise at least one of: i) a touch sensor component or a component film of a touch sensor component; ii) at least one pair of orthogonal polariser sheets; iii) a liquid crystal cell comprising liquid crystal material contained between two containing films; iv) at least one encapsulation film; v) at least one diffuser sheet; vi) a backlight component; vii) a light-emitting diode unit; and viii) a circular polariser component, or a component film thereof, for use with a light-emitting diode unit.

Method of assembling curved display devices

A technique of producing a liquid crystal device, comprising: providing a cell assembly comprising a liquid crystal material contained directly between (i) a polariser component comprising an active film and no more than one support film, and (ii) a first control component including a stack of layers defining electrical control circuitry; and containing further liquid crystal material directly between the polariser component of the assembly and another control component including another stack of layers defining electrical control circuitry.

Liquid crystal devices

A liquid crystal (LC) device comprising a stack of at least first and second LC cells in optical series, each of the first and second LC cells comprising two half-cells and LC material contained in a space at least partially defined by spacer structures forming an integral part of one or both half-cells; wherein the arrangement within an active area of the device of the spacer structures in one of the first and second LC cells is different to the arrangement within the active area of the device of the spacer structures in the other of the first and second LC cells; and wherein the difference between the two arrangements comprises an ordered aspect.

A technique, comprising: removing a protective film from one side of a polarisation filter component to expose a dichroic doped polymer active film or a layer formed in situ on the dichroic doped polymer active film; and thereafter forming in situ on the side of the polarisation filter component one or more functional layers of a liquid crystal device.

An optoelectronic device comprising a unit, which unit comprises: a plurality of resiliently flexible sheet components bonded together, the resiliently flexible sheet components comprising: (i) a first sheet component comprising at least a stack of layers defining an array of pixel electrodes and electrical circuitry for independently addressing each pixel electrodes via addressing conductors outside the array of pixel electrodes; and (ii) a second sheet component bonded to a top surface of the first sheet component; wherein the device further comprises one or more driver chips bonded to the first sheet component in a location underlying the second component and for electrical contact between said addressing conductors and terminals of said one or more driver chips; and wherein the thickness of material in the unit in the region of the one or more driver chips is substantially the same as the thickness of material in the unit in the region of the array.

Flexible optoelectronic devices

A display device for conformal mounting on a curved surface inclined at an oblique angle relative to a horizontal plane, the display device comprising: a plurality of pixels, a first set of conductive lines connected to the plurality of pixels; and a second set of conductive lines connected to the plurality of pixels, wherein the first set of conductive lines and the second set of conductive lines are arranged to define a shape of each of the plurality of pixels such that the pixels appear, to a viewer, to extend at least one of horizontally or vertically across the display device when the display device is mounted on the curved surface.

Display device with non-rectangular pixels

A multiple layer pixel architecture for an active matrix display is provided having a common bus line on a metal level separate from that on which the gate electrodes of the thin-film transistors (TFTs) are formed. A multilayer electronic structure includes a TFT for driving a pixel of an active matrix optoelectronic device and a capacitor for storing charge to maintain an electrical state of said active matrix pixel, wherein the structure includes a substrate bearing at least four conducting layers separated by at least three dielectric layers, first and second ones of said conducting layers defining drain/source electrodes and a gate electrode of said transistor respectively, and third and fourth ones of said conducting layers defining respective first and second plates of said capacitor, wherein said capacitor and said transistor are laterally positioned such that they overlap in a vertical direction.

Multiple conductive layer TFT

A technique, comprising: providing a pixelated display unit comprising an array of pixels, wherein the optical output for each pixel is independently controllable; applying a first color filter overlay to a viewing surface of said pixelated display unit, said first color filter overlay defining a first color pattern including one or more areas of a single color continuously extending over a plurality of pixels; operating said pixelated display unit to produce regions of differing brightnesses within said first color pattern; peeling said first color filter overlay from said viewing surface of said display unit; applying a second color filter overlay to said viewing surface of said display unit, said second color filter overlay defining a second color pattern including one or more areas of a single color continuously extending over a plurality of pixels; and operating said pixelated display unit to produce regions of differing brightnesses within said second color pattern.

Reconfigurable colour displays

A multiple layer pixel architecture for an active matrix display is provided in which a common bus line is formed on a metal level which is separate from that on which the gate electrodes of the thin-film transistors (TFTS) are formed. A multilayer electronic structure adapted to solution deposition, the structure includes a TFT for driving a pixel of an active matrix optoelectronic device and a capacitor for storing charge to maintain an electrical state of said active matrix pixel, wherein the structure includes a substrate bearing at least four conducting layers separeted by at least three dielectric layers, first and second ones of said conducting layers defining drain/source electrodes and a gate electrode of said transistor respectively, and third and fourth ones of said conducting layers defining respective first and second plates of said capacitor, and wherein said capacitor and said transistor are laterally positioned such that they overlap in a vertical direction.

A technique comprising: assembling together a front plane () comprising a first flexible substrate () supporting a display medium () and a backplane () comprising a second flexible substrate () supporting an array of electronic elements () for controlling said display medium; and creating an electrically conductive connection between first and second conductive elements () on opposing faces of the frontplane and backplane by sandwiching an electrically conductive structure () between the frontplane and backplane in the region of the first and second conductive elements, wherein the conductive structure is at least more flexible than the least flexible one of the front plane and backplane.

Assembling a flexible display

We describe an electronic document reading device having a front, display surface and a device rear surface, the device including a connector mounted on an edge of the device. The device includes a back panel having an exterior surface to provide the rear surface and an interior surface, wherein the back panel is substantially transparent and the interior surface of the back panel is substantially opaque, and wherein the back panel has a cut-out for the connector such that a rear surface of the connector is substantially flush with the device rear surface provided by the exterior of the transparent back panel, such that the opaque interior surface of the transparent back panel gives the impression of a device thinner than a physical thickness of the device defined by the substantially flush connector rear surface and the device rear surface.

Electronic document reader

We describe a portable paperless electronic printer for displaying a printed document on an electronic paper display. The paperless electronic printer includes an input to receive print data from an output of a printer driver of a computerised electronic device, a non-volatile electrophoretic display to provide an electronic paper display of stored said print data for a said document page to mimic said document page when printed on paper; and a processor coupled to said input, to non-volatile memory, and to said non-volatile electrophoretic display and configured to input said print data, to store said data derived from said print data in said non-volatile memory, and to provide to said non-volatile electrophoretic display data for displaying a said document page derived from said stored data.

Document printing techniques

We describe a method of displaying one or more pages of a document on an electronic document reading device using a second, computerised electronic device, the method comprising: running a document display management program on said second electronic device; using said management program to invoke an application running on said second electronic device to open said document on said second electronic device, such that said opening of said document is hidden from said user; using an intermediary code module, in particular a printer driver for said application, coupled to said application to generate image data representing an image of a said page of said document to be displayed on said electronic document reading device; sending said image of said page to said electronic document reading device; and displaying said image of said page on said electronic document reading device.

Electronic document reading devices

A method of processing a flexible encapsulation scheme to encapsulate a flexible device, such as a display device in order to provide structural support for the display module. An upper transparent encapsulation layer covers and protects the media and active area of the device. A lower encapsulation layer is deposited over the under side of the display to complete the encapsulation and the two protective encapsulation layers are sealed. A driver housing may be positioned at the opposite end of the device to the overlap region of the encapsulation layers in order to protect the driver electronics.

Growing community of inventors

Cambridge, United Kingdom

William Henry Reeves