The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 03, 1995
Filed:
Apr. 07, 1993
Mitsuhiro Shigeta, Kyoto, JP;
Keisaku Nonomura, Nara, JP;
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An optical wave guide, an optical input device, fabrication methods thereof, and a liquid crystal display apparatus using the optical wave guide and optical input device are disclosed. The optical wave guide includes: a core region having a refractive index n.sub.c through which an optical signal is transmitted; and a cladding layer in which low refractive index layers having a refractive index n.sub.1 and high refractive index layers having a refractive index n.sub.h are alternately deposited. A side face of the core region is covered with the cladding layer, and the refractive indices satisfy conditions of n.sub.1 <n.sub.h, and n.sub.1 <n.sub.c. The optical input device includes: a transparent substrate; the optical wave guide formed in the transparent substrate; an optical input portion; and a plurality of optical output portions for connecting a side face of the optical wave guide to a surface of the transparent substrate. The optical signal from the optical input portion is transmitted through the optical wave guide and output from the optical output portions to the outside of the transparent substrate. The liquid crystal display apparatus includes: a display medium; a plurality of pixel electrodes for driving the display medium; a plurality of signal lines; a plurality of photoconductors having photoconductive portions provided for the pixel electrodes, respectively; and the optical input device. The optical input device allowing the optical signal to selectively illuminate the photoconductive portions of the photoconductors for connecting or disconnecting the signal lines to or from the pixel electrodes.