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:
Aug. 03, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 18, 1996
Masahiro Terada, Hadano, JP;
Yukio Hanyu, Isehara, JP;
Koichi Sato, Atsugi, JP;
Hirokatsu Miyata, Hadano, JP;
Syuji Yamada, Atsugi, JP;
Yasufumi Asao, Isehara, JP;
Takashi Moriyama, Atsugi, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A liquid crystal device is constituted by a pair of substrates each having thereon an electrode, and a smectic liquid crystal having a plurality of smectic liquid crystal layers disposed between the substrates. The smectic liquid crystal is disposed to form a first region wherein the smectic liquid crystal layers are aligned to have a layer inclination angle smaller than a calculated layer inclination angle based on a temperature-dependent layer spacing-changing characteristic or are aligned in a direction perpendicular to the substrates to form a bookshelf structure, and a second region wherein the smectic liquid crystal layers are aligned to form a chevron structure having a substantial layer inclination angle or having a layer inclination angle substantially equal to a calculated layer inclination angle based on a temperature-dependent layer spacing-changing characteristic. The liquid crystal device having the first an second regions described above is effective in improving a contrast ratio and a driven margin parameter.