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:
Sep. 28, 1999
Filed:
Nov. 05, 1997
Steven P Bandettini, Forestville, CA (US);
Lindsey Brown, Healdsburg, CA (US);
Bryant P Hichwa, Santa Rosa, CA (US);
Michael J Cumbo, Santa Rosa, CA (US);
J Gordon Mathew, Santa Rosa, CA (US);
Nada A O'Brien, Santa Rosa, CA (US);
Optical Coating Laboratory, Inc., Santa Rosa, CA (US);
Abstract
A flexible panel is provided that is easily and conformingly applied to a curved display screen of a VDU to afford, in a lightweight manner, variably adjustable contrast enhancement of the VDU while simultaneously providing a decrease in the amount of ambient light reflected from the curved display screen. The flexible panel is a glass microsheet layered, on one side thereof, with an antireflection coating and, on the other side, with an electrochromic device. The electrochrmic device allows for variable adjustment of the contrast of the VDU as a function of the voltage applied across the electrochromic device. The flexible glass microsheet dually possesses the advantages of conventional rigid glass panels, such as excellent optical performance, high durability, capability of being coated with various optical coatings under extreme temperature, pressure and chemical conditions and the additional benfeit of physical flexibility. This flexibility allows for easy application to variously sized and shaped curved VDU display screens. The electrochromic device is a six-layered structure deposited, in order from the layer adjacent the panel: a 1 quarter wavelength (QW) alumina layer; a first indium-tin-oxide (ITO) layer; a tungsten trioxide (WO.sub.3) layer; a tantalum pentoxide (Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5) layer; a nickel-oxide (NiO) layer; and a second indium-tin-oxide (ITO) layer.