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:
Jul. 18, 2000
Filed:
May. 27, 1997
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A driving method for an optical modulation device is applicable to driving of an optical modulation device, e.g. a liquid crystal device having a matrix electrode arrangement comprising a group of scanning electrodes, a group of signal electrodes oppositely spaced from the group of scanning electrodes, and an optical modulation material (e.g. a liquid crystal) showing bistability with respect to an electric filed applied thereto disposed between the groups of scanning electrodes and signal electrodes. The driving method is featured by applying a voltage allowing the liquid crystal having bistability to be oriented to a first stable state (one optically stable state) between a selected scanning electrode of the group of scanning electrodes and a selected signal electrode of the group of signal electrodes, and by applying a voltage allowing the liquid crystal having bistability to be oriented to a second stable state (the other optically stable state) between the selected scanning electrodes and non-selected signal electrodes; or by applying a voltage allowing the optical modulation material having bistabity to be oriented to a first stable state between a selected scanning electrode and the group of signal electrodes, applying a voltage allowing the liquid crystal oriented to the first stable state to be oriented to a second stable state between the selected scanning electrode and a selected signal electrode, and applying a voltage set to a value between a threshold voltage -V.sub.th2 (for the second stable state) and a threshold voltage V.sub.th1 (for the first stable state) between non-selected scanning electrodes and the group of signal electrodes.