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. 25, 2001
Filed:
Aug. 25, 1998
Pierre H. Mertz, Mountain View, CA (US);
Brian L. Heffner, Los Altos, CA (US);
Agilent Technologies, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A display that includes an array of reflective pixels, a linear light source; and a reflector. The reflector includes a cylindrical surface, the axis of the cylindrical surface being parallel to the linear light source. The linear light source is positioned relative to the reflector such that light from the linear light source is reflected by the reflector onto the array of reflective pixels. The reflector is constructed from a material that is partially reflecting. The linear light source preferably includes a plurality of light emitting diodes and an optical diffuser. In a color display, the light emitting diodes include diodes having different emission spectra. In one embodiment of the invention, the reflector is constructed from a material that reflects light of a first linear polarization while transmitting light having a linear polarization orthogonal to the first linear polarization. In this embodiment, each pixel in the array of reflective pixels preferably includes a polarization rotating cell that rotates the linear polarization vector of light reflected by the pixel in response to the receipt of an electrical signal by the pixel.