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:
Mar. 30, 2004
Filed:
Feb. 06, 2001
Michael John Towler, Oxford, GB;
Elizabeth Jane Acosta, Oxford, GB;
Harry Garth Walton, Oxford, GB;
Craig Tombling, Oxfordshire, GB;
Martin David Tillin, Oxfordshire, GB;
Brian Henley, Oxfordshire, GB;
Emma Jayne Walton, Oxford, GB;
Tadashi Kawamura, Nara, JP;
Akiyoshi Fujii, Nara, JP;
Yuichiro Yamada, Aichi, JP;
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A liquid crystal display device comprises: a layer of a chiral liquid crystal material disposed between first and second substrates; and means for applying a voltage across the liquid crystal layer. A first region of the liquid crystal layer is an active region for display and a second region of the liquid crystal layer is a nucleation region for generating a desired liquid crystal state in the first region when a voltage is applied across the liquid crystal layer. The ratio of the thickness d of the liquid crystal layer to the pitch p of the liquid crystal material has a first value (d/p) in the first region of the liquid crystal layer and has a second value (d/p) different from the first value in the second region of the liquid crystal layer. The value (d/p) of the ratio of the thickness d of the liquid crystal layer to the pitch p of the liquid crystal material in the second region of the liquid crystal layer is selected such that, when no voltage is applied across the liquid crystal layer, the liquid crystal state stable in the second region of the liquid crystal layer is topologically equivalent to the desired liquid crystal state.