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:
Feb. 26, 2013
Filed:
Jun. 23, 2008
John C Jones, Malvern, GB;
John C Jones, Malvern, GB;
ZBD Displays Limited, Malvern, GB;
Abstract
A liquid crystal device comprises a layer () of a nematic liquid crystal material contained between two cell walls () each carrying electrode structures () and an alignment surface (). The alignment layer () on one or both cell wall (), is formed of a plurality of small (<15 μm) surface features each separably capable of providing a bistable pretilts and an alignment direction and collectively causing larger variations of molecular orientation across the layer (). The device may be switched between a light transmissive state and a light non-transmissive state. The small surface features may be areas of grating (), protrusions (), or blind holes (), separated by mono stable flat surfaces (Fm) coated with a homeotropic alignment layer. Preferably, the grating etc provides bistable switching operation between a low surface tilt and high surface tilt, and the low tilt alignment direction varies between adjacent grating areas.