Patent US5336623A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
Patent EP0209112A2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0209112A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Light blocking and cell spacing structure for liquid crystal matrix displays
Assignee: General Electric Co
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Filing: 1986-07-15
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2006-07-15
Abstract
Abstract Light blocking spacer material is disposed so as to at least partially cover the data and/or gate lines in a variety of liquid crystal display (LCD) devices. The material prevents spurious visual information from being displayed as a result of high RMS supply voltages applied to the data lines, such voltages acting to switch liquid crystal material at inopportune times and to thus degrade the displayed image. The light blocking material also enhances the displayed image by acting as a spacer between the front and back LCD device panels to insure uniform cell spacing. Light blocking material is also employed at the same time to prevent light from reaching light sensitive thin film field effect transistors (FETs) which operate to switch each cell or to establish gray levels therein. The light otherwise has a tendency to discharge the LCD cell, also hampering device function.
Inventors
- 👤 Donald Earl Castleberry
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-02 11:41
CPC Classifications
G; G02; G02F; G02F1/00; G02F1/01; G02F1/13; G02F1/133; G02F1/1333; G02F1/1339; G02F1/13394; G02F1/1335; G02F1/133509; G02F1/133512; G02F1/13392; G02F1/136; G02F1/1362; G02F1/136286; G02F1/13629
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 39
Claim 1
Independent Claim
181 words
A liquid crystal display comprising: a pair of flat substrates, at least one of which is transparent; a quantity of liquid crystal material disposed and contained between said substrates; an array of pixel electrodes disposed on said at least one substrate; at least one ground plane electrode disposed on the other one of said substrates, so that liquid crystal material is disposed between said pixel electrodes and said ground plane electrodes, with at least one of said ground plane electrodes and said array of pixel electrodes being transparent; an array of semiconductor switch elements associated with said pixel electrodes; a set of electrically conductive data lines; a set of electrically conductive gate lines, said switch elements, said data lines and said gate lines being electrically connected to permit a voltage appearing on said data line to be applied to select pixel electrodes in accordance with signals present on said gate lines; and light blocking spacer material disposed between said substrates so as to determine the distance between said substrates and disposed so as to block light from said semiconductor switch element.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
181 words
A liquid crystal display comprising: a pair of flat substrates, at least one of which is transparent; a quantity of liquid crystal material disposed and contained between said substrates; an array of pixel electrodes disposed on said at least one substrate; at least one ground plane electrode disposed on the other one of said substrates, so that liquid crystal material is disposed between said pixel electrodes and said ground plane electrodes, with at least one of said ground plane electrodes and said array of pixel electrodes being transparent; an array of semiconductor switch elements associated with said pixel electrodes; a set of electrically conductive data lines; a set of electrically conductive gate lines, said switch elements, said data lines and said gate lines being electrically connected to permit a voltage appearing on said data line to be applied to select pixel electrodes in accordance with signals present on said gate lines; and light blocking spacer material disposed between said substrates so as to determine the distance between said substrates and disposed so as to block light from said semiconductor switch element.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
29 words
The display of claim 1 in which said light blocking spacer material is also disposed so as to at least partially cover said data lines or said gate lines.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
21 words
The display of claim 1 in which said light blocking spacer material is in contact with both of said flat substrates.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
23 words
The display of claim 1 in which said light blocking spacer material is formed on the same substrate as said semiconductor switch elements.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
22 words
The display of claim 1 in which said light blocking spacer material is formed on a non-transparent one of said flat substrates.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
16 words
The display of claim 1 in which said light blocking spacer material comprises a photopatternable polymer.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
23 words
The display of claim 6 in which said polymer includes additional material selected from the group consisting of black pigments and black dyes.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
13 words
The display of claim 6 in which said polymer comprises cured polyamic acid.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
17 words
The display of claim 1 in which the spacing between said flat substrates is approximately 6 microns.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
19 words
The display of claim 1 in which said light blocking spacer material exhibits an optical density greater than 3.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
19 words
The display of claim 1 in which said light blocking spacer exhibits a resistivity greater than 10 10 ohm-cm.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
12 words
The display of claim 1 in which said data lines are transparent.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
12 words
The display of claim 1 in which said gate lines are transparent.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
14 words
The display of claim 1 in which said semiconductor switch elements are light sensitive.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
21 words
The display of claim 1 in which said semiconductor switch elements comprise field effect transistors having source, gate, and drain regions.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
17 words
The display of claim 1 in which said semiconductor switch elements comprise thin film field effect transistors.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
14 words
The display of claim 1 in which said transparent electrodes comprise indium tin oxide.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
16 words
The display of claim 1 in which there is present only a single ground plane electrode.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
13 words
The display of claim 1 in which said ground plane electrode is transparent.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
14 words
The display of claim 19 in which both of said flat substrates are transparent.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
28 words
The display of claim 1 in which said liquid crystal material is selected from the group consisting of dichroic liquid crystal material and twisted nematic liquid crystal material.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
15 words
The display of claim 1 in which said pixel electrodes are approximately 0.01 inches square.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
16 words
The display of claim 20 in which said semiconductor switch elements are approximately 0.001 inches square.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
19 words
The display of claim 1 in which said light blocking spacer material at least partially covers said gate lines.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
19 words
The display of claim 1 in which said light blocking spacer material at least partially covers said data lines.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
12 words
The display of claim 1 in which said pixel electrodes are transparent.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
24 words
The display of claim 1 in which said light blocking spacer material is disposed on a color filter in registration with said pixel electrodes.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
16 words
The display of claim 15 in which said drain regions are connected to said pixel electrodes.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
16 words
The display of claim 1 further including a color filter in registration with said pixel cells.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
31 words
The display of claim 1 further including a polarizer disposed external to and on opposite sides of said flat substrates and in which said liquid crystal material comprises twisted nematic material.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
57 words
The display of claim 1 further including a polarizer disposed external to said flat substrates and in which the liquid crystal material comprises dichroic dye material, said polarizer being disposed so as not to be on a side of the display on which either the electrodes or the substrates on which the electrodes are disposed are opaque.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
21 words
The display of claim 15 in which said gate lines comprise the same material as electrodes forming said FET gate regions.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
171 words
A liquid crystal display comprising: a pair of flat substrates, at least one of which is transparent; a quantity of liquid crystal material disposed and contained between said substrates; an array of pixel electrodes disposed on said at least one substrate; at least one ground plane electrode disposed on the other one of said substrates, so that liquid crystal material is disposed between said pixel electrodes and said ground plane electrodes, with at least one of said ground plane electrodes and said array of pixel electrodes being transparent; an array of semiconductor switch elements associated with said pixel electrodes; a set of electrically conductive data lines; a set of electrically conductive gate lines, said switch elements, said data lines and said gate lines being electrically connected to permit a voltage appearing on said data line to be applied to select pixel electrodes in accordance with signals present on said gate lines; and light blocking spacer material disposed so as to at least partially cover said data lines or said gate lines.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
171 words
A liquid crystal display comprising: a pair of flat substrates, at least one of which is transparent; a quantity of liquid crystal material disposed and contained between said substrates; an array of pixel electrodes disposed on said at least one substrate; at least one ground plane electrode disposed on the other one of said substrates, so that liquid crystal material is disposed between said pixel electrodes and said ground plane electrodes, with at least one of said ground plane electrodes and said array of pixel electrodes being transparent; an array of semiconductor switch elements associated with said pixel electrodes; a set of electrically conductive data lines; a set of electrically conductive gate lines, said switch elements, said data lines and said gate lines being electrically connected to permit a voltage appearing on said data line to be applied to select pixel electrodes in accordance with signals present on said gate lines; and light blocking spacer material disposed so as to at least partially cover said data lines or said gate lines.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
170 words
A liquid crystal display comprising: a pair of flat substrates, at least one of which is transparent; a quantity of liquid crystal material disposed and contained between said substrates; an array of pixel electrodes disposed on said at least one substrate; at least one ground plane electrode disposed on the other one of said substrates, so that liquid crystal material is disposed between said pixel electrodes and said ground plane electrodes, with at least one of said ground plane electrodes and said array of pixel electrodes being transparent; an array of semiconductor switch elements associated with said pixel electrodes; a set of electrically conductive data lines; a set of electrically conductive gate lines, said switch elements, said data lines and said gate lines being electrically connected to permit a voltage appearing on said data line to be applied to select pixel electrodes in accordance with signal patterns present on said gate lines; and spacer material disposed so as to at least partially cover said data lines or said gate lines.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
170 words
A liquid crystal display comprising: a pair of flat substrates, at least one of which is transparent; a quantity of liquid crystal material disposed and contained between said substrates; an array of pixel electrodes disposed on said at least one substrate; at least one ground plane electrode disposed on the other one of said substrates, so that liquid crystal material is disposed between said pixel electrodes and said ground plane electrodes, with at least one of said ground plane electrodes and said array of pixel electrodes being transparent; an array of semiconductor switch elements associated with said pixel electrodes; a set of electrically conductive data lines; a set of electrically conductive gate lines, said switch elements, said data lines and said gate lines being electrically connected to permit a voltage appearing on said data line to be applied to select pixel electrodes in accordance with signal patterns present on said gate lines; and spacer material disposed so as to at least partially cover said data lines or said gate lines.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
172 words
A liquid crystal display comprising: a pair of flat substrates, at least one of which is transparent; a quantity of liquid crystal material disposed and contained between said substrates; an array of pixel electrodes disposed on said at least one substrate; at least one ground plane electrode disposed on the other one of said substrates, so that liquid crystal material is disposed between said pixel electrodes and said ground plane electrodes, with at least one of said ground plane electrodes and said array of pixel electrodes being transparent; an array of semiconductor switch elements associated with said pixel electrodes; a set of electrically conductive data lines; a set of electrically conductive gate lines, said switch elements, said data lines and said gate lines being electrically connected to permit a voltage appearing on said data line to be applied to select pixel electrodes in accordance with signal patterns present on said gate lines; and a light blocking material disposed so as to at least partially cover said data lines or said gate lines.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
172 words
A liquid crystal display comprising: a pair of flat substrates, at least one of which is transparent; a quantity of liquid crystal material disposed and contained between said substrates; an array of pixel electrodes disposed on said at least one substrate; at least one ground plane electrode disposed on the other one of said substrates, so that liquid crystal material is disposed between said pixel electrodes and said ground plane electrodes, with at least one of said ground plane electrodes and said array of pixel electrodes being transparent; an array of semiconductor switch elements associated with said pixel electrodes; a set of electrically conductive data lines; a set of electrically conductive gate lines, said switch elements, said data lines and said gate lines being electrically connected to permit a voltage appearing on said data line to be applied to select pixel electrodes in accordance with signal patterns present on said gate lines; and a light blocking material disposed so as to at least partially cover said data lines or said gate lines.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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