JP2001215475A - Liquid crystal display module - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid crystal display module capable of realizing a thin shape even when the module has viewing surfaces both on the front side and rear side. SOLUTION: The first and second liquid crystal display panels 3, 4 are formed on the display parts of a pair of liquid crystal substrates 1, 2 between which liquid crystal elements are enclosed and arrayed in matrix and conductively connected to a flexible substrate 5 provided with a driver IC 5b to drive the liquid crystal elements. The viewing surface side polarizers 3a, 4a of the first and second liquid crystal display panels 3, 4 are mutually arranged in the front and rear relation with respect to the pair of the liquid crystal substrates 1, 2. The display screens of the first and second liquid crystal display panels 3, 4 are placed opposite to each other with respect to the pair of the liquid crystal substrates 1, 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display module which can be used for a display section of an electronic device such as a portable telephone, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display module which can realize a display from both sides in a thin form.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A small liquid crystal display with low power consumption is widely used for a display section of a small device such as a mobile phone. This liquid crystal display is generally a liquid crystal module including a liquid crystal panel incorporated in a main body of a device and a flexible substrate formed with a wiring pattern for conducting the segment common wiring.

Some mobile phones have a liquid crystal display screen, an operation panel, a receiver and a microphone arrayed, and those of a foldable type for further miniaturization. In this foldable mobile phone, a display unit including a liquid crystal screen and a receiver, and an operation unit including an operation switch and a microphone are connected so as to be opened and closed by a hinge. However, in such a foldable mobile phone,
Since the liquid crystal display is not visible when folded, it is necessary to open the display to check the incoming call and other information. Therefore, recently, in order to be able to view information while the display unit is folded, a device in which liquid crystal screens are arranged on both sides of the display unit has been used.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing a liquid crystal display module compatible with such a double-sided display.

In FIG. 3, a first liquid crystal display panel 51 is provided in a display housing 50 of a foldable portable telephone.
And a second liquid crystal display panel 52, and a flexible substrate 53 is electrically connected to the first liquid crystal display panel 51. The flexible substrate 53 has a connector 53a connected to the power supply side and forms a printed wiring pattern (not shown) on which a driver IC 53b is mounted.
Are electrically mounted. Further, the first and second liquid crystal display panels 51 and 52 are conductively connected by a heat seal 54 having a printed wiring pattern, and the first and second liquid crystal display panels 51 and 52 are respectively independent by a driver IC 53b. It is driven.

The first liquid crystal display panel 51 has a structure in which a liquid crystal is sealed between a pair of upper and lower substrates 51a and 51b so that a voltage can be applied. Each of the substrates 51a and 51b has an upper polarizing plate 51c. And a lower polarizing plate 51d. The second liquid crystal display panel 52 has the same configuration, and a pair of upper and lower substrates 52 for sealing a liquid crystal and applying a voltage.
a, 52b, an upper polarizing plate 52c, and a lower polarizing plate 52d. In addition, in order to display the image by the liquid crystal,
A backlight using an LED or the like is incorporated in the display housing 50, but is omitted in the drawings for simplicity.

[0007] Such first and second liquid crystal display panels 5
1 and 52, the upper and lower polarizers 51 using the polarization of light.
When an optical image from the liquid crystal passes through c, 51d, 52c, and 52d, the upper surface in the drawing of the first liquid crystal display panel 51 and the lower surface of the second liquid crystal display panel 52 can be the observation surfaces. That is, the display unit housing 5
The display image of the first liquid crystal display panel 51 can be seen from the upper surface side of 0, and the display image of the second liquid crystal display panel 52 can be seen from the lower surface side. Therefore, when the upper surface of the display unit housing 50 is used as a mobile phone that is folded toward the operation unit, the display on the second liquid crystal display panel 52 can be seen from the outside even in the folded state. This allows
Incoming calls and other information can be obtained from the second liquid crystal display panel 52 without opening the display unit housing 50 one by one.

[0008]

However, in the conventional structure shown in FIG. 3, the first and second liquid crystal display panels 51,
Since the assemblies 52 are arranged so as to overlap each other with an interval vertically, the thickness of the display housing 50 is increased. That is, the upper polarizing plates 51c and 52 serving as observation surfaces
Since the heat seal 54 is double-folded so that c is opposite to each other, the overall thickness increases. Therefore, the display unit housing 50 becomes thicker, and when it is bent toward the operation unit side, the whole of the mobile phone becomes thicker, which makes it difficult to handle the mobile phone.

Such a problem occurs not only in the field of portable telephones but also in small electronic devices having an image display unit using liquid crystal.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a liquid crystal display module which can be made thin even if it has an observation surface facing both sides.

[0011]

According to a liquid crystal display module of the present invention, first and second liquid crystal display panels are formed on a display portion of a pair of liquid crystal substrates in which a liquid crystal element is sealed and arranged in a matrix. The flexible substrate provided with a driver IC for driving a liquid crystal element is electrically connected to the first substrate.
And the observation surface side polarizer of the second liquid crystal display panel is arranged in a front-to-back relationship with respect to the pair of liquid crystal substrates,
The display surfaces of the first and second liquid crystal display panels are opposite to each other with respect to the pair of liquid crystal substrates.

In such a configuration, a display surface of a liquid crystal panel is formed on each of the front and back surfaces of a pair of liquid crystal substrates. For example, when the liquid crystal panel is incorporated in a housing on the display portion side of a foldable mobile phone, when the housing is closed. But you can see the information from one display surface.

[0013]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a liquid crystal display device includes a first liquid crystal display panel and a second liquid crystal display panel formed on a display section of a pair of liquid crystal substrates in which a liquid crystal element is sealed and arranged in a matrix. A flexible substrate having a driver IC for driving the liquid crystal display panel is electrically connected, and the observation surface side polarizers of the first and second liquid crystal display panels are arranged in a front-to-back relationship with respect to the pair of liquid crystal substrates; First and second
Wherein the display surfaces of the liquid crystal display panels are opposite to each other with respect to the pair of liquid crystal substrates, and the respective displays of the first and second liquid crystal display panels are displayed on the front and back of the liquid crystal substrates. Observation can be made on both sides, and since these liquid crystal display panels do not overlap, it has the effect of being able to make the whole thin.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view showing a main part of a liquid crystal display module according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view when a flexible substrate is developed. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the mobile phone is mounted on the housing of the display unit of the mobile phone as in the conventional example.

In FIG. 1, a flexible substrate 5 is conductively connected to one end of a pair of upper and lower liquid crystal substrates 1 and 2 in which liquid crystals are sealed, and a first liquid crystal display panel 3 and a second liquid crystal are connected to the liquid crystal substrates 1 and 2. The display panel 4 and the display panel 4 are arranged at intervals. The first liquid crystal display panel 3 includes liquid crystal substrates 1 and 2
, An observation surface side polarizer 3 a mounted on the upper surface of the liquid crystal substrate 1 disposed on the upper side, and a liquid crystal substrate 2 disposed on the lower side.
Formed by a combination with the back side polarizer 3b mounted on the lower surface of. In addition, the second liquid crystal display panel 4 is mounted on a sealed liquid crystal, an observation surface side polarizer 4a mounted on the lower surface of the liquid crystal substrate 2 arranged on the lower side, and on the upper surface of the liquid crystal substrate 1 arranged on the upper side. This is a combination with the back side polarizer 4b.

The flexible substrate 5 uses a thin film made of resin and has an input terminal 5a formed at one end and a driver IC 5b electrically connected to the input terminal 5a mounted thereon. On the other hand, the first and second liquid crystal display panels 3,
As is well known in the art, a matrix-shaped segment wiring and a common wiring are formed to conduct to the liquid crystal element, and connection terminals of the segment wiring and the common wiring are connected to the first and second liquid crystal display panels 3. , 4 along the horizontal and vertical edges. Therefore, in addition to the wiring pattern from the input terminal 5a to the driver IC 5b, the common wiring patterns 5c and 5d from the driver IC 5b to the first liquid crystal display panel 3, the segment wiring pattern 5e, and the second wiring pattern are provided on the flexible substrate 5. Liquid crystal display panel 4
Are provided respectively with the segment wiring pattern 5f and the common wiring pattern 5g.

Although the driver IC 5b is mounted on the front side of the flexible substrate 5 in FIG. 2, it is assumed that the driver IC 5b is actually on the rear side. With this configuration, when the flexible substrate 5 is folded as shown in FIG.
5b faces the liquid crystal substrate 2 side, so that the overall thickness can be reduced.

In the above configuration, the flexible substrate 5
The liquid crystal display module comprising the liquid crystal substrates 1 and 2 and the first and second liquid crystal display panels 3 and 4 provided thereon is formed by bending the flexible substrate 5 as shown in FIG. It is incorporated in the housing 10. The display housing 10 is disclosed in, for example,
In FIG. 1, the left end side is connected to the operation unit side housing by a hinge (not shown) so as to be openable and closable. That is, the upper surface side of the display unit housing 10 is folded over the operation unit side housing, and at this time, the lower surface side of the display unit housing 10 forms an outer shell of the mobile phone.

Since the first liquid crystal display panel 3 displays an image through the observation surface side polarizer 3a, the upper surface side of the display housing 10 in FIG. 1 is used as an image display surface, and the image is displayed corresponding to the image display surface. A display window (not shown) is provided in the unit housing 10. On the other hand, the second liquid crystal display panel 4
Since the observation surface side polarizer 4a faces downward, the lower surface side of the display unit housing 10 is used as an image display surface, and a display window (not shown) is provided in the display unit housing 10 in a corresponding manner. Therefore, the first liquid crystal display panel 3
Can be viewed by opening the display unit housing 10, whereas the second liquid crystal display panel 4 faces outside even when the display unit housing 10 is folded, so that information can be obtained by always viewing the display image. be able to.

In this way, a display image of the first liquid crystal display panel 3 is obtained on one surface of the integrated substrate body by the pair of liquid crystal substrates 1 and 2 sealed with liquid crystal, and the second liquid crystal is formed on the other surface. An image displayed on the display panel 4 is obtained. Therefore, when incorporated in the foldable display unit housing 10, the image on the second liquid crystal display panel 4 can be viewed without opening it one by one. Further, unlike the conventional example of FIG. 3, the first and second liquid crystal display panels 51 and 52 are not arranged so as to overlap each other.
0 can be made thin. Therefore, even when the present invention is applied to a mobile phone as in the present embodiment, the total thickness including the housing on the operation unit side can be reduced, and the mobile phone can be used more compactly.

In the present embodiment, the liquid crystal display module of the present invention is incorporated into the display housing 10 for a portable telephone. However, it is needless to say that the liquid crystal display module may be provided in various other small electronic devices. is there.

[0023]

According to the present invention, the first and second liquid crystal display panels are arranged on a pair of liquid crystal substrates at an interval, and the observation surfaces thereof are turned upside down.
Liquid crystal display from both sides is possible. Since the two liquid crystal display panels do not overlap each other, the overall thickness can be reduced, and the liquid crystal display panel can be optimally used for a mobile phone and other small electronic devices.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view showing an essential part of a liquid crystal display module according to an embodiment of the present invention when incorporated in a display unit housing of a mobile phone.

2 is a schematic perspective view of a flexible substrate of the liquid crystal display module of FIG. 1 when the flexible substrate is developed.

FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical sectional view of a main part showing an example in which a conventional liquid crystal display module is provided in a display housing of a mobile phone.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 liquid crystal substrate 2 liquid crystal substrate 3 first liquid crystal display panel 3a observation surface side polarizer 3b back surface side polarizer 4 second liquid crystal display panel 4a observation surface side polarizer 4b back surface side polarizer 5 flexible substrate 5a input terminal 5b driver IC 5c, 5d Common wiring pattern 5e, 5f Segment wiring pattern 5g Common wiring pattern 10 Display housing

Continued on the front page F-term (reference) 2H089 HA21 HA33 KA17 KA20 QA11 TA07 TA15 2H091 FA08X FA08Z FD02 FD06 GA11 LA11 5C094 AA15 BA43 CA19 DA08 HA10 5G435 AA18 BB12 CC09 EE36 EE40 EE47 FF02 LL07

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A flexible substrate having a first liquid crystal display panel and a second liquid crystal display panel formed on a display section of a pair of liquid crystal substrates in which a liquid crystal element is sealed and arranged in a matrix, and a driver IC for driving the liquid crystal element. And the observation surface side polarizers of the first and second liquid crystal display panels are arranged in a front-to-back relationship with respect to the pair of liquid crystal substrates. A liquid crystal display module having display surfaces opposite to each other with respect to the pair of liquid crystal substrates.