JP2006276359A - Liquid crystal display - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid crystal display on which a space-saved liquid crystal panel is mounted. <P>SOLUTION: In the liquid crystal display provided with a liquid crystal panel 1, having a liquid crystal layer between a pair of substrates PNL1 and PNL2 facing each other and a housing housing the liquid crystal panel 1 and having an aperture exposing the display area D of the liquid crystal panel 1, the display area D of the liquid crystal panel 1 is formed in a substantially elliptical or circular shape and the pair of substrates PNL1 and PNL2 are cut to the part near to the display area D. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display device including a space-saving liquid crystal panel.

  In recent years, various small portable devices such as a mobile phone, a game machine, and an electronic dictionary equipped with a liquid crystal display device have been widely used. Among these devices, in particular, mobile phones have added functions such as games, clocks, cameras, e-mails, and Internet terminals in addition to normal calling functions. It has become an indispensable item.

  As such various functions are mounted on a mobile phone, the phone itself, so-called hardware side, is required to be more convenient, lighter and more portable on the one hand, and on the other hand, is designed or user-friendly. A fashion that matches the taste is required, and the shape of the equipment is adapted to this.

  In response to these trends, the display area of the display panel has also been devised, and the display area is mostly rectangular, but some non-rectangular are also used. (See, for example, Patent Document 1 below).

  4A and 4B show a mobile phone described in Patent Document 1 shown below. FIG. 4A is an external perspective view, and FIG. 4B is an exploded perspective view of a liquid crystal display device mounted on the mobile phone shown in FIG. is there.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the cellular phone 10 includes liquid crystal panels 11A and 11B and a housing 12 that accommodates these liquid crystal panels. The housing 12 has a circular opening 12a formed on the surface thereof. The display area of the liquid crystal panel 11B is exposed from the opening 12a.

This display area is formed by combining a rectangular liquid crystal panel 11B and a housing 12 provided with a circular display window. That is, when the liquid crystal panel is accommodated in the housing, the housing covers the surface of the rectangular liquid crystal panel, and the display surface is exposed from the circular opening of the housing, that is, the display window.
JP 2002-287144 A

  However, when the rectangular display panel is applied to the circular display window in this way, the corner of the panel is covered with the housing and is not used as a display area, and the corner is a predetermined space within the housing. Accounted for. For this reason, since each corner is not used as a display area in the liquid crystal panel, the effective display area in the display area is reduced, and the corner not used as the display area occupies a predetermined space in the housing. However, there is a problem that the housing of other parts or the like is limited.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal display device equipped with a space-saving liquid crystal panel.

In order to achieve the above object, a liquid crystal display device according to claim 1 of the present invention includes a liquid crystal panel having a liquid crystal layer between a pair of opposing substrates, and an opening that accommodates the liquid crystal panel and exposes its display area. A liquid crystal display device comprising:
The liquid crystal panel is characterized in that the display area is substantially elliptical or circular, and the pair of substrates are cut to near the display area.

  The invention according to claim 2 relates to the liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the pair of substrates includes an active array substrate provided with a semiconductor switching element for each of a plurality of pixels, a color filter, It is a color filter substrate having a counter electrode.

  The invention according to claim 3 relates to the liquid crystal display device according to claim 2, wherein the outer peripheral wiring of the array substrate is arranged along the elliptical or circular display area. It is characterized by that.

  By providing the above configuration, the present invention has the following excellent effects. In other words, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the liquid crystal panel is space-saving because the substrate and the display area are formed in an elliptical shape or a circular shape. That is, since the corners of the liquid crystal panel are cut in accordance with the shape of the elliptical or circular display area, the liquid crystal panel occupies a smaller area and saves space than the conventional rectangular shape. Therefore, when this liquid crystal panel is accommodated in a housing such as a cellular phone, an empty space is formed between the housing and the corner, and equipment parts can be accommodated using this space, or The space can be eliminated and the housing can be downsized.

  According to the second and third aspects of the present invention, in the active array substrate, the wiring disposed around the outer periphery of the active array substrate is formed along the elliptical or circular display area. Can be saved and the space of the liquid crystal panel can be saved.

  Hereinafter, the best embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the embodiment described below exemplifies a liquid crystal display device for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and is not intended to specify the present invention for this liquid crystal display device. Other embodiments within the scope of the claims are equally applicable.

  1 is a plan view showing a liquid crystal panel accommodated in a liquid crystal display device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the array substrate of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram constituting one pixel.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the liquid crystal panel 1 is configured by a panel having a substantially elliptical display area D.

  The liquid crystal panel 1 has a configuration in which two substrates PNL1 and 2 made of glass or the like are arranged to face each other, and a liquid crystal layer (not shown) is formed between them. Each substrate PNL1 and 2 has a vertically long rectangular shape. The corners of the finished substrate are cut to the vicinity of the display area D.

  These substrates may have any shape as long as an elliptical display area D having a predetermined area can be formed at the center, but in the shape shown in FIG. 1, each dimension has the following length, for example.

The length L ₁ in the vertical direction of the substrate is about 50 mm, the width L ₂ is about 40 mm, the length L _{3 of} one side to be cut is about 10 mm, the length L ₄ of the other side to be cut is about 5 mm, and the display area The distance L _{5 from the} chip mounting area is about 3 mm, the distance L ₆ between the substrate side edge and the display area is about 2 mm, the length L ₇ in the horizontal direction of the display area is about 35 mm, and the length L ₈ in the vertical direction of the display area is About 44 mm.

  Of the two substrates PNL1 and 2 facing each other, one substrate PNL1 is an array substrate provided with a semiconductor switching element on the surface, and the other substrate PNL2 is a color filter and a surface facing the surface of the array substrate. This is a color filter substrate on which a common electrode is formed. Since the structure of the color filter substrate is already known, its description is omitted.

As shown in FIG. 2, the shape of the array substrate PNL1 is such that each corner of a plate-like body having a long rectangular shape having long sides 2 ₁ , 2 ₂ and short sides 2 ₃ , 2 ₄ facing each other is a display area. Cut to near D, each corner is inclined sides 2a to 2d. Further, the shape of the color filter substrate PNL2 is cut to the vicinity of the display area D in the same manner as the array substrate PNL1, in the form of a vertically long rectangular plate having long sides and short sides facing each other.

On the surface of the substrate PNL1 on which the liquid crystal layer is formed, a plurality of scanning lines G ₁ extending in the X direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 2) and arranged in parallel in the Y direction (vertical direction in FIG. 2). To G _N and video lines S _{1 to} S _N that are insulated from these scanning lines and extend in the Y direction and juxtaposed in the X direction are arranged. The scanning lines _G 1 ~G _N and the video line _S 1 to S _N is or a transparent electrode material such as ITO, and is formed by Al or Cr.

Each area surrounded by the scanning lines _G 1 ~G _N video lines _S 1 to S _N which cross each other, as shown in FIG. 3, the on-state or off by the scanning signal from the scanning line _G 1 ~G _N A so-called one pixel is formed which includes a switching element Tr in a state and a transparent pixel electrode to which a video signal from a video line is supplied via the switching element. As the switching element Tr, a thin film transistor (hereinafter referred to as TFT) or a thin film diode is used. For example, using a TFT switching element Tr, a gate electrode is the scanning line _G 1 ~G _N of the TFT, the source electrode to the video line _S 1 to S _N, the drain electrode is to be connected to the pixel electrode Become.

  With such a configuration, when a scanning signal is supplied to the scanning line, the TFT is turned on, and a video signal is supplied from the video line to the pixel electrode via the turned-on TFT.

A chip mounting area 3 on which a driver LSI for driving a liquid crystal panel is mounted is provided at the bottom of the array substrate PNL1, and a plurality of terminals (not shown) are disposed in the area 3, scan lines _G 1 ~G _N and the video line _S 1 to S _N are connected.

Note that the distance between the display area D of the array substrate PNL1 having the above configuration and the long sides 2 ₁ and 2 ₂ is narrow. Therefore, among the scanning lines _G 1 ~G _N video lines _S 1 to S _N, the substrate upper, or scan lines _G 1 of the upper side _{2 3, G} 2, · ·, and the video line _{S 1, S} 2, · · a when routing wiring to the lower side 2 _4, is curved to interconnect with narrowing the inter-line along these lines the outer periphery of the display area. The wiring shape may be not only a curved shape but also a broken line shape.

  The thus configured array substrate is bonded to a color filter substrate (not shown) with a sealing material, and a liquid crystal is sealed between them to complete a liquid crystal panel. Since the method for manufacturing the liquid crystal panel is already known, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  Next, the completed liquid crystal panel 1 is mounted on various devices such as a mobile phone as shown in FIG.

  By mounting on such devices, the liquid crystal panel is cut in corners to match the shape of the elliptical display area, so it occupies a smaller area and saves space than the rectangular shape of the prior art. Has been. Therefore, an empty space is formed between the housing and the corner of the liquid crystal panel, and it is possible to store equipment parts using this space, or it is possible to reduce the size of the housing by eliminating the space portion. Become.

  In this embodiment, the substrate and the display area are described as having an elliptical shape, but a circular shape may be used. Even if the display area is not perfectly elliptical or circular, for example, a substantially elliptical shape that is close to an elliptical shape, such as an elongated hexagonal shape in the vertical direction or an octagonal shape with equal lengths on each side, A substantially circular shape close to a circular shape may be used. Moreover, although the array substrate using TFTs has been described, a substrate employing another liquid crystal driving method may be used.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a liquid crystal panel accommodated in a liquid crystal display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an array substrate of the liquid crystal panel of FIG. FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram constituting one pixel. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing a known mobile phone, FIG. 4A is an external perspective view, and FIG. 4B is an exploded perspective view of a liquid crystal display device mounted on the mobile phone of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 liquid crystal panel 3 chip mounting area PNL1, PNL2 substrate D display area _G 1 ~G _N scan lines _S 1 to S _N video line

Claims (3)

In a liquid crystal display device comprising a liquid crystal panel having a liquid crystal layer between a pair of opposing substrates, and a housing having an opening for accommodating the liquid crystal panel and exposing a display area thereof,
The liquid crystal panel is characterized in that the display area is substantially oval or circular, and the pair of substrates are cut to near the display area.   2. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the pair of substrates is an active array substrate provided with a semiconductor switching element for each of a plurality of pixels, and a color filter substrate having a color filter and a counter electrode. . The liquid crystal display device according to claim 2, wherein the outer peripheral wiring of the array substrate is arranged along the elliptical or circular display area.

Images