JPH11109876A - Reflection type liquid crystal display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make brightly illuminable an entire screen and to make maintainable the display quality same as that when external light is bright even in the case of using internal lighting when the external light is dark, by oppositely providing a transparent substrate at a specified interval on a liquid crystal panel and arranging a light source for internal lighting in a gap. SOLUTION: The light source 2 is arranged at the upper part of the outer periphery part of a reflection type liquid crystal panel 1, and further the transparent substrate 3 is arranged on the light source 2. Furthermore, a reflector 4 is arranged around the gap constituted by the substrate 3 and the panel 1. The light source 2 is constituted so that an angle at which the light is emitted from the light source 2 in a direction parallel with the panel 1 may be small. By arranging the base plate 3 on the panel 1 and arranging the light source 2 at the outer periphery part (on the outside of the effective display area of the panel 1) of the gap between both of them, the light escaping in an upper or front direction from the light source 2 is also effectively utilized as the illuminating light for the panel 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a reflection type liquid crystal display device having an internal illumination function used at night or in a dark place.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Liquid crystal display devices are used for display parts of various products because of their advantages of thinness, light weight, and low power consumption. In particular, reflective liquid crystal display devices that do not use a backlight have been spotlighted in recent years. As a method for obtaining a bright color display without using a polarizing plate, there is a known example disclosed in, for example, JP-A-8-184815. Further, as a method of obtaining a color display without parallax, there is a known example disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-201802.

[0003] In these known examples, a method of realizing a reflection type bright display by effectively using ambient light is described. However, there is no disclosure or suggestion of an illumination method when the ambient light becomes dark. Has not been. In order to realize nighttime illumination in a reflective liquid crystal display device, if other known techniques are applied, a reflective layer or a mirror reflective layer may be a translucent mirror such as a half mirror and a backlight may be used in combination. A method of illuminating from above the display surface of the liquid crystal display device is considered.

[0004]

However, in the case of a means in which a backlight is used in combination with a translucent mirror, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 8-2018 is used.
In the structure disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 02-203, when used in reflection using external light, the reflection of light becomes insufficient and the display becomes dark because the mirror reflection layer is a translucent mirror. In addition, when the backlight is used while being turned on, not only a polarizing plate is required on the backlight side, but also a single pass without light reciprocating through the liquid crystal layer, so that the optical design is deviated and sufficient contrast cannot be obtained. Also, JP-A-8-1
Even in the structure disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 84815, when used in reflection utilizing external light, the reflection layer becomes a semi-transparent mirror, so that light reflection becomes insufficient and the display becomes dark. Furthermore, when the backlight is turned on and used, the light of the backlight is diffused in the liquid crystal layer, and the diffused light is incident on the display surface side, so that almost no contrast can be obtained. Therefore,
The display quality is greatly degraded both in reflection and when a backlight is used.

In the case of a method of illuminating from above the display surface, the distance between the light source and the reflection type liquid crystal display device must be sufficiently long in order to uniformly irradiate the light from the light source to the display area. However, in an application such as a portable device that requires a thin type, such a method has a structural limitation, and is not preferable because of a cost increase and a design limitation.

In the case where a light reflecting layer is provided on the back surface as in JP-A-8-184815 and JP-A-8-201802, it is conceivable to arrange the light source on the side surface.
However, light incident from the side of the panel did not efficiently reach the center of the panel, and the entire panel could not be brightly illuminated. This is because, as the distance from the light source increases, the light incident from the side of the panel enters the color filter at an angle close to parallel, and cannot pass through the color filter unless it passes through a longer distance than when it passes through the color filter vertically. . In other words, this is the same as increasing the thickness of the color filter, and light is absorbed.

Further, the above-mentioned current reflection type liquid crystal display device does not have a sufficiently bright display surface even under ordinary use conditions, and requires some kind of illumination under conditions where external light is weak. Therefore, a light source for illumination is integrated with the reflection type liquid crystal display device, and the display quality does not deteriorate even when used in reflection, and when the ambient light becomes dark, sufficient illumination can be obtained by illumination from the light source. In addition, there has been a demand for low power consumption and low cost illuminating means with less restrictions on structure or design.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problem, a transparent substrate is provided above the liquid crystal panel with a predetermined gap therebetween, and a light source is provided in the gap between the liquid crystal panel and the transparent substrate. And The light source is preferably used as a spacer for maintaining a gap between the liquid crystal panel and the transparent substrate, and irradiates widely in a direction parallel to the liquid crystal display surface, and irradiates light in a direction perpendicular to the liquid crystal display surface. A lens may be attached to prevent diffusion.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A reflective liquid crystal panel provided with an inner reflective layer, a liquid crystal layer, and a color filter is provided, and a transparent substrate opposed to the liquid crystal panel with a predetermined gap is disposed above the liquid crystal panel. A light source for internal illumination is provided at the outer periphery of the effective display area on the upper surface of the liquid crystal panel in the gap, and light emitted from the light source enters the liquid crystal panel through the gap between the reflective liquid crystal panel and the transparent substrate. I did it.

The light source is preferably provided so as to function as a spacer for maintaining a gap between the liquid crystal panel and the transparent substrate. In addition, the light source is desirably a surface-mounted chip LED in order to reduce the thickness of the device, and more preferably, the radiation characteristics are such that a direction substantially parallel to the transparent substrate is widened and a direction substantially vertical is narrowed. Is provided. If the LCD display area is large,
Preferably, there are a plurality of light sources. At this time, the light sources may be provided along two opposing sides of the liquid crystal panel, or in some cases, may be provided on two opposing short sides. Further, it is better that the light source is shifted in position on each side.

The light source is connected to a flexible circuit board. The flexible substrate is provided substantially in parallel with the transparent substrate, the flexible circuit substrate and the light source surface-mounted on the flexible circuit substrate are sandwiched between the transparent substrate and the liquid crystal panel, and a gap is formed by the total thickness of the flexible circuit substrate and the light source. The held or flexible substrate is provided substantially perpendicular to the transparent substrate, and the gap is held by the light source surface mounted on the flexible circuit board being sandwiched between the transparent substrate and the liquid crystal panel. Further, it is preferable that the flexible circuit board is integrated with a connection flexible board for connecting the liquid crystal panel and the liquid crystal drive circuit.
Further, the flexible circuit board may be fixed to the liquid crystal panel via an adhesive.

It is preferable that the outer periphery of the gap defined by the transparent substrate and the liquid crystal panel be shielded by a reflector so as to prevent light incident into the gap from leaking. A touch panel substrate may be used as the transparent substrate. In addition, a liquid crystal panel has a liquid crystal layer, a transparent electrode, a color filter, a transparent substrate, a birefringent film, a polarizing plate, and a forward scattering plate in this order on a mirror reflector which also serves as an electrode for driving the liquid crystal. It may be configured. Further, the reflection type liquid crystal panel may be configured such that a guest host liquid crystal layer, a transparent electrode, a color filter and a transparent substrate are formed in this order on a diffuse reflection plate also serving as an electrode for driving liquid crystal. Further, the reflection type liquid crystal panel may be configured such that a scattering type liquid crystal layer, a transparent electrode, a color filter, and a transparent substrate are arranged in this order on a mirror reflection plate also serving as an electrode for driving liquid crystal.

[0013]

As shown in FIG. 1, in a first embodiment of the liquid crystal display device of the present invention, a transparent substrate 3 is provided on a reflective liquid crystal panel 1 at a predetermined interval so as to face each other. A light source 2 for internal illumination is provided. As shown in FIG. 4, the reflective liquid crystal panel 1 has a first substrate 6 made of a transparent member such as glass.
A transparent electrode for display 12 formed by sputtering an ITO thin film on the back surface of the transparent electrode 12 is provided. On the back surface of the transparent electrode 12, red, green, and blue color filters 11r, 11g, and 11b formed by translucent color ink are provided. Is provided. A second substrate 10 made of a transparent member such as glass is provided facing the substrate 6.
A light reflection layer 9 as an internal reflection plate and a display pixel electrode 8 made of a transparent electrode are provided on the surface of the reference numeral 0. A polymer-dispersed liquid crystal 7 is sandwiched between the substrates 6 and 10.

The light reflecting layer 9 is formed by laminating a high-refractive-index dielectric and a low-refractive-index dielectric in multiple layers, and has a selective reflection characteristic of specularly reflecting visible light like a mirror and transmitting ultraviolet light. Layer. In addition, the light reflecting layer 9 may use a metal that reflects visible light. The polymer-dispersed liquid crystal 7 sandwiched between the substrates 6 and 10 irradiates a mixed liquid of the liquid crystal and a polymer precursor such as an acrylic monomer with ultraviolet light to cause phase separation, thereby forming a network-like gap of a polymer resin. Is filled with liquid crystal. The thickness of the liquid crystal layer is about 8 microns, and the transparent state and the scattering state can be controlled by applying an electric field. There is no particular limitation on a type in which the state becomes a transparent state when an electric field is applied in a scattering state when no electric field is applied, and a type in which the state becomes a scattering state when an electric field is applied with no electric field applied. Further, as the liquid crystal 7, a scattering type liquid crystal other than the polymer dispersed liquid crystal may be used.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG.
Since the light reflection layer 9 is provided adjacent to the rear side, parallax hardly occurs, and even when viewed from an oblique direction, a clear display can be achieved without a double display. here,
A display unit is composed of three pixels of red, green, and blue, and each pixel is formed of 80 μm × 240 μm. Note that the pixel size is not limited to this. The vertical relationship between the color filters 11r, 11g, 11b and the display transparent electrode 12 is not particularly limited and may be reversed.

In the method of manufacturing the reflection type liquid crystal, first, the display transparent electrode 12 and the color filter 11 are formed by a known method.
First substrate 6 on which patterns r, 11g and 11b are formed
A dielectric multilayer film as a light reflection layer 9 is formed on the entire surface, and a display pixel electrode 8 is pattern-formed thereon.
The substrate 10 is sealed with a sealing material on the outer periphery of the substrate, leaving an injection port, to form an empty cell with a gap of 8 microns. Thereafter, a mixed solution of liquid crystal and a polymer precursor such as an acrylic monomer is vacuum-injected into the empty cell from the injection port, and the injection port is sealed. Then, the liquid crystal and the polymer resin are phase-separated by irradiation with ultraviolet light to form a polymer-dispersed liquid crystal.

A flexible circuit board 5 on which a chip LED 14 is surface-mounted as shown in FIG. 7 is fixed on the reflective liquid crystal panel 1 via an adhesive material on the reflective liquid crystal panel thus manufactured. The flexible circuit board 5 surrounds the outer periphery of the liquid crystal panel 1 so as not to block the liquid crystal display surface. Wiring for enabling the chip LED 14 to be turned on as necessary is connected to the flexible circuit board 5 to an LED drive circuit (not shown). The chip LED 14 is connected to the flexible circuit board 5.
Are provided on two opposite sides. In addition, chip LEDs 14 are provided on two short sides to efficiently illuminate with a small number. The LEDs are alternately shifted on the opposite side so that illumination unevenness hardly occurs.

In this embodiment, the chip LEDs are provided on two opposite sides of the liquid crystal display surface. However, if the liquid crystal display surface is not so wide, the chip LEDs may be provided on only one side. The chip LED 14 has a blue light emitting LE
D is configured to be capable of white light emission by wavelength conversion using a yellow phosphor. As a result, a white illumination light source can be easily realized.

Further, the chip LED 14 is provided as shown in FIG.
As shown in (c), the light emitting unit 14b is mounted in a side-down state so as to be able to emit light in parallel with the mounting surface 14a. Thus, the emission direction can be easily made parallel to the reflective liquid crystal panel, and reflow soldering can be performed, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced. Further, as shown in FIG. 5C, the chip LED 14 is provided with a transparent resin cylindrical lens portion 14c having a convex curvature only in the light emission direction in the emission direction. Thereby, a directional characteristic as shown by a broken line in FIG. 6 is obtained. FIG. 6 shows the light intensity distribution of the chip LED 14 in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction. The center of the semicircle has a light intensity of 0,
It is shown that the light intensity increases as the distance from the center increases, and reaches a maximum intensity of 1 at an arc portion. The solid line represents the light intensity distribution in the horizontal direction with respect to the display surface, and the broken line represents the light intensity distribution in the direction perpendicular to the display surface. As shown in FIG. 6, the chip LED 14 radiates a wide angle in the horizontal direction with respect to the display surface, but radiates in a narrow range in the vertical direction with respect to the display surface due to the action of the lens. Is 3
Beyond 0 degrees, the light intensity is reduced to less than half. That is, most of the light in the vertical direction is collected within an emission angle of 30 degrees, and the collected light is emitted forward. Therefore, it is understood that the light is more efficiently emitted in the forward direction. As a result, the irradiation density from the light source to the reflective liquid crystal panel 1 is improved, and efficient illumination becomes possible.

The light source is a chip LE of a white illumination light source.
D, semiconductor laser, krypton lamp, organic EL
May be used. Although a lens having a convex curvature is provided on the radiation surface side of the chip LED, this lens may not be provided if the illumination distance is short. Returning to FIG. 1 and continuing the description of the configuration, the transparent substrate 3 is provided on the chip LED 14 having the above-described configuration by using this as a spacer. That is, the gap between the reflective liquid crystal panel 1 and the transparent substrate 3 is
And the thickness of the flexible circuit board 5, and the chip LED 14 also serves as a spacer. However, the light source does not necessarily need to also serve as the spacer, and the transparent substrate 3 may be fixed together with the liquid crystal panel with a predetermined gap by a support frame or the like of the device. The transparent substrate 3 may also serve as a transparent opening cover of a case of a portable device, and at this time, may serve as a substrate having a touch panel type input function. Thereby, the overall thickness can be reduced.

Next, a reflective plate 4 is adhered to the outer periphery of the gap formed by the transparent substrate 3 and the reflection type liquid crystal panel 1 using an adhesive, and the gap is shielded so that light incident into the gap leaks. There is a structure to prevent this. Thereby, the display surface can be illuminated without the light entering the liquid crystal display device leaking out, and the uniformity of illumination is improved. In this embodiment, as the reflection plate 4, a reflection film obtained by sputtering silver on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film and further laminating with a PET film is used. When the supporting frame of a portable device or the like is formed of white resin or the like and has a reflecting function, it is not necessary to provide the reflecting plate 4 as a separate component.

Next, the reflection type liquid crystal display device having the above-mentioned configuration of this embodiment was mounted on a portable device, and the display characteristics were evaluated. When the external light is bright, color display is realized in a normal reflection type without turning on the light source. When the external light is dark, by turning on the built-in light source, color display can be performed without deteriorating the quality similarly to when the external light is bright. Also, even when the external light is dim, turning on the built-in light source
Since the external light and the light from the light source work together to increase the brightness, the visibility can be improved.

FIG. 2 is a view for explaining the illumination efficiency when the light source 2 whose light emission direction is parallel to the display surface is arranged and illuminated above the outer peripheral portion of the reflective liquid crystal panel 1.
The angle at which light is emitted from the light source 2 in a direction parallel to the reflective liquid crystal panel 1 is defined as θ1a. The emission angle for illuminating the effective display area of the reflective liquid crystal panel 1 is defined as θ2a. Irradiation efficiency θ2a
/ Θ3a can be obtained by separating the light source 2 from the reflective liquid crystal panel 1. However, since the light source 2 and the liquid crystal panel 1 cannot be compactly integrated, and the illumination light needs to be intensified, the value of / θ3a is further increased. It is difficult to increase the irradiation efficiency.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the principle of improving the irradiation efficiency by the configuration of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3A, a light source 2 is disposed above an outer peripheral portion of a reflective liquid crystal panel 1, and a transparent substrate 3 is further disposed thereon. further,
The configuration is such that a reflection plate 4 is arranged around a gap formed by the transparent substrate 3 and the reflection type liquid crystal panel 1. As described above, the light source 2 is configured so that the angle at which light is emitted from the light source 2 in a direction parallel to the reflective liquid crystal panel 1 is smaller than that in FIG. 2, and the angle is θ1b. The emission angle for illuminating the effective display area of the reflective liquid crystal panel 1 is defined as θ2b. Reflection type liquid crystal panel 1 which is emitted straight from light source 2 and reflected by reflector 4
The emission angle for illuminating the effective display area is θ3. Further, the emission angle for illuminating the effective display area of the reflective liquid crystal panel 1 emitted from the light source 2 and reflected by the transparent substrate 3 is θ.
4 is assumed. Light having an angle of θ4 traverses trajectories such as L1, L2, and L3 as shown in FIG. 3B, and illuminates the effective display area. The irradiation efficiency in this case is (θ2b + θ3 + θ
4) / θ1a, and the efficiency is remarkably improved as compared with the configuration of FIG. Further, since the light is multiple-reflected by the reflection plate 4, the unevenness of illumination is also improved. As described above, the transparent substrate 3 is disposed on the liquid crystal panel 1 and the light source 2 is disposed on the outer peripheral portion of the gap between the two (outside the effective display area of the liquid crystal panel 1). Light that escapes in the direction can be effectively used as illumination light for the liquid crystal panel 1.

Further, by adopting such a configuration,
Light that is incident on the reflective liquid crystal panel 1 at an angle close to parallel is also incident on the color filters 11r, 11g, and 11b at an angle close to 40 ° by refraction when incident on the glass substrate 6 having a large refractive index from air having a small refractive index. In other words, since the distance passing through the color filter is about 1.3 times as long as it is vertical, the light absorbed by the color filter is small and a bright display is possible.

FIG. 8 shows a second embodiment. The description of the same configuration as that of the first embodiment is omitted. The second embodiment is characterized in that the liquid crystal panel driving flexible board 15 and the chip LED driving flexible circuit board 5 are shared.
LCD panel drive flexible circuit board 15 to LED
The drive unit 5 branches, and a chip LED 14 is provided on the LED drive unit 5. As described above, in the second embodiment, the flexible circuit board for driving the liquid crystal panel and the LED are shared, so that the number of components does not increase, which is effective in terms of assembly, cost reduction, and the like.

Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The description of the same configuration as in the first embodiment is omitted. The difference between the third embodiment and the first embodiment is that the chip LE
This is how D is arranged. As shown in FIG. 9, in the third embodiment, a flexible circuit board 5 for driving chip LEDs is provided around the transparent substrate 3 and the liquid crystal panel 1 in a sprinkle shape (see FIG. 10). The chip LED 14 is provided on the circuit board 5. Therefore, unlike the case of the first embodiment, since the flexible circuit board 5 is provided perpendicular to the liquid crystal display surface, the chip L
The ED 14 is provided in a direction in which the light emitting surface is perpendicular to the flexible circuit board 5.

In FIG. 9, a reflection plate 4 is provided on the inner peripheral side of the flexible substrate 5. Since the reflection plate 4 is stamped at a portion where the chip LED 14 is located, the chip LED 14 penetrates through the reflection plate 4 and protrudes inward. Therefore, in the third embodiment, only the chip LED 14 is provided between the liquid crystal panel 1 and the transparent substrate 3. As a result, the distance between the liquid crystal panel 1 and the transparent substrate 3 becomes narrower than in the first embodiment, and the overall device can be made thinner.

In the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 11, the LED driving flexible circuit board 5 is shared with the flexible circuit board 15 for driving the reflection type liquid crystal panel, similarly to the second embodiment shown in FIG. I have. Flexible circuit board 15
Therefore, the LED driving unit 5 is branched, and the chip LED 14 is provided on the LED driving unit 5. However, in order to provide the flexible circuit board perpendicular to the liquid crystal display surface as in the third embodiment, the LED driving flexible circuit board 5 is twisted 90 ° after branching off from the liquid crystal driving flexible circuit board 15. It is in a state. The other configuration is the same as that of the third embodiment and will not be described. Since the flexible circuit board for driving the liquid crystal panel and the flexible circuit board for driving the LED are used in common, a small space is not required similarly to the second embodiment, and a smaller liquid crystal display device can be obtained.

The reflection type liquid crystal display device can be used as a mere reflection type liquid crystal display device without turning on the light source in principle. However, the light source is turned on when the ambient light is bright. Accordingly, a high-contrast display device can be provided. This is because the light of the light source illuminates from the upper side of the reflective liquid crystal panel 1 according to the above-described principle, so that the external light and the light of the light source work together to further increase the brightness. When used in such a manner, there is no decrease in contrast that occurs when a normal transmissive liquid crystal display device using a backlight is used in a bright outdoor environment, so that excellent display characteristics as a reflective liquid crystal display device can be provided.

The present invention is characterized in that a transparent substrate is mainly disposed on a liquid crystal panel so as to face with a predetermined gap, and a light source is disposed on an outer peripheral portion of the gap between the two. Any type may be used as long as it has a color filter, a reflective liquid crystal layer, and an inner reflective layer. For example, the configuration of the reflection type liquid crystal panel 1 includes a liquid crystal layer, a liquid crystal layer, and a mirror reflection plate which also serve as electrodes for driving liquid crystal, as in the configuration of JP-A-8-201802 shown in the conventional example.
Even if a transparent electrode, a color filter, a transparent substrate, a birefringent film, a polarizing plate, and a forward scattering plate are used in this order, it is also possible to use a transparent reflector that also serves as an electrode for driving liquid crystals. In addition, the same result as in Example 1 can be obtained by using a structure in which the guest host liquid crystal layer, the transparent electrode, the color filter, and the transparent substrate are formed in this order.

The liquid crystal panel may be of an active type.

[0033]

As described above, in the reflection type liquid crystal display device of the present invention, a transparent substrate is provided facing a liquid crystal panel with a predetermined gap therebetween, and a light source for internal illumination is arranged in the gap. The light escaping upward also returns downward by reflection and is refracted from the air layer to enter the liquid crystal panel, so that even a reflective liquid crystal display device having a color filter can illuminate the entire screen brightly, and when external light is dark. Even when the internal illumination is used, the same display quality as when the external light is bright can be maintained. Moreover, even when the external light is not so dark, by turning on the light source, the external light and the light from the light source work together to obtain a brighter display. Further, by employing the structure of the present invention, the liquid crystal panel, the light source, and the transparent substrate can be easily integrated into a single module. Not much.

When a light source is used as a spacer to maintain a gap between the liquid crystal panel and the transparent substrate, it is not necessary to provide a spacer as a separate member at the time of assembling, so that assembling becomes easier and the device can be manufactured at low cost. Will be possible. In addition, by providing the light source with light emission characteristics in which the direction parallel to the transparent substrate is wide and the direction perpendicular thereto is narrow, the brightness of the illumination can be effectively increased without increasing the luminance of the light source.

When a flexible circuit board is used to supply power to the light source, space can be saved, and the degree of freedom in assembling the liquid crystal display device is increased. Further, if the gap defined by the transparent substrate and the liquid crystal panel is shielded by a reflector or the like to prevent the light inside the gap from leaking, the liquid crystal panel can be more efficiently illuminated.

In addition, since the light source and the transparent substrate are provided on the liquid crystal panel, it is possible to use various types of reflective liquid crystal panels.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of a first embodiment of a reflection type liquid crystal display device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the principle of illumination of a reflective liquid crystal display device.

3A is a diagram illustrating the principle of illumination using a transparent substrate of a reflection type liquid crystal display device, and FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating how illumination light is reflected.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a reflective liquid crystal panel.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a chip LED light source.
(B) is a plan view, (c) is a side view.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing light emission directivity of a chip LED light source.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a chip LED and a flexible circuit board according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a chip LED and a flexible circuit board according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a basic configuration diagram of a third embodiment of the reflection type liquid crystal display device.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of a chip LED and a flexible circuit board according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram of a chip LED and a flexible circuit board according to a fourth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Reflective liquid crystal panel 2 Light source 3 Transparent substrate 4 Reflector 5 Flexible circuit board (L
ED drive) 6 First substrate 7 Polymer dispersed liquid crystal 8 Display pixel electrode 9 Inner reflector (light reflecting layer) 10 Second substrate 11r, 11g, 11b Color filter 12 Display transparent electrode 14 Chip LED 14b LED Light emitting unit 15 Flexible circuit board (for driving liquid crystal)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kaoru Taniguchi 1-8-1, Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi Inside Seiko Instruments Inc. (72) Inventor Shigeru Chimotomatsu 1-8-8, Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba Inside Iko Instruments Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takakazu Fukuchi 1-8-1, Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture Inside Inko Instruments Co., Ltd. (72) Hiroshi Sakuma 1-8-8, Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba City, Chiba Instruments Inc. (72) Inventor Masafumi Hoshino 1-8-1, Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba Seiko Instruments Inc. (72) Inventor Naoli Shino 1-8-8, Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi Seiko Instruments Inc. In-company (72) Inventor Yama Osamu 1-8-8 Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba Prefecture Incorporated by Seiko Instruments Inc. (72) Inventor Shuhei Yamamoto 1-8-8 Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba Seiko Instruments Inc. (72) Inventor: Masanori Fujita Tokyo Seiko Precision Co., Ltd., 4-3-9, Taihei, Sumida-ku, Tokyo

Claims (18)

[Claims] 1. A liquid crystal display device comprising: a reflection type liquid crystal panel provided with an inner reflection layer, a liquid crystal layer, and a color filter, wherein a transparent substrate facing the liquid crystal panel with a predetermined gap is disposed above the liquid crystal panel; In the gap, a light source for internal illumination is provided on the outer peripheral portion of the effective display area on the upper surface of the liquid crystal panel,
A reflection type liquid crystal display device, wherein light emitted from the light source enters the gap between the liquid crystal panel and the transparent substrate and enters the liquid crystal panel. 2. The reflection type liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the light source functions as a spacer for maintaining the gap between the liquid crystal panel and the transparent substrate. 3. The reflection type liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the light source is a chip LED for surface mounting. 4. The light source according to claim 1, wherein the light source is provided with a lens portion having a light emission characteristic in which a direction parallel to the transparent substrate is wide and a vertical direction is narrow. Characteristic reflection type liquid crystal display device. 5. The reflection type liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the light sources are provided. 6. The reflection type liquid crystal display device according to claim 5, wherein the plurality of light sources are provided along two opposing sides of the liquid crystal panel. 7. The reflection type liquid crystal display according to claim 6, wherein the two opposing sides are two short sides. 8. The reflection type liquid crystal display device according to claim 6, wherein the positions of the plurality of light sources are shifted on each side. 9. The reflection type liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the light source is provided on a flexible circuit board. 10. The flexible substrate according to claim 9, wherein the flexible substrate is provided substantially in parallel with the transparent substrate, and the flexible circuit substrate and the light source surface-mounted on the flexible circuit substrate include the transparent substrate and the liquid crystal. A reflective liquid crystal display device sandwiched between panels, wherein the gap is maintained by the total thickness of the flexible circuit board and the light source. 11. The liquid crystal panel according to claim 9, wherein the flexible substrate is provided substantially perpendicular to the transparent substrate, and the light source surface-mounted on the flexible circuit board is sandwiched between the transparent substrate and the liquid crystal panel. A reflection type liquid crystal device, wherein the gap is held by the liquid crystal device. 12. The reflection type liquid crystal according to claim 9, wherein the flexible circuit board is integrated with a connection flexible board for connecting the liquid crystal panel and a liquid crystal drive circuit. Display device. 13. The reflective liquid crystal display device according to claim 9, wherein the flexible circuit board is fixed to the liquid crystal panel via an adhesive. 14. The liquid crystal panel according to claim 1, wherein an outer peripheral portion of the gap defined by the transparent substrate and the liquid crystal panel is shielded by a reflection plate to prevent light incident into the gap from leaking. A reflection-type liquid crystal display device having a structure for preventing the reflection. 15. The reflective liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the transparent substrate is a touch panel substrate. 16. The liquid crystal panel according to claim 1, wherein the liquid crystal panel includes a liquid crystal layer, a transparent electrode, a color filter, a transparent substrate, and a liquid crystal layer on a mirror reflector serving also as an electrode for driving liquid crystal. A reflective liquid crystal display device comprising a refractive film, a polarizing plate and a forward scattering plate in this order. 17. The reflection type liquid crystal panel according to claim 1, wherein the reflection type liquid crystal panel has a guest host liquid crystal layer, a transparent electrode, a color filter, and a color filter on a diffusion reflection plate also serving as an electrode for driving liquid crystal. A reflective liquid crystal display device comprising a transparent substrate formed in this order. 18. The reflection type liquid crystal panel according to claim 1, wherein the reflection type liquid crystal panel has a scattering type liquid crystal layer, a transparent electrode, a color filter, and a reflection type liquid crystal layer on a mirror reflector serving also as an electrode for driving liquid crystal. A reflective liquid crystal display device comprising a transparent substrate formed in this order.