Reduced border displays

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11966108-B2
Application number	US-202017609537-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 5, 2020
Priority date	May 8, 2019
Publication date	Apr 23, 2024
Grant date	Apr 23, 2024

Abstract

An LCD display, comprising an active display area, a backlight to illuminate the active display area, and an LCD display stack. The LCD display stack may comprise a substrate, a liquid crystal layer over the substrate, and liquid crystal cover layer. The substrate, the liquid crystal layer, and the liquid crystal cover layer define a liquid crystal cell. The LCD display stack has an edge seal extending between the substrate and the liquid cover layer, and extends over the active display area and beyond the active display area to bend around an edge of the backlight, such that the edge seal lies beyond the active display area.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An LCD display, comprising:
an active display area;
a backlight to illuminate the active display area;
an LCD display stack comprising a substrate, a liquid crystal layer over the substrate, and a liquid crystal cover layer, wherein the substrate, the liquid crystal layer, and the liquid crystal cover layer define a liquid crystal cell, and wherein the LCD display stack has an edge seal extending between the substrate and the liquid cover layer;
wherein the LCD display stack extends over the active display area and beyond the active display area to bend around an edge of the backlight; and
wherein the edge seal lies beyond the active display area, and wherein the edge seal lies behind the backlight, and
wherein the LCD display stack is attached to a rear of the backlight by an adhesive layer, and
an integrated gate drive (IGD) circuitry, wherein the IGD circuitry is mounted on the substrate, and wherein the edge seal, adhesive layer, and IGD circuitry overlap.

2. An LCD display as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the LCD cell bends around an edge of the backlight.

3. An LCD display as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the IGD circuitry is displaced away from the active display area, and wherein electrical connections between the IGD circuitry and the active display area comprise a stack of electrically conducting layers including at least a first, compliant layer of first metal and a second protective layer of second metal, wherein a compliance of the first metal is greater than a compliance of the second metal, and wherein an oxidation resistance of the second metal is greater than an oxidation resistance of the first metal; and/or
wherein the LCD display having electrical connections between the IGD circuitry and the active display area, each of the electrical connections being configured to fan out into multiple connections over the bend; and/or
further comprising one or more encapsulation layers to encapsulate the liquid crystal cell, wherein the one or more encapsulation layers extend over the active display area and beyond the active display area to bend around an edge of the backlight; and/or
wherein the LCD display stack is embedded in an encapsulation material where the LCD display stack bends around the edge of the backlight.

4. An LCD display as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the LCD display stack has a light-blocking layer which is substantially continuous over a region of the LCD display stack where the LCD display stack bends around an edge of the backlight, to inhibit light from the backlight leaking out; and
optionally wherein the backlight lacks an adhesive joint to the display stack along the bend; and/or
further comprising a backlight tray to hold the backlight, wherein the LCD display stack bends around and abuts an edge of the backlight tray; and/or
further comprising a backlight tray to hold the backlight, wherein the LCD display stack bends around an edge of the backlight tray, and wherein the backlight tray is configured to absorb sufficient light from the backlight at the edge of the backlight tray that the display lacks a bright edge.

5. An LCD display as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a backlight tray to hold the backlight, wherein the LCD display stack bends around an edge of the backlight tray, and wherein the backlight tray is refractive index matched to the backlight and/or an interface between the backlight tray and the backlight incorporates a refractive index material; or
further comprising a backlight tray to hold the backlight, wherein the LCD display stack bends around an edge of the backlight tray, wherein the backlight is an edge-lit backlight and includes a light guide to distribute light from an edge of the light guide over the active display area, and wherein the light guide and backlight tray are integrally formed.

6. An LCD display as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a radius of the bend decreases around the bend from the active display area towards a rear of the display, and wherein an edge of the backlight or, where present of a backlight tray, conforms to the bend; and/or
wherein the LCD display is rectangular, wherein the LCD display stack bends around at least two adjacent lateral edges of the rectangle, and wherein the LCD display stack is notched at one or more corners defined by the at least two adjacent lateral edges of the rectangle.

7. A zero-bezel LCD display configured to provide a flat display area with all display edges borderless such that displayed information is able to extend over all of the display edges, the LCD display comprising:
a flexible active matrix LCD display stack comprising a flexible substrate bearing active matrix circuitry comprising an array of TFTs (thin film transistors) for controlling pixels of the display, a liquid crystal layer over the substrate, and a liquid crystal cover layer, wherein the flexible substrate, the liquid crystal layer, and the liquid crystal cover layer define a liquid crystal cell, and wherein the flexible active matrix LCD display stack defines an active display area; and
a backlight behind the flexible active matrix LCD display stack to illuminate the active display area; and
wherein the flexible substrate of the flexible active matrix LCD display stack is notched at each corner of the flat display area and is folded around each of the edges of the flat display area such that the active display area extends around each of the edges of the flat display area of the zero-bezel LCD display, and
an integrated gate drive (IGD) circuitry, wherein the IGD circuitry is displaced away from the active display area, and wherein electrical connections between the IGD circuitry and the active display area comprise a stack of electrically conducting layers including at least a first, compliant layer of first metal and a second protective layer of second metal, wherein a compliance of the first metal is greater than a compliance of the second metal, and wherein an oxidation resistance of the second metal is greater than an oxidation resistance of the first metal.

8. The LCD display of claim 7 , wherein the notches in the flexible substrate at the corners of the flat display area define a concave contour which cuts off each corner of the flat display area, and wherein an edge of the active display area at each corner defines a convex curve on the flat display area which is displaced away from the concave contour at a point of closest approach of the concave contour and convex curve; and/or
wherein the display area is rectangular with four display edges.

9. The LCD display of claim 7 , wherein the flexible active matrix LCD display stack has an edge seal extending between the substrate and the liquid cover layer, wherein the edge seal of the flexible active matrix LCD display stack lies beyond the active display area; and
optionally wherein the LCD cell bends around an edge of the backlight, and wherein the edge seal lies behind the backlight; and
optionally wherein the LCD display stack is attached to a rear of backlight by an adhesive layer, wherein the edge seal and adhesive layer overlap; and
optionally further comprising integrated gate drive (IGD) circuitry, wherein the IGD circuitry is mounted on the flexible substrate, and wherein the edge seal, adhesive layer, and IGD circuitry overlap.

10. The LCD display of claim 7 , wherein the flexible substrate extends laterally beyond the flexible active matrix LCD display stack to define one or more tabs at each of two edges of the flat display area; and wherein the IGD circuitry is mounted on each of the one or more tabs; and
optionally wherein each of the one or more tabs is connected to a region of the flexible substrate in the act

Assignees

• Flexenable Ltd
• Flexenable Tech Limited

Inventors

• Reeves William
• Russell Andrew Robert James
• Harding James

Classifications

• G02F1/1368

  in which the switching element is a three-electrode device {(G02F1/136277 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• G02F1/13454

  Drivers integrated on the active matrix substrate (G02F1/136277 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G02B6/0088

  of the light guide or other optical sheets in the package · CPC title

• G02F1/133305 Primary

  Flexible substrates, e.g. plastics, organic film · CPC title

• G02F1/13306

  Circuit arrangements or driving methods for the control of single liquid crystal cells (G02F1/132, G02F1/133382 take precedence) · CPC title