Transflective liquid crystal display and driving method of the same

Abstract

A transflective liquid crystal display includes a plurality of pixels. Each pixel includes a plurality of primary color sub-pixels and a brightness-enhancing sub-pixel. The reflective region of the transflective liquid crystal display is formed only on the brightness-enhancing sub-pixel.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features and advantages of the invention are illustrated by way of example and are by no means intended to limit the scope of the invention to the particular embodiments shown, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a conventional pixel structure of a three-color transflective liquid crystal display.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show schematic diagrams illustrating another design of the conventional three-color transflective LCD.

FIG. 3 shows a CIE color coordinate diagram illustrating color saturation variation as result of the conventional design.

FIGS. 4A to 4C show schematic diagrams illustrating an embodiment of a four-color transflective liquid crystal display according to the invention.

FIGS. 5A to 5C show schematic diagrams illustrating another embodiment of a four-color transflective liquid crystal display according to the invention.

FIGS. 6A to 6C show schematic diagrams illustrating the design of the invention in comparison with the conventional design.

FIGS. 7A to 7C show schematic diagrams illustrating another embodiment of a four-color transflective liquid crystal display according to the invention.

FIGS. 8A to 8C show schematic diagrams illustrating another embodiment of a four-color transflective liquid crystal display according to the invention.

FIG. 9 shows ideal relationship between the applied voltage and the light transmittance of liquid crystal.

FIG. 10 shows a flow chart illustrating a driving method of a transflective liquid crystal display according to the invention.

Claims

1. A transflective liquid crystal display, comprising: a plurality of pixels, each of the pixels comprising multiple primary color sub-pixels and a brightness-enhancing sub-pixel, wherein the reflective region of the transflective liquid crystal display is formed only on the brightness-enhancing sub-pixel.

2. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 1, wherein the area of the reflective region is smaller than the whole area of the brightness-enhancing sub-pixels.

3. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 2, wherein each brightness-enhancing sub-pixel includes both the reflective region and a transmissive region, and the transmissive region is surrounded by the reflective region.

4. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 1, wherein the primary color sub-pixels include red, green, and blue sub-pixels, and the brightness-enhancing sub-pixel is a white color sub-pixel.

5. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 1, wherein the primary color sub-pixels include cyan, magenta, and yellow sub-pixels, and the brightness-enhancing sub-pixel is a white color sub-pixel.

6. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 1, wherein the primary color sub-pixels and the brightness-enhancing sub-pixel are arranged to form a checkerboard type or a stripe type layout.

7. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 1, wherein the primary color sub-pixels and the brightness-enhancing sub-pixel are arranged to form a Pentile matrix.

8. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 1, wherein the primary color sub-pixels comprise: a plurality of color filters formed on a first substrate of the transflective liquid crystal display; anda transparent electrode formed on a second substrate of the transflective liquid crystal display and positioned corresponding to the color filters;and the brightness-enhancing sub-pixel comprises:a transparent light-transmitting region formed on the first substrate; anda reflective electrode formed on the second substrate and positioned corresponding to the transparent light-transmitting region.

9. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 8, wherein the reflective electrode is a single-layer electrode made of metallic reflective films, or the reflective electrode is a double-layer electrode made of a transparent conductive film and a reflective film that covers the transparent conductive film.

10. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 8, wherein the transparent electrode is formed on the second substrate at the position on which the color filters are projected, and the reflective electrode is formed on the second substrate at the position on which the transparent light-transmitting region are projected.

11. A transflective liquid crystal display, comprising: a first substrate on which light-filtering regions and transparent light-transmitting regions are formed, the light-filtering regions being spread with color filters having different colors, and the transparent light-transmitting regions containing no color filters;a second substrate opposite to the first substrate and divided into a first region overlapping with the light-filtering regions, a second region overlapping with the transparent light-transmitting regions, and a third region that is the remaining region of the second substrate except for the first and the second regions; anda liquid crystal layer interposed between the first and the second substrates;wherein the reflective region of the transflective liquid crystal display includes at least a portion of the second region and excludes the first region.

12. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 11, wherein the reflective region includes the entire second region.

13. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 11, wherein the reflective region includes at least a portion of the third region.

14. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 11, wherein the reflective region is formed from metallic reflective films.

15. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 14, wherein the reflective films are formed as a hollow square shape.

16. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 11, wherein the color filters include red, green, and blue color filters.

17. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 11, wherein the color filters include cyan, magenta, and yellow color filters.

18. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 11, wherein the light-filtering regions and the transparent light-transmitting regions are arranged to form a checkerboard type or a stripe type layout.

19. The transflective liquid crystal display as claimed in claim 11, wherein the light-filtering regions and the transparent light-transmitting regions are arranged to form a Pentile Martrix.

20. A driving method of a transflective liquid crystal display, the transflective liquid crystal display comprising a plurality of primary color sub-pixels and brightness-enhancing sub-pixels, wherein the reflective region of the transflective liquid crystal display is formed only on the brightness-enhancing sub-pixels, the driving method comprising the steps of: recognizing whether the display mode of the transflective liquid crystal display during operation is a reflective mode or a transmissive mode; andsending image data having a voltage smaller than the liquid crystal threshold voltage into the primary color sub-pixels when the display mode during operation is the reflective mode.

21. The driving method as claimed in claim 20, wherein the primary color sub-pixels include red, green, and blue sub-pixels and the brightness-enhancing sub-pixel is a white color sub-pixel.

22. The driving method as claimed in claim 20, wherein the primary color sub-pixels include cyan, magenta, and yellow sub-pixels, and the brightness-enhancing sub-pixel is a white color sub-pixel.