Systems and methods of providing a light guiding layer
First Claim
1. A reflective display including a plurality of display elements, the reflective display comprising:
- a transparent substrate;
a light direction layer disposed on the substrate, the light direction layer configured to direct at least a portion of light propagating within said light direction layer toward the substrate and said plurality of display elements; and
a diffuser layer physically coupled to and optically distinct from the light direction layer such that, as a result of total internal reflection, at least certain light propagating within said light direction layer that is incident on a surface of the diffuser layer at particular angles does not travel into said diffuser layer, wherein the light direction layer is between the diffuser and the transparent substrate and said diffuser layer is physically coupled to said light direction layer through said surface of said diffuser layer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Various embodiments of the invention include an interferometric optical modulator comprising a substrate layer and a light direction layer. Such an interferometric modulator may be integrated with a diffuser layer in a display device in a way that physically integrates the diffuser layer into the light direction layer in a way where the diff-user layer does not interact with light propagating within the light direction layer. As a result, most of the light propagating within the light direction layer does not penetrate into the diffuser which would inhibit performance of the display. In some embodiments, the interface between the diffuser layer and the light direction layer has a lower index of refraction than the light direction layer and the transparent substrate so that total internal reflection occurs at the interface.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A reflective display including a plurality of display elements, the reflective display comprising:
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a transparent substrate; a light direction layer disposed on the substrate, the light direction layer configured to direct at least a portion of light propagating within said light direction layer toward the substrate and said plurality of display elements; and a diffuser layer physically coupled to and optically distinct from the light direction layer such that, as a result of total internal reflection, at least certain light propagating within said light direction layer that is incident on a surface of the diffuser layer at particular angles does not travel into said diffuser layer, wherein the light direction layer is between the diffuser and the transparent substrate and said diffuser layer is physically coupled to said light direction layer through said surface of said diffuser layer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A reflective display including a plurality of display elements, the reflective display comprising:
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a transparent substrate comprising forward and rearward surfaces and a plurality of sides between said forward and rearward surfaces, said sides being thin in comparison to the expanse of said forward and rearward surfaces; an edge coupled light source, wherein at least a portion of the light source is optically coupled to one of said sides of the transparent substrate such that light emitted; by the light source passes through said one of said sides of the substrate into the substrate and propagates within the transparent substrate; a light direction layer disposed on the substrate, the light direction layer including a plurality of light redirectors configured to direct at least a portion of the light propagating within the substrate back toward the substrate and the plurality of display elements; a high reflectance film disposed on the light direction layer; and a diffuser layer physically coupled to and optically distinct from the light direction layer, wherein the high reflectance film is located between the diffuser layer and the light direction layer to physically couple the diffuser layer to the light direction layer, and wherein light incident on a surface of the high reflectance film at particular angles does not travel from the light direction layer into said diffuser layer. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification