A display panel and a manufacturing method thereof are provided. Each pixel of the display panel includes a transmission region and a reflection region, and the display panel includes a first polarizer, a first base substrate, a first alignment layer, a liquid crystal layer, a second alignment layer, a second base substrate, and a second polarizer. A reflection layer is provided between the second alignment layer and the second polarizer in the reflection region. The liquid crystal layer in the reflection region includes nematic liquid crystal and a polymer network. The liquid crystal layer in the transmission region includes a liquid crystal mixture including the nematic liquid crystal and polymerizable monomers. The polymer network in reflection region is formed by polymerizing the polymerizable monomers in the liquid crystal mixture.

A vision system for a vehicle includes a first imager located at a front portion of the vehicle, a second imager located at the rear of the vehicle, a third imager located in a first exterior rearview mirror assembly of the vehicle and a fourth imager located in a second exterior rearview mirror assembly of the vehicle. Responsive to the vehicle being shifted into a reverse gear, (a) video images derived from image data captured by the second imager are displayed on a video display screen and (b) responsive at least in part to processing of captured image data by a common image processor, the driver of the vehicle is alerted to the presence of an object exterior the equipped vehicle. When the vehicle travels forward, the common image processor processes first image data captured by the first imager for at least a lane departure warning system of the vehicle.

A liquid crystal display device includes: a liquid crystal layer interposed between first and second substrates and set in vertical alignment (VA); a switching element provided on the first substrate; a connection electrode connected to the switching element; a first reflection film provided above the switching element; a first pixel electrode provided above the first reflection film and overlapping the first reflection film; a second pixel electrode located adjacent to the first pixel electrode; first and second contacts which connect the first and second pixel electrodes to the connection electrode; a first thickness adjusting layer provided on the second substrate and overlapping the first reflection film; a common electrode provided on the second substrate and the first thickness adjusting layer; and first and second protrusions provided on the common electrode and corresponding to the first and second pixel electrodes.

A method for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel includes irradiating a film of a photo-alignment film material formed on a surface of a substrate with light emitted from a light source and polarized by polarizers, the polarized light irradiation being performed while the substrate and/or the light source is moved, each of the polarizers including a polarized light transmissive region and a light-shielding region that surrounds the polarized light transmissive region, the polarized light transmissive region including end portions where the width of the polarized light transmissive region in a Y direction decreases toward the ends in an X direction, the polarizers being coupled with each other such that at least one end portion of each polarized light transmissive region is superimposed on an end portion of an adjacent polarized light transmissive region as viewed in the Y direction, wherein the X direction and the Y direction are perpendicular to each other in a plane parallel to the main surfaces of the polarizers, and the Y direction is a moving direction of the substrate relative to the light source.

A switchable one-way mirror device dividing first and second spaces includes a switchable electro-optic layer facing the second space and configured to be electronically switchable between a transmissive state and one or more opaque states, and a partial reflector incorporated within or adjacent the switchable electro-optic layer and facing the first space and configured to partially reflect light. The switchable one-way mirror partially transmits a first light going from the first space to the second space, and a second light going from the second space to the first space. When the switchable electro-optic layer is in an opaque state, transmission of light through the device is reduced thereby changing the ratio between the transmission of the second light to the first space and the reflection of the first light by the partial reflector resulting in reduced visibility of the second space by a viewer in the first space.

A method of fabricating a liquid crystal display device including a reflective or transflective liquid crystal cell whose liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a planar or vertical manner, this liquid crystal cell being formed of a transparent front substrate located on the side of an observer, and a rear substrate, also transparent, which extends beneath the front substrate, parallel to and at a distance from the latter, these two front and rear substrates being joined to each other with a sealing frame which defines a sealed enclosure in which a liquid crystal composition is confined, the front and rear substrates being coated on their opposite faces with electrically conductive transparent electrodes and counter-electrodes, the optical properties of the liquid crystal composition being modified by application of an electric field at the point of intersection between an electrode and a corresponding counter-electrode.

A method for manufacturing a reflective or transflective liquid crystal display device including a liquid crystal cell whose liquid crystal molecules are aligned in a planar or vertical manner, this liquid crystal cell being formed of a transparent front substrate located on the side of an observer, and a rear substrate, also transparent, which extends under the front substrate, parallel to and at a distance from the latter, these two front and rear substrates being joined together with a sealing frame which delimits a sealed enclosure in which a liquid crystal composition is confined, the front and rear substrates being coated on the opposite faces thereof with electrically conductive transparent electrodes and counter-electrodes, the optical properties of the liquid crystal composition being changed by applying an electric field at the crossing point between an electrode and a corresponding counter-electrode.

A heads up display system of a vehicle includes a combiner screen having a first substantially transparent substrate defining a first surface and a second surface, a second substantially transparent substrate defining a third surface and a fourth surface. A primary seal is disposed between the first and second substrates. The seal and the first and second substrates define a cavity therebetween. An electro-optic material is positioned within the cavity and a transflective layer having a multilayer polymeric film positioned on one of the first and second surfaces, and a projector for projecting light having a first polarization toward the first surface of the first substrate.

The invention is notably directed to a transflective display device. The device comprises a set of pixels, wherein each of the pixels comprises a portion of bi-stable, phase change material, hereafter a PCM portion, having at least two reversibly switchable states, in which it has two different values of refractive index and/or optical absorption. The device further comprises one or more spacers, optically transmissive, and extending under PCM portions of the set of pixels. One or more reflectors extend under the one or more spacers. An energization structure is in thermal or electrical communication with the PCM portions, via the one or more spacers. Moreover, a display controller is configured to selectively energize, via the energization structure, PCM portions of the pixels, so as to reversibly switch a state of a PCM portion of any of the pixels from one of its reversibly switchable states to the other. A backlight unit is furthermore configured, in the device, to allow illumination of the PCM portions through the one or more spacers. The backlight unit is controlled by a backlight unit controller, which is configured for modulating one or more physical properties of light emitted from the backlight unit. The invention is further directed to related devices and methods of operation.

A display panel, a method for preparing a display panel and a method for adjusting an intensity of ambient light reflected on a display panel are provided in embodiments of the disclosure. The display panel includes: a base substrate; a plurality of sub-pixel units (20) on the base substrate comprising a plurality of light emitting portions respectively; an electrochromic assembly on a light-emergent side of the plurality of light emitting portions; and a light intensity detector configured to detect an incident intensity of ambient light, and the electrochromic assembly comprises a plurality of electrochromic portions covering the plurality of light emitting portions, respectively; and transmittance of the plurality of electrochromic portions for ambient light varies with a change in the incident intensity of ambient light.