Liquid crystal display

A liquid crystal display device comprising:

• an active drive liquid crystal display element having a plurality of pixels capable of performing dot matrix display, each of the pixels containing a set of subsidiary pixels each of which comprises a liquid crystal layer, electrodes sandwiching the liquid crystal layer, and a color filter above the liquid crystal layer, and each of the subsidiary pixels including an active element capable of controlling voltage applied to the electrodes sandwiching the liquid crystal layer;
• a passive drive liquid crystal display element laminated on a rear side of the active drive liquid crystal display element, the passive drive liquid crystal display element having a common electrode connected to a common voltage, at least one segment electrode facing the common electrode, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched therebetween, the segment electrode being arranged to be applied with a set voltage, and the segment electrode having a smoothly extending edge defining a segment shape;
• a front side polarizer disposed on a front side of the active drive liquid crystal display element;
• a rear side polarizer disposed on a rear side of the passive drive liquid crystal display element and constituting cross-nicol polarizers with the front side polarizer;
• a back light disposed on a rear side of the rear side polarizer;
• and
• a controlling circuit including a first control part for controlling voltages to be applied to respective subsidiary pixels of the active drive liquid crystal display element, and a second control part for controlling voltages applied between the segment electrode and the common electrode of the passive drive liquid crystal display element;
• wherein at least one of the pixels of the active drive liquid crystal display element extends across a boundary of the segment electrode of the passive drive liquid crystal display element;
• wherein there is no polarizer between the liquid crystal layer of the active drive liquid crystal display element and the liquid crystal layer of the passive drive liquid crystal display element;
• wherein characteristics of the active drive liquid crystal display element, the passive drive liquid crystal display element, the front side polarizer, and the rear side polarizer are so set as to produce normally black display state in the absence of applied voltages;
• and
• wherein when the segment electrode is activated, the subsidiary pixels contained in the pixels of the active drive liquid crystal display element outside the edge of the activated segment electrode are partly driven and partly not driven, capable of displaying different colors or intermediate grades, compared to a case in which pixels overlapping an outer region of the driven segment electrode are not driven.