NEC Puts Some Heart Into LCDs

NEC has announced new LCD technology that permits complex, non-rectangular LCD display shapes...you know, like hearts.

NEC LCD Technologies has announced a new technology designed to enable LCD display manufacturers to more easily create complicated, non-rectangular display shapes. Although round and irregularly-shaped LCDs have been around for a while, the standard LCD panel is still rectangular, and most of the size and thickness reductions over the last few years have brought new focus on those rectangular panels, simply because that’s the simplest shape for managing pixel arrays, along with their associated circuitry and drivers.

NEC’s new technology lets display manufacturers arrange their gates and data lines in the pixel array in a way that minimizes overlaps between gates and drivers, primarily by reducing the area needed for wiring connections to external circuits. The result is that LCD displays can take on more complicated shapes without having huge bezels or burdensome circuitry requirements, potentially making the displays ideal for signage, unique instrumentation requirements, and innovative devices.

NEC is showing off a heart-shaped display this week at the SID symposium in Los Angeles, and gives examples of other shapes—mainly combining rectangles and parts of circles—that displays could take, including teardrops, and silhouettes of cars and pointing hands.

Before your mother asks whether she can have a heart-shaped digital photo frame for next Mother’s Day, no: NEC has not announced any dates when the technology might be commercially available.