Backlight intellectual property rights of mainland enterprises is still weak

In the recently released "electronic information industry restructuring and revitalization plan", the flat display industry as one of the three key breakthroughs in the core industry and one of the six major projects, the Chinese government's strong support. In the first phase of this column, the TFT-LCD drive circuit has been investigated and analyzed. In view of this, the current and the next issue will be published in serial, further TFT-LCD backlight module for intellectual property analysis, in order to help domestic colleagues to carry out related work.

Backlight module (BacklightModule) is an important part of TFT-LCD (thin film transistor liquid crystal display) panel, which provides high brightness and uniform light source for LCD panel. The module accounts for about 19%-26% of the cost of LCD panel materials, according to the different application areas of LCD and slightly different.

The backlight module is composed of a light source, a lamp shade, a reflecting plate, a light guide plate (LGP), a diffusion plate, a brightening film (BEF) and an outer frame. The backlight light source, into the light guide plate, after the spread after the injection from the front at a certain angle, evenly distributed in the light emitting region, and then by a diffusion plate and a brightening film, make the light gathered in the visual angle of liquid crystal display range.

After the search, as of March 31, 2009, TFT-LCD backlight module technology in the field of patent applications in China a total of 2381. Among them, the number of applications for invention patents 1885, the number of utility model patent applications for the number of 466. The following are the important components of the backlight module, such as light guide plate, diffuser, reflector and light source.

Important parts of the patent distribution characteristics

Light guide plate related to a total of 227 patent applications in china. Figure 1 is the distribution of the number of patent applications in the field of light guide plate in the top 10 patent applicants. As shown in Figure 1, the first applicant is Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a total of 37, much higher than the number of applicants for other applicants. From the beginning of Samsung Electronics Corporation, in a clockwise direction are Au Optronics Co Ltd, Hong Fujin Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, Seiko EPSON Corporation, three enterprises and Limited by Share Ltd, Polytron Technologies Inc, Au Optronics Co, Sheng Hua, Tpo Displays Corp, NEC liquid crystal technology. As can be seen from Figure 1, in the field of light guide technology, Samsung Electronics co.. It should be noted that the top 10 applicants are mainly concentrated in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

Diffusion board related to a total of 93 patent applications in China, figure 2 is the number of patent applications in the field of the proliferation of the number of patent applications in the field of the top 10 distribution. As shown in Figure 2, ranking tied for first applicant is Samsung Electronics Corporation and Au Optronics Co Ltd, is 7. From the beginning of Samsung Electronics Corporation, in a clockwise direction are AUO Au Optronics Co, Polytron Technologies Inc, Ying Da Hong Fujin Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., Polytron Technologies Inc, Ling Liejie computer Limited by Share Ltd, CMO Xuanmao Limited by Share Ltd, Polytron Technologies Inc, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, 3M Innovation Co. ltd.. The application of the technology in the field of distribution is more dispersed, South Korea, Japan, Europe and the United States and China's Taiwan region are involved in the enterprise, the relative strength of the enterprise balance.

The structure and the arrangement of the reflecting plate are determined by the structure of the backlight module. As a result, reflective panels often exist in patent applications in the form of additional technical topics. The number of patent applications with direct reflection board as the main technical scheme is only 65. Figure 3 is the reflection of the number of patent applications filed in the field of the top 10 list of patent applicants. As shown in Figure 3, the first applicant is Seiko EPSON Corporation, a total of 9 pieces. From the beginning of Seiko EPSON Corporation, in a clockwise direction are the OMRON Corporation, 3M Innovation Co. Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Alps electric CMO, AUO Limited by Share Ltd Au Optronics Co, Changxin Formosan Union Chemical Corporation, Beijing Limited by Share Ltd, LG PHILPS LCD. The applicant in the field of technology is more dispersed, South Korea, Japan, Europe and the United States and Taiwan enterprises are involved. In addition to Seiko EPSON Corporation, the relative strength of other enterprises.

Chinese patent applications related to the light of a total of 1378, accounting for 54% of China's total patent application backlight module. It can be seen that the light source is a very important patent distribution point in the backlight module, so it is necessary for Chinese enterprises to pay attention to it.

Figure 4 is the distribution of the number of patent applications in the light source technology in the top 10 patent applicants. As Figure 4 shows, ranked first is the applicant for a total of 198 pieces of AUO Au Optronics Co. From the beginning of AUO Au Optronics Co, in a clockwise direction are Samsung Electronics Corporation, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, Hong Fujin Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., Au Optronics Co, innocom Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., LG PHILPS LCD, CPT Limited by Share Ltd, CMO Limited by Share Ltd, Shanghai Guangdian Electronic Co Ltd. In addition to ranking first's Au Optronics Co, Samsung Electronics Corporation and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, Hong Fujin Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co.