Patent ID: 8248558
Filing Date: 2012-08-21
Classification: B32B,C09K,G02F,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of producing a roll of optical film laminate for use in a continuous manufacturing system for liquid-crystal display elements, wherein the manufacturing system is operative to produce liquid-crystal display element by adhesively attaching a polarizer to each of the opposite surfaces of a liquid crystal panel which is of a rectangular shape having a long side dimension and a short side dimension, the method comprising the steps of: (a) laminating a protective film fed from a roll of the protective film, on at least one of opposite surfaces of a continuous layer of polarizer fed from a roll of a continuous layer of the polarizer, to form a polarizing composite film, (b) inspecting surfaces and inside of the formed polarizing composite film to detect a location or coordinate position of a defect existing in the polarizing composite film, (c) releasably laminating a carrier film fed from a roll of the carrier film, on the polarizing composite film in which the location or the coordinate position of the defect has been determined, to form a continuous web of optical film, said continuous web of optical film having a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction which is perpendicular to said longitudinal direction, and further having a width corresponding to one of said long or short side dimension, (d) defining a plurality of slit positions for determining positions of slit lines each extending in said transverse direction throughout the width of said web of optical film to define rectangular regions each between two longitudinally adjacent slitting positions, said rectangular regions including a defective region and a normal region in said polarizing composite film, based on the location or coordinate position of the defect existing in the polarizing composite film and detected by the inspection, the defect-free, normal regions each having a longitudinal dimension corresponding to the other of said long or short side dimension of the liquid crystal panel, and producing encoded information based on the defective and normal regions, said encoded information including slit-position information indicative of positions at which the respective slit lines are to be formed in the continuous web of optical film by a slitting unit of the continuous manufacturing system, (e) recording the produced encoded information on the continuous web of optical film, in a manner readable by a reading unit of the continuous manufacturing system, and (f) after the encoded information is recorded on the continuous web of optical film, winding the continuous web of optical film into a roll to form a roll of optical film laminate.