Patent ID: 7176991

Claim:
A method for operating a display, comprising: providing an EL element having a plurality of pixels operable in a light-emitting or a non light-emitting state; and providing a reflective display element behind the EL element, the reflective display element having a plurality of pixels arranged to reflect circularly polarized light in external light and light emitted by the EL element to produce bright and dark screens, wherein when a pixel in the EL element is in a bright screen, an associated pixel in the reflective display simultaneously produces a bright screen, and when a pixel in the EL element is in a dark screen, an associated pixel in the reflective display element simultaneously produces a dark screen, and the EL element and the reflective display element are independently controllable in terms of display operations, wherein the display is operable in at least a first mode to transmit only the external light to the reflective display element, a second mode to transmit only the light emitted by the EL element to the reflective display element, and a third mode to transmit both the external light and the light emitted by the EL element to the reflective display element.