Patent ID: 7528913

Claim:
A liquid crystal display device comprising: (i) an image display panel comprising: a view-side substrate and an opposite-side substrate facing each other with a predetermined gap therebetween, first and second electrodes provided on at least one of opposing inner surfaces of the view-side substrate and the opposite-side substrate, and forming a plurality of pixels, a liquid crystal layer sealed between the view-side substrate and the opposite-side substrate, and a pair of polarizing plates sandwiching the view-side substrate and the opposite-side substrate, wherein the image display panel controls light transmission for each of the plurality of pixels by applying a voltage according to image data between the first and second electrodes to display an image; and (ii) a viewing-angle control panel comprising: a liquid crystal element comprising: a pair of substrates disposed on an external surface side of one of the polarizing plates of the image display panel and facing each other with a predetermined gap therebetween, electrodes respectively provided on opposing inner surfaces of the substrates, and a liquid crystal layer which is sealed between the pair of substrates such that liquid crystal molecules positioned near each of the pair of substrates are aligned uniformly at a substantially constant angle with respect to surfaces of the substrates, and which gives a retardation that is an integral multiple of a substantially ½ wavelength to an oblique transmitted light in a direction inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to a normal line of the surface of at least one of the substrates, when a voltage for aligning the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer in a direction inclined obliquely with respect to the normal line at a predetermined angle is applied between the electrodes; and a viewing-angle control polarizing plate disposed outside the liquid crystal element such that an optical axis of the viewing-angle control polarizing plate is directed in a direction parallel to optical axes of the polarizing plates of the image display panel.