Patent ID: 8310605

Claim:
A liquid crystal display apparatus, comprising: a first substrate; a second substrate arranged opposite to the first substrate with a gap; a liquid crystal layer held between the first substrate and the second substrate; and a plurality of pixels provided between the first substrate and the second substrate, each comprising a plurality of sub-pixels of different colors and being the smallest display element capable of appearing white, wherein each sub-pixel has a first pixel part including a switching element and a pixel electrode electrically connected to the switching element, and a second pixel part including a switching element and a pixel electrode electrically connected to the switching element; and first liquid crystal molecules lying on the first pixel part of each sub-pixel are oriented independently of second liquid crystal molecules lying on the second pixel part of the sub-pixel; and further comprising: a control unit configured to apply a drive voltage to each of the switching elements and to adjust the drive voltage, thereby to switch the apparatus to a black display mode in which the first liquid crystal molecules and the second liquid crystal molecules are oriented in one direction to appear black, or to a broad viewing-angle display mode in which the first liquid crystal molecules tilt from a normal to the planes of the first and second substrates and are oriented in a certain direction, and the second liquid crystal molecules tilt from the normal and are oriented in the opposite direction, in order to display an image.