Patent ID: 8085374

Claim:
A liquid crystal display device, comprising: a pair of substrates; an electrode and an alignment layer formed on one of the pair of substrates; an electrode and an alignment layer formed on the other of the pair of substrates; and a liquid crystal filled between the pair of substrates; wherein the alignment layer of one of the pair of substrates is treated so that: the alignment layer is divided into a plurality of stripe regions including a first stripe region and a second stripe region adjacent to the first stripe region, the first and second stripe regions extending parallel to each other and forming a first boundary therebetween, a direction of alignment of liquid crystal molecules on the first stripe region is opposite to a direction of alignment of liquid crystal molecules on the second stripe region, and directions of alignment of liquid crystal molecules on the first and second stripe regions are parallel to the first boundary, and wherein a shading structure is provided to overlap the first boundary, and further wherein said shading structure is generally cross-shaped and includes a first portion formed by a part of a storage capacitance electrode and a second portion formed by a part of a black matrix.