Patent ID: 7301591

Claim:
A liquid crystal display device, comprising: first and second liquid crystal panels, each including liquid crystal cells having a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between two transparent substrates, disposed back to back with respect to each other to enable visual recognition of the first and second liquid crystal panels; a light guide plate disposed between the first and second liquid crystal panels; a light source disposed adjacent at least one end surface of the light guide plate; and a polarization separator disposed between the first liquid crystal panel and the light guide plate, said liquid crystal display device being further configured so that light emitted from the light guide plate is divided into two polarized lights by the polarization separator, one of the two polarized lights exits to a side of the first liquid crystal panel, the other thereof exits to a side of the second liquid crystal panel via the light guide plate, wherein the light source comprises a plurality of light emitting elements and wherein the number of light emitting elements to be activated to emit light is allowed to differ depending on whether display is performed by the first liquid crystal panel or the second liquid crystal panel.