Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi – Process – With assembly or disassembly
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-01
2001-02-20
Ramsey, Kenneth J. (Department: 2879)
Electric lamp or space discharge component or device manufacturi
Process
With assembly or disassembly
C029S430000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06190224
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automation system and a method for assembling a workpiece, and more particularly to an automation system and a method for supplying and assembling a paired workpiece such as an LCD panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
The liquid crystal display (LCD) panel is made by assembling two substrates. Sealant is applied around edges of the two substrates to seal the two substrates, and liquid crystal material is injected between the two substrates. One of the two substrates is a color filter (CF) substrate on which are formed a red, green and blue color filter, in addition to a black matrix. The other substrate is a thin film transistor (TFT) substrate on which are formed a plurality of pixel electrodes and TFTs in pixel regions.
FIG. 1
shows a schematic diagram of a partial sectional view of a typical LCD panel. As shown in the drawing, the LCD panel includes a TFT substrate
10
, a CF substrate
1
, spacers
20
, and a sealant
30
. The TFT substrate
10
and the CF substrate
1
are maintained to have a predetermined gap therebetween by the spacers
20
, and the sealant
30
hermetically joins the TFT substrate
10
and CF substrate
1
.
A typical method for manufacturing the LCD having the paired TFT substrate
10
and CF substrate
1
will be described hereinafter.
FIG. 2
is a schematic perspective view of uncut TFT substrate
10
and CF substrate
1
, each having a plurality of cells. In the conventional LCD manufacturing method, a plurality of cells are formed on each of the TFT substrate
10
and the CF substrate
1
to enhance productivity. In
FIG. 2
, the CF substrate
1
has six cells (
1
-
6
) and the TFT substrate
10
has six cells (
11
-
16
). Each cell of the CF substrate
1
corresponds to one cell of the TFT substrate
10
to form cell pairs. For example, the cell
12
of the TFT substrate
10
corresponds to the cell
1
of the CF substrate
1
.
Two separate substrates
10
and
1
are assembled together and each cell pair is cut to produce an LCD panel. However, while manufacturing the uncut TFT substrate
10
and CF substrate
1
, one or more cells may become detective. One defective cell comprising an LCD panel renders the entire LCD panel useless and to be discarded. Accordingly, the TFT substrate
10
and the CF substrate
1
are given a grade depending on which, if any, of the cells are defective. The TFT substrate
10
and the CF substrate
1
of the same grade are assembled together, thereby increasing productivity.
The grade is an indication of defects on the substrates
10
and
1
, and varies according to the number and the location of the defective cells that the substrates
10
and
1
have. Since each of the TFT substrate
10
and the CF substrate
1
of
FIG. 2
has six cells, there are total 64 possible grades (2
6
) for each substrate.
The grades are outlined in Table 1 below. Defects are indicated by X, while O indicates no defects.
TABLE 1
Cell
Cell
Grade
1
Cell 2
Cell 3
Cell 4
Cell 5
6
Pattern
0
O
O
O
O
O
O
OOOOOO
1
X
O
O
O
O
O
XOOOOO
2
O
X
O
O
O
O
OXOOOO
3
X
X
O
O
O
O
XXOOOO
4
O
O
X
O
O
O
OOXOOO
5
X
O
X
O
O
O
XOXOOO
6
O
X
X
O
O
O
OXXOOO
7
X
X
X
O
O
O
XXXOOO
8
O
O
O
X
O
O
OOOXOO
9
X
O
O
X
O
O
XOOXOO
10
O
X
O
X
O
O
OXOXOO
11
X
X
O
X
O
O
XXOXOO
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
60
O
O
X
X
X
X
OOXXXX
61
X
O
X
X
X
X
XOXXXX
62
O
X
X
X
X
X
OXXXXX
63
X
X
X
X
X
X
XXXXXX
As shown in Table 1 above, the total number of possible grades is 64. A substrate with no defects has a ‘OOOOOO’ pattern and a grade of ‘0’ and a substrate with all defective cells has a ‘XXXXXX’ pattern and a grade of ‘63’.
As stated above, if one of the two cells forming an LCD panel is defective, the entire LCD panel must be discarded. So, for example, if the cell
1
of the CF substrate and the cell
15
of the TFT substrate are defective and these substrates are assembled, the LCD panel of the cell
12
and the cell
1
as well as the LCD panel of the cell
15
and the cell
6
should be discarded. Therefore, it is necessary to sort out the substrates according to a grade so that substrates having the same number and location of defective cells are assembled together in order to minimize the number of assembled LCD panels to be discarded.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in an effort to solve the above problems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an automation system and a method for assembling a paired workpiece (i.e., an LCD panel) that automatically assembles a TFT substrate and a CF substrate according to a grade such that a normal cell of either TFT substrate or CF substrate is not paired with an opposing substrate having a defective cell.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides an automation system and a method for the assembly of a paired workpiece (i.e., an LCD panel). The automation system includes a storage for the parts, a sorter that can select the parts according to the external command or information and a host that controls the entire workflow. In another aspect of the present invention, the automation system may also include a production line that can process a part and assemble together. Methods of operating these systems are also presented.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5090105 (1992-02-01), DeRees
patent: 5319845 (1994-06-01), Watanabe et al.
patent: 5347700 (1994-09-01), Tominaga et al.
patent: 5390248 (1995-02-01), Segan et al.
An Jong-Beom
Byun Sung-Joon
Heo Min-Young
Yun Hyung-Jin
Howrey Simon Arnold & White , LLP
Ramsey Kenneth J.
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd.
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