U.S. patent application number 13/703376 was filed with the patent office on 2015-08-27 for naked-eye 3d display device and liquid crystal lens thereof.
This patent application is currently assigned to SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.. The applicant listed for this patent is SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.. Invention is credited to Chih-Wen Chen, Chia-chiang Hsiao.
Application Number | 20150241710 13/703376 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 47727920 |
Filed Date | 2015-08-27 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150241710 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Chen; Chih-Wen ; et
al. |
August 27, 2015 |
NAKED-EYE 3D DISPLAY DEVICE AND LIQUID CRYSTAL LENS THEREOF
Abstract
A naked-eye 3D display device has a display panel and a liquid
crystal lens. The liquid crystal lens is mounted on the display
panel and correspondingly overlapped with a pixel array of the
display panel and has a first electrode, a second electrode and a
liquid crystal layer between the first and the second electrodes.
The second electrode has separated electrode units. Each electrode
unit is in a strip shape and extends obliquely in a stair-shaped
manner along a vertical direction in which pixels are arranged. The
adjacent two of the electrode units receive different electric
voltages to form a specific electric field with the first electrode
to change an arrangement direction of liquid crystal molecules at a
corresponding position in the liquid crystal layer. The structure
of the liquid crystal lens effectively improves image crosstalk
between left-eye and right-eye images.
Inventors: |
Chen; Chih-Wen; (Shenzhen,
CN) ; Hsiao; Chia-chiang; (Shenzhen, CN) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. |
Shenzhen, Guangdong |
|
CN |
|
|
Assignee: |
SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS
TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
Shenzhen
CN
|
Family ID: |
47727920 |
Appl. No.: |
13/703376 |
Filed: |
November 16, 2012 |
PCT Filed: |
November 16, 2012 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/CN2012/084736 |
371 Date: |
December 11, 2012 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
349/15 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G02F 1/133526 20130101;
G09G 2300/023 20130101; G02F 1/13439 20130101; G02B 30/00 20200101;
G09G 3/3611 20130101; G02F 1/134309 20130101; G09G 3/003 20130101;
G02F 1/1337 20130101; G02B 30/27 20200101 |
International
Class: |
G02B 27/22 20060101
G02B027/22; G02F 1/1337 20060101 G02F001/1337; G02F 1/1343 20060101
G02F001/1343 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Nov 15, 2012 |
CN |
201210460260.8 |
Claims
1. A naked-eye 3D display device comprising: a display panel having
pixel array; and a liquid crystal lens being mounted on the display
panel, being overlapped with the pixel array of the display panel
and having a first electrode, a second electrode and a liquid
crystal layer mounted between the first electrode and the second
electrode; wherein the second electrode has a plurality of
electrode units being separated from each other; each of the
electrode units is in a strip shape and extends obliquely in a
stair-shaped manner along a vertical direction in which pixel units
of the pixel array are arranged; each of the electrode units
extends between the pixel units of the pixel array; the adjacent
electrode units are insulatedly separated from each other by a
distance of the length of at least one of the pixel units; and the
adjacent two of the electrode units receive different electric
voltages so as to form a specific electric field with the first
electrode to further control an arrangement direction of liquid
crystal molecules which are in a corresponding position in the
liquid crystal layer.
2. The naked-eye 3D display device as claimed in claim 1, wherein
the first electrode is mounted on a first substrate; the second
electrode is mounted on a second substrate; and the second
substrate is mounted opposite to the first substrate.
3. The naked-eye 3D display device as claimed in claim 2, wherein
each of the pixel units extending obliquely in a stair-shaped
manner has vertical portions and horizontal portions, wherein the
adjacent two of the horizontal portions of each of the pixel units
are at a distance of the length of at least one of the pixel units
from each other.
4. A naked-eye 3D display device comprising: a display panel having
pixel array; and a liquid crystal lens being mounted on the display
panel, being overlapped with the pixel array of the display panel
and having a first electrode, a second electrode and a liquid
crystal layer mounted between the first electrode and the second
electrode; wherein the second electrode has a plurality of
electrode units being separated from each other; each of the
electrode units is in a strip shape and extends obliquely in a
stair-shaped manner along a vertical direction in which pixel units
of the pixel array are arranged; the adjacent two of the electrode
units receive different electric voltages so as to form a specific
electric field with the first electrode to further control an
arrangement direction of liquid crystal molecules which are in a
corresponding position in the liquid crystal layer.
5. The naked-eye 3D display device as claimed in claim 4, wherein
each of the electrode units extends between the pixel units of the
pixel array.
6. The naked-eye 3D display device as claimed in claim 4, wherein
the first electrode is mounted on a first substrate; the second
electrode is mounted on a second substrate; and the second
substrate is mounted opposite to the first substrate.
7. The naked-eye 3D display device as claimed in claim 4, wherein
the adjacent electrode units are insulatedly separated from each
other by a distance of the length of at least one of the pixel
units.
8. The naked-eye 3D display device as claimed in claim 4, wherein
each of the pixel units extending obliquely in a stair-shaped
manner has vertical portions and horizontal portions, wherein the
adjacent two of the horizontal portions of each of the pixel units
are at a distance of the length of at least one of the pixel units
from each other.
9. The naked-eye 3D display device as claimed in claim 8, wherein
each of the pixel units includes at least one sub-pixel.
10. The naked-eye 3D display device as claimed in claim 9, wherein
each of the pixel units includes three sub-pixels.
11. A liquid crystal lens being used in a naked-eye 3D display
device, wherein the liquid crystal lens is correspondingly
overlapped with a pixel array of a display panel, and comprises: a
first electrode; a second electrode being mounted opposite to the
first electrode and having a plurality of electrode units being
separated from each other, wherein each of the electrode units is
in a strip shape and extends obliquely in a stair-shaped manner
along a vertical direction in which pixel units of the pixel array
are arranged, and the adjacent two of the electrode units receive
different electric voltages so as to form a specific electric field
with the first electrode; and a liquid crystal layer being mounted
between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein an
arrangement direction of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid
crystal layer is controlled by the specific electric field formed
by the electrode units at a position corresponding to the liquid
crystal molecules and the first electrode.
12. The liquid crystal lens being used in a naked-eye 3D display
device as claimed in claim 11, wherein each of the electrode units
extends between the pixel units of the pixel array.
13. The liquid crystal lens being used in a naked-eye 3D display
device as claimed in claim 12, wherein the first electrode is
mounted on a first substrate; the second electrode is mounted on a
second substrate; and the second substrate is mounted opposite to
the first substrate.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display
technology, especially to a naked-eye 3D display device and a
liquid crystal lens thereof that improve crosstalk problems during
displaying 3D images.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] In order to satisfy visual experiences, image display
technologies have been developed from 2D display to 3D display.
Conventional 3D display technologies are mainly divided into
glasses-type 3D display technology (stereoscopic display) and
naked-eye 3D display technology (auto-stereoscopic display). The
advantage of naked-eye 3D display technology is the convenience of
glasses-free.
[0005] The present naked-eye display technology may be carried out
by using a parallax barrier, lenticular lenses or a directional
backlight.
[0006] With reference to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is an operational schematic
view of a conventional lenticular-lens 3D display device. The
lenticular-lens 3D display device is to mount a lens layer 91
formed by a plurality of lenticular lenses 910 in front of a liquid
crystal display panel 90 so that when left-eye images and right-eye
images travel through the lenticular lenses 910, the left-eye
images and right-eye images will travel into a user's left eye and
right eye, respectively, by refraction of light so that the user
can see three-dimensional images.
[0007] With further reference to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a structural
schematic view of a pixel array and lenticular lenses of a
conventional lenticular-lens 3D display device. In the design of a
naked-eye 3D display device using lenticular lenses, the lenticular
lenses 910 of the lens layer 91 must be mounted at a specific angle
to pixel rows 900 of a liquid crystal display panel so as to keep
balance of resolution. However, as shown in FIG. 3, a schematic
view of an image of a pixel array when the user is watching through
slant lenticular lenses at a certain viewing angle, it can be seen
in the figure that a viewing range 800 in which one of the user's
eyes may receive images not only falls on those pixel units that
provide right-eye images R but also falls on some pixel units that
provide left-eye images L, and thereby causing the right eye to
receive left-eye images and leading to image crosstalk. Besides, 3D
viewing angle in such design becomes more limited.
[0008] Therefore, it is necessary to provide a naked-eye 3D display
device and a liquid crystal lens thereof to overcome the problems
existing in the conventional technology.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] In view of the shortcomings of the conventional technology,
the main objective of the invention is to provide a naked-eye 3D
display device and a liquid crystal lens thereof that may improve
image crosstalk problem during 3D display.
[0010] In order to achieve the foregoing object of the present
invention, the present invention provides a naked-eye 3D display
device comprising:
[0011] a display panel having pixel array; and
[0012] a liquid crystal lens being mounted on the display panel,
being overlapped with the pixel array of the display panel and
having a first electrode, a second electrode and a liquid crystal
layer mounted between the first electrode and the second electrode;
wherein the second electrode has a plurality of electrode units
being separated from each other; each of the electrode units is in
a strip shape and extends obliquely in a stair-shaped manner in a
vertical arranging direction of pixel units of the pixel array; the
adjacent two of the electrode units receive different electric
voltages so as to form a specific electric field with the first
electrode to further control an arrangement direction of liquid
crystal molecules which are in a corresponding position in the
liquid crystal layer.
[0013] In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the
electrode units extends between the pixel units of the pixel
array.
[0014] In one embodiment of the present invention, the first
electrode is mounted on a first substrate; the second electrode is
mounted on a second substrate; and the second substrate is mounted
opposite to the first substrate.
[0015] In one embodiment of the present invention, the adjacent
electrode units are insulatedly separated from each other by a
distance of the length of at least one of the pixel units.
[0016] In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the
pixel units extending obliquely in a stair-shaped manner has
vertical portions and horizontal portions, wherein the adjacent two
of the horizontal portions of each of the pixel units are at a
distance of the length of at least one of the pixel units from each
other.
[0017] In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the
pixel units includes at least one sub-pixel.
[0018] In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the
pixel units includes three sub-pixels.
[0019] The present invention further provide a liquid crystal lens
that is used in a naked-eye 3D display device, wherein the liquid
crystal lens is correspondingly overlapped with a pixel array of a
display panel and comprises:
[0020] a first electrode;
[0021] a second electrode being mounted opposite to the first
electrode and having a plurality of electrode units, wherein each
of the electrode units is in a strip shape and extends obliquely in
a stair-shaped manner in a vertical arranging direction of pixel
units of the pixel array, and the adjacent two of the electrode
units receive different electric voltages so as to form a specific
electric field with the first electrode; and
[0022] a liquid crystal layer being mounted between the first
electrode and the second electrode, wherein an arrangement
direction of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer
is controlled by the specific electric field formed by the
electrode units at a position corresponding to the liquid crystal
molecules and the first electrode.
[0023] In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the
electrode units extends between the pixel units of the pixel
array.
[0024] In one embodiment of the present invention, the first
electrode is mounted on a first substrate; the second electrode is
mounted on a second substrate; and the second substrate is mounted
opposite to the first substrate.
[0025] In the above description, the liquid crystal lens replaces
the lenticular lens structure in the conventional technology based
on the principle that the arrangement of liquid crystal molecules
can change the direction of light, by applying different electric
voltages to the separated electrode units of the second electrode,
the image of the display panel will be divided into a left-eye
image and a right-eye image after passing through the liquid
crystal layer of the liquid crystal lens, so that a user can
receive an image with 3D effect. Furthermore, the second electrode
that forms the liquid crystal lens extends obliquely in a
stair-shaped manner, which is different from the traditional slant
lenticular lenses, can effectively improve image crosstalk between
left-eye and right-eye images.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0026] FIG. 1 is an operational schematic view of a conventional
lenticular-lens 3D display device;
[0027] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic view of a pixel array and
lenticular lenses of a conventional lenticular-lens 3D display
device;
[0028] FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an image of a pixel array when
a user is watching through slant lenticular lenses at a certain
viewing angle;
[0029] FIG. 4 is a structural schematic view of a naked-eye 3D
display device according to a preferred embodiment of the present
invention;
[0030] FIG. 5 is a schematic view of an arrangement of electrodes
of a liquid crystal lens and a pixel array of the naked-eye 3D
display device according to a preferred embodiment of the present
invention; and
[0031] FIG. 6 is a schematic view of an image of a pixel array when
a user is watching through the liquid crystal lens of the naked-eye
3D display device of the present invention at a certain viewing
angle.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0032] The foregoing objects, features and advantages adopted by
the present invention can be best understood by referring to the
following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the
accompanying drawings. Furthermore, the directional terms described
in the present invention, such as upper, lower, front, rear, left,
right, inner, outer, side and etc., are only directions referring
to the accompanying drawings, so that the used directional terms
are used to describe and understand the present invention, but the
present invention is not limited thereto.
[0033] With reference to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a structural schematic
view of a naked-eye 3D display device according to a preferred
embodiment of the present invention. The naked-eye 3D display
device of the present invention mainly comprises a display panel 1
and a liquid crystal lens 2. The display panel 1 is used to provide
a two-dimensional image, and the liquid crystal lens 2 is used to
convert the two-dimensional image into a three-dimensional
image.
[0034] With further reference to FIG. 5, the display panel 1 has a
pixel array 10, and the pixel array 10 is configured by a plurality
of regularly arranged pixel units 100. The display panel 1 may be a
general liquid crystal display panel and has a color-filter
substrate, a thin-film transistor substrate and a liquid crystal
layer mounted between both of the substrates. The color-filter
substrate has different colored photoresist units. The thin-film
transistor substrate may include gate lines, data lines, switching
elements and pixel electrodes. The gate lines and the data lines
define a plurality of sub-pixel areas, and each of the switching
elements and each of the pixel electrodes are mounted in each of
the sub-pixel areas to correspond to each of the photo-resist units
on the color-filter substrate so as to form the pixel array 10. The
display panel 1 also has a backlight module to providing sufficient
light sources for displaying images.
[0035] The liquid crystal lens 2 is mounted on the display panel 1
and is mounted on a light-exiting surface of the display panel 1
and is correspondingly overlapped with the pixel array 10. The
liquid crystal lens 2 mainly comprises a first electrode 20, a
second electrode 21 and a liquid crystal layer 22.
[0036] As shown in FIG. 4, the first electrode 20 is mounted on a
first substrate 23, in general, the first electrode 20 may be a
transparent electrical conductive film made of indium tin oxide and
is used to receive a reference electric voltage.
[0037] As shown in FIG. 4, the second electrode 21 is mounted
opposite to the first electrode 20 and is mounted on a second
substrate 24. The second substrate 24 is mounted opposite to the
first substrate 23. The second electrode 21 has a plurality of
electrode units 210 being separated from each other, and can be
formed by patterning a transparent electrical conductive film (such
as indium tin oxide).
[0038] With reference to FIG. 5, each of the electrode units 210 is
in a strip shape and extends obliquely in a stair-shaped manner
along a vertical direction D1 in which the pixel units 100 of the
pixel array 10 are arranged, wherein the adjacent two of the
electrode units 210 receive different electric voltages so as to
form a specific electric field with the first electrode 20. In this
embodiment, each of the electrode units 210 extends between the
pixel units 100 of the pixel array 10.
[0039] As shown in FIG. 4, the liquid crystal layer 22 is mounted
between the first electrode 20 and the second electrode 21. An
arrangement direction of liquid crystal molecules in the liquid
crystal layer 22 is controlled by the specific electric field
formed by the electrode units 210 to which the liquid crystal
molecules correspond and the first electrode 20.
[0040] For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the odd-numbered ones of
the electrode units 210 may receive an electric voltage V0, and the
even-numbered ones of the electrode units 210 may receive another
electric voltage V1, thus the electrode units 210 in adjacent
positions can form different electric fields with the first
electrode 20. At the moment, the liquid crystal molecules in the
liquid crystal layer 22 will twist along with the corresponding
electric field. When lights of two-dimensional images from the
display panel 1 travel through the liquid crystal molecules, based
on the principle of light refraction, lights of left-eye images and
lights of right-eye images will be projected out with different
angles and eventually reach the observer's both eyes, respectively.
The observer then can see an image having a three-dimensional
effect. Thus, the liquid crystal lens 2 can provide the same
optical effect as traditional slant lenticular lenses do.
[0041] In this embodiment, each of the pixel units 100 includes at
least one sub-pixel, for example, three sub-pixels. Besides, the
adjacent electrode units 210 are insulatedly separated from each
other by a distance of the length of at least one of the pixel
units 100. Each of the pixel units 210 extending obliquely in the
stair-shaped manner has vertical portions 210a and horizontal
portions 210b, wherein the adjacent two of the horizontal portions
210b of each of the pixel units 210 are at a distance of the length
of at least one of the pixel units 100 from each other.
[0042] Based on the principle that the arrangement of liquid
crystal molecules can change the direction of lights, the naked-eye
3D display device of the present invention use the liquid crystal
lens 2 to replace traditional slant lenticular lenses. The liquid
crystal lens 2 controls the arrangement of liquid crystal by
applying different electric voltages to the separated electrode
units 210 of the second electrode 21, so that the two-dimensional
image of the display panel 1 is divided into a left-eye image and a
right-eye image after passing through the liquid crystal layer 22
of the liquid crystal lens 2, and then a user can receive an image
with 3D effect.
[0043] In the meantime, as shown in FIG. 6, besides providing the
same function as the traditional slant lenticular lenses do, the
electrode units 210 of the second electrode 21 of the liquid
crystal lens 2 that have a structure that extends obliquely in a
stair-shaped manner can accurately dividing left-eye images from
right eye images. It can be seen in the figure that a viewing range
300 in which a user's right eye may receive images completely falls
on those pixel units that provide right-eye images R, so that
left-eye images that are provided from the next pixel units will
not be received by the right eye to cause image crosstalk. Thus,
different from the traditional technology using slant lenticular
lenses, the naked-eye 3D display device of the present invention
can effectively improve image crosstalk between left-eye and
right-eye images.
[0044] By the above description, compared with the conventional 3D
display technology having a problem of image crosstalk, the
naked-eye 3D display device of the present invention uses a liquid
crystal lens to achieve the object of converting two-dimensional
images into three-dimensional images. Furthermore, the second
electrode that forms the liquid crystal lens extends obliquely in a
stair-shaped manner, which is different from the traditional slant
lenticular lenses, can effectively improve image crosstalk between
left-eye and right-eye images.
[0045] The present invention has been described with a preferred
embodiment thereof and it is understood that many changes and
modifications to the described embodiment can be carried out
without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention
that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.
* * * * *