Stereoscopic image display device having a barrier cell

• US 10,151,930 B2
• Filed: 09/06/2012
• Issued: 12/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Display Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: LG Display Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: An, Cheung-Hwan, Lee, Jae-Woo, Jung, Sung-Min
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Lauren
• Application Number:
  US13/605,647
• Publication Number:
  US 20130057789A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,287 Days
• Field of Search: 349 15
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/27 involving lenticular arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 30/31 involving active parallax barriers involving directional light or back-light sources G02B30/33
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13 based on liquid crystals, e.g. single liquid crystal display cells
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/31 using parallax barriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/351 for displaying simultaneously

Abstract

Discussed is a stereoscopic image display device, which acquires design parameters based on the same aperture ratio and the same back distance regarding a single barrier cell when displaying different numbers of views using the barrier cell. The barrier cell, which includes first and second substrates opposite to each other, first electrodes arranged at an interval on the first substrate, a second electrode formed on the second substrate, and a liquid crystal layer between the first and second substrates, is driven to display different numbers of views. Assuming that a region of the barrier cell corresponding to a small view number is one unit, the number of unit drive regions divided in one unit is defined by K/A (where, ‘A’ is an aperture ratio of the barrier cell, and ‘K’ is {large view number/small view number}*n (‘n’ is a natural number between 1 and the small view number).

Claims

1. A stereoscopic image display device comprising:

an image panel including R sub-pixels, G sub-pixels, and B sub-pixels vertically arranged by a long length, wherein the R, G, and B sub-pixels of each line constitute a single pixel, and wherein each view corresponds to at least one sub-pixel;

a barrier cell on the image panel without interposing any elements between the image panel and the barrier cell, the barrier cell including;

a first substrate and a second substrate opposite to each other,

a plurality of first electrodes arranged on the first substrate extending in a first direction,

a single second electrode formed on the second substrate, and

a liquid crystal layer formed between the first and second substrates; and

a voltage source to apply a common voltage to the second electrode and to selectively apply the common voltage or a drive voltage to the first electrodes,

wherein the barrier cell performs a 2-view display or at least a 4-view display in which two views or at least four views constitute a single unit which is repeatedly arranged, and each view corresponds to at least one sub-pixel,

wherein the barrier cell varies a width of an aperture region of the barrier cell corresponding to a number of the first electrodes which the driving voltage is applied to,

wherein a back distance between the image panel and the barrier cell is maintained to be the same, regardless of whether 2 views or at least 4 views,

wherein an aperture ratio of the barrier cell is maintained to be the same, regardless of whether the image panel displays 2 views or at least 4 views,

wherein the width of the aperture region is determined based on a number of unit drive regions divided in one unit corresponding to the 2 views, and the number of unit drive regions is defined by K/A, where ‘

A’

is the aperture ratio of the barrier cell, and ‘

K’

is {at least four/two}*n′

, where ‘

n’

is a natural number not exceeding the 2 views and is to allow K to be represented by a minimum multiple natural number, and the number of unit drive regions refers to a minimum number of drive regions within the one unit divided to maintain the same aperture ratio, and

wherein the barrier cell has a first aperture region in the 2-view display, and has a second aperture region wider than the first aperture region in the at least 4-view display.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the unit drive regions have the same width when driving under the two views and when driving under the at least four views.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein a same number of first electrodes are arranged in each unit drive region.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein, the voltage source applies the same drive voltage to the first electrodes corresponding to the width of the aperture region of the barrier cell.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the at least four views provide the spectroscopic image viewable from at least a first distance away from the image panel and at least a second distance away from the display panel, wherein the second distance is further away from the image panel than the first distance.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the barrier cell is further configured to arrange a barrier region and the aperture region to cause the image panel to display one view comprising a two-dimensional (2D) image.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein the aperture ratio is a fixed value based on the same length of the barrier cell.

15. The device according to claim 1, wherein the second aperture region is twice as wide as the first aperture region.

8. A stereoscopic image display device comprising:

an image panel configured to selectively display a three-dimensional (3D) image with a plurality of views, each of the plurality of views displaying a same image being used to form the 3D image, wherein the image panel includes R sub-pixels, G sub-pixels, and B sub-pixels vertically arranged by a long length, and the R, G, and B sub-pixels of each line constitute a single pixel, and wherein each view corresponds to at least one sub-pixel;

a barrier cell on the image panel without interposing any elements between the image panel and the barrier cell, the barrier cell including;

a first substrate and a second substrate opposite to each other,

a plurality of first electrodes arranged on the first substrate extending in a first direction,

a second electrode formed on the second substrate, and

a liquid crystal layer formed between the first and second substrates; and

a voltage source to apply a common voltage to the second electrode and to selectively apply the common voltage or a drive voltage to the first electrodes,

wherein the barrier cell performs a 2-view display or at least a 4-view display in which two views or at least four views constitute a single unit which is repeatedly arranged, and each view corresponds to at least one sub-pixel,

wherein the barrier cell varies a width of an aperture region of the barrier cell corresponding to a number of the first electrodes which the driving voltage is applied to, the barrier cell changing to switch between first and second arrangements,

wherein the width of the aperture region is determined based on a number of unit drive regions divided in one unit corresponding to the two views, and the number of unit drive regions is defined by K/A, where ‘

A’

is an aperture ratio of the barrier cell, and ‘

K’

is ‘

{at least four/two}*n’

, where ‘

n’

is a natural number not exceeding two and is to allow K to be represented by a minimum multiple natural number, and the number of unit drive regions refers to a minimum number of drive regions within the one unit divided to maintain the same aperture ratio,

wherein, in the first arrangement, the barrier cell arranges a barrier region and the aperture region to cause the image panel to simultaneously display the two views among the plurality of views, the two views forming the 3D image,

wherein, in the second arrangement, the barrier cell arranges the barrier region and the aperture region to cause the image panel to simultaneously display the at least four views among the plurality of views, two adjacent views among the at least four views forming the 3D image, and

wherein the barrier cell has a first aperture region in the 2-view display, and has a second aperture region wider than the first aperture region in the at least 4-view display.

9. The device according to claim 8, wherein a back distance between the image panel and the barrier cell is maintained to be the same, regardless of whether the barrier cell performs the 2-view display or the at least 4-view display.

10. The device according to claim 8, wherein a back distance between the image panel and the barrier cell is maintained to be the same and the aperture ratio of the barrier cell is maintained to be the same, regardless of whether barrier cell performs the 2-view display or the at least 4-view display.

11. The device according to claim 8, wherein the at least four views provide the 3D image viewable from at least a first distance away from the image panel and at least a second distance away from the display panel, wherein the second distance is further away from the image panel than the first distance.

12. The device according to claim 8, wherein the barrier cell is further configured to arrange the barrier region and the aperture region to cause the image panel to display one view comprising a two-dimensional (2D) image.

13. The device according to claim 8, wherein the unit drive regions have the same width when driving under the two views and when driving under the at least four views.

14. The device according to claim 8, wherein the aperture ratio is a fixed value based on the same length of the barrier cell.

16. The device according to claim 8, wherein the second aperture region is twice as wide as the first aperture region.