STACKED LIGHT WAVE GUIDES FOR DISPLAY PANELS

• US 20180003888A1
• Filed: 07/01/2016
• Published: 01/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Glendinning, Duncan, Wooster, Roland P., Zhuang, Zhiming J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,613,269 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0076 Stacked arrangements of multiple light guides of the same or different cross-sectional area
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133391 Constructional arrangement for sub-divided displays
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133601 for spatial active dimming

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a waveguide stack and associated segmented illumination display. The waveguide stack includes a number of waveguides stacked into an array to direct light from light emitting diode (LED) edge lights to a liquid crystal display (LCD) of a segmented illumination display. The waveguides are stacked with light inhibiting material between the waveguides to inhibit light transmitting through one waveguide from communicating to a second waveguide.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a display comprising a plurality of illumination segments arranged in an M×

N array, where M and N are greater than 2 and at least one of M or N is greater than 4;

a plurality of light emitting diode (LED) edge lights;

a liquid crystal display (LCD) layer; and

a waveguide stack to transmit light from the plurality of LED edge lights to the LCD layer, the waveguide stack comprising;

a plurality of waveguides arranged in a stack, each of the plurality of waveguides to transmit light from a one of the plurality of LED edge lights to a portion of the LCD layer; and

a plurality of light inhibiting layers interposed between each of the plurality of waveguides in the stack.

2. The system of claim 1, each of the plurality of waveguides comprising an entrance pupil to receive light from the plurality of LED edge lights and an exit pupil to emit light to the LCD layer.

3. The system of claim 2, the exit pupils of the plurality of waveguides disposed on a first surface of the waveguide stack, the entrance pupils of a first subset of the plurality of waveguides disposed on a second surface of the stack and the entrance pupils of a second subset of the plurality of waveguides disposed on a third surface of the stack.

4. The system of claim 3, the second surface parallel to the third surface.

5. The system of claim 3, the first surface perpendicular to the second surface and the third surface and the second surface parallel to the third surface.

6. The system of claim 3, each of the second surface and the third surface comprising an N/2×

M array of entrance pupils, where M and N are greater than 2.

7. The system of claim 1, the first surface comprising an M×

N array of exit pupils, wherein at least one of M or N are greater than 4.

8. The system of claim 7, the display comprising an M×

N array of illumination segments.

9. The system of claim 1, the light inhibiting layer comprising an opaque material or a reflective material.

10. The system of claim 9, the light inhibiting layer comprising aluminum.

11. The system of claim 1, comprising:

a housing, the display disposed in the housing; and

at least one of a processing unit, radio, battery, or interface device disposed in the housing and operably coupled to the display.

12. An apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of waveguides arranged in a stack, each of the plurality of waveguides to transmit light to a first surface of the stack; and

a plurality of light inhibiting layers interposed between each of the plurality of waveguides in the stack.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, each of the plurality of waveguides comprising an entrance pupil to receive light.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, the entrance pupils of first subset of the plurality of waveguides disposed on a second surface of the stack and the entrance pupils to a second subset of the plurality of waveguides disposed on a third surface of the stack.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, the second surface parallel to the third surface.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, the first surface perpendicular to the second surface and the third surface and the second surface parallel to the third surface.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, the entrance pupils to receive light from a light emitting diode (LED) and transmit the light to a liquid crystal display (LCD) layer of a display.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, each of the second surface and the third surface comprising an N/2×

M array of entrance pupils, where M and N are greater than 2.

19. The apparatus of claim 12, each of the plurality of waveguides comprising an exit pupil, the first surface comprising an M×

N array of exit pupils, wherein at least one of M or N are greater than 4.

20. The apparatus of claim 12, the light inhibiting layer comprising an opaque material or a reflective material.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, the light inhibiting layer comprising aluminum.

22. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the apparatus is a light guide panel layer of a display.

23. A method comprising:

stacking a plurality of waveguides into a waveguide stack, each of the plurality of waveguides to transmit light to a first surface of the stack;

disposing a light inhibiting material between each of the plurality of waveguides.

24. The method of claim 23, comprising coating the plurality of waveguides in the light inhibiting material before stacking the plurality of waveguides into the waveguide stack.

25. The method of claim 23, comprising layering the lighting inhibiting material between the plurality of waveguides.

26. The method of claim 23, each of the plurality of waveguides comprising an entrance pupil to receive light, the entrance pupils of first subset of the plurality of waveguides disposed on a second surface of the stack and the entrance pupils to a second subset of the plurality of waveguides disposed on a third surface of the stack.

27. The method of claim 26, each of the second surface and the third surface comprising an N/2×

M array of entrance pupils, where M and N are greater than 2.

28. The method of claim 23, each of the plurality of waveguides comprising an exit pupil, the first surface comprising an M×

N array of exit pupils, wherein at least one of M or N are greater than 4.