Image display device

• US 6,177,912 B1
• Filed: 04/30/1998
• Issued: 01/23/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Izumi, Yoshihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Shankar, Vijay
• Application Number:
  US09/070,642
• Time in Patent Office: 999 Days
• Field of Search: 345/1, 345/2, 345/3, 345/4, 345/5, 345/6, 345/7, 345/8, 348/73, 348/58, 359/457, 349/73
• US Class Current: 345/1.3
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13336 Combining plural substrates to produce large-area displays, e.g. tiled displays

Abstract

An image display device includes a display panel provided with a light-shield on a portion shifted upward from a center in a thickness direction and a display panel provided with a light-shield on a portion shifted downward from a center in a thickness direction, the display panels being connected adjacent to each other. The light-shields of the two display panels are overlapped with each other with respect to the entire region between the display panels, thus completely sealing a gap between the display panels by the light-shields. This prevents leakage of light between the display panels even when display panels having large profile irregularity on edge surfaces are connected adjacent to each other. As a result, an image display device capable of displaying a natural image on a large screen is realized.

Claims

1. An image display device, comprising:

a plurality of display panels connected to one another so as to constitute a large screen;

a light-shield provided on an edge of each of said plurality of display panels;

wherein said light-shield is provided so as to be overlapped with one another at a connected portion of said plurality of display panels adjacent to one another; and

wherein at the connected portion of said plurality of display panels adjacent to one another, said light-shield of one of said plurality of display panels is provided on a portion shifted upward in a thickness direction from a center, and said light-shield of the other of said plurality of display panels is provided on a portion shifted downward in a thickness direction from a center.

4. The image display device as set forth in any one of claims 1-3, wherein said light-shield is made by a screen printing method.

5. The image display device as set forth in any one of claims 1-3, wherein said light-shield is made by a dispense profiling method.

6. The image display device as set forth in any one of claims 1-3, wherein the edge of each of said plurality of display panels provided with said light-shield is processed by a dicing technique using a diamond blade.

7. The image display device as set forth in any one of claims 1-3, wherein the edge of each of said plurality of display panels provided with said light-shield is processed by a diamond scribing technique.

8. The image display device as set forth in any one of claims 1-3, wherein the edge of each of said plurality of display panels provided with said light-shield is processed by a laser scribing technique.

9. The image display device as set forth in any one of claims 1-3, wherein said light-shield is made of a black silicon rubber.

10. The image display device as set forth in any one of claims 1-3, wherein a distance between pixels separated by the connected portion of said plurality of display panels adjacent to one another is equal to a distance between adjacent pixels in a display panel.

11. The image display device as set forth in any one of claims 1-3, wherein said plurality of display panels are provided between two polarizing plates whose polarization axes are orthogonal to each other.

12. The image display device as set forth in any one of claims 1-3, wherein said plurality of display panels are bonded with a substrate by an adhesive having a refractive index substantially the same as a refractive index of glass constituting said plurality of display panels.

13. The image display device as set forth in any one of claims 1-3, wherein said plurality of display panels are liquid crystal panels.

14. The image display device as set forth in any one of claims 1-3, wherein said plurality of display panels are plasma display panels.

15. The image display device as set forth in any one of claims 1-3, wherein said plurality of display panels are field emission display panels.

16. The image display device as set forth in any one of claims 1-3, wherein light-shields provided on opposing edges of adjacent display panels are respectively shifted in a thickness direction.

17. The image display device as set forth in any one of claims 1-3, wherein apices of light-shields provided on opposing edges of adjacent display panels do not contact each other.

18. The image display device as set forth in any one of claims 1-3, wherein said light-shield provided on the edge of each of said plurality of panels is sized such that the light-shields on opposing edges of adjacent display panels are overlapped even in the case where there is differences in size of a gap between the adjacent display panels due to profile irregularity in a surface of at least one of said opposing edges.

2. An image display device, comprising:

a plurality of display panels connected to one another so as to constitute a large screen;

a light-shield provided on an edge of each of said plurality of display panels;

wherein said light-shield is provided so as to be overlapped with one another at a connected portion of said plurality of display panels adjacent to one another; and

wherein at the connected portion of said plurality of display panels adjacent to one another, said light-shield of one of said plurality of display panels is provided in plurality side by side in a thickness direction, and said light-shield of the other of said plurality of display panels is provided so as to be overlapped with said light-shield provided in plurality.

3. An image display device, comprising:

a plurality of display panels connected to one another so as to constitute a large screen;

a light-shield provided on an edge of each of said plurality of display panels;

wherein said light-shield is provided so as to be overlapped with one another at a connected portion of said plurality of display panels adjacent to one another; and

wherein at the connected portion of said plurality of display panels adjacent to one another, said light-shield of one of said plurality of display panels is provided in plurality on a portion shifted upward and on a portion shifted downward in a thickness direction from a center, and said light-shield of the other of said plurality of display panels is provided on a center in a thickness direction.