Mirror display, half mirror plate, and electronic device

• US 9,684,204 B2
• Filed: 01/15/2014
• Issued: 06/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Yoshida, Hidefumi, Mizushima, Shigeaki, Nishiyama, Takayuki, Sakai, Akira, Hasegawa, Masahiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Mengistu, Amare
• Assistant Examiner(s): ZUBAJLO, JENNIFER L
• Application Number:
  US14/761,055
• Publication Number:
  US 20160026039A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,252 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133308 Support structures for LCD panels, e.g. frames or bezels
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133331 Cover glasses
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133388 with constructional differences between the display region and the peripheral region
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133531 characterised by the arrangement of polariser or analyser axes
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133536 Reflective polarizers G02F1/13362 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133541 Circular polarisers
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133555 Transflectors
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133557 Half-mirrors
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133601 for spatial active dimming
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13471 in which all the liquid crystal cells or layers remain transparent, e.g. FLC, ECB, DAP, HAN, TN, STN, SBE-LC cells G02F1/13475 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 2201/08 light absorbing layer
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 2203/09 transflective
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1446 display composed of modules, e.g. video walls

Abstract

The present invention provides a mirror display which prevents the boundary line between a frame region and a display region from being observed in a mirror mode and which thus has improved design quality. The mirror display of the present invention includes a half mirror plate including a half mirror layer, and a display device disposed behind the half mirror plate, the display device including a display panel and a frame component that supports a peripheral portion of the display panel, and the mirror display including a reflectance adjuster that makes equal the reflectance in a display region where the half mirror layer and the display panel face each other and the reflectance in a frame region where the half mirror layer and the frame component face each other.

Claims

1. A mirror display comprising:

a half mirror plate including a half mirror layer including at least one reflective polarizing plate, and

a display device disposed behind the half mirror plate, wherein

the mirror display switches between a mirror mode in which the mirror display serves as a mirror without displaying any image of the display device and a display mode in which the mirror display device displays an image of the display device,

the display device includes a display panel and a frame component that supports a peripheral portion of the display panel,

the mirror display includes, only in the half mirror plate, a reflectance adjuster that makes equal the reflectance in a display region where the half mirror layer and the display panel face each other and the reflectance in a frame region where the half mirror layer and the frame component face each other,

the reflectance adjuster includes (i) an additional reflective polarizing plate or an absorptive polarizing plate, (ii) a switching liquid crystal panel, and (iii) a component disposed at least in the frame region closer to the display device than the half mirror layer,

the half mirror plate includes, in both the display region and the frame region, the additional reflective polarizing plate or the absorptive polarizing plate, the switching liquid crystal panel, and the at least one reflective polarizing plate in order from a front side to a back side,

a transmission axis of the additional reflective polarizing plate or the absorptive polarizing plate and a transmission axis of the at least one reflective polarizing plate are substantially parallel or substantially perpendicular with each other, and

the switching liquid crystal panel is in a no-voltage-applied state in one of the mirror mode and the display mode, and is in a voltage-applied state in the other of the mirror mode and the display mode.

2. The mirror display according to claim 1,

wherein the reflectance adjuster includes a light-absorbing component disposed in the frame region.

3. The mirror display according to claim 2,

wherein the light-absorbing component is a black component.

4. The mirror display according to claim 2,

wherein an air layer is provided between the light-absorbing component and the half mirror layer.

5. An electronic device comprising

the mirror display according to claim 1;

and

a control device that controls the display region by dividing the display region into multiple domains, wherein

the control device changes the range and position of displaying an image by selecting a domain to display an image among the multiple domains.

6. The electronic device according to claim 5,

wherein the range of displaying an image is changeable by pinch-in and pinch-out gestures.

7. The mirror display according to claim 1,

wherein the reflectance adjuster is a circular polarizing plate disposed in the display region and the frame region.

8. The mirror display according to claim 1,

wherein the reflectance adjuster includes a surface which undergoes a same surface treatment as the display panel at a side facing the half mirror layer.

9. The mirror display according to claim 1,

wherein the half mirror plate includes an anti-reflection film on a surface facing the display panel in the display region.

10. The mirror display according to claim 9,

wherein the anti-reflection film has a moth-eye structure.

11. The mirror display according to claim 1,

wherein the half mirror plate includes a supporting component, the half mirror layer, and the reflectance adjuster in order from the front side to the back side.

12. The mirror display according to claim 1,

wherein the half mirror plate includes the half mirror layer, a supporting component, and the reflectance adjuster in order from the front side to the back side.

13. The mirror display according to claim 1,

wherein the display panel includes an anti-reflection film on a surface facing the half mirror plate in the display region.

14. The mirror display according to claim 1,

wherein the mirror display includes a transparent adhesive layer which bonds the display panel and the half mirror plate.

15. The mirror display according to claim 1,

wherein the display panel is a liquid crystal panel.

16. The mirror display according to claim 15, wherein

the liquid crystal panel includes a first polarizing plate, a liquid crystal layer, and a second polarizing plate in order from a side of the half mirror plate to another side, and

when the at least one reflective polarizing plate includes multiple polarizing plates, one of the multiple polarizing plates has a transmission axis that is parallel or substantially parallel with a transmission axis of the first polarizing plate.

17. The mirror display according to claim 16,

wherein the at least one reflective polarizing plate includes a first reflective polarizing plate with a transmission axis that is parallel or substantially parallel with the transmission axis of the first polarizing plate and a second reflective polarizing plate with a transmission axis that defines an angle of 0°

or greater and 45°

or smaller with the transmission axis of the first polarizing plate.

18. The mirror display according to claim 1,

wherein the half mirror layer extends to a region outside the frame region facing the frame component.

19. The mirror display according to claim 1,

wherein the half mirror plate includes a λ

/4 plate and functions as a circular polarizing plate.

20. The mirror display according to claim 1,

wherein the half mirror plate includes a gradation filter with a transmittance that continually changes in an interfacial region between the display region and the frame region.