Grating assembly, light source apparatus and driving method of the same

• US 10,795,064 B2
• Filed: 06/03/2016
• Issued: 10/06/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Beijing BOE Optoelectronics Technology Co Ltd. (BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.), BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Wang, Qian, Chen, Xiaochuan, Zhao, Wenqing, Xu, Rui, Wang, Lei, Yang, Ming, Lu, Pengcheng, Gao, Jian, Niu, Xiaochen
• Primary Examiner(s): Collins, Darryl J
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sumlar, Journey F
• Application Number:
  US15/528,416
• Publication Number:
  US 20180196175A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,586 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/1086 operating by diffraction only
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/18 Diffraction gratings holographic optical elements G02B5/32, G03H; integrally combined with optical fibres G02B6/02057; for coupling light guides G02B6/34; integrally combined with optical integrated light guides G02B6/12; grating systems G02B27/44
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/1814 structurally combined with one or more further optical elements, e.g. lenses, mirrors, prisms or other diffraction gratings G02B5/189 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/1866 Transmission gratings characterised by their structure, e.g. step profile, contours of substrate or grooves, pitch variations, materials G02B5/1809, G02B5/1828, G02B5/1833, G02B5/1838 and G02B5/1847 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/29 for the control of the position or the direction of light beams, i.e. deflection

Abstract

The present disclosure, belonging to the field of display technology, provides a grating assembly, a light source apparatus and a driving method thereof, which can solve a problem that an existing light source cannot provide light with a controllable direction. The grating assembly of the present disclosure comprises: a diffraction grating divided into a plurality of sub-pixels, each sub-pixel being divided into a plurality of regions, the diffraction grating being configured to change light transmitted through each region into parallel light and cause light transmitted through different regions of a same sub-pixel to have different directions; and a selector divided into a plurality of sub-pixels corresponding to sub-pixels of the diffraction grating, each sub-pixel being divided into a plurality of regions corresponding to the regions of the sub-pixel of the diffraction grating, the selector being configured to control whether each region thereof transmits light or not.

Claims

1. A grating assembly, comprising:

a diffraction grating, which is divided into a plurality of sub-pixels, each sub-pixel being divided into four regions, the diffraction grating being configured to change light transmitted through any one of the four regions into parallel light and to cause light transmitted through different regions of the four regions of each sub-pixel to have different directions, each sub-pixel of the diffraction grating corresponds to one of a red sub-pixel, a green sun-pixel, and a blue sub-pixel of a display device;

a selector, which is divided into a plurality of sub-pixels each of which corresponds to one of the red sub-pixel, the green sun-pixel, and the blue sub-pixel of the display device, each sub-pixel of the selector being divided into four regions corresponding to the four regions of the corresponding sub-pixel of the diffraction grating, the selector being configured to control whether each region of the four regions of each sub-pixel of the selector transmits light or not; and

a liquid crystal lens, wherein the selector and the diffraction grating are positioned on a same side of the liquid crystal lens;

the liquid crystal lens comprises a liquid crystal layer provided between two substrates, a driving electrode and a common electrode configured to drive the liquid crystal layer, and the liquid crystal lens is divided into a plurality of sub-pixels corresponding to the sub-pixels of the diffraction grating, and is configured to control a direction of light transmitted through each sub-pixel of the liquid crystal lens,

wherein the selector, the diffraction grating and the liquid crystal lens are arranged in sequence along a light-emitting direction; and

wherein orthographic projections of the four regions of each sub-pixel of the diffraction grating on the selector completely overlap the four regions of the corresponding sub-pixel of the selector.

2. The grating assembly according to claim 1, wherein

each region of the selector is one liquid crystal switch.

3. The grating assembly according to claim 1, wherein

in one frame of image, the selector is configured to control the regions of each of the sub-pixels thereof to sequentially transmit light one by one.

4. A light source apparatus, comprising:

a surface light source to emit light; and

the grating assembly according to claim 1, the grating assembly being located in front of a light emitting surface of the surface light source.

5. The light source apparatus according to claim 4, wherein both the diffraction grating and the selector are positioned between the liquid crystal lens and the surface light source.

6. A driving method for a light source apparatus, wherein the light source apparatus is the light source apparatus according to claim 5, and the driving method comprising:

emitting light by the surface light source; and

controlling by the selector whether each region thereof transmits light or not.

7. The driving method according to claim 6, wherein both the diffraction grating and the selector are positioned between the liquid crystal lens and the surface light source, and the driving method further includes:

allowing light emitted onto each sub-pixel thereof to transmit, and controlling a direction of the transmitted light, by the liquid crystal lens.

8. The light source apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the diffraction grating is a light transmitting plate, and a plurality of diffraction chutes parallel to each other are provided in each region thereof, wherein the diffraction chutes in a same region have a same chute angle, and the diffraction chutes in different regions of a same sub-pixel have different chute angles and/or extending directions.

9. The light source apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

the surface light source includes a light guide plate and a blue light emitting device provided outside the light guide plate, the light guide plate is capable of emitting yellow light upon excitation by blue light;

the diffraction chutes in each region of the diffraction grating include blue light diffraction chutes and yellow light diffraction chutes having different widths, to convert transmitted blue and yellow light into light with a same direction, respectively.

10. A driving method for a light source apparatus, wherein the light source apparatus is the light source apparatus according to claim 9, and the driving method comprising:

emitting light by the surface light source; and

controlling by the selector whether each region thereof transmits light or not.

11. The driving method according to claim 10, wherein both the diffraction grating and the selector are positioned between the liquid crystal lens and the surface light source, and the driving method further includes:

allowing light emitted onto each sub-pixel thereof to transmit, and controlling a direction of the transmitted light, by the liquid crystal lens.

12. A driving method for a light source apparatus, wherein the light source apparatus is the light source apparatus according to claim 8, and the driving method comprising:

emitting light by the surface light source; and

controlling by the selector whether each region thereof transmits light or not.

13. The driving method according to claim 12, wherein both the diffraction grating and the selector are positioned between the liquid crystal lens and the surface light source, and the driving method further includes:

allowing light emitted onto each sub-pixel thereof to transmit, and controlling a direction of the transmitted light, by the liquid crystal lens.

14. The light source apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the selector is provided between the diffraction grating and the surface light source.

15. The light source apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

each region of the selector is one liquid crystal switch.

16. The light source apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

in one frame of image, the selector is configured to control the regions of each of its sub-pixels to sequentially transmit light one by one.

17. A driving method for a light source apparatus, wherein the light source apparatus is the light source apparatus according to claim 4, and the driving method comprising:

emitting light by the surface light source; and

controlling by the selector whether each region thereof transmits light or not.

18. The driving method according to claim 17, wherein both the diffraction grating and the selector are positioned between the liquid crystal lens and the surface light source, and the driving method further includes:

allowing light emitted onto each sub-pixel thereof to transmit, and controlling a direction of the transmitted light, by the liquid crystal lens.