Cell type parallax-barrier and stereoscopic image display apparatus using the same
View Patent ↗The present invention discloses a parallax-barrier comprising a Liquid-Crystal layer (LC layer) including pixels arranged in cell type matrix structure to form a barrier of horizontal or vertical direction according to a predetermined control method, a controller for controlling said pixels of said LC layer in order to form a barrier pattern of horizontal or vertical direction pattern, by turning said pixels on or off selectively according to said control method, a lower layer formed between said LC layer and a predetermined display module in order to dispose said LC layer and said controller at a position off from said display module by a predetermined distance, an upper layer formed on the top of said LC layer in order to dispose said LC layer and said controller, and a polarizer formed on the top of said upper layer, and visualizing said barrier according to said barrier pattern which is formed on said LC layer by controlling polarization angle of the light, wherein said light being emitted from said display module and passing through said lower layer, said LC layer and said upper layer. Thus, stereoscopic images that are rotated in the horizontal/vertical direction can be displayed using said parallax-barrier and said stereoscopic image display apparatus comprising said parallax-barrier.
1. A parallax-barrier module comprising:
a Liquid-Crystal layer (LC layer) including cells arranged in a cell type matrix structure to form barriers of a horizontal or a vertical direction according to a predetermined control method;
a controller for controlling said cells of said LC layer in order to form said barriers of the horizontal or the vertical direction, by turning said cells on or off selectively according to said control method;
a lower layer formed between said LC layer and a predetermined display module in order to dispose said LC layer and said controller at a position off from said display module by a predetermined distance;
an upper layer formed on the top of said LC layer in order to dispose said LC layer and said controller; and
a polarizer formed on the top of said upper layer, and visualizing said barriers formed on said LC layer by controlling a polarization angle of light, wherein said light is emitted from said display module and passing through said lower layer, said LC layer and said upper layer,
wherein said cell type matrix structure includes:
a first cell row having a first cell whose width*length is a*c and a second cell whose width*length is b*c arranged in alternately repeated manner along the horizontal direction; and
a second cell row having a third cell whose width*length is a*d and a fourth cell whose width*length is b*d in alternately repeated manner along the horizontal direction,
wherein said first cell row and said second cell row are arranged in alternately repeated manner along the vertical direction, and
wherein said arranged fourth cells whose width*length is b*d maintain off,
wherein said length d of said arranged fourth cells is an interval of said barriers of the horizontal direction, and
wherein said width b of said arranged fourth cells is an interval of said barriers of the vertical direction.
2. The parallax-barrier module according to claim 1 , wherein cell-gaps are formed between said cells.
3. The parallax-barrier module according to claim 1 , wherein said controller comprises:
a first segment terminal (S 1 ), a second segment terminal (S 2 ); and
a first common terminal (C 1 ), a second common terminal (C 2 ),
wherein said first segment terminal is connected to the odd-numbered cells of said cell column of the vertical direction, and said second segment terminal is connected to the even-numbered cells of said cell column of the vertical direction,
wherein said first common terminal is connected to the odd-numbered cells of said cell column of the horizontal direction, and said second common terminal is connected to the even-numbered cells of said cell column of the horizontal direction.
4. The parallax-barrier module according to claim 3 , wherein said control method to form said barriers of the horizontal or vertical direction includes:
forming said barriers of the vertical direction by activating said first segment terminal, said first common terminal and said second common terminal; and
forming said barriers of the horizontal direction by activating said first segment terminal, said second segment terminal and said first common terminal.
5. The parallax-barrier module according to claim 1 , wherein said controller comprises:
a first segment terminal (S 1 ), a second segment terminal (S 2 ); and
a first common terminal (C 1 ), a second common terminal (C 2 ),
wherein said first segment terminal is connected to the odd-numbered cells of said cell column of the horizontal direction, and said second segment terminal is connected to the even-numbered cells of said cell column of the horizontal direction, wherein said first common terminal is connected to the odd-numbered cells of said cell column of the vertical direction, and said second common terminal is connected to the even-numbered cells of said cell column of the vertical direction.
6. The parallax-barrier module according to claim 5 , wherein said control method to form said barriers of horizontal or vertical direction includes:
forming said barriers of the horizontal direction by activating said first segment terminal, said first common terminal and said second common terminal; and
forming said barriers of the vertical direction by activating said first segment terminal, said second segment terminal and said first common terminal.
7. The parallax-barrier module according to claim 1 , wherein an etching direction of said lower layer in contact with said LC layer is equal to a polarization direction of light emitted from said display module to minimize a reduction of luminance of said light.
8. The parallax-barrier module according to claim 1 , wherein an etching direction of said upper layer in contact with said LC layer is rotated direction by 90 degree from an etching direction of said lower layer in contact with said LC layer, such that said barriers are formed or eliminated according to whether said LC layer is driven or not.
9. The parallax-barrier module according to claim 1 , wherein said polarizer is located only in front of said upper layer, and
wherein a polarization direction of said polarizer is the same as the etching direction of said upper layer.
10. A stereoscopic image display apparatus comprising:
a display module for providing stereoscopic image contents; and
a parallax-barrier module being capable of forming barriers of a horizontal or a vertical direction according to a predetermined control method,
wherein said parallax-barrier module comprises:
a Liquid-Crystal layer (LC layer) including cells arranged in a cell type matrix structure to form said barriers of the horizontal or the vertical direction according to said control method;
a controller for controlling said cells of said LC layer in order to form said barriers of the horizontal or the vertical direction, by turning said cells on or off selectively according to said control method;
a lower layer formed between said LC layer and said display module in order to dispose said LC layer and said controller at a position off from said display module by a predetermined distance;
an upper layer formed on the top of said LC layer in order to dispose said LC layer and said controller; and
a polarizer formed on the top of said upper layer, and visualizing said barriers formed on said LC layer by controlling a polarization angle of light, wherein said light is emitted from said display module and passing through said lower layer, said LC layer and said upper layer,
wherein said cell type matrix structure includes:
a first cell row having a first cell whose width*length is a*c and a second cell whose width*length is b*c arranged in alternately repeated manner along the horizontal direction; and
a second cell row having a third cell whose width*length is a*d and a fourth cell whose width*length is b*d in alternately repeated manner along said horizontal direction,
wherein said first cell row and said second cell row are arranged in alternately repeated manner along the vertical direction, and
wherein said arranged fourth cells whose width*length is b*d maintain off,
wherein said length d of said arranged fourth cells is an interval of said barriers of the horizontal direction, and
wherein said width b of said arranged fourth cells is an interval of said barriers of the vertical direction.
11. The stereoscopic image display apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein said display module is one of a flat panel display module, a Thin-Film-Transistor Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) module, an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED), a Field Emission Display (FED) module and a Plasma Display Panel (PDP) module.