JPH09244166A - Stereoscopic display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily provide a stereoscopic display device which is made small in size and light in weight and whose screen is bright by constituting a left-eye display means and a right-eye display means respectively of digital micro mirror elements, and arranging an illumination means irradiating the digital micro mirror elements with light. SOLUTION: The left-eye display means 8 and the right-eye display means 9 each constituted of the digital micro mirror element are arranged at positions before a left eye 23a and a right eye 23b in a device main body 21. The aluminum mirror of the digital micro mirror element being the display means 8 and 9 is individually driven by an image control means 25 and inclined so that the reflected light may be formed as a specified image on the left eye 23a and the right eye 23b. Then, the illumination means 31a and 31b irradiating the digital micro mirror element with the light are arranged. Since the light utilization efficiency of the digital micro mirror element is very high, the bright screen is easily obtained by a low-luminance compact backlight 33.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stereoscopic display device for stereoscopically displaying an image on a display element.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a head mounted display (HMD) has been developed which has independent display units for the left and right eyes and which is mounted on the head for stereoscopic display. Since such a head-mounted display is used by mounting it on the head, reducing the size and weight of the device is an important issue for improving the mountability.

FIG. 3 shows a head mount display of this type. In this head mount display, the left eye display means 1a and the right eye display means 1b are small CRTs (Cathode R) of about 1 inch each.
The image from the CRT is enlarged by the observation lenses 2a and 2b and guided to the left eye 3a and the right eye 3b.

Then, the left-eye display means 1a and the right-eye display means 1b are respectively supplied with image signals containing both-eyes visual difference information, and the images are stereoscopically recognized by visual observation with both eyes 3a, 3b. However, in such a head-mounted display, since the CRT is used for the display means 1a and 1b, there is a problem that the total length of the head-mounted display becomes long and it is difficult to perform bright display.

Therefore, recently, a display device using an LCD (liquid crystal display element) has been developed. FIG. 4 shows a head mounted display of this type. In this head mounted display, the left eye display means 4a and the right eye display means 4b are each composed of a transmissive LCD, and a backlight 5a on the back surface of the LCD is shown. ，
By illuminating the LCD from 5b through the illumination lenses 6a and 6b, the image on the LCD is changed to the observation lens 2
It is enlarged by a and 2b and guided to the left eye 3a and the right eye 3b.

In such a head mounted display, it is possible to perform a relatively bright display by increasing the light amount of the backlights 5a and 5b.

[0007]

However, in such a conventional head-mounted display using a transmissive LCD, since the light transmittance of the LCD is about 12%, the backlight is tried to brighten the displayed image. 5
When the brightness of a and 5b is increased, the backlights 5a and 5b are increased.
Is very large, the head-mounted display becomes large, and the weight increases.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a small-sized, lightweight stereoscopic display device having a bright screen.

[0009]

A stereoscopic display device according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises an optical system for the left eye, which guides an image on the left eye display means to the left eye,
In a stereoscopic display device including a right-eye optical system that guides the image of the right-eye display unit to the right eye, the left-eye display unit and the right-eye display unit are each configured by a digital micromirror element, and light is applied to the digital micromirror element. It is characterized by comprising illumination means for irradiating.

A stereoscopic display device according to a second aspect is the stereoscopic display device according to the first aspect, wherein the illuminating means is arranged at a position near an ear or a forehead.

(Operation) In the stereoscopic display device according to the first aspect, the light from the illumination means is reflected by the digital micromirror element for the left eye display and the right eye display, and the left eye is passed through the left eye optical system and the right eye optical system. And led to the right eye.

In the stereoscopic display device according to the second aspect, the illumination means is arranged at a position near the ear or the forehead.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a stereoscopic display device according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to a head mounted display. Further, in this embodiment, the left-eye display means 8 and the right-eye display means 9 are each constituted by a digital micromirror element. This digital micromirror element is, for example,
"Nikkei Electronics 1993, No. 6-21, No. 65
Page "(published by Nikkei BP) and is configured as shown in FIG. 2, for example.

FIG. 2A is a top view of the device. A minute aluminum mirror 1 with a side of about 17 μm on the surface of the substrate 10a.
1 is arranged, for example, at about 640 × 480 pixels. 2B to 2D are cross-sectional views of the aluminum mirror 11 in the diagonal direction (AA ').

Posts 12a and 12b are projected on the substrate 10a, and diagonal portions of the aluminum mirror 11 are individually supported by the posts 12a and 12b. Also. The electrodes 13 and 14 are provided on the substrate 10a so as to face the other diagonal portion of the aluminum mirror 11.
Is arranged. In the digital micromirror device having such a structure, when the columns 12a and 12b and the electrodes 13 and 14 are set to the same potential, the aluminum mirror 11 is parallel to the substrate 10a (FIG. 2B).

When a potential difference (for example, 5 V) is applied between the columns 12a and 12b and the electrode 13, the Coulomb attractive force causes the aluminum mirror 11 to tilt toward the electrode 13 side (FIG. 2 (c)). Conversely, when a potential difference is applied between the columns 12a and 12b and the electrode 14, the aluminum mirror 11 tilts toward the electrode 14 side (FIG. 2 (d)).

As described above, the direction of the luminous flux reflected by each aluminum mirror 11 can be changed by the voltage applied to the electrodes 13 and 14. Circuits for individually driving the aluminum mirrors 11 are formed on the substrate 10a, and address information for designating these circuits and the like can be individually provided to individually drive the aluminum mirrors 11.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 21 indicates an apparatus main body made of resin, for example, and is located in front of the left eye 23a and the right eye 23b of the apparatus main body 21,
The left-eye display means 8 and the right-eye display means 9 composed of the above-mentioned digital micromirror element are arranged.

These left-eye display means 8 and right-eye display means 9 include an aluminum mirror 1 of a digital micromirror element.
The image control means 25 for individually driving 1 is connected. An observation lens 27a, which is an optical system for the left eye, that guides the image of the left eye display unit 8 to the left eye 23a is arranged in front of the left eye 23a, and an image of the right eye display unit 9 is displayed in front of the right eye 23b. An observation lens 27b, which is an optical system for the right eye and is guided to the right eye 23b, is arranged.

On the other hand, the left ear 29a of the apparatus main body 21
And the illumination means 31a and 31b are arrange | positioned in the vicinity of the right ear 29b. The illumination means 31a and 31b are composed of a backlight 33 and an illumination lens 35. In the stereoscopic display device described above, the illumination means 31a, 3
The light from the backlight 33 of 1b is reflected by the left eye display means 8 and the right eye display means 9 which are digital micromirror elements via the illumination lens 35, and the reflected light is passed through the observation lenses 27a and 27b to the left eye 23a. And to the right eye 23b.

On the other hand, the left-eye display means 8 and the right-eye display means 9 are aluminum mirrors 11 of digital micromirror elements.
Are individually driven by the image control means 25, and the reflected light is tilted so as to form a predetermined image on the left eye 23a and the right eye 23b. It should be noted that the image control means 25 is given a signal including both visual difference information, and the image is stereoscopically recognized by visually observing with both eyes 23a and 23b.

In the stereoscopic display device constructed as described above, the left-eye display means 8 and the right-eye display means 9 are each constituted by a digital micromirror element, and illumination means 31a, 31b for irradiating the digital micromirror element with light. Since the arrangement is made, it is possible to easily provide a stereoscopic display device that is small in size, lightweight, and has a bright screen.
That is, since the light utilization efficiency of a digital micromirror element is generally as high as about 80%, the L
Compared with the case of using a CD, a bright screen can be easily obtained by the backlight 33 having a low luminance and a small size.

Since the size and weight of the digital micromirror element are almost the same as those of the LCD, the size of the device is reduced by the size and weight of the backlight 33.
The weight can be reduced. Further, in the above-described stereoscopic display device, the illumination means 31a, 31b are connected to the ears 29a, 29.
Since it is arranged at a position near b, the illumination means 31a,
31b does not project to the front of the face, and the device can be made compact.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the illumination means 31a, 31b are arranged near the ears 29a, 29b has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and for example, the forehead. It may be arranged in the vicinity of. Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a head mounted display mounted on the head has been described, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and for example, as a simple peek The present invention can be widely applied to a configured stereoscopic display device.

[0026]

As described above, in the stereoscopic display device according to the first aspect, the left-eye display means and the right-eye display means are each constituted by a digital micromirror element, and the illumination means for irradiating the digital micromirror element with light. Since the arrangement is made, it is possible to easily provide a stereoscopic display device that is small in size, lightweight, and has a bright screen. In the stereoscopic display device according to the second aspect, since the illuminating means is arranged at a position near the ears or the forehead, the illuminating means does not project in front of the face, and the device can be made compact.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of a stereoscopic display device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing details of the digital micromirror element in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a stereoscopic display device using a conventional CRT.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a stereoscopic display device using a conventional LCD.

[Explanation of symbols]

 8 left eye display means 9 right eye display means 23a left eye 23b right eye 29a left ear 29b right ear 31a, 31b illumination means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A stereoscopic display device comprising a left-eye optical system that guides an image on the left-eye display unit to the left eye, and a right-eye optical system that guides an image on the right-eye display unit to the right eye, wherein the left-eye display unit and the right-eye display unit. And a illuminating means for irradiating the digital micromirror element with light. 2. The stereoscopic display device according to claim 1, wherein the illuminating means is arranged at a position near an ear or a forehead.