KR102764677B1 - Multi-view glasses-free 3d display device capable of reducing the thickness of gap glass - Google Patents

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a multi-view autostereoscopic display device capable of reducing a gap glass thickness comprises: a lenticular lens formed of a plurality of convex lenses having a lens pitch of a preset length; a gap glass formed between a lower portion of the lenticular lens and a display panel; and a display panel disposed below the lenticular lens and including sub-pixels for providing a multi-view image, wherein each convex lens is formed such that images provided by an Nth convex lens and an N+1th convex lens (N being a natural number greater than 1) are images of different viewpoints.

Description

{MULTI-VIEW GLASSES-FREE 3D DISPLAY DEVICE CAPABLE OF REDUCING THE THICKNESS OF GAP GLASS}

The present invention relates to a structure of a glasses-free stereoscopic image display device for reducing the thickness of gap glass constituting a glasses-free three-dimensional display.

Stereoscopic image display technology is a technology that reproduces artificial stereoscopic images through flat display hardware. 3D images are provided to viewers through televisions or monitors that implement stereoscopic image display technology, and recently, the trend is expanding to include technology applied to mobile devices such as smartphones.

This stereoscopic image display technology is based on the binocular disparity of humans, and implements a virtual three-dimensional effect by simultaneously displaying two images corresponding to the left and right eyes on a two-dimensional display device and designing them to accurately transmit these to the left and right eyes.

Stereoscopic display devices come in glasses and glasses-free types, but the glasses-free type is the main type as it allows free viewing without the hassle of glasses.

There are various types of glasses-free methods, such as the parallax barrier method, the integral image method, and the holography method, but recently, the lenticular method, which is suitable for practically implementing multi-view images, has been attracting attention.

FIG. 1a is a first drawing for explaining a conventional lenticular type autostereoscopic image display device.

Figure 1b is a second drawing for explaining a conventional lenticular type autostereoscopic image display device.

As shown in Fig. 1a, the lenticular method is a method of vertically arranging a lenticular lens (100) with semi-cylindrical convex lenses (110) in front of the image panel to refract left and right images and send each image to each eye.

Accordingly, a conventional stereoscopic display device without glasses is manufactured by vertically attaching a lenticular lens (100) with convex lenses (110) continuously arranged on the front of a display panel (200) in which pixels are arranged in a checkerboard pattern.

However, this conventional method has a problem in that the gap glass becomes thicker to secure the distance between the lenticular lens (100) and the display surface, and the size and weight of the autostereoscopic stereoscopic display itself increase due to the thick gap glass.

In addition, the conventional lenticular method reproduces a stereoscopic image in a specific color filter area (221) that contacts the viewing line corresponding to each of the viewer's two eyes in the N, N+1, and N+2 lens lines of the convex lens (110) constituting the lenticular lens (100).

At this time, the color filter area (220) located near a specific color filter area (221) reproduces different images, so that the user can experience a three-dimensional stereoscopic image according to a change in the user's viewpoint.

However, as mentioned above, the structure between the lenticular lens (100) and the display panel (200) must be made so that only a specific color filter area (221) can be recognized from the user's viewpoint, so the value of the gap glass cannot but increase as the user's viewpoint becomes farther away, and as the gap glass (130) becomes thicker, the size and weight of the display itself cannot but increase.

Figure 2 is a drawing for explaining a technique for reducing the thickness of a conventional gap glass (130).

Meanwhile, in order to solve the problems of the conventional lenticular method mentioned above, research has continued to minimize the lens pitch, which is the width of the convex lens (110) that constitutes the lenticular lens (100).

For example, as shown in Fig. 2, by creating the color filter area (220) constituting the display panel (200) obliquely, the width of the lens pitch and the thickness of the gap glass (130) could be reduced.

However, this method also has high costs and manufacturing difficulty in the process of creating a display panel (200), and since one convex lens of the lenticular lens created obliquely covers the images of two or more subpixels, there is a problem in that the viewer has to watch a stereoscopic image that is blurry or out of focus without glasses. In addition, if the lenticular lens (100) is attached to the display panel (200) with even a slight misalignment, there is a problem in that a vivid stereoscopic image cannot be provided to the user.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention requires implementing a structure for reducing the thickness of gap glass in a glasses-free 3D display.

However, the technical tasks that this embodiment seeks to accomplish are not limited to the technical tasks described above, and other technical tasks may exist.

According to one embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above technical task, a multi-view autostereoscopic display device capable of reducing the gap glass thickness comprises: a lenticular lens formed of a plurality of convex lenses having a lens pitch of a preset length; a gap glass formed between a lower portion of the lenticular lens and a display panel; and a display panel disposed below the lenticular lens and including sub-pixels for providing a multi-view image, wherein each convex lens can be formed such that images provided by an Nth convex lens and an N+1th convex lens (N being a natural number greater than 1) are images of different viewpoints.

In addition, when the number of viewpoints provided by the display panel is N, the display panel emits light with N sub-pixel patterns, the sub-pixel patterns of each viewpoint are arranged in an alternating order, and each convex lens can be formed with a lens pitch such that the number of corresponding sub-pixel patterns is M (M is a natural number smaller than N).

Also, M can be a natural number close to N/2 or N/2.

Additionally, each sub-pixel is composed of a black area and a color filter area formed on the black area, and the area occupied by the color filter area among the total area of each sub-pixel may be less than half.

Additionally, if the sub-pixel pattern corresponding to a specific convex lens is a pattern for odd viewpoints, the sub-pixel pattern corresponding to a convex lens adjacent to the specific convex lens may be a pattern for even viewpoints.

Additionally, as the area occupied by the color filter region within the sub-pixel becomes smaller, the lens pitch of each convex lens of the lenticular lens can become smaller.

Additionally, each color filter area can be repeatedly arranged in a color form of RGBRGB order in both the vertical and horizontal directions.

In addition, the length of the lens pitch and the thickness of the gap glass may be smaller than those of a device that provides the same multi-viewpoint as the previously described multi-viewpoint autostereoscopic image display device, but provides all multi-viewpoint images equally for each convex lens.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the lens pitch can be reduced by arranging lenticular lenses parallel to pixels and alternately arranging the image order of subpixel patterns corresponding to each lens. As a result, the thickness of the gap glass can be reduced, and the same image resolution as the conventional image resolution can be provided.

FIG. 1a is a first drawing for explaining a conventional lenticular type autostereoscopic image display device.
Figure 1b is a second drawing for explaining a conventional lenticular type autostereoscopic image display device.
Figure 2 is a drawing for explaining a technology for reducing the thickness of a conventional gap glass.
FIG. 3a is a drawing showing the structure of a lenticular lens and a display panel according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3b is a drawing showing the structure of a display panel according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a drawing for explaining the operating principle of a multi-view autostereoscopic display device capable of reducing the thickness of a gap glass used to separate the distance between a lenticular lens and a display according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 5 and 6 are drawings for comparison of gap glass with a conventional autostereoscopic stereoscopic display according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, with reference to the attached drawings, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail so that those skilled in the art can easily practice the present invention. However, the present invention may be implemented in various different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. In addition, in order to clearly describe the present invention in the drawings, parts that are not related to the description are omitted, and similar parts are assigned similar drawing reference numerals throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a part is said to be "connected" to another part, this includes not only the case where it is "directly connected" but also the case where it is "electrically connected" with another element in between. Also, when a part is said to "include" a component, this should be understood to mean that it may further include other components, unless specifically stated to the contrary, and does not preclude the presence or possibility of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

The following examples are detailed descriptions to help understand the present invention and do not limit the scope of the present invention. Therefore, inventions of the same scope that perform the same function as the present invention will also fall within the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 3a is a drawing showing the structure of a lenticular lens (100), a gap glass (130), and a display panel (200) according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3b is a drawing showing the structure of a display panel (200) according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3a, the lenticular method to be implemented through the present invention may be configured to include a lenticular lens (100) composed of a plurality of convex lenses (110) having a lens pitch (120) of a preset length, and a gap glass (130) formed at a lower portion of the lenticular lens (100) to form a distance between the convex lens (110) and the display panel (200). Here, the convex lens is arranged parallel to the subpixel.

That is, as shown in the drawing, the shape of the lenticular lens (100) is such that multiple convex lenses (110) are arranged parallel and side by side, so that the user can perceive the location of the subpixel seen through the convex lens (110) differently depending on the viewing position.

Additionally, referring to FIG. 3b, the display panel (200) is positioned below the lenticular lens (100) and may include sub-pixels (210) for providing a multi-view image.

At this time, a rectangular color filter is arranged on the sub-pixel (210), and an image can be reproduced through the color filter area (220) formed on the sub-pixel (210). Specifically, each sub-pixel (210) is composed of a black area (230) and a color filter area (220) formed on the black area (230), and the area occupied by the color filter area (220) among the total area of each sub-pixel (210) can correspond to half.

Here, as the area occupied by the color filter region (220) in the sub-pixel (210) becomes smaller, the lens pitch (120) of each convex lens (110) of the lenticular lens (100) becomes smaller. Specifically, when the area of the color filter region (220) relative to the horizontal length of the sub-pixel (210) is formed to decrease at a specific ratio, the length of the lens pitch (120) is decreased by a specific ratio, and the thickness of the gap glass (130) is also decreased. For example, when the area occupied by the color filter region (220) on the sub-pixel (210) is reduced to 1/3, the width of the convex lens (110) (i.e., the lens pitch (120)) can be reduced to 1/3 compared to the existing one (for reference, FIG. 3b is an example of a 1/2 ratio). In the same way, if the color filter area (220) is reduced to 1/4, the width of the lens can be reduced to 1/4 compared to the existing size. At this time, if the size of the lenticular lens (100) is reduced to 1/3 compared to the existing size, different stereoscopic image viewpoints are displayed on three adjacent lens lines. At this time, the gap glass (130) is reduced in thickness by the width of the reduced Bolo lens (110), and as a result, the thickness of the display can be reduced.

In addition, the color filter area (220) existing on the sub-pixel (210) is arranged repeatedly in the form of colors in the RGBRGB order in both the up-down, left-right, and left-right directions, thereby making it different from the conventional technology. In the conventional case, when arranged like RGBRGB in the left-right direction (horizontal direction), it can be configured in a case where it is arranged in the same color in the vertical direction.

According to the structure of the present invention described above, each convex lens (110) constituting the lenticular lens (100) is formed so that the images provided by the Nth convex lens and the N+1th convex lens (110) are images of the same viewpoint, and when viewed through the left eye, the corresponding viewpoint image is different from the corresponding viewpoint image when viewed through the right eye, so that the user can create a three-dimensional effect by generating parallax between the two eyes. Here, N can be a natural number greater than N>1.

FIG. 4 is a drawing for explaining the operating principle of a multi-view autostereoscopic image display device capable of reducing the thickness of a gap glass (130) used to separate the distance between a lenticular lens (100) and a display according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, when the number of re-points provided by the display panel (200) is N, it can be confirmed that the display panel (200) emits light with N sub-pixel patterns (211), and the sub-pixel patterns (211) of each point are arranged in an alternating order.

Here, the sub-pixel pattern (211) may mean a group of sub-pixels (210) that emit light for the same point in time implemented on the display panel (200), and may correspond to a group of color filter regions (220) that are vertically listed with the same number on the drawing. For example, in FIG. 4, the display panel (200) can provide images of a total of seven points in time, and the positions at which the sub-pixel patterns (211) for providing an image of the fourth point in time emit light are illustrated. The number illustrated for each sub-pixel (210) in FIG. 2 indicates which point in time the image emitted by the corresponding sub-pixel (210) corresponds to. As can be confirmed again through FIG. 4, when sub-pixels (210) arranged in a vertical row to emit images of the same point in time are referred to as one group, the sub-pixel pattern (211) refers to these groups arranged spaced apart from each other. At this time, the spacing between each group may be uniform.

At this time, each convex lens (110) may be formed with a lens pitch (120) such that the number of corresponding sub-pixel patterns (211) becomes M. Here, the natural number M may be a natural number smaller than N, which is the number of re-points. For example, M, which is the number of sub-pixel patterns (211), may be half (N/2) of N, which is the number of re-points, or a natural number close to N/2. For example, if the display panel (200) provides 6 viewpoints, the number of corresponding sub-pixel patterns (211) for each convex lens (110) may be 3, and if the viewpoints are 7, the number of corresponding sub-pixel patterns (211) may be 3 or 4. Referring to FIG. 4, in a panel where a total of 7 viewpoints are provided, it can be confirmed that the sub-pixel patterns of the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 7th viewpoints are arranged correspondingly in one convex lens (110), and the sub-pixel patterns of the 2nd, 4th, and 6th viewpoints are arranged correspondingly in the neighboring convex lens (110).

Meanwhile, if the sub-pixel pattern (211) corresponding to a specific convex lens (110) as shown in the drawing is a pattern for odd-numbered viewpoints (1, 3, 5, 7??-th viewpoints), the sub-pixel pattern (211) corresponding to a convex lens (110) adjacent to a specific convex lens (110) may be a pattern for even-numbered viewpoints (2, 4, 6??-th viewpoints).

In the conventional lenticular method, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, color filter areas (220) are densely arranged on sub-pixels (210). For example, color filter areas (220) from 1 to 7 may be configured per one lens pitch (120). In addition, color filter areas (220) from 1 to 7 provide different views to the user, allowing the user to experience a stereoscopic image.

In contrast, in the display implemented in the present invention, the color filter areas (220) formed on each sub-pixel (210) are arranged on the screen with the spacing between them equal to the space in which one color filter area (220) is inserted. For example, four color filter areas (220) of No. 1, No. 3, No. 5, and No. 7 are arranged on the first convex lens (110), and three color filter areas (220) of No. 2, No. 4, and No. 6 are arranged on the second convex lens (110).

At this time, the color filter areas (220) arranged in each lens pitch (120) of the lenticular lens (100) are arranged in a sequential and repeated manner, and the color filter areas (220) corresponding to the same number filter the color for reproducing the same stereoscopic image. For example, in FIG. 4, when the user's viewpoint line is fixed to the color filter area (220) number 4, only the color filter area (220) corresponding to number 4 is enlarged and visible through the convex lens (110), and the remaining color filter areas (220) are invisible, thereby providing the user with a stereoscopic image. Each convex lens (110) constituting the lenticular lens (100) forms the images provided by the Nth convex lens and the N+1th convex lens (110) so that they are images of different viewpoints, thereby reducing the number of viewpoints that must be displayed within one convex lens (110) by half. If the viewpoint image is shown at the Nth, a black matrix (i.e., black area (230)) is shown through the (N+1)th convex lens (110), and only one viewpoint image is shown through the Nth and (N+1q)th convex lenses (110). This means that only half the number of subpixels (210) corresponding to the number of viewpoint images is needed to reproduce the entire viewpoint image on the Nth convex lens (110), so that the lens pitch (120) can be reduced. If a user views the viewpoint image corresponding to No. 1 through the Nth convex lens (110) with the right eye at a specific location, only black (black area (230)) is visible through the N+1th convex lens (110) with the same right eye. However, if the user views the Nth convex lens (110) with the left eye, only black (black area (230)) is visible, and the viewpoint image corresponding to No. 2 is visible through the N+1th convex lens (110). If the user moves to the left or right, the left eye and the right eye view different viewpoint images according to the same principle as above, thereby forming a three-dimensional effect and parallax.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are drawings for comparison of gap glass with a conventional autostereoscopic stereoscopic display according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In FIGS. 5 and 6, (a) is an example of a conventional display, and (b) is an example of a display to be implemented in the present invention. At this time, in FIG. 6 below, arrows indicating some viewpoints are depicted as penetrating the edge of a convex lens (120), but since an actual user's viewpoint passes through the center of the convex lens (120), the form depicted in the drawings does not limit the scope of the present invention.

Referring to Figures (a) and (b) in FIG. 5, when configuring an environment in which the same stereoscopic image can be viewed as before, the thickness of the gap glass (130) of the display implemented through the present invention corresponding to Figure (b) can be significantly reduced compared to the thickness of the gap glass (130) of Figure (a) corresponding to the existing technology.

In addition, when a stereoscopic image display provides multi-view, the user can view only a specific image among the seven images depending on the viewing position. In this case, even if a specific image is shown from the user's viewpoint at a specific location in the same manner as the conventional method, the method of the present invention can effectively reduce the thickness of the gap glass (130) compared to the conventional method.

Also, referring to Fig. 6, it can be confirmed that in Fig. 6 (a), 7 sub-pixel patterns (211) are arranged from 1 to 7 corresponding to each convex lens (120). In Fig. 6 (b), the parts with numbers engraved on a black background do not actually mean the parts where the pixels at the corresponding time points are arranged, but rather mean the black areas (230) between neighboring sub-pixels. However, if the sub-pixels (210) could be arranged in the corresponding black areas (230), the number indicates which time point the pixels were arranged at. Therefore, the sub-pixel patterns (211) arranged to correspond to the leftmost convex lens (110) in Fig. 6 (b) are the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th sub-pixel patterns (211), and the sub-pixel patterns (211) arranged to correspond to the neighboring convex lenses (110) are the 2nd, 4th, and 6th sub-pixel patterns (211). That is, the convex lens (110) of Fig. 6(b) has a corresponding sub-pixel pattern (211) reduced by half compared to the convex lens (110) of Fig. 6(a).

The red lines shown in the figure represent the lines along which the image corresponding to time point 1 is incident on the user. In Fig. 6(a), a total of four red lines are incident on the user, and in Fig. 6(b), a total of four red lines are also incident on the user. In other words, the cases of Fig. 6(a) and Fig. 6(b) both show the same resolution.

In summary, the structure of Fig. 6(b) can exhibit the same resolution even though the length of the lens pitch (120) and the gap glass (130) is reduced by half compared to Fig. 6(a).

To explain the above mathematically, in order to show different images to the user's left and right eyes at a specific distance (called the optimal viewing distance, OVD), the distance between the visual fields (areas where specific images are visible) must match the distance between the two eyes. Assuming that the distance between the pupils of a normal human is 65 mm, the interval between the color filter areas (220) of No. 1 and No. 7 must be configured at 65 mm intervals, so that a stereoscopic image must be reproduced within a total range of 65 mm * 7.

If the stereoscopic image is wider than 65mm*7, there will be cases where both eyes see the same image at a certain location.

The optimal range for preventing such a situation is proportional to the lens pitch (120) of the lenticular lens (100) and inversely proportional to the thickness of the gap glass (130). For example, assuming that the distance between the user and the display is 1 m and 7 images are played, the optimal range for the entire viewing length where images from viewpoints 1 to 7 are shown is 65*7=455 mm. If the existing lens pitch (120) is 1.0 mm, the required thickness of the gap glass (130) is 2.2 mm as in [Mathematical Formula 1] below.

[Mathematical Formula 1]:

r: optimal range of viewing length for the entire viewpoint image to be visible, L: optimal viewing distance, : Lens pitch, : Gap Glass

On the other hand, the lens pitch (120) reduced by the present invention can correspond to 1.0 mm*4.5/7=0.64 mm, and accordingly, the thickness of the gap glass can correspond to 1.4 mm.

Through the structure presented in this invention, the thickness of the gap glass (130) can be reduced by approximately 65% compared to the conventional method (this assumes that the area of the color filter region (220) is reduced to half of the conventional size).

The above description of the present invention is for illustrative purposes, and those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention can be easily modified into other specific forms without changing the technical idea or essential characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are exemplary in all respects and not restrictive. For example, each component described as a single component may be implemented in a distributed manner, and likewise, components described as distributed may be implemented in a combined form.

The scope of the present invention is indicated by the claims described below rather than the detailed description above, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalent concepts should be interpreted as being included in the scope of the present invention.

100: Display device 110: Convex lens
120: Lens Pitch 130: Gap Glass
200: Display panel 210: Sub pixel
211: Sub-pixel pattern 220: Color filter area
221: Specific color filter area 230: Black area

Claims (8)

In a multi-view stereoscopic display device capable of reducing the gap glass thickness,
A lenticular lens comprising a plurality of convex lenses having a lens pitch of a preset length;
Gap glass formed between the lower portion of the lenticular lens and the display panel; and
A display panel is disposed below the lenticular lens and includes sub-pixels for providing a multi-view image,
A multi-view autostereoscopic image display device capable of reducing the gap glass thickness, wherein each of the above convex lenses is formed such that the images provided by the Nth convex lens and the N+1th convex lens (N is a natural number greater than 1) are images from different viewpoints. In paragraph 1,
When the number of re-points provided by the display panel is N, the display panel emits light with N sub-pixel patterns, and the sub-pixel patterns at each point are arranged in an alternating order.
A multi-view stereoscopic display device capable of reducing the gap glass thickness, wherein each of the above convex lenses is formed with a lens pitch such that the number of corresponding sub-pixel patterns is M (M is a natural number smaller than N). In the second paragraph,
A multi-view stereoscopic display device capable of reducing the gap glass thickness, wherein M is a natural number close to N/2 or N/2. In paragraph 1,
A multi-view stereoscopic display device capable of reducing the gap glass thickness, wherein each of the above sub-pixels is composed of a black area and a color filter area formed on the black area, and the area occupied by the color filter area of the total area of each of the above sub-pixels is less than half. In paragraph 4,
A multi-view autostereoscopic image display device capable of reducing the gap glass thickness, wherein the sub-pixel pattern corresponding to a specific convex lens is a pattern for odd viewpoints, and the sub-pixel pattern corresponding to a convex lens adjacent to the specific convex lens is a pattern for even viewpoints. In paragraph 4,
A multi-view stereoscopic display device capable of reducing the gap glass thickness, wherein the lens pitch of each convex lens of the lenticular lens becomes smaller as the area occupied by the color filter region within the sub-pixel becomes smaller. In paragraph 5,
A multi-view stereoscopic display device capable of reducing the gap glass thickness, wherein each of the above color filter areas is repeatedly arranged in a color form of RGBRGB order in both the up-down and left-right directions. In paragraph 1,
A multi-view autostereoscopic image display device capable of reducing the gap glass thickness, wherein the length of the lens pitch and the thickness of the gap glass provide the same multi-viewpoint as the device of claim 1, but are smaller than those of a device that provides all multi-viewpoint images equally for each convex lens.