CN113311601B

CN113311601B - Peep-proof device

Info

Publication number: CN113311601B
Application number: CN202010125962.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈谚宗; 赖俊延
Original assignee: Hannstar Display Corp
Current assignee: Hannstar Display Corp
Priority date: 2020-02-27
Filing date: 2020-02-27
Publication date: 2024-04-05
Anticipated expiration: 2040-02-27
Also published as: CN113311601A

Abstract

The invention discloses a peep-proof device, which comprises a first substrate, a second substrate arranged opposite to the first substrate, a liquid crystal layer arranged between the first substrate and the second substrate, and a plurality of main interval units arranged between the first substrate and the second substrate. Any one of the plurality of main spacing units includes an upper base and a lower base, the upper base being opposite to the lower base, and the upper base being farther from the first substrate than the lower base. The bottom has a bottom area, the privacy device has a device area, a ratio of a sum of the bottom areas of the plurality of main spacer units to the device area is defined as a bottom density, and the bottom density is less than 1%.

Description

Peep-proof device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a peep-proof device, and more particularly, to a peep-proof device including a spacer unit.

Background

In the existing display device, the peep-proof device can be applied to the display device, so that a user can prevent a picture displayed by the display device from being watched by other people when using the display device, and personal privacy or personal data can be further protected. However, the conventional peep-proof device has poor peep-proof effect due to light leakage at the edge of the spacer unit, so how to improve the peep-proof effect of the peep-proof device is one of the important issues.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a privacy device comprising a specifically designed main spacer unit, which may have a good privacy effect when applied to a display apparatus.

In some embodiments, the privacy device includes a first substrate, a second substrate disposed opposite the first substrate, a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, and a plurality of primary spacer elements disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. Any one of the plurality of main spacing units includes an upper base and a lower base, the upper base being opposite to the lower base and the upper base being farther from the first substrate than the lower base, wherein the lower base has a lower base area. The peep-proof device has a device area, and the ratio of the sum of the bottom areas of the main spacing units to the device area is defined as a bottom density, and the bottom density is less than 1%.

In some embodiments, the privacy device includes a first substrate, a second substrate disposed opposite the first substrate, a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, a plurality of main spacer units disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, and a plurality of light emitting portions. Any one of the plurality of main spacer units includes an upper base and a lower base, wherein the lower base has a lower base area with a diameter of X microns. The light emitting portions correspond to one of the plurality of main spacing units, respectively, and are adjacent to edges of the bottoms of the corresponding main spacing units. Any one of the light emitting portions has a light emitting area, and a ratio of the light emitting area to a lower bottom area of the corresponding main spacing unit is defined as a light emitting area ratio Y, wherein the value Y satisfies y=0.0071 x-0.042.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a peep-proof device according to a first embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic top view of a main spacer unit according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial top view of fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional schematic view of fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a schematic top view of a main spacer unit according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a schematic top view of a main spacer unit according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Wherein reference numerals are as follows:

100. peep-proof device

100e edge

A1 Bottom area

A2 Upper floor area

A3 Area of device

AL1 first alignment layer

AL2 second alignment layer

B1, B2 region

DE defect

DS, DS' lower bottom

d1 Distance of

E1 First electrode

E2 Second electrode

L1, L2, L3, L4, L5 light emitting region

LC liquid crystal layer

LCM liquid crystal molecules

LP1, LP2 light-emitting part

P1, P2 polarizer

S1 upper surface

S2 lower surface

SB substrate layer

SP main interval unit

SP' secondary spacer unit

SUB1 first substrate

SUB2 second substrate

US, US' upper sole

X transverse direction

XR diameter

Ratio of Y light emitting area

Detailed Description

The present invention may be understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, it being noted that, for the sake of easy understanding of the reader and brevity of the drawings, various drawings depict only a portion of the device and specific elements of the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. In addition, the number and size of the components in the drawings are illustrative only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Certain terms are used throughout the description and following claims to refer to particular components. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that manufacturers may refer to a same component by different names. It is not intended to distinguish between components that differ in function but not name. In the following description and in the claims, the terms "include" and "comprise" are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean "include, but not limited to …".

It will be understood that when an element or film is referred to as being "on" or "connected to" another element or film, it can be directly on or connected to the other element or film or intervening elements or films may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly on" or "directly connected to" another element or film, there are no intervening elements or films present therebetween.

It should be understood that the following embodiments may be used to replace, reorganize, and mix features of several different embodiments to accomplish other embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Please refer to fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a peep-proof device according to a first embodiment of the invention. After the peep-proof device 100 of the present embodiment is disposed on the display apparatus, for example, it is not easy for an observer located at a large viewing angle to view the display screen of the display apparatus. As shown in fig. 1, the peep-proof device 100 of the present embodiment may include a first substrate SUB1, a second substrate SUB2, a plurality of main spacer units (spacers) SP, and a liquid crystal layer LC. The second substrate SUB2 is disposed opposite to the first substrate SUB1, and the first substrate SUB1 and the second substrate SUB2 may be hard substrates, such as glass, quartz, ceramics, sapphire, other materials suitable as substrates, or a combination thereof, or may be flexible substrates, such as Polyimide (PI), polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (polyethylene terephthalate, PET), other suitable substrates, or a combination thereof, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The liquid crystal layer LC may be disposed between the first substrate SUB1 and the second substrate SUB2, and includes a plurality of liquid crystal molecules LCM, for example, but not limited to, twisted nematic (twisted nematic) liquid crystal, and may include any other suitable liquid crystal type. The main spacer SP may be disposed between the first substrate SUB1 and the second substrate SUB2, and may include, for example, a photoresist material or other suitable materials, but is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the master spacer SP may be, for example, a ball spacer (ball spacer), or may be of any other suitable spacer type. In this embodiment, the main spacing unit SP has an upper bottom and a lower bottom. For example, as shown in fig. 1, the main spacing unit SP may include an upper substrate US and a lower substrate DS, wherein the upper substrate US is farther from the first substrate SUB1 than the lower substrate DS, and the lower substrate DS is closer to the first substrate SUB1, that is, the upper substrate US is farther from the first substrate SUB1 than the lower substrate DS. In the present embodiment, the main spacer SP is formed or disposed on the surface of the first substrate SUB1, but not limited thereto, the structure of the main spacer SP disposed on the first substrate SUB1 shown in fig. 1 is only exemplary, and the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, in other embodiments, the main spacing unit SP may be disposed on the second substrate SUB2, where a surface of the main spacing unit SP farther from the second substrate SUB2 may be defined as an upper substrate, and a surface of the main spacing unit SP closer to the second substrate SUB2 may be defined as a lower substrate, that is, in different embodiments, the main spacing unit SP may be disposed on the first substrate SUB1 and/or the second substrate SUB2, and a surface of the main spacing unit SP farther from the substrate on which it is disposed may be defined as an upper substrate, and a surface of the main spacing unit SP closer to the substrate on which it is disposed may be defined as a lower substrate. The definition of the upper and lower bottoms of the main spacer units SP can be applied to the embodiments and the modified embodiments of the present invention, and thus will not be repeated hereinafter. According to the present embodiment, as shown in fig. 1, the lower bottom DS may have a lower bottom area A1, the upper bottom US may have an upper bottom area A2, and the surface of the privacy device 100 in the lateral direction X may have a device area A3. It should be noted that the device area A3 may be, for example, an area of a display device to which the peep-proof device 100 is applied, or an area of a light-transmitting area of the peep-proof device 100, but is not limited thereto. According to the present embodiment, the ratio of the sum of the bottom areas A1 of the plurality of main spacing units SP to the device area A3 of the privacy device 100 may be defined as a bottom density, wherein the bottom density of the present embodiment may be less than 1.0%, preferably, the bottom density may be greater than or equal to 0.05% and less than 1.0%, but not limited thereto. When the bottom density is less than 0.05%, the main spacer units SP may not provide a good supporting effect of the privacy device 100, and when the bottom density is greater than 1.0%, the area occupied by the main spacer units SP is too large, and the positions corresponding to the main spacer units SP generally do not have liquid crystal molecules LCM, so that the number of liquid crystal molecules LCM in the liquid crystal layer LC is reduced, which may result in poor privacy effect. It should be noted that, although the bottom bottoms DS of the plurality of main spacer units SP shown in fig. 1 have the same bottom area A1, the present invention is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, different main spacer units SP may have different bottom areas A1, and the definition of bottom density may be the ratio of the sum of such different bottom areas A1 to the device area A3. Furthermore, the bottom density is also related to the number of the main spacer units SP, so that the bottom density can be made smaller than 1.0%, more preferably greater than or equal to 0.05% and smaller than 1.0% by matching the number of the main spacer units SP with the design of the bottom area A1 (e.g., the number of the main spacer units SP may not be too large). In addition, in the present embodiment, the ratio of the sum of the upper bottom areas A2 of the upper bottoms US of the plurality of main spacing units SP to the device area A3 may be defined as an upper bottom density, wherein the upper bottom density may be less than 0.5%, preferably, the upper bottom density may be greater than or equal to 0.02% and less than 0.5%, but not limited thereto. When the upper substrate density is less than 0.02%, the main spacer units SP may not provide a good supporting effect of the peep-proof device 100, and when the upper substrate density is greater than 0.5%, the area occupied by the main spacer units SP is too large, and the positions corresponding to the main spacer units SP do not have liquid crystal molecules LCM, so that the number of liquid crystal molecules LCM in the liquid crystal layer LC is reduced, which may result in poor peep-proof effect. Also, the plurality of main spacing units SP having the same upper bottom area A2 in fig. 1 are merely exemplary, and the present invention is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, different main spacing units SP may have different upper base areas A2. Furthermore, the upper bottom density is also related to the number of the main spacer units SP, so that the upper bottom density can be made smaller than 0.5%, more preferably larger than or equal to 0.02% and smaller than 0.5% by matching the number of the main spacer units SP with the design of the upper bottom area A2 (e.g. the number of the main spacer units SP may not be too large). It should be noted that when the main spacer units SP are spherical spacers and have no upper and lower bottoms, the density of the main spacer units SP may be defined as the number of main spacer units SP per unit device area, where the range of the density may refer to the range of the upper and lower bottoms density, or may have different density ranges according to the design requirement, and the invention is not limited thereto. The features described above regarding the upper bottom density and the lower bottom density of the main spacer units SP may be applied to the various embodiments and the modified embodiments of the present invention, and thus will not be described in detail. It should be noted that the main spacer SP is a gap height extending through the entire LC layer LC in the direction Z, and the bottom DS of the main spacer SP substantially contacts the film on the surface of the substrate, for example, the bottom DS of the main spacer SP contacts the film on the surface of the first substrate SUB1 in fig. 1, for example, the first electrode E1, and the top US of the main spacer SP is close to the surface of the opposite substrate (for example, the second substrate SUB 2), such that there is almost no gap between the film on the surface of the top US and the film on the second substrate SUB2, and thus there is almost no LC molecule LCM at the position corresponding to the main spacer SP. In contrast, the liquid crystal layer LC may optionally further include a secondary spacer SP ', and in general, the upper substrate US ' of the secondary spacer SP ' and the film on the surface thereof may have a distance d1 from the second substrate SUB2 and the film on the surface thereof, so that the liquid crystal molecule LCM still exists between the secondary spacer SP ' and the second substrate SUB2, i.e. there is still the liquid crystal molecule LCM at the position corresponding to the secondary spacer SP '. The above description is for distinguishing the difference between the primary spacer SP and the secondary spacer SP'. When the present invention calculates the sum of the upper bottom area A2 of the upper bottom US of the primary spacer unit SP and the sum of the lower bottom area A1 of the lower bottom DS, the area of the upper bottom US 'or the lower bottom DS' of the secondary spacer unit SP is not calculated.

In addition to the above components or films, the peep-proof device 100 of the present embodiment may further include a first electrode E1, a second electrode E2, a first alignment layer AL1, a second alignment layer AL2, and at least one polarizer (the polarizer P1 and the polarizer P2 are shown in fig. 1). The first electrode E1 may be disposed between the first substrate SUB1 and the main spacer SP, the second electrode E2 may be disposed between the second substrate SUB2 and the main spacer SP, or the liquid crystal layer LC may be disposed between the first electrode E1 and the second electrode E2, but not limited thereto. The first electrode E1 and the second electrode E2 may include a suitable transparent conductive material, such as Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), but not limited thereto. In the present embodiment, the first electrode E1 and the second electrode E2 can be used as electrodes for driving the liquid crystal layer LC to control the switch of the peep-proof device 100, but not limited thereto. The first alignment layer AL1 is disposed on the surface of the first electrode E1 and can cover the main spacer SP, and the second alignment layer AL2 is disposed on the surface of the second electrode E2, or the main spacer SP is disposed between the first electrode E1 and the first alignment layer AL1, and the second alignment layer AL2 is disposed between the main spacer SP and the second electrode E2, but not limited thereto. In some embodiments, when the main spacer unit SP is disposed on the second substrate SUB, the second alignment layer AL2 may also be disposed to cover the main spacer unit SP. In some embodiments, the main spacer SP may be disposed between the first electrode E1 and the first substrate SUB1, or the main spacer SP may be disposed between the second electrode E2 and the second substrate SUB2, but not limited thereto. The materials of the first alignment layer AL1 and the second alignment layer AL2 may include, for example, polyimide (polyimide) or other suitable materials, but are not limited thereto. In the present embodiment, the alignment directions of the first alignment layer AL1 and the second alignment layer AL2 may be different, or may be perpendicular to each other, so that the liquid crystal molecules LCM in the liquid crystal layer LC are rotated from bottom to top, but not limited thereto. The polarizer P1 may be disposed on the outer surface of the first substrate SUB1, and the polarizer P2 may be disposed on the outer surface of the second substrate SUB2, wherein the light passing direction of the polarizer P1 may be perpendicular to the light passing direction of the polarizer P2, but not limited thereto. In summary, for example, when the liquid crystal molecule LCM in the liquid crystal layer LC does not change direction due to the electric field of the first electrode E1 and the second electrode E2, the liquid crystal molecule LCM may exhibit a rotation distribution due to the first alignment layer AL1 and the second alignment layer AL2, such that the direction of the light passing through the liquid crystal layer LC deflects 90 degrees along with the liquid crystal molecule LCM, and since the light passing directions of the polarizer P1 and the polarizer P2 are perpendicular to each other, the intensity of the light passing through the polarizer P2 and the intensity of the light passing through the polarizer P1 are not greatly different, and the peep preventing device 100 may be regarded as a closed state. When the liquid crystal molecule LCM in the liquid crystal layer LC rotates due to the electric field between the first electrode E1 and the second electrode E2, the polarization direction of the light is also affected, so that a portion of the light is absorbed by the polarizer P1, and therefore the intensity of the light passing through the polarizer P2 is larger than that of the light passing through the polarizer P1, that is, the intensity difference between the light before and after passing through the peep preventing device 100 is larger, and the peep preventing device 100 can be regarded as an on state. It should be noted that the operation of the peep-proof device 100 of the present invention is not limited to the above example, and may have different component arrangements or operation modes according to design requirements. In addition, although the polarizer P1 and the polarizer P2 are shown in fig. 1, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, in some embodiments, the peep-proof device 100 may include only one polarizer (the polarizer P1 or the polarizer P2), and the substrate (the first substrate SUB1 or the second substrate SUB 2) of the peep-proof device 100 without the polarizer on the surface may be used for connecting to a display device. For example, when the peep-proof device only includes the polarizer P1 on the first substrate SUB1, the second substrate SUB2 may be connected to a display device, and the polarizer included in the display device closer to the second substrate SUB2 may be used as the polarizer P2, or the polarizer of the display device closer to the second substrate SUB2 may be integrated with the polarizer P2 into a single polarizer, but is not limited thereto.

According to the present embodiment, the peep-proof effect of the peep-proof device 100 can be determined according to a comparison value, wherein the comparison value is defined as a ratio of brightness of the light passing through the peep-proof device 100 when the peep-proof device 100 is in the on state and the off state, and the descriptions of the on state and the off state of the peep-proof device 100 are described above, so that the descriptions are omitted herein. In detail, the contrast ratio of the embodiment may be a ratio of the brightness of the light passing through the peep-proof device 100 in the closed state of the peep-proof device 100 to the brightness of the light passing through the peep-proof device 100 in the open state of the peep-proof device 100, i.e. contrast=brightness (when the peep-proof device is closed)/brightness (when the peep-proof device is open). In the present embodiment, a contrast value when the viewing angle is minus 45 degrees and the viewing angle is plus 45 degrees is used as a criterion for judging the peep-proof effect, wherein the viewing angle of minus 45 degrees may be, for example, a viewing angle shifted 45 degrees to the left from the normal direction Z perpendicular to the display surface of the display device (or the upper surface S1 or the lower surface S2 of the peep-proof device 100) (thus, the viewing angle of minus 45 degrees may be regarded as a left viewing angle 45 degrees of the display device, hereinafter referred to as a left viewing angle 45 degrees), and the viewing angle of plus 45 degrees may be, for example, a viewing angle shifted 45 degrees to the right from the normal direction Z perpendicular to the display surface of the display device (or the upper surface S1 or the lower surface S2 of the peep-proof device) (thus, the viewing angle of plus 45 degrees may be regarded as a right viewing angle 45 degrees of the display device, hereinafter referred to as a right viewing angle 45 degrees), but is not limited thereto. It should be noted that, since the viewing angle of 45 degrees is defined as a large viewing angle in the present embodiment as an example, the contrast value between the right viewing angle and the left viewing angle is 45 degrees is used to determine the peep-proof effect, but the invention is not limited thereto. The definition of the large viewing angle can be different from the definition of the large viewing angle according to different design requirements. For example, if the viewing angle of plus or minus 50 degrees is defined as the large viewing angle, the comparison value of the peep-proof device 100 at the left viewing angle and the right viewing angle of 50 degrees can be used as the basis for judging the peep-proof effect. When the comparison value is higher, the brightness of the peep-proof device 100 is larger between the on state and the off state, that is, the peep-proof device 100 has better peep-proof effect. According to the embodiment, when the contrast value between the left viewing angle 45 degrees and the right viewing angle 45 degrees of the peep-proof device 100 is greater than 15, the peep-proof device 100 can have better peep-proof effect, but not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the comparison value for determining whether the peep-proof device has a better peep-proof effect may be selected to be other suitable values than 15 according to different requirements, which is not limited in the present invention. As described above, the density of the main spacer unit SP in the embodiment is greater than or equal to 0.02% and less than 0.5% and the density of the bottom is greater than or equal to 0.05% and less than 1.0% of the privacy device 100. When the upper bottom density and the lower bottom density of the main spacer unit fall within the above ranges, the peep-proof device 100 may have a better peep-proof effect, and the contrast value thereof is greater than 15. For example, in the present embodiment, the upper bottom density of the main spacing unit SP at the peep-proof device 100 may be 0.07%, the lower bottom density may be 0.2%, and the luminance values observed at 45 degrees of the left viewing angle by the light of the peep-proof device 100 with this design are 9.4821 in the on state (when the peep-proof device 100 is in the on state) and 289.2 in the off state (when the peep-proof device 100 is in the off state), respectively, and the luminance values observed at 45 degrees of the right viewing angle are 9.2951 in the on state (when the peep-proof device 100 is in the on state) and 283.4 in the off state (when the peep-proof device 100 is in the off state). That is, when the upper bottom density of the main spacing unit SP at the peep preventing device 100 is 0.07% and the lower bottom density is 0.2%, the contrast ratio of the peep preventing device 100 at 45 degrees at the left viewing angle is 30.50 (calculated by 289.2/9.4821) and the contrast ratio at 45 degrees at the right viewing angle is 30.49 (calculated by 283.4/9.2951). Since the contrast ratio of the viewing angle 45 degrees of the viewing device is greater than 15, the viewing device 100 with the main spacer density design may have a better viewing effect, or in some embodiments, the viewing effect may be defined by a viewing angle range around 45 degrees, for example, the viewing angle 45±5 degrees may be left, and the viewing angle 45±5 degrees may be right, that is, the contrast ratio of the viewing angle 45±5 degrees of the viewing device 100 is greater than 15. In contrast to the present embodiment, in a comparative embodiment, the upper bottom density of the main spacer SP in the peep-proof device 100 may be 2.3% and the lower bottom density may be 6.3%, and the luminance values observed by the light rays passing through the peep-proof device 100 with this design when the viewing angle is 45 degrees at the left viewing angle are 34.686 (when the peep-proof device 100 is in the on state) and 254.8 (when the peep-proof device 100 is in the off state), respectively, and the luminance values observed when the peep-proof device 100 is in the on state) and 251.9 (when the peep-proof device 100 is in the off state) respectively. That is, when the upper bottom density of the main spacing unit SP at the peep preventing device 100 is 2.3% and the lower bottom density is 6.3%, the contrast ratio of the peep preventing device 100 at 45 degrees of the left viewing angle is 7.35 (254.8/34.686) and the contrast ratio at 45 degrees of the right viewing angle is 6.96 (251.9/36.175). Since the contrast values of 45 degrees for the left viewing angle and 45 degrees for the right viewing angle (or, for example, ±5 degrees, the same as above) are less than 15, the privacy effect of the privacy device 100 with this primary spacer density design is not significant. From the above results, it can be known that the peep-proof effect of the peep-proof device 100 may be less obvious when the upper bottom density and/or the lower bottom density of the main spacing unit SP is too high, and the peep-proof device 100 may have better peep-proof effect when the upper bottom density and/or the lower bottom density of the main spacing unit SP is within the range described in the present embodiment, but not limited thereto.

Please refer to fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a schematic top view of a main spacer unit according to a first embodiment of the present invention. For simplicity of the drawing, only the privacy device 100 and the main spacer unit SP are shown in fig. 2, and the remaining components and film layers are omitted in fig. 2. Although the top surface of the main spacer SP shown in fig. 2 is circular, the present invention is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the top surface of the primary spacer unit SP may have any suitable shape. As shown in fig. 2, the main spacing units SP in the embodiment are randomly distributed in the peep-proof device 100. It should be noted that the above-mentioned random distribution means that the main spacer units SP can be uniformly or non-uniformly randomly arranged in the peep-proof device 100, and the invention is not limited thereto. In addition, the main spacer SP shown in fig. 2 is only illustrated with a plurality of circles, wherein the area within the circles may represent the upper bottom or the lower bottom of the main spacer SP, which is not a limitation of the present invention. If the area in the circle represents the bottom of the main spacing unit SP, the sum of the areas of the circles in fig. 2 corresponds to the area of the peep-proof device 100 (i.e. the area of the square frame in fig. 2), which is the bottom density, and the range of the bottom density can be referred to; if the area within the circle represents the upper bottom of the main spacer SP, the sum of the areas of the circles in fig. 2 corresponds to the area of the peep-proof device 100, which is the upper bottom density, and the range of the upper bottom density can be referred to. In addition, the number of the main spacing units SP shown in fig. 2 is merely illustrative, and the main spirit of the present invention is that the upper and lower bottom densities of the main spacing units SP may be in accordance with the above-described density ranges, and any number of the main spacing units SP may be provided in the privacy device 100.

Please refer to fig. 3 and fig. 4. Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial top view of fig. 2, and fig. 4 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of fig. 1. For simplifying the drawing, fig. 4 shows only one main spacer SP, the first alignment layer AL1, and the substrate layer SB, wherein the substrate layer SB may include the polarizer P1, the first substrate SUB1, and the first electrode E1 of fig. 1 or other possible film layers, and the liquid crystal layer, the second alignment layer, the second electrode, the second substrate, and/or the polarizer are omitted in fig. 4. Such components or layers may be referred to above, and are not described herein. In addition, for simplicity of illustration, the area surrounded by the circle used to represent the main spacer unit SP in fig. 3 can be regarded as the bottom DS (labeled in fig. 4) of the main spacer unit SP, but is not limited thereto. As shown in fig. 3, the peep-proof device 100 may further include a plurality of light emitting portions (e.g. light emitting portions LP1 and LP 2), each of the light emitting portions LP1 and LP2 corresponds to one of the main spacing units SP, and is adjacent to the edge of the bottom DS of the corresponding main spacing unit SP, for example, the main spacing unit SP located at the left side in fig. 3 may correspond to the light emitting portion LP1, wherein the light emitting portion LP1 may have three light emitting areas L1, L2 and L3, and the main spacing unit SP located at the right side may correspond to the light emitting portion LP2, which has light emitting areas L4 and L5, wherein the different light emitting portions LP1 and LP2 may have the same or different numbers of light emitting areas and light emitting areas, for example, the area surrounded by the dotted lines in fig. 3 may be defined as the light emitting areas of each light emitting area L1, L2, L3, L4 and L5, respectively. For example, the light emitting area of the light emitting portion LP1 is the sum of the areas of the light emitting areas L1, L2, L3, and similarly, the light emitting area of the light emitting portion LP2 is the sum of the areas of the light emitting areas L4, L5. It should be noted that the number of light emitting areas corresponding to the main spacing units SP in fig. 3 is only illustrative, and the present invention is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the different main interval units SP may have different numbers of light emitting regions, respectively, from those shown in fig. 3. The formation of the light emitting portion will be described below. As shown in fig. 4, when an alignment layer (e.g., the first alignment layer AL1 of fig. 4) is generally disposed on the main spacer unit SP, the alignment layer AL1 may generate a defect DE at the boundary between the edge of the main spacer unit SP and the substrate layer SB, wherein the defect DE may be, for example, a portion of the alignment layer AL1 that is not functional. Since a portion of the alignment layer AL1 having the defect DE cannot control the direction of the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer, a portion of the light is still emitted from the portion corresponding to the defect DE (or emitted from the edge of the main spacer SP) in the on state of the peep-proof device 100, thereby affecting the peep-proof effect of the peep-proof device 100. In the present embodiment, the portion of the light emitted from the edge of the main spacer unit SP may be defined as the light emitting portion of the corresponding main spacer unit SP, and the area occupied by the light emitting portion is the light emitting area, or the range of the defect DE near the edge of the main spacer unit SP may be defined as the light emitting area, but not limited thereto. In other words, a plurality of light emitting regions adjacent to the same main interval unit SP are defined as light emitting portions of the corresponding main interval unit SP.

As described above, each of the light emitting regions L1, L2, and L3 in the light emitting portion LP1 may have one light emitting region area (region area surrounded by a broken line), respectively, wherein the sum of the light emitting region areas of the light emitting regions L1, L2, and L3 may be defined as the light emitting area of the light emitting portion LP1 in the present embodiment, and similarly, each of the light emitting regions L4, L5 in the light emitting portion LP2 may have one light emitting region area (region area surrounded by a broken line), respectively, wherein the sum of the light emitting region areas of the light emitting regions L4 and L5 may be defined as the light emitting area of the light emitting portion LP2 in the present embodiment. According to the present embodiment, the lower bottom DS of the main spacing unit SP may have a diameter XR micrometers (μm) and a lower bottom area (i.e., a circular area surrounded by a circle representing the main spacing unit SP in fig. 3), and thus, a ratio of a light emitting area of the light emitting portion to a lower bottom area of the main spacing unit SP corresponding to the light emitting portion may be defined as a light emitting area ratio Y in the present embodiment. For example, the ratio of the light emitting area of the light emitting portion LP1 (i.e., the sum of the light emitting area of the light emitting areas L1, L2 and L3) to the bottom area of the main spacing unit SP (i.e., the main spacing unit SP on the left side of fig. 3) corresponding to the light emitting portion LP1 may be defined as the light emitting area ratio Y of the main spacing unit SP (i.e., the main spacing unit SP on the left side of fig. 3), and similarly, the ratio of the light emitting area of the light emitting portion LP2 (i.e., the sum of the light emitting area of the light emitting areas L4, L5) to the bottom area of the main spacing unit SP (i.e., the main spacing unit SP on the right side of fig. 3) corresponding to the light emitting portion LP1 may be defined as the light emitting area ratio Y of the main spacing unit SP (i.e., the main spacing unit SP on the right side of fig. 3), wherein the light emitting area ratio Y of different main spacing units SP may be different or the same. According to this embodiment, the relation between the ratio Y of the light emitting areas of each main spacer unit SP and the diameter XR of the bottom of the main spacer unit SP, where the unit of the diameter XR of the bottom is micron, can be satisfied with y=0.0071 XR-0.042. For example, when the diameter XR of the bottom of the main spacer SP is 20 μm, the value of the light emitting area ratio Y is 0.1 by the above formula, but not limited thereto. It should be noted that, in the above formula, the light emitting area ratio Y and the diameter XR refer to the light emitting area ratio of the same main spacer unit SP and the diameter of the bottom DS of the main spacer unit SP, but the diameter XR of the two main spacer units SP shown in fig. 3 is not limited to the same, for example, in some embodiments, different main spacer units SP may have the same diameter XR, in other embodiments, different main spacer units SP may have different diameters XR, and on the other hand, different main spacer units SP may have the same or different light emitting area ratios Y. As described above, when the light emitting area of the light emitting portion corresponding to the main spacing unit SP is excessively large, the peep preventing effect of the peep preventing device 100 may be reduced, so the peep preventing effect of the peep preventing device 100 may be confirmed by referring to the light emitting area ratio Y of each main spacing unit SP in the present embodiment. According to the present embodiment, when the light emitting area ratio Y is greater than 0.12 (Y > 0.12), the light emitting area of the light emitting portion is large, which may result in a reduction in the privacy effect of the privacy device 100, so that the light emitting area ratio Y of the main spacer unit SP of the privacy device 100 of the present embodiment is less than or equal to 0.12 (i.e., y+.0.12). In detail, the ratio Y of the light emitting areas of the main spacer units SP of the privacy device 100 of the present embodiment may be less than or equal to 0.12 (y+.0.12), but is not limited thereto. Since the proportion of the light emitting area of the main spacer unit SP in the present embodiment corresponds to the above range, the peep-proof device of the present embodiment has a better peep-proof effect.

According to the foregoing embodiments, it can be known that if the edge of the main spacer unit SP or the adjacent light emitting portion has a larger light emitting area, the number of the main spacer units SP is too large, or the occupied area density is too high, the peep preventing effect of the peep preventing device is reduced. In order to improve the peep preventing effect of the peep preventing device, the bottom area of the main spacer unit SP may be reduced in the present embodiment, and the value of the light emitting area ratio Y and the light emitting area of the light emitting portion may be reduced due to the reduction of both the bottom area and the diameter of the bottom, thereby improving the peep preventing effect. Alternatively, since the greater the number of the main interval units SP, the larger the total light emitting area of the light emitting part is, the light emitting area of the light emitting part may be reduced by reducing the number of the main interval units SP as described above. For example, the number of main spacer units SP required can be calculated with reference to the ranges of the upper bottom density and the lower bottom density in the above embodiments given the upper bottom area or the lower bottom area of the main spacer units SP, so that the privacy device 100 can obtain the supporting function of the main spacer units SP without having poor privacy effect due to the main spacer units SP.

The contents of other embodiments of the present invention will be described below. For simplicity of explanation, the following description will describe the different features of each embodiment from the first embodiment, and the description of the same features will be omitted. In detail, the above-mentioned materials and arrangements of the components and the film layers, the definition and range of the upper bottom density and the lower bottom density, and the definition and range of the ratio of the light emitting portion and the light emitting portion in the first embodiment can be applied to the following embodiments, so that the description thereof will not be repeated.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a schematic top view of a main spacer unit according to a second embodiment of the invention. For simplicity of the drawing, only the privacy device 100 and the main spacer unit SP are shown in fig. 5, and the remaining components and film layers are omitted in fig. 5. In addition, although the main spacer SP shown in fig. 5 is circular in cross section, the present invention is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the profile of the main spacer unit SP may have any suitable shape. One of the main differences between the present embodiment shown in fig. 5 and the first embodiment shown in fig. 2 is that the main spacing unit SP is arranged in a different manner from the first embodiment. As shown in fig. 5, a plurality of main spacing units SP may be disposed along an edge 100e of the peep preventing device 100 in the peep preventing device 100, wherein when the peep preventing device 100 is applied to a display apparatus, the edge 100e of the peep preventing device 100 may, for example, correspond to a peripheral area or a non-display area of the display apparatus, but is not limited thereto. In detail, as described above, when the number and/or density of the main spacing units SP is too large, the privacy effect of the privacy device 100 may be reduced accordingly, so that in the present embodiment, the main spacing units SP may be disposed along the edge 100e of the privacy device 100, that is, corresponding to the peripheral area of the display apparatus. Since the privacy function may not be required for the peripheral region of the display apparatus, disposing the main spacing unit SP corresponding to the peripheral region of the display apparatus may further improve the privacy effect of the privacy apparatus 100 in case of satisfying the above-described upper and lower bottom densities. In detail, in order to meet the requirements of the density range (upper bottom density and/or lower bottom density) in the above embodiment, the main spacing units SP are disposed along the edge 100e of the peep-proof device 100, so that the middle area (for example, the display area corresponding to the middle of the display apparatus) of the peep-proof device 100 has almost no main spacing units SP or has a very small number of main spacing units SP, which can improve the peep-proof effect of the middle area of the peep-proof device 100, i.e. the display area of the display apparatus can obtain a better peep-proof effect, but not limited thereto. It should be noted that although fig. 5 shows the main spacer units SP arranged along the edge 100e, the middle area does not include the peep preventing structure 100 of the main spacer units SP, but the invention is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, both the central portion and the edge 100e of the privacy device 100 may include primary spacer units SP, and the density of primary spacer units SP located in the central portion of the privacy device 100 may be less than the density of primary spacer units SP located in the edge 100e of the privacy device 100. In other embodiments, a secondary spacer (not shown) may be provided in the middle region of the privacy device 100 to provide a supporting effect instead of the primary spacer SP.

Please refer to fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a schematic top view of a main spacer unit according to a third embodiment of the present invention. For simplicity of the drawing, only the privacy device 100 and the main spacer unit SP are shown in fig. 6, and the remaining components and film layers are omitted in fig. 6. In addition, although the main spacer SP shown in fig. 6 is circular in cross section, the present invention is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the profile of the main spacer unit SP may have any suitable shape. One of the main differences between the present embodiment shown in fig. 6 and the first embodiment shown in fig. 2 is that the main spacing unit SP is arranged in a different manner from the first embodiment. As shown in fig. 6, the distribution of the plurality of main spacing units SP in the privacy device 100 may divide the privacy device 100 into a plurality of areas, such as two areas B1 and B2 in fig. 6. It should be noted that, although only two areas where the main spacer units SP are not disposed are shown in fig. 6, the present invention is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the main spacing unit SP may divide the privacy device 100 into three or more areas. In other embodiments, the central portion of each region may also include a main spacer unit SP. Because the densities of the main spacing units SP in each region may be set to be the same or completely different in some regions, when the peep-proof device 100 is set on the display apparatus, the image displayed by the display apparatus may be blocked, that is, the peep-proof effect of the regions may not be completely the same, so that the displayed image may be blurred like a mosaic by vision, thereby achieving the peep-proof effect of the peep-proof device 100.

In summary, the present invention provides a privacy device, wherein the main spacer unit of the privacy device may have an upper bottom and a lower bottom, the ratio of the sum of the areas of the upper bottom to the device area of the privacy device may be defined as an upper bottom density, and the ratio of the sum of the areas of the lower bottom to the device area of the privacy device may be defined as a lower bottom density. By adjusting the upper bottom density and the lower bottom density of the main interval unit in a certain range or reducing the lower bottom area of the main interval unit, the peep-proof effect of the peep-proof device can be improved.

The above description is only of the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention, but various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention by those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A privacy device comprising:

a first substrate;

a second substrate arranged opposite to the first substrate;

a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate; and

a plurality of main spacing units disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, any one of the plurality of main spacing units including an upper substrate and a lower substrate, the upper substrate being opposite to the lower substrate and the upper substrate being farther from the first substrate than the lower substrate;

the bottom has a bottom area, the privacy device has a device area, a ratio of a sum of the bottom areas of the plurality of main spacing units to the device area is defined as a bottom density, and the bottom density is less than 1%.

2. The privacy device of claim 1, wherein the bottom density is greater than or equal to 0.05% and less than 1%.

3. The privacy device of claim 1, wherein the upper base has an upper base area, wherein the ratio of the sum of the upper base areas of the plurality of primary spacer elements to the device area is defined as an upper base density, and wherein the upper base density is less than 0.5%.

4. The privacy device of claim 3, wherein the upper base density is greater than or equal to 0.02% and less than 0.5%.

5. The privacy device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of primary spacer units are randomly distributed in the privacy device.

6. The privacy device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of primary spacer elements are distributed in the privacy device along an edge of the privacy device.

7. The privacy device of claim 1, wherein the distribution of the plurality of primary spacer elements in the privacy device divides the device area into a plurality of regions.

8. The privacy device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of primary spacer elements comprise a photoresist material.

9. The privacy device of claim 1, further comprising:

a first electrode disposed between the first substrate and the plurality of main spacer units;

a first alignment layer, wherein the plurality of main spacer units are located between the first electrode and the first alignment layer;

a second electrode disposed between the second substrate and the plurality of main spacer units;

a second alignment layer disposed between the plurality of main spacer units and the second electrode; and

and the polaroid is arranged on the surface of the first substrate or the surface of the second substrate.

10. The privacy device of claim 9, wherein the privacy device has a contrast value of greater than 15 at a left viewing angle of 45 ± 5 degrees and a contrast value of greater than 15 at a right viewing angle of 45 ± 5 degrees.

11. A privacy device comprising:

a first substrate;

a second substrate arranged opposite to the first substrate;

a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate;

a plurality of main spacer units disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, any one of the plurality of main spacer units including an upper substrate and a lower substrate, wherein the lower substrate has a lower surface area and a diameter X micrometers; and

a plurality of light emitting parts respectively corresponding to one of the plurality of main spacing units and adjacent to edges of the lower bottoms of the corresponding main spacing units;

wherein any one of the plurality of light emitting portions has a light emitting area, and a ratio of the light emitting area to the lower base area of the corresponding main interval unit is defined as a light emitting area ratio Y, wherein the value Y satisfies y=0.0071 x-0.042.

12. The privacy device of claim 11, wherein the value Y is less than 0.12.

13. The privacy device of claim 11, wherein the plurality of primary spacer elements are distributed in the privacy device along an edge of the privacy device.