Disclosure of Invention
An objective of the present invention is to provide an image display device, which changes the angle of light beams emitted from a light source incident on a refractive structure layer by adjusting the relative position between the light source and the refractive structure layer, and the refractive structure layer refracts the light beams incident at different angles and guides the light beams to different pattern sections on an image display layer, so that the image display layer displays different images.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be further understood from the technical features disclosed in the present invention.
In order to achieve one or a part of or all of the above or other objects, the present invention provides an image display device applied to an electronic apparatus, the image display device including a light source, an image display layer and a refractive structure layer. The light source is used for providing a light beam. The image display layer is arranged above the light source and comprises a plurality of pattern sections. The refraction structure layer is arranged between the light source and the image display layer, and is used for refracting and guiding the light beam to the image display layer, and the refraction structure layer is provided with an optical axis and a reference plane vertical to the optical axis. In a first use state, the light beam is incident to the refraction structure layer and forms a first included angle with the reference plane, so that the light beam is guided to a first pattern section in the pattern sections, and the image display layer displays a first image. In a second use state, the light beam is incident to the refractive structure layer and forms a second included angle with the reference plane, so that the light beam is guided to a second pattern section in the pattern sections, and the image display layer displays a second image. The first included angle is different from the second included angle.
In an embodiment of the invention, the refractive structure layer includes a plurality of lens microstructures, each lens microstructure has a curved surface protruding toward the light source, the curved surfaces face the light source, and a protruding direction of the curved surfaces is parallel to the optical axis and perpendicular to the reference plane.
In an embodiment of the invention, a distance is provided between the light source and the image display layer, and each pattern segment of the image display layer has a long side, where X ≧ 1/3Y if the distance is X and the long side is Y.
In an embodiment of the invention, the electronic device includes a housing, the image display device is disposed in the housing, the housing includes a first portion of the housing and a second portion of the housing, the image display layer is adjacent to the first portion of the housing, and the first portion of the housing is made of a translucent material, so that the first image or the second image can be displayed on the first portion of the housing.
In an embodiment of the invention, in the first usage state, the light source is located at a first position corresponding to the refractive structure layer, and in the second usage state, the light source is located at a second position corresponding to the refractive structure layer, wherein the first position is different from the second position.
In an embodiment of the invention, the electronic apparatus includes an input device board and a processing control unit, the processing control unit is electrically connected to the input device and the light source, the input device generates a first input signal in response to an operation of a user in a process of switching a first usage state to a second usage state, the processing control unit controls the light source to move from a first position to a second position according to the first input signal, the input device generates a second input signal in response to the operation of the user in a process of switching the second usage state to the first usage state, and the processing control unit controls the light source to move from the second position to the first position according to the second input signal.
In an embodiment of the invention, the input device includes a touch panel and a key switch.
In an embodiment of the invention, the material of the image display layer includes polyethylene terephthalate, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer, and glass.
In an embodiment of the invention, the image display layer and the refractive structure layer are integrally formed.
The invention further provides an image display device applied to electronic equipment, wherein the image display device comprises a first light source, a second light source, an image display layer and a refraction structure layer. The first light source is used for providing a first light beam. The second light source is used for providing a second light beam. The image display layer is arranged above the first light source and the second light source and comprises a plurality of pattern sections. The refraction structure layer is configured among the first light source, the second light source and the image display layer. The refractive structure layer is used for refracting and guiding the first light beam or the second light beam to the image display layer, and the refractive structure layer is provided with an optical axis and a reference plane vertical to the optical axis. In a first use state, the first light source emits a first light beam to be incident on the refraction structure layer and form a first included angle with the reference plane, so that the first light beam is guided to a first pattern section in the pattern sections, and the image display layer displays a first image.
In an embodiment of the invention, the first light source is located at a first position relative to the refractive structure layer, and the second light source is located at a second position relative to the refractive structure layer, wherein the first position is different from the second position.
In an embodiment of the invention, the electronic apparatus includes an input device and a processing control unit, the processing control unit is electrically connected to the input device, the first light source and the second light source, the input device generates a first input signal in response to an operation of a user when the first use state is switched to the second use state, the processing control unit disables the first light source and enables the second light source at the same time according to the first input signal, the input device generates a second input signal in response to the operation of the user when the second use state is switched to the first use state, and the processing control unit disables the second light source and enables the first light source at the same time according to the second input signal.
The image display device of the embodiment of the invention changes the angle of the light beam emitted by the light source incident to the refraction structure layer (namely the included angle between the light beam and the reference plane) by adjusting the relative position between the light source and the refraction structure layer, and the refraction structure layer refracts the light beam incident at different angles and guides the light beam to different pattern sections on the image display layer, so that the image display layer displays different images. In addition, the relative position between the light source and the refractive structure layer is controlled by an input device (such as a touch panel or a key switch) on the electronic equipment to achieve the purpose of displaying different images.
In order to make the aforementioned and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention comprehensible, preferred embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
Detailed Description
Referring to fig. 1 and fig. 2, fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an image display device in a first use state according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of the image display device shown in fig. 1 in a second use state. As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the image display device 1 of the present embodiment is applied to an electronic apparatus 2, for example, an electronic apparatus 2 such as a mouse device, a keyboard device, a notebook computer, a smart phone, etc., but the present invention is not limited to the type of the electronic apparatus applied to the image display device 1. The image display device 1 of the present embodiment includes a light source 11, an image display layer 12, and a refractive structure layer 13. The light source 11 is used for providing a light beam L. The image display layer 12 is disposed above the light source 11, and the image display layer 12 includes a plurality of pattern segments, in this embodiment, the image display layer 12 has two pattern segments, that is, the first pattern segment 121 and the second pattern segment 122 are illustrated, but the number of pattern segments is not limited in the present invention, and on the premise of having at least two pattern segments, the number of pattern segments may be increased to more than two according to the actual requirement. The refractive structure layer 13 is disposed between the light source 11 and the image structure layer 12, the refractive structure layer 13 is used for refracting and guiding the light beam L emitted from the light source 11 to the image display layer 12, and the refractive structure layer 13 has an optical axis 130 and a reference plane P perpendicular to the optical axis 130.
As shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2, the refractive structure layer 13 of the present embodiment includes a plurality of lens microstructures 131, the lens microstructures 131 are arranged in an array, each lens microstructure 131 has a curved surface 1310 protruding toward the light source 11, the curved surfaces 1310 face the light source 11 and are configured to receive and refract the light beam L emitted from the light source 11, and the protruding direction of the curved surfaces 1310 is parallel to the optical axis 130 and perpendicular to the reference plane P. In the present embodiment, the refractive structure layer 13 is, for example, a grating sheet, but the invention is not limited thereto. In this embodiment, the image display layer 12 and the refractive structure layer 13 are two independent components, and the image display layer 12 is manufactured by processing a plurality of images to be displayed by a computer to generate a special image, printing the special image on a substrate to form the image display layer 12 with a plurality of pattern sections, and then precisely bonding the image display layer 12 and the refractive structure layer 13, but the invention is not limited thereto, and in other embodiments, the image display layer 12 and the refractive structure layer 13 are, for example, integrally formed, that is, the special pattern generated by processing the image display layer 12 and the refractive structure layer 13 by the computer is directly printed on the surface of the refractive structure layer 13 without the lens microstructure 131, so as to form a plurality of pattern sections on the refractive structure layer 13. In the present embodiment, the material of the image display layer 12 is, for example, a light-permeable material such as polyethylene terephthalate (pet), Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), or glass, but the material type of the image display layer 12 is not limited in the present invention.
The operation of the image display device of the present embodiment in different use states will be further described below.
As shown in fig. 1, in the first use state of the image display device 1 of the present embodiment, the light source 11 is located at a first position P1 opposite to the refractive structure layer 13, the light beam L emitted from the light source 11 at the first position P1 is incident on the refractive structure layer 13 and has a first included angle θ 1 with the reference plane P, and at this time, the incident light beam L is refracted by the refractive structure layer 13 and guided to the first pattern section 121 of the image display layer 12, so that the image display layer 12 displays the first image M1 corresponding to the first pattern section 121. As shown in fig. 2, in the second usage state of the image display device 1 of the embodiment, the position of the light source 11 is moved from the first position P1 to the second position P2, the light beam L emitted by the light source 11 at the second position P2 is incident on the refractive structure layer 13 and forms a second angle θ 2 with the reference plane P, and at this time, the incident light beam L is refracted by the refractive structure layer 13 and guided to the second image section 122 of the image display layer 12, so that the image display layer 12 displays the second image M2 corresponding to the second pattern section 122. The first included angle θ 1 and the second included angle θ 2 are different, that is, after the position of the light source 11 relative to the refractive structure layer 13 is changed, the included angle between the light beam L emitted by the light source 11 and the reference plane P after being incident on the refractive structure layer 13 is also changed, so that the light beam L with different incident angles is refracted and guided to the corresponding pattern section, and further the image display layer 12 displays different images, and the number of the image displays depends on the number of the pattern sections on the image display layer 12.
It should be noted that, in the embodiment, the light source 11 moves between the first position P1 and the second position P2 to move left and right relative to the refractive structure layer 13, and actually, the light source 11 can also move front, back, up and down relative to the refractive structure layer 13, and no matter the light source 11 moves front, back, left, right, up and down to different positions, the included angle between the incident light beam L to the refractive structure layer 13 and the reference plane P is changed, so that the image display layer 12 displays different images.
As shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2, the electronic device 2 of the present embodiment includes a housing 20, and the image display apparatus 1 is disposed in the housing 20. The housing 20 of the electronic device 2 includes a first partial housing 201 and a second partial housing 202, and the image display layer 12 of the image display apparatus 1 is adjacent to the first partial housing 201 of the electronic device 2, in this embodiment, the image display layer 12 is, for example, closely attached to the first partial housing 201 of the electronic device 2, and the first partial housing 201 of the electronic device 2 is, for example, made of a translucent material, so that the first image M1 or the second image M2 displayed by the image display layer 12 can be further displayed on the first partial housing 201.
It should be noted that the first image M1 and the first image M2 shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2 are actually displayed on the image display layer 12 and the first partial housing 201 of the electronic device 2, but for the sake of clarity, the first image M1 and the second image M2 are indicated above the image display device 1 and the electronic device 2.
Please refer to fig. 3, which is a functional block diagram of the electronic device shown in fig. 1 and 2 for controlling a light source of an image display apparatus, and refer to fig. 1 and 2 simultaneously. As shown in fig. 1 to 3, the electronic device 2 of the present embodiment includes an input device 21 and a processing control unit 22. The processing control unit 22 is electrically connected to the input device 21 and the light source 11 of the image display device 1. In the process of switching the first usage state to the second usage state, the input device 21 generates a first input signal in response to the operation of the user, and the processing control unit 22 controls the light source 11 to move from the first position P1 to the second position P2 according to the first input signal, so that the included angle between the light beam L and the reference plane P after being incident on the refractive structure layer 13 is changed from the first included angle θ 1 to the second included angle θ 2. In the process of switching the second usage state to the first usage state, the input device 21 generates a second input signal in response to the operation of the user, and the processing control unit 22 controls the light source 11 to move from the second position P2 to the first position P1 according to the second input signal, so that the included angle between the light beam L and the reference plane P after being incident on the refractive structure layer 13 is changed from the second included angle θ 2 to the first included angle θ 1.
In the present embodiment, the switching between the first image M1 and the second image M2 is, for example, a character switching picture or a continuous motion image formed by switching characters into a plurality of pictures, taking the keyboard device as an example, the manufacturer trademark totem can be switched from a static image to a dynamic image (similar to a running effect of a small green person with a traffic light), and the indications of the keys can be switched from the original characters W, A, S, D to pictures ═ ↓, →. In the embodiment, the input device 21 of the electronic device 2 is, for example, a touch panel or a key switch, but the invention is not limited thereto.
It should be noted that, in addition to controlling the light source 11 of the image display apparatus 1 to move through the electronic device 2, the electronic device 2 may also control the brightness and color of the light beam L emitted by the light source 11, so as to change the brightness and color of the displayed image or generate various optical effects such as dynamic changes of the displayed image, and in addition, the on and off of the light source 11 may also be controlled through the electronic device 2.
As shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2, in the image display device 1 of the present embodiment, a distance X is provided between the light source 11 and the image display layer 12, and each pattern section (the first pattern section 121 and the second pattern section 122) of the image display layer 12 has a long side Y, so that the distance X between the light source 11 and the image display layer 12 and the long side Y of the pattern section satisfy the inequality of X ≧ 1/3Y, which aims to provide that if the light source 11 is too close to the image display layer 12 (i.e., the distance X is less than the long side Y of one-third of the pattern section), although the image display layer 12 still displays an image by being irradiated by the light source 11, the range irradiated by the light source 11 may not cover the pattern section, resulting in the uneven phenomenon that the portion irradiated by the light source 11 of the pattern section is brighter and the portion not irradiated by the light source 11 is darker.
Referring to fig. 4 and 5, fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of an image display device in a first use state according to another embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of the image display device shown in fig. 4 in a second use state. The structure of the image display apparatus 1a of the present embodiment is similar to the image display apparatus 1 shown in fig. 1 and 2, and the image display apparatus 1a of the present embodiment is also applied to electronic devices 2 such as a mouse device, a keyboard device, a notebook computer, a smart phone, etc., with the difference that the image display apparatus 1a of the present embodiment includes a first light source 101 and a second light source 102. As shown in fig. 4 and fig. 5, the first light source 101 of the present embodiment is used to provide the first light beam L1, the second light source is used to provide the second light beam L2, and the first light source 101 and the second light source 102 are located on the same horizontal plane, for example, but the invention is not limited to the relative arrangement position between the first light source 101 and the second light source 102. The image display layer 12 is disposed above the first light source 101 and the second light source 102. The refractive structure layer 13 is disposed between the first light source 101, the second light source 102 and the image display layer 12, the first light source 101 is located at a first position P1 'relative to the refractive structure layer 13, and the second light source 102 is located at a second position P2' relative to the refractive structure layer 13. Other structures of the image display device 1a of the present embodiment are similar to those of the image display devices shown in fig. 1 and 2, and therefore are not repeated.
As shown in fig. 4, in the image display device 1a of the present embodiment, in the first use state, the first light beam L1 emitted by the first light source 101 located at the first position P1 ' is incident to the refractive structure layer 13 and has a first included angle θ 1 ' with the reference plane P, and at this time, the incident first light beam L1 is refracted by the refractive structure layer 13 and guided to the first pattern section 121 of the image display layer 12, so that the image display layer 12 displays the first image M1 ' corresponding to the first pattern section 121. As shown in fig. 2, in the second usage state of the image display device 1a of the present embodiment, the second light beam L2 emitted by the second light source 102 located at the second position P2 ' is incident on the refractive structure layer 13 and has a second included angle θ 2 ' with the reference plane P, and at this time, the incident second light beam L2 is refracted by the refractive structure layer 13 and guided to the second image section 122 of the image display layer 12, so that the image display layer 12 displays the second image M2 ' corresponding to the second pattern section 122. The first included angle θ 1 'is different from the second included angle θ 2'.
It should be noted that, in the embodiment, the first light source 101 and the second light source 102 are respectively fixed at the first position P1 'and the second position P2', but the invention is not limited thereto, and in other embodiments, the first light source 101 and the second light source 102 may respectively move forward, backward, leftward, rightward, upward and downward relative to the refractive structure layer 13.
Please refer to fig. 6, which is a functional block diagram illustrating the first light source and the second light source of the image display device controlled by the electronic apparatus shown in fig. 4 and 5, and refer to fig. 4 and 5 simultaneously. As shown in fig. 4 to 6, the processing control unit 22 of the electronic device 2 of the present embodiment is electrically connected to the input device 21 and the first light source 101 and the second light source 102 of the image display apparatus 1 a. In the process of switching the first use state to the second use state, the input device 21 generates a first input signal in response to the operation of the user, and the processing control unit 22 disables the first light source 101 and simultaneously enables the second light source 102 according to the first input signal, so that the second light source 102 emits a second light beam L2 incident on the refractive structure layer 13 and forms a second included angle θ 2' with the reference plane P. In the process of switching the second using state to the first using state, the input device 21 generates a second input signal in response to the operation of the user, and the processing control unit 22 disables the second light source 102 and simultaneously enables the first light source 101 according to the second input signal, so that the first light source 101 emits a first light beam L1 incident on the refractive structure layer 13 and forms a first included angle θ 1' with the reference plane P.
It should be noted that, in the embodiment, the number of light sources is two, but the invention is not limited to the number of light sources, and in other embodiments, the number of light sources may be increased to more than two according to the actual requirement, for example, a third light source is additionally provided in addition to the first light source 101 and the second light source 102 shown in fig. 4 to 6, and the configuration position of the added third light source is different from the third position of the first light source 101 and the second light source 102, when the number of light sources is increased to three, an image display layer having three pattern sections is simultaneously matched, that is, a third pattern section with different patterns is additionally provided in addition to the first pattern section 121 and the second pattern section 122 shown in fig. 4 and 5, when a third light beam emitted by the third light source at the third position is incident on the refractive structure layer 13 and forms a third included angle with the reference plane P, since the third included angle is different from the first included angle θ 1 'and the second included angle θ 2' shown in fig. 4 and 5, the incident third light beam is refracted by the refractive structure layer 13 and then guided to the third pattern section of the image display layer, so that the image display layer displays a third image corresponding to the third pattern section.
Furthermore, it is emphasized that in embodiments where the image display device has a plurality of light sources, the number of pattern sections of the image display layer may be larger than the number of light source configurations, provided that in case one of the light sources is movable, the number of pattern sections of the image display layer does not necessarily correspond to the number of light sources.
In summary, in the image display device according to the embodiment of the invention, the angle at which the light beam emitted by the light source enters the refraction structure layer (that is, the included angle between the light beam and the reference plane) is changed by adjusting the relative position between the light source and the refraction structure layer, and the refraction structure layer refracts the light beam entering at different angles and guides the light beam to different pattern sections on the image display layer, so that the image display layer displays different images. In addition, the relative position between the light source and the refractive structure layer is controlled by an input device (such as a touch panel or a key switch) on the electronic equipment to achieve the purpose of displaying different images.
While the invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, it is not necessary for any embodiment or claim of the invention to achieve all of the objects or advantages or features disclosed herein. In addition, the abstract and the title of the invention are provided to assist the searching of patent documents and are not intended to limit the claims of the invention. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and the like in the description or in the claims are used only for naming elements (elements) or distinguishing different embodiments or ranges, and are not used for limiting the upper limit or the lower limit on the number of elements.