CN116953970A

CN116953970A - Electronic device

Info

Publication number: CN116953970A
Application number: CN202210405878.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘丁玮; 赖俊延; 陈谚宗; 徐维志; 李孟儒
Original assignee: Hannstar Display Corp
Current assignee: Hannstar Display Corp
Priority date: 2022-04-18
Filing date: 2022-04-18
Publication date: 2023-10-27

Abstract

The invention discloses an electronic device, which comprises a display panel, a first polaroid, a second polaroid, a touch sensing layer, a flexible film layer and a peep-proof structure. The display panel is used for displaying pictures, the first polaroid is arranged on the display panel, the second polaroid is arranged between the display panel and the first polaroid, and the touch sensing layer, the flexible film layer and the peep-proof structure are arranged between the first polaroid and the second polaroid.

Description

Electronic device

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to electronic devices, and particularly to an electronic device with peep-proof function.

Background

Electronic devices are indispensable products today, in which electronic devices having a display function, such as a screen, a notebook computer (notebook), a smart phone (smart phone), a wearable device, a smart watch, and a display screen for a vehicle, have also been widely used in many places. The electronic devices with the display function can have the peep-proof function, so that users can not easily watch information displayed by the electronic devices outside the designed watching range of the electronic devices, and the concealment and the safety are improved. Accordingly, how to improve the peep-proof function and display quality of the electronic device is an important item of interest in the industry nowadays.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides an electronic device with a peep-proof function, which improves the peep-proof function and the display quality through the position relation among a display panel, a peep-proof structure and a flexible film layer.

In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides an electronic device, which includes a display panel, a first polarizer, a second polarizer, a touch sensing layer, a flexible film layer, and a peep-proof structure. The display panel is used for displaying pictures, the first polaroid is arranged on the display panel, the second polaroid is arranged between the display panel and the first polaroid, and the touch sensing layer, the flexible film layer and the peep-proof structure are arranged between the first polaroid and the second polaroid.

The electronic device provided by the invention has the peep-proof structure and the flexible film layer arranged on the display panel, so that the electronic device has a good peep-proof effect.

Drawings

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

Fig. 2 to 8 are simulation diagrams showing luminance at each viewing angle of some electronic devices.

Fig. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an electronic device according to a second embodiment of the invention.

Reference numerals illustrate: 100. 200-an electronic device; 110-a first display substrate; 120-a display element layer; 130-a second display substrate; 140-a backlight module; 150-a peep-proof structure; 160-a flexible film layer; 170-a touch sensing layer; a DP-display panel; PL1, PL2, PL 3-polarizer; x, Y, Z-direction.

Detailed Description

The following description sets forth the preferred embodiments of the invention and, together with the drawings, provides further details of the invention and its intended advantages, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. It should be noted that the drawings are simplified schematic diagrams, and thus only show components and combinations related to the present invention, so as to provide a clearer description of the basic architecture or implementation of the present invention, and actual components and arrangements may be more complex. In addition, for convenience of explanation, the components shown in the drawings of the present invention are not drawn in the same scale as the number, shape, size, etc. of actual implementations, and the detailed proportion thereof may be adjusted according to the design requirements.

In the following description and claims, when an "A1 member is formed from B1," it is intended that B1 is present or B1 is used in the formation of the A1 member, and that the formation of the A1 member does not preclude the presence or use of one or more other features, regions, steps, operations, and/or members.

In the following description and claims, the term "horizontal direction" is denoted as a direction parallel to the direction X and the direction Y in the drawing, the term "vertical direction" is denoted as a direction parallel to the direction Z in the drawing, and the direction X, the direction Y, and the direction Z are perpendicular to each other. In the description and claims, the term "in top view" means the viewing result along the vertical direction. In the description and claims, the term "section" refers to the viewing result of a structure cut along the vertical direction and viewed from the horizontal direction.

In the following description and claims, the term "overlap" means an overlap of two members in the direction Z, and the term "overlap" includes a partial overlap or a complete overlap, unless indicated. In the description and claims, the term "parallel" means that the angle between two members may be less than or equal to a particular angle, such as 5 degrees, 3 degrees, or 1 degree.

The use of ordinal numbers such as "first," "second," and the like in the description and in the claims is used for modifying an element, and is not by itself intended to exclude the presence of any preceding ordinal number, nor does it represent the order in which an element is ordered from another element, or the order in which it is manufactured, and the use of such ordinal numbers merely serves to distinguish one element having a certain name from another element having a same name. The same words may not be used in the claims and the description, whereby a first element in the description may be a second element in the claims.

It is to be understood that the following exemplary embodiments may be substituted, rearranged, and mixed for the features of several different embodiments without departing from the spirit of the invention to accomplish other embodiments. Features of the embodiments can be mixed and matched at will without departing from the spirit of the invention or conflicting.

The electronic device of the present invention may include a non-self-luminous display or a self-luminous display, wherein the non-self-luminous display may be a liquid crystal display (Liquid Crystal Display, LCD), an electrophoretic display or other suitable displays, and the self-luminous display may include a light emitting diode (light emitting diode, LED), such as an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), an inorganic light-emitting diode (LED), a sub-millimeter light-emitting diode (mini LED), a micro-LED, a quantum dot light-emitting diode (QLED, QDLED) or other suitable light-emitting diode, but is not limited thereto. In the present invention, the electronic device may include a display with a touch function (touch display), and the following embodiments are described by taking a liquid crystal display with a touch function as an example. It should be noted that the LCD of the present invention may be, for example, but not limited to, a vertical alignment LCD (Vertical Alignment Liquid Crystal Display, IPS LCD), a horizontal electric field driving LCD (In-Plane-Switching Liquid Crystal Display, IPS LCD), a fringe field switching LCD (Fringe Field Switching Liquid Crystal Display, FFS LCD), or other suitable types of LCDs.

The electronic device of the present invention may include an active region and a peripheral region located at least outside of the active region, wherein the active region may selectively include a display region, a sensing region, a light emitting region and/or a working region according to an application of the electronic device, and electronic elements for assisting the active region may be disposed in the peripheral region, but not limited thereto. For example, the active region of the electronic device may include a display region and a touch sensing region, the positions and the sizes of the display region and the touch sensing region may be designed according to the requirements, and the overlapping region between the display region and the touch sensing region may also be designed according to the requirements.

The display area of the electronic device may comprise a plurality of pixels (pixels), which may comprise at least one Sub-Pixel (Sub-Pixel). In some embodiments, if the electronic device includes a color display, a pixel may include a plurality of sub-pixels, such as a green sub-pixel, a red sub-pixel, and a blue sub-pixel, but not limited thereto, the number and color of the sub-pixels included in the pixel may be changed according to the requirement. In some embodiments, if the electronic device comprises a monochrome display, a pixel may comprise a sub-pixel, for example, but not limited to. The number, arrangement and shape of the pixels and the sub-pixels can be adjusted according to the requirement.

It should be noted that, in this context, the material of the conductive layer may include metal, transparent conductive material (such as Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), indium Zinc Oxide (IZO), etc.), other suitable conductive material, or a combination thereof, and the material of the insulating layer may include silicon oxide (SiO) _x ) Silicon nitride (SiN) _y ) Silicon oxynitride (SiO) _x N _y ) Examples of the material of the semiconductor layer include, but are not limited to, polysilicon (poly-silicon), amorphous silicon (amorphous silicon), metal-oxide semiconductor (IGZO) semiconductor, other suitable semiconductor materials, or combinations thereof.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an electronic device according to a first embodiment of the invention. As shown in fig. 1, the electronic device 100 of the present embodiment includes a display panel DP for performing a screen display. Herein, since the electronic device 100 is exemplified by a liquid crystal display having a touch function, the display panel DP may be a liquid crystal display panel. The display panel DP may include any suitable structure and element according to the requirements. In fig. 1, the display panel DP may include a first display substrate 110 and optionally include a second display substrate 130 opposite to the first display substrate 110, wherein the first display substrate 110 and the second display substrate 130 may be hard substrates or flexible substrates, respectively, and may include, for example, glass, plastic, quartz, sapphire, polyimide (PI), polyethylene terephthalate (Polyethylene Terephthalate, PET), cyclic olefin polymer (Cyclo Olefin Polymer, COP), other suitable materials or combinations thereof, according to the types thereof, but not limited thereto. The materials, shapes and sizes of the first display substrate 110 and the second display substrate 130 may be the same or different from each other.

In fig. 1, the display panel DP may include a display element layer 120 disposed between the first display substrate 110 and the second display substrate 130, wherein the display element layer 120 may include appropriate display elements according to the type of the display panel DP for performing a display function. For example, in the case where the display panel DP is a liquid crystal display panel, the display element layer 120 may include switching elements (e.g., thin film transistors), wirings (e.g., scan lines, data lines), pixel electrodes, common electrodes, and a display medium layer (e.g., a liquid crystal layer), wherein each sub-pixel may include one switching element and one pixel electrode, and the plurality of sub-pixels may share one common electrode. In this embodiment, the switching element may be electrically connected to the pixel electrode, the scanning line and the data line, the scanning line is configured to transmit a switching signal to control on and off of the switching element, the data line is configured to transmit a gray-scale signal required by the pixel electrode, the gray-scale signal may be transmitted to the pixel electrode through the switching element, and an electric field generated by the pixel electrode receiving the gray-scale signal and the common electrode receiving the common voltage may control transparency of an area corresponding to the sub-pixel in the display medium layer, so that light intensity of light passing through the area corresponds to the gray-scale signal, so as to achieve an effect of displaying a picture.

In this embodiment, the display device layer 120 may include a plurality of conductive layers, a plurality of insulating layers and at least one semiconductor layer to form switching devices, wirings, pixel electrodes and common electrodes. For example, the gate of the switching element may be formed of a conductive layer (e.g., metal), the source and the drain of the switching element may be formed of another conductive layer (e.g., metal), and the channel layer of the switching element may be formed of a semiconductor layer, but is not limited thereto. For example, the scan line and the gate electrode may be formed by the same conductive layer, and the data line, the source electrode and the drain electrode may be formed by the same conductive layer, but not limited thereto. For example, the pixel electrode may be formed by a transparent conductive layer, and the common electrode may be formed by another transparent conductive layer, but not limited thereto.

The display element layer 120 of the display panel DP may further optionally include a light conversion layer (not shown) to convert or filter light into light of a different color. Examples of light conversion layers may include color filters (color filters), quantum Dot (QD) materials, fluorescent (fluorescence) materials, phosphorescent (Phosphorescence) materials, other suitable materials, or any combination thereof. The display element layer 120 of the display panel DP may further optionally include a light blocking layer having light shielding properties, wherein the light blocking layer may include, for example, a black photoresist, a black ink, a black resin, a black pigment, other suitable materials, or a combination thereof. The light blocking layer is used for shielding the underlying element (e.g. the opaque switching element or the trace) or reducing the probability of the external light being reflected by the element (e.g. the opaque switching element or the conductive wire) in the display panel DP, but not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the light blocking layer may have a plurality of openings to define light emitting regions of the sub-pixels, and may separate the sub-pixels in a top view.

Since the display panel DP of the present embodiment may be a non-self-luminous display panel, the electronic device 100 may further include a backlight module 140 disposed on one side of the display panel DP for providing backlight, wherein the display panel DP of the present embodiment adjusts the light intensity provided by each sub-pixel by controlling the light transmittance of the display medium layer of the backlight in each sub-pixel, so as to achieve the effect of displaying images. In fig. 1, the backlight module 140 is disposed on a side of the first display substrate 110 opposite to the display element layer 120 (i.e., the first display substrate 110 is between the backlight module 140 and the display element layer 120).

In this embodiment, the electronic device 100 may further include an optical film layer, such as an anti-reflective film, a brightness enhancing film, a polarizer, or other suitable film layers. In fig. 1, the electronic device 100 may include three polarizers PL1, PL2, and PL3, the polarizer PL1 may be disposed between the display panel DP and the backlight module 140 (i.e., between the first display substrate 110 and the backlight module 140), the display panel DP is disposed between the polarizer PL1 and the polarizer PL2 (i.e., between the second display substrate 130 and the display element layer 120 and the polarizer PL2, the display panel DP is disposed between the polarizer PL2 and the backlight module 140), and the polarizer PL2 is disposed between the polarizer PL3 and the display panel DP, but not limited thereto.

As shown in fig. 1, the electronic device 100 of the present embodiment may include a touch sensing layer 170 disposed on the display panel DP and between the polarizer PL2 and the polarizer PL3, wherein the touch sensing layer 170 is used for sensing a touch object (e.g. a finger, a stylus, etc.) touching the electronic device 100. The touch sensing layer 170 may include any suitable touch sensor, such as a capacitive touch sensor, a resistive touch sensor, or other suitable touch sensor, and the capacitive touch sensor may be, for example, a Self Capacitance (Self Capacitance) touch sensor or a mutual Capacitance (Mutual Capacitance) touch sensor, but is not limited thereto.

In some embodiments, the touch sensor in the touch sensing layer 170 may include a plurality of touch units as elements performing the touch sensing function. For example, some touch units may be electrically connected to each other in the direction X to form touch rows, and a plurality of touch rows may be arranged along the direction Y, and some touch units may be electrically connected to each other in the direction Y to form touch columns, and a plurality of touch columns may be arranged along the direction X, but not limited thereto. For example, the touch units may be arranged in a matrix along the direction X and the direction Y, but not limited thereto.

The touch sensing layer 170 may include at least one conductive layer, and optionally at least one insulating layer or other desired film layers to form a touch sensor. For example, the touch sensing layer 170 may be a multi-layer structure including a plurality of conductive layers and an insulating layer interposed between the two conductive layers. In the present embodiment, the conductive layer for forming the touch unit may include a transparent conductive material, but is not limited thereto.

As shown in fig. 1, the electronic device 100 of the present embodiment may include a peep-proof structure 150 disposed between the polarizer PL2 and the polarizer PL3, so that the electronic device 100 has a peep-proof effect. The peep-proof structure 150 of the present invention is not particularly limited and may perform the peep-proof function in any suitable manner, that is, any suitable peep-proof structure 150 may be used in the present invention. For example, the peep-proof structure 150 may be an electrically controlled birefringent peep-proof sheet, but is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the privacy structure 150 (e.g., an electrically controlled birefringence privacy sheet) may include a light control dielectric layer and electrodes for controlling the light control dielectric layer, and the number of light control dielectric layers and the number of electrodes in the privacy structure 150 may be designed according to the requirements. For example, the privacy structure 150 (e.g., an electrically controlled birefringence privacy sheet) may include a light control medium layer and two electrodes, and the light control medium layer is disposed between the two electrodes in a top view, but is not limited thereto. In another embodiment, the privacy structure 150 (e.g., an electrically controlled birefringent privacy sheet) may include two light management layers and four electrodes, one light management layer disposed between two electrodes, another light management layer disposed between two other electrodes, and two light management layers overlapping in plan view.

In the present invention, the optical parameters and properties of the privacy structure 150 can be designed according to the requirements. In some implementations, the light control medium layer of the privacy structure 150 may include a liquid crystal material, where a product of a difference (Δn) of biaxial refractive indexes of the privacy structure 150 and a thickness (d) of the light control medium layer (i.e., Δnd) may be 400 to 1600, a liquid crystal twist angle (twist angle) of the privacy structure 150 may be 0 to 10 degrees, and a liquid crystal alignment angle (rubbing angle) of the privacy structure 150 may be 0 degrees or 90 degrees, but is not limited thereto.

In some embodiments, the peep-proof structure 150 may have a first state and a second state, wherein the first state may turn on the peep-proof function and the second state may turn off the peep-proof function, but is not limited thereto. For example, but not limited to, the privacy structure 150 can be switched between the first state and the second state by physical adjustment, electrical signals, or other suitable means. In some embodiments, the peep-proof structure 150 can perform the peep-proof function normally, but is not limited thereto. When the peep-proof structure 150 performs the peep-proof function, the light incident into the peep-proof structure 150 can be adjusted and/or filtered, so that the path of the light emitted from the peep-proof structure 150 is limited to a specific angle and/or a specific range, but not limited thereto. For example, when the angle between the viewing line of sight of the user and the normal direction (e.g., direction Z) of the light-emitting surface of the electronic device 100 is greater than a specific angle under the condition that the peep-proof function is performed, the user cannot see the display screen of the electronic device 100. It should be noted that, when the user is facing the electronic device 100, the angle between the viewing line of sight of the user and the normal direction (e.g., direction Z) of the light emitting surface of the electronic device 100 is 0 degrees.

As shown in fig. 1, the electronic device 100 of the present embodiment may include a flexible film 160 disposed between the polarizer PL2 and the polarizer PL3, such that the polarizer PL2 is disposed between the display element layer 120 and the flexible film 160. For example, in fig. 1, the flexible film 160 may be disposed between the touch sensing layer 170 and the peep preventing structure 150, and the peep preventing structure 150 may be disposed between the flexible film 160 and the display panel DP, but is not limited thereto. For example (not shown), the touch sensing layer 170 may be disposed between the flexible film 160 and the peep preventing structure 150, and the peep preventing structure 150 may be disposed between the touch sensing layer 170 and the display panel DP, but is not limited thereto. In fig. 1, a flexible film 160, a touch sensing layer 170 and a polarizer PL3 are disposed on one side of the peep-proof structure 150, and a display panel DP and a polarizer PL2 are disposed on the other side of the peep-proof structure 150.

In this embodiment, the flexible film 160 can be used to enhance the peep-proof effect of the electronic device 100. In detail, the flexible material included in the flexible film 160 may be matched with the peep-proof structure 150 to increase the peep-proof angle and/or reduce the brightness of the peep-proof structure, so as to improve the peep-proof effect. In some embodiments, the out-of-plane phase difference (R _th ) Can be less than 0, while the out-of-plane phase difference value (R _th ) The calculation formula of (2) is [ n ] _z -(n _x +n _y )/2]d, where n _x 、n _y And n _z Represents the refractive index of light in directions X, Y and Z, respectively, and d is the thickness of the flexible film 160. In some embodiments, flexible film 160 may include a negative C-plate material, wherein in the negative C-plate material, the refractive index n _x Equal to refractive index n _y And refractive index n _x Greater than refractive index n _z (i.e., n _x ＝n _y >n _z ) So that the out-of-plane phase difference value (R _th ) Less than 0, but not limited thereto. For example, the flexible film 160 may include polyimide, polyethylene terephthalate, cyclic olefin polymer, or a combination thereof, but is not limited thereto.

In some embodiments, the flexible film 160 and the touch sensing layer 170 disposed on the flexible film 160 may form a flexible touch panel, and the flexible touch panel may be externally attached to the display panel DP or the peep-proof structure 150, so that the flexible touch panel may be, but is not limited to, an externally-attached touch panel.

Referring to fig. 2 to 8, fig. 2 to 8 are simulation diagrams of brightness at each viewing angle of some electronic devices, wherein the architecture of the electronic devices simulated in fig. 2 to 8 is the same as that of the first embodiment of the present invention, and the out-of-plane phase difference (R) of the flexible film 160 in fig. 2 to 8 _th ) Sequentially 0 nanometer (nm), 50 nm, 150 nm, 250 nm, 350 nm, 400 nm and 500 nm respectively. In fig. 2-8, the out-of-plane phase difference (R _th ) The peep-proof angles on the left side and the right side can be found to be enlarged, the peep-proof angles have the trend of extending upwards and downwards, and the brightness in the peep-proof view angle is gradually reduced, so that the peep-proof effect is improved. For example, as the out-of-plane phase difference value (R _th ) The peep-proof angle on the left and right sides can be enlarged from 30 degrees to 60 degrees to 30 degrees to 70 degrees or from 30 degrees to 80 degrees, but is not limited thereto. In addition, in fig. 2 to 6, the luminance of the viewing angles on the left and right sides is more uniform between 30 degrees and 80 degrees, and no significantly larger luminance is generated at one viewing angle. Thus, in some embodiments, the out-of-plane phase difference (R _th ) Can be from-150 nm to-400 nm, or canOut-of-plane phase difference (R) of flex layer 160 _th ) Can be-250 nanometers, but is not limited thereto.

The electronic device of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and other embodiments will be further disclosed herein, however, for simplicity of description and highlighting the differences between the embodiments and the above embodiments, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and overlapping portions will not be repeated herein.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an electronic device according to a second embodiment of the invention. As shown in fig. 9, the difference between the present embodiment and the first embodiment is that the flexible film 160 and the touch sensing layer 170 of the electronic device 200 of the present embodiment can be disposed between the peep-proof structure 150 and the display panel DP. For example (as shown in fig. 9), the touch sensing layer 170 may be disposed between the flexible film 160 and the peep-proof structure 150, but is not limited thereto. For example (not shown), the flexible film 160 may be disposed between the touch sensing layer 170 and the peep-proof structure 150, but is not limited thereto. In the present embodiment, although the architecture of the electronic device 200 of the present embodiment is different from that of the electronic device 100 of the first embodiment, the electronic device 100 of the first embodiment is similar to that of the electronic device 200 of the second embodiment in terms of simulation results of luminance at each viewing angle.

In summary, the electronic device of the present invention has the peep-proof structure and the flexible film layer disposed on the display panel, so the electronic device has a good peep-proof effect.

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. An electronic device, comprising:

a display panel for displaying the picture;

the first polaroid is arranged on the display panel;

the second polaroid is arranged between the display panel and the first polaroid;

the touch sensing layer is arranged between the first polaroid and the second polaroid;

the flexible film layer is arranged between the first polaroid and the second polaroid; and

the peep-proof structure is arranged between the first polaroid and the second polaroid.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the privacy structure is disposed between the flexible film layer and the display panel.

3. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the flexible film layer is disposed between the privacy structure and the display panel.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the out-of-plane phase difference value of the flexible film layer is less than 0.

5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the out-of-plane phase difference value of the flexible film layer is-150 nm to-400 nm.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the flexible film layer comprises a negative C-plate material.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the flexible film layer comprises polyimide, polyethylene terephthalate, cyclic olefin polymer, or a combination of at least two of polyimide, polyethylene terephthalate, and cyclic olefin polymer.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the privacy structure is an electronically controlled birefringent privacy sheet.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the display panel comprises a first display substrate, a second display substrate, and a display element layer disposed between the first display substrate and the second display substrate.

10. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a backlight module, wherein the display panel is disposed between the second polarizer and the backlight module.