JP2012255823A - Liquid crystal module - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid crystal module that allows a manufacturer to easily grant data for driving a liquid crystal panel and a backlight and that allows a user to easily and correctly set the data for driving the liquid crystal panel and the backlight to a driver IC.SOLUTION: A liquid crystal module 10 includes: a liquid crystal panel 12; a backlight 16 including LEDs 14R, 14G, and 14B; a liquid crystal driver IC 18 driving the liquid crystal panel 12; an LED driver IC 20 driving the LEDs 14R, 14G, and 14B of the backlight 16; and an electronic storage medium 40 storing data for driving the liquid crystal driver IC 18 and the LED driver IC 20 as electronic data.

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid crystal module having a liquid crystal panel, a backlight, and a driver IC for controlling the driving of the liquid crystal panel and the backlight, and in particular, the manufacturer can easily provide data for driving the liquid crystal panel and the backlight to the user. In addition, the user side is to realize a liquid crystal module in which driving data for the liquid crystal panel and the backlight can be easily and accurately set in the driver IC.

  FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional liquid crystal module 70. The liquid crystal module 70 includes a liquid crystal panel 72 and a backlight 76 having an LED (light emitting diode) 74 as a light source. A liquid crystal driver IC 78 for controlling the driving of the liquid crystal panel 72, and an LED driver IC 80 for controlling the driving of the LED 74 of the backlight 76.

In order to drive the liquid crystal module 70, it is necessary to set data for driving the liquid crystal panel 72 and the LED 74 in the liquid crystal driver IC 78 and the LED driver IC 80.
Therefore, conventionally, a “paper medium” driver IC specification 82 and an operation specification 84 created by the manufacturer of the liquid crystal module 70 have been issued to the user, and from the driver IC specification 82 and the operation specification 84 on the user side. Necessary driving data is extracted and incorporated in the control MPU 86, and the driving data is sent from the control MPU 86 to the liquid crystal driver IC 78 and the LED driver IC 80 for setting.

An example of a liquid crystal module having a liquid crystal panel, a backlight, and a driver IC is Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-52338 (Patent Document 1).
JP 2007-52338 A

  However, in the conventional liquid crystal module 70, since the driver IC specification 82 and the operation specification 84 in which the driving data is described are issued to the user on a “paper medium”, the driver IC specification on the user side. It was necessary to read 82 and the operation specification 84 to understand and master the driving method of the liquid crystal module 70.

  In addition, the user must extract the necessary drive data from the driver IC specification 82 and the operation specification 84 for “paper medium” and then incorporate the drive data into the control MPU 86 by hand. In addition to the time and effort, mistakes may occur when extracting and incorporating drive data.

On the other hand, the manufacturer has to create different driver IC specifications 82 and operation specifications 84 on the “paper medium” for each of the liquid crystal modules 70, which entails enormous costs and effort. That is, if the manufactured liquid crystal module 70 is driven as it is with the same driving data, the display characteristics vary greatly, so that the manufacturer performs an inspection for each liquid crystal module 70 and exhibits substantially the same display characteristics. The driving data was adjusted for each liquid crystal module 70.
For example, the LED 74 that is the light source of the backlight 76 has a large variation in luminance when the same current is passed. Therefore, for each liquid crystal module 70, a driver in which the driving current value that is driving data of the LED 74 is changed. The IC specification 82 and the operation specification 84 were created with “paper medium”.
In addition, the manufacturer needs to support the user with respect to the contents of the driver IC specification 82 and the operation specification 84, and the burden associated with securing support personnel is large.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the object of the present invention is that the manufacturer can easily deliver the liquid crystal panel and backlight driving data to the user, and the user can use the liquid crystal. An object of the present invention is to realize a liquid crystal module capable of easily and accurately setting panel and backlight driving data in a driver IC.

In order to achieve the above object, a liquid crystal module according to claim 1 of the present invention includes:
A liquid crystal module having a liquid crystal panel, a backlight, and a driver IC for driving the liquid crystal panel and the backlight, and further comprising an electronic storage medium in which driving data for the driver IC is recorded as electronic data. Features.

The liquid crystal module according to claim 2 of the present invention is the liquid crystal module according to claim 1,
History information of the liquid crystal module is recorded on the electronic storage medium.

The liquid crystal module according to claim 3 of the present invention is the liquid crystal module according to claim 2,
The history information is encrypted and recorded on an electronic storage medium.

A liquid crystal module according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the liquid crystal module according to any one of the first to third aspects,
The electronic storage medium is a nonvolatile memory.

The liquid crystal module according to claim 5 of the present invention is the liquid crystal module according to claim 4,
The nonvolatile memory is a flash memory or an EEPROM.

  The liquid crystal module according to claim 1 of the present invention has an electronic storage medium in which driving data of a driver IC that drives the liquid crystal panel and the backlight is recorded as electronic data. As with the LCD module 70, there is no need to create a driver IC specification 82 or operation specification 84 for “paper media” in which driving data is described, and driver IC driving data can be easily delivered to the user. can do.

In addition, since the user can read out the driving data of the driver IC recorded as electronic data and send it to the driver IC, the setting can be made, as in the case of the conventional liquid crystal module 70. Understand and master the driver IC specifications 82 and operation specifications 84 for "paper media", and control the driving data extracted from the driver IC specifications 82 and operation specifications 84 for "paper media" with "manual work" There is no need to incorporate it into the MPU 86, and the driver IC can be set easily and accurately.
Furthermore, since the manufacturer does not need to support the user about the contents of the driver IC specification 82 and the operation specification 84 of “paper medium” as in the case of the conventional liquid crystal module 70, the burden is greatly reduced. be able to.

  In addition, since the liquid crystal module according to claim 2 of the present invention records the history information of the liquid crystal module on the electronic storage medium, the history information is stored from the electronic storage medium when a problem such as failure or accident occurs in the product. By reading out, it is possible to easily perform a follow-up investigation for investigating the cause.

  4. The history information is information that does not need to be informed to the user side and may include information related to the manufacturer's secret. Therefore, the history information is encrypted and stored in an electronic storage medium as in the liquid crystal module according to claim 3. Is preferably recorded.

  As the liquid crystal module according to claim 4, as the electronic storage medium, an inexpensive non-volatile memory capable of holding the memory without supplying power is preferable. As described, this corresponds to flash memory or EEPROM.

  FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a liquid crystal module 10 of the present invention. The liquid crystal module 10 includes a liquid crystal panel 12, a red light emitting LED 14R as a light source, and a green light emitting LED 14G. , A backlight 16 having a blue light emitting LED 14B, a liquid crystal driver IC 18 for controlling the driving of the liquid crystal panel 12, and an LED driver IC 20 for controlling the driving of the LEDs 14R, 14G, 14B of the backlight 16. Yes.

  The liquid crystal module 10 of the present invention uses a backlight 16 having LEDs 14R, 14G, and 14B that can selectively emit light of three primary colors of R (red), G (green), and B (blue). This is a field sequential type liquid crystal module 10 capable of color display without using a filter.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2 showing a schematic cross-sectional view of the liquid crystal panel 12 and the backlight 16, the liquid crystal panel 12 includes a front substrate 22 and a rear substrate 24 made of a translucent insulating material arranged to face each other at a predetermined interval. The liquid crystal 26 is arranged between them.
A transparent segment electrode 28 having a predetermined shape is formed on the back surface of the front substrate 22.
Further, a transparent electrode 30 facing the segment electrode 28 of the front substrate 22 is formed on the surface of the rear substrate 24.
A polarizing plate 32 is disposed on the front surface of the front substrate 22 and the back surface of the rear substrate 24, and the surface of the polarizing plate 32 on the front substrate 22 side is a display surface.

In the backlight 16, the red light emitting LED 14R, the green light emitting LED 14G, and the blue light emitting LED 14B are arranged along one side surface of the light guide plate 36.
A light scattering layer 38 is formed on the back surface of the light guide plate 36 to scatter the light of the LED 14 incident on the inside of the light guide plate 36 from one side surface and emit the light from the surface of the light guide plate 36.

  Thus, in the field sequential type liquid crystal module 10, the red light emitting LED 14R, the green light emitting LED 14G, and the blue light emitting LED 14B, which are the light sources of the backlight 16, are lighted while being switched at a high speed. In synchronization with this, a voltage is applied between the specific segment electrode 28 and the transparent electrode 30 to change the alignment state of the liquid crystal 26 so that light of R, G, B colors can be selectively transmitted. Thus, R, G, B display patterns corresponding to the shape of the segment electrode 28 are displayed on the display surface 34 in a time-division manner continuously and rapidly, and R, G, B due to the afterimage phenomenon of the human eye. Can be mixed to perform color display of a desired color.

For example, when a display pattern of only one color of R, G, and B is displayed in a time-sharing manner in a fast and continuous manner, display in any one color of R, G, and B is possible. is there.
In addition, when the display pattern of any two colors of R, G, and B is displayed in a time-sharing manner in a continuous manner at a high speed, the display is performed in a mixed color of any two colors of R, G, and B. Is called.
Further, when the display patterns of the three colors R, G, and B are displayed in a time-sharing manner in a continuous manner at a high speed, the display is performed in the mixed colors of the three colors. In the case where the display patterns of three colors are displayed in a time-division manner in a continuous manner at a high speed, the desired color can be displayed by adjusting the integral value of the light emission times of the respective colors.

The LED driver IC 20 controls lighting of the red light emitting LED 14R, the green light emitting LED 14G, and the blue light emitting LED 14B, which are the light sources of the backlight 16, and ON / OFF of the drive current to each LED 14 is controlled. The timing, the energization time, etc. are controlled.
The liquid crystal driver IC 18 controls the ON / OFF timing of the voltage application between the segment electrode 28 and the transparent electrode 30 of the liquid crystal panel 12, the application time, and the like.

The liquid crystal module 10 of the present invention has an electronic storage medium 40 in which driving data for the liquid crystal driver IC 18 and the LED driver IC 20 is recorded as electronic data.
The driving data of the liquid crystal driver IC 18 includes, for example, ON / OFF timing of voltage application between the segment electrode 28 and the transparent electrode 30 of the liquid crystal panel 12, application time, applied voltage value, frequency, and the like.
Further, the driving data of the LED driver IC 20 includes, for example, ON / OFF timing of driving current to each LED 14, driving cycle, energizing time of each LED 14, current value, and the like.

  The electronic storage medium 40 is preferably an inexpensive non-volatile memory that can hold the memory without supplying power, for example, a flash memory or an EEPROM. A microcomputer chip with a built-in nonvolatile memory may be used.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the user reads out the driving data for the liquid crystal driver IC 18 and the LED driver IC 20 recorded as electronic data from the electronic storage medium 40 using the control MPU 42 and sends it to the liquid crystal driver IC 18 and the LED driver IC 20. And set it.

  Thus, since the liquid crystal module 10 of the present invention has the electronic storage medium 40 in which the driving data of the liquid crystal driver IC 18 and the LED driver IC 20 is recorded as electronic data, the manufacturer side describes the driving data. It is not necessary to create the driver IC specification 82 and the operation specification 84 for the “paper medium”, and the driving data for the liquid crystal driver IC 18 and the LED driver IC 20 can be easily delivered to the user.

Further, the user side performs setting by reading out the driving data for the liquid crystal driver IC 18 and the LED driver IC 20 recorded as electronic data through the control MPU 42 and sending them to the liquid crystal driver IC 18 and the LED driver IC 20. As in the case of the conventional LCD module 70, the driver IC specification 82 and the operation specification 84 for “paper medium” can be understood and mastered, or the driver IC specification 82 and the operation specification for “paper medium”. The drive data extracted from the book 84 need not be manually incorporated into the control MPU 86, and the liquid crystal driver IC 18 and the LED driver IC 20 can be set easily and accurately.
Furthermore, since the manufacturer does not need to support the user about the contents of the driver IC specification 82 and the operation specification 84 of “paper medium” as in the case of the conventional liquid crystal module 70, the burden is greatly reduced. be able to.

  When the driving data of the liquid crystal driver IC 18 and the LED driver IC 20 needs to be updated or corrected, the manufacturer writes the updated / corrected driving data to the electronic storage medium 40 in the liquid crystal module 10 of the present invention. The user may send the updated / corrected driving data to the liquid crystal driver IC 18 and the LED driver IC 20.

Hereinafter, the setting method of the liquid crystal driver IC 18 will be described by taking as an example the case of adjusting the driving voltage of the liquid crystal module 10 according to the present invention.
Since the liquid crystal panel 12 has different characteristics depending on the liquid crystal material to be used, the specifications of other members, and the like, it is necessary to measure and adjust the optimum driving voltage.

  For the drive voltage adjustment, the manufacturer first measures the characteristics of the liquid crystal panel 12 using an optical measuring instrument for each liquid crystal module 10, and then specifies the optimum drive voltage value for driving the liquid crystal panel 12. Data for driving the liquid crystal driver IC 18 to be adjusted to a voltage value is recorded in the electronic storage medium 40. Thereafter, the liquid crystal module 10 is shipped to the user side.

  The user who receives the shipment of the liquid crystal module 10 reads the driving data for the liquid crystal driver IC 18 from the electronic storage medium 40 via the control MPU 42 and sends it to the liquid crystal driver IC 18, so that it is defined by the above driving voltage adjustment. The liquid crystal panel 12 is set to be driven at the drive voltage value.

In the liquid crystal module 10 of the present invention, it is desirable to record various history information of each liquid crystal module 10 in the electronic storage medium 40.
The history information may be, for example, information such as the serial number of the liquid crystal module 10, the date of manufacture, the name of the manufacturing plant, the name of the person in charge of manufacture, the name of the person in charge of inspection, the date of shipment of the product, the shipping destination, etc. The record items can be arbitrarily selected and set by the manufacturer.

The history information is information that does not need to be informed to the user side and may include information related to the secret on the manufacturer side, so it is preferable that the history information be encrypted and recorded in the electronic storage medium 40.
Encryption means that data (history information) is converted according to a certain algorithm so that the contents of the data (history information) cannot be understood by a third party, and various known encryption methods can be used.

  Thus, in the liquid crystal module 10 of the present invention formed by recording history information on the electronic storage medium 40, when a problem such as a failure or an accident occurs in the product, from the electronic storage medium 40 of the liquid crystal module 10, For example, by reading history information such as the name of the manufacturing plant, the date of manufacture, the name of the person in charge of manufacturing, etc., it becomes possible to easily perform a follow-up survey for investigating the cause.

  By the way, in the case of the conventional LCD module 70, a sticker printed with a serial number or lot number was only attached to each product. The manufacturing factory and date of manufacture had to be determined based on the number and lot number, and the follow-up survey took time and effort.

  In FIG. 1 and the above description, for convenience of explanation, the liquid crystal driver IC 18 and the LED driver IC 20 have been described separately. Of course, it is also possible to use a driver IC.

It is the simplified block diagram which shows the schematic structure of the liquid crystal module of this invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows typically the liquid crystal panel and backlight of the liquid crystal display device which concern on this invention. It is the simplified block diagram which shows the schematic structure of the conventional liquid crystal module.

10 LCD module
12 LCD panel
14R Red LED
14G LED for green light emission
14B Blue light emitting LED
16 Backlight
18 LCD driver IC
20 LED driver IC
22 Front panel of LCD panel
24 Back panel of LCD panel
26 LCD
28 segment electrode
30 Transparent electrode
32 Polarizer
34 LCD panel display
36 Light guide plate
38 Light scattering layer
40 Electronic storage media
42 Control MPU

Claims (5)

  A liquid crystal module having a liquid crystal panel, a backlight, and a driver IC for driving the liquid crystal panel and the backlight, and further comprising an electronic storage medium in which driving data for the driver IC is recorded as electronic data. A featured liquid crystal module.   2. The liquid crystal module according to claim 1, wherein history information of the liquid crystal module is recorded in the electronic storage medium.   The liquid crystal module according to claim 2, wherein the history information is encrypted and recorded on an electronic storage medium.   The liquid crystal module according to claim 1, wherein the electronic storage medium is a nonvolatile memory. The liquid crystal module according to claim 4, wherein the nonvolatile memory is a flash memory or an EEPROM.

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