JP4662129B2 - Display device and display control method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a display device and a display control method, in particular, in the two-dimensional display and three-dimensional display capable of displaying device images, display apparatus and a display control method to be able to perform the two-dimensional display with a higher resolution About.

  Conventionally, there is an image display device (display) using a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or the like. There are various uses for such a display, and not only the normal two-dimensional display (planar display) but also the human vision that enables the viewer of the image to view the image stereoscopically (feeling perspective in the image). Three-dimensional display (stereoscopic display) using characteristics is also performed. Accordingly, various stereoscopic display methods have been proposed.

  For example, many methods such as a binocular method using binocular parallax and a holography method for drawing a three-dimensional image in space have been proposed. Each method has advantages and disadvantages. For example, the widespread binocular stereoscopic display is a display method that can realize stereoscopic viewing very easily. However, in order to obtain a stereoscopic effect using only binocular parallax out of several stereoscopic physiological factors (binocular parallax, convergence, focus adjustment, motion parallax, etc.), binocular parallax / convergence and focus adjustment Therefore, it has been pointed out that observers feel tired when they are used for a long time.

  Further, in the holography method considered to be at the opposite end, the wavefront of light can be reproduced, so that all the physiological factors of stereoscopic vision can be satisfied and a natural stereoscopic display with less fatigue can be obtained. In fact, a hologram (still image) produced using laser interference on a dry plate has a stereoscopic image that looks like the real thing. However, as an electronic display, the amount of data required is enormous, and there is no device that can be controlled below the micron order, such as a dry plate, so it is extremely difficult to display a color stereoscopic moving image at present. .

  Furthermore, in recent years, more complicated control methods have been demanded. For example, when displaying characters and the like, two-dimensional display and three-dimensional display are appropriately performed so that a high-resolution flat display and an illustration or the like are displayed three-dimensionally. There is a need for a control method that can be switched. Therefore, at present, the display control method capable of switching the display is a very effective technology in the industry.

  For example, there is a technique in which a shutter is disposed between an observer and a display pixel and stereoscopic display is performed using a binocular stereoscopic display method (see, for example, Patent Document 1). As a method for solving the problems of various stereoscopic display methods, a method called a light ray reproduction method (integral photography method: IP method) using many parallax images is known.

  This method is a relatively simple system consisting of a lens array and a light source, does not require the observer to wear eyeglasses, and changes the angle at which the stereoscopic image can be seen depending on the angle. Expected to be a display method.

Therefore, it can be said that switching between the two-dimensional display and the three-dimensional display in the IP method is more effective than the other three-dimensional methods.
JP 2004-198727 A

  However, in the method described above, since light from a plurality of pixels passes through the same lens, this lens corresponds to a unit pixel.

  In the case of stereoscopic display, a plurality of pixels passing through the same lens display different images. Since the light passing through the lens is refracted, when the display of the image is controlled in this way, the light (pixel) that the observer mainly observes changes depending on the refraction angle. In other words, the observer can change mainly the light (pixel) to be observed even by the light from the same lens by changing the observation position. As a result, parallax occurs between the left and right eyes of the observer, and the observer can stereoscopically view the image.

  On the other hand, in the case of flat display, the observer must be able to see the same image from any direction. Therefore, a plurality of pixels passing through the same lens must emit the same light beam. Don't be.

  That is, considering only the case of flat display, a lens is not necessary. However, in order to be able to perform stereoscopic display by switching the display method, the resolution had to be reduced below the number of pixels in the case of flat display (the resolution of the lens array had been reached). .

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation. In a display capable of displaying an image by both a stereoscopic display using the IP method and a two-dimensional display by switching the display method, the three-dimensional In the case of display, the image is displayed at the resolution of the lens array, and in the case of two-dimensional display, the image can be displayed at the original full resolution of the pixel.

Display device of the present invention is made of a light emitting pixel groups arranged in an array, and an image display means for displaying the two-dimensional display image or three-dimensional display image by the liquid lens unit located array shape, The liquid lens includes a switching unit that controls the direction of the optical path of the light output from the light emitting pixels of the image display unit and switches the display method of the image displayed by the image display unit to two-dimensional display or three-dimensional display. Two transparent electrodes, two layers having different refractive indexes formed between the two transparent electrodes, and a rib provided to surround the two layers so as to distinguish from the configuration of the adjacent liquid lens The switching means controls the voltage applied between the two transparent electrodes according to the shape of the interface between the two layers, and controls the direction of the optical path of light output from the plurality of light emitting pixels and passing through the interface. thing When the two-dimensional display image is displayed by the image display means by controlling the shape of the interface of each liquid lens, the interface does not affect the optical path, and the two-dimensional display image is displayed to the observer. When the image display means displays a 3D display image with a resolution in units of light emitting pixels of the display means, the interface influences the optical path, and the observer is given a 3D display image. It is characterized by observing at a resolution with the liquid lens of the switching means as a unit.

  When the two-dimensional display image is displayed by the image display unit, the switching unit makes the interface parallel to the image display surface, and when the three-dimensional display image is displayed by the image display unit, Can be curved in a lens shape with respect to the image display surface.

  The switching means can change the light output from the light emitting pixels into parallel light or light close to parallel light by controlling the direction of the optical path when the interface is curved like a lens.

  Either one of the two layers forming the interface in the liquid lens may be composed of a polar liquid having polarity.

  The two layers forming the interface in the liquid lens can be constituted by a polar liquid having polarity and a nonpolar liquid having no polarity.

  An insulator film may be formed on at least one of the two transparent electrodes.

  The two transparent electrodes and the insulator film can be shared by a plurality of liquid lenses.

The display control method of the present invention is a display control method for a display device that displays an image, and is an image display that includes a group of light emitting pixels arranged in an array and displays a two-dimensional display image or a three-dimensional display image. The image display control step for controlling the display unit to display the two-dimensional display image or the three-dimensional display image, and the liquid lens group arranged in an array are output from the light emitting pixels of the image display unit. and controlling the direction of the optical path of the light has, been controlled by the processing of the image display control step of displaying method of the image displayed on the image display unit, and a switching step of switching to the two-dimensional display or three-dimensional display, a liquid lens Is composed of two transparent electrodes, two layers having different refractive indexes formed between the two transparent electrodes, and an adjacent liquid lens provided so as to surround the two layers It has a rib for distinguishing, and the shape of the interface between the two layers controls the direction of the optical path of light output from the plurality of light emitting pixels and passing through the interface, and the switching step is applied between the two transparent electrodes. When the two-dimensional display image is displayed on the image display unit by the processing of the image display control step, the interface does not affect the optical path. When the observer observes the two-dimensional display image at a resolution in units of light emitting pixels of the image display unit, and the three-dimensional display image is displayed on the image display unit by the image display control step processing, Affects the optical path, and allows an observer to observe a three-dimensional display image with a resolution in units of liquid lenses .

In the display device and the display control method of the present invention, a liquid lens in which an image display unit including light emitting pixel groups arranged in an array form displays a two-dimensional display image or a three-dimensional display image and is arranged in an array form. In order to distinguish from the configuration of the group of two transparent electrodes, two layers formed between the two transparent electrodes having different refractive indexes, and an adjacent liquid lens provided so as to surround the two layers. By controlling the voltage applied between the two transparent electrodes of each liquid lens having a plurality of ribs, the shape of the interface of each liquid lens is controlled, and the shape of the interface between the two layers controls the image display unit. When the direction of the optical path of light that is output from the plurality of light emitting pixels and passes through the interface is controlled and a two-dimensional display image is displayed on the image display unit, the interface does not affect the optical path, Two dimensions When the display image is observed at a resolution in units of light-emitting pixels of the image display unit, and the three-dimensional display image is displayed on the image display unit, the interface affects the optical path, A three-dimensional display image is observed with a resolution in units of liquid lenses.

  According to the present invention, two-dimensional display can be performed with higher resolution.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example according to an embodiment of a wavefront control type display device to which the present invention is applied.

  In FIG. 1, the wavefront control type display device 1 includes a three-dimensional image display control unit 11, a two-dimensional image display unit 12, and a liquid level control unit 13, and displays two images based on input image information. This is an image display device capable of switching between two-dimensional display and three-dimensional display for three-dimensional display (planar display) or three-dimensional display (stereoscopic display).

  Hereinafter, the two-dimensional display (planar display) indicates a display method in which the observer recognizes an image displayed on the screen as a two-dimensional image. That is, in this case, within the observable range, the observer can observe the same image on the same screen regardless of the observation position, and no parallax occurs between the eyes of the observer. In contrast, three-dimensional display (stereoscopic display) is a display method in which an observer recognizes an image displayed on a screen as a three-dimensional object (displays an image as a virtual three-dimensional object). Display method). That is, in this case, within the observable range, the observer can observe different images depending on the observation position on the same screen, and parallax occurs in both eyes of the observer. This parallax allows the observer to stereoscopically view the image.

  The three-dimensional image display control unit 11 selects whether to perform two-dimensional display or three-dimensional display based on the input image information or the like (switches as necessary). A control unit that controls the two-dimensional image display unit 12 and the wavefront control unit 13. The signal separation unit 21, the wavefront control unit drive circuit 22, the two-dimensional image display unit drive circuit 23, the control unit 31, the ROM 32, the RAM 33, and the input unit 34. , An output unit 35, a storage unit 36, a communication unit 37, and a drive 38.

  The signal separation unit 21 is controlled by the control unit 31 and receives image information input from the outside. This image information includes two-dimensional image information that is data of a two-dimensional image. The signal separation unit 21 extracts the two-dimensional image information from the input image information and supplies it to the two-dimensional image display unit driving circuit 23. In addition, when displaying an image three-dimensionally, the image information input to the signal separation unit 21 further includes depth information that is information for three-dimensional display. In that case, the signal separation unit 21 extracts depth information for three-dimensional display included in the image information and supplies the extracted depth information to the wavefront control unit drive circuit 22.

  The wavefront controller drive circuit 22 drives the wavefront controller 13 based on the depth information supplied from the signal separator 21. The two-dimensional image display unit driving circuit 23 drives the two-dimensional image display unit 12 based on the two-dimensional image information supplied from the signal separation unit 21 to display an image.

  The control unit 31 controls the signal separation unit 21 to perform image information reception processing or to separate the received image information into depth information and two-dimensional image information. The control unit 31 performs various processes according to a program stored in a ROM (Read Only Memory) 32 or a program loaded from a storage unit 36 into a RAM (Random Access Memory) 33. The RAM 33 also appropriately stores data necessary for the control unit 31 to execute various processes.

  The control unit 31 also includes an input unit 34 composed of operation buttons, knobs, or a remote controller, a control information display display composed of an LED (Light Emitting Diode) display or LCD, an output unit 35 composed of a speaker, a hard disk, A storage unit 36 composed of a semiconductor memory or the like and a communication unit 37 composed of a modem or a LAN (Local Area Network) interface are connected. The communication unit 37 performs a communication process via a network including the Internet, for example.

  In addition, a drive 38 is connected to the control unit 31 as necessary, and a removable medium 39 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or a semiconductor memory is appropriately mounted, and a computer program read from them is required. Is installed in the storage unit 36 accordingly.

  When the processing executed by the control unit 31 is executed by software, a program constituting the software is installed from a network or a recording medium.

  This recording medium is, for example, a magnetic disk (including a flexible disk) on which a program is recorded, an optical disk (CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read), which is distributed to distribute the program to the user separately from the apparatus main body. The apparatus is not only constituted by a removable medium 39 composed of only memory), DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), magneto-optical disk (including MD (Mini-Disk) (registered trademark)), semiconductor memory, etc. The program is composed of a ROM 32 on which a program is recorded and a hard disk or a semiconductor memory included in the storage unit 36, which is distributed to the user in a state of being incorporated in the main body in advance.

  The two-dimensional image display unit 12 is, for example, a display constituted by an LCD, and light emitting pixel units 41 that emit light of a predetermined color as one pixel are arranged in an array form (matrix form) in a planar (screen) form. ing. The light emitting pixel unit 41 is configured by a single color light emitting element or an element capable of emitting light in full color. Furthermore, the light emitting pixel unit 41 may include a deflection unit, a color filter, and the like, for example. That is, the light-emitting pixel unit 41 includes all necessary components as one pixel. That is, the light emitting pixel unit 41 is controlled by the two-dimensional image display unit driving circuit 23 based on the two-dimensional image information, and appropriately emits light with a predetermined color. Thereby, a planar image (including a still image and a moving image) is displayed as the entire two-dimensional image display unit 12 (all the light emitting pixel units 41).

  The wavefront control unit 13 is configured by liquid lens units 42 arranged in an array (matrix), and is superimposed on the two-dimensional image display unit 12. In FIG. 1, for convenience of explanation, the two-dimensional image display unit 12 and the wavefront control unit 13 are shown shifted from each other, but actually, from all the light emitting pixel units 41 constituting the two-dimensional image display unit 12. The vertical and horizontal positions are aligned with the two-dimensional image display unit 12 or the light-emitting pixel unit 41 so that the light is output to the outside via the wavefront control unit 13 in the whole or in the liquid lens 42 unit. Is done. That is, an observer (user) observes (views) an image displayed on the two-dimensional image display unit 12 via the wavefront control unit 13. However, as will be described later, one liquid lens 42 of the wavefront control unit 13 corresponds to a plurality of light emitting pixel units 41 of the two-dimensional image display unit 12.

  The wavefront control unit 13 is driven based on the control of the wavefront control unit drive circuit 22, and refracts and transmits incident light incident upon light emission of each light emitting pixel unit 41 of the two-dimensional image display unit 12. Or let it pass through. That is, the wavefront control unit 13 controls the direction (traveling direction) of the optical path of the light output from the light emitting pixel unit 41 to display the image displayed by the two-dimensional image display unit 12 in two dimensions. Dimension display. In other words, the wavefront control unit 13 controls switching between two-dimensional display and three-dimensional display of an image. The configuration of the liquid lens unit 42 is omitted.

  Although the configuration of the three-dimensional image display control unit 11 has been described above, the signal separation unit 21 has a storage area and stores in advance the control program described above to be executed by the control unit 31. Or a circuit configuration equivalent to the control program, the three-dimensional image display control unit 11 includes a signal separation unit 21, a wavefront control unit drive circuit 22, and a two-dimensional image display unit drive circuit 23. The configuration of the control unit 31 to the removable medium 39 can be omitted. However, in that case, the 3D image display control unit 11 cannot update the control program.

  The 2D image display unit 12 is not particularly limited as long as the wavefront control unit 13 can control the wavefront (switching between 2D display and 3D display). For example, an organic electroluminescent display device, an electroluminescence display device, a plasma display panel, an electrochromic display device, a display device using a fluorescent display tube, a display device using a cathode ray tube, or a projector may be used. At this time, the light emitting pixel unit 41 has a configuration necessary for one pixel of each device.

  That is, when image information is supplied from the outside of the wavefront control type display device 1, the 3D image display control unit 11 extracts 2D image information from the image information in the signal separation unit 21, and the 2D image information. Is used to drive the two-dimensional image display unit 12 to display a two-dimensional image.

  At this time, if the input image information includes depth information, the signal separation unit 21 is controlled by the control unit 31 to extract the depth information, and the wavefront control unit 13 is extracted using the depth information. The image displayed by the two-dimensional image display unit 12 is displayed three-dimensionally or displayed two-dimensionally.

  Further, each of the light emitting pixel units 41 of the two-dimensional image display unit 12 may be configured by a plurality of pixels. However, in that case, the plurality of pixels forming one light emitting pixel unit 41 are all controlled to be the same and operate as one pixel. Furthermore, if it operates as one pixel in that way, each of the light emitting pixel portions 41 may be a display device such as a liquid crystal display device, an organic electroluminescent display device, an electroluminescent display device, a plasma display panel. In addition, an electrochromic display device, a display device using a fluorescent display tube, a display device using a cathode ray tube, a projector, or other devices may be used. Further, as long as the three-dimensional image display control unit 11 can be controlled, the light emitting pixel units 41 may have different configurations.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a detailed configuration example of the liquid lens unit 42 in FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, the liquid lens unit 42 includes an upper electrode 50, a lower electrode 51, an insulator 52, a polar liquid 53, a nonpolar liquid 54, and a rib 55.

  The upper electrode 50 and the lower electrode 51 are formed on a glass substrate, for example, by forming a thin film obtained by adding a slight amount of fluorine to tin oxide (ZnO) or a thin film obtained by adding a slight amount of antimony to indium oxide (ITO). And a transparent electrode composed of a transparent conductive film having both conductivity, and a predetermined voltage is applied between the electrodes by the wavefront controller drive circuit 22 as necessary. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the wavefront control unit drive circuit 22 has a control circuit equivalent to the power supply 61 and the switch 62, and the switch 62 is based on the depth information supplied from the signal separation unit 21. The voltage of the power source 61 is applied between the upper electrode 50 and the lower electrode 51 as necessary.

  Between the upper electrode 50 and the lower electrode 51, an insulator 52, a polar liquid 53, and a nonpolar liquid 54 are formed in layers. In addition, a rib 55 is provided between the upper electrode 50 and the lower electrode 51 so as to distinguish one liquid lens portion 42 from the configuration of the adjacent liquid lens portion 41.

  For the insulator 52, for example, PVdF, PTFE or the like, which is a fluorine-based polymer, is used, but a substance that is hydrophobic and has a large dielectric constant is desirable. At that time, in order to increase the dielectric constant, it is desirable that the film thickness is thinner, but from the viewpoint of insulation strength, it is desirable that the film thickness is thicker, and the optimum value is determined based on the balance between the two. For example, when the thickness of Teflon (registered trademark) (DuPont) is 0.5 um, the lower electrode 51 is an ITO electrode, the insulator 52 is Teflon (registered trademark) 0.5 (um), the nonpolar liquid 54 is dodecane 25 um, the polar liquid 53 When water was 100 um and the upper electrode 50 was an ITO electrode, the experiment did not show dielectric breakdown up to 40V.

  For the polar liquid 53, for example, an aqueous solution in which an electrolyte such as water, potassium chloride, or sodium chloride is dissolved, methyl alcohol having a small molecular weight, or alcohol such as ethyl alcohol is used. However, the polar liquid 53 is not particularly limited as long as the wettability with the nonpolar liquid 54 changes due to the voltage application of the power supply 61 and the shape of the liquid changes.

  For the nonpolar liquid 54, a hydrocarbon-based material such as decane, dodecane, hexadecane, or undecane, silicon oil having a high refractive index, or 1,1-diphenylethylene is used. If the wettability with the insulator 52 and the polar liquid 53 changes by the voltage application of the power supply 61 and the liquid shape changes as a result, it will not be specifically limited. However, it is preferable that the polar liquid 53 and the nonpolar liquid 54 are not mixed with each other, the refractive indexes are greatly different from each other, and both have low viscosity (based on the shape change speed viewpoint).

  As the rib 55-1 and the rib 55-2, it is desirable that the rib 55-1 and the rib 55-2 do not dissolve in the polar liquid 53 and the nonpolar liquid 54 and do not react like an epoxy resin or an acrylic resin. Is a polymer resin, for example, an epoxy resin or an acrylic resin. Hereinafter, when it is not necessary to distinguish between the rib 55-1 and the rib 55-2, for example, when the same description is applicable to both the rib 55-1 and the rib 55-2, the rib 55-1 is referred to as the rib 55. .

  Although details will be described later, for example, when the depth information is not included in the image information input to the wavefront control type display device 1 (when the input image information is image information for two-dimensional display), wavefront control is performed. The unit drive circuit 22 releases the switch 62 for the liquid lens unit 42 having such a configuration so that no voltage is applied between the upper electrode 50 and the lower electrode 51. At this time, the interface between the two layers of the nonpolar liquid 54 and the polar liquid 53 is horizontal.

  In this way, in a state where no voltage is applied between the electrodes, the interface between the two layers of the nonpolar liquid 54 and the polar liquid 53 does not affect the optical path output from the light emitting pixel unit 41, so that it is horizontal. (In FIG. 2, it is important to be parallel to the opposing surfaces (image display surfaces) of the upper electrode 50 and the lower electrode 51 installed in parallel), for example, the shape of the insulator 52 and the rib 55, This is due to the wettability with respect to the polar liquid 53 and the nonpolar liquid 54. Therefore, the material, size, shape, etc. of each part (particularly, the insulator 52, the polar liquid 53, the nonpolar liquid 54, and the rib 55) constituting the liquid lens part 42 is a state in which no voltage is applied between the electrodes. In this case, it is determined in consideration of making the interface between the two layers of the nonpolar liquid 54 and the polar liquid 53 horizontal.

  However, the entire interface between the two layers of the nonpolar liquid 54 and the polar liquid 53 is not necessarily horizontal, and may be partially horizontal in some cases. For example, when the part through which the main light of the light emitting pixel part 41 of the two-dimensional image display part 12 passes concentrates on a part of the interface, only that part needs to be horizontal. In addition, if it is considered that the entire interface between the two layers of the nonpolar liquid 54 and the polar liquid 53 is substantially horizontal (the interface does not affect the optical path), the interface May be in any state (shape).

  On the other hand, for example, when the depth information is included in the image information input to the wavefront control type display device 1 and the depth is set in the depth information (the input image information is three-dimensional). In the case of display image information), the wavefront control unit drive circuit 22 short-circuits the switch 62 with respect to the liquid lens unit 42 having such a configuration, and the voltage of the power source 61 is between the upper electrode 50 and the lower electrode 51. Apply. At this time, the interface between the two layers of the nonpolar liquid 54 and the polar liquid 53 is curved by the Coulomb force applied to the polar liquid 53.

  At this time, the interface affects the optical path of the light output from the light emitting pixel unit 41. Therefore, the sense of depth of the observed image is adjusted by the magnitude of the refractive index of light at this time. That is, the liquid lens unit 42 is adjusted in advance so that the curvature of the interface between the two layers by the nonpolar liquid 54 and the polar liquid 53 when the voltage is applied is optimized (the refractive index of light is optimized). Has been. That is, the material, size, shape, and the like of each part constituting the liquid lens part 42 (particularly, the insulator 52, the polar liquid 53, the nonpolar liquid 54, and the rib 55) are in a state where a voltage is applied between the electrodes. The curvature of the interface between the nonpolar liquid 54 and the polar liquid 53 is determined to be optimal. Similarly, the applied voltage (voltage of the power supply 61) is such that the curvature of the interface between the two layers by the nonpolar liquid 54 and the polar liquid 53 is optimized when a voltage is applied between the electrodes. To be determined.

  A state of light passage for such an operation of the liquid lens unit 42 will be described. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of how light passes through the liquid lens unit 42 to which no voltage is applied between the electrodes.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the wavefront control unit 13 includes a plurality of liquid lens units 42 arranged in an array (matrix). Here, the upper electrode 50, the lower electrode 51, and the insulator 52 of each liquid lens part 42 are shared. This is a configuration based on a method of manufacturing the wavefront controller 13 described later. That is, each liquid lens portion 42 is partitioned by the rib 55. For example, in the case of FIG. 3, a portion between the rib 55-1 and the rib 55-2 (portion into which the nonpolar liquid 54-2 is injected) is configured as one liquid lens portion 42. The left part of the rib 55-1 (the part where the nonpolar liquid 54-1 is injected) is the adjacent liquid lens part 42, and the right part of the rib 55-2 (the nonpolar liquid 54-3 is injected). Is a liquid lens portion 42 next to the opposite side. In the following description, the nonpolar liquid 54-1 to the nonpolar liquid 54-3 are referred to as nonpolar liquid 54 when it is not necessary to distinguish between them.

  For example, three light emitting pixel units 41 of the two-dimensional image display unit 12 are allocated to each liquid lens unit 42 configured in this manner. For example, the pixel 71 to the pixel 73 are assigned to the central liquid lens portion 42 in FIG. 3 (a portion where the nonpolar liquid 54-2 is injected between the rib 55-1 and the rib 55-2). ing. Each of the pixels 71 to 73 is the light emitting pixel unit 41 of the two-dimensional image display unit 12 and is controlled by the two-dimensional image display unit drive circuit 23 to emit light. Each light enters the liquid lens portion 42 from the lower electrode 51 side as incident light 81 to incident light 83.

  In FIG. 3, since the switch 62 is released (off) and no voltage is applied between the upper electrode 50 and the lower electrode 51, the wettability of the polar liquid 53, the nonpolar liquid 54, the insulator 52, and the rib 55 Due to the (surface energy) relationship, the interface between the two layers of the polar liquid 53 and the nonpolar liquid 54 has a stable shape (horizontal with respect to the parallel electrodes) and does not exhibit lens characteristics. That is, in this state, the incident light (visual information) 81 through the incident light 83 incident from the back side (the lower side in FIG. 3) of the liquid lens unit 42 are not affected by the interface and are not refracted. Passes through the liquid lens part 42, is output from the front side (upper side in FIG. 3) of the liquid lens part 42, and reaches an observer (not shown).

  That is, when no voltage is applied between the electrodes, the liquid lens unit 42 does not affect the light (incident light 81 to incident light 83) output from the pixels 71 to 73. Therefore, the observer can observe the image displayed on the two-dimensional image display unit 12 as it is without being aware of the presence of the liquid lens unit 42. In other words, the observer has an image with a resolution (resolution of the pixels 71 to 73 in FIG. 3) in the two-dimensional image display unit 12, that is, an image with a resolution higher than the resolution of the liquid lens unit 13 of the wavefront control unit 13 ( High-resolution flat display image) can be observed.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a state of light passing through the liquid lens unit 42 to which a voltage is applied between the electrodes.

  4, similarly to the case of FIG. 3, in the wavefront control unit 13, a plurality of liquid lens units 42 are arranged in an array (matrix), and the upper electrode 50 of each liquid lens unit 42, The lower electrode 51 and the insulator 52 are shared. That is, also in FIG. 4, each liquid lens part 42 is divided by the rib 55, the part into which the nonpolar liquid 54-1 is injected, the part into which the nonpolar liquid 54-2 is injected, and Each portion into which the nonpolar liquid 54-3 is injected is configured as an adjacent liquid lens portion 42.

  As in the case of FIG. 3, for example, three light emitting pixel portions 41 of the two-dimensional image display unit 12 are assigned to each of the liquid lens portions 42 having such a configuration. For example, the pixel 71 to the pixel 73 are assigned to the central liquid lens portion 42 in FIG. 3 (a portion where the nonpolar liquid 54-2 is injected between the rib 55-1 and the rib 55-2). ing. Each of the pixels 71 to 73 emits light under the control of the two-dimensional image display unit driving circuit 23. Each light enters the liquid lens portion 42 from the lower electrode 51 side as incident light 91 to incident light 93.

  In FIG. 4, since the switch 62 is short-circuited (turned on) and a voltage is applied between the upper electrode 50 and the lower electrode 51, polarization charges are generated in the direction of the electric field in the insulator 52, and the surface of the insulator 52 Charge is accumulated in (charge double layer state). Since the polar liquid 53 has polarity, the presence of this electric charge generates a Coulomb force that tends to approach the insulator 52. On the other hand, since the nonpolar liquid 54 is nonpolar, such a Coulomb force does not occur. As a result, the shape of the polar liquid 53 changes so that the contact area with the insulator 52 increases, and the shape changes so that the contact area between the nonpolar liquid 54 and the insulator 52 decreases accordingly.

  More specifically, for example, the polar liquid 53 is deformed so as to approach the insulator 52 along the rib 55 while pushing away the nonpolar liquid 54. The nonpolar liquid 54 gathers in the vicinity of the intermediate point of each rib 55 (the center of one liquid lens portion 42) so as to be pushed out by the deformation of the polar liquid 53, and each forms a convex lens (in some cases, a hemispherical circle). Deform. As a result, the interface between the two layers of the polar liquid 53 and the nonpolar liquid 54 that was horizontal before the voltage was applied is deformed into a lens shape. Thereby, the liquid lens part 42 has a lens characteristic with respect to incident light.

  That is, when a voltage is applied between the electrodes, the liquid lens unit 42 uses the light (incident light 91 to incident light 93) output from the pixels 71 to 73 as the interface between the polar liquid 53 and the nonpolar liquid 54. Affects the direction of the optical path, and refracts before outputting. Therefore, an observer (not shown) mainly changes the light that can be observed among the light (incident light 91 to incident light 93) output from one liquid lens unit 42 depending on the position. . That is, in FIG. 4, an observer (not shown) mainly observes any one of the pixels 71 to 73. At this time, an image for stereoscopic display based on the IP method is displayed on the two-dimensional image display unit 12. Thereby, the pixels 71 to 73 are pixels for different images. In this way, an observer (not shown) changes mainly the pixels to be observed through the liquid lens unit 42 by changing the observation position, and thus the observed image also changes. That is, since parallax occurs in both eyes of the observer (images observed by each eye are different from each other), the observer can stereoscopically view the image displayed on the two-dimensional image display unit 12.

  At this time, the resolution of the image observed by the observer is the resolution with the liquid lens unit 42 as a unit. For example, the greater the dielectric constant of the insulator 22 and the greater the applied voltage, the greater the curvature of the lens and the shorter the focal length. The curvature also changes depending on the wettability of each material. For example, it is desirable to adjust the curvature (adjust each parameter) so that the incident light 91 to the incident light 93 become parallel light or light close to parallel light when a voltage is applied between the electrodes.

  As described above, the wavefront control type display device 1 applies a predetermined voltage between the respective electrodes (between the upper electrode 50 and the lower electrode 51) of the liquid lens unit 42 of the wavefront control unit 13. The image displayed on the two-dimensional image display unit 12 can be three-dimensionally displayed by the ray reproduction (IP) method, which is being developed as a next-generation three-dimensional display method, and further, no voltage is applied between the electrodes. By doing so, the image displayed on the two-dimensional image display unit 12 can be two-dimensionally displayed with high resolution.

  Next, a flow of processing relating to switching between the three-dimensional display and the two-dimensional display by the wavefront control type display device 1 as described above will be described. An example of the flow of stereoscopic display control processing by the three-dimensional image display control unit 11 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  When the stereoscopic display control process is started, the signal separation unit 21 of the three-dimensional image display control unit 11 is controlled by the control unit 31 in step S1 and receives image information input from the outside of the wavefront control type display device 1. Do. When receiving the image information, the signal separation unit 21 is controlled by the control unit 31 to extract two-dimensional image information (including a three-dimensional display image) included in the received image information, and display the two-dimensional image display. While supplying to the part drive circuit 23, in step S2, it is determined whether the depth information which is the control information for three-dimensional display was detected from the received image information. If it is determined that the depth information is included in the image information and has been detected, the signal separation unit 21 supplies the detected depth information to the wavefront control unit drive circuit 22 and the process proceeds to step S3.

  In step S <b> 3, the wavefront controller drive circuit 22 determines whether to perform three-dimensional display based on the supplied depth information. If the depth information specifies that 3D display is to be performed and it is determined that 3D display is to be performed, the wavefront controller drive circuit 22 advances the process to step S4. In step S <b> 4, the wavefront controller drive circuit 22 applies a voltage between the electrodes of each liquid lens unit 42 of the wavefront controller 13 based on the depth information. As a result, the interface between the two layers of the polar liquid 53 and the nonpolar liquid 54 of each liquid lens portion 42 is curved and becomes a lens shape. When the voltage is applied, the wavefront controller drive circuit 22 advances the process to step S6.

  In step S3, it is specified that the three-dimensional display is not performed in the depth information, and when it is determined that the three-dimensional display is not performed, the wavefront controller drive circuit 22 advances the process to step S5. In step S <b> 5, the wavefront control unit drive circuit 22 stops applying the voltage between the electrodes of each liquid lens unit 42 of the wavefront control unit 13 based on the depth information. As a result, the interface between the two layers of the polar liquid 53 and the nonpolar liquid 54 of each liquid lens portion 42 becomes horizontal (planar). When the voltage application is stopped, the wavefront controller drive circuit 22 advances the process to step S6.

  Furthermore, if it is determined in step S2 that the received image information does not include depth information and depth information is not detected, the signal separation unit 21 advances the processing to step S6.

  In step S <b> 6, the two-dimensional image display unit driving circuit 23 controls the two-dimensional image display unit 12 based on the two-dimensional image information supplied from the signal separation unit 21 to display an image. When the image is displayed, in step S7, the control unit 31 determines whether or not to end the stereoscopic display control process. If it is determined not to end the process, the control unit 31 returns the process to step S1, and controls each unit to control it. The subsequent processing is executed.

  If it is determined in step S7 that the stereoscopic display control process is to be terminated, the control unit 31 proceeds to step S8, controls each unit, performs the termination process, initializes settings, and the like, and then displays the stereoscopic display. The control process ends.

  As described above, the 3D image display control unit 11 can easily switch between 2D display and 3D display. At this time, since the two-dimensional image display unit 12 and the wavefront control unit 13 are configured as described above, by controlling in this way, the three-dimensional image display control unit 11 can easily display an image with high resolution. Two-dimensional display is also possible.

  Next, a manufacturing method of the wavefront control unit 13 (a set of liquid lens units 42) as described above will be described. The wavefront control unit 13 is produced as follows, for example. The lower electrode 51 is formed, for example, by forming an ITO film on a glass substrate. The upper electrode 50 is formed in the same manner. After the lower electrode 51 is formed, an insulator 52 is formed on the substrate by a spin coating method, a dip coating method, or the like. For example, in the case of film formation by spin coating using a 3% solution of Teflon (registered trademark) (DuPont) 1601s, the film thickness becomes about 0.5 μm at 1500 rpm for 60 seconds. By adjusting the solution concentration to 1% to 6% and the spin coating rotation speed to 1500 rpm to 5000 rpm, submicron to several microns can be controlled.

  Further, a mesh-like rib 55 is formed thereon. At this time, the rib pixel size (the size of one liquid lens portion 42 and the resolution of an image displayed three-dimensionally) is determined by matching with display pixels. The rib 55 can be produced by, for example, a photolithography technique using an epoxy resin resist. Note that when a fluoride compound system is used as the insulator 52, the resist is repelled due to wettability, but this problem can be avoided by devising the manufacturing process. For example, if a gunpowder Microchem SU-8 3050 resist is applied on a Teflon (registered trademark) using a blade, the resist will be repelled if a normal process after application is performed, but a soft baking process is required. A resist can be applied on Teflon (registered trademark) by low temperature (50 ° C.) for a long time or by natural drying at room temperature. The height of the rib 55 can be controlled from several um to several hundred um by setting the blade height, but a lower one is desired in consideration of the operation speed of two droplets.

  Thereafter, a gap forming material is sprayed around the lower electrode 51 so that the distance between the lower electrode 51 and the upper electrode 50 becomes a desired value. For example, an adhesive in which silica spheres are mixed or a seal adhesive type can be raised.

  Thereafter, a nonpolar liquid 54 and a polar liquid 53 are injected in this order into the rib pixel (for each liquid lens portion 42). At this time, due to the wettability, the interface shape is stable if the nonpolar liquid 54 exists on the lower side and the polar liquid 53 exists on the upper side regardless of the specific gravity of the polar liquid 53 and the nonpolar liquid 54. It becomes. Further, at this time, the hydrophilicity of the rib 55 can be changed by irradiating with ultraviolet rays, whereby the shape of the two liquids (the shape of the interface) in the steady state can be changed. For example, as the rib 55, a gunpowder microchem SU-8 having a size of 0.6 mm × 0.6 mm and a height of 50 μm is used, water is used as the polar liquid 53, and dodecane is used as the nonpolar liquid 54. It is assumed that dodecane is injected into the entire surface between the ribs 55, and then a large amount of water is poured from above, followed by sealing with an epoxy adhesive. At this time, when ultraviolet rays are irradiated for 10 minutes after sealing, the diameter of dodecane becomes 400 μm, whereas when irradiated with ultraviolet rays for 30 minutes, the diameter of dodecane becomes 250 μm. This is due to a difference in the hydrophilic strength of the rib 55 due to a difference in irradiation time.

  After injecting the nonpolar liquid 54 and the polar liquid 53 as described above, the upper substrate and the lower substrate on which the gap forming material is dispersed are bonded together, and the bonded panel periphery is sealed with a sealing resin. As the sealing resin, for example, ionomer, adhesive polyethylene, or the like can be used. Through the steps as described above, the wavefront control unit 13 that is a light beam direction control element in which the liquid lens unit 42 is two-dimensionally (arrayed) can be manufactured. That is, the wavefront control unit 13 does not produce the liquid lens units 42 one by one, and arranges each liquid lens unit 42 in an array after completion. A plurality of devices are manufactured at the same time in a state of being arranged in the above. By manufacturing in this way, the manufacturing process of the wavefront control unit 13 can be facilitated, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. That is, the manufacturing cost of the wavefront control type display device 1 can be reduced.

  In the above description, switching between 2D display and 3D display is described based on the presence / absence of depth information (whether or not 3D display is specified). However, when performing 3D display, wavefront control is performed. The depth (stericity) may be adjusted by the unit 13. For example, the wavefront control unit drive circuit 22 varies the value of the voltage (voltage of the power supply 61) applied between the electrodes of the wavefront control unit 13, and the depth information includes information on the degree of depth. Then, the wavefront controller drive circuit 22 applies a voltage specified by the depth information between the electrodes. In this way, the wavefront control type display device 1 can not only switch between the two-dimensional display and the three-dimensional display but also adjust the depth degree (stericity) of the image when the three-dimensional display is performed. Good.

  Further, the wavefront control unit 13 may be configured to display only a part of the display range of the two-dimensional image display unit 12 (a part of the observed image) in a three-dimensional display. In other words, not only the shape of the interface between the polar liquid 53 and the nonpolar liquid 54 in each liquid lens unit 42 of the wavefront control unit 13 is controlled in the same way, but the interfaces in some liquid lens units 42 other than those are also controlled. The liquid lens unit 42 may be controlled so as to be different from each other, or the interfaces in the liquid lens units 42 may be controlled independently of each other.

  For example, each liquid lens unit 42 may be used as a variable focus lens independent of each other, and stereoscopic display may be performed by a method other than the IP method, such as performing stereoscopic image display.

  In that case, it is necessary to separate the upper electrode 50 and the lower electrode 51 shared by all the liquid lens portions 42 in accordance with the control unit. The wavefront controller drive circuit 22 also needs to be able to control the separated electrodes independently of each other.

  Further, in the above description, the three light emitting pixel portions 41 are assigned to one liquid lens portion 42. However, the number of the light emitting pixel portions 41 may be two, or may be four or more. . Further, the number of light emitting pixel portions 41 assigned to the liquid lens portion 42 may not be the same. Furthermore, the liquid lens part 42 and the light emitting pixel part 41 may have any shape, or may be different from each other. Further, the liquid lens portions 41 or the light emitting pixel portions 41 may have different shapes. Further, the size and thickness of the liquid lens unit 42 and the light emitting pixel unit 41 are the same. The same applies to the shape, size, or thickness of each of the components.

  In the above description, the polar liquid 53 and the nonpolar liquid 54 are injected into the liquid lens unit 42, and the direction (traveling direction) of the optical path is controlled by the interface between them. For example, instead of the polar liquid 53 and the nonpolar liquid 54, a layer of the polar liquid 53 and air may be applied. In other words, the polar liquid 53 is injected into the space in the liquid lens unit 42 so as not to fill the space, and the direction of the optical path is controlled using the interface between the polar liquid 53 and air. You may do it.

  The series of processes described above can be executed by hardware or can be executed by software. When the above-described series of processing is executed by software, a program constituting the software is installed from a network or a recording medium.

  For example, as described above, this recording medium is not only configured by the removable medium 39 distributed to distribute the program to the user, but also in a state of being incorporated in the apparatus main body in advance. And the ROM 32 in which the program is recorded, the hard disk included in the storage unit 36, and the like.

  In the present specification, the step of describing the program recorded on the recording medium is not limited to the processing performed in chronological order according to the described order, but is not necessarily performed in chronological order. It also includes processes that are executed individually.

  Further, in this specification, the configuration described as one device may be divided and configured as a plurality of devices. Conversely, the configurations described above as a plurality of devices may be combined into a single device. Of course, configurations other than those described above may be added. Further, if the configuration and operation of the entire apparatus are substantially the same, a part of the configuration of a certain part may be included in the configuration of the other part.

It is a figure which shows the structural example which concerns on one Embodiment of the wavefront control type display apparatus to which this invention is applied. It is a schematic diagram which shows the detailed structural example of the liquid lens part of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the mode of passage of light of the liquid lens part in which the voltage is not applied between electrodes. It is a figure which shows the example of the mode of passage of light of the liquid lens part to which the voltage was applied between electrodes. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a flow of stereoscopic display control processing by a three-dimensional image display control unit in FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wavefront control type display apparatus, 11 3D image display control part, 12 2D image display part, 13 Wavefront control part, 21 Signal separation part, 22 Wavefront control part drive circuit, 23 2D image display part drive circuit, 31 Control Part, 41 light emitting pixel part, 42 liquid lens part, 50 upper electrode, 51 lower electrode, 52 insulator, 53 polar liquid, 54 nonpolar liquid, 55 rib, 61 power supply, 62 switch, 71 thru 73 pixel, 81 thru 83 Incident light, 91-93 Incident light

Claims (8)

A display device for displaying an image,
An image display means comprising a group of light emitting pixels arranged in an array, and displaying a two-dimensional display image or a three-dimensional display image;
The liquid lens unit located array form, to control the orientation of the optical path of light output from the light-emitting pixels of the image display unit, the display method of the image displayed by said image display means, the two-dimensional Switching means for switching to display or three-dimensional display,
The liquid lens is
In order to distinguish from the configuration of two transparent electrodes, two layers formed between the two transparent electrodes and having different refractive indexes, and an adjacent liquid lens provided so as to surround the two layers Have ribs,
The shape of the interface between the two layers controls the direction of the optical path of light output from the plurality of light emitting pixels and passing through the interface,
The switching means is
Controlling the shape of the interface of each liquid lens by controlling the voltage applied between the two transparent electrodes;
If the two-dimensional display image by the previous SL image display unit is displayed, the interface in order not to affect the optical path, the observer, the two-dimensional display image, the light emission of the image display means Observe at pixel resolution,
If the three-dimensional display image by the previous SL image display unit is displayed, the interface is to influence the optical path, the observer, the three-dimensional display image, the liquid lens of the switching means A display device characterized by allowing observation at a resolution of the unit. When the two-dimensional display image is displayed by the image display unit, the switching unit causes the interface to be parallel to the image display surface, and the image display unit displays the three-dimensional display image. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the interface is curved in a lens shape with respect to the image display surface. The switching unit is configured to change the light output from the light-emitting pixels into parallel light or light close to parallel light by controlling the direction of the optical path by bending the interface into a lens shape. The display device according to claim 1. 2. The display device according to claim 1, wherein one of the two layers forming the interface in the liquid lens is configured by a polar liquid having polarity. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the two layers forming the interface in the liquid lens include a polar liquid having polarity and a nonpolar liquid having no polarity. The display device according to claim 1 , wherein an insulator film is formed on at least one of the two transparent electrodes. The display device according to claim 6 , wherein the two transparent electrodes and the insulator film are shared by a plurality of liquid lenses. A display control method for a display device for displaying an image, comprising:
An image display unit that includes a group of light emitting pixels arranged in an array and displays a two-dimensional display image or a three-dimensional display image to display the two-dimensional display image or the three-dimensional display image. An image display control step;
By controlling liquid lens groups arranged in an array, the direction of the optical path of light output from the light emitting pixels of the image display unit is controlled, and the image display is controlled by the processing of the image display control step. A switching step of switching the display method of the image displayed on the section to two-dimensional display or three-dimensional display ,
The liquid lens is
In order to distinguish from the configuration of two transparent electrodes, two layers formed between the two transparent electrodes and having different refractive indexes, and an adjacent liquid lens provided so as to surround the two layers Have ribs,
The shape of the interface between the two layers controls the direction of the optical path of light output from the plurality of light emitting pixels and passing through the interface,
The switching step includes
Controlling the shape of the interface of each liquid lens by controlling the voltage applied between the two transparent electrodes;
When the two-dimensional display image is displayed on the image display unit by the processing of the image display control step, the interface is prevented from affecting the optical path, and the two-dimensional display image is displayed to the observer. Observation at a resolution in units of the light emitting pixels of the image display unit,
When the three-dimensional display image is displayed on the image display unit by the processing of the image display control step, the interface influences the optical path, and the observer is provided with the three-dimensional display image. Observation at a resolution with the liquid lens as a unit
Display control method, characterized in that.

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