JPH0442191A - Optical fiber display - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To form a natural enlarged image without causing any decrease in picture quality due to an irregularity in brightness by providing a lens means atop of optical fibers. CONSTITUTION:The tips 5a of the optical fibers 5 match the picture element arrangement of a liquid crystal panel 2, the other-end sides 5b as an observation terminal are arranged opposite the surface of a screen 6 at an interval, and the other-end sides 5b have their tips machined in a convex lens shape to enlarge and project light guided by the fibers 5 through the lens operation. Thus, the enlarging function is provided to the tips of the fibers and then an image on the surface of the liquid crystal panel 2 can be enlarged and observed on the surface of the liquid crystal panel 2; and the light emission area is increased through the lens operation, the brightness can be made uniform, and an easy-to-see image can be formed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an optical fiber display, and more particularly to an image display device that enlarges a displayed image.

With advances in processing technology for imperial limb blood video signals and in manufacturing and driving technology for display elements, it has become desirable to view video as an impressive enlarged image. As a method to obtain such an enlarged image,
Conventionally, the most widely used cathode ray tube has been made by increasing the size of the tube opening, but due to the principles of cathode ray tubes, it is extremely difficult to create a flat display device, and bulkiness cannot be avoided. There wasn't.

On the other hand, there is a method that uses a liquid crystal panel with display pixel electrodes as a shutter and creates an enlarged image by focusing the light emitted from the display with the built-in liquid crystal panel onto the screen. When using an LCD panel as a shutter in this way, the most common type is to completely separate the display and screen and configure them as separate bodies, and then project the image that passes through the LCD panel onto the screen. There is a problem in that the display needs to be installed in a predetermined positional relationship, and installation is restricted.

Although LCD panels are used to solve the above problems,
There is a display device that forms an image on a screen by arranging an optical fiber to face each picture element formed on a liquid crystal panel, guiding the light transmitted through the liquid crystal panel of the display to the optical fiber, and guiding the other end of this fiber to the screen.

The above-mentioned optical fiber display, which connects the display and screen using optical fibers, is less affected by ambient brightness, and it is possible to display the observed image on the screen without having to place the display facing the screen. can be formed on top.

In order to form an enlarged image in such an optical fiber display, it is necessary to increase the display area by increasing the thickness of the optical fiber itself, or to connect multiple fibers to the original optical fiber and connect them to the original fiber. An enlarged image can be observed by branching and guiding optical information to each coupled fiber and arranging the increased number of coupled fibers on the screen surface. However, such a structure in which the fibers are made thicker or branched requires advanced technology to process the fibers, making the equipment complex and the processes such as adjusting the fiber position complicated.
There is also the problem that the economic efficiency is also very poor.

On the other hand, without changing the number of optical fibers,
There is a display that obtains an enlarged image by widening the distance between optical fibers on the screen in accordance with the image enlargement ratio. However, if the distance between the optical fibers is simply widened in this way, the overall display area is expanded, but there is a problem in that the difference in light density on the screen becomes noticeable, making the image difficult to see.

In an optical fiber display in which optical information input into one end of an optical fiber is guided to the other end, the tip of the optical fiber is placed on a two-dimensional plane, and the observation tip of each optical fiber is enlarged or reduced. Lens means are provided to form a fiber optic display.

Further, the optical fiber display is constructed such that the observation tip side where the lens means is provided is arranged with a sparser density than the optical information input end side.

The optical fiber that guides the image information for display is equipped with an optical lens at the observation end, so the image information taken into the input end is magnified by the lens at the observation end and subjected to optical effects such as reduction. You can observe the image.

First, in Figure 0, which explains the outline of an optical fiber display using Figure 1(a), the liquid crystal panel 2 built into the display l has pixel electrodes arranged two-dimensionally, and each electrode has a display l. A shutter signal for forming a display image formed by a video signal processing unit (not shown) is supplied to control the transmission of light through the liquid crystal layer. The liquid crystal panel 2 has a color filter on the optical path.
It can also be configured to correspond to not only black and white images but also color images. A lamp 3 is arranged as a light source on the back side of the liquid crystal panel 2, and projects light onto the liquid crystal panel 2, which functions as a shutter. A reflection vi4 is installed behind the lamp 3 to project the light of the lamp 3 evenly onto the entire surface of the liquid crystal panel 2.

An optical fiber 5 for optically coupling the display 1 and the screen 6 is provided on the opposite side of the liquid crystal panel 2 from the lamp 3.

The -#A5a of the optical fiber 5 is provided to face each picture element in order to take in the transmitted light of the picture elements formed on the liquid crystal panel 2, and the other end 5b of the optical fiber 5 is fixed to the screen 6 for observation of images. It's at the end.

In the above-mentioned optical fiber display, the optical fiber 5 has a tip 5a that is arranged to match the pixel arrangement of the liquid crystal panel 2, that is, to face the pixel of the liquid crystal panel. A screen 60 is provided on the end 5b side.
They are placed at intervals on the surface. The tip of the other end 5b is processed into a convex lens shape as shown in FIG. 2, and the light guided into the fiber 5 is magnified by the lens action and projected. Therefore, the distance between the other ends 58 of the two-dimensionally arranged fibers is set in consideration of the magnification of the lens. Fig. 1(b) shows the observation surface of the screen 6 to which the other end 5b of the optical fiber is guided. Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, which will be described later, represent the AA'' cross section of Fig. 1(b). .

As mentioned above, by providing the fiber tip with a magnification function, it is possible to enlarge the images on the two LCD panels and observe them. can be averaged, and an easy-to-see image can be formed. Note that the magnification can be changed by adjusting the lens shape and separation distance.

The magnification function uses an optical fiber 5 that is shaped almost uniformly up to the tip 5c, as shown in FIG. 3, instead of processing the tip of the optical fiber 5 itself into a lens shape.
It can also be constructed by attaching a separately prepared lens 7 to c. In this structure, the lens and fiber can be made independently.

Optical Skin ■In an optical fiber display that uses a large number of optical fibers arranged so that the tips of the four lobes cover a two-dimensional area, and an image is derived from the tips of the optical fibers and used as a display device, by providing a lens means at the tips of the optical fibers. , it is possible to form a natural enlarged image without deteriorating the image quality due to uneven brightness, etc., and the applications of optical fiber displays can be expanded.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1(a) is a schematic diagram for explaining the entire embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1(b) is a front view showing the screen surface of FIG. 1(a), and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining the entire embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a screen showing another embodiment of the present invention. 1- Display, 21 LCD panel. 3--Lamp, 5--Optical fiber 5a...-Optical fiber tip, 6--Screen.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An optical fiber display in which optical information is observably guided to the tip of an optical fiber, characterized in that the tips of the optical fibers are arranged on a two-dimensional plane and a lens means is provided at the observation tip of each optical fiber. . (2) The optical fiber display according to claim 1, wherein the optical fibers are arranged with a lower density on the observation tip side where the lens means is provided than on the optical information input end side.