JPH05142529A - Liquid crystal display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the bias of the visual field angle of a liquid crystal display, to make it possible to view a clear image from any directions and also for many people, and also, to improve manufacturing efficiency. CONSTITUTION:By bringing an optical block which is obtained by bundling a lot of optical fibers 10 into light contact with the display surface of the liquid crystal display face, light which is made incident from the base end 12 of the optical fiber 10 is reflected on the inside face 14, and it helically advances, and then, the light is randomly projected from a leading end 11. Thus, the bias of the visual field angle of the liquid crystal display is improved. The optical block is constituted of an optical block element provided with a clad layer around the core part of a lot of holes pierced on a substrate.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly to a display device in which a viewing angle of a liquid crystal display is improved and a clear image can be viewed from any direction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a display, factors such as brightness and contrast, white and black, a color range, a display area, and visual characteristics are factors that determine visibility. The liquid crystal display is excellent in brightness and contrast, whiteness and blackness in comparison with low power consumption and low voltage driving, and can relatively easily perform color display. Further, it has an advantage over other displays in that it can be configured as a flat panel and can provide a thin display device.

However, the liquid crystal display has the following principle.
It has the characteristics that the viewing angle (azimuth) with which an image can be viewed well is narrow, and is slightly wide in one direction and slightly narrow in the other direction. Therefore, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 7, the user had to adjust the tilt of the liquid crystal display 4 only in the other direction. For example, only the viewing angle in the lateral direction (one direction) of the display surface 5 is secured, and in the vertical direction (the other direction), the user adjusts the tilt of the liquid crystal display 4 each time the user uses the display. In the figure, the display surface 5
When a clear display image 7 is displayed on the screen, the front image 8 viewed from a direction close to the front of the display surface 5 is viewed as a clear image as it is. However, the upper image 9 viewed from the direction above the front and the lower image 9 ′ viewed from the direction below the front are viewed as images lacking sharpness.

[0004]

As described above, since the viewing angle of the liquid crystal display 4 is slightly wide in one direction and slightly narrow in the other direction, the image on the display surface 5 can be viewed with uniform sharpness from all directions. Can not.

For this reason, the liquid crystal display 4 needs to be provided with an adjusting mechanism 6 for adjusting the tilt at least only in the vertical direction (other direction). Even if such an adjusting mechanism 6 was provided, it was difficult for a large number of people to see it. Therefore, even without the adjustment mechanism 6, a display device that can be viewed by a large number of people with uniform sharpness from all directions like a wall-mounted TV is installed in front of the liquid crystal display to improve the viewing angle. Had to do. In addition, such a display device has a drawback that it is difficult to perform efficient manufacturing in terms of manufacturing because it is necessary to bundle a large number of optical fibers.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and its object is to improve the deviation of the viewing angle of a liquid crystal display so that a clear image can be viewed from any direction and by a large number of people. And to improve the manufacturing efficiency.

[0007]

The display device of the present invention comprises an optical block, in which a large number of optical fibers are bundled, closely attached to the display surface of a liquid crystal display, thereby achieving the above object. To be done.

Preferably, the optical block is a substrate in which a large number of holes are opened, and an optical block element having a clad layer around a resin is formed in the hole.

[0009]

In the display device of the present invention, the optical block is formed by converging a large number of optical fibers, and the optical block is mounted in close contact with the display surface of the liquid crystal display. The image on the display surface of the liquid crystal display enters from the base end of the optical fiber, is reflected by the inner surface of the optical fiber, advances in a spiral shape, and diverges randomly from the tip in various directions. Thereby, the image on the display surface of the liquid crystal display is not biased from any direction, and the image can be viewed with substantially the same sharpness. That is,
The viewing angle of a liquid crystal display is improved by closely mounting an optical block formed by bundling a large number of optical fibers on its display surface.

[0010]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described below.

1 and 2 show an embodiment of the liquid crystal display device of the present invention. The optical block 20 constituting the liquid crystal display device of the present invention is composed of a large number of optical fibers 10. The optical fiber 10 is preferably an optical fiber having a diameter of 250 μm or less and a length of 1 mm or more.

The optical fibers cut into a certain length are tightly bundled so that the front end 11 and the base end 12 thereof are aligned to form a single plane, and the outer peripheral surfaces of these optical fibers are joined by an adhesive material. The plate-shaped optical block 20 is formed. The optical block 20 is formed in a rectangular shape according to the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the display surface of the liquid crystal display.

It is desirable that the adhesive is black, as will be described later, because a clear color can be obtained. The material of the adhesive material is not particularly limited as long as it bonds the optical fibers well and does not change the material of the optical fibers even after a lapse of years.

In the liquid crystal display device of the present invention, the optical block 20 is formed by bundling a large number of optical fibers 10. When the optical block 20 is installed in close contact with the display surface 41 of the liquid crystal display 40, the luminous flux 13 emitted from the display surface 41
Is incident from the base end 12 of the optical fiber 10 as shown in FIG. 3, and is reflected at one point 15 of the inner surface 14 of the optical fiber 10.
The reflected light flux 13 is further reflected at other points 16 and 17 on the inner surface 14 of the optical fiber 10. That is, the light flux 13 travels spirally in the optical fiber 10 and is diverged from the tip 11 at random in various directions. In FIG. 3, only one line of light flux 13 is shown, but innumerable light fluxes 13 are similarly incident, reflected, and spirally emitted and emitted.

As a result, the light incident from the display surface 41 of the liquid crystal display 40 can be viewed uniformly from various directions by mounting the optical block 20 in front of the display surface 41. As a result, the image on the display surface 41 of the liquid crystal display 40 can be viewed as a substantially clear image without being biased from any direction.
That is, the viewing angle of the liquid crystal display 40 is improved by the optical block 20 formed by converging a large number of optical fibers 10.

The optical block 20 is not limited to the one in which the optical fibers 10 cut into a certain length as described above are densely bundled and their outer peripheral surfaces are joined with an adhesive to form a plate shape. .. In the case of this structure, it is difficult to automate or make it continuous in terms of manufacturing, so that there is a slight difficulty in manufacturing at low cost by mass production. The optical block 20 may be manufactured by any other efficient manufacturing method as long as it has the same function as the optical block 20.

Next, an embodiment of manufacturing the liquid crystal display device of the present invention by another manufacturing method will be described with reference to FIGS. In the figure, the optical block 20 is formed based on a substrate 30 in which a large number of holes 31 are densely formed. The optical block 20 is formed by forming an optical block element body 37 having a cladding layer 33 around the core portion 32 in the hole 31. The optical block 20 is manufactured based on a rectangular substrate 30 that has vertical and horizontal dimensions of the display surface 41 of the liquid crystal display 40. The substrate 30 is molded from, for example, a synthetic resin that does not easily change over time, and a large number of minute holes 31 with equal intervals are formed in a direction perpendicular to the plane. The holes 31 are minute ones having a diameter of about 300 μm and are densely formed so that they can be manufactured.

The substrate 30 is dipped in a clad material solution 33a in which a clad material to be the clad layer 33 is melted.
The clad material that constitutes the clad layer 33 for the optical fiber is generally high in strength, has a fast curing property, has a high numerical aperture and a wide band property of the plastic clad optical fiber (PCF), and has a usable wavelength. It is necessary to have characteristics such as expansion of the area, solvent resistance, and chemical resistance. As a clad material for such an optical fiber, there is DEFENSA-7700 (manufactured by Dainippon Ink and Chemicals). This is a fluorine-based low-refractive-index resin excellent in transparency that is rapidly cured by ultraviolet rays.

When the substrate 30 is pulled up from the clad material solution 33a, the holes 31 sufficiently contain the clad material solution 33a as shown in FIG. 5 (a). Even if the clad material solution 33a is shaken off to some extent,
As it is, there is a considerable difference in the degree of inclusion between above and below the hole 31. That is, the thickness of the cladding material solution 33a is not uniform and has a considerable difference. Therefore, the unnecessary cladding material solution 33a is removed from the substrate 30 by a centrifugal dehydrator or the like, and is formed to have an almost average thickness as shown in FIG. 5B.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5 (c), the substrate 30 is irradiated with, for example, UV light 34 to expose the cladding material solution 33a.
Is dried to form the cladding layer 33. The clad layer 33 is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the hole 31 as a highly transparent cylindrical resin layer.

Next, the substrate 30 is dipped in the core resin liquid 35 in which the UV curable resin for core is melted and pulled up. In the state where the substrate 30 is pulled up from the core resin liquid 35, the clad layer 33 sufficiently contains the core resin liquid 35 as shown in FIG. 5D. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5 (e), the glass plate 36 coated with a release agent is sandwiched from above and below. Then, after irradiating the UV light 34 from the outside of the glass plate 36 to cure the core portion 32, the glass plate 36 is removed. In this way, the core portion 32 is formed in the clad layer 33, and many optical block bodies 37 are formed in many holes 31. Acrylic resin, for example, is adopted as the resin that becomes the core portion 32.

The optical block 2 formed in this way
0 exhibits almost the same function as an optical block formed of an optical fiber such as an optical fiber. According to this manufacturing method, man-hours for cutting the optical fiber into a certain length and man-hours for bonding them are omitted. Since the steps of molding the substrate 30, the step of immersing in the solution, and the step of drying are all automated and continuous, they are suitable for mass production, and can be manufactured efficiently at low cost.

Another method of manufacturing the liquid crystal display device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
Will be described with reference to.

First, as shown in FIG. 6 (a), a plurality of long optical fibers 10 are arranged in a plane and they are joined with a water-soluble adhesive to form a sheet-like long optical fiber plate 21. It Spacers 14 are attached to the long optical fiber board 21 at predetermined intervals as shown in FIG. The spacer 14 is cut at the center to form an optical fiber board 22 having the spacer 14 at the distal end 11 and the proximal end 12 as shown in FIG. 6C. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 6D, the optical fiber board 22 is surface-folded at a constant angle in the middle,
The folded optical fiber board 23 is formed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6 (e), a plurality of folded optical fiber boards 23 are laminated in the folding direction to form a substantially cubic optical block 20. As shown in FIG. 6F, a plurality of optical blocks 20 are connected to their vertical side surfaces 46 to form an optical block group 50. As shown in FIG. 6G, the optical block group 50 is filled with black resin 60 on both end surfaces thereof. After the black resin 60 has dried, FIG.
As shown in (h), both end faces are cut and completed. It is desirable that the cutting surface be polished. This is to prevent light from being scattered on the unevenness of the cutting surface and to obtain a clear image.

[0026]

According to the liquid crystal display device of the present invention, the optical block in which a large number of optical fibers are focused is installed in close contact with the display surface of the liquid crystal display, so that the light incident from the proximal end side can receive the optical fibers. It reflects on the inner surface of the and progresses in a spiral,
The light is emitted in a random direction from the tip side. Therefore, even if the liquid crystal display itself has a deviation in viewing angle, it can be viewed as a clear image which is improved by the optical block and has no deviation from any direction.

In the optical block, a substrate having a large number of holes opened is dipped in a solution in which a clad material or a core is dissolved and then dried to form an optical block element having a clad layer around the core. In such a case, the man-hours for cutting the optical fibers into a certain length and the man-hours for adhering them are omitted, which is suitable for mass production, and is efficiently manufactured.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of a liquid crystal display device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state of light traveling in an optical fiber.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of a substrate which is a base of a liquid crystal display device.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing an example of a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing another example of a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a state in which a user views a conventional liquid crystal display.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Optical Fiber 20 Optical Block 30 Substrate 31 Hole 32 Core Part 33 Clad Layer 37 Optical Block Element 40 Liquid Crystal Display 50 Optical Block Group

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Takahiro Miyake 22-22 Nagaike-cho, Abeno-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture Sharp Corporation (72) In-house Yasuo Nakata 22-22 Nagaike-cho, Abeno-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture (72) Inventor Yukio Kurata 22-22 Nagaike-cho, Abeno-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Prefecture

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A liquid crystal display device in which an optical block in which a large number of optical fibers are bundled is provided in close contact with a display surface of a liquid crystal display. 2. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the optical block is a substrate in which a large number of holes are opened, and an optical block element having a clad layer around a resin is formed in the hole. ..