JPH07295481A - Folding flat panel display - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To materialize a large-screen display without dropping the yield rate of a display part. CONSTITUTION:Displays 10A and 10B are constituted to be freely openable and closable by a hinge mechanism 21, and for each display 10A and 10B, prism sheets 31A and 31B are arranged on respective upper boards 4A and 4B. For the prism sheets 31A and 31B, projections 40A and 40B are made on the light emission faces of the prism sheets 31A and 31B so that the images which have passed these prism sheets may shift to the side of the junction area 16. By using the prism sheets 31A and 31B, since the display images can be seen in the condition that they are shifted (biased) in the direction of the junction area 16, the junction area 16 becomes not to be conspicuous, and the large-sized screen shown on the displays 10A and 10B can be enjoyed without minding the junction area 16.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flat panel display device suitable for application to a plasma addressed display device, a TN type liquid crystal display device and the like, and more particularly to a foldable flat panel display device capable of forming a large display screen. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Plasma addressed display devices using plasma discharge and electro-optical materials such as liquid crystals, and TN (Twiste)
A display device having a flat panel structure is known, such as a d Nematic) type liquid crystal display device.

A two-dimensional plasma addressed display device (PALC (=
Plasma Addressed Liquid Crystal)) is explained.

FIG. 10 shows a plasma cell display device 10 of this type.
2 is a flat panel structure in which a display cell 1, a plasma cell 2 and an intermediate substrate 3 made of thin glass interposed between the display cell 1 and the plasma cell 2 are laminated.

The intermediate substrate 3 needs to be as thin as possible for driving the display cell 1, and has a plate thickness of, for example, about 50 μm. The display cell 1 is configured by using the upper glass substrate 4, and a plurality of stripe-shaped data electrodes D made of a transparent conductive layer are formed in parallel with each other in the column direction on the inner main surface thereof.

The upper substrate 4 is joined to the intermediate substrate 3 with a predetermined gap maintained by a spacer 5. In this example, liquid crystal is filled in the gap as an electro-optical material. This gap is hereinafter referred to as the liquid crystal layer 6. The distance between the spacers 5 filled with liquid crystal is usually about 5 μm, and the spacers 5 are kept uniform over the entire display screen. Materials other than liquid crystal can be used as the electro-optical material.

On the other hand, the plasma cell 2 has a lower glass substrate 7
Is constructed using. Anode electrodes A and cathode electrodes K are alternately arranged on the inner surface of the lower substrate 7 in a row direction at predetermined intervals. To identify the electrode position,
As shown in the figure, numbers are given based on the anode electrode and the cathode electrode formed on the left side, respectively. The first anode electrode is represented by A1 and the first cathode electrode is represented by K1. Anode electrode A and cathode electrode K
Are arranged in the row direction so as to intersect the data electrodes D at right angles as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 10, partition walls (ribs) 8 of a predetermined width are formed so as to extend in the row direction at substantially the central portions of the upper surfaces of the anode electrode A and the cathode electrode K, and the top portions of the ribs 8 are formed. Contacts the lower surface of the intermediate substrate 3 and the plasma cell 2
The size gap of is kept constant.

A sealing material 11 made of low-melting glass or the like is arranged along the peripheral portion of the lower substrate 7 to hermetically bond the intermediate substrate 3 and the lower substrate 7. .
Therefore, the plurality of spaces 9 hermetically sealed by the plurality of partition walls 8 are formed. An ionizable gas is enclosed in the space 9 to form a discharge channel in each space.

As the enclosed gas, for example, helium, neon, argon, xenon or a mixed gas thereof can be used. In order to specify each discharge channel, numbers (P1, P2, ...) Are attached in order from the left side as shown in the figure.

With this configuration, the anode electrode A and the cathode electrode K are adjacent to each other in the discharge channel P.
Can be shared by. For example, the first cathode electrode K1 (second electrode) is exposed to both the first discharge channel P1 and the second discharge channel P2, so that the discharge channels P1 and P2 are commonly used.

Since the second anode electrode A2 is exposed to both the second discharge channel P2 and the third discharge channel P3, the anode electrode A2 is shared by the discharge channels P2 and P3.

In this structure, the pixels 12 are formed at the intersections of the discharge channels P and the data electrodes D (D1 to Dn: n is the number of pixels in the horizontal direction) as shown in FIG. When a predetermined voltage is applied between the cathode and the cathode electrode K, the enclosed gas is selectively ionized and plasma-discharged, so that the corresponding discharge channel can be selected. For example, the anode electrode A1
When a predetermined voltage is applied between the cathode electrode K1 and the cathode electrode K1, the discharge channel P1 is selected.

The discharge channel P performs plasma discharge only at the moment when a predetermined voltage is applied between the anode electrode A and the cathode electrode K, and the anode potential (floating potential) at that time is the next discharge period (for example, one field or one field). After the frame)
Held up.

Therefore, when a predetermined voltage is applied to the anode electrode A and the cathode electrode K, plasma discharge is sequentially generated in the discharge channel P to perform selective scanning, and at the same time a predetermined data voltage is applied to the data electrode D. A two-dimensional image can be displayed.

[0016]

By the way, when the display screen of the above-mentioned display device 10 is enlarged, the area of the display cell 1 or the plasma cell 2 may be increased according to the area of the display screen. Yield of cell manufacturing is deteriorated. In particular, in a TN type liquid crystal display device using a large number of TFT transistors, the T
Since the number of FT elements also becomes huge, the yield is inevitably lowered. If possible, we would like to realize a larger display screen without degrading the cell manufacturing yield.

Further, since such a display device 10 has a flat panel structure, it is very convenient if the display screen can be enlarged only when it is in use and can be downsized when not in use, for example, it can be folded. Is. A foldable structure also improves portability.

FIG. 12 shows an example of a foldable structure capable of enlarging the display screen. FIG. 12A shows a pair of left and right display units 1.
The display screen is made larger by using 0A and 10B, and each has the same structure. The figure shows only the main elements of the display unit for convenience of explanation. In the figure, 4
A and 4B are upper substrates that form the display cell 1, and
A and 7B are lower substrates that form the plasma cell 2.

In the normal case, the lower substrates 7A and 7B are larger than the upper substrates 4A and 4B, and an LSI for realizing various processing operations and controls for image display is provided in an area protruding from the upper substrates 4A and 4B. IC chips 14A, 14B such as
Is attached. As for the mounting positions of the IC chips 14A and 14B, the left and right regions can be used in addition to the upper and lower extra regions. When the screen is divided into two, the display unit 10A
The right side region of the display unit 10B and the left side region of the display unit 10B (these are referred to as the joint region 16) are portions that connect the screens.
No IC chip can be attached to this area.

Even when the mounting position of the IC chip is selected as described above, the width d of each bonding region 16 needs to be provided to some extent as shown in FIG. It is said that the width d needs to be at least about 5 mm in the current manufacturing technology. Then, in the horizontal division configuration as shown in FIG. 12A, at least 10 m is provided between the display units 10A and 10B.
A gap of m or more is opened, and the displayed image is completely divided. It is very difficult to see if it is as it is. Even when the display screen is divided into the upper and lower parts to increase the size of the display screen, the display image is divided into upper and lower parts by the joining region of the upper and lower display parts for the same reason, and the display image becomes difficult to see.

Therefore, the present invention has solved such a conventional problem, and even when the display screen is divided into a plurality of pieces to increase the size of the display screen, the display image is divided and cannot be seen at the joint portion of the screens. The present invention proposes a foldable flat panel display device that eliminates the above problem.

[0022]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, there is provided a display device having a flat panel structure of a folding structure in which a display screen for a display device is divided into a plurality of sheets, and the display device is divided as described above. A prism sheet is inserted in each display unit so that a display image can be seen to be shifted on the divided display unit side.

[0023]

In the foldable plasma addressed display device 10 shown in FIG. 1, each of the display units 10A and 10B is configured to be openable and closable by a hinge mechanism 21.
Prism sheets 31A and 31B are arranged on the upper substrates 4A and 4B of 0A and 10B, respectively.

The prism sheets 31A and 31B are arranged so that the images transmitted through the prism sheets 31A and 31B are shifted toward the bonding region 16 side as shown in FIG.
Protrusions 40A and 40B are formed on the light emitting surfaces of 1A and 31B. As shown in FIG. 3, the distance d to be shifted is mainly the thickness L1 of the prism sheet and the distance L to the light sources p and q.
Depends on 2.

If the prism sheets 31A and 31B are used, the display image can be viewed in a state of being shifted (biased) in the direction shown by the broken line as shown in FIG. 6A, so that the joining region 16 becomes inconspicuous. It is possible to enjoy the large screens displayed on the display units 10A and 10B without having to worry about the joining region 16.

[0026]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a case where an example of a folding flat panel display device according to the present invention is applied to the above-mentioned plasma address display device will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Plasma addressed display device 10 shown in FIG.
Is composed of a pair of left and right divided display units 10A and 10B, each of which is configured to be foldable by a hinge mechanism 21 provided on the lower surface of the main body. FIG. 1 shows a state in use. At this time, the display screen is doubled as in FIG. 6A. Display 1 when not in use
Since 0A and 10B are folded as shown in FIG. 2, the size is almost half that of FIG.

Since the display units 10A and 10B have the same structure, only the structure of the display unit 10A will be described. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a display device 10. A linear light source (for backlight) 23A is housed on the left side of a device body (case) 22A.
A light guide plate 24A having a predetermined thickness is arranged on the bottom surface of the apparatus main body 22A so as to approach A. The light guide plate 24A has almost the same size as that of the plasma cell 2, its upper surface is flattened, and a light diffusion plate 25A is attached to this flattened upper surface, so that the light is uniformly diffused over the entire cell lower surface. And transmitted to the upper side.

A hollow mounting plate 27A having a predetermined thickness and a central portion cut off is attached to the upper end surface side of the apparatus main body 22A, and the plasma address display portion 10A is mounted on the upper surface of the hollow mounting plate 27A. ′ Is placed and fixed. The plasma address display portion 10A 'has the same structure as that shown in FIG. 10 and has a display cell 1A and a plasma cell 2A. The specific configuration is omitted and only the main configuration is shown. 7A is a lower substrate and 4A is an upper substrate.

Since the lower substrate 7A is larger than the upper substrate 4A and the lower substrate 7A extends to the side of the bonding area 16 as well, there is some space between the lower substrate 7A and the sealing plate 28A as shown in the figure. . On the upper surface of the upper substrate 4A, a prism sheet 31A called a micro prism or a prism array film as shown in the figure is attached. The prism sheet 31A changes the optical path of the display image so as to shift to the side of the bonding region 16.

Although the structure of the prism sheet 31A will be described later, a transparent and thin protective plate 33A made of, for example, acrylic is adhered to the upper surface of the prism sheet 31A. The periphery of the prism sheet 31A is fixed by hollow fixing plates 34A and 35A having a predetermined thickness. 13 is a makeup case that also serves as protection.

The abutting end face of the display portion 10A on the side of the joining region 16 is entirely sealed by a sealing plate 28A having a predetermined thickness and strength. The other display unit 10B is also configured in the same manner, and both are connected by the butterfly mechanism 21, and in a normal use state, it becomes as shown in FIG. 1, and at this time, the display screen doubles as in FIG. 6A. . Therefore, in the use state of FIG. 6A, the aspect ratio of the screen is, for example, exactly the aspect ratio of the landscape screen (16: 9).
The aspect ratio of the display units 10A and 10B alone is set. Since the display device 10 is folded as shown in FIG. 2 when not in use, the size of the display device 10 itself is almost half of that in FIG.

The prism sheets 31A and 31B used for the display portions 10A and 10B have the structure as shown in FIG. In this example, optical polyester films are used as the bases 45A and 45B, and an upper surface of the bases has a shape of an isosceles right triangle, and a plurality of ridges 40A and 40B having a function as a prism are formed so as to be continuous with each other. In this example, the top is formed at 90 °. The film bases 45A and 45B are 100 to 200
The thickness is μm, and the distance between the tops of the protrusions 40A and 40B is selected to be 50 μm.

In the case where the prism sheet 31A is constructed in this way, among the light from the light spot p existing on the prism sheet 31A side, only the light traveling to the right side is noted, and the prism sheet action by the ridge 40A Causes the light path to shift to the right. Therefore, the prism sheet 31 is adjusted so that the shift amount corresponds to the distance d between the joining regions 16.
By determining the thickness of A and the distances L1 and L2 between the light spot p and the prism sheet 31A, it is possible to guide light with the light spot p being biased to the right.

When the prism sheet 31A is used in this way, the image itself existing on the lower surface of the prism sheet 31A can be biased to the right side as a whole, so that the joining region 16 is separated by the distance d. However, it looks as if there is an image point just below this junction region 16.

Similarly, among the light from the light spot q existing on the prism sheet 31B side, focusing only on the light traveling to the left, the optical path is shifted to the left by the prism sheet action of the ridge 40B. Therefore, if the thickness of the prism sheet 31B and the distances L1 and L2 between the light spot q and the prism sheet 31B are determined so that the shift amount corresponds exactly to the distance d between the joining regions 16, the light spot q is moved to the left. Light can be derived in a biased state. As described above, the prism sheet 31B can be used to bias the entire image itself on the lower surface to the left side. Therefore, even if the joint region 16 is separated by the distance d, it is as if it is directly below the joint region 16. There appears to be an image point at.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6B, the prism sheet is arranged such that the longitudinal directions of the ridges 40A and 40B are oriented in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the image is displayed in a biased manner (shown by the broken line in FIG. 6A). 31A and 31B are attached. By doing so, even if the display cells 1A and 1B are located on both sides of the junction region 16 with a distance of d therebetween, the image of the display unit 10A on the left side is displayed so as to be shifted to the right side as shown in FIG. 6A. On the contrary, the image on the display unit 10B on the right side is displayed so as to be shifted to the left side (all are shown by broken lines), so that it can be viewed as a seamless image by appropriately selecting each condition of FIG. .

As for the light emitted from the prism sheet 31A, only the right hypotenuse 42A of the ridge 40A can be used, so that the left hypotenuse 41A is shielded as shown in FIG. The light-shielding film 44A is provided on the left hypotenuse 4 to shield light
1A is formed. Similarly, the other prism sheet 31
In B, the right hypotenuse 42B is shielded from light as shown in FIG. 44B is the light-shielding film.

The light shielding film may be omitted. For that purpose, the ridges 40A and 40B may be configured as shown in FIG. 5, for example. The figure shows an example of using the base of a right-angled isosceles triangle as a light-transmitting slope.
In this case, the other hypotenuse that is not used as the exit surface is orthogonal to the base of the film, so it is not necessary to shield the other hypotenuse.

FIG. 7 shows an example in which the display screen is enlarged by dividing it into upper and lower parts, and in this case as well, the gap 2d generated in the upper and lower joining regions 16 is absorbed, so that the image is displayed as shown in FIG. The ridges 40A and 40B are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the biased display direction (shown by the broken line A in the figure).
Prism sheet 31A, 31 so that the longitudinal direction of
B is attached.

As a result, the image on the upper display portion 10A is displayed so as to be closer to the lower side as shown in FIG.
On the contrary, the image on the lower display unit 10B is displayed so as to be closer to the upper side (both are shown by broken lines).
However, the images will be displayed, and you can see seamless images. When the display device 10 shown in FIG. 7 is not used, it may be folded up and down.

FIG. 8 shows a display unit 10A divided into four vertically and horizontally.
It is a concrete example when forming one big display screen by 10D. In this case, as shown in FIG.
Since 6 has a cross shape, the ridges 40 of the prism sheets 31A to 31D provided in the respective display portions 10A to 10D so that the display image is shifted toward the center s thereof.
A to 40D are mounted so as to have an angle of 45 ° with respect to the vertical direction. Then, since the images are displayed so as to be gathered at the center s, it is possible to eliminate the joints corresponding to the joint regions existing vertically and horizontally.

In the case of FIG. 8, the display units (10A and 10A)
B), (10C and 10D) can be configured to be folded left and right, or (10A and 10C), (19B
And 10D) can be configured to be folded up and down, respectively.

FIG. 9 shows a TN type liquid crystal display device 10 according to the present invention.
It is an example applied to. In this case, only the structure of the display cell mounted on the main body of the apparatus is different, and the detailed description thereof is omitted. If the liquid crystal layer filled inside the display cell is omitted, its structure is as shown in FIG.
Only A and 7A. However, in the case of a liquid crystal display, as shown in the figure, it has a structure in which polarizing plates 50A and 51A are arranged on the lower surface side and the upper surface side of the display cell, respectively.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 9, the prism sheet 31A may be inserted not on the upper surface of the display portion 10A 'but on the lower surface thereof, that is, the lower substrate 7A side. Although there is a predetermined gap between the upper surface of the light diffusion plate 25A and the lower substrate 7A due to the presence of the mounting plate 27A, the light diffusion plate 25A and the lower substrate 7A may be in close contact with each other.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a display screen is divided into a plurality of parts to form a large display screen, a prism sheet is used for each of the divided display parts, and the joints of the display parts are It was made to be inconspicuous.

According to this, in addition to the display units can be configured to be foldable, the display image of each display unit is shifted by the action of the prism sheet even if a certain amount of gap occurs between the divided display units. Therefore, the joining area between the display portions does not become a vertical stripe or a horizontal stripe and the image quality is not deteriorated.

Further, when the display screen is divided into a plurality of parts as described above, the area of the display cells or plasma cells used in the unit display section can be reduced, so that the yield of the unit display section can be increased. . Therefore, there is a real advantage that a large screen can be achieved without deteriorating the yield of the display unit. Therefore, the present invention is extremely suitable for application to a display device having a flat panel structure such as a plasma addressed display device or a TN type liquid crystal display device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an essential part showing an example in which a folding flat panel display device according to the present invention is applied to a plasma addressed display device.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a main part in a folded state.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a prism sheet.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a specific example of a prism sheet.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of a prism sheet.

FIG. 6 is a plan view when divided in the lateral direction and a configuration diagram of a prism sheet used at that time.

FIG. 7 is a plan view when divided in the vertical direction and a configuration diagram of a prism sheet used at that time.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of four divisions and a configuration diagram of a prism sheet used at that time.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part similar to FIG. 1 when the present invention is applied to a TN type liquid crystal display device.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a plasma addressed display device.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the electrode.

FIG. 12 is a plan view and a side view showing a large screen configuration example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 (1A, 1B) Display cell 2 (2A, 2B) Plasma cell 4 (4A, 4B) Upper substrate 7 (7A, 7B) Lower substrate 10 Display device 10A, 10B Display unit 31A, 31B Prism sheet 40A, 40B Ridge 41A, 41B, 42A, 42B hypotenuse

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A display device having a flat panel structure having a folding structure in which a display screen for a display device is divided into a plurality of pieces, wherein each of the divided display portions has a display image on the divided display portion side. A foldable flat panel display device, in which a prism sheet is inserted so that it can be seen as shifted. 2. The folding flat according to claim 1, wherein the prism sheet is provided with a plurality of projections having a cross-sectional shape forming an isosceles right triangle on the light emitting side with a predetermined interval. Panel display device. 3. The display screen is divided into two parts in the horizontal direction, two parts in the vertical direction, or two parts in the vertical and horizontal directions.
The foldable flat panel display device according to claim 1, wherein the foldable flat panel display device is divided.