JPH11282404A - Flat panel display and electronic notebook computer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically adjust the luminance and contrast of display on a display in accordance with a peripheral light situation and to attain usage without fatigue by providing a sensor for detecting the peripheral light of the display and a controller for controlling the luminance and the contrast of display in accordance with its output. SOLUTION: A detecting signal from the sensor 11 is fetched by the controller 12 and compared with luminance and contrast combination information in a comparing means 13 based on peripheral light strength information of the sensor 11. The means 13 is provided with a table where the correspondence of the luminance and contrast of display as against peripheral light strength is decided. The luminance and contrast of display are decided by referring to the table and the information is respectively transmitted to the driver 14 of a liquid crystal display 15 and the inverter 16 of a back light 37. The driver 14 corrects the contrast of display in the display 15 based on the information. Besides, the inverter 16 adjusts the light emitting luminance of the back light based on information from the controller 12.

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 such as a television, a personal computer, a word processor, a personal digital assistant, and a notebook electronic device provided with the flat panel display.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the case of OA equipment used in offices, knobs for adjusting the brightness and contrast of an electronic display are attached, but most of them are stored in pockets or the like. Often not noticed. Further, some recent liquid crystal displays have only a function of adjusting brightness.

[0003]

As described above, since it has not been generally recognized that there is a portion for adjusting the brightness and contrast of the display on the display, the O
When starting to use the A-apparatus, few people adjusted the brightness and contrast properly. Also, even when making adjustments, many people are confused by the vividness of the color, so they often make the brightness unnecessarily high and set the contrast high, which is the task of using the electronic display of OA equipment. Was a major cause of eye fatigue.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and automatically adjusts the brightness and contrast of a display on an electronic display according to the situation of ambient light so that the display can be used without being tired for a long time. The purpose is to.

[0005]

According to the present invention, the operation of adjusting the brightness and contrast of the display of an electronic display is performed based on information from a sensor incorporated in the display.
Brightness and contrast are set according to the situation of the ambient light in the place where the electronic display is placed, and the settings are automatically made so that the eyes are not easily tired even if the user does not perform any operation. In particular, a sensor for light detection on the back side of the display is installed to pick up reflected light from walls etc. that jumps into the eyes as ambient light when the user is facing the electronic display, and The setting is automatically performed so that the luminance does not greatly differ from the luminance of the background.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. Today, self-luminous electronic displays such as CRTs and backlit LCDs are widely used.
The light stimulus of the illuminant is detected by the eyes, thereby transmitting image and character information. On the other hand, a medium such as a book or paper does not emit light by itself, but reflects light entering from the outside, and the human eye perceives the difference in the amount of reflected light between the image or character part and the other part. Thus, information of images and characters is transmitted.

[0007] An information medium such as a book or paper looks bright when the surroundings are bright, and looks dark when the surroundings are dark. In this way, information can be transmitted according to the surrounding light conditions. However, since the electronic display is a self-luminous type that emits light by itself, display is always performed with a constant light amount regardless of the surrounding light condition. for that reason,
In a bright place such as the outdoors, the display light of the display is relatively dark with respect to the surrounding external light, and the display is not clear and is difficult to see. On the other hand, when the indoor lighting is dark, the brightness of the display becomes relatively high, and the strings are too stringy. The human eye has a function of adapting to the surrounding brightness.If the surroundings are bright such as outdoors, the pupil is narrowed or the retina causes a light response to reduce the sensitivity, while the dark place The dark reaction occurs, the pupil opens, and the sensitivity improves. In this way, the human eye responds to the surrounding light conditions, so like an electronic display,
When a human looks at a display object that performs display with arbitrary brightness regardless of the surrounding situation, the brightness of the display on the display is too bright for the eyes trying to adapt to the situation of the surrounding light,
It is too dark. If it is too bright, your eyes will be hurt by intense light stimulation. Conversely, if it is dark, you will not be able to see the display well and you will have to work hard to see it, and your eyes will be tired. As described above, a display that does not take into account the external light condition may cause eye fatigue such as eye strain and trouble. Further, from the viewpoint of visibility, when the display luminance is high, a sufficient amount of information is given to the visual system, so that the display contrast does not need to be so high. In particular, in the case of character display, if the contrast is too high, it may rather cause eyestrain. Conversely, when the luminance is low, the visibility cannot be ensured unless the contrast is sufficiently increased.

[0008] A VDT (Visual Display Terminus) using an electronic display has been used.
al) Regarding work problems, investigations and studies are being conducted from the viewpoint of occupational safety, and consideration is being given to the brightness of places where work is performed. In these studies, the brightness ratio between the display screen and the surrounding wall is considered to be a problem, and it is recommended that an extreme difference in light and shade does not occur in the field of view of the VDT operator.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1A, one of the displays 15 of the electronic device 10 such as a notebook personal computer or a notebook word processor is used to prevent such a difference in brightness in the field of view. A sensor 11 for detecting ambient light conditions is attached to the unit, and the brightness and contrast of the display are changed according to the detection output of the sensor 11. For example, as shown in FIG. 1B, light that is reflected on a wall surface or the like and enters the field of view from the back of the display is reflected by a sensor 11 including a photoelectric conversion element such as a photodiode provided on the back of the display. Detect. Also, when using the electronic display completely on the wall, the sensor that detects the back side will not work, so the sensor that rotates the sensor part and turns the display side and measures the amount of light incident on the display part You may make it usable as. At this time, a detector for detecting the direction of the sensor, such as a limit switch, is provided on the rotating part,
By setting the parameters of the reflected light from the wall surface or the like coming from the back side and the incident light to the display unit, for example, the level of the light intensity, the sensor can function as a sensor that captures the situation of the surrounding light.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a notebook personal computer with a flat electronic display, which can change the display brightness and contrast with the surrounding brightness. A sensor 11 composed of a photoelectric conversion element such as a photodiode for detecting the brightness of the surroundings is attached to the lid of the personal computer 10 on which the electronic display 15 is set. Sensor 1
Numeral 1 is rotatable back and forth as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B so that the intensity of light incident from the back or front of the display can be captured. Normally, the personal computer is set toward the rear side so as to capture light that is reflected from a wall or the like in the direction in which the person using the personal computer is heading and directly enters the field of view. If the sensor is behind a wall, such as a wall, the sensor will not function as expected if it sticks to the wall. To be detected. Further, the sensor may be provided with a plurality of sensors for detecting light from the back and the front, respectively (FIG. 2C), and may be provided with a plurality of sensors rotatably (FIG. 2D). ).

As shown in the block diagram of FIG. 3, the information obtained from the sensor is sent to the information of the display unit for the contrast, and the information is sent to the backlight inverter for the luminance. Feedback will be given. In FIG. 3, a detection signal from the sensor 11 is taken into a dedicated controller or a controller 12 constituted by an arithmetic unit of a personal computer.
Based on the ambient light intensity information of the sensor 11, it is compared with the combination information of the luminance and the contrast in the comparing means 13.
The comparing means 13 is a table in which the correspondence between the display luminance and the contrast with respect to the ambient light intensity is determined in advance, and the display luminance and the contrast are determined by referring to this table. The light 17 is sent to the inverter 16. The driver 14 corrects the display contrast of the liquid crystal display 15 based on this information. The inverter 16 adjusts the light emission luminance of the backlight based on the information from the controller 12.

In this manner, the brightness around the electronic display, particularly the brightness behind the display, can be constantly monitored, and the display brightness and contrast can be automatically set to be optimal. Even if the user does not particularly set the brightness and contrast by himself, the VDT work can be performed for a long time in a state in which the eyes are hardly tired and easy to see.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, the brightness and contrast of the display on the electronic display are automatically set to an optimum state according to the situation of the surrounding light without the user having to make any special settings. It is adjusted, and even if the situation of ambient light changes during use, it automatically adjusts to follow it,
The optimal display is always obtained, and the VDT work can be performed without fatigue for a long time. '

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a flat panel display of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a notebook personal computer to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of brightness and contrast adjustment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Notebook personal computer, 11 ... Sensor, 12 ... Controller, 13 ... Comparison means, 14 ... Driver, 15 ... Liquid crystal display, 16 ... Inverter, 1
7 ... Backlight.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A flat panel display which is thin and portable, comprising: a sensor for detecting ambient light of a display; and a control device for controlling brightness and contrast of display in accordance with a detection output of the sensor. display. 2. The display according to claim 1, wherein
A flat panel display, wherein the sensor detects ambient light on the back side of the display that enters the user's field of view. 3. The display according to claim 1, wherein
A flat panel display, wherein the sensor switches and detects ambient light on the back side of the display, which enters the user's field of view, and light incident on the display unit. 4. The display according to claim 1, wherein
A flat panel display featuring a liquid crystal display. 5. A notebook electronic device comprising a flat panel display having a sensor for detecting ambient light of the display, and a control device for controlling display brightness and contrast according to the detection output of the sensor.