The accompanying drawings illustrate one or more embodiments of the invention and, together with the written description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements of an embodiment, and wherein:
a-1c show schematically a unit of different arrangements of the red, green and blue light emission zones according to different embodiments of the present invention, respectively.
a-2d show schematically an arrangement of red, green and blue light emission zones according to different embodiments of the present invention, respectively:
a-3d show schematically an arrangement of red, green and blue light emission zones according to different embodiments of the present invention, respectively:
a and 4b show two layouts of an arrangement of the red, green and blue light emission zones according to one embodiment of the present invention.
a-5d show schematically an arrangement of red, green and blue light emission zones according to different embodiments of the present invention, respectively:
a and 6b show a conventional stripe arrangement of the red, green and blue light emission zones and an image of the arrangement in an OLED display panel, respectively.
The present invention is more particularly described in the following examples that are intended as illustrative only since numerous modifications and variations therein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Various embodiments of the invention are now described in detail. Referring to the drawings, like numbers indicate like components throughout the views. As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of “a”, “an”, and “the” includes plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
The description will be made as to the embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in
The full color display panel has a plurality of pixels formed in a matrix with a row direction and a column direction that is perpendicular to the row direction. Referring to
Furthermore, each pixel 100 has a red light (sub-pixel) emission zone 150, a green light (sub-pixel) emission zone 160 and a blue light (sub-pixel) emission zone 170 that are arranged in a triangle in which the geometrical center of each emission zone 150, 160, or 170 is located at a respective vertex of the triangle. As such, one side of the triangle is substantially parallel to the row direction or the column direction. In one embodiment, the geometrical center R, G, or B of each light emission zone 150, 160, or 170 is located in a respective sub-pixel of the first, second and third sub-pixels 110, 120, and 130 of the pixel 100, and the emission zone in the second sub-pixel 120 is shifted by a distance, Ly, from the emission zones in the first and third emission zones 110 and 130 in the column direction, such that the one side of the triangle formed by the emission zones in the first and third emission zones 110 and 130 is substantially parallel to the row direction. In addition, the distance Lx between the two emission zones in the first and third emission zones 110 and 130 in the row direction is substantially or nearly the same as the distance Ly. For example, as shown in
In another embodiment, the geometrical center of one of the red, green and blue light emission zones 150, 160 and 170 is located in one of the first and third sub-pixel 110 and 130 of the pixel 100, and the geometrical centers of the rest of the red, green and blue light emission zones 150, 160, and 170 are located in the other of the first and third sub-pixel 110 and 130 of the pixel 100, such that the one side of the triangle is substantially parallel to the column direction. As shown in
Each of the red, green, and blue light emission zones 150, 160, and 170 may be formed in any geometrical shape, such as square, rectangle, circle, triangle, trapezoid, polygon, or any combinations thereof. Preferably, the red, green and blue light emission zones 150, 160, and 170 have a geometrical shape of a square and/or rectangle, as shown in
Preferably, each of the red, green, and blue light emission zones 150, 160, and 170 is corresponding to a light emitting diode device capable of emitting light in a respective color of red, blue, and green colors. The light emitting diode device may include an OLED device or a plurality of OLED devices connected in series, where each OLED device can be a top-emission OLED device or a bottom-emission OLED device. Additionally, the OLED device may have a normal structure or an inverted structure.
Without intent to limit the scope of the invention, exemplary embodiments of the arrangements of the sub-pixel emission devices in an OLED display panel are described below.
b shows an embodiment of a color pixel arrangement in an OLED display panel in which a unit of the arrangement of the red, green and blue sub-pixel emission devices 250, 260 and 270 shown in
c shows an embodiment of a color pixel arrangement 200A in an OLED display panel in which the arrangement unit of the red, green, and blue sub-pixel emission devices 250, 260, and 270 shown in
In one embodiment, the gap distances, an, bn, cn, dn, satisfy the relationships of 20 μm ≦an, bn, cn, dn≦60 μm, and 0.2(an+bn+cn+dn)≦an, bn, cn, dn≦0.3(an+bn+cn+dn), where n=1 or 2.
In practice, a driving circuit is required to individually drive the red, green, and blue light emission devices 250, 260, and 270 of each of the plurality of pixels to emit light of corresponding colors therefrom. The driving circuit can be formed in a passive matrix addressing manner or an active matrix addressing manner. The former is corresponding to a passive matrix OLED device, while the latter an active matrix OLED device.
Referring to
d shows an extended portion of the pixel matrix of the color pixel arrangement 300 in the OLED display panel shown in
a and 4b show two pixel layouts 400A and 400B of a 2.4″ OLED display panel according to embodiments of the present invention, respectively. In the pixel layout 400A, a pixel unit 401A has a first sub-pixel 410A, a second sub-pixel 420A, and a third sub-pixel 430A that are aligned adjacently to each other. The pixel unit 401A also includes a red OLED device R, a green OLED device G, and a blue OLED device B arranged in a triangle such that the OLED devices R, B and G are located in the sub-pixel 410A, 420A, and 430A, respectively. Similarly, in the pixel layout 400B, a pixel unit 401B has a first sub-pixel 410B, a second sub-pixel 420B, and a third sub-pixel 430B aligned adjacently to each other, and a red OLED device R, a green OLED device G, and a blue OLED device B arranged in a triangle such that the OLED devices R, B and G are located in the sub-pixel 410B, 420B, and 430B, respectively. The aperture ratio and the alignment tolerance for the conventional stripe format and the invented arrangement of the red, green and blue sub-pixel devices are listed in Table 1. The advantages of the present invention over the conventional stripe format are clearly exhibited in the table. For example, compared to the conventional stripe format, the alignment tolerances in the invented pixel layouts 400A and 400B increase about 2 μm in the row direction (X) and about 5 um in the column direction (Y). The aperture ratio averagely increases about 21%, therefore the lifetime of the display panel would increase about 30% for the color pixel arrangement of the present invention.
Referring now to
As shown in
d shows an extended portion of the pixel matrix 500 of the color pixel arrangement 500 in the OLED display panel shown in
In the embodiments of the present invention as disclosed above, the red, green and blue light emission devices in an OLED display panel are arranged in a triangle such that any two adjacent light emission zones of different colors in the row direction define a gap having a first distance, and any two adjacent light emission zones of different colors in the column direction define a gap having a second distance that is substantially or nearly the same as the first distance. Such arrangement of the light emission devices ensure to reduce the level of difficulty in the manufacturing process, particularly in the shadow mask process, a standard manufacturing process of OLED display panels.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a method for displaying a color image in a display panel. The display panel is formed with a plurality of pixels in a matrix along a row direction and a column direction, where each pixel comprises a first sub-pixel, a second sub-pixel and a third sub-pixel adjacently aligned along the row direction of the pixel matrix, and a red light emission zone, a green light emission zone, and a blue light emission zone. In one embodiment, the method includes the step of arranging the red, green, and blue light emission zones of a pixel in a triangle with the geometrical center of each light emission zone located at a respective vertex of the triangle such that one side of the triangle is substantially parallel to one of the row direction and the column direction, thereby in the plurality of pixels, any two adjacent light emission zones of different colors in the row direction define a gap having a distance, and any two adjacent light emission zones of different colors in the column direction define a gap having a distance that is substantially or nearly the same as the distance of the gap defined between two adjacent light emission zones of different colors in the row direction.
While in the foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the invention, colors red, green and blue have been chosen to describe various embodiments of the present invention as no limiting examples. The present invention can be practiced with a first sub-pixel, a second sub-pixel, a third sub-pixel, or a plurality of a light emission zones, each having a color such as brown, yellow, pink, violet, indigo, reddish orange, orange, cyan, salmon pink, mauve, or the like to form a display panel the can display a color image.
Thus, the foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the invention has been presented only for the purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching.
The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the invention and their practical application so as to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention and various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from its spirit and scope. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description and the exemplary embodiments described therein.