Patent Application
20050286264
This application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2004-0049454, filed on Jun. 29, 2004, the contents of which in its entirety are herein incorporated by reference.
(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light source for a display device.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Image display devices, such as a television receiver or a computer monitor, are classified as either a self-luminescence display device capable of self-emitting light or a light receiving display device requiring a separate light source. Organic light emitting displays (OLEDs), vacuum fluorescent displays (VFDs), field emission displays (FEDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), etc. are examples of self-luminescence display devices, while liquid crystal display (LCD) devices, are an example of the light receiving display device.
Generally, LCD devices include a pair of panels having field generating electrodes disposed at an inner surface, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the pair of panels having dielectric anisotropy. In an LCD device, a variation of a voltage difference between the field generating electrodes, i.e., a variation in a strength of an electric field generated by the field generating electrodes, changes a transmittance of light passing through the LCD device. Thus desired images are obtained by controlling the voltage difference between the field generating electrodes.
In the LCD devices, light may be provided by a natural light source or an artificial light source separately employed in an LCD device.
A backlight device is a representative artificial light source for the LCD devices. The backlight device utilizes light emitting diodes (LEDs) or fluorescent lamps such as cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) and external electrode fluorescent lamps (EEFLs), etc. as the light source.
LEDs have eco-friendly characteristics since the LEDs do not use mercury (Hg) and a working lifetime of an LED is longer than a working lifetime of most other light sources due to stable characteristics of the LED. For these reasons, the LED is a popular choice as a next-generation light source.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a light source for a display device having prominent color reproducibility. Another objective of the present invention is to provide a light source for a display device enabling thin and compact display production.
To achieve the objectives, in the light source according to a feature of the present invention, a mixed-color-emitting LED having two or more color components in the primary colors is arranged along with a single-color-emitting LED.
In more detail, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a light source for a display device including a board and light emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted on the board. The LEDs includes a white LED which emits white light and a red LED which emits red light.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a light source for a display device including a board, a first LED mounted on the board, and a second LED mounted on the board. The first LED includes an LED chip and a fluorescent material for converting a wavelength of light emitted from the LED chip. The second LED includes no fluorescent material.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a light source for a display device including a board, a first LED mounted on the board, and a second LED mounted on the board. The first LED emits light having a spectrum width which spans a wavelength range below about 600 nm. The second LED emits light having a spectrum width which spans a wavelength range above about 600 nm.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a light emitting diode (LED) including a lead frame, a first LED chip mounted on the lead frame, a fluorescent material which covers the first LED chip, a second LED chip mounted on the lead frame, and a molding element which covers all of the first LED chip, the fluorescent material and the second LED chip.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a backlight device including a light guiding plate, and a first light source disposed at a first edge of the light guiding plate and including a white LED emitting white light and a red LED emitting a red light mainly having one component of red, green, and blue components.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a backlight device including a board, a white LED mounted on the board emitting a white light, a red LED mounted on the board and emitting a red light, and a reflecting plate mounted on the board and including holes for exposing portions of the white LED and the red LED.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a light source for a display device including a board, a first LED mounted on the board, and a second LED mounted on the board. The first LED emits light having a spectrum width which spans a first wavelength range. The second LED emits light having a spectrum width which spans a second wavelength range. The first and second wavelength ranges are substantially mutually exclusive and the first and second wavelength ranges combine to substantially span an entire wavelength range of visible light.
The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing the exemplary embodiments thereof in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown. The present invention may, however, be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
In the drawings, the thickness of the layers, films, and regions are exaggerated for clarity. Like numerals refer to like elements throughout. It will be understood that when an element such as a layer, film, region, or substrate is referred to as being “on” another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present.
Hereinafter, a driving system of a light source device for a display device according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
Referring to
The display unit 330 includes the LC panel assembly 300, a gate tape carrier package (TCP) 410 and a data TCP 510 which are attached to the LC panel assembly 300, and a gate printed circuit board (PCB) 450 and a data PCB 550 which are individually attached to the gate and data TCPs 410 and 510, respectively.
In the structure shown in
The display signal lines G1-Gn and D1-Dm are provided on the lower panel 100 and include gate lines G1-Gn for transmitting gate signals (also referred to as “scanning signals”), and data lines D1-Dm for transmitting data signals or data voltages. The gate lines G1-Gn extend substantially in a row direction of the LC panel assembly 300 and are substantially parallel to each other, while the data lines D1-Dm extend substantially in a column direction of the LC panel assembly 300 and are substantially parallel to each other.
Each pixel includes a switching element Q, which is electrically connected to selected ones of the display signal lines G1-Gn and D1-Dm, and an LC capacitor CLC and a storage capacitor CST each of which is electrically connected to the switching element Q. The storage capacitor CST may be omitted.
The switching element Q, such as a thin film transistor (TFT), is provided on the lower panel 100 and has three terminals: a control terminal connected to one of the gate lines G1-Gn; an input terminal connected to one of the data lines D1-Dm; and an output terminal connected to both the LC capacitor CLC and the storage capacitor CST.
The LC capacitor CLC includes a pixel electrode 190 provided on the lower panel 100 and a common electrode 270 provided on the upper panel 200 as two terminals. The LC layer 3 interposed between the pixel and common electrodes 190 and 270 functions as a dielectric of the LC capacitor CLC. The pixel electrode 190 is electrically connected to the switching element Q, and the common electrode 270 is supplied with a common voltage Vcom and covers an entire surface of the upper panel 200. As an alternative to the embodiment shown in
The storage capacitor CST is an auxiliary capacitor for the LC capacitor CLC. When the pixel electrode 190 and a separate signal line (not shown) which is provided on the lower panel 100 are overlapped with each other, having an insulator therebetween, an overlap portion between the pixel electrode 190 and the separate signal line forms the storage capacitor CST. The separate signal line is supplied with a predetermined voltage such as, for example, the common voltage Vcom. Alternatively, the storage capacitor CST may be formed by an overlapping of the pixel electrode 190 and a previous gate line, which is placed directly before the pixel electrode 190, having an insulator therebetween.
For a color display, each pixel uniquely exhibits one of three primary colors (i.e., spatial division), or sequentially exhibits three primary colors in turn depending on time (i.e., temporal division), so that a spatial or temporal sum of the primary colors are recognized as a desired color.
Referring to
The LEDs 344 provide light to the LC panel assembly 300 and include white LEDs emitting white light and red LEDs emitting red light. The white and red LEDs are arranged on the PCB 345 in a predetermined arrangement, thereby forming the light source unit 349.
Although
Polarizers (not shown) are provided on outer surfaces of the lower and upper panels 100 and 200 for polarizing light emitted by the light source units 349.
Referring to
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention employs multiple gate drivers 400 and multiple gate TCPs 410. In such an exemplary embodiment, the gate drivers 400 are individually mounted on each gate TCP 410, having shapes of integrated circuit (IC) chips. Additionally, the gate drivers 400 are individually connected to the gate lines G1-Gn of the LC panel assembly 300 for transmitting the gate signals including combinations of a gate-on voltage Von and a gate-off voltage Voff input from an external device.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention employs multiple data drivers 500 and multiple data TCPs 510. In such an exemplary embodiment, the data drivers 500 are individually mounted on each data TCP 510, having shapes of IC chips. Additionally, the data drivers 500 are individually connected to the data lines D1-Dm of the LC panel assembly 300 for transmitting the data voltages which are selected from the gray voltages supplied from the gray voltage generator 800, to the data signal lines D1-Dm.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the gate driver 400 or the data driver 500 is directly mounted on the lower panel 100 having the shape of an IC chip. In still another embodiment of the present invention, the gate driver 400 or the data driver 500 is integrated into the lower panel 100 along with other elements. In each of the above cases, the gate or data PCB 450 or 550 or the gate or data TCP 410 or 510 can be omitted.
The signal controller 600 may be included in the data PCB 550 or the gate PCB 450 for controlling an operation of the gate driver 400 or the data driver 500.
Hereinafter, operation of the above-mentioned LCD device will be described in detail.
The signal controller 600 receives input image signals R, G, and B and input control signals for controlling a display of the LCD device. The input control signals include a vertical synchronizing signal Vsync, a horizontal synchronizing signal Hsync, a main clock MCLK, a data enable signal DE, etc., all of which are provided from an external graphic controller (not shown). In response to the input image signals R, G, and B and the input control signals, the signal controller 600 processes the input image signals R, G, and B suitably for operation of the LC panel assembly 300 and generates gate control signals CONT1 and data control signals CONT2, and then outputs the gate control signals CONT1 and the data control signals CONT2 to the gate driver 400 and the data driver 500, respectively.
The gate control signals CONT1 include a vertical synchronizing start signal STV for informing the gate driver 400 of a beginning of a frame, a gate clock signal CPV for controlling an output time of the gate-on voltage Von, and an output enable signal OE for defining a duration of the gate-on voltage Von.
The data control signals CONT2 include a horizontal synchronizing start signal STH for informing the data driver 500 of a beginning of a data transmission, a load signal LOAD for instructing the data driver 500 to apply the data voltages to the data lines D1-Dm, a reverse signal RVS for reversing a polarity of the data voltages with respect to the common voltage Vcom, and a data clock signal HCLK.
Responsive to the data control signals CONT2 from the signal controller 600, the data driver 500 successively receives the image data DAT for a row of the pixels from the signal controller 600, shifts them, converts the processed image data DAT into analog data voltages selected from the gray voltages from the gray voltage generator 800, and then applies the data voltages to data lines D1-Dm.
The gate driver 400 applies the gate-on voltage Von to the gate lines G1-Gn in response to the gate control signals CONT1 from the signal controller 600, thereby turning on selected switching elements Q. The data voltages applied to the data lines D1-Dm are applied to corresponding pixels through turned-on switching elements Q.
A difference between the data voltage applied to the pixel and the common voltage Vcom is represented as a voltage across the LC capacitor CLC, namely, a pixel voltage. LC molecules in the LC capacitor CLC have orientations that vary in response to a magnitude of the pixel voltage.
The light source driver 920 controls current applied to the light source section 910 for powering the LEDs 344 of the light source section 910. The light source driver 920 also controls a brightness of light emitted by the LEDs 344.
When light emitted by the LEDs 344 passes through the LC layer 3, a polarization of the light is varied according to the orientations of the LC molecules. The polarizer converts a difference of light polarization into a difference of light transmittance.
By repeating the above-mentioned procedure each horizontal period (which is denoted by “1H” and equal to one period of the horizontal synchronizing signal Hsync, the data enable signal DE, and the gate clock CPV), all gate lines G1-Gn are sequentially supplied with the gate-on voltage Von during a frame, thereby applying the data voltages to all pixels. When a next frame starts after finishing one frame, the reverse control signal RVS applied to the data driver 500 is controlled such that the polarity of the data voltages is reversed with respect to that of a previous frame (which is referred to as “frame inversion”). The reverse control signal RVS may be also controlled such that the polarity of the data voltages flowing in a data line in one frame are reversed (for example, line inversion and dot inversion), or such that the polarity of the data voltages in one packet are reversed (for example, column inversion and dot inversion).
Hereinafter, the light source section 910, including the light source unit 349 for the backlight device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to
Referring to
It is also preferable that the LEDs 344 disposed at corresponding positions of adjacent PCBs 345 alternate between white LEDs 344W and red LEDs 344R as shown in
In
Referring to
Referring to
A structure of the white LEDs of the present invention may be further varied from those examples shown in
As an alternative to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention using the white LEDs 344W and the red LEDs 344R as the light source, mixed-color-emitting LEDs and/or single-color-emitting LEDs may be used instead of the white LEDs 344W and the red LEDs 344R. For example, an LED mainly emitting blue and green mixed light may be used with the red LED 344R, or an LED mainly emitting red and green-mixed light may be used with a blue LED. Alternatively, an LED mainly emitting red and blue-mixed light may be used with a green LED.
The light source driver 920 is connected to the white LEDs 344W and the red LEDs 344R and supplies electric power to the white and red LEDs 344W and 344R. In a structure as shown in
Hereinafter, several benefits of the light source for an LCD device according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described.
In the LED arrays shown in FIGS. 10 to 12, a critical length X of the minimum color mixing area is calculated by the equations below. In the equations below, the minimum color mixing area is defined as a minimum space required for mixing lights emitted from an LED array to produce white light. The critical length X determines a required distance between the LED array and the LCD panel assembly 300 of an LCD device, and therefore directly impacts a thickness of the LCD device. Calculation of the critical length X is performed via equation 1 below.
X=0.5×[number of LEDs in a period (d)]×[gap between adjacent LEDs (p)]/tan a (Equation 1)
In Equation 1, the period is a distance between two LEDs emitting the same light, and a is a half of a light emission angle of an LED. The gap between adjacent LEDs (p) is also called pitch.
Accordingly, in the structure shown in
X=0.5×2×p/tan a=p/tan a (Equation 2)
When the red, green, and blue LED array shown in
X=0.5×3×p/tan a=1.5p/tan a (Equation 3)
When the red, green, green, and blue LED array shown in
X=0.5×4×p/tan a=2p/tan a (Equation 4)
As mentioned above, the minimum color mixing area of the light source according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention is two thirds that of a three color (red, green, and blue) LED array, and is half that of a four color (red, green, green, and blue) LED array.
Thus, if the three or four color LED arrays are used as a light source of an LCD device, a space for a backlight device must be large enough to provide the minimum color mixing area having a critical length X as calculated above. Accordingly, a light source according to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention may be made thinner than the three or four color LED arrays, since the critical length X for the light source according to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention is smaller than the critical length X for the three or four color LED arrays. Thus the light source according to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention is more profitable in facilitating thin LCD devices due to a reduced backlight space requirement.
In addition, according to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a color reproducibility of the LCD device is improved. Such a benefit will be described below with reference to
First, referring to
Referring to
In the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the white LEDs 344W lacking a red component and the red LEDs 344R are used together to produce a more complete white light. Similarly, in a case in which a white light source lacking blue or green component, or the mixed-color-emitting LEDs lacking a particular color component wavelength is employed, a single-color-emitting LED capable of compensating for an insufficient component is added, thereby producing the complete white light.
Referring to
A structure shown in
It is possible to vary each of a number of the blue and red LED chips 11 and 13, and the yellow fluorescent material 21 in one LED, depending on outputs of the blue and red LED chips 11 and 13 and spectrums required to produce a desired white light.
Integral packaging of a white LED and a red LED as shown in
Additionally, when a light source lacking blue or green components, or a mixed-color-emitting LEDs lacking a particular color component in the wavelength is integrally packaged with the single-color-emitting LED capable of compensating an insufficient component, a complete white light source can be obtained.
Such constructed light sources are applicable for direct type backlights and edge type backlights. Edge type backlights will be described with reference to FIGS. 19 to 22.
Referring to
Referring to
As shown in
Meanwhile, instead of the white LEDs 344W and red LEDs 344R used in the embodiments shown in
According to the present invention, the space required for a light source using LEDs is reduced in the LCD device, and white light of acceptable quality can be produced.
The present invention should not be considered limited to the particular examples described above, but rather should be understood to cover all aspects of the invention as fairly set out in the attached claims. Various modifications, equivalent processes, as well as numerous structures to which the present invention may be applicable will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art to which the present invention is directed upon review of the instant specification.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-0049454 | Jun 2004 | KR | national |
