Patent Grant
11281037
This application is a national stage application of PCT application PCT/EP2018/068951 to Schmidt et al., filed Jul. 12, 2018, which claims priority to DE application 10-2017-212-103.3 filed on Jul. 14, 2017, and DE application 10-2017-121-599.9 filed on Sep. 18, 2017, both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The invention relates to a display device having an integrated, optically operating proximity sensor system for detecting an object present within an observation space in front of the display device, such as a hand or a finger of a hand of a person.
Display systems in a vehicle may be provided with a sensor system that detects the approximation of an operator. Such so-called proximity sensors are to a large extent operated optically on the basis of IR light which is invisible to the user. Sensors are known from practice that are mounted separately below or laterally next to the display system. Due to the highly limited installation space and displays that are becoming increasingly larger, the sensors have been placed below the cover glass of the display system in the recent past. However, they still require installation space, which has a negative effect on the appearance of display systems.
An object of the invention is to provide a display device with an integrated proximity sensor system, wherein the display device is characterized by a compact design.
Display devices comprising displays accommodated in housings and optical proximity sensor systems also accommodated in the housing are described in:
According to the invention, this object is achieved by proposing a display device having an integrated, optically operating proximity sensor system for detecting an object present within an observation space in front of the display device, such as a hand or a finger of a hand of a person, wherein the display device is provided with
In the invention presented herein, the proximity sensors or at least their optical components are integrated into the display unit itself, i.e. into the display. Thus, no additional installation space is required outside the display, whereby a slim and almost frameless design is possible.
The proposal according to the invention includes that either the entire proximity sensor system or parts of the proximity sensor system, i.e. the sensor radiation receiver, is/are integrated into or behind the edge region of the front side of the display unit, wherein the front side is defined by the information displaying display unit and an adjoining edge region. The transmitter for the sensor radiation can be arranged below the display surface, for example on the rear side of the display unit, in a backlight unit or behind the display surface. However, it is also possible that the transmitter is also arranged in the previously mentioned edge region.
In any case, it is provided according to the invention that either the entire proximity sensor system is arranged closer to the display surface of the front side of the display unit, or that at least parts of the proximity sensor system are arranged in such a way.
The display unit is typically accommodated in a housing and surrounded by the front wall of the housing or a housing frame merging into the side walls of the housing. Conventionally, the proximity sensor system is accommodated in the housing frame or in the region of the front wall of the housing adjoining the display, i.e. arranged outside the actual display. The invention differs from this concepts in that the proximity sensor system is integrated into the display at least in parts. If the display according to the invention was not surrounded by a housing, the proximity sensor system would entirely or at least partially still be part of the display and would be integrated into the display to this respect, namely into the edge region or below the edge region on a display panel of the display comprising the image and symbol generating optical elements. It is decisive for the invention that the entire proximity sensor system or at least parts thereof is/are part of the display and is/are not realized as separate elements in the surrounding area of the display.
In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, it is provided that the display unit comprises a display panel having the display surface and the edge region. Conventionally, display panels are configured as so-called TFT panels which define a display surface that is defined by pixels or the surface occupied by pixels. A TFT panel further comprises a protrusion protruding laterally beyond said display surface, wherein driver electronics for pixels or for the entire display unit is arranged in the protrusion. The driver electronics is then usually electrically connected by flex circuit boards. According to the invention, the proximity sensor system or at least parts thereof can now be arranged on said flex circuit boards but can also be arranged directly on the display panel. It applies for both cases that the proximity sensor system or parts thereof are integrated on and/or into the edge region around the display surface of the display that is not used for the display of information.
According to the invention, the protrusion region of a TFT panel can now be used to accommodate the proximity sensor system or at least parts of the proximity sensor system therein, namely the receiver(s), according to the invention.
For this purpose, it is for example provided that
In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, a backlight unit can be provided to backlight the display unit, wherein the at least one transmitter is arranged in and/or on and/or below the backlight unit.
The sensor radiation is preferably invisible light in the IR region, i.e. IR radiation.
It is expedient if the display unit is an LCD display unit.
In a further expedient embodiment of the invention, it may be provided that the at least one transmitter is provided with an optical system for aligning its region sensitive to radiation toward the observation space in front of the display surface. The optical system can be a light deflection foil, a Fresnel lens or the like.
In addition to the proximity sensor system for detecting an object arranged in front of the display unit, in particular also for detecting the distance of the object arranged in front of the display unit, the display device according to the invention may be provided with a non-optically operating touch sensor system, such as a capacitively or resistively or ultrasound-based operating touch sensor system.
The non-optically operating touch sensor system is particularly configured as a touch panel that is positioned on the front side of the display unit and/or on the color filter layer and/or behind a cover glass arranged in front of the display unit and/or in front of the color filter layer.
Finally, it is also possible in a further embodiment of the invention that upon arrangement of the at least one transmitter and the at least one receiver on the edge region of the front side, both are sealed from each other in order to prevent a crosstalk.
In the aforementioned, the proximity sensor system is characterized as comprising at least one transmitter and at least one receiver. According to a variant of the invention, the proximity sensor system comprises a receiver matrix, e.g. an image sensor, as a receiver that is arranged on the edge region of the front side and provided for 2D image capturing. A receiver can particularly also be provided for 3D capturing of the observation space. Such a proximity sensor system (with sensor radiation) is sometimes also construed as a TOF sensor (Time of Flight) and can be configured as an individual receiver and as a receiver matrix.
In the following, two exemplary embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail with reference to the drawing. The individual figures show:
In edge region 18, which is so to speak defined by a protrusion 24 of the TFT panel 12, driver circuits 26 for the operation of display unit 22 are disposed, for example. TFT panel 12 is electrically contacted by flex circuit boards (indicated by 29).
As can be seen in
The additional installation space for the accommodation of proximity sensor system 30, which according to prior art can of course also be placed as a unit separated from display unit 22 next to display 22 within the device housing in which display unit 22 is arranged, sometimes causes problems. Therefore, it is proposed according to the invention to accommodate at least a part of proximity sensor system 30, namely for example the receiver(s) 34, in protrusion 24 of TFT panel 12; on said edge region 18 of TFT panel 12, which is provided by protrusion 24, the drivers 28 are disposed and therebetween the receivers 34.
In a variant of the invention, at least one transmitter 32 is accommodated in addition to receiver 34 on edge region 18 of TFT panel 12 provided by protrusion 24, wherein the drivers 28 and therebetween the receivers 34 and the transmitters 32 are disposed on edge region 18.
This can be seen in
If the proximity sensor system is based on the basis of a TOF measurement of sensor radiation, the transmitter(s) 32 as well as the receiver(s) 34 are arranged on protrusion 24 of TFT panel 12. However, the transmitters 32 can also be part of backlight unit 38.
A plurality of transmitters 32 or receivers 34 of proximity sensor system 30 can now be placed on circuit board 36 which is arranged along the edge of the display. (In the exemplary embodiment, the receivers 34 are placed on the flexible circuit board 36, while the transmitters 32 are arranged below the display.) In this respect, an electrical connection of proximity sensor system 30 or of parts of proximity sensor system 30 to the flexible circuit board 36 is also to be construed as an arrangement of the proximity sensor system or as an arrangement of parts thereof on the edge region of the front side of display unit 22.
As an alternative to the above-described display device, it may also be provided that the transmitters of the proximity sensor system are arranged in the backlight, i.e. in der backlight unit of the display, in order to then, however, arrange the receivers of the proximity sensor system on the edge region of the display unit. This may be advantageous due to reasons of saving space or due to a limited space.
The advantageous of the inventive concept are as follows:
The integration of the proximity sensor system or at least of parts thereof on the protrusion region of the TFT panel makes it possible to use known and process-reliable electronic contacting and to realize the electrical connection by means of existing flex conductors. Thus, the receivers (sensors) are not disposed below the color filter and also not below the polarizer(s), whereby the radiation is not damped. The radiation received by the receivers is thus stronger and the sensitivity and the signal strength are improved without additional measures being required.
Components with sensors consisting of transmitters and receivers can be used for the proximity sensor system. Such special complex sensors can also be mounted and contacted, as described above. Thus, for example sensors measuring the propagation time (Time-of-Flight Principle) or array sensors (i.e. image sensors), optionally with microlenses in the form of foils, Fresnel lenses etc., can be used.
The invention has been described above by means of examples in which the proximity sensor system is either entirely, i.e. transmitters and receivers (optionally with control), arranged on the edge region of the display, or in which at least one of or all of the receivers is/are arranged on the edge region of the display or one of or all of the transmitters is/are arranged below the display (or below the display surface of the display and thus in the display but not in its edge region). The last described construction can be provided according to the invention but also when interchanging transmitter and receiver such that one of or all of the transmitters is/are arranged on the edge region of the display, and that one of or all of the receivers is/are arranged below the display or below the display surface of the display (optionally below the display surface of the displace but not in its edge region).
10 housing
12 TFT panel
14 display surface
16 polarizer
18 edge region
20 display surface
22 display unit
24 protrusion
26 driver circuits
28 driver
29 flex conductor
30 proximity sensor system
32 transmitter
34 receiver
36 circuit board
38 backlight unit
40 color filter
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2017-212-103.3 | Jul 2017 | DE | national |
| 10-2017-121-599.9 | Sep 2017 | DE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2018/068951 | 7/12/2018 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2019/012046 | 1/17/2019 | WO | A |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20100022069 | Takama et al. | Sep 2010 | A1 |
| 20110193818 | Chen et al. | Aug 2011 | A1 |
| 20140063433 | Benson | Mar 2014 | A1 |
| 20140213323 | Holenarsipur | Jul 2014 | A1 |
| 20170235413 | Koizumi | Aug 2017 | A1 |
| 20180260602 | He | Sep 2018 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 10-2016-100363 | Jul 2016 | DE |
| 2486000 | Jun 2012 | GB |
| 2014-156399 | Oct 2014 | WO |
| Entry |
|---|
| Kratz et al., “Hoverflow: Exploring Around-Device Interaction with IR Distance Sensors” ACM, MobileHCI'09, Sep. 2009. |
| Kratz, “Sensor-Based User Interface Concepts for Continuous, Around-Device and Gestural Interaction on Mobile Devices”, Ludwig-Maximalians-Universät-München, Jun. 6, 2012. (English Abstract). |
| Oh et al., “Gesture Sensor for Mobile Devices”, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., www.samsung.com, (2013). |
| International Search Report for Application No. PCT/EP2018/068951 dated Oct. 24, 2018. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20200150476 A1 | May 2020 | US |
