Patent Application
20110063205
The present invention is related generally to electronic hardware and, more particularly, to computer displays.
Portable personal electronics devices (e.g., cell phones, personal digital assistants, portable computers) are running increasingly complex applications. These applications often need to display increasingly complex information to their users. Larger display screens can, of course, present complex information more clearly than can small screens.
However, larger display screens cost more than smaller ones, use more power, and take up more volume in the portable device. Thus, the simple solution of providing larger display screens conflicts with the desire to make these portable devices both smaller and cheaper.
Many portable devices include, as part of their housing, a transparent cover that overlies and protects the display screen itself. This transparent cover often extends beyond the edges of the display screen. Attempts have been made to magnify the size of the display produced by the display screen until the display occupies some of the larger area provided by the transparent cover. However, these attempts have only been able to provide a useful amount of magnification when there is a significant distance between the surface of the display screen and the inner surface of the transparent cover. Providing that distance runs counter to another important desire among users, that is, the desire for these devices to be ever thinner as well as smaller.
The above considerations, and others, are addressed by the present invention, which can be understood by referring to the specification, drawings, and claims. According to aspects of the present invention, a display element includes a display screen and a transparent cover overlying the display screen. The output from the display screen is magnified to occupy at least some of the transparent cover. The display element includes an arrangement of diffractive and refractive elements disposed between the display screen and the transparent cover that provide significant magnification without adding significant thickness to the display element. The display element can be used in personal electronic devices such as cellular telephones, personal digital assistants, and personal computers.
In some embodiments, the diffractive and refractive elements are embodied in a number of optical microelements, in some cases at least one optical microelement per pixel of the display screen. These optical microelements can be formed by known microlithographic techniques.
Some embodiments include microlenses among the optical microelements. Each microlens collimates the light emitted by one pixel of the display screen.
In some embodiments, the degree of magnification produced by the display element is the same in all directions. In other embodiments, the display element is built to be “anamorphotic,” that is, the magnification in one direction differs from that in another.
Some embodiments provide at least two levels of magnification (e.g., one level of no magnification and one level of positive magnification). Liquid matching switches can be used to control the level of magnification. Switching between magnification levels can be put under the direct control of a user. In some cases, software running on the user's electronic device (e.g., an operating system utility or a user application) can set the level of magnification as appropriate for the information currently being displayed.
While the appended claims set forth the features of the present invention with particularity, the invention, together with its objects and advantages, may be best understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
a and 1b are schematics of a personal electronics device in which the present invention may be embodied;
a and 2b are cross-sections of a display element showing a normal (non-magnified) display and a magnified display;
Turning to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements, the invention is illustrated as being implemented in a suitable environment. The following description is based on embodiments of the invention and should not be taken as limiting the invention with regard to alternative embodiments that are not explicitly described herein.
a and 1b show a personal electronics device 100 (e.g., a cellular telephone, personal digital assistant, or personal computer) that incorporates an embodiment of the present invention.
Typically, the main display screen 104 is used for most high-fidelity interactions with the user of the personal electronics device 100. For example, the main display screen 104 is used to show video or still images, is part of a user interface for changing configuration settings, and is used for viewing call logs and contact lists. To support these interactions, the main display screen 104 is of high resolution and is as large as can be comfortably accommodated in the device 100. In some embodiments, the device 100 may have a second and possibly a third display screen for presenting status messages. These screens are generally smaller than the main display screen 104. They can be safely ignored for the remainder of the present discussion.
The typical user interface of the personal electronics device 100 includes, in addition to the main display screen 104, a keypad 108 or other user-input devices. (If the main display screen 104 is a touch screen, then it is both an output device and a user-input device.)
b illustrates some of the more important internal components of the personal electronics device 100. Most devices 100 include a communications transceiver 110, a processor 112, and a memory 114. Other necessary or useful components (e.g., a battery or other power supply) are well known in the art but are not important to the present discussion and are therefore not depicted in the figures.
a is a simplified cross-sectional view of a display screen 104 and its overlaying transparent cover 106 as known in the prior art. The display screen 104 includes light-emitting pixels 200. (For purposes of clarity,
In comparison with
(As noted above in reference to
Several possible ways of achieving the angular shifts of
Preferred embodiments of the present invention overcome these limitations and thus achieve a significant magnification without a significant increase in the separation distance.
In
The arrays 300, 302 of optical microelements 304, 306 can be manufactured by known techniques such as microlithography or micromachining. The arrays 300, 302 can be instantiated as diffractive gratings. While
As discussed above with reference to micro-lenses and micro-mirrors, the diffractive and refractive microelements 304, 306 are configured for each specific pixel 200 to generate the magnified image. Because each set of microelements 304, 306 is specially configured for one pixel 200, it is an easy matter to create the arrays 300, 302 to accommodate a specific disposition of the transparent cover 106. For example, the arrays 300, 302 can be created for a transparent cover 106 with a curved rather than a flat surface.
The regular spacing of the light positions on the transparent cover 106 is discussed above. In some embodiments, the spacing along one axis of the transparent cover 106 differs from the spacing along the other axis. When this spacing difference is created by the magnification apparatus 300, 302, the magnification is termed “anamorphotic.”
Another option is shown in
In some embodiments, the switching between magnification states is under the direct control of a user of the personal electronics device 100. The processor 112 can also choose the magnification state based on, for example, the particular information being displayed on the display element 102. Some user applications or operating system utilities may have preferences for whether or not their information is magnified.
In view of the many possible embodiments to which the principles of the present invention may be applied, it should be recognized that the embodiments described herein with respect to the drawing figures are meant to be illustrative only and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention. For example, various elements shown separately may be combined for ease of manufacturing. Therefore, the invention as described herein contemplates all such embodiments as may come within the scope of the following claims and equivalents thereof.
