1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display device, and more particularly, to an IPS (in-plane switching) mode LCD.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An image display device is an optoelectronic device able to transfer electric signals into visible images so that human beings can see the information contained in the electronic signals. These days, the typical image display device is commonly an LCD, and other display devices, such as a PDP (plasma display panel) display, an EL (electro luminescence) display, an FED (field emission display), and a DMD (deformable mirror device) display.
Among all those image display devices, an active matrix LCD, which utilizes thin film transistors as switching elements, is popular due to its small size, light weight, and low power consumption. The LCD substantially includes two glass substrates, a liquid crystal layer disposed between the two substrates, and two alignment films respectively disposed on two opposite surfaces of the two substrates for orientating liquid crystal molecules in predetermined directions. The liquid crystal molecules arranged in predetermined directions are rotated when an electric filed is applied, and thus images are displayed via light transmittance changes through the liquid crystal layer.
For known art, a TN (twisted nematic) mode LCD has been in use for a long time. In the TN mode LCD, the liquid crystal molecules are rotated in a vertical direction with respect to the substrate. However, this leads to problems of narrow viewing angles and color distortions.
In order to solve these problems, Japanese patent (publication No. 07-36058) has proposed an IPS mode LCD. In the Japanese patent, the IPS mode LCD includes a plurality of pixel electrodes and a plurality of common electrodes arranged in parallel to the pixel electrodes in an array substrate. A voltage is applied between the pixel electrode and the common electrode so that a parallel electric field, which rotates the liquid crystal molecules, is generated above the array substrate. Since the liquid crystal molecules are rotated in a plane approximately parallel to the array substrate, the problems of color distortions and narrow viewing angles are reduced. Therefore, the IPS mode LCD is suitable for use in large-sized displays.
For the IPS mode LCD, however, an uneven brightness defect occurs when a large-sized screen with fine image qualities is desired. Presumably, the uneven brightness defect results from the existence of impurity ions.
It is therefore a primary object of the claimed invention to provide an image display device to prevent the aforementioned uneven brightness problem.
According to claim 1, an image display device is provided. The image display device includes a light source, an array substrate including a display region and a peripheral region around the display region, a color filter substrate including a plurality of color filters having different transmissivities, a liquid crystal layer including a plurality of liquid crystal molecules, and an alignment film for aligning the liquid crystal molecules. Characteristically, a light transmittance per unit area in the peripheral region is equivalent to or less than a light transmittance per unit area in the display region.
By virtue of the image display device recited in claim 1, the light transmittance per unit area in the peripheral region is equivalent to or less than a light transmittance per unit area in the display region, so as to inhibit impurity ions from traveling from the peripheral region to the display region. Consequently, the uneven brightness problem is reduced.
According to claim 2, the array substrate recited in claim 1 includes a first light-shielding wiring layout arranged in the display region, and a second light-shielding wiring layout arranged in the peripheral region. Characteristically, an occupied area per unit area of the second light-shielding wiring layout in the peripheral region is equivalent to or greater than an occupied area per unit area of the first light-shielding wiring layout in the display region.
According to claim 3, the image display device recited in claim 2, wherein the first light-shielding wiring layout and the second light-shielding wiring layout comprise at least one of an active element, a passive element, and a wiring.
According to claim 4, an image display device is disclosed. The image display device includes a light source, an array substrate including a display region and a peripheral region around the display region, a color filter substrate including a plurality of color filters having different transmissivities, a liquid crystal layer including a plurality of liquid crystal molecules, and an alignment film for aligning the liquid crystal molecules. Characteristically, a resistivity ratio of the color filter having a highest resistivity to the color filter having a lowest resistivity is set according to a difference between a light transmittance per unit area in the peripheral region and a light transmittance per unit area in the display region.
By virtue of the image display device recited in claim 4, the resistivity ratio of the color filter having the highest resistivity to the color filter having the lowest resistivity is set according to the difference between the light transmittance per unit area in the peripheral region and the light transmittance per unit area in the display region, so as to inhibit impurity ions from traveling from the peripheral region to the display region. Consequently, the uneven brightness problem is reduced.
According to claim 5, the relation between the resistivity ratio of the color filter having the highest resistivity to the color filter having the lowest resistivity and the difference between the light transmittance per unit area in the peripheral region and the light transmittance per unit area in the display region is expressed by
p max p min<10(4100/(If−Ip)+0.05)
wherein
According to claim 6, an image display device is provided. The image display device includes a light source, an array substrate including a display region and a peripheral region around the display region, a color filter substrate including a plurality of color filters having different transmissivities, a liquid crystal layer including a plurality of liquid crystal molecules, and an alignment film for aligning the liquid crystal molecules. Characteristically, the alignment film is only positioned in the display region.
By virtue of the image display device recited in claim 6, the alignment film is only positioned in the display region, so that the uneven brightness problem due to the contamination of impurity ions coming from the peripheral region is prevented.
According to claim 7, the image display device is an IPS mode LCD.
The image display device reduces electric filed deviations due to impurity ions by means of controlling the extension of impurity ions. As a result, the image display device is able to exhibit high quality images without suffering the red color unevenness phenomenon.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
Please refer to the drawings of the present invention. In the embodiments, an IPS mode LCD is merely an example, but not a limitation to the present invention. In the drawings, like elements are denoted by like numerals. In addition, the drawings are schematic diagrams, and therefore the dimensions and ratios of components may not be identical to real ones.
In Embodiment 1, an occupied area per unit area of wirings in the peripheral region is either approximately equivalent to or greater than an occupied area per unit area of wirings in the display region for adjusting the light transmittance passing through the display region and the peripheral region. This inhibits the movement of impurity ions that is presumed to cause the uneven brightness defect.
Generally, the light coming from a light source of a backlight unit (not shown) evenly enters the liquid crystal layer 16 through the array substrate 1. With the dummy patterns 9, that make the occupied area Sf approximately equivalent to or larger than the occupied area Sp, disposed in the peripheral region 3, a light transmittance per unit area in the peripheral region 3 (hereinafter referred to as If) is equivalent to or less than a light transmittance per unit area in the display region 2 (hereinafter referred to as Ip). By making If equal to or smaller than Ip, the uneven brightness defect due to the movement of impurity ions towards the display region 2 is inhibited. The reason for the reduction of the uneven brightness defect is detailed in the following.
The red color unevenness defect is inferred to be from impurity ions while the LCD is operating. Specifically, the emission of the impurity ions from the peripheral region to the liquid crystal layer is driven by backlight unit illumination. The higher the light transmittance is, the more impurity ions enter the liquid crystal layer. The accumulation of the impurity ions in the display region leads to the red color unevenness defect.
Therefore, upon close inspection of the cause of the red color unevenness defect, an experimental result is obtained. Please refer to Table 1. Table 1 shows an experimental result of a conventional LCD in sequence from 1 to 3 after applying a voltage to each wiring or/and lighting up the light source to examine if the red color unevenness defect appears in the display region when displaying a white image. It is important to note that the conventional LCD does not include dummy patterns in the peripheral region, and therefore the occupied area Sr is smaller than the occupied area Sp. In addition, all results are from experiments at 50 degrees Celsius for 100 hours. In Experiment 1, each wiring is applied with a voltage, and the light source is off. Subsequently, the voltage applied to the wirings is ceased, and the light source is on for Experiment 2. Following that, a voltage is applied to each wiring again, and the backlight is off for Experiment 3.
As shown in Table 1, the red color unevenness defect while displaying a white image does not appear in Experiment 1. In Experiment 1, a voltage is applied to the wirings for generating an electric filed, and the light source is off. Presumably the electric filed is not the cause of the red color unevenness defect. The red color unevenness defect while displaying a white image also does not appear in Experiment 2. In Experiment 2, the light source, which is inferred to cause the emission of impurity ions, is on, however, the red color unevenness does not appear. The explanation for this experimental result is that the amount of impurity ions may not cause the red color unevenness defect in the display region.
On the other hand, the red color unevenness defect does appear while displaying a white image in Experiment 3. Thus, the presence of the red color unevenness defect is inferred to be caused by the movement of impurity ions induced in Experiment 2 into the display region under the effect of the electric filed. In the conventional LCD, the occupied area Sr is less than the occupied area Sp, meaning the light transmittance Ir is greater than the light transmittance Ip. Therefore, In Experiment 2, the majority of the impurity ions due to the backlight exist in the peripheral region. In Experiment 3, the electric filed drives the impurity ions to move into the display region.
In Embodiment 1, the occupied area Sf is either equivalent to or greater than the occupied area Sp. In the case that the occupied area Sf is equivalent to the occupied area Sp, the light transmittance If is approximately equivalent to the light transmittance Ip. Namely, the emitted impurity ions are about equal in the display region 2 and in the peripheral region 3. Therefore, the distributions of impurity ions in the display region 2 and the peripheral region 3 are approximately equal. In other words, few impurity ions travel from the peripheral region 3 towards the display region 2, and thus electric deflections do not occur. In addition, in the case that the occupied area Sf is greater than the occupied area Sp, the light transmittance Iris less than the light transmittance Ip. This means the emitted impurity ions in the peripheral region 3 are even fewer than in the display region 2. In that case, the impurity ions in the peripheral region 3 do not move towards the display region 2 even when a voltage is applied to each wiring. Consequently, the electric deflections do not show up.
In Embodiment 1, the variations of the electric field never happens even though a voltage is applied to the common electrodes 7 and the pixel electrodes 10 and the light source is turned on. As a result, high-quality display images without the occurrence of the red color unevenness defect is realized when displaying a white image.
As shown in
Accordingly, Embodiment 1 modifies the light transmittance If to be approximately equal to or less than the light transmittance Ip by virtue of adjusting the occupied area Sf approximately to be equal to or greater than the occupied area Sp. Consequently, the amount of the impurity ions traveling from the peripheral region 3 to the display region 2 due to light irradiation is inhibited. In this case, the red color unevenness defect when displaying a white image, and the uneven brightness problem are both reduced. This enables the LCD according to Embodiment 1 to display high-quality images.
According to Embodiment 1, the dummy patterns 9 are positioned in the peripheral region 3 so that the occupied area Sf is equal to or greater than the occupied area Sp. However, the present invention is not limited to Embodiment 1, and the occupied area Sf can also be modified by enlarging the line width of the gate lines 5 or the signal lines 6 in the peripheral region 3. In this case, the light transmittance Iris also equivalent to or less than the light transmittance Ip, so as to inhibit impurity ions from moving from the peripheral region 3 to the display region 2. Accordingly, the red color unevenness defect when displaying a white image is reduced.
In Embodiment 1, the movement of the impurity ions from the peripheral region towards the display region is prohibited by virtue of adjusting the occupied area Sf in the peripheral region and the occupied area Sp in the display region. In Embodiment 2, on the other hand, a resistivity ratio of the color filter layer is modified to prevent the impurity ions in the display region from partially deviating, so that the red color unevenness defect is reduced.
p max p min<10(4100/(If−Ip)+0.05) (1)
wherein
As for sample groups i, j, k, and 1, each of these has a positive light transmittance difference. In addition, curve 1a is a boundary: the red color unevenness defect occurs over curve 1a, and it does not occur under curve 1a. In conclusion, to inhibit the red color unevenness defect, the relation between the light transmittance difference and the resistivity ratio has to fulfill equation (1).
In practice, sometimes the resistivity ratio of the color filter layer is higher if different materials are adopted. For a higher resistivity ratio, the light transmittance difference must be set in accordance with equation (1), so as to inhibit the red color unevenness defect. Therefore, Table 2 illustrates the occupied area difference (Sf−Sp) and the light transmittance difference (If-Ip) of sample groups h, i, j, k, and l.
Accordingly, the occupied area difference and the light transmittance difference are roughly proportional. Therefore, for a known resistivity ratio, the occupied area difference, which represents the light transmittance difference, can be modified to meet equation (1), so as to reduce the red color unevenness defect. In addition, even though the light transmittance difference is inevitably higher due to circuit design requirements, the red color unevenness defect when displaying a white image still can be reduced by selecting different materials for the color filter layer.
The relation between the resistivity ratio, the light transmittance difference, and the occurrence of the red color unevenness defect is detailed in the following. For ensuring variations of brightness in each pixel, which is assumed to be the cause of the red color unevenness defect, the display region of a conventional LCD is first heated and shielded in predetermined areas.
As shown in Table 3, compared to the area C that is heated and light-shielded, a brightness Y G reduction in the area A is observed. This result shows that the impurity ions caused by the backlight particularly accumulate in the G pixels, rather than in the R pixels and the B pixels. As a result, the brightness Y G in the G pixels is reduced, causing the red color unevenness defect while displaying a white image.
Therefore, to determine the differences between the R pixels, B pixels, and G pixels, volume resistivities of the R pixels, G pixels, and B pixels can be measured to reveal a significant difference.
As shown in
As shown in
In Embodiment 2, the light transmittance difference and the resistivity ratio have the relation as expressed in equation (1). Therefore, to prevent the accumulation of impurity ions in the display region 2, reducing the resistivity ratio is a useful approach. Accordingly, the local brightness reduction problem is improved, and so is the red color unevenness defect. In addition, if the resistivity ratio is inevitably high due to the material characteristics of the color filters, adjusting the occupied area difference of the wirings to meet equation (1) is another approach to reduce the red color unevenness defect. In conclusion, high-quality images without the red color unevenness defect can be obtained by adjusting the resistivity ratio and the occupied area difference according to Embodiment 2.
Furthermore, the relation between the resistivity ratio and the light transmittance difference is defined by equation (1) in Embodiment 2, but the present invention is not limited by equation (1) if different materials are adopted for making the LCD. The essence of the present invention is to reduce the red color unevenness defect while displaying a white image either by adjusting the resistivity ratio according to the light transmittance difference, or adjusting the light transmittance difference according to the resistivity ratio.
In both Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2, the red color unevenness defect is reduced by inhibiting the move and the accumulation of the impurity ions. In Embodiment 3, on the other hand, the red color unevenness defect is reduced by reducing emissions of the impurity ions.
The alignment films 37a and 37b, which are assumed to be the cause of the emission of impurity ions, are only formed in the display region 2 in Embodiment 3, so as to inhibit the emission of impurity ions. This is different from Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2 in which the impurity ions are inhibited from moving from the peripheral region 3 towards the display region 2. Therefore, the LCD has a reduction in the uneven brightness problem and the red color unevenness defect.
In summary, the LCDs of Embodiment 1, Embodiment 2, and Embodiment 3 of the present invention inhibit the movement, accumulation, or generation of impurity ions, and thus reduce the red color unevenness defect due to the brightness reduction in green pixels being prevented. Furthermore, the brightness reduction in red pixels and blue pixels can also be avoided. Consequently, high-quality images without uneven brightness can be achieved.
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2003415622 | Dec 2003 | JP | national |
This application is a continuation application of co-pending application Ser. No. 11/005,874, filed Dec. 7, 2004 and entitled “IMAGE DISPLAY DEVICE WITH LIGHT SHIELDING WIRINGS AND COLOR FILTER HAVING RESISTIVITY RATIO”, which claims the benefit of Japan application Serial No. 2003415622, filed Dec. 12, 2003. These related applications are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11005874 | Dec 2004 | US |
Child | 13916804 | US |