Liquid crystal display device improved in white balance of display

Abstract

A surface illuminant device to be set as a backlight of a liquid crystal display panel has a light guide plate and LEDs. The LEDs each include LED chips for emitting rays of light having wavelengths of red, green, and blue, which are each driven by an LED drive control circuit. The LED drive control circuit supplies drive currents to the respective LED chips through an LED driver, according to the ratio of light emission intensities among rays of light to be emitted from the LED chips, which is calculated by a computing unit based on a ratio among transmissivities which stored memory, when passing through the liquid crystal display panel, of the rays of light having their own wavelengths, and a memory-stored ratio of intensities among rays of light having their own wavelengths required in order that a white display is obtained by each LED itself.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These objects and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading of the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an exemplary cross sectional diagram showing a liquid crystal display device as one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary cross sectional diagram showing a principal part of the liquid crystal display device shown in FIG. 1 in enlargement;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structure diagram showing the structure of a surface illuminant device of the liquid crystal display device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a spectral distribution diagram showing the spectral distribution of light emitted from an LED 15 of the liquid crystal display device, and the spectral distribution of light emitted from a liquid crystal display panel 4 with the luminance of each element of the LED 15 controlled; and

FIG. 5 is a CIE color diagram showing chromaticity coordinates of light emitted from the light source and chromaticity coordinates of light emitted from the panel.

Claims

1. A liquid crystal display device, comprising: a liquid crystal display panel which is formed of a pair of transparent substrates between which a liquid crystal layer is sandwiched, and which performs display by controlling transmissivity of light that enters the liquid crystal layer from a side of one transparent substrate and passes through the liquid crystal layer; anda light source comprising an n number (n being a natural number equal to or larger than 2) of light emitting elements for emitting rays of light having different wavelength ranges from each other, for emitting an n number of rays of light having their own wavelengths from the light emitting elements respectively, so that mixture light having a predetermined color, which is generated from these emitted rays of light having their own ranges being mixed, is emitted toward the liquid crystal display panel, the n number of rays of light satisfying B1:B2: . . . :Bn=A1/T1:A2/T2: . . . :An/Tn where transmissivities, when passing through the liquid crystal display panel, of the n number of rays of light having their own wavelengths emitted from the n number of light emitting elements respectively, are represented by T1, T2, . . . , and Tn respectively, a ratio of these transmissivities is represented by T1:T2: . . . :Tn,intensities of the n number of rays of light having their own wavelengths emitted from the n number of light emitting elements, which intensities are required in order that a color of mixture light obtained from the n number of rays of light having their own wavelengths being mixed becomes a predetermined color, are represented by A1, A2, and An respectively, and a ratio of these intensities is represented by A1:A2: . . . :An, andintensities of the n number of rays of light having their own wavelengths, which are to be emitted from the n number of light emitting elements toward the liquid crystal display panel are represented by B1, B2, . . . , and Bn respectively, and a ratio of these intensities is represented by B1:B2: . . . :Bn.

2. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the light source comprises a white light source which emits mixture light having a substantially white color, obtained from rays of light having their own ranges emitted from an n number of light emitting elements being mixed, toward the liquid crystal display panel.

3. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the light source comprises a tri-wavelength light source which comprises three light emitting elements for emitting rays of light having wavelength ranges of red, green, and blue respectively, for emitting mixture light having a substantially white color obtained from the emitted rays of light having their own ranges being mixed, toward the liquid crystal display panel.

4. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 3, wherein the light source comprises three light emitting diode elements for emitting rays of light having wavelengths of red, green, and blue respectively.

5. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 4, wherein a ratio of intensities Br:Bg:Bb among rays of light having the wavelengths of red, green, and blue which are to be emitted from the three light emitting diode elements toward the liquid crystal display panel satisfies Br:Bg:Bb=1:(0.2 to 2.0):(0.2 to 2.0).

6. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 1, wherein the liquid crystal display panel comprises a liquid crystal layer whose liquid crystal molecules are arranged in homogeneous alignment.

7. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 6, wherein the liquid crystal layer of the liquid crystal display panel has a refractive anisotropy Δn and a liquid crystal layer thickness d, whose product Δn·d is set to 150 to 350 nm.

8. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 6, wherein the liquid crystal layer of the liquid crystal display panel has a liquid crystal layer thickness d, which is set to 1 to 4 μm.

9. A liquid crystal display device, comprising: a liquid crystal display panel which is formed of a pair of transparent substrates between which a liquid crystal layer whose liquid crystal molecules are arranged in homogeneous alignment is sandwiched, and which performs display by controlling transmissivity of light that enters the liquid crystal layer from a side of one transparent substrate and passes through the liquid crystal layer;a light source comprising an n number (n being a natural number equal to or larger than 2) of light emitting elements for emitting rays of light having different wavelength ranges from each other, for emitting mixture light having a predetermined color obtained from these emitted rays of light having their own ranges being mixed, toward the liquid crystal display panel; anda light source control device which controls light emission intensities of the n number of light emitting elements, in a manner that B1:B2: . . . :Bn=A1/T1:A2/T2: . . . :An/Tn

10. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 9, wherein the light source comprises a white light source which emits mixture light having a substantially white color, obtained from rays of light having their own ranges emitted from an n number of light emitting elements being mixed, toward the liquid crystal display panel, andthe light source control device controls light emission intensities of the n number of light emitting elements, based on transmissivities T1, T2, . . . , and Tn, when passing through the liquid crystal display panel, of an n number of rays of light having their own wavelengths emitted from the n number of light emitting elements, and intensities A1, A2, . . . , and An of the rays of light having their own wavelengths, which intensities are required in order that mixture light to be emitted from the light source solely has a white light.

11. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 9, wherein the light source comprises a tri-wavelength light source which comprises three light emitting elements for emitting rays of light having three wavelength ranges of red, green, and blue respectively, for emitting mixture light having a substantially white color obtained from the emitted rays of light having their own ranges being mixed, toward the liquid crystal display panel, andthe light source control device controls light emission intensities of the rays of light having their own wavelengths emitted from the three light emitting elements of red, green, and blue, based on a ratio Tr:Tg:Tb among transmissivities, when passing through the liquid crystal display panel, of the rays of light having the wavelength ranges of red, green, and blue, and a ratio of intensities Ar:Ag:Ab among the rays of light having their own wavelengths, which intensities are required in order that a color of mixture of the rays of light having the three wavelength ranges, which is to be emitted from the light source solely, becomes a white color.

12. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 11, wherein the tri-wavelength light source comprises three light emitting diode elements for emitting rays of light having wavelengths of red, green, and blue respectively.

13. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 12, wherein a ratio of intensities Br:Bg:Bb among the rays of light having the wavelengths of red, green, and blue, which are to be emitted from the three light emitting diode elements toward the liquid crystal display panel satisfies Br:Bg:Bb=1:(0.2 to 2.0):(0.2 to 2.0).

14. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 9, wherein the liquid crystal layer of the liquid crystal display panel has a refractive anisotropy Δn and a liquid crystal display thickness d whose product Δn·d is set to 150 to 350 nm, with the liquid crystal layer thickness d of the liquid crystal layer set to 1 to 4 μm.

15. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 9, wherein the light source control device comprises:a memory which stores the ratio T1:T2: . . . :Tn among transmissivities, when passing through the liquid crystal display panel, of the n number of rays of light having their own wavelengths emitted from the n number of light emitting elements, and the ratio A1:A2: . . . :An among intensities of the n number of rays of light having their own wavelengths, which intensities are required in order that a color of mixture light emitted from the light source solely, obtained from the n number of rays of light having their own wavelengths being mixed, becomes a predetermined color;a computing unit which calculates light emission intensities of the n number of light emitting elements, based on the ratio T1:T2: . . . :Tn among transmissivities when passing through the liquid crystal display panel and the ratio A1:A2: . . . :An among intensities of the light emitting elements; anda driver which controls currents to be supplied to the n number of light emitting elements, based on a calculation result of the computing unit.

16. A liquid crystal display device, comprising: a liquid crystal display panel which is formed of a pair of transparent substrates between which a liquid crystal layer whose liquid crystal molecules are arranged in homogeneous alignment is sandwiched, and which performs display by controlling transmissivity of light that enters the liquid crystal layer from a side of one transparent substrate and passes through the liquid crystal layer;a tri-wavelength light source which comprises three light emitting elements for emitting rays of light having three wavelength ranges of red, green, and blue respectively, for emitting mixture light having a substantially white color, obtained from the emitted rays of light having their own ranges being mixed, toward the liquid crystal display panel; anda light source control device which controls light emission intensities of the light emitting elements of red, green, and blue in a manner that Br:Bg:Bb=Ar/Tr:Ag/Tg:Ab/Tb

17. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 16, wherein the tri-wavelength light source comprises three light emitting diode elements for emitting rays of light having wavelengths of red, green, and blue respectively.

18. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 16, wherein a ratio of intensities Br:Bg:Bb among rays of light having the wavelengths of red, green, and blue, which are to be emitted from the light emitting diode elements of red, green, and blue toward the liquid crystal display panel satisfies Br:Bg:Bb=1:(0.2 to 2.0):(0.2 to 2.0).

19. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 16, wherein the liquid crystal layer of the liquid crystal display panel has a refractive anisotropy Δn and a liquid crystal layer thickness d whose product Δn·d is set to 150 to 350 nm, with the liquid crystal layer thickness d of the liquid crystal layer set to 1 to 4 μm.

20. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 16, wherein the light source control device comprises:a memory which stores the ratio Tr:Tg:Tb among transmissivities, when passing through the liquid crystal display panel, of three rays of light having their own wavelengths emitted from the light emitting elements of red, green, and blue, and the ratio Ar:Ag:Ab among intensities of the three rays of light having their own wavelengths, which intensities are required in order that mixture light emitted from the light source solely, obtained from these three rays of light having their own wavelengths being mixed has a white color;a computing unit which calculates value of light emission intensities of the light emitting elements of red, green, and blue, based on the ratio Tr:Tg:Tb among transmissivities when passing through the liquid crystal display panel and the ratio Ar:Ag:Ab among intensities of the light emitting elements; anda driver which controls currents to be supplied to the light emitting elements of red, green, and blue, based on a calculation result of the computing unit.