Liquid crystal display and driving method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11314110-B2
Application number	US-201716076046-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 22, 2017
Priority date	Jan 13, 2017
Publication date	Apr 26, 2022
Grant date	Apr 26, 2022

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a liquid crystal display and a driving method thereof. In the liquid crystal display, orthographic projections of each of the light shielding structures and a corresponding light source on the lower substrate overlap. Light emitted from each of the light sources is incident into the liquid crystal layer in a collimated manner, and the first electrode and the second electrode are configured to form an electric field in response to voltages applied to the first electrode and the second electrode, so that liquid crystal molecules within an area of the electric field are deflected to form a convex lens structure.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A liquid crystal display comprising:
a backlight source, including a plurality of light sources;
a lower substrate on a light exit side of the backlight source;
an upper substrate disposed opposite to the lower substrate;
a liquid crystal layer between the upper substrate and the lower substrate;
a first electrode on a side of the upper substrate facing the liquid crystal layer and a second electrode on a side of the lower substrate facing the liquid crystal layer; and
light shielding structures in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of light sources, orthographic projections of each of the light shielding structures and a corresponding light source on the lower substrate overlapping,
wherein,
light emitted from each of the light sources is incident into the liquid crystal layer in a collimated manner,
the first electrode and the second electrode are configured to form an electric field in response to voltages applied to the first electrode and the second electrode, so that liquid crystal molecules within an area of the electric field are deflected to form a convex lens structure, and
the larger an equivalent optical path length of the lens structure in a cell thickness direction of the liquid crystal display is the larger an effective refractive index of the lens structure will be.

2. The liquid crystal display according to claim 1 , wherein the larger the curvature of the lens structure is, the larger an exit angle of light exiting from the lens structure will be.

3. The liquid crystal display according to claim 1 , wherein the larger the voltage difference between the first electrode and the second electrode is, the larger the curvature of the lens structure will be.

4. The liquid crystal display according to claim 1 , wherein the light shielding structures are located between the first electrode and the upper substrate.

5. The liquid crystal display according to claim 4 , further comprising:
a first alignment film between the light shielding structures and the liquid crystal layer; and
a second alignment film between the liquid crystal layer and the second electrode.

6. The liquid crystal display according to claim 1 , further comprising a photochromic conversion layer,
wherein the photochromic conversion layer is located on a side of the upper substrate facing the first electrode, and is configured to convert light transmitted through the liquid crystal layer and corresponding to the lens structure into monochromatic light.

7. The liquid crystal display according to claim 6 , wherein the photochromic conversion layer includes one of a light splitting film and a color filter film.

8. The liquid crystal display according to claim 1 , further comprising a photochromic conversion layer,
wherein the photochromic conversion layer is located on a side of the lower substrate facing the second electrode, and is configured to convert light emitted by the backlight source and corresponding to the lens structure into monochromatic light.

9. A liquid crystal display comprising:
a backlight source, including a plurality of light sources,
a lower substrate on a light exit side of the backlight source;
an upper substrate disposed opposite to the lower substrate;
a liquid crystal layer between the upper substrate and the lower substrate;
a first electrode on a side of the upper substrate facing the liquid crystal layer and a second electrode on a side of the lower substrate facing the liquid crystal layer; and
light shielding structures in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of light sources, orthographic projections of each of the light shielding structures and a corresponding light source on the lower substrate overlapping,
wherein,
light emitted from each of the light sources is incident into the liquid crystal layer in a collimated manner,
the first electrode and the second electrode are configured to form an electric field in response to voltages applied to the first electrode and the second electrode, so that liquid crystal molecules within an area of the electric field are deflected to form a convex lens structure, and
the liquid crystal display comprises a plurality of sub-pixels arranged in an array, the plurality of sub-pixels are in one-to-one correspondence with lens structures, and the lens structures are in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of light sources.

10. The liquid crystal display according to claim 9 , wherein the first electrode is a planar electrode, and the second electrode includes a plurality of electrode units.

11. The liquid crystal display according to claim 10 , wherein the electrode units are arranged in an array.

12. The liquid crystal display according to claim 11 , wherein a distance between adjacent electrode units is less than or equal to 3 um.

13. The liquid crystal display according to claim 11 , wherein each electrode unit is a block electrode.

14. The liquid crystal display according to claim 11 , wherein each electrode unit is of an annular structure.

15. The liquid crystal display according to claim 14 , wherein
each lens structure is a spherical structure, and a light shielding structure is aligned with a central position of a corresponding spherical structure.

16. The liquid crystal display according to claim 15 , wherein each light shielding structure is a circular structure.

17. The liquid crystal display according to claim 9 , wherein the second electrode is a planar electrode, and the first electrode includes a plurality of electrode units.

18. A method for driving a liquid crystal display, the liquid crystal display comprising:
a backlight source, including a plurality of light sources,
a lower substrate on a light exit side of the backlight source;
an upper substrate disposed opposite to the lower substrate;
a liquid crystal layer between the upper substrate and the lower substrate;
a first electrode on a side of the upper substrate facing the liquid crystal layer and a second electrode on a side of the lower substrate facing the liquid crystal layer; and
light shielding structures in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of light sources, orthographic projections of each of the light shielding structures and a corresponding light source on the lower substrate overlapping,
wherein,
light emitted from each of the light sources is incident into the liquid crystal layer in a collimated manner,
the first electrode and the second electrode are configured to form an electric field in response to voltages applied to the first electrode and the second electrode, so that liquid crystal molecules within an area of the electric field are deflected to form a convex lens structure,
the method comprising:
receiving a to-be-displayed image signal;
controlling voltages applied to the first electrode and the second electrode according to a to-be-displayed grayscale value of each sub-pixel in the to-be-displayed image signal, so as to control the curvature of the convex lens structure.

Assignees

• Boe Technology Group Co Ltd

Inventors

• Niu Xiaochen
• Dong Xue
• Chen Xiaochuan
• Zhao Wenqing
• Wang Haiyan
• Chen Chenyu

Classifications

• G02F1/1336

  Illuminating devices · CPC title

• G02F1/137

  characterised by the electro-optical or magneto-optical effect, e.g. field-induced phase transition, orientation effect, guest-host interaction or dynamic scattering · CPC title

• G02F1/133512 Primary

  Light shielding layers, e.g. black matrix (G02F1/136209 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G02F1/134309 Primary

  characterised by their geometrical arrangement · CPC title

• G02F1/133514

  Colour filters · CPC title