JP2003295113A - Stereoscopic image display device with no glasses - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a stereoscopic image display device for enabling an observer to return to an area where the observer can observe a stereoscopic image with no uncomfortable feeling. <P>SOLUTION: In this stereoscopic image display device with no glasses provided with a liquid crystal display panel 2 for alternatively displaying an image for the left eye and an image for the right eye, and a parallax barrier 3 step for separating image light from the liquid crystal display panel 2 in accordance with the left and right eyes, the distance (S) between viewpoints at an observation position is made larger than a distance between the eyes of human being. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stereoscopic image display device that does not use special glasses.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in the field of electronic display devices, technological progress has been remarkably advanced, and display screens are becoming larger and higher in definition. As the display screen becomes larger and finer, the proportion of the image in the human visual field on the display screen increases, and pixels can be arranged at a high density that cannot be discriminated by the resolution of human eyes. This makes the image look more like the real thing,
It will be natural and create a high sense of presence. However, such an image is two-dimensional, whereas an actual object is three-dimensional, and thus a two-dimensional image has a limit in obtaining a more realistic natural image.

By the way, a human being can see an object three-dimensionally by the action of two left and right eyes. Therefore, if objects can be displayed three-dimensionally, a higher sense of realism will be created. Therefore, in recent years, research on three-dimensional display of objects has been actively conducted.

Conventionally, various stereoscopic image display devices have been proposed. Among them, as a device for displaying stereoscopic images without special glasses, a device using an optical separation means such as a lenticular lens or a parallax barrier is proposed. Are known.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-268232 proposes a stereoscopic image display device including a backlight, a liquid crystal display panel as a display panel, and a parallax barrier arranged on the viewer side of the liquid crystal display panel. ing.

As a parallax barrier type stereoscopic image display device, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, a backlight 1, a liquid crystal display panel 2, and a parallax arranged on the viewer side of the liquid crystal display panel 2. And a barrier 3. The parallax barrier 3 includes a transparent substrate 31 such as glass or transparent resin and a large number of stripe-shaped light shielding portions 32 on a transparent substrate 31.
Is formed. In the liquid crystal display panel 2, a liquid crystal layer 23 is provided between the glass substrates 22 and 24. Further, the glass substrate 22 on the light emission side has an emission side polarization plate 21 and the glass substrate 24 on the light incidence side has an incidence side. Polarizing plates 25 are provided respectively. Then, the liquid crystal layer 2 of the liquid crystal display panel 2
The image for the right eye and the image for the left eye are alternately displayed on the screen 3. The image transmitted through the light from the backlight 1 is separated by the parallax barrier 3, and only the left-eye image is observed by the observer's left eye 10L and the right-eye image is observed by the right eye 10R. Be recognized.

In the stereoscopic image display device described above, the optimum observation position is set as shown in FIG. That is, the optimum observation position where the right-eye image and the left-eye image are converged is set to a position separated from the stereoscopic image display device 10 by the optimum observation distance D. In the optimum observation position D and a predetermined range before and after the optimum observation position D, rhombus-shaped regions R where the right-eye image can be observed and rhombus-shaped regions L where the left-eye image can be observed are alternately present. Figure 3 shows the range of movement of the center of the head.
Can be represented by a diamond shape. Conventionally, the distance between the centers of the area where the right-eye image can be observed and the left-eye image, that is, the inter-viewpoint distance (S) is adjusted according to the inter-eye distance E (usually 65 mm) of the observer. The design conditions of the members are decided. Then, at the position of a where the right eye of the observer is in the right eye region R and the left eye is in the left eye region L, stereoscopic stereoscopic viewing is possible. On the contrary, at the position of b in which the right eye of the observer is in the left eye region L and the left eye is in the right eye region R, the observer becomes a reverse observer and cannot observe the stereoscopic image.

[0007]

As described above, in the stereoscopic image display device, the region R where the right eye image can be observed is R.
And the regions L where the left-eye image can be observed are alternately present for each interocular distance (E). For this reason, when the observer moves in the horizontal direction and deviates from the stereoscopic region, the observer enters the pseudoscopic region, which may give the observer a feeling of strangeness. The present invention has been made to solve the above conventional problems,
An object of the present invention is to provide a stereoscopic image display device that allows an observer to return to a region where stereoscopic viewing can be performed without a sense of discomfort.

[0008]

A stereoscopic image display device without glasses according to the present invention includes an image display means for alternately displaying an image for the left eye and an image for the right eye, and an image light from the image display means. In the stereoscopic image display device without glasses, which is provided with an optical separation unit that separates corresponding to the left and right eyes, the inter-viewpoint distance at the observation position is set larger than the inter-eye distance of a person.

Further, the optical separation means is composed of a parallax barrier, and the barrier pitch of the parallax barrier is determined by a pixel pitch of the image display means and an inter-viewpoint distance larger than a human eye distance. .

According to the above arrangement, when the observer moves in the horizontal direction and deviates from the stereoscopic viewing area, the viewer enters the area where the planar image is observed. When the observer observes the two-dimensional image, he / she recognizes that he / she is out of the stereoscopic region and can return to an appropriate region. For this reason, the viewer does not enter the pseudosighted region and does not feel uncomfortable.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. The same parts as those in the conventional example are designated by the same reference numerals.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a backlight 1, a liquid crystal display panel 2 as a display panel, and a parallax barrier arranged on the observer side of the liquid crystal display panel 2 as in the conventional stereoscopic image display device. 3 and. The parallax barrier 3 is formed by forming a large number of stripe-shaped light shielding portions 32 on a transparent substrate 31 such as glass or transparent resin. As will be described later, the barrier pitch of the light-shielding portion 32 of the parallax barrier is determined by the pixel pitch of the liquid crystal display panel 2 and the distance between viewpoints (S) which is larger than the distance between human eyes.

In the liquid crystal display panel 2, a liquid crystal layer is provided between glass substrates (not shown), and images for the right eye and images for the left eye are alternately displayed on the liquid crystal layer.

In the above-mentioned stereoscopic image display device, the region R where the right eye image can be observed and the region L where the left eye image can be observed are the viewpoints at the optimum observation position where the right eye image and the left eye image are converged. The distances (S) are alternately present.
In this embodiment, the distance between viewpoints (S), that is, the distance between the centers of the observation area of the right eye image and the observation area of the left eye image is made larger than the eye distance of the person. In this embodiment, it is set to 80 mm.

Now, assuming that the barrier pitch is B, the pixel pitch of the liquid crystal display panel 2 is P, and the distance between viewpoints is S, the barrier pitch B is obtained by the following equation.

B = 2P · S / (P + S)

The barrier pitch of the light shielding portion 32 of the parallax barrier 3 may be determined according to the above equation.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the observer moves in the horizontal direction and deviates from the stereoscopic viewing area, the viewer enters the area where the plane image is observed before entering the pseudoscopic viewing area. An observer can recognize that he / she deviates from the stereoscopic viewing area by observing the two-dimensional image. It should be noted that the black area of the liquid crystal display panel 2 is observed when entering or entering the area of the plane image, and the brightness may change. As described above, when the observer observes the two-dimensional image, he / she recognizes that he / she is out of the emmetropic region and moves backward in the horizontal direction, so that the observer can return to the appropriate region. For this reason, the viewer does not enter the pseudosighted region and does not feel uncomfortable.

In the above embodiment, the parallax barrier system is used as the optical separation device, but the present invention can be similarly applied to the lenticular lens system.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiments, the liquid crystal display device is used as the image display device, but other display devices such as a plasma display, a rear projection device, a device using an organic EL light emitting device and the like are used. You can also

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the observer moves in the horizontal direction and deviates from the stereoscopic viewing area, the two-dimensional image is observed before entering the pseudoscopic viewing area. Moving in the opposite direction can return to the proper area. Therefore, without entering the pseudoscopic region,
You can observe stereoscopic vision without feeling discomfort.

[0022]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a conventional stereoscopic image display device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an observation region in a conventional stereoscopic image display device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 backlight 2 Liquid crystal display panel 3 parallax barrier 32 striped light shields Distance between S viewpoints

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image display means for alternately displaying an image for the left eye and an image for the right eye, and an optical separation means for separating image light from the image display means in correspondence with the left and right eyes. In a stereoscopic image display device without glasses, the stereoscopic image display device without glasses is characterized in that a distance between viewpoints at an observation position is made larger than a distance between eyes of a person. 2. The optical separation means is composed of a parallax barrier, and the barrier pitch of the parallax barrier is determined by a pixel pitch of the image display means and an inter-viewpoint distance which is larger than a human eye-to-eye distance. The stereoscopic image display device without glasses according to claim 1.