JP2008170841A - Electrooptical device and electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electrooptical device capable of preventing a reversely viewing area from being generated for an observer. <P>SOLUTION: The electrooptical device is an image display device capable of performing stereoscopic image display, and is equipped with a display panel, a sensor and a control part. The display panel is, for example, a liquid crystal display panel, and displays a stereoscopic image for the observer by displaying a unit image for a right eye and a unit image for a left eye at display positions alternate in a predetermined direction. The sensor detects a rotational angle of the position of observer's viewing point to the predetermined axis of the display panel. The control part replaces the display position of the unit image for a right eye with the display position of the unit image for a left eye on the display panel based on the rotational angle. Thus, the electrooptical device prevents the reversely viewing area from being generated for the observer. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electro-optical device and an electronic apparatus suitable for use in displaying various types of information.

  As an example of an electro-optical device, an image display device that displays a three-dimensional stereoscopic image to an observer is known. One type of such a display device is a parallax barrier (parallax barrier) type image display device. This image display device includes, for example, a liquid crystal display panel and a parallax barrier provided on the viewer side of the display surface of the liquid crystal display panel. Slits are arranged at predetermined positions of the parallax barrier so as to correspond to pixel electrodes adjacent to each other. When providing a three-dimensional stereoscopic image to the observer, the opening of the parallax barrier is arranged so that the left eye image is incident on the left eye of the observer and the right eye image is incident on the right eye of the observer. Is formed. The observer recognizes that the image is a three-dimensional image by synthesizing the right-eye image and the left-eye image in the brain.

  In such an image display device, when the angle of the display screen with respect to the observer is changed, an area that appears correctly as a stereoscopic image (normal viewing area) and an area that does not correctly appear as a stereoscopic image (reverse viewing area) are displayed to the observer. On the other hand, it turns out that it generate | occur | produces alternately. The normal vision region refers to a region where the image for the right eye is incident on the right eye of the observer and the image for the left eye is incident on the left eye of the observer. The reverse viewing region refers to a region where the image for the right eye is incident on the left eye of the observer and the image for the left eye is incident on the right eye of the observer. For this reason, when the observer sees an image on the display screen in the reverse viewing area, what should appear to pop out is retracted and viewed.

  Recently, an image display apparatus with an increased number of viewpoints has been proposed in order to reduce the generation area of the reverse viewing area. Further, Patent Document 1 below describes an image display device that obtains the observer's viewpoint position by attaching a position sensor to the observer's head and displays a stereoscopic image corresponding to the viewpoint position. .

JP-A-8-328170

  However, in an image display device in which the number of viewpoints is increased, the generation area of the reverse viewing area can be reduced, but the resolution of the image is lowered. Further, even an image display apparatus with an increased number of viewpoints cannot completely prevent the occurrence of a reverse viewing area. Further, in the image display device described in Patent Document 1, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a reverse viewing region for the observer, but it is necessary to attach a position sensor to the observer in addition to the image display device body. Therefore, it is very troublesome for the observer.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points. In an electro-optical device capable of displaying a stereoscopic image, a reverse viewing region is generated for an observer without attaching a position sensor to the observer. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electro-optical device that can prevent the above-described problem.

  In one aspect of the present invention, an electro-optical device includes a right-eye unit image that is a sub-pixel unit image of a right-eye image, and a left-eye unit image that is a sub-pixel unit image of a left-eye image. And a sensor for detecting a rotation angle of the observer's viewpoint position with respect to a predetermined axis of the display panel. And a control unit that enables switching between the display position of the right-eye unit image and the display position of the left-eye unit image on the display panel based on the rotation angle.

  The electro-optical device is an image display device capable of displaying a stereoscopic image, and includes a display panel, a sensor, and a control unit. The display panel is, for example, a liquid crystal display panel, and displays a stereoscopic image to an observer by displaying a right-eye unit image and a left-eye unit image at display positions that alternate in a predetermined direction. Here, the unit image indicates an image displayed in units of sub-pixels. The sensor detects a rotation angle of the observer's viewpoint position with respect to a predetermined axis of the display panel. The control unit can switch the display position of the unit image for the right eye and the display position of the unit image for the left eye on the display panel based on the rotation angle. By doing so, the electro-optical device can prevent a reverse viewing region from being generated for the observer. Further, in this electro-optical device, it is not necessary to attach a position sensor to the observer.

  In another aspect of the electro-optical device, the display panel is a unit that is an image in units of subpixels of an image viewed from each viewpoint arranged in order from the first to the Nth (N is a natural number of 3 or more). By displaying the images in order from the first to the Nth, the stereoscopic image is displayed to the observer, and the control unit is configured to display the display panel based on the rotation angle detected by the sensor. The display position of the unit image of the image viewed from the first viewpoint and the display position of the unit image of the image viewed from the Nth viewpoint are switched. By doing in this way, it is possible to prevent a reverse viewing region from being generated for an observer even in an electro-optical device configured with display images of three or more viewpoints.

  In a preferred embodiment of the electro-optical device, the control unit recognizes the stereoscopic image based on the observer's viewpoint position with respect to the rotation angle at which the display position of the unit image is switched on the display panel. The rotation angle determined by the control unit to be located in the reverse viewing region where it cannot be performed.

  In another aspect of the electro-optical device, the control unit varies a stereoscopic image to be displayed to the observer according to the magnitude of the rotation angle. By doing so, in the electro-optical device that changes the display image according to the rotation angle, it is possible to suppress a sense of discomfort felt by the observer due to the occurrence of the reverse viewing region.

  In another aspect of the present invention, an electronic apparatus including the above-described electro-optical device in a display portion can be configured.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[Image display device]
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an image display apparatus 100 according to each embodiment. The image display device 100 according to each embodiment is a parallax barrier image display device, and can perform stereoscopic image display for displaying a stereoscopic image to the observer 11.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image display device 100 according to each embodiment mainly includes a parallax barrier 9, a liquid crystal display panel 20, and a lighting device 10.

  The liquid crystal display panel 20 has a structure in which substrates 1 and 2 are bonded to each other with a sealant 3 between them, and a liquid crystal 4 is sealed between the substrates 1 and 2. A pixel electrode 5 is formed on each inner surface of the substrate 1 for each sub-pixel SGa, SGb of one dot. On the inner surface of the substrate 2, a colored layer 6 and a counter electrode 7 for each color of RGB as a color filter are formed. Is formed. The colored layers 6 for each color of RGB are formed at positions corresponding to the pixel electrodes 5, and the counter electrode 7 is formed on the entire surface of the substrate 2.

  The lighting device 10 is installed on the back side of the liquid crystal display panel 20. The illumination device 10 illuminates the liquid crystal display panel 20 by transmitting light. A lower polarizing plate 12b is disposed between the liquid crystal display panel 20 and the lighting device 10.

  A parallax barrier 9 is disposed on the light emission surface side of the liquid crystal display panel 20. The parallax barrier 9 is a panel provided with slits 9S at a predetermined interval. In the parallax barrier 9, only the portion where the slit 9 </ b> S is provided functions as a transmission region that transmits light, and the other portion functions as a light shielding region that does not transmit light. The parallax barrier 9 has, for example, a configuration in which a liquid crystal is sandwiched between two substrates. By controlling the alignment of the liquid crystal, a transmissive region that functions as the slit 9S and a light-shielding region that does not transmit light. And form. The slits 9 </ b> S are correspondingly positioned between the adjacent colored layers 6 or pixel electrodes 5 in the liquid crystal display panel 20. An upper polarizing plate 12 a is disposed on the light exit surface side of the parallax barrier 9.

  Light emitted from the illumination device 10 enters the liquid crystal display panel 20, passes through the colored layer 6, and then exits from the liquid crystal display panel 20. The light emitted from the liquid crystal display panel 20 enters the left eye 11a of the observer 11 and the right eye 11b of the observer 11 through the slit 9S.

  In the image display apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1, the RGB colored layer 6 through which light incident on the left eye 11a of the observer 11 passes is shown as colored layers Rca, Gca, and Bca, and the light incident on the right eye 11b of the observer 11 is shown. The transparent RGB colored layer 6 is shown as colored layers Rcb, Gcb, and Bcb. Accordingly, the sub-pixels SGa having the colored layers Rca, Gca, and Bca of the respective colors indicate the RGB sub-pixels through which the light incident on the left eye 11a of the observer 11 is transmitted, and the colored layers Rcb, Gcb, and Bcb of the respective colors. Each of the sub-pixels SGb having RGB represents a sub-pixel of each color of RGB through which light incident on the right eye 11b of the observer 11 is transmitted.

  For example, as indicated by a broken line, the light transmitted through the colored layer Gca enters the left eye 11a of the observer 11 by passing through a slit 9S positioned correspondingly between the colored layers Gca and Bcb. On the other hand, the light transmitted through the colored layer Bcb passes through the slit 9S and then enters the right eye 11b of the observer 11.

  Next, the configuration of the drive circuit of the liquid crystal display panel 20 will be described. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the liquid crystal display panel 20 in the image display device 100 according to each embodiment. The liquid crystal display panel 20 in the image display apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view taken along a cutting line AA ′ in the plan view of the liquid crystal display panel 20 shown in FIG. It is. In FIG. 2, the vertical direction (column direction) of the paper surface is defined as the Y direction, and the horizontal direction (row direction) of the paper surface is defined as the X direction.

  A plurality of scanning lines 24 and a plurality of data lines 25 are arranged in a matrix on the inner surface of the substrate 1, and a TFT element (Thin Film Diode) or the like is provided at the intersection of each scanning line 24 and each data line 25. A switching element 26 is provided. The pixel electrode 5 is electrically connected to the switching element 26.

  Precisely, the substrate 1 has a region extending outward from the substrate 2 in the X direction and the Y direction. A scanning line driving circuit 21 is disposed on the inner surface of the region extending in the X direction of the substrate 1, and a data line driving circuit 22 is disposed on the inner surface of the region protruding in the Y direction of the substrate 1. Yes.

  Each data line 25 indicated by S1, S2, S3,..., Sn (n: natural number) extends in the Y direction and is arranged at a constant interval in the X direction. One end of each data line 25 is electrically connected to the data line driving circuit 22. Further, the data line driving circuit 22 is electrically connected to the FPC 23 via the wiring 32. The FPC 23 is electrically connected to the control unit 40, and the data line driving circuit 22 receives a control signal from the control unit 40 via the FPC 23. The data line driving circuit 22 supplies a data signal to each data line 25 indicated by S1, S2, S3... Sn based on the control signal.

  Each scanning line 24 indicated by G1, G2, G3,..., Gm (m: natural number) extends in the X direction and is arranged at a constant interval in the Y direction. One end of each scanning line 24 is electrically connected to the scanning line driving circuit 21. The scanning line drive circuit 21 is electrically connected to the wiring 33, and the wiring 33 is electrically connected to the control unit 40. The scanning line driving circuit 21 receives a control signal from the control unit 40 via the wiring 33. The scanning line driving circuit 21 sequentially supplies scanning signals to the scanning lines 24 indicated by G1, G2, G3... Gm based on the control signal.

  The counter electrode 7 is electrically connected to the data line driving circuit 22 via a wiring 34 indicated by COM. The data line driving circuit 22 drives the counter electrode 7 by supplying a driving signal via the wiring 34 based on a control signal from the external control unit 40.

  The scanning line driving circuit 21 sequentially selects the scanning lines 24 in order of G1, G2, G3,..., Gm based on the control signal from the control unit 40, and the selected scanning lines 24 include Supply a scanning signal. Then, the data line driving circuit 22 applies a data signal corresponding to the display content to each pixel electrode 5 existing at a position corresponding to the selected scanning line 24 based on the control signal from the control unit 40. Supply via line 25. As a result, a potential is applied to the pixel electrode 5, and the alignment state of the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal 4 between the pixel electrode 5 and the counter electrode 7 is switched to the non-display state or the intermediate display state. A desired image can be displayed. That is, the control unit 40 controls the scanning signals and data signals supplied to the plurality of scanning lines 24 and the plurality of data lines 25 by supplying control signals to the scanning line driving circuit 21 and the data line driving circuit 22. The desired image can be displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 20.

  The sub pixel SGa and the sub pixel SGb are alternately set in the X direction and the Y direction. Therefore, an image to be displayed on the left eye 11a of the observer 11 is displayed by switching the alignment state of the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal 4 between the pixel electrode 5 and the counter electrode 7 in the sub-pixel SGa. An image to be displayed on the right eye 11b is displayed by switching the alignment state of the liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal 4 between the pixel electrode 5 and the counter electrode 7 in the sub-pixel SGb.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the control means of the drive circuit of the image display device 100. In addition to the control unit 40, the image display device 100 further includes a sensor 41, a storage unit 42, and a display information output source 43 as control means.

  The display information output source 43 includes a memory composed of a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a storage unit composed of a magnetic recording disk, an optical recording disk, etc., and a tuning circuit that tunes and outputs digital image signals. And an image signal having a predetermined format is supplied to the control unit 40 based on various clock signals generated by a timing generator (not shown).

  The sensor 41 is for detecting a rotation angle with respect to a predetermined axis of the liquid crystal display panel 20 at the viewpoint position of the observer 11. Specifically, the sensor 41 includes an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, or the like. When the liquid crystal display panel 20 rotates, the acceleration sensor detects the direction of the rotation axis, and the gyro sensor detects the rotation angle with respect to the rotation axis. The sensor 41 supplies these detection signals to the control unit 40.

  The control unit 40 generates a control signal based on the image signal from the display image output source 43, and then the liquid crystal display panel 20, that is, the scanning line driving circuit 21 and the data line driving circuit in the liquid crystal display panel 20. 22, the generated control signal is supplied. Further, the control unit 40 calculates the rotation angle of the liquid crystal display panel 20 with respect to a predetermined axis based on the detection signal from the sensor 41. The storage unit 42 is a memory, for example, and is connected to the control unit 40.

(Composition of composite image)
Next, a composite image displayed by the image display device 100 according to each embodiment will be described. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram when creating a composite image C obtained by combining the image A for the left eye and the image B for the right eye. Here, the image A for the left eye shows an image displayed for the left eye 11a of the observer 11, and the image B for the right eye shows an image displayed for the right eye 11b of the observer 11. The composite image C is an image obtained by combining the image A and the image B, and is an image displayed on the display screen of the liquid crystal display panel 20 in the image display device 100 according to each embodiment. The observer 11 can recognize a stereoscopic image by synthesizing the image A for the left eye and the image B for the right eye in the brain.

  The image A is an image in which the unit images Ra11 to Ba26 are combined. Here, the unit image indicates an image displayed in units of sub-pixels. The alphabetic parts Ra, Ga, and Ba in the unit image indicate that the image is displayed on each of the RGB sub-pixels SGa. That is, a unit image whose alphabetic part is indicated by Ra indicates an image displayed on one R subpixel SGa, and a unit image whose alphabetic part is indicated by Ga is displayed on one G subpixel SGa. A unit image that represents an image and whose alphabetic part is represented by Ba represents an image displayed on one sub-pixel SGa of B. Hereinafter, such a unit image of the image for the left eye may be simply referred to as “unit image for the left eye”.

  The image B is an image in which the unit images Rb11 to Bb26 are combined. The alphabetic parts Rb, Gb, and Bb in the unit image indicate images that are displayed on the RGB sub-pixels SGb. That is, a unit image whose alphabetic part is indicated by Rb indicates an image displayed on one R subpixel SGb, and a unit image whose alphabetic part is indicated by Gb is displayed on one G subpixel SGb. A unit image indicating an image and whose alphabetic part is indicated by Bb indicates an image displayed on one B sub-pixel SGb. Hereinafter, such a unit image of the right-eye image may be simply referred to as a “right-eye unit image”.

  When creating the composite image C from the image A and the image B, the control unit 40 combines the unit image of the image A and the unit image of the image B so as to correspond to the sub pixel SGa and the sub pixel SGb, respectively. That is, as described above, the sub-pixel SGa and the sub-pixel SGb are alternately set in the X direction and the Y direction on the liquid crystal display panel 20, so that the control unit 40 displays the image as shown in FIG. The unit image A and the unit image B are alternately synthesized corresponding to the sub-pixel SGa and the sub-pixel SGb.

  Specifically, when creating the composite image C from the images A and B, the control unit 40 uses unit images of a plurality of predetermined rows in the images A and B as unit images constituting the composite image C. Use. In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, it is assumed that the unit images Ra11 to Ba16 of the image A and the unit images Rb11 to Bb16 of the image B are used as unit images constituting the composite image C. The unit images in the rows other than the predetermined rows of the images A and B are not used as unit images constituting the composite image C. Accordingly, the unit images Ra21 to Ba26 of the image A and the unit images Rb21 to Bb26 of the image B are not used as unit images constituting the composite image C.

  As can be seen from the composite image C shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 40 alternately arranges the unit images Ra11 to Ba16 of the image A and the unit images Rb11 to Bb16 of the image B corresponding to the subpixels SGa and the subpixels SGb. As a result, the synthesized image C is synthesized.

  The control unit 40 determines the potential to be applied to the pixel electrodes 5 of the sub-pixels SGa and SGb based on the gradation value of each unit image in the synthesized image C synthesized in this manner, and scan line driving as a control signal. This is supplied to the circuit 21 and the data line driving circuit 22.

  In this way, the composite image C shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 20 of the image display device 100. On the composite image C shown in FIG. 4, the position of the slit 9S of the parallax barrier 9 is also indicated by a broken line. The left eye 11a of the observer 11 can see only the unit images Ra11, Ga12, Ba13, Ra14, Ga15, and Ba16 when the composite image C is viewed through the slit 9S. On the other hand, when viewing the synthesized image C through the slit 9S, the right eye 11b of the observer 11 can see only the unit images Rb11, Gb12, Bb13, Rb14, Gb15, and Bb16 through the slit 9S.

  The observer 11 combines the unit images Ra11, Ga12, Ba13, Ra14, Ga15, Ba16 viewed with the left eye and the unit images Rb11, Gb12, Bb13, Rb14, Gb15, Bb16 viewed with the right eye in the brain. 3D images can be recognized.

  Based on the configuration of the image display apparatus 100 described above, each embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below.

[First Embodiment]
Next, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the image display apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment.

  In FIG. 5, the liquid crystal display panel 20 is illustrated in a simplified manner. In the following description, the liquid crystal display panel 20 is simply illustrated in this way. In the liquid crystal display panel 20 illustrated in FIG. 5, “a” indicates that the unit image for the left eye is displayed on the display screen, and “b” indicates that the unit image for the right eye is displayed on the display screen. Indicates. One square in which “a” and “b” are written indicates the sub-pixel SGa and the sub-pixel SGb, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the light emitted from the sub-pixels SGa and SGb passes through the slit 9 </ b> S of the parallax barrier 9 and is emitted toward the observer 11. Here, it is assumed that the observer 11 is at a position away from the parallax barrier 9 by the distance Len. In FIG. 5, “region a” indicates a range in which the unit image for the left eye is projected at a position away from the parallax barrier 9 by the distance Len in the normal direction, and “region b” is from the parallax barrier 9. A range in which a unit image for the right eye is projected at a position separated by a distance Len in the normal direction is shown.

  As shown by the solid line in FIG. 5, if the left eye 11a of the observer 11 is in “region a” and the right eye 11b of the observer 11 is in “region b”, the left eye 11a of the observer 11 is The unit image for the right eye is incident on the right eye 11 b of the observer 11. Therefore, the observer 11 can correctly recognize the display image displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 20 as a stereoscopic image. In this case, the observer 11 is said to be in a so-called normal viewing area.

  On the other hand, as shown by the wavy line in FIG. 5, if the left eye 11ax of the observer 11 is in “region b” and the right eye 11bx of the observer 11 is in “region a”, the left eye 11ax of the observer 11 is The unit image for the right eye is incident, and the unit image for the left eye is incident on the right eye 11bx of the observer 11. At this time, when the observer 11 sees the display image displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 20, the object that should appear popping out appears to be retracted, and the display image is correctly recognized as a stereoscopic image. I can't. In this case, the observer 11 is said to be in a so-called reverse viewing region.

  As shown in FIG. 5, when the left-eye unit image and the right-eye unit image are alternately displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 20, the normal viewing area and the reverse viewing area are alternately generated.

  As shown by the solid line in FIG. 5, when the observer 11 is at a position away from the center point Cp of the parallax barrier 9 by the distance Len in the normal direction, the observer 11 is in the normal vision region. Become. Here, consider a case where the position of the observer 11 is fixed and the image display apparatus 100 is rotated around the point Cp.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram when the image display apparatus 100 is rotated by a predetermined rotation angle α around the point Cp. Therefore, the axis Pol extending in the normal direction from the center point Cp of the parallax barrier 9 is rotated at the rotation angle α about the point Cp and moved from the position P0 to the position P1. In FIG. 6, the left eye 11 a of the observer 11 is in “area b”, and the right eye 11 b of the observer 11 is in “area a”. That is, the unit image for the right eye is incident on the left eye 11a of the observer 11, and the unit image for the left eye is incident on the right eye 11b of the observer 11. Accordingly, at this time, the observer 11 is in the reverse viewing region and cannot correctly recognize the display image as a stereoscopic image.

  As described above, when the position of the observer 11 is fixed and the image display apparatus 100 is rotated around the point Cp, the normal viewing area and the reverse viewing area are alternately generated with respect to the observer 11. Will be. Specifically, for example, in the case of a 2.2 inch QVGA (Quarter Video Graphics Array) liquid crystal display panel, the normal vision region and the reverse vision region are changed every time the rotation angle α changes by 8 to 9 [°]. Occurs alternately for the observer 11. Further, the rotation angle α at which the normal viewing area and the reverse viewing area are alternately generated may change when the number of pixels of the liquid crystal display panel or the screen size is changed.

  Therefore, in the image display device 100 according to the first embodiment, the control unit 40 displays the right eye unit image display position and the left eye unit image on the liquid crystal display panel 20 based on the rotation angle α of the liquid crystal display panel 20. It is possible to change the display position.

  FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram when the image display apparatus 100 is rotated by the rotation angle α about the point Cp, as in FIG. 6. A difference from FIG. 6 is that the display position of the unit image for the left eye and the display position of the unit image for the right eye on the liquid crystal display panel 20 are switched by the control unit 40. At this time, the left eye 11a of the observer 11 is in “region a”, and the right eye 11b of the observer 11 is in “region b”. That is, the unit image for the left eye is incident on the left eye 11a of the observer 11, and the unit image for the right eye is incident on the right eye 11b of the observer 11. Therefore, in this case, unlike the case of FIG. 6, the observer 11 is in the normal viewing region and can correctly recognize the display image as a stereoscopic image.

  Next, a method for controlling the image display apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, the control unit 40 calculates the rotation angle of the liquid crystal display panel 20 based on the detection signal from the sensor 41 (step S11). Next, the control unit 40 determines whether or not the observer 11 is in the reverse viewing region based on the calculated rotation angle (step S12). Specifically, the range of the rotation angle in which the reverse viewing region is generated with respect to the observer 11 is obtained in advance by experiments or the like and recorded in the storage unit 42 as a map. Based on the calculated rotation angle, the control unit 40 determines whether or not the observer 11 is in the reverse vision region using the map recorded in the storage unit 42.

  When the control unit 40 determines in step 12 that the observer 11 is not in the reverse vision region (step S12: No), the control unit 40 proceeds to step S14. When the control unit 40 determines in step 12 that the observer 11 is in the reverse vision region (step S12: Yes), the control unit 40 in the liquid crystal display panel 20 based on the image signal from the display image output source 43, A control signal is generated by switching the position of the unit image for the left eye and the position of the unit image for the right eye (step 13). In step 14, the control unit 40 supplies a control signal to the liquid crystal display panel 20, whereby an image is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 20, and the process ends.

  As described above, in the image display device 100 according to the first embodiment, even when the image display device 100 is rotated, the observer 11 is always in the normal vision region. That is, the image display device 100 according to the first embodiment can prevent the occurrence of a reverse viewing region for the observer 11. In the image display device 100 according to the first embodiment, it is not necessary to attach a position sensor to the observer 11.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, in the first embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to an image display apparatus that allows a viewer to recognize a stereoscopic image using a display image composed of two viewpoints has been described. Then, the case where this invention is applied to the image display apparatus which makes an observer recognize a three-dimensional image using the display image comprised from a 3 or more several viewpoint is described.

  FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of creating a display image composed of a plurality of four viewpoints. Specifically, an example is shown in which an object Obj is photographed using four cameras Ca1 to Ca4, and an image of the photographed object Obj is displayed as a stereoscopic image.

  FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of the image display apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment. In the liquid crystal display panel 20 of FIG. 10, “1”, “2”, “3”, and “4” are unit images of the image captured by the camera Ca1, and the camera Ca2 in the example shown in FIG. 2 shows a unit image of the image taken by the camera Ca, a unit image of the image taken by the camera Ca3, and a unit image of the image taken by the camera Ca4. In FIG. 10, subpixels on which unit images indicated by “1”, “2”, “3”, and “4” are displayed are subpixels SG1, SG2, SG3, and SG4, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the light emitted from the subpixels SG <b> 1, SG <b> 2, SG <b> 3, SG <b> 4 passes through the slit 9 </ b> S of the parallax barrier 9 and is emitted toward the viewer 11. In FIG. 10, “Area 1” indicates a range in which the unit image indicated by “1” is projected at a position away from the parallax barrier 9 by a distance Len in the normal direction. “Area 2” indicates a range in which the unit image indicated by “2” is projected at a position away from the parallax barrier 9 by a distance Len in the normal direction. “Area 3” indicates a range in which the unit image indicated by “3” is projected at a position away from the parallax barrier 9 by a distance Len in the normal direction. “Area 4” indicates a range in which the unit image indicated by “4” is projected at a position away from the parallax barrier 9 by the distance Len in the normal direction.

  As shown by the solid line in FIG. 10, when the left eye 11a of the observer 11 is in “region 3” and the right eye 11b of the observer 11 is in “region 2”, the observer 11 is the example shown in FIG. Then, assuming that the left eye 11a is positioned at the position of the camera Ca3 and the right eye 11b is positioned at the position of the camera Ca2, the image when the object Obj is viewed is viewed. Therefore, at this time, the observer 11 can correctly recognize the display image displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 20 as a stereoscopic image. That is, the observer 11 is in the normal viewing area.

  If the left eye 11a of the observer 11 is in “region 2” and the right eye 11b of the observer 11 is in “region 1”, or the left eye 11a of the observer 11 is in “region 4”, the right eye 11b of the observer 11 In the same way, the observer 11 can correctly recognize the display image displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 20 as a stereoscopic image. That is, the observer 11 is in the normal viewing area.

  Precisely, when the unit image indicated by “1” functions as a unit image for the right eye, the unit images indicated by “2” to “4” function as unit images for the left eye. When the unit image indicated by “2” functions as the right-eye unit image, the unit images indicated by “3” and “4” function as the left-eye unit image. When the unit image indicated by “3” functions as a unit image for the right eye, the unit image indicated by “4” functions as a unit image for the left eye. That is, in the example shown in FIG. 9, when the arrangement order of the cameras Ca <b> 1 to Ca <b> 4 corresponds to the arrangement order of the right eye 11 a of the observer 11 and the left eye 11 b of the observer 11, the observer 11 has a liquid crystal display. The display image displayed on the display panel 20 can be correctly recognized as a stereoscopic image.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the image display device configured with display images of three or more viewpoints as compared to the image display device 100 (FIG. 5) according to the first embodiment described above. In addition, the range of the normal viewing area can be expanded.

  On the other hand, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 10, when the left eye 11ax of the observer 11 is in “region 1” and the right eye 11bx of the observer 11 is in “region 4”, the arrangement order of the cameras Ca1 and Ca4 is as follows. The arrangement order of the right eye 11ax of the observer 11 and the left eye 11bx of the observer 11 does not correspond. At this time, the left eye 11ax of the observer 11 sees “1”, which is a unit image for the right eye, and the right eye 11bx of the observer 11 sees an image indicated by “4”, which is a unit image for the left eye. It becomes. Therefore, the observer 11 cannot correctly recognize the display image displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 20 as a stereoscopic image. That is, the observer 11 is in the reverse viewing region.

  As described above, in an image display device configured with display images of three or more viewpoints, the range of the normal viewing area can be expanded, but the reverse viewing area cannot be completely eliminated.

  In FIG. 10, when the observer 11 is at a position away from the center point Cp of the parallax barrier 9 by the distance Len in the normal direction, the observer 11 is in the normal vision region as described above. It becomes. Here, consider a case where the position of the observer 11 is fixed and the image display apparatus 100 is rotated around the point Cp.

  FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram when the image display apparatus 100 is rotated by a predetermined rotation angle β around the point Cp. Therefore, the axis Pol extending in the normal direction from the center point Cp of the parallax barrier 9 is rotated from the position P0 to the position P2 by rotating at the rotation angle β around the point Cp. At this time, the left eye 11a of the observer 11 is in “region 1”, and the right eye 11b of the observer 11 is in “region 4”. Therefore, at this time, the observer 11 is in the reverse viewing region.

  Therefore, also in the image display device 100 according to the second embodiment, the control unit 40, based on the rotation angle β of the liquid crystal display panel 20, displays the unit image display position for the right eye and the left eye for the left eye. The display position of the unit image can be switched. The details will be described below.

  FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram when the image display apparatus 100 is rotated by the rotation angle β around the point Cp, as in FIG. 11. The difference from FIG. 11 is that the display position of the unit image indicated by “4” and the display position of the unit image indicated by “1” displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 20 are interchanged. At this time, the left eye 11a of the observer 11 is in “region 4”, and the right eye 11b of the observer 11 is in “region 1”. Therefore, the observer 11 is in the normal viewing area, and can correctly recognize the display image as a stereoscopic image.

  Next, a control method of the image display apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  The processing from step S21 to step S22 is the same processing as the processing from step S11 to step S12 in the flowchart shown in FIG. 8 described in the first embodiment.

  In step S23, the control unit 40 displays the unit image display position indicated by “1” and the unit image display position indicated by “4” on the liquid crystal display panel 20 based on the image signal from the display image output source 43. Is generated (step S23). In step S24, the control unit 40 supplies a control signal to the liquid crystal display panel 20, whereby an image is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 20, and the process ends. By doing in this way, when the image display apparatus 100 is rotated, the observer 11 is always in the normal viewing region. Therefore, also in the image display apparatus 100 according to the second embodiment, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a reverse viewing area for the observer 11.

  In the second embodiment, the image display device 100 includes four viewpoint display images, and displays the unit images viewed from the four viewpoints arranged in order from “1” to “4”. It is assumed that a stereoscopic image is displayed to the observer, but it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to this. When the image display device 100 is configured with display images of N (N: a natural number of 3 or more) viewpoints, that is, the liquid crystal display panel 20 is in order from the first to the Nth (N is a natural number of 3 or more). By displaying unit images of images viewed from the respective viewpoints arranged in a row (these unit images are unit images indicated by “1” to “N”, respectively) in order from the first to the Nth, A stereoscopic image may be displayed to the observer. In this case, the control unit 40 allows the observer 11 to enter the reverse vision region (a unit image indicated by “1” is incident on the left eye 11 a of the observer 11 and a unit image indicated by “N” is incident on the right eye 11 b of the observer 11. If it is determined that the unit image is “1”, the unit image indicated by “1” and the unit image indicated by “N” can be switched to prevent the occurrence of a reverse viewing region for the observer 11.

  As described above, even in the image display device 100 according to the second embodiment configured by display images of three or more viewpoints, when the image display device 100 is rotated, It is possible to prevent the occurrence of a reverse viewing area for the observer 11.

[Application example]
Next, application examples of the present invention will be described. FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating a display example of the image display device according to the application example. In the image display device according to the application example, the stereoscopic image to be displayed to the observer is varied according to the rotation angle of the image display device.

  FIG. 14 shows an example in which the display image changes according to the rotation angle of the image display apparatus 100. When the observer 11 views the display screen of the image display device 100 from the front, an image 50 is shown. The image 50 shows an image when a human face is viewed from the front as an example.

  When the position of the observer 11 is fixed and the image display device 100 is rotated in the Ra direction, the images displayed on the image display device 100 are the images 50 to 50d, the images 50d to 50e, and the images 50e. It changes in steps to the image 50f. The image 50f is an image when a human face is viewed from the right side.

  On the other hand, when the position of the observer 11 is fixed and the image display device 100 is rotated in the La direction, the images displayed on the image display device 100 are the image 50 to the image 50g, the image 50g to the image 50h, the image It changes in steps from 50h to an image 50i. The image 50i is an image when a human face is viewed from the left side. The image display apparatus 100 according to the application example can increase the sense of reality by performing the stereoscopic display by changing the display image by performing the display method as described above.

  Even in such an image display device, when a reverse viewing region occurs, a portion that cannot be periodically recognized as a stereoscopic image occurs according to a change in the rotation angle. For this reason, even if the display image changes according to the change in the rotation angle, the observer may feel uncomfortable because a portion that cannot be correctly recognized as a stereoscopic image periodically occurs.

  Therefore, a control method of the image display apparatus 100 according to the application example will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, the control unit 40 calculates the rotation angle of the liquid crystal display panel 20 based on the detection signal from the sensor 41 (step S31). Then, the control unit 40 acquires an image corresponding to the calculated rotation angle (step S32). Specifically, the rotation angle and image identification information corresponding to the rotation angle are recorded as a map in the storage unit 42, and the control unit 40 obtains image identification information corresponding to the calculated rotation angle. Based on the identification information, the control unit 40 receives an image signal of an image (left-eye image, right-eye image) corresponding to the calculated rotation angle from the display image output source 43.

  The processing from step S33 to step S35 is the same processing as the processing from step S12 to step S14 in the flowchart shown in FIG. 8 described in the first embodiment.

  As described above, even in the image display device 100 according to the application example, when the image display device 100 is rotated, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a reverse viewing region with respect to the observer 11. That is, in the image display apparatus 100 that changes the display image according to the rotation angle, it is possible to suppress the uncomfortable feeling that the observer feels due to the occurrence of the reverse viewing region.

[Modification]
In each of the above-described embodiments, the image display apparatus 100 is rotated around the central point Cp of the parallax barrier 9, but is not limited to this, and instead is rotated around another arbitrary axis. Needless to say, you can do that.

  As the image display device 100 according to each of the above-described embodiments, a parallax barrier image display device is used. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an image display device capable of displaying other types of stereoscopic images. For example, an image display device using a lenticular lens may be used.

[Electronics]
Next, specific examples of electronic devices to which the image display device 100 according to each embodiment described above can be applied will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, an example in which the image display device 100 according to each embodiment is applied to a display unit of a portable personal computer (so-called notebook computer) will be described. FIG. 16A is a perspective view showing the configuration of this personal computer. As shown in the figure, the personal computer 710 includes a main body 712 having a keyboard 711 and a display 713 to which the image display device 100 according to the present invention is applied.

  Next, an example in which the image display device 100 according to each embodiment is applied to a display unit of a mobile phone will be described. FIG. 16B is a perspective view showing the configuration of this mobile phone. As shown in the figure, the mobile phone 720 includes a plurality of operation buttons 721, a reception port 722, a transmission port 723, and a display unit 724 to which the image display device 100 according to the present invention is applied.

  In addition to the personal computer shown in FIG. 16 (a) and the mobile phone shown in FIG. 16 (b), the electronic apparatus to which the image display device 100 according to each embodiment can be applied is a liquid crystal television, a view Examples include a finder type / monitor direct-view type video tape recorder, a car navigation device, a pager, an electronic notebook, a calculator, a word processor, a workstation, a videophone, a POS terminal, and a digital still camera.

It is sectional drawing of the image display apparatus which concerns on each embodiment. It is a top view of the liquid crystal display panel in the image display apparatus concerning each embodiment. Schematic diagram showing the control means of the drive circuit of the image display device It is a schematic diagram when creating a composite image from two images. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image display device according to a first embodiment. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image display device according to a first embodiment. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image display device according to a first embodiment. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling the image display apparatus according to the first embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example which produces the display image comprised from a some viewpoint. It is a schematic diagram of the image display apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a schematic diagram of the image display apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a schematic diagram of the image display apparatus which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling an image display apparatus according to a second embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of a display of the image display apparatus which concerns on an application example. The flowchart which shows the control method of the image display apparatus which concerns on an application example. It is an example of the electronic device to which the image display apparatus of this invention is applied.

Explanation of symbols

  9 parallax barrier, 10 illumination device, 11 observer, 20 liquid crystal display panel, 40 control unit, 100 image display device

Claims (5)

Displaying a right-eye unit image, which is a sub-pixel unit image of the right-eye image, and a left-eye unit image, which is a sub-pixel unit image of the left-eye image, at alternate display positions in a predetermined direction. A display panel for displaying a stereoscopic image to an observer,
A sensor for detecting a rotation angle of the observer's viewpoint position with respect to a predetermined axis of the display panel;
And a control unit that enables switching between the display position of the right-eye unit image and the display position of the left-eye unit image on the display panel based on the rotation angle. Electro-optic device. The display panel arranges unit images, which are sub-pixel unit images of images viewed from the viewpoints arranged in order from the first to the Nth (N is a natural number of 3 or more) in order from the first to the Nth. Displaying the stereoscopic image to the observer by displaying,
The control unit, based on the rotation angle detected by the sensor, displays the unit image display position of the image viewed from the first viewpoint and the unit image of the image viewed from the Nth viewpoint on the display panel. The electro-optical device according to claim 1, wherein the display position is interchangeable. The rotation angle at which the display position of the unit image is switched on the display panel by the control unit is controlled when the observer's viewpoint position is located in a reverse viewing region where the stereoscopic image cannot be correctly recognized. The electro-optical device according to claim 1, wherein the rotation angle is determined by the unit.   4. The electro-optical device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit changes a stereoscopic image to be displayed to the observer according to the magnitude of the rotation angle. 5.   An electronic apparatus comprising the electro-optical device according to claim 1 in a display unit.

Images