Abstract:
A three dimensional display is disclosed, and the pixel unit matrix thereof includes a central area, an upper area and a lower area, a left and a right area and matrix corner areas, which are composed of sub-pixels with different colors or partially identical colors. By aforementioned arrangement, the present invention can provide a pixel array different from conventional RGB array, so that the 3D stereo image can still be attained effectively while the stereo display is rotated under various directions or angles.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This present application claims priority to TAIWAN Patent Application Serial Number 100101317, filed on Jan. 13, 2011, which are herein incorporated by reference. 
       TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    The present invention generally relates to a stereo display device, in particular, to a stereo display device capable of being viewed in various viewing angles. 
       DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART 
       [0003]    In advance of the industrial revolution, it had been discovered that human would not be obsessed by seeing two images, even though he or she has two eyes and the images received in corresponding retina are not totally identical. After strict experiments in animals and human bodies, it&#39;s further proved that there are some cells specializing in stereo vision on the retina, and the brain can mix those images from different viewing angles to generate effect of the depth perception, and therefore, human can feel space impression though the eyes. 
         [0004]    In pace with the progress and the growth of the technology, the display technology exhibits an unprecedented development in recent years. That is, the 3D (three-dimensional) stereo image can be displayed on the flat display due to the effect of the binocular parallax. The binocular parallax means that the images seen by each eye are slightly different because the locations and the viewing angles of each eye are different, and those two images can be merged to a stereo image by the brain. In terms of the appearance, the stereo display technology can be classified as a stereoscopic one in which the particularly designed eyeglasses is required and an auto-stereoscopic one in which the stereo images can be viewed directly without glasses. The stereoscopic display technology can be generally classified as color filter glasses, polarizing glasses, and shutter glasses, etc, and those glasses mainly utilize a display to transmit left-eye images and right-eye images with particular messages, and further employ the head-mounted glasses for respectively making the left eye seeing left-eye images and the right eye seeing right-eye images, so as to generate stereo vision. 
         [0005]    However, the stereoscopic display technology is not popular in ordinary life all the time since it may cause much inconvenience and discomfort for the user, and hence, the auto-stereoscopic display gradually becomes the main trend in the stereo display technology. In the conventional auto-stereoscopic display, generally speaking, the frame may be cut in regular intervals to be the left-eye image display zone and the right-eye image display zone, and the barrier or the striped lenticular screen can be further introduced to project aforementioned images respectively into the left eye and the right eye, so as to achieve stereo effect. Simply speaking, two images of different viewing angles can be inputted into human eyes to generate a 3D image through the barrier or the striped lenticular screen. Thus, regarding the data in the panel, it only needs to put image data with two different viewing angles in the same panel, and further employs the barrier to shade the image of different viewing angle for making the left eye and the right eye receive the corresponding image respectively, so that the 3D image can be formed in the brain. Specifically, referred to  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 2   a  and  FIG. 2   b ,  FIG. 1  depicts a pixel array  101  with two different viewing angles data, and  FIG. 2   a  and  FIG. 2   b  individually show the images received by the left eye and the right eye when the barrier  201  is mounted on the pixel array  101 . In  FIG. 1 , the pixel array  101  comprises a plurality of red sub-pixels  102 , green sub-pixels  103  and blue sub-pixels  104 , which are horizontally arranged in sequence, thereby facilitating to mix different colors for generating color image. In this case, part of sub-pixels shows data of the left-eye (or right-eye) viewing angle, such as the sub-pixels tagged “1” in this figure, and another part of sub-pixels shows data of the right-eye (or left-eye) viewing angle, such as the sub-pixels tagged “2” in this figure. And referred to  FIG. 2   a  and  FIG. 2   b , the barrier  201  is a parallel-latticed structure with an identical interval and an oblique angle, so that the light emitted from the sub-pixels tagged “1” can be shaded to not be emitted into the right eye (or left eye) of the user, and the light emitted from the sub-pixels tagged “2” can be shaded to not be emitted into the left eye (or right eye) of the user. The oblique angle is principally determined according to the staggered arrangement of the two kinds of pixels in  FIG. 1 . In other words, when the light emitted from the pixel array  101  passes through the barrier, the left eye of the user can merely see those sub-pixels tagged “1”, as shown in  FIG. 2   a , and the right can merely see those sub-pixels tagged “2”, as shown in  FIG. 2   b . By aforementioned means, each eye can respectively obtain image data with different viewing angles, and the image data can be re-merged by the visual system in the brain, thereby forming a 3D image with depth perception. 
         [0006]    However, in the RGB pixel array of the barrier-type stereo display, no matter the left eye or the right eye, the image merged by each RGB sub-pixel can only be seen in a single direction (or angle). Hence, if the display is reversed or rotated to other angles, the image merged by each RGB sub-pixel can not be seen, thereby failing to generate the stereo image. For example, if  FIG. 2   a  or  FIG. 2   b  is rotated 90 degrees along the clockwise direction, the sub-pixels in the first row are all red, namely, only RRR image data can be seen in the first row. On the other hand, if  FIG. 2   a  or  FIG. 2   b  is rotated 90 degrees along the counterclockwise direction, the sub-pixels in the first row are all blue, namely, only BBB image data can be seen in the first row. 
         [0007]    Moreover, in the barrier-type stereo display, it is necessary to mount a barrier on the pixel array, so the light transmittance may be lowered, such that the luminosity may be decreased. Therefore, in order to meet the luminous demand of the stereo display, the luminosity of the backlight module in the panel has to be enhanced, thereby increasing the power of the backlight module and the then raising the cost. 
         [0008]    Based on aforementioned description, there are some difficulties and shortcomings still existing in the conventional barrier-type stereo display technology to be overcome. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0009]    To overcome aforementioned shortcomings and difficulties, the present invention provides a stereo display, and more specifically, the present invention provides a barrier-type stereo display capable of being watched in various directions or angles. 
         [0010]    One purpose of the present invention is to provide an extraordinary pixel array by the particular arrangement of red, green, blue, and white sub-pixels, so that the 3D stereo image can still be attained effectively while the stereo display is rotated under various directions or angles. 
         [0011]    Another purpose of the present invention is to apply the white sub-pixel in the stereo display, whereby ameliorating the issue of reduced luminosity which is derived from the barrier in the typical stereo display. 
         [0012]    In order to reach aforementioned purposes, the present invention provides a stereo display, which comprises: a pixel array having a plurality of pixel unit matrices; a backlight module configured at one side by the pixel array, whereby emitting light to the pixel array; and a barrier configured at another side by the pixel array. In this case, each of the plurality of pixel unit matrices comprises: at least one first sub-pixel configured at central area; at least one second sub-pixel configured at upper and lower area adjacent to the central area; at least one third sub-pixel configured at left and right area adjacent to the central area; at least one fourth sub-pixel configured at matrix corner area, which is located at corner of each of the plurality of pixel unit matrices. 
         [0013]    By aforementioned particularly designed pixel array, the pixel unit matrix including RGBW sub-pixels can be rendered in the left eye or the right eye when the stereo display is rotated or reversed in various directions, whereby overcoming the shortcoming that the merged image of RGB sub-pixels cannot be seen when the stereo display is reversed because the adjacent sub-pixels have the same color, so as to provide a stereo display capable of exhibiting outstanding imaging effect when being watched in any direction. 
         [0014]    Aforementioned description is to illustrate purposes of the present invention, technical characteristics to achieve the purposes, and the advantages derived from the technical characteristics, and so on. And the present invention can be further understood by the following description of the preferred embodiment accompanying with the drawings and the claims. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0015]      FIG. 1  shows a conventional pixel array. 
           [0016]      FIG. 2   a  shows the image seen by the left eye in the prior art. 
           [0017]      FIG. 2   b  shows the image seen by the right eye in the prior art. 
           [0018]      FIG. 3  shows the cross-section diagram of the stereo display. 
           [0019]      FIG. 4  shows the preferred embodiment of the pixel array of the present invention. 
           [0020]      FIG. 5   a  shows the diagram that the pixel array observed by the left eye. 
           [0021]      FIG. 5   b  shows the image seen by the left eye of the present invention. 
           [0022]      FIG. 6   a  shows the diagram that the pixel array observed by the right eye. 
           [0023]      FIG. 6   b  shows the image seen by the right eye of the present invention. 
           [0024]      FIG. 7   a  shows the diagram that the pixel array rotated 90 degrees along the clockwise direction observed by the left eye. 
           [0025]      FIG. 7   b  shows the image seen by the left eye when the pixel array is rotated 90 degrees along the clockwise direction. 
           [0026]      FIG. 8   a  shows the diagram that the pixel array rotated 90 degrees along the clockwise direction observed by the right eye. 
           [0027]      FIG. 8   b  shows the image seen by the right eye when the pixel array is rotated 90 degrees along the clockwise direction. 
           [0028]      FIG. 9   a ,  9   b  to  FIG. 20   a ,  20   b  show each embodiment of the pixel unit matrix of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0029]    The present invention will be described in preferred embodiments and perspective, which is introduced to illustrate the structures and steps of the present invention, and is just adopted to exemplify the present invention rather than limiting it. Therefore, in addition to the preferred embodiments in the specification, the present invention can also be widely applied to other embodiments. 
         [0030]    The present invention discloses an omni-directional stereo display which can be viewed in any direction. The stereo display employs a pixel array configured by RGBW sub-pixels, so that the RGBW sub-pixels is regarded as an unit that can be rendered in the left eye or the right eye when the stereo display is rotated or reversed in various directions. Therefore, no matter how the display is rotated, users can still view the 3D stereo images effectively. 
         [0031]    Referred to  FIG. 3 , which depicts the cross-section diagram of the stereo display of the present invention, the stereo display  300  comprises a pixel array  301 , a backlight module  302 , and a barrier  303 . In this case, the backlight module  302  is configured at one side by the pixel array  301  for providing required light for the pixel array. The barrier  303  is configured at another side of the pixel array  301 , and it is a latticed structure, in particular, it&#39;s an oblique parallel latticed structure with plural identical intervals  306  which are designed according to the distance between human eyes. When the user watches the image of the stereo display  300  via the left eye  304 , the barrier  303  can shade the image data required for the right eye  305 , and the required image data for the left eye  304  can be provided through the intervals  306 . Similarly, when the user watch the stereo display  300  via the right eye  305 , the barrier  303  can shade the image data required for the left eye  304 , and the required image data for the right eye  305  can be provided through the intervals  306 . In other words, when the user watch the stereo display  300  via the both eyes, the left eye  304  and the right eye  305  can individually receive the required image data through the intervals  306  of the barrier  303 , and subsequently, those image data received from the left eye  304  and the right eye  305  individually can be merged in the brain, so as to form the 3D stereo image. 
         [0032]    Referred to  FIG. 4 , which depicts the preferred embodiment of the pixel array  301  disclosed in the present invention, the pixel unit matrix  401  of the pixel array  301  is composed of a plurality of pixels, and each of the pixel unit matrix  401  comprises a plurality of first sub-pixels  402 , a plurality of second sub-pixels  403 , a plurality of third sub-pixels  404 , and a plurality of fourth sub-pixels  405 . The present invention introduce a 4×4 matrix for explaining aforementioned pixel unit matrix  401 , and hence, the number of aforementioned first sub-pixel  402 , second sub-pixel  403 , third sub-pixel  404  and fourth sub-pixel  405  are all four. However, any ordinary person having skilled in the related art should understand that aforementioned number of sub-pixels is only illustrated for an example, rather than limiting the scope of the present invention. The quantity can be determined by the user based on demands, such as the 3×3, 5×5, 6×6 . . . or n×n matrix, wherein n is a positive integer. 
         [0033]    Under this concept, aforementioned pixel unit matrix  401  includes four first sub-pixels  402  configured at the central area; two pairs of the second sub-pixels  403  configured at the upper and lower area adjacent to the central area, such as the upper side and lower side by the square formed by the central area; two pairs of the third sub-pixels  404  configured at the left and right area adjacent to the central area, such as the left and right side by the square formed by the central area. Four fourth sub-pixels  405  are further configured at the matrix corner area, namely four corners of the matrix, of the pixel unit matrix  401 , respectively, thereby constructing a 4×4 pixel unit matrix  401 . The first sub-pixel  402  can be white, blue, red, or green colors. The second sub-pixel  403  can also be white, blue, red, or green colors. Similarly, the third sub-pixel  404  and the fourth sub-pixel  405  can also be set by aforementioned colors, but those colors has to be staggered, so as to prevent the neighboring sub-pixel from being the same color to cause the same color is viewed by the left eye or the right eye of the user, and thereby resulting the failure of generating the stereo image. In the embodiment in  FIG. 4 , the first sub-pixel  402  is set with white color, and the second sub-pixel  403  is set with red color, and the third sub-pixel  404  is blue one, and the fourth sub-pixel  405  is green for illustrating the present invention. Nevertheless, as described above, any arbitrary color can be set in the central area, so are the other areas. 
         [0034]    Light transmitted from the pixel array  301  is influenced by the barrier  303 , thereby different images are observed by the left eye and the right eye, as shown in  FIG. 5   a ,  FIG. 5   b , and  FIG. 6   a ,  FIG. 6   b .  FIG. 5   a  illustrates the diagram of the pixel array  301  and the barrier  303  when they are observed by the left eye  304  of the user, and the  FIG. 5   b  illustrates the pixel array  501  observed by the left eye  304  in the embodiment. As shown in these figures, the barrier  303  with oblique strips can shade part of the sub-pixels in the pixel array  301  obliquely, and those un-shaded sub-pixels can be projected into the left eye  304  of the user, thereby forming the left-eye image consisting by the pixel array  501  in the  FIG. 5   b . As shown in this figure, the left-eye pixel array  501  is composed of a plurality of left-eye pixel unit matrices  502 . Each of the left-eye pixel unit matrices  502  is formed by a column of GWBR (green, white, blue, red) sub-pixels, and a column of RBWG sub-pixels, so as to prevent the identical color in the adjacent sub-pixels from being viewing. Similarly,  FIG. 6   a  illustrates the diagram of the pixel array  301  and the barrier  303  when they are observed by the right eye  305  of the user, and the  FIG. 6   b  illustrates the right-eye image consisting by the pixel array  601  which is observed by the right eye  305  in the embodiment. Like the  FIG. 5   a , the barrier can shade part of the sub-pixels in the pixel array  301  obliquely, and nevertheless, the shaded sub-pixels by the barrier are different, so that the sub-pixels observed by the right eye  305  are different. Referred to  FIG. 6   b , the right-eye pixel array  601 , which is similar to the left-eye pixel array  501 , is also composed of a plurality of right-eye pixel unit matrices  602 , and each of them is formed by a column of RBWG sub-pixels and a column of GWBR sub-pixels to avoid the adjacent sub-pixels with same color when they are viewed by the user. Because the same adjacent sub-pixels color issues are resolved for both of the left-eye pixel array  501  and the right-eye pixel array  601 , the 3D stereo image can be effectively generated when the stereo display  300  is not rotated. 
         [0035]    In the following, referred to  FIG. 7   a ,  FIG. 7   b  and  FIG. 8   a  and  FIG. 8   b , which individually show the pixel array received by the left eye and the right eye after the stereo display  300  is rotated 90 degrees along the clockwise direction. As shown in  FIG. 7   a , the barrier  303  shades part of sub-pixels in the pixel array  301  obliquely, and the un-shaded sub-pixels can be projected into the left eye  304  of the user, thereby forming the pixel array  701  observed by the left eye, as shown in  FIG. 7   b . In this case, the left-eye pixel array  701  is composed of a plurality of left-eye pixel unit matrices  702 , and each of the left-eye pixel unit matrices  702  is formed by a column of BRWG sub-pixels and a column of GWRB sub-pixels, so as to prevent the issue of identical color in adjacent sub-pixels. On the other hand,  FIG. 8   a  and  FIG. 8   b  illustrate the received pixel array when observed by the right eye  305  of the user. Similar to  FIG. 7   a , the barrier  303  shades part of sub-pixels in the pixel array  301 . However, because the viewing angle of the left eye differs from which of the right eye, the sub-pixels shaded by the barrier are also different, therefore, the sub-pixels being observed by the right eye  305  are also different. Light from aforementioned sub-pixels emitted into the right eye  305  can form the right-eye pixel array  801  in the  FIG. 8   b . Similar to the left-eye pixel array  701 , it is also composed of a plurality of right-eye pixel unit matrices  802 , and each of them is formed by a column of GWRB sub-pixels and a column of BRWG sub-pixels, so that the issue of identical color in adjacent sub-pixels can be diminished. Thus, no matter the stereo display  300  is rotated 90 degrees along the clockwise or the counterclockwise direction, the 3D stereo image can still be generated effectively. Besides, the generated left-eye and right-eye pixel arrays when the stereo display  300  is rotated 180 and 270 degrees along the clockwise direction is the reversal of the pixel arrays when the display is not rotated or rotated 90 degrees, so the issue of identical color in adjacent sub-pixels can be solved. Accordingly, no matter how the stereo display  300  is rotated or what degrees it rotates, there are no issues of identical color in adjacent sub-pixels existing in respective pixel array of the left eye or the right eye, so that the correct image data of both eyes can be provided, thereby making the user able to watch the 3D stereo image in any direction. 
         [0036]    In some embodiments of the present invention, various arrangements of the sub-pixels can be introduced for providing different pixel unit matrices. 24 examples are described hereinafter, referred to  FIG. 9   a ,  9   b  to  FIG. 20   a ,  20   b . However, these examples described hereinafter are just used for explaining, rather than limiting the present invention. 
         [0037]      FIG. 9   a  depicts the preferred embodiment mentioned above, and  FIG. 9   b  depicts the pixel unit matrix of which the pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 9   a  is rotated 90 degrees along the clockwise direction, in other words, the second sub-pixels  403  are blue, and the third sub-pixels  404  are red. In  FIG. 10   a , the first sub-pixels  402  are white, and the second sub-pixels  403  are blue, and the third sub-pixels  404  are green, and the fourth sub-pixels  405  are red.  FIG. 10   b  shows the result of the pixel unit matrix after rotating the pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 10   a  by 90 degrees along the clockwise direction. To phrase another words, the second sub-pixels  403  are green, and the third sub-pixels  404  are blue. In  FIG. 11   a , the first sub-pixels  402  are white, and the second sub-pixels  403  are red, and the third sub-pixels  404  are green, and the fourth sub-pixels  405  are blue. In  FIG. 11   b , it shows the result after rotating the pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 11   a  by 90 degrees along the clockwise direction. Namely, the second sub-pixels  403  are green, and the third sub-pixels  404  are red. In  FIG. 12   a , the first sub-pixels  402  are red, and the second sub-pixels  403  are white, and the third sub-pixels  404  are blue, and the fourth sub-pixels  405  are green.  FIG. 12   b  shows the result after rotating the pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 12   a  by 90 degrees along the clockwise direction. To phrase another words, the second sub-pixels  403  are blue, and the third sub-pixels  404  are white. In  FIG. 13   a , the first sub-pixels  402  are red, and the second sub-pixels  403  are blue, and the third sub-pixels  404  are green, and the fourth sub-pixels  405  are white. Similarly,  FIG. 13   b  is the result after rotating  FIG. 13   a  by 90 degrees along the clockwise direction. Namely, the second sub-pixels  403  are green, and the third sub-pixels  404  are blue. In  FIG. 14   a , the first sub-pixels  402  are red, and the second sub-pixels  403  are white, and the third sub-pixels  404  are green, and the fourth sub-pixels  405  are blue. After the pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 14   b  is rotated 90 degrees along the clockwise direction, the pixel unit matrix is shown in  FIG. 14   b . Namely, the second sub-pixels  403  are green, and the third sub-pixels  404  are white. In  FIG. 15   a , the first sub-pixels  402  are green, and the second sub-pixels  403  are white, and the third sub-pixels  404  are blue, and the fourth sub-pixels  405  are red. The pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 15   b  is the result after rotating the pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 15   a  by 90 degrees along the clockwise direction. Namely, the second sub-pixels  403  are blue, and the third sub-pixels  404  are white. In  FIG. 16   a , the first sub-pixels  402  are green, and the second sub-pixels  403  are blue, and the third sub-pixels  404  are red, and the fourth sub-pixels  405  are white. The pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 16   b  is the result after rotating the pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 16   a  by 90 degrees along the clockwise direction. To phrase another words, the second sub-pixels  403  are red, and the third sub-pixels  404  are blue. In  FIG. 17   a , the first sub-pixels  402  are green, and the second sub-pixels  403  are white, and the third sub-pixels  404  are red, and the fourth sub-pixels  405  are blue. The pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 17   b  is the result after rotating the pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 17   a  by 90 degrees along the clockwise direction. To phrase another words, the second sub-pixels  403  are red, and the third sub-pixels  404  are white. In  FIG. 18   a , the first sub-pixels  402  are blue, and the second sub-pixels  403  are white, and the third sub-pixels  404  are green, and the fourth sub-pixels  405  are red. The pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 18   b  is the result after rotating the pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 18   a  by 90 degrees along the clockwise direction. To phrase another words, the second sub-pixels  403  are green, and the third sub-pixels  404  are white. In  FIG. 19   a , the first sub-pixels  402  are blue, and the second sub-pixels  403  are green, and the third sub-pixels  404  are red, and the fourth sub-pixels  405  are white. The pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 19   b  is the result after rotating the pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 19   a  by 90 degrees along the clockwise direction. To phrase another words, the second sub-pixels  403  are red, and the third sub-pixels  404  are green. In  FIG. 20   a , the first sub-pixels  402  are blue, and the second sub-pixels  403  are red, and the third sub-pixels  404  are white, and the fourth sub-pixels  405  are green. The pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 20   b  is the result after rotating the pixel unit matrix of  FIG. 20   a  by 90 degrees along the clockwise direction. To phrase another words, the second sub-pixels  403  are white, and the third sub-pixels  404  are red. 
         [0038]    As will be understood by persons skilled in the art, the foregoing preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrative of the present invention rather than limiting the present invention. Having described the invention in connection with a preferred embodiment, modification will now suggest itself to those skilled in the art. Thus, the invention is not to be limited to this embodiment, but rather the invention is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, the scope of which should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures. While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, it will be appreciated that various changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.