Abstract:
A displaying panel and a displaying apparatus therewith are disclosed. The displaying panel includes a first substrate, a second substrate joined onto the first substrate, a light-masking structure, and a plurality of light modulation units. The light-masking structure and the light modulation units are disposed between the substrates. An edge of the second substrate is aligned with or beyond a corresponding edge of the first substrate. The light modulation units are disposed corresponding to a plurality of light-penetrating portions of the light-masking structure, for controlling whether light passes through the displaying panel to generate plane images. The light-masking structure wholly covers an edge portion including the edge of the second substrate. Therefore, the displaying panel can directly use the light-masking structure to perform as a border frame for shielding the interior structure and light emitted from the interior without external covers or frames.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The invention relates to a displaying panel and a displaying apparatus, and especially relates to a displaying panel using a light-masking structure for separating pixels and a displaying apparatus having the displaying panel. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0004]    Current widely-used displaying apparatuses are usually designed with active light source, liquid crystal display for example. The back light therefor is emitted from below the liquid crystal panel to generate images. The liquid crystal display is usually based on modular design, so the structure and function for every component is just designed for its function requirement leading to the liquid crystal display requiring many individual components for satisfying its whole specification requirement. In the configuration of the current liquid crystal display for example, the back light module is in charge mainly of providing back light. The liquid crystal panel is in charge mainly of controlling whether the back light passes through to generate required color light for each pixel. The structural frame is in charge of connecting, supporting, and fixing related or close disposed components. The appearance decoration part is in charge of providing an appearance visual effect for the whole apparatus. The modular design is contributive to simplifying product design and increase reuse rate of design, but the amount of the components is hard to be reduced leading to difficulty in reducing product volume. Furthermore, the assembly of the components usually unavoidably involve seam or step therebetween so that the product appearance hardly provides a visual effect of integral whole to users. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    An objective of the invention is to provide a displaying panel, which uses a light-masking structure in its structure to provide a structure for efficient masking light for the displaying panel, so that an apparatus having the displaying panel can use less or even not use additional light-masking components for reducing the volume of the apparatus. 
         [0006]    The displaying panel of the invention has a displaying direction and includes a first substrate, a second substrate, a light-masking structure, and a plurality of light modulation units. The first substrate has a first edge. The second substrate is joined onto the first substrate in the displaying direction. The second substrate has a second edge and an edge portion including the second edge. The second edge is aligned with or beyond the first edge. The light-masking structure is disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. The light-masking structure wholly covers the edge portion in the displaying direction and has a plurality of light-penetrating portions. The light modulation units are disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate corresponding to the light-penetrating portions, for individually controlling light selectively emitting out of the second substrate in the displaying direction to generate plane images. In an embodiment, the displaying panel can be a liquid crystal panel. The light-masking structure is a black matrix inside the structure of the liquid crystal panel and is usually used for separating filter areas in different colors. However, the invention is not limited thereto. Therefore, in the configuration of the displaying panel of the invention, the light-masking structure extends till the edge of the second substrate, so as to efficiently shield circuits on the first substrate or other components and structures and also to be conducive to reduction of light leakage of the displaying panel to a certain extent. Therefore, an apparatus using this displaying panel can use less additional light-masking components so as to reduce the volume of the apparatus. 
         [0007]    Another objective of the invention is to provide a displaying apparatus. The displaying apparatus has the displaying panel of the invention so as to use less or even not use additional light-masking components, which facilitates volume control and appearance design of the displaying apparatus. 
         [0008]    The displaying apparatus of the invention includes a displaying panel, a back light device, and a structural frame. The displaying panel has a displaying direction and includes a first substrate, a second substrate, a light-masking structure, and a plurality of light modulation units. The first substrate has a first edge. The second substrate is joined onto the first substrate in the displaying direction. The second substrate has a second edge and an edge portion including the second edge. The second edge is aligned with or beyond the first edge. The light-masking structure is disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate. The light-masking structure wholly covers the edge portion in the displaying direction and has a plurality of light-penetrating portions. The light modulation units are disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate corresponding to the light-penetrating portions, for individually controlling light selectively emitting out of the second substrate in the displaying direction to generate plane images. The back light device is disposed below the displaying panel in the displaying direction, for providing the light. The structural frame is used for fixing the displaying panel and the back light device. The structural frame has a side surface. The second edge of the second substrate of the displaying panel is near or aligned with the side surface. Similarly, in the configuration of the displaying panel of the displaying apparatus, the light-masking structure extends till the edge of the second substrate, so as to efficiently shield circuits on the first substrate or other components, structures and partial structure (especially non-lighting components) of the back light device and also to reduce using additional light-masking components to reduce the volume of the displaying apparatus. Furthermore, the light-masking structure extends substantially near the side surface of the structural frame, so that from a top view in the displaying direction of the displaying panel, the profile of the displaying panel is almost regarded as the profile of the displaying apparatus. The light-masking structure then can be regarded as a border of the displaying apparatus, which improves flexibility of the appearance design of the displaying apparatus. 
         [0009]    These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a sectional view of a displaying apparatus of a preferred embodiment according to the invention. 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is an enlarged sectional view of a part of the displaying apparatus in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a top view of the displaying apparatus in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is a sectional view of a displaying apparatus according to another embodiment. 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  is a top view of the displaying apparatus in  FIG. 4 . 
           [0015]      FIG. 6  is a sectional view of a displaying apparatus according to another embodiment. 
           [0016]      FIG. 7  is a top view of the displaying apparatus in  FIG. 6 . 
           [0017]      FIG. 8  is a sectional view of a displaying apparatus according to another embodiment. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0018]    Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which is a sectional view of a displaying apparatus  1  of a preferred embodiment according to the invention. The displaying apparatus  1  includes a displaying panel  10 , a back light device  12 , a structural frame  14 , and a control module  16 . The displaying panel  10  has a displaying direction  10   a . The back light device  12  is disposed below the displaying panel  10  in the displaying direction  10   a , for providing required light for the displaying panel  10 . The structural frame  14  is used for fixing the displaying panel  10  and the back light device  12 . The displaying panel  10  is capable of selectively controlling the light produced by the back light device  12  to pass through to generate plane images. It is added that, in practice, the displaying apparatus  1  can be applied to but not limited to smart phones, displays and other electronic apparatus having function of displaying images. For different electronic apparatus, there may be other electronic components involved, which is known by people ordinarily skilled in the art and is not described in details. For simple illustration, in the specification, the figures only show components directly relevant to the technique features of the invention. 
         [0019]    Please also refer to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is an enlarged sectional view of a part of the displaying apparatus  1 ; therein, the interior structure of the displaying panel  10  is shown to be exaggerated. Further, the displaying panel  10  includes a first substrate  102 , a second substrate  104 , an optical filter structure  106 , alight-masking structure  108 , and a plurality of light modulation units  110 . The first substrate  102  has a first edge  102   a . The second substrate  104  is joined onto the first substrate  102  in the displaying direction  10   a . The second substrate  104  has a second edge  104   a  and includes an edge portion  104   b  including the second edge  104   a . The second edge  104   a  is aligned with the first edge  102   a . The light-masking structure  108  is disposed between the first substrate  102  and the second substrate  104 . The light-masking structure  108  wholly covers the edge portion  104   b  in the displaying direction  10   a  and has a plurality of light-penetrating portions  108   a . The optical filter structures  106  are disposed between the first substrate  102  and the second substrate  104  corresponding to light-penetrating portions  108   a . The light modulation units  110  are disposed between the first substrate  102  and the second substrate  104  corresponding to the light-penetrating portions  108   a  and electrically connected to the control module  16  by a connection circuit  112  formed on the first substrate  102  and a flexible flat cable  17 . Therefore, the control module  16  uses the light modulation units  110  to individually control the light produced by the back light device  12  selectively emitting out of the second substrate  104  in the displaying direction  10   a  to generate plane images. The structural frame  14  has a side surface  14   a . The second edge  104   a  of the second substrate  104  of the displaying panel  10  is aligned with the side surface  14   a.    
         [0020]    In the embodiment, the displaying panel  10  is a liquid crystal panel. The optical filter structure  106  is used for produce different color lights, such as red light, green light, and blue light. The light modulation units  110  are realized on the basis of light penetration mechanism of liquid crystal; however, the invention is not limited thereto. In the embodiment, the optical filter structure  106  is formed on the second substrate  104 . The light-masking structure  108  is the black matrix for the liquid crystal panel and is also formed on the second substrate  104  capable of dividing the optical filter structure  106  into a plurality of color areas. In logic, the light modulation unit  110  includes two electrodes  1102   a  and  1102   b  formed on the first substrate  102  and the second substrate  104  respectively, a liquid crystal  1104  disposed between the electrodes  1102   a  and  1102   b , and a semiconductor switch  1106  formed on the first substrate  102  and electrically connected to the electrodes  1102   a  and  1102   b . In practice, the electrodes  1102   b  are taken as a single common electrode. The electrodes  1102   a  and the semiconductor switches  1106  are realized by forming a thin-film-transistor matrix on the first substrate  102 . The electrodes  1102   a  function as cell electrodes and are controlled by corresponding semiconductor switches  1106 . The liquid crystal  1104  is filled between the first substrate  102  and the second substrate  104 . Spacers are involved to maintain a distance between the first substrate  102  and the second substrate  104 . Other descriptions of the structure and operation mechanism of the liquid crystal panel are known by people ordinarily skilled in the art and are not described in further details. 
         [0021]    In the embodiment, because the light-masking structure  108  covers the edge portion  104   b  wholly; that is, the interior structure of the displaying panel  10  at the first edge  102   a  or the second edge  104   a  is efficiently shielded by the light-masking structure  108 . So, in logic, additional border is needless for shielding. For users, the light-masking structure  108  at the first edge  102   a  or the second edge  104   a  can also function as a border, where the surface of the displaying apparatus  1  can be kept smooth and continuous, which is conducive to beauty appearance of the displaying apparatus  1 . In addition, in the embodiment, the first substrate  102  is directly attached onto the structural frame  14 . Because the displaying panel  10  usually includes a polarizing sheet on the first substrate  102 , the structural frame  14  can be formed with a step structure in coordination with the polarizing sheet, so as to improve the sealability and junction strength of the displaying panel  10  with the structural frame  14 . 
         [0022]    In the embodiment, the semiconductor switch  1106  is disposed on the first substrate  102 . The connection circuit  112  is also formed on the first substrate  102 . For the convenience of electrically connecting the control module  16  and the light modulation units  110 , the connection circuit  112  needs to be relatively exposed out of the second substrate  104 , that is, where the second substrate  104  does not cover the first substrate  102 . Therefore, in a practical product design, the displaying panel  10  can be disposed to be aligned with the structural frame  14  at most three sides of the structural frame  14 , as shown by  FIG. 3 . Therein, the border effect by the light-masking structure  108  in the displaying panel  10  is indicated by hatched lines in the figure. However, the invention is not limited thereto. Please refer to  FIG. 4 , which is a sectional view of a displaying apparatus  3  according to another embodiment. In the embodiment, a displaying panel  30  of the displaying apparatus  3  is similar in structure to the displaying panel  10  of the displaying apparatus  1 . The main difference is that in the embodiment, the connection circuit  112  is formed on the second substrate  104 , and the semiconductor switch  1106  on the first substrate  102  can be electrically connected to the connection circuit  112  by an anisotropic conductive film. In such case, the connection circuit  112  is relatively exposed out of the first substrate  102 . The second substrate  104  then covers the whole first substrate  102 . The circumference of the second substrate  104  can be totally aligned with the outer side surface of the structural frame  14 , so that the top view of the displaying apparatus  3  almost shows only the displaying panel  30 . Therefore, the displaying apparatus  3  can provide users a full flat screen with visual effect of seamless and integral whole, as shown by  FIG. 5 . Therein, the border effect by the light-masking structure  108  in the displaying panel  30  is indicated by hatched lines in the figure. It is added that, in practice, the second substrate  104  can be beyond the edge of the first substrate  102 ; that is, the second edge  104   a  is beyond the first edge  102   a . Thereby, it is convenient to design the width of the border formed by the light-masking structure  108 . 
         [0023]    In the above embodiments, if it is considered that light may leak out at the edges of the displaying panels  10  and  30 , in practice, the edges of the displaying panels  10  and  30  can be coated with layers for absorbing light, but the invention is not limited thereto. Please refer to  FIG. 6 , which is a sectional view of a displaying apparatus  5  according to another embodiment. The displaying apparatus  5  is similar in structure to the displaying apparatus  3 . The main difference is that a structural frame  54  of the displaying apparatus  5  includes a protrusive side wall  542 . The side wall  542  includes a side surface  54   a  of the structural frame  54 . The second edge  104   a  of the second substrate  104  contacts the side wall  542 . In such case, the second edge  104   a  of the second substrate  104  is just near to, not aligned with the side surface  54   a . In the configuration of the displaying apparatus  5 , the side wall  542  has the function of absorbing light as the light-absorbing layers; besides, the side wall  542  is conducive to the disposition of the displaying panel  10  and the structural strength of the whole displaying apparatus  5 . Furthermore, the second substrate  104  of the displaying apparatus  5  covers the whole first substrate  102 , so in the embodiment, the protrusive side wall  542  can surround the circumference of the second substrate  104 . As shown by the top view of the displaying apparatus  5  in  FIG. 7 , when the thickness of the side wall  542  is thin relative to the displaying panel  10 , the displaying apparatus  5  can still provide users a visual effect of full flat screen. Furthermore, the side wall  542  can provide users an effect of decorating the fringe of the displaying panel  10 . Therein, the border effect by the light-masking structure  108  in the displaying panel  10  is indicated by hatched lines in the figure. 
         [0024]    In the above embodiment, the semiconductor switch  1106  and the optical filter structure  106  are disposed on the first substrate  102  and the second substrate  104  respectively, but the invention is not limited thereto. Please refer to  FIG. 8 , which is a sectional view of a displaying panel  70  according to another embodiment. In the embodiment, the semiconductor switches  1106  of the light modulation units  110  are formed on the optical filter structure  106  and the light-masking structure  108 . The connection circuit  112  of the displaying panel  70  is also formed directly on the second substrate  104 . Thereby, the second substrate  104  can be structurally designed to cover the whole first substrate  102 , so as to obtain the effect of full flat screen. For example, the displaying panel  70  replaces the displaying panel  30  to be used in the displaying apparatus  3  shown in  FIG. 4 . 
         [0025]    Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.