Radiant energy – Photocells; circuits and apparatus – With circuit for evaluating a web – strand – strip – or sheet
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-07
2001-05-15
Font, Frank G. (Department: 2877)
Radiant energy
Photocells; circuits and apparatus
With circuit for evaluating a web, strand, strip, or sheet
C356S244000, C349S192000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06232616
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an LCD (liquid crystal display) panel test apparatus. In particular, it relates to an apparatus for automatically testing an LCD panel to detect defects of the LCD panel by providing a mechanism for moving a photo detector and rotating the LCD panel.
DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
An LCD panel is compact, light, ergonomic, and non-radiative. Thus, it has been widely applied to notebook computers.
However, when a user operates the notebook computer, he has to adjust the LCD panel to a proper angle since the LCD panel is easily influenced by the environment. If the quality of the LCD panel can be assured, the influence by the environment to the LCD panel can be minimized.
In testing the LCD panel to detect defects such as display unevenness, a test apparatus as shown in
FIG. 4
has been used to conduct various tests.
The conventional apparatus as shown in
FIG. 4
includes a polarizing plate
110
provided above the LCD panel
100
to be tested, a polarizing plate
120
provided below the LCD panel
100
, a back light
130
provided under the polarizing plate
120
, a camera
160
to monitor light signals passing through the polarizing plate
110
, a polarizing plate
190
mounted on the same plane of the polarizing plate
110
, and a polarizing plate driver
210
.
The LCD test apparatus as shown in
FIG. 4
further includes an analog-digital converter
170
to convert an analog signal from the camera
160
into digital data, an image processing CPU
200
which processes the digital data from the analog-digital converter
170
, an LCD pattern generator
180
to generate a display pattern for the LCD panel
100
to be tested, and an LCD panel driver
150
which provides a drive signal to drive the LCD panel
100
to be tested through contact units
140
.
Therefore, in the conventional LCD panel test methods, the LCD panel test apparatus is capable of automatically testing an LCD panel by means of rotating one or more polarizing plates with respect to the LCD panel. However, both the LCD panel to be tested and the camera are fixed; thus, the LCD panel tested by the conventional LCD panel test apparatus can only be tested at one angle. As a result, the conventional LCD panel test apparatus can not provide the testing indicating how different angles influence the quality of the LCD panel.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an LCD panel test apparatus that can eliminate the above problems in the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an LCD panel test apparatus that is capable of automatically testing an LCD panel to detect brightness defects of the LCD panel at different angles.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an LCD panel test apparatus that is capable of testing an LCD panel with high efficiency without being subject to the errors caused by an operator when he manually moves the LCD panel.
To this end, according to the invention, there is provided an LCD panel test apparatus for testing a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel of a notebook computer by a photo detector. The LCD panel test apparatus includes a base, a moving device, a rotary device and a clamping holder. The moving device is disposed on the base and is provided with a mounting portion for mounting the photo detector. The position of the photo detector can be changed by the movement of the moving device. The rotary device is disposed on the base. The clamping holder, for clamping the notebook computer, is disposed on the rotary device. The relative position between the notebook computer and the photo detector can be changed by the movement of the moving device and the rotation of the rotary device and the clamping holder.
According to an aspect of the invention, the moving device further comprises at least one first moving portion, a second moving portion and a third moving portion. The first moving portion is disposed on the base. The second moving portion is disposed on the first moving portion and is capable of moving on the first moving portion along a first direction. The third moving portion is disposed on the second moving portion and is capable of moving on the second moving portion along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The mounting portion is attached to the third moving portion and is capable of moving along an axis perpendicular to both the first direction and the second direction.
According to an aspect of the invention, the LCD panel test apparatus further comprises a rotary table, a first step motor, a second step motor, a third step motor, a fourth step motor and an index plate. The rotary table is disposed on the base and is connected to the first moving portion for controlling the movement of the second moving portion. The first step motor is disposed on and connected to the third moving portion for controlling the movement of the mounting portion. The second step motor is disposed on and connected to the second moving portion for controlling the movement of the third moving portion. The third step motor is disposed on the rotary device and is connected to the clamping holder for controlling the rotation of the clamping holder. The index plate is disposed on the base and is connected to the rotary device. The fourth step motor is disposed on the base and is connected to the index plate for controlling the rotation of the rotary device.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5032735 (1991-07-01), Kobayashi et al.
patent: 5387788 (1995-02-01), Miller et al.
patent: 5825500 (1998-10-01), Iino et al.
Chen Chung-Yea
Chen Rui-Yang
Liu Ching-Yuan
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Font Frank G.
Inventec C'orporation
Smith Zandra V.
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