Radiation imagery chemistry: process – composition – or product th – Liquid crystal process – composition – or product
Reexamination Certificate
1997-11-21
2002-04-09
McPherson, John A. (Department: 1756)
Radiation imagery chemistry: process, composition, or product th
Liquid crystal process, composition, or product
C430S321000, C252S585000, C359S465000, C359S489040
Reexamination Certificate
active
06368760
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a phase sheet, a method for fabricating the same and a stereoscopic display device using the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a phase sheet for stereoscopic display allowing for a liquid crystal display device to display a stereoscopic image, a method for fabricating the same and a stereoscopic display device using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional stereoscopic display device alternately displays an image component to be viewed by the right eye (hereinafter, simply referred to as a “right-eye image component”) and an image component to be viewed by the left eye (hereinafter, simply referred to as a “left-eye image component”) at a high speed. These displayed image components are viewed by the human eyes as a stereoscopic image through a pair of spectacles in which the right-eye lens and the left-eye lens are alternately shut at a high speed. The operations of the pair of spectacles and the image display device are controlled to be synchronous with each other such that, when the right-eye lens of the spectacles is shut, the left-eye image component is perceived and that, when the left-eye lens of the spectacles is shut, the right-eye image is perceived. However, such a pair of spectacles used for stereoscopic display requires a complicated structure for alternately shutting the right-eye and the left-eye lenses at a high speed. In addition, a complicated controller for synchronizing the image components imaged via the spectacles with the image displayed on the display device is also required.
In another exemplary stereoscopic display device, a first and a second polarizer, each having a predetermined display unit, are adjacently disposed, such that the polarization directions thereof cross each other at a right angle, and polarizing films are alternately arranged on the plane of each polarizer to form a uniform arrangement pattern having a symmetry.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 7-5325 discloses a stereoscopic display device allowing for stereoscopic display by providing polarizing films corresponding to respective arrangement patterns for each of a pair of substrates disposed in a liquid crystal panel so as to face each other and by using a pair of spectacles including polarizing films having transmission axes which cross each other at a right angle and respectively correspond to the right eye and the left eye.
In general, an alignment film of a liquid crystal display used for a stereoscopic display device aligns the orientations of a liquid crystal material with a uniaxial direction by conducting a rubbing treatment. However, in the case of providing polarizing films, patterned so as to have the transmission axis directions defined in the above-described manner, for such a liquid crystal display, the stereoscopic display device is required to take either one of the following arrangements (1) and (2).
(1) An arrangement in which a Normally White (NW) mode and a Normally Black (NB) mode are associated with the left eye and the right eye, respectively.
Specifically, as shown in
FIG. 10
, in such a stereoscopic display device
10
, a pair of substrates
100
a
and
100
b
, having alignment films (not shown) which have been subjected to a rubbing treatment in a direction 45 degrees away from an arbitrary direction X and in a direction 135 degrees away from the direction X, respectively, are disposed such that the rubbing directions cross each other at a right angle. A polarizing film
101
a
is provided over the substrate
100
a.
In a region corresponding to a left-eye pixel (i.e., a region associated with the NW mode), a transmission axis
102
a
of the polarizing film
101
a
is oriented so as to be aligned with a rubbing axis
104
a
on the substrate
100
a
(i.e., in the direction 45 degrees away from the direction X). On the other hand, in a region corresponding to a right-eye pixel (i.e., a region associated with the NB mode), a transmission axis
102
b
of the polarizing film
101
a
is oriented so as to be orthogonal to the rubbing axis
104
a
on the substrate
100
a
(i.e., in the direction 135 degrees away from the direction X). Furthermore, another polarizing film
101
b
is provided so as to face the surface of the substrate
100
b
opposite to the surface thereof facing the substrate
100
a.
In both regions corresponding to a left-eye pixel and a right-eye pixel, transmission axes
103
a
and
103
b
of the polarizing film
101
b
are oriented so as to be aligned with a rubbing axis
104
b
of the substrate
100
b
(i.e., in the direction 135 degrees away from the direction X).
(2) An arrangement in which the rubbing axes of the alignment films disposed over the substrates are not aligned with the transmission axes of the polarizing films.
Specifically, as shown in
FIG. 11
, in such a stereoscopic display device
10
, a pair of substrates
100
a
and
100
b
having alignment films (not shown) which have been subjected to a rubbing treatment in a direction 45 degrees away from an arbitrary direction X and in a direction 135 degrees away from the direction X, respectively, are disposed such that these rubbing directions cross each other at a right angle. A polarizing film
111
a
is provided over the substrate
100
a.
In a region corresponding to a left-eye pixel, a transmission axis
112
a
of the polarizing film
111
a
is oriented so as to be parallel to the direction X (i.e., in the direction 0 degree away from the direction X). On the other hand, in a region corresponding to a right-eye pixel, a transmission axis
112
b
of the polarizing film
111
a
is oriented so as to be orthogonal to the direction X (i.e., in the direction 90 degrees away from the direction X). Furthermore, another polarizing film
111
b
is provided so as to face the surface of the substrate
100
b
opposite to the surface thereof facing the substrate
100
a.
In a region corresponding to a left-eye pixel, a transmission axis
113
a
of the polarizing film
111
b
is oriented so as to be orthogonal to the direction X (i.e., in the direction 90 degrees away from the direction X). On the other hand, in a region corresponding to a right-eye pixel, a transmission axis
113
b
of the polarizing film
111
b
is oriented so as to be parallel to the direction X (i.e., in the direction 0 degree away from the direction X).
However, a stereoscopic display device having the arrangement (1) or (2) has the following problems. In a stereoscopic display device having the arrangement (1), a color tone shift is caused between a resulting right-eye image component and a resulting left-eye image component. On the other hand, in a stereoscopic display device having the arrangement (2), since the vibration direction of polarized light transmitted through a liquid crystal layer existing between the substrates
100
a
and
100
b
is not aligned with any of the directions of the transmission axes of the polarizing films, a considerable amount of light is lost when the light is transmitted through the polarizing films. Consequently, an image having a satisfactory contrast ratio cannot be obtained.
Furthermore, a method for displaying a stereoscopic image by using a lenticular plate
120
as shown in
FIG. 12
is also known. In a stereoscopic display device utilizing such a method, image components viewed from different directions, e.g., a right-eye image component
122
R and a left-eye image component
122
L, are continuously represented in a stripe shape on a reverse surface (i.e., a focal plane) of the lenticular plate
120
. In front of the lenticular plate
120
, the right-eye image component
122
R and the left-eye image component
122
L can be imaged by the right and the left eyes, respectively, via a certain gap therebetween. By viewing the separate right and left image components by the right and the left eyes in this manner, a three-dimensional image (i.e., a stereoscopic image) can be perceived.
By utilizing this principle, Japanese Laid-Open Publi
McPherson John A.
Nixon & Vanderhye P.C.
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
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