Image display control method

Abstract

This image display unit includes an image display panel and a barrier liquid crystal panel. The barrier liquid crystal panel appropriately controls a potential applied to one or the plurality of electrodes forming the scan-side transparent electrode ( 105 ) and the common-side transparent electrode ( 104 ) according to an operation mode that is specified, changes a slit width and a slit pitch of the slits ( 100 S, and switches a function to one of the three functions of the 2D display function that emits image light for 2D display from the pixels, the 3D display function that emits image light for 3D display from each of pixels for left eye and pixels for right eye of the pixels, and the viewing angle control function that controls a viewing angle of the image light from the pixels.

1 . An image display control method in an image display unit at least comprising:
 an image display panel that forms pixels to display an image; and   a barrier liquid crystal panel that is arranged above the image display panel and forms slits that serve as barriers to shield image light from the pixels of the image display panel, wherein   the barrier liquid crystal panel forming the slits includes a scan-side transparent electrode and a common-side transparent electrode having sets of electrodes each set formed of an electrode group of one or a plurality of electrodes set to have predetermined one or a plurality of electrode widths corresponding to arrangement intervals of the pixels, the scan-side transparent electrode and the common-side transparent electrode being arranged corresponding to positions of the pixels, and   the barrier liquid crystal panel appropriately controls a potential applied to one or the plurality of electrodes forming each of the scan-side transparent electrode and the common-side transparent electrode according to an operation mode that is specified to change a slit width and a slit pitch of the slits formed in the barrier liquid crystal panel, thereby switching to one of three functions of a two dimension (2D) display function that emits image light for 2D display from the pixels of the image display panel as a first mode, a three dimension (3D) display function that emits image light for 3D display from each of pixels for left eye and pixels for right eye of the pixels of the image display panel as a second mode, and a viewing angle control function that controls a viewing angle of the image light from the pixels of the image display panel as a third mode.   
     
     
         2 . The image display control method according to  claim 1 , wherein
 in the first mode, each of one or the plurality of electrodes forming each of the scan-side transparent electrode and the common-side transparent electrode is either fixed to a common potential or set to an OFF state, thereby emitting the image light for two dimension (2D) display from the pixels of the image display panel from the barrier liquid crystal panel without forming the slits in the barrier liquid crystal panel,   in the second mode, by applying an alternating potential to an electrode predetermined as an electrode for 3D display among the plurality of electrodes forming the scan-side transparent electrode and fixing one or the plurality of electrodes forming the common-side transparent electrode and rest of the electrodes of the scan-side transparent electrode to a common potential, the slits having a slit width and a slit pitch equal to the arrangement intervals of the pixels are formed in the barrier liquid crystal panel so that side edges of the slits are arranged in positions opposed to centers of the pixels, to emit the image light for three dimension (3D) display from each of pixels for left eye and pixels for right eye of the pixels of the image display panel to each direction from the barrier liquid crystal panel, and   in the third mode, by applying an alternating potential to an electrode predetermined as an electrode for viewing angle control among the plurality of electrodes forming the scan-side transparent electrode and fixing one or the plurality of electrodes forming the common-side transparent electrode and rest of the electrodes of the scan-side transparent electrode to a common potential, the slits having a slit width and a slit pitch narrower than the arrangement intervals of the pixels are formed in the barrier liquid crystal panel, and the viewing angle of the image light from the pixels of the image display panel is limited to a range specified for viewing angle control to emit the image light from the barrier liquid crystal panel.   
     
     
         3 . The image display control method according to  claim 1 , wherein the scan-side transparent electrode is formed in any one of a horizontal direction and a vertical direction or formed so as to be perpendicular to both of the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, and the common-side transparent electrode is formed in a direction same to a direction in which the scan-side transparent electrode is arranged or in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the scan-side transparent electrode is arranged, or formed so as to be perpendicular to both of the horizontal direction and the vertical direction. 
     
     
         4 . The image display control method according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 the scan-side transparent electrode is formed of electrode groups, each electrode group including a set of five electrodes of one first electrode having an electrode width substantially half of the arrangement intervals of the pixels, two second electrodes arranged on the respective sides of the first electrode, the second electrodes each having an electrode width substantially one fourth of the arrangement intervals of the pixels, and two third electrodes arranged outside of the respective two second electrodes, the third electrodes each having an electrode width substantially one fourth of the arrangement intervals of the pixels, and a gap part is provided between sets of the electrode groups, the gap part having a width substantially half of the arrangement intervals of the pixels,   in the first mode, the first electrode, the second electrodes, the third electrodes, and one or the plurality of electrodes forming the common-side transparent electrode are fixed to a common potential or set to an OFF state,   in the second mode, an alternating potential is applied to the first electrode and the second electrodes, and the third electrodes and one or the plurality of electrodes forming the common-side transparent electrode are fixed to a common potential, and   in the third mode, an alternating potential is applied to the second electrodes and the third electrodes, and the first electrode and one or the plurality of electrodes forming the common-side transparent electrode are fixed to a common potential.   
     
     
         5 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing an image display control program, the non-transitory computer readable medium executing the image display control method according to  claim 1  as a program that can be executed by a computer. 
     
     
         6 . The image display control method according to  claim 2 , wherein the scan-side transparent electrode is formed in any one of a horizontal direction and a vertical direction or formed so as to be perpendicular to both of the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, and the common-side transparent electrode is formed in a direction same to a direction in which the scan-side transparent electrode is arranged or in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the scan-side transparent electrode is arranged, or formed so as to be perpendicular to both of the horizontal direction and the vertical direction. 
     
     
         7 . The image display control method according to  claim 2 , wherein:
 the scan-side transparent electrode is formed of electrode groups each electrode group including a set of five electrodes of one first electrode having an electrode width substantially half of the arrangement intervals of the pixels, two second electrodes arranged on the respective sides of the first electrode, the second electrodes each having an electrode width substantially one fourth of the arrangement intervals of the pixels, and two third electrodes arranged outside of the respective two second electrodes, the third electrodes each having an electrode width substantially one fourth of the arrangement intervals of the pixels, and a gap part is provided between sets of the electrode groups, the gap part having a width substantially half of the arrangement intervals of the pixels,   in the first mode, the first electrode, the second electrodes, the third electrodes, and one or the plurality of electrodes forming the common-side transparent electrode are fixed to a common potential or set to an OFF state,   in the second mode, an alternating potential is applied to the first electrode and the second electrodes, and the third electrodes and one or the plurality of electrodes forming the common-side transparent electrode are fixed to a common potential, and   in the third mode, an alternating potential is applied to the second electrodes and the third electrodes, and the first electrode and one or the plurality of electrodes forming the common-side transparent electrode are fixed to a common potential.   
     
     
         8 . The image display control method according to  claim 3 , wherein:
 the scan-side transparent electrode is formed of electrode groups, each electrode group including a set of five electrodes of one first electrode having an electrode width substantially half of the arrangement intervals of the pixels, two second electrodes arranged on the respective sides of the first electrode, the second electrodes each having an electrode width substantially one fourth of the arrangement intervals of the pixels, and two third electrodes arranged outside of the respective two second electrodes, the third electrodes each having an electrode width substantially one fourth of the arrangement intervals of the pixels, and a gap part is provided between sets of the electrode groups, the gap part having a width substantially half of the arrangement intervals of the pixels,   in the first mode, the first electrode, the second electrodes, the third electrodes, and one or the plurality of electrodes forming the common-side transparent electrode are fixed to a common potential or set to an OFF state,   in the second mode, an alternating potential is applied to the first electrode and the second electrodes, and the third electrodes and one or the plurality of electrodes forming the common-side transparent electrode are fixed to a common potential, and   in the third mode, an alternating potential is applied to the second electrodes and the third electrodes, and the first electrode and one or the plurality of electrodes forming the common-side transparent electrode are fixed to a common potential.