JPS6232788B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a matrix display device, and more particularly, to a matrix display device, which includes a considerable number of display elements arranged in close proximity, and in which each display element assumes a different display state for an observer. The present invention relates to a display device that performs controlled matrix display.

In conventional electrically controlled dot matrix display devices, each dot is a thin plate that is rotatably arranged around an axis parallel to the plane of the array and has front and back reflective surfaces with different reflectances on both sides. It consisted of members, so that letters and numbers were formed from the selective combination of reflective points. For viewing in the dark, conventional displays required front illumination by a light source located fairly far from the display. Therefore, at night, it was disadvantageous compared to matrix type display devices in which each dot consisted of a tungsten light source.

The present invention has been made to eliminate the drawbacks of conventional display devices, and its purpose is to provide a display device that can display a sufficient amount of light and high quality both during the day and at night. Another object of the invention is to reduce the number of operations required when setting a display device to a predetermined display state.

An embodiment of the display device according to the present invention includes two areas arranged in rows in the horizontal and vertical directions, a light-emitting area that emits light to the viewer, and a reflective area that reflects the light to the viewer. A two-dimensional array of display elements is provided that selectively sets a first state in which adjacent regions are simultaneously displayed to an observer and a second state in which these two regions are replaced with corresponding low reflectance regions. , can be seen both by direct light from a light source and by reflected light from the outside.

In this embodiment, the light-emitting area of each display element is a light-transmitting area in the opaque member, and each display element is a vane having a surface of high reflectivity and another surface of low reflectivity forming a reflective area. It is made up of The vane has a first position in which the vane covers the light-transmitting area and faces a low-reflectance surface toward the viewer, and a first position in which the vane covers the light-transmissive area and faces a low-reflectance surface toward the viewer; It is pivoted to a pivot near one end of the light transmitting region so as to take a second position in which the light transmitting region is directed. Further, the vane has a permanent magnet, and an electromagnet that can be excited in the opposite direction is disposed to cooperate with the permanent magnet, and is arranged to cooperate with the permanent magnet. Generates a shuttering action of the blades.

This invention allows a light source to be placed on the rear surface, provides a display with better contrast at night than a matrix display device using light bulbs, can emit light in any display color, and allows the light source to be placed inside the device body. This has the advantage of not being affected by external conditions.

The present invention not only increases the amount of light emitted by the display, but also reduces the number of steps required to operate the display element, thereby simplifying the steps. These two characteristics are
It is possible to provide a low-cost internal light-emitting type display device that has the feature that the displayed content can be clearly recognized even during the day when the light emission inside the device is stopped.

During daytime display, the amount of light emitted can be increased by turning on the internal light source. This increase in luminescence is especially useful on cloudy or foggy days.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of a display device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In Figures 1 to 5,
Rectangular openings 12 each with a shutter plate 13
1 shows a display device 10 comprising an opaque substrate 11 arranged in a matrix with equal intervals. Each shutter plate 13 is pivoted to a horizontal pivot 14,
It acts both to cover and to open the individual rectangular openings 12. In each shutter plate 13, the surface visible to the observer when covering the opening is black and matte processed so as not to reflect light, and the main part of the front surface 15 of the substrate 11 is also matte processed.
The surface visible to the viewer when each shutter plate 13 is rotated downward and the opening is opened is processed to reflect light. It is painted white or provided with a layer of reflective material 13a. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a permanent magnet 2 is attached to this side of the shutter plate and controls the opening/closing operation of the shutter plate in cooperation with an electromagnet.
4 is processed in the same way. Here, when the shutter plate 13 is opened, the support member 18, which is preferably integrally molded and protrudes from the base plate 11,
The shutter plate 13 is supported in contact with the substrate 11 at an acute angle. A bracket 16 projects from each portion of the base plate 11 corresponding to the terminal end of each shutter plate 13 and supports the pivot to allow the shutter plate 13 to rotate.

The width W of the shutter plate is set to be slightly larger than the width W of the rectangular opening, and the height H is set to be slightly larger than the height h of the rectangular opening. Therefore, the front surface 15 of the substrate 11 is in contact with the upper end and both sides of each opening.
The frame 17 is covered when the shutter plate attached to the opening is raised, and exposed when the shutter plate is lowered. This frame 17 is made of a light-reflecting material, as is the surface of the shutter on the side visible to the viewer.

The vertical movement (opening and closing movement) of each shutter plate is controlled by electromagnetic means. In this embodiment, the electromagnetic means used is an array of electromagnets 20 arranged vertically, one electromagnet corresponding to each horizontal row of apertures in a matrix. As shown in FIG. 1, the electromagnet 20 is mounted on an elongated support plate 40 and is configured to reciprocate horizontally as indicated by arrows 41 by well-known techniques, not shown. Each electromagnet 20 moves along each horizontal row of openings to sequentially control the opening and closing of a given shutter plate. Since the electromagnets 20 are selectively bipolarly energizable, the polarity of energization can be selected for each shutter plate as the electromagnets move along the matrix of openings. As shown in FIG. 2, the winding 21 of each electromagnet 20 is connectable to a DC power source 22 through a switch 23 that allows current to flow in both directions through the winding. In practice, switch 23 is preferably a semiconductor switching element that can be synchronized when electromagnet 20 passes through the shutter plate.

A permanent magnet 24 of opposite polarity is secured near the pivot of each shutter plate 13. The positions of the magnetic poles are uniform for all shutter plates, with the south pole located near the axis and the north pole located away from the axis. If the upper part of the electromagnet 20 is excited to the north pole and the lower part to the south pole with the shutter plate shown in FIG. 2 closed, the permanent magnet 24 will be repelled and the shutter plate 13 will rotate and the It will be in the open state as shown in the figure. When the shutter plate is open and the electromagnet 20 is excited so that an S pole is formed at the top and a N pole is formed at the bottom, the permanent magnet 24
is repulsed again, and the shutter plate 13 rotates and returns to the closed state.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the shutter plate 13 is open, light from the light source 30 disposed on the rear surface of the substrate 11 as shown in FIG. as shown by the arrow 31 in the figure. On the other hand, the light source 32 on the front side of the substrate 11
The light emitted from the shutter plate 13 and incident on the exposed reflective surface 13a of the shutter plate 13 is also reflected as shown by the arrow 33 and reaches the observer's eyes. When the shutter plate is in the open state, the shutter plate is supported vertically at an acute angle by the support 18, so the amount of light emitted from the light source 32 at the top, reflected by the shutter plate, and reaching the observer's eyes. will be increased. This light source 32 is, for example, daylight or an indoor light. A sheet that diffuses light but is translucent is attached to the back of the opening or inside the opening. Therefore, when the shutter plate is open, some of the light from the outside is reflected on the front surface of the display device, increasing the amount of light emitted by the display device during the day. Of course, even at night, light from the rear passes through the aperture and is diffused, providing the advantage that the display can be viewed from a location away from directly in front of the display device.

The display device described above is designed to have two stable states due to gravity, but the soft iron pin 3
By using 7 and 38, it may be designed to take two stable states also by magnetic force. Each of the soft iron pins 37, 38 is attracted to the permanent magnet 24 in each stable state. opening 12
A pin 37 extending across the opening from the vertical end of the shutter contacts the end of the magnet 24 when the shutter is closed, and a pin 38 disposed within the support 18 contacts the magnet 24 when the shutter is opened.

Ideally, the shutter plate 13 should be as small as possible and very thin to increase operating speed. The shutter plate and the permanent magnet are integrally formed from a permanently magnetizable material, for example by injection casting.

Figures 6a and 6b show the shutter plate in its open and closed state.
The permanent magnet 24 shown in FIGS. 2-5 is here replaced by a cylindrical magnet 25 mounted in the center of the shaft 14 of the shutter plate and magnetized parallel to the shaft. That is, one side of the diameter 26 is magnetized as a north pole and the other side as a south pole. In this case, the electromagnet 20' has a rod shape whose axis is perpendicular to the shutter array. As shown in FIG. 6a, in order to open the shutter plate from the closed state, the electromagnet 2
Winding 21' at 0' is energized such that electromagnet 20' generates an adjacent magnetic pole (in this case the north pole) of permanent magnet 25. The diameter 26 that separates the N-pole region and the S-pole region of the permanent magnet 25 is inclined with respect to the vertical direction and is asymmetrical with respect to the electromagnet 20'. The interaction of 20' causes magnet 25 to generate a clockwise rotational torque of the shutter plate as shown. When the shutter plate is closed, the light beam 31 emitted from the light source placed at the rear of the substrate 11 is blocked by the shutter plate. When the shutter plate is open as shown in FIG. On the other hand, light from a light source on the front side (observer side) is reflected by the reflective surface of the shutter plate as indicated by an arrow 33 in the figure. From the open state shown in FIG. 6b, the shutter plate returns to the closed state by magnetizing the end of the electromagnet 20' on the magnet 25 side to the south pole. Since the open state of the shutter plate 13 is limited by the support 11a, the shutter plate will be closed again when the electromagnet 20' is energized to generate a torque that rotates the magnet 25 counterclockwise. .

Here, the electromagnet 20' is being moved at a constant speed, and the shutter plate may bounce back, especially when the shutter plate is closed. In order to eliminate this drawback, a moving electromagnet member is used in which the magnetic poles of each electromagnet are restrained by soft iron members 27 and 28, as shown in FIG. Here, an end surface 20'a of the electromagnet 20' around which the winding 21' is wound faces a shutter plate (not shown). The soft iron members 27, 28 have side surfaces 27a, 28a facing the same plane as the end surface 20'a of the electromagnet 20', and are arranged symmetrically with respect to the electromagnet 20'. With this arrangement, when the shutter plate returns to the closed state as shown in FIG. interacts with the shutter plate to maintain its closed state and prevent the shutter plate from rebounding.

Electromagnets 20, 20' mounted in an array on the same support plate 40 are arranged to move in correspondence with the shutter array. As a result, when the shutter plate is opened, light is allowed to pass through the opening. Although not shown, an embodiment in which a horizontally arranged electromagnet array is arranged to move vertically is also conceivable. This embodiment provides rapid display operation in some cases.

One embodiment of the display device described above may also be configured to have different display colors. This configuration will be explained below with reference to FIG. In FIG. 8, four adjacent display elements are configured to display different colors. In the figure, all four elements of the display element group are displayed at the same time, which is only one mode, and in other modes only three, two, and one elements of the display element group are displayed. . A display device consists of a fairly large number of display elements, and when viewed from a considerable distance, each element appears as a dot of one color due to the combination of the displayed elements.

Each display element group has a different color diffusion member 35.
It consists of four apertures with apertures 35r, 35y, and 35w, each of which transmits blue, red, yellow, and white light. Each aperture is provided with a shutter plate whose reflective surface is coated with substances 13b, 13r, 13y, and 13w of colors corresponding to the apertures.

During the day, the display color is determined by external light reflected by the reflective surface of a predetermined shutter plate. On the other hand, at night, the color of the reflected light from the outside is supplemented by colored light that passes through the diffusion member provided in the opening. Also, 4
It is clear that more than just color display elements can be controlled in a similar manner.

Next, FIGS. 9 and 10 show display states when ambient light is strong and when ambient light is weak in an embodiment of the 7-segment display device according to the present invention. In each figure, all display elements that can actually emit light are shown, and these display the number "8". In FIG. 9, seven shutter plate reflective surfaces 41-47 are shown, each of which has adjacent light-diffusing but translucent apertures 51-47.
7 and emits light, unlike the black front surface of the substrate 11, which is entirely opaque.

FIG. 11 shows details of the configuration of the main parts of the display device shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. An aperture 1 in the shape of a predetermined display element is provided at a predetermined position in an opaque substrate 11.
2 is open. Each aperture 12 is controlled by a shutter plate 13 moved by electromagnets 61, 62, 64 magnetizable in opposite directions. These electromagnets 61, 62, 64 cooperate with a permanent magnet 24 attached to the shutter plate. Permanent magnet 24
The direction of the magnetic poles is perpendicular to the plane of the shutter plate. The front surface 15 of the substrate 11 is painted in a color with low reflectance, for example black. On the other hand, the surfaces 41, 42, 44 of the shutter plate that are visible when the opening 12 is not covered
has been processed to have a considerably high reflectance. The opening 12 includes members 51, 52, 5 that diffuse light.
4 and placed at the rear of the substrate 11
Removes flashes emitted from.

Next, FIGS. 12 and 13 show embodiments with particularly high display luminous efficiency. An arcuate, opaque mask 70 with an aperture 71 is positioned between the viewer and a vertically elongated fluorescent lamp 72 disposed within the recess of the mask. Each aperture 71 has a curved shutter plate 73 pivoted on a vertical pivot 74 proximate the terminal end of each aperture in mask 70. This shutter plate 73 has two states: a first state (closed state) in which the corresponding opening is covered and the convex surface 73a of the shutter plate with low reflectance is exposed to the observer; It takes two states: open state and second state (open state). A concave reflecting mirror 75 is disposed at the rear of each fluorescent lamp 72 so that when the shutter is opened, a portion of the light from the fluorescent lamp 72 is reflected and exits from the opening 71. . This reflecting mirror 75 is formed by coating a material with high light reflectance on a concave surface portion 76 that laterally extends from the mask 70 to form a projecting portion 76a. The remaining light from the fluorescent lamp 72 also reaches the viewer when the shutter is opened, either directly through the opening or reflected off the concave surface 73b of the shutter plate 73. When the shutter is opened, the shutter plate 73 is attached to the projecting portion 76 of the concave portion 76.
It is placed along the top of a. Overhang 76 that will be visible to the observer when the shutter is closed
The concave surface 76b of a is processed to have a low reflectance.

Each shutter plate 73 has a permanent magnet 77 that cooperates with an electromagnet 78 (see FIG. 13) that can be magnetized in both directions to realize its opening and closing operation. electromagnet 78
Although one electromagnet 78 is provided for each shutter 73, one electromagnet 78 may be set to move along each row of the shutters in a matrix to sequentially control opening and closing of the shutter plates. The stability of the shutter plate 73 in its open and closed states is achieved by soft iron members 79, 80 which are positioned in response to the permanent magnets 77 of the shutter plate. The electromagnetic member is controlled so that when the shutter plate passes through the display element group in the first state and attempts to maintain that state, the electromagnetic member does not cover the path of the light beam and exposes the display element group. ing.

A light diffusing member 81 shown in FIG. 13 is placed inside the mask 70 to reduce flash. Alternatively, the light diffusing member 81 may be replaced by a set of colored filters so that adjacent shutter openings display light of different colors. In other embodiments, the light is colored red, blue, green, or left unfiltered white. The reflective surface 73b of the shutter plate of each opening is painted in the same color as the filter provided at the opening.

In the configuration shown in FIG. 12, even if the fluorescent lamp 72 is not turned on during the day, the display can be clearly read by the reflective surface 73b and reflective surface 75 of the shutter plate. can. The display during the day can be highlighted by turning on the fluorescent lamp 72.
Moreover, it can be read clearly.

As described above, the present invention is characterized in that the ratio of the active area of the display device, that is, the area where the so-called display state does not always change depending on the operation of any display element, is reduced. Also, the first
The embodiments shown in FIGS. 2 and 13 also have the feature that when each display element becomes bright, most areas of the device reflect and emit ambient light.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the main parts of an embodiment of a display device according to the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are sectional views showing alternating operating states of one display element of this embodiment, and FIG. , FIG. 5 shows the second state of alternating operation.
FIG. 3 is a reduced front view of this embodiment; FIGS. 6a and b are sectional views showing alternating operating states of one display element of another embodiment according to the invention; FIG. A perspective view showing the most preferable electromagnet used in a display device, FIG. 8 is a front view showing the main parts of another application example, and FIGS. 9 and 10 are diagrams explaining an embodiment having a 7-segment display element. , FIG. 11 is an enlarged view showing the main parts of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, and FIGS. 12 and 13 are explanatory views showing still other applied examples. 11... Board, 13... Shutter board, 14...
Axis, 20...Electromagnet, 24...Permanent magnet, 2
7, 28... Soft iron member, 30, 32... Light source, 3
7, 38... Soft iron pin, 40... Support plate, 35
b, 35r, 35y, 35w...diffusion member, 70
... Mask, 72 ... Fluorescent lamp, 73 ... Curved shutter plate, 77 ... Permanent magnet, 78 ... Electromagnet.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A display device that has a display element array two-dimensionally arranged in horizontal and vertical directions, is electrically controlled, and displays information by a matrix of display elements, wherein each of the display elements is , a first state in which a light-emitting region that projects light toward the viewer, and a reflective region that is adjacent to the light-emitting region and reflects light toward the viewer are displayed on the viewer's side; Instead, it can be selectively set to a second state in which a region with low reflectance is displayed to the viewer, and the display information can be observed using both projected light and reflected light, and each of the display elements The light emitting area includes a light source common to a large number of display elements, and a large number of translucent members provided between the light source and the viewer and corresponding to each display element, and each of the display elements has a light source common to the reflective area. a wing-like member having a high reflectance surface and a low-reflectance surface and being pivoted to a pivot provided between the light-emitting region and the reflection region; a permanent magnet and a magnet means for rotating the display element to selectively set the display element to the first state and the second state, and when in the first state, the wing-like member covers the light emitting region and the light emitting area is lowered. A display device characterized in that a reflectance surface faces a viewer, and in a second state, the wing-like member exposes the light emitting region and a high reflectance surface faces the viewer. 2. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting region and the high reflectance surface can also reflect external light toward the viewer. 3. The light emitting area is approximately the same size as the high reflectance surface, and the magnet means projects light from the common light source to the viewer through the light-transmitting member. The display device according to the range 1 or 2. 4. The display device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the permanent magnet protrudes from a surface on which the wing-like member is provided. 5. The display device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the magnet means acts on the plurality of wing-like members.