DISPLAY DEVICE WITH TRANSPARENT SCREEN ELEMENT, MOTOR VEHICLE WITH DISPLAY DEVICE

Abstract

A display device includes a transparent display screen element, which has a front side and a rear side opposite to the front side, and a polarizing element arranged flatly on the rear side of the transparent display screen element. The polarizing element is to attenuate light output by at least one lighting element of the transparent display screen element. A motor vehicle may have such a display device, in particular where the display device may be arranged freestanding at or on an interior trim element of the motor vehicle.

Claims

1-14. (canceled)

15. A display device, comprising: a transparent display screen element, which has a front side and a rear side opposite to the front side, and a polarizing element arranged flatly on the rear side of the transparent display screen element, the polarizing element is to attenuate light actively output by at least one lighting element of the transparent display screen element.

16. The display device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the transparent display screen element is a display screen having transparent organic light-emitting diodes (TOLED).

17. The display device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the polarizing element has a grating structure.

18. The display device as claimed in claim 17, further comprising at least one planar reduction protection element to reduce a reflection of ambient light in the transparent display screen element, wherein the reduction protection element has a polarization filter element to cause a linear polarization of light, and the polarization element has a polarization structure oriented toward a grating direction of the grating structure.

19. The display device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the polarizing element is a vertical alignment display element.

20. The display device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the polarizing element is a twisted nematic display element.

21. The display device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the polarizing element is a combination of a twisted nematic display element and a vertical alignment display element.

22. The display device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the polarizing element is polarization filter-free.

23. The display device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the polarizing element includes a polarization filter.

24. The display device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the transparent display screen element is to output non-polarized light by the at least one lighting element.

25. The display device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the at least one lighting element of the transparent display screen element is to output polarized light.

26. A motor vehicle having: a display device including, a transparent display screen element, which has a front side and a rear side opposite to the front side, and a polarizing element arranged flatly on the rear side of the transparent display screen element, the polarizing element is to attenuate light actively output by at least one lighting element of the transparent display screen element.

27. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 26, wherein the display device arrangement is at least one display device arrangement from among arrangements of the display device being arranged as at least a part of a windowpane of the motor vehicle, or the display device being arranged freestanding at or on an interior trim element of the motor vehicle, wherein the front side of the display screen element faces towards the interior of the motor vehicle, and the rear side faces towards a windowpane of the motor vehicle.

28. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 27, wherein the transparent display screen element is a display screen having transparent organic light-emitting diodes (TOLED).

29. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 27, wherein the polarizing element has a grating structure.

30. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 29, wherein the display device further comprises at least one planar reduction protection element to reduce a reflection of ambient light in the transparent display screen element, wherein the reduction protection element has a polarization filter element to cause a linear polarization of light, and the polarization element has a polarization structure oriented toward a grating direction of the grating structure.

31. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 27, wherein the polarizing element is at least one display element from among a twisted nematic display element, a vertical alignment display element, or a combination of a twisted nematic display element and a vertical alignment display element.

32. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 27, wherein the polarizing element is at least one polarization element from among a polarization element that is polarization filter-free, or a polarization element that includes a polarization filter.

33. The motor vehicle as claimed in claim 27, wherein the display screen element is to output at least one type of light from among a non-polarized light by the at least one lighting element, or a non-polarized light by the at least one lighting element.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0028] FIG. 1 is a schematic three-dimensional representation of a motor vehicle according to an example having a display device according to an example, in a view from the outside of the motor vehicle;

[0029] FIG. 2 is a further schematic three-dimensional representation of a motor vehicle according to an example having a display device according to an example, in a view from the inside of the motor vehicle;

[0030] FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a display device according to an example in cross section; and

[0031] FIG. 4 is a schematic three-dimensional representation of a display device according to an example.

DESCRIPTION

[0032] In the inventive examples of embodiments, the described components of the examples each represent individual features, which are to be considered independently of one another and developed independently of one another. The disclosure is therefore also to include other combinations of the features of the inventive examples of embodiments than those shown. Furthermore, the described examples can also be supplemented by further features already described.

[0033] In the figures, identical reference signs each identify functionally identical elements.

[0034] FIG. 1 illustrates the principle of the display device 10 according to an example, which is shown arranged in a motor vehicle 12 by way of example in FIG. 1. The motor vehicle 12 can be, for example, a passenger vehicle, and the display device 10 can be, for example, a freestanding display screen, which can be arranged on an interior trim element 14 of the motor vehicle 12, for example on a control panel. From the three-dimensional perspective of FIG. 1, a rear side of the display device 10 can be seen, which faces towards a windowpane 16 of the motor vehicle 12, for example a windshield.

[0035] Alternatively, in an example, a freestanding display screen may be provided in the motor vehicle 12, and the display device 10 can also be as at least a part of a windowpane 16 of the motor vehicle, for example, as a windshield or side window.

[0036] FIG. 1 shows the display device 10, which outputs a displayed content, for example, a graphical user interface (GUI). The view directed in FIG. 1 from the outside of the motor vehicle into the motor vehicle 12 shows that from the outside the displayed content cannot be seen.

[0037] FIG. 2 three-dimensionally illustrates the motor vehicle 12 in the view from a position in the interior of the motor vehicle 12 of a front side or inside of the display device 10, wherein the front side or inside can also be referred to as the “viewing side”. Seen from the interior, for example, multiple display contents 18, thus, for example, multiple graphical user interfaces, can be visible. For example, a current speed can be displayed (“50 km/h”), among other things, for example.

[0038] FIG. 3 schematically shows the structure of the display device 10 in cross section. The display device 10 can include, for example, a display screen made of micro-LEDs as the transparent display screen element 20. Currently, common micro-LED display screens are only available with a limited display area, because of which the transparent display screen element 20 can be a TOLED (display having transparent LEDs).

[0039] The cross section of the display device 10 in FIG. 3 illustrates that the displayed content 18 can be seen in a viewing direction 22—thus, for example, from an occupant when transferred to the example of FIG. 1, and in FIG. 2, for example—on a front side 24 of the transparent display screen element 20. In the example, the front side 24 of the display screen element 20 can also correspond to the front side (or inside or viewing side) of the display device 10.

[0040] A polarizing element 26 may be arranged flatly on a rear side of the display screen element 20 opposite to the front side 24, for example, adhesively bonded, laminated, or fastened in another manner. The polarizing element 26 has a polarizing action, i.e., the polarizing element 26 can have a polarizing effect, on the light of the display screen element 20 which is actively emitted by lighting elements (not shown in the figures) of the display screen element 20. In other words, the polarizing element 26 can itself polarize light actively emitted by the display screen element 20, thus optionally can be a polarizer; or the polarizing element 26 can attenuate or even completely block the light actively emitted by the display screen element 20 in another way, so that the display content 18 is not visible on the rear side of the display device 10 and thus to a person who looks at the rear side of the display device 10. However, the person on the rear side of the display device 10 can still see through the display screen element 20. In FIG. 3, the blocking direction 28 is shown for illustration, thus that direction in which the displayed content 18 cannot be seen, thus in which the light of the display screen element 20 is attenuated, blocked, or filtered away.

[0041] The polarizing element 26 can be, for example, a switchable film, which can be in a transparent state to function like a polarizer and “filters away” the displayed content 18. In an example, the polarizing element 26 can then include, for example, a switchable layer, for example, as a TSD layer, SPLC layer (“intelligent glass”, “smart glass”), or PDLC layer.

[0042] One of the following examples of the polarizing element 26 is described. The effect of attenuating or even blocking the light of the lighting elements of the display screen element 20, for example, light of LEDs or OLEDs, or transparent OLEDs, with uniform or nearly uniform transparency seen from both sides of the display device 10 is multiple times stronger upon the use of a polarizing element 26 which is designed as a twisted nematic display element or as a vertical alignment element, or includes such a display element. In an example, the transparent display screen element 20 can be for the purpose of only outputting non-polarized light. The polarizing element 26 can be a masking element and/or “smart glass”.

[0043] FIG. 4 shows such an example, in which the display device 10 can be display screen element 20, for example, as an OLED display screen, or as a transparent OLED display screen. The light-emitting diodes can output non-polarized light here. The arrow 30 points in the direction here in which a visible image is located, thus at the front side 24 of the display screen element 20. The transparent display screen element 20 can optionally be arranged from the rear side of the transparent display screen element 20 on a carrier glass 32, which can be, for example, 5 mm thick and can consist of glass. The reference sign 34 indicates the point at which the rear side of the transparent display screen element 20 is arranged on the carrier glass 32, for example, in direct contact on the carrier glass 32, thus without connecting layer.

[0044] The carrier glass 32 can be arranged on the polarizing element 26 via a connecting layer 36 which is, for example, 0.2 mm thick. The connecting layer 36 can be any connecting layer known to a person skilled in the art from the related art, for example, an adhesive layer or a lamination. Displayed content 18 is then also not visible in the viewing direction 35 when the transparent display screen element 20 outputs the displayed content 18.

[0045] In the example of FIG. 4, the polarizing element 26, as already discussed above, can be a twisted nematic display element, for example, a twisted nematic display screen; or a vertical alignment display element, for example, a vertical alignment display screen. Such display screens generally have multiple internal layers which are indicated in FIG. 4. The polarizing element 26 can optionally have two display elements, for example, a twisted nematic display screen and a vertical alignment display screen. For this variant, FIG. 4 can indicate the plurality of display elements of the polarizing element 26.

[0046] The transparent display screen element 20 can include a reflection protection element (not shown separately in FIG. 4) on the front side 24, which can include, for example, a film composite made of a linear polarizer film and a quarter-wave film for reducing a reflection of the incident ambient light on the display screen element 20. The ambient light incident from the interior of the motor vehicle 12 is delayed by the reflection protection element in the phase, for example, by 45° and at the same time converted into circularly polarized light having, for example, left-hand polarization, which can extend in parallel and perpendicularly to the optical axis. This circularly polarized light can be converted back into a right-circular polarization and blocked by the front reflection protection element to increase a contrast.

[0047] The left-hand circularly polarized ambient light which radiates through the display screen element 20 can then be “decircularized” or linearized again at a reflection protection element arranged on the rear side of the display screen element 20 as a further reflection protection element, so that the further rear reflection protection element can be, for example, a part of the display screen element 20 or of the polarizing element 26.

[0048] The polarizing element 26, for example, a twisted nematic display element and/or a vertical alignment display element, on the carrier glass 32 can have antiparallel grating structures. These can then, for example, at a boundary layer, have a linearly polarizing effect on the light of the lighting elements, for example, by way of the further reflection protection element. The image of the lighting elements is strongly attenuated if the linear polarization structure is normal to the grating direction. An intensity can vary depending on the angle between the linear polarization direction and the grating direction, thus can be set by the angle.

[0049] According to a further example, the polarizing element 26 can be a polarization filter or can have such a filter. The transparent display screen element 20 can then be for the purpose of outputting polarized light by its lighting elements. OLEDs which provide polarized light by a chemical structure to bypass a reflection filter, for example, of a mobile telephone or television, are known to a person skilled in the art from the related art. If the lighting elements of the display screen element 20, which are, for example, LEDs or organic LEDs, are for the purpose of outputting polarized light, the polarizing element 26 or components of the polarizing element 26 can be arranged rotated in accordance with the alignment of the polarized light.

[0050] Overall, the examples show how a transparent display screen element 20, for example, a T-OLED, may be provided, which is “invisible” from a rear side, through a polarizing element 26, for example, a switchable film which polarizes.

[0051] The polarizing element 26, for example, the switchable film or switchable layer by way of example, can be aligned as a polarizer, for example, so that in the transparent state the polarizing element 26 filters away the light of the exemplary T-OLED to the outside.

[0052] The emitted light can thus be blocked in the direction, for example, of the windshield by the deliberate alignment of the example film as a polarizer.

[0053] The display screen element 20 of the display device 10 thus only illuminates in the direction of the driver and the contents of the display are invisible to the outside.

[0054] The transparency of the display is thus not additionally influenced. If the display is switched to “transparent”, a passerby can look through the display from the outside into the motor vehicle 12 without seeing a (lighted) display screen content. At the same time, the driver sees a (lighted) graphic or the GUI (graphical user interface) at the same position from the other side.

[0055] However, the displayed content is only visible on one side. The emission of the light is prevented or reduced on the other side (for example the rear side of the display screen element 20), while the display (thus the display screen element 20, and/or the polarizing element 26) still remains transparent in both directions.

[0056] This effect can be achieved by a polarizing element 26, for example, a second switchable layer (for example LCD), behind the actual display (O-LED).

[0057] The display device 10 has the desired property of the light emission of the display in only one direction. The display also remains transparent in both directions.

[0058] A description has been provided with particular reference to examples, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the claims which may include the phrase “at least one of A, B and C” as an alternative expression that means one or more of A, B and C may be used, contrary to the holding in Superguide v. DIRECTV, 358 F3d 870, 69 USPQ2d 1865 (Fed. Cir. 2004).