DISPLAY TERMINAL AND DISPLAY PANEL APPLIED IN DISPLAY TERMINAL

Abstract

A display terminal and a display panel applied in the display terminal are disclosed in the present application. Widths of the non-display areas of the display panel are elongated to fix the non-display areas to a non-display surface of the display terminal, to achieve a bezel-free display effect on two sides of the display terminal in an unfolded state, and a seamless surround display effect and a bezel-free display effect on the two sides of the display terminal in a folded state.

Claims

1. A display terminal, comprising: a terminal main body comprising a display surface and a non-display surface disposed oppositely and a first blending surface and a second blending surface disposed oppositely, wherein a bending portion is correspondingly configured in each of the display surface and the non-display surface, two ends of the display surface are connected with two ends of the non-display surface by the first blending surface and the second blending surface respectively, and a first groove and a second groove are provided in the two ends of the non-display surface respectively; and a display panel comprising a display area and a first non-display area and a second non-display area located on edges of both ends of the display area disposed oppositely, wherein the first non-display area and the second non-display area are disposed in the first groove and the second groove of the terminal main body respectively, and the display area covers the display area, the first blending surface, and the second blending surface of the terminal main body.

2. The display terminal according to claim 1, wherein the bending portions are configured in the middle of the display surface and the middle of the non-display surface.

3. The display terminal according to claim 2, wherein the first blending surface and the second blending surface are symmetrical to the bending portion, and the first groove and the second groove are symmetrical to the bending portion.

4. The display terminal according to claim 1, wherein both the first blending surface and the second blending surface are arc surfaces.

5. The display terminal according to claim 1, wherein an end corner at the junction of the non-display surface and the first blending surface and an end corner at the junction of the non-display surface and the second blending surface are rounded corners.

6. The display terminal according to claim 1, wherein the display area of the display panel extends from the first blending surface and the second blending surface to close to an edge of the first groove and an edge of the second groove.

7. The display terminal according to claim 1, wherein a depth of the first groove equals a depth of the second groove, and both the depth of the first groove and the depth of the second groove are less than an overall thickness of the display terminal.

8. The display terminal according to claim 7, wherein both the depth of the first groove and the depth of the second groove are at least greater than an overall thickness of the display panel.

9. A display panel applied in a display terminal, wherein the display terminal further comprises a terminal main body comprising: a display surface and a non-display surface disposed oppositely, and a first blending surface and a second blending surface disposed oppositely, wherein a bending portion is correspondingly configured in each of the display surface and the non-display surface, both ends of the display surface are connected with both ends of the non-display surface by the first blending surface and the second blending surface respectively, and a first groove and a second groove are provided in the two ends of the non-display surface respectively; and wherein the display panel comprises: a substrate comprising a display area, a first non-display area, and a second non-display area, and the first non-display area and the second non-display area are located on edges of the two ends of the display area disposed oppositely, respectively; a display element layer disposed on the display area; a plurality of barrier walls disposed on the first non-display area and the second non-display area; an encapsulation layer covering the display area and extending to the barrier walls and to cover the barrier walls; and at least two blocking portions disposed on the first non-display area and the non-second display area, and disposed close to the edges of the display panel; wherein, the first non-display area and the second non-display area are disposed in the first groove and the second groove of the terminal main body respectively, and the display area covers the display area, the first blending surface, and the second blending surface of the terminal main body.

10. The display panel according to claim 9, wherein in the first non-display area and the second non-display area, a linear distance between an edge of the encapsulation layer and the edges of the display panel is 0.1 millimeter to 100 millimeters.

11. The display panel of claim 9, wherein the substrate comprises a flexible substrate.

12. The display panel of claim 11, wherein the substrate further comprises a thin film transistor array layer stacked on a surface of the flexible substrate.

13. The display panel of claim 9, wherein the display element layer comprises a first electrode layer, an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display device layer, and a second electrode layer disposed sequentially, and the first electrode layer is disposed on the substrate.

14. The display panel of claim 13, wherein the OLED display device layer comprises a plurality of OLED display devices disposed at interval.

15. The display panel of claim 14, wherein the OLED display device comprises a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer, a light-emitting layer, an electron transport layer, and an electron injection layer disposed sequentially.

16. The display panel of claim 14, wherein a pixel definition dam is disposed between two adjacent OLED display devices.

17. The display panel of claim 13, wherein the encapsulation layer comprises a first inorganic layer, an organic layer, and a second inorganic layer, and the first inorganic layer is stacked on the second electrode layer.

18. The display panel according to claim 9, wherein a blocking portion is disposed on each of the first non-display area and the second non-display area.

19. The display panel of claim 18, wherein there is a fixed interval between the blocking portion and the barrier walls.

20. The display panel of claim 18, wherein the blocking portion is close to the edges of the display panel.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0040] FIG. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a flexible OLED display panel in prior art.

[0041] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of FIG. 1 in a horizontal direction perpendicular to M/N.

[0042] FIG. 3 is a structural schematic diagram of a first application of the flexible OLED display panel in terminal products in prior art.

[0043] FIG. 4 is a structural schematic diagram of a second application of the flexible OLED display panel in terminal products in prior art.

[0044] FIG. 5 is a structural schematic diagram of a third application of the flexible OLED display panel in terminal products in prior art.

[0045] FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of a display terminal in a unfolded state provided by the embodiments of the present application.

[0046] FIG. 7 is a structural schematic diagram of an end corner of the display terminal in a unfolded state provided by embodiments of the present application.

[0047] FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of the display terminal in a folded state provided by embodiments of the present application.

[0048] FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of a display panel provided by embodiments of the present application.

[0049] FIG. 10 is a partial cross-sectional schematic diagram of the display panel including a first non-display area provided by embodiments of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0050] The foregoing objects, features and advantages adopted by the present application can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings. Furthermore, the directional terms described in the present invention, such as upper, lower, front, rear, left, right, inner, outer, side, etc., are only directions referring to the accompanying drawings. Therefore, the used directional terms are used to describe and understand the present invention, but the present application is not limited thereto.

[0051] In a first aspect, a display terminal 200 is provided by embodiments of the present application. The display terminal 200 can be a flat display device, for example, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, etc. As shown in FIG. 6, the display terminal 200 is in a unfolded state, and the display terminal 200 includes: [0052] a terminal main body 4, including a display surface 41 and a non-display surface 42 disposed oppositely, and a first blending surface 43 and a second blending surface 44 disposed oppositely, wherein a bending portion 45 is configured in each of the display surface 41 and the non-display surface 45, two ends of the display surface 41 are connected to two ends of the non-display surface 42 by the first blending surface 43 and the second blending surface 44 respectively, and a first groove 46 and a second groove 47 are defined in two ends of the non-display surface 42 respectively; and [0053] a display panel 5 including a display area 51, a first non-display area 52, and a second non-display area 53 located on the edges of both ends of the display area 51 disposed oppositely, wherein the first non-display area 52 and the second non-display area 53 are disposed in the first groove 46 and the second groove 47 respectively, and the display area 51 covers the display area 41, the first blending surface 43, and the second blending surface 44.

[0054] Specifically, the display area 51 is fully surrounded by the non-display areas (as shown in prior art of FIG. 1), but only two non-display areas disposed oppositely are selected to be disposed inside the first groove 46 and the second groove 47. Namely, two side parts of the display terminal 200 perform bezel-free display. Referring to FIG. 1, the first non-display area 52 and the second non-display area 53 of the embodiments of the present application can be a first non-display sub-area 31 and a third non-display sub-area 33 disposed oppositely and can also be a second non-display sub-area 32 and a fourth non-display sub-area 34 disposed oppositely.

[0055] In some embodiments, compared with prior art, widths of the first non-display area 52 and the second non-display area 53 are elongated so that the first non-display area 52 and the second non-display area 53 can be effectively fixed in the first groove 46 and the second groove 47 respectively to avoid peeling.

[0056] For example, in prior art, the non-display area of the large-size foldable display panel has a width of at least 1.0 millimeter. However, the non-display area of regular nonfoldable display panel usually has a width of 1.0 millimeter to 1.5 millimeters. In the embodiments of the present application, widths of the first non-display area 52 and the second non-display area 53 are identical, which are both 1 nanometer to 100 millimeters greater than the width of the non-display area of the large-size foldable display panel in prior art.

[0057] In some embodiments, the bending portions 45 are configured in the middle of the display surface 41 and the middle of the non-display surface 42 to optimize the screen-to-body ratio of the display terminal 200.

[0058] In some embodiments, the first blending surface 43 and the second blending surface 44 are symmetrical to the bending portion 45, and the first groove 46 and the second groove 47 are symmetrical to the bending portion 45 to optimize the screen-to-body ratio of the display terminal 200.

[0059] In some embodiments, both the first blending surface 43 and the second blending surface 44 are arc surfaces, which is beneficial to the seamless connection of the first blending surface 43 and the second blending surface 44.

[0060] In some embodiments, an end corner 48 at the junction of the non-display surface 42 and the first blending surface 43 and an end corner 48 at the junction of the non-display surface 42 and the second blending surface 44 are rounded corners to prevent sharp edges and corners from hurting the display panel itself, people, or objects. For example, the end corner 48 can be the rounded corner shown in FIG. 7.

[0061] In some embodiments, a depth of the first groove 46 equals a depth of the second groove 47, and both the depth of the first groove 46 and the depth of the second groove 47 are less than an overall thickness of the display terminal 4. In some embodiments, both the depth of the first groove 46 and the depth of the second groove 47 are at least greater than the overall thickness of the display panel 5.

[0062] In some embodiments, the display area 51 extends from the first blending surface 43 and the second blending surface 44 to close to an edge of the first groove 46 and an edge of the second groove 47, which is beneficial to achieving a seamless surround display effect, while effectively avoiding a large overlap between the display area 51 covering the first blending surface 43 and the display area 51 covering the second blending surface 44, thereby avoiding problems of significant heat generation and significant temperature rise which the large overlap causes the display panel in the overlapping area due to .

[0063] In some embodiments, the width of the first non-display area and the width of the second non-display area are identical, but there are no specifical limitations on sizes of the first non-display area and the second non-display area, and they can be selected according to actual needs. In addition, there are no specifical limitations on a size of the display area either, and it can be selected according to actual needs.

[0064] As shown in FIG. 6, when the display terminal 200 is in the unfolded state, the display surface 41, the first blending surface 43, and the second blending surface 44 fully covers the display area 51, and the display area 51 effectively covers the left edge and its end corner 48 of the display terminal 200 and the right edge and its end corner 48, so that each of the left and right side of the display terminal performs bezel-free display.

[0065] As shown in FIG. 8, when the display terminal 200 is in the folded state, the first blending surface 43 and the second blending surface 44 face are connected to each other so that the display surface 41, the first blending surface 43, and the second blending surface 44 connect to form an encircling body. The display surface 41 is divided into a first display surface 411, a second display surface 412, and a third display surface 413. Wherein, the first display surface 411 is located on an upper surface of the display terminal, the second display surface 412 is located on a bottom surface of the display terminal 200, the third display surface 413 is located on a right side surface of the display terminal 200 (i.e., located on the bending portion 45). As the display area 51 fully covers an outer surface of the encircling body, i.e., the display area 51 has full coverage of the outer side of the first display surface 411, a second display surface 412, a third display surface 413, the first blending surface 43 and the second blending surface 44. In addition, as the first non-display area 52 and the second non-display area 53 are hidden inside the display terminal 200, a seamless surround display effect can be fulfilled. Moreover, each of the left and right sides of the display terminal 200 can perform bezel-free display. The whole encircling body can display same content, each surface of the encircling body displays different content, or only one in all surfaces of the encircling body displays content.

[0066] It should be noted that regular technical means in the art can be used to manufacture the display terminal and will not be repeated here.

[0067] In a second aspect, a display panel is also provided by embodiments of the present application, which can be applied in the display terminal of the first aspect. As shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, the display panel 5 includes: [0068] a substrate 54 including a display area 51, a first non-display area 52, and a second non-display area 53, and the first non-display area 52 and the second non-display area 53 are located on edges of two ends of the display area 51 disposed oppositely respectively; [0069] a display element layer 55 disposed on the display area 51; [0070] a plurality of barrier walls 56 disposed on the first non-display area 52 and the second non-display area 53; [0071] an encapsulation layer 57 covering the display area 51 and extending to the barrier walls 56 to cover the barrier walls 56; and [0072] at least two blocking portions 58 disposed on each of the first non-display area 52 and the second non-display area 53 and disposed close to the edges of the display panel 5.

[0073] Specifically, the width of the first non-display area 52 refers to a linear distance from a right edge of the display element layer 55 to a corresponding right edge of the display panel 5, which corresponds to the reference number W in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10. For the same reason, the width of the second non-display area 53 refers to a linear distance from a left edge of the display element layer 55 to a corresponding left edge of the display panel 5. The width of the second non-display area 53 equals to the width of the first non-display area 52. A cross-sectional length of the display area 51 refers to a linear distance from a left edge to a right edge of the display element layer 55, which corresponds to the reference number L in FIG. 9.

[0074] In some embodiments, in the first non-display area and the second non-display area, a linear distance between an edge of the encapsulation layer and edges of the display panel is 0.1 millimeter to 100 millimeters, which corresponds to the reference number D in FIG. 10.

[0075] In some embodiments, the substrate 54 includes a flexible substrate 541, which can be made of polymer materials, for example, polyimide (PI), polyethersulfone (PES), polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polyaryl compounds (PAR), or glass fiber reinforced plastics (FRP), etc. PI is preferred as the material of the flexible substrate 541 in the embodiments of the present application.

[0076] Furthermore, the substrate 54 further includes a thin film transistor (TFT) array layer 542, which is stacked on one surface of the flexible substrate. The TFT array layer 542 includes a planarization layer 5421, which can have a single layer structure or a multi-layer structure. Preferably, the planarization layer 5421 described in the embodiments of the present application has a double-layer structure, and the planarization layer 5421 is discontinuous, i.e., two planarization layers 5421 arranged at interval, one of which is close to the edge of the display panel 5.

[0077] In some embodiments, the display element layer 55 includes a first electrode layer 551, an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display device layer 552, and a second electrode layer 553 disposed sequentially, and the first electrode layer 552 includes a plurality of OLED display devices disposed at interval. Namely, the display panel 5 is an OLED display panel. The first electrode layer 551 is disposed on the substrate 54, preferably, the first electrode layer 551 has a patterned array structure. Each of the OLED display device includes a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer, a light-emitting layer, an electron transport layer, and an electron injection layer disposed sequentially.

[0078] A pixel definition dam 59 is disposed between two adjacent OLED display devices. A material of the pixel definition dam 59 is organic photoresist. The entire surface of the second electrode layer 553 covers the OLED display device layer 552 and all of the pixel defining dam 59, and an edge of the second electrode layer 553 is limited by the barrier walls 56.

[0079] It should be noted that one of the first electrode layer 551 and the second electrode layer 553 is an anode layer and the other one is a cathode layer. Preferably, the first electrode layer 551 is the anode layer and the second electrode layer 553 is the cathode layer. Each of the first electrode layer 551 and the second electrode layer 553 includes a transparent conductive film, the transparent conductive film can be made of indium tin oxide (ITO) film, aluminum doped zinc oxide thin film, carbon nanotube transparent conductive film, tin oxide transparent conductive film etc. Preferably, the first electrode layer 551 is a thin film structure consisting of a first ITO layer, a silver (Ag) layer, and a second ITO layer.

[0080] In some embodiments, a first barrier wall 561 and a second barrier wall 562 are provided in the first non-display area 52 and the second non-display area 53, respectively. The first barrier wall 561 is close to the display area 51. Each of the cross-section of the first barrier wall 561 and the second barrier wall 562 has a shape of isosceles trapezoid, and a height of the cross-section of the second barrier wall 562 is greater than a height of the cross-section of the first barrier wall 561. Preferably, a material of the first barrier wall 561 and the second barrier wall 562 is an organic photoresist. It should be noted that an edge of the second electrode layer 553 does not exceed the first barrier wall 561.

[0081] In some embodiments, the encapsulation layer 57 includes a first inorganic layer 571, an organic layer 572, and a second inorganic layer 573 arranged in sequence. The first inorganic layer 571 is stacked on the second electrode layer 553, and the first inorganic layer 571 and the second inorganic layer 573 extend through the display area 51 to cover the barrier walls 56. The advance formation of the barrier wall 56s has a function of blocking the encapsulation layer 57. Each of the materials of the first inorganic layer 571 and the second inorganic layer 573 is at least one of silicon nitride (SiN.sub.x), silicon oxide (SiO.sub.x), and aluminum oxide (Al.sub.2O.sub.3), and a material of the organic layer 572 is at least one of polymethylmethacrylate and hexamethyldimethylsiloxane.

[0082] In some embodiments, a blocking portion 58 is configured on each of the first non-display area 52 and the second non-display area 53. The blocking portion 58 is close to the edge of the display panel, and there is a fixed interval between the blocking portion 58 and the barrier walls 56 to prevent a cutting crack at the edge of the display panel 5 from spreading to the display area 51. The blocking portion 58 includes a barrier layer 581 and a second planarization layer 5421 arranged in sequence, and the barrier layer 581 is disposed on the flexible substrate. The barrier layer 581 includes a plurality of barrier columns arranged at interval, and a material of the barrier columns is inorganic compound, for example, silicon nitride (SiN.sub.x), silicon oxide (SiO.sub.x), etc.

[0083] It should be noted that regular technical means in the art can be used to manufacture the display terminal and will not be repeated here.

[0084] According to the display panel 5 provided by the embodiments of the present application, the first non-display area 52 and the second non-display area 53 can be effectively fixed on the terminal main body 4 by elongating the width of the first non-display area 52 and the second non-display area 53, peeling off from the terminal main body 4 of the first non-display area 52 and the second non-display area 53 can be effectively avoided, which ensuring a seamless surround display effect and a bezel-free display effect on both sides of the display terminal 200 in the folded state, and a bezel-free display effect on both sides of the display terminal 200 in the unfolded state, namely, the non-display edges of the display panel are hidden, so as to fulfil a bezel-free display effect in two edges of the terminal. The present application has been described by the above-mentioned related embodiments; however, the above-mentioned embodiments are only examples of the implementation of the present invention. It must be pointed out that the disclosed embodiments do not limit the scope of the present application. On the contrary, the spirit and scope of the claims and the modification and equalization are all included in the scope of the present application.