Image display apparatus, image display system, and image display element

An image display apparatus comprising:

• a light source for emitting illumination light;
• an image display element for displaying an image by reflecting the illumination light incident thereon;
• an illumination optical element which reflects the illumination light from said light source toward said image display element and through which image light from said image display element is transmitted;
• an observation optical element for guiding the image light transmitted through said illumination optical element to an eye of an observer;
• and
• a light-shielding member for blocking at least one of unnecessary light which is contained in illumination light from said light source and travels outside an effective image display area of said image display element and unnecessary light which is contained in image light from said image display element and travels outside an effective observation space,
• wherein said image display element includes a light control layer for controlling transmission/non-transmission of incident light in accordance with an input image signal and a reflecting layer formed on a lower surface side of the light control layer,
• said illumination optical element includes an entrance/exit surface from which the illumination light emerges toward said image display element and on which image light from said image display element is incident, and
• said light-shielding member is provided on the entrance/exit surface of said illumination optical element between the light control layer and the reflecting layer, or provided on a surface of said reflective image display element and the entrance/exit surface of said illumination optical element.

An image display apparatus comprising:

• a light source for emitting illumination light;
• an image display element for displaying an image by reflecting the illumination light incident thereon;
• an illumination optical element when reflects the illumination light from said light source toward said image display element and from which image light from said image display element pass is transmitted;
• an observation optical element for guiding the image light transmitted through said illumination optical element to an eye of an observer;
• and
• a light-shielding member for blocking unnecessary light which is contained in illumination light from said light source and travels outside an effective image display area of said image display element,
• wherein said light-shielding member is provided between said light source and said illumination optical element.

An image display apparatus comprising:

• a light source for emitting illumination light;
• an image display element for displaying an image by reflecting the illumination light incident thereon;
• an illumination optical element which reflects the illumination light from said light source toward said image display element and through which image light from said image display element is transmitted;
• an observation optical element for guiding the image light transmitted through said illumination optical element to an eye of an observer;
• a light-shielding member for blocking at least one of unnecessary light which is contained in illumination light from said light source and travels outside an effective image display area of said image display element and unnecessary light which is contained in image light from said image display element and travels outside an effective observation space;
• and
• a holding member for holding at least one of said light source, said image display element, said illumination optical element, and said observation optical element,
• wherein said light-shielding member is integrally formed with said holding member.

An image display system including an image display apparatus and an image information supply apparatus for supplying image information to said image display apparatus, comprising:

• a light source for emitting illumination light;
• an image display element for displaying an image by reflecting the illumination light incident thereon;
• an illumination optical element which reflects the illumination light from said light source toward said image display element and through which image light from said image display element is transmitted;
• an observation optical element for guiding the image light transmitted through said illumination optical element to an eye of an observer;
• and
• a light-shielding member for blocking at least one of unnecessary light which is contained in the illumination light from said light source and travels outside an effective image display area of said image display element and unnecessary light which is contained in image light from said image display element and travels outside an effective observation space.

An image display element for displaying an image by reflecting incident light in an observation side space, comprising:

• a light control layer for controlling transmission/non-transmission of illumination light in accordance with an input image signal;
• a reflecting layer formed on a rear surface side of said light control layer;
• and
• a light-shielding member for blocking incident light, of obliquely applied light, which travels outside an effective image display area of said image display element, and also blocking reflected light outside an effective observation space of the observation side space.