Stereoscopic image display apparatus

A drive method for a stereoscopic image display apparatus, the stereoscopic image display apparatus including:

• a display device having a plurality of pixels arranged on a display face;
• a cell provided in front of the display device, the cell including a first electrode substrate having a plurality of first electrodes arranged in parallel thereon, a second electrode substrate having a plurality of second electrodes arranged to be opposed to the plurality of first electrodes thereon, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first electrode substrate and the second electrode substrate, wherein a polarization direction of light rays from the display device is made variable according to a voltage applied between the first and second electrode substrates,
• the stereoscopic image display apparatus being capable of changing over between a three-dimensional image and a two-dimensional image and displaying the image,
• when displaying the three-dimensional image and the two-dimensional image in a background and a window on a same display plane, the background with one of the three-dimensional image and the two-dimensional image and displaying a first to pth (where p≧1) windows with the other image, the drive method comprising:
• dividing one frame period of the plane display device into (p+1) sections, applying a pulse of a voltage Va (where Va>0) to all first electrodes which overlap the kth window as a first pulse to be applied to the first electrodes in the kth section (where 1≦k≦p) in the first to (p+1)th sections obtained by the division, applying a pulse of a voltage −Vd (where Vd>0) to all second electrodes which overlap the kth window as a second pulse to be applied to the second electrodes in the kth section, applying a pulse of a maximum voltage Va to the first electrodes which do not overlap any window as a first pulse in the (p+1)th section, and applying a pulse of a voltage Vd to the second electrodes which do not overlap any window as a second pulse in the (p+1)th section.

A stereoscopic image display apparatus comprising:

• a display device;
• a cell provided in front of the display device, the cell including a first electrode substrate having a plurality of first electrodes arranged in parallel thereon, a second electrode substrate having a plurality of second electrodes arranged to be opposed to the plurality of first electrodes thereon, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first electrode substrate and the second electrode substrate, wherein a polarization direction of light rays from the display device is made variable according to a voltage applied between the first and second electrode substrates;
• a voltage supply unit which supplies a voltage to be applied between the first electrode substrate and the second electrode substrate in the cell;
• and
• a drive unit which drives the voltage supply unit,
• the stereoscopic image display apparatus being capable of changing over between a three-dimensional image and a two-dimensional image and displaying the image,
• when displaying a background with one of a three-dimensional image and a two-dimensional image and displaying a three-dimensional image or a two-dimensional image different from the image on the background with p windows (where p is an integer of at least 1),
• the drive unit:
• sets a first flag bit which indicates whether each of the windows overlaps the first electrodes, and sets a second flag bit which indicates whether each of the windows overlaps the second electrodes;
• divides one frame period into as many sections as to correspond to the p windows as first and second pulses to be applied respectively to the first and second electrodes, prepares waveforms of 2p kinds which differ in at least one value of the first and second pulses in the section obtained by the division, and associates the waveforms with a set of values of the first and second flag bits;
• selects an electrode pair formed of one first electrode and one second electrode respectively from the plurality of first electrodes and the plurality of second electrodes;
• and
• applies the first and second pulses associated with the electrode pair, to the electrode pair.

A drive apparatus for driving a stereoscopic image display apparatus, the stereoscopic image display apparatus comprising:

• a display device;
• and
• a cell provided in front of the display device, the cell including a first electrode substrate having a plurality of first electrodes arranged in parallel thereon, a second electrode substrate having a plurality of second electrodes arranged to be opposed to the plurality of first electrodes thereon, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first electrode substrate and the second electrode substrate, wherein a polarization direction of light rays from the display device is made variable according to a voltage applied between the first and second electrode substrates,
• the stereoscopic image display apparatus being capable of changing over between a three-dimensional image and a two-dimensional image and displaying the image,
• when displaying a background with one of a three-dimensional image and a two-dimensional image and displaying a three-dimensional image or a two-dimensional image different from the image on the background with p windows (where p≧1),
• the drive apparatus comprising:
• sets a first flag bit which indicates whether each of the windows overlaps the first electrodes, and sets a second flag bit which indicates whether each of the windows overlaps the second electrodes;
• divides one frame period into as many sections as to correspond to the p windows as first and second pulses to be applied respectively to the first and second electrodes, prepares waveforms of 2p kinds which differ in at least one value of the first and second pulses in the section obtained by the division, and associates the waveforms with a set of values of the first and second flag bits;
• selects an electrode pair formed of one first electrode and one second electrode respectively from the plurality of first electrodes and the plurality of second electrodes;
• and
• applies the first and second pulses associated with the electrode pair, to the electrode pair.