WO1987007037A1

WO1987007037A1 - Display device for information on lc-displays

Info

Publication number: WO1987007037A1
Application number: PCT/DE1987/000066
Authority: WO
Inventors: Norbert Stepper; Wolfgang Ziegler
Original assignee: Robert Bosch Gmbh
Priority date: 1986-05-07
Filing date: 1987-02-25
Publication date: 1987-11-19
Also published as: JPH01502538A; EP0306479A1; DE3615417A1

Abstract

A display device for information such as measurement data, failure signals and the like comprises several LCD plates (10 to 13) assembled together in a housing and display elements (14) connected via driving stages (16) to an electronic driving circuit, said elements being provided at least on one side with a contacting surface (18). In order to obtain an optimal use of the available display surfaces, the driving stages (16) of the display elements (14) of several adjacent LCD plates (11, 12, 13) are arranged on the marginal area (17) of one of the LCD plates (10 to 13). They are electrically connected to corresponding display elements (14), in that the display elements (14) of the LCD plates (11, 12, 13) which do not bear the driving stages (16) are connected via their contacting surfaces (23, 24, 25) with a contacting surface (20, 21, 22) of the LCD plate (10) which bears the driving stages (16), and from then onwards with tracks (19) of the LCD plate (10).

Description

Display device for information on LC displays

State of the art

The invention relates to a display device for information such as measurement data, fault displays and the like. With a plurality of LCD panels combined in a housing according to the preamble of the main claim.

In such a display device known from DE-GM 82 22 120, the various LCD panels, which are arranged next to one another in a common housing, are provided on each of their longitudinal sides with conductor tracks, which either directly with different LC display elements or via so-called driver stages with the LC display elements are connected. These conductor tracks are contacted by a plug placed on the edge of the LCD panel with a connecting cable which is connected to an electronic control circuit. From DE-OS 34 21 921 it is also known to arrange the various displays on a correspondingly large LCD panel. Here, on one side of the LCD plate on a protruding edge area of one of the two substrate plates of the LCD, all driver stages (FIG. 1) and, if necessary, an additional microcomputer (FIG. 3) are arranged in so-called chip-on-glass technology and finally through them a plug placed on the edge of the LCD panel connected to an external circuit. When using a large LCD panel in a multiple display device, for example in the cockpit of a motor vehicle, it is disadvantageous that the dimensions of the LCD panel largely dictate the external shape of the display device. Conversely, with a certain outer contour of the display device, the display area can be unnecessarily reduced by the correspondingly limited dimensions of the LCD panel. Furthermore, if a malfunction occurs on a limited area of the LCD panel, it must be replaced completely. Finally, malfunctions can also occur with display devices of this type, which cannot be located in the motor vehicle workshops without special test devices.

One uses. on the other hand, in a manner known per se, a plurality of smaller LCD panels arranged side by side for a multiple display, part of the display area for the attachment of the driver stages on each of these LCD panels is lost there again.

The aim of the present solution is to arrange the driver stages for a plurality of LCD panels in such a way that the display area available for the given housing dimensions of the display instrument can be used as optimally as possible.

Advantages of the invention

The display device according to the invention with the characterizing features of the main claim has the advantage that the spatial combination of driver stages of several LCD panels on the edge area of one of these LCD panels improves the utilization of the display area or that the dimensions of the LCD panels are reduced can. Another advantage is that if a defect occurs on one of the LCD panels, the entire LCD display does not have to be replaced. Rather, the individual LCD panels can be checked and replaced if necessary become. The arrangement of the driver stages according to the invention divides the LCD panels into so-called master LCDs and slave LCDs. The master LCD therefore has driver stages for several

LCD panels, while the slave LCD has no or correspondingly fewer driver stages. The functional test can be carried out there by directly applying test voltages to the conductor tracks leading to the display elements in the area of the contact area of the LCD panel.

Advantageous further developments and improvements of the features specified in the main claim are possible through the measures listed in the subclaims. It is particularly advantageous that the relevant LCD panels, that is to say a master LCD and a slave LCD, are arranged next to one another with their contacting surfaces and are in contact with one another via connecting means. The contact on the contacting surfaces of the LCD panels can be contacted by a commercially available laminated conductive rubber. However, it is also possible to contact the contacting areas of the LCD plates lying next to one another by means of a flat ribbon cable known per se with conductor tracks arranged on the side facing the contacting areas. The ribbon cable can be glued to at least one of the contact surfaces. If necessary, its other end can be detachably contacted to the contacting surface of the other LCD panel via a connector.

A particularly space-saving contacting of adjacent LCD panels is possible in that the contacting surfaces of the adjacent LCD panels overlap one another and are connected by an intermediate connecting means, e.g. with a laminated

Leitgummi are contacted with each other. A further development of the invention also consists in that the master LCD carrying the driver stages has additional contact surfaces on several sides Contacting adjacent slave LCDs. Finally, in a further development of the invention, it is also possible, in addition to the display elements of a slave LCD, the driver stages of which are located on the adjacent master LCD, to arrange further display elements on this LCD panel, the driver stages of which, if necessary, with further electronic components in known chip-on -Glass technology are arranged on a sand area of this or another master LCD. For example, an LCD dot matrix can be arranged on an LCD panel next to one or more seven-segment displays, with which numbers, letters, symbols and the like can be displayed via a multiplex control.

drawing

Some embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawing and explained in more detail in the following description. FIG. 1 shows a display device according to the invention with an LCD panel carrying the driver stages and three adjacent LCD panels without driver stages, FIGS. 2 to 5 show different solutions for the electrical connection of two adjacent LCD panels with their contacting surfaces arranged or overlapping one another and FIG 6 shows two adjacent LCD panels, in which the driver stages on an LCD panel are assigned to only a part of the display elements of the adjacent LCD panel.

Description of the embodiments

The display device according to the invention for information such as measurement data, fault displays and the like, with a plurality of LCD panels combined in one housing, are simplified in FIG Representation shown only four LCD panels 10 to 13. The LCD panels 10 to 13 each carry a number of display elements 14, some of which are only shown on the LCD panels 10 and 11 in the form of seven-segment displays 15. The display elements 14 are connected via driver stages 16 to an electronic control circuit, not shown. For this purpose, the LCD plate 10 is provided at its lower edge region 17, in that the lower substrate plate of the LCD plate 10 projects downward above the substrate plate above, with a contacting surface 18 onto which a connector plug is to be slid, which is not connected via a cable to the Electronic control circuit shown the display device is connected. The driver stages 16 are fastened in a chip-on-glass technique on the lower substrate plate of the LCD plate 10 and contacted with adjacent conductor tracks 19 applied there. The conductor tracks 19 lead both from the contact surface 18 from the lower edge region 17 of the LCD panel to the inputs of the driver stages 16 and from their outputs to the various display elements 14.

For a space-saving arrangement of the driver stages 16, it is provided according to the invention that these driver stages 19 assigned to the display elements 14 of all four LCD panels 10 to 13 are arranged on the lower edge region 17 of the middle LCD panel 10. The electrical connection of the outputs of these driver stages 16 to the display elements 14 on the adjacent LCD plates 11, 12 and 13 is achieved via further contact surfaces 20, 21 and 22 on the LCD plate 10, each with a contact surface 23, 24 and 25 of the adjacent LCD panels 11, 12 and 13 are connected. As shown in dashed lines, the lower substrate plates of the LCD plates 10 to 13 are each shortened in the area of the contacting areas 20 to 25, so that the upper substrate plates each protrude beyond the edge of the lower substrate plates. All contact surfaces 23 to 25 of the LCD plates 11, 12 and 13 have interconnects 19 arranged next to one another which - as shown by way of example on the LCD panel 11 - are connected to the display elements 14. In contrast, the conductor tracks 19 lying next to one another on the contacting areas 20, 21 and 22 of the central LCD panel 10 are, as indicated by dashed lines, each connected to the outputs of the driver stages 16 assigned to them.

By arranging all the driver stages 16 on the central LCD panel 10, the latter becomes a master LCD, with which the adjacent LCD panels 11, 12 and 13 are controlled as slave LCDs. For this purpose, it is necessary that the contacting areas 20, 23 or 21, 24 and 22, 25 of the adjacent LCD plates 10 to 13 are contacted with one another via connecting means 27 such that the opposite conductor tracks 19 of the adjacent contacting areas are each electrically connected to one another . The various contacting options are shown in Figures 1 to 5.

While the connection of the master LCD 10 to the two slave LCDs 13 and 14 is shown symbolically in each case with a bus line 26 in FIG. 1, the connection between the master LCD 10 and the slave LCD 11 is represented by a laminated conductive rubber which is known per se 27 performed, which is placed from behind on the contact surfaces 20 and 23. In FIG. 2, the adjacent LCD plates 10 and 11 with their contacting surfaces 20 and 23 arranged next to one another are electrically connected to one another by a conductive rubber 28, which on its side facing the contacting surfaces 20 and 23 has a layer 28a with electrically conductive tracks running parallel to one another and carries a non-conductive silicone layer 28b on the back. The conductor tracks can also be subsequently laminated onto a silicone rubber. According to Figure 3, the electrical connection of the adjacent contacting surfaces 20, 23 of adjacent LCD panels 10, 11 takes place a ribbon cable 29, which has adjacent conductor tracks 29a on the side facing the contacting areas 20, 23, which establishes the electrical connection between the conductor tracks of the contacting areas. The ribbon cable 29 can be ironed or glued onto one or both contact surfaces 20, 23 in order to ensure permanent contact.

FIG. 4 shows the electrical connection of the contact surfaces 20 and 23 of the two LCD plates 10 and 11 with a ribbon cable 29 which is glued to the contact surface 20 at one end and carries a connector plug 30 at its other end. The connector plug 30 is pushed onto the edge of the lower substrate plate of the LCD plate 11 in a manner known per se, so that it is electrically connected to the conductor tracks 19 of the contact surface 23 with its contact springs 31, which are respectively connected to the conductor tracks 29a.

FIG. 5 shows a space-saving contacting of two adjacent LCD plates 10a and 11, in which the contacting areas 20 and 23 to be connected overlap facing one another. In between is a conductive rubber 27 which is electrically conductive throughout its entire thickness and is insulated or conductive in the form of a lamella in its transverse direction. As a result, the conductor tracks of the two contacting areas 20 and 23 arranged one above the other are electrically connected to one another via the conductive rubber 27. Permanent contacting can also be achieved here by gluing. With a suitable design of the contacting surfaces 20 and 23, a connection means can optionally be dispensed with entirely here.

FIG. 6 shows, in a further exemplary embodiment, two LCD panels 50 and 51 arranged next to one another, the right LCD panel 50 being provided with a number of display elements 14 in the form of seven-segment displays 15. In contrast, the LCD panel 51 In addition to a few seven-segment displays 15, there is also a dot matrix 52 for displaying symbols, images, numbers, letters and the like. To control the dot matrix 52, driver stages 54 are arranged on the LCD plate 51 on the lower projecting edge 53 of the lower substrate plate which, in multiplex operation, control the various point-shaped display elements in the point matrix 52 in columns and lines. Here, too, the electronic control circuit, not shown, is contacted with the driver stages 54 via a contact surface 55 at the lower edge 53 of the LCD panel 50 by attaching a connector. For the display elements 14 of the seven-segment displays 15 in the upper part of the LCD panel 51, on the other hand, the driver stages 16 assigned to them are in turn arranged on the adjacent LCD panel 50, together with those for the display elements 14 of this LCD panel 50 required driver stages 16 at the lower edge region 17. As already explained in more detail in relation to FIG. 1, the driver stages 16 are also electrically connected to the display elements 14 assigned to them on the LCD plate 51 via conductor tracks 19 to the contact surface 20 of this LCD plate 50 from there via a connecting means, for example a conductive rubber 27 to the contact surface 23 of the adjacent LCD panel 51 and finally from there via conductor tracks 19 to the display elements 14 of the LCD panel 51.

Since the LCD driver stages can be used in different versions for different purposes and with different chip packaging and different assembly and contacting technology, it is possible with the help of the present invention to use different driver types for display devices with several LCD panels and thereby to attach only one driver type to a display panel in order to control display elements on neighboring display panels. Within the scope of the invention, it is also possible to place a plurality of connecting plugs 30 on one of the contacting surfaces 17, 20 to 25, which are connected to different LCD panels or to the electronic control circuit (not shown).

Claims

Expectations

1. Display device for information such as measurement data, fault displays and the like. With a plurality of LCD panels combined in a housing, the display elements of which are connected to an electronic control circuit via driver stages by being provided on at least one side with a contact surface on which several are connected Conductor tracks guiding the display elements are arranged side by side, characterized in that the driver stages (16) of display elements (14) of a plurality of adjacent LCD panels (10 to 13, 50, 51) on the edge region (17) of an LCD panel (10, 50 ) are arranged and electrically connected to the display elements (14) assigned to them, in that the display elements (14) have at least one LCD plate (11 to 13, 51) that does not support the driver stages (16) via their contact surface (23 to 25) with a further contacting surface (20 to 22) of the LCD board (10 50) carrying the driver stages (16) are to be connected and from there via conductor tracks (19) of said LCD panel (10, 50) on one of the driver stages (16) are at least connected.

2. Display device according to claim 1, characterized in that the LCD panels (10 to 12, 50, 51) with their contacting surfaces (20 to 25) are arranged side by side.

3. Display device according to claim 2, characterized in that the contacting surfaces (20 to 25) of the adjacent LCD panels (10 to 12, 50, 51) are contacted with one another via connecting means (27 to 29).

4. Display device according to claim 3, characterized in that the contacting surfaces (20 to 25) of the LCD panels (10 to 13, 50, 51) are contacted by a laminated conductive rubber (27).

5. Display device according to claim 3, characterized in that the adjacent contacting surfaces (20, 25) of the LCD plates (10 to 13, 50, 51) by a ribbon cable (29) with on the contacting surfaces (20 to 25) facing side Arranged conductor tracks (29a) are contacted.

6. Display device according to claim 5, characterized in that the ribbon cable (29) on at least one of the contacting surfaces (20 to 25) is glued.

7. Display device according to claim 5, characterized in that the ribbon cable (29) on at least one of the contact surfaces (20 to 25) is detachably contacted with a connector (30).

8. Display device according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the contacting surfaces (20 to 25) of the adjacent LCD panels (10 to 13, 50, 51) overlap each other and are in contact with each other via an intermediate connecting means (27).

9. Display device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the LCD plate carrying the driver stages (16) has additional contacting surfaces (20 to 22) on several sides for contacting adjacent LCD plates (11 to 13).

10. Display device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that in addition to the display elements (14) at least one of the LCD panels (51), the driver stage (16) of which sit on the adjacent LCD panel (50), further display elements (52 ) are on this LCD plate (51), whose driver stages (54) are located on an edge region (53) of this LCD plate (51).