PROTECTION EYEWEAR
Field of invention The present invention relates to protection eyewear, comprising a frame with at least one LCD shield, and LCD driver electronics adapted to drive said LCD shield.
Description of the background art Various kinds of protective eyewear are known to the art. Sunglasses are used to protect the eye from strong light from the sun. Various kinds of protective eyewear, such as skiing glasses and helmet visors, are used not only to protect the eye from strong light but also to provide mechanical protection. Protective eyewear and traditional sun glasses has a constant light transmission, meaning that under some conditions the transmission is to high and under other conditions the transmission is to low. There are also electrochrome glasses that are able to adapt the transmission of light to the lighting conditions. The problem with electrochome glasses is that the change in transmission is done relatively slowly, like in one minute or more. This is a problem in an environment with rapid changes in lighting conditions, such as when moving from broad daylight into a tunnel or when using equipment emitting UV light. It is known to overcome these problems by using eyeglasses or protective eyewear with glasses made out of a conventional glass LCD. A glass LCD with a conventional polarizer causes the glasses to be heavy in weight. There is also a problem in making bent or curved designs in order to provide eyewear with a good fit or pleasing design using a glass LCD for glasses * in an eyewear.
Summary of the present invention From the standpoint of the field of invention, as described above, the present invention teaches that used LCD shield is made out of an LCD comprising a flexible substrate in order to provide a flexible, thin and lightweight LCD, making it possible to produce lightweight protective eyewear of different shapes and forms.
The substrate is preferably made out of a polymer film, such as PET, PES, PC, polycyclic olefin or polyarlyate. In order to get a thin and lightweight LCD the present invention teaches that the LCD comprises a thin film polarizer. Such a polarizer can be realised in different ways. According to one embodiment, the LCD comprises LC-alignment layers made out of a thin film polarizer, which thin film polarizer forms an internal polarizer. The present invention teaches that a first thin polymeric protective layer is positioned between the LC-alignment layers and the liquid crystal of the LCD, in order to protect the liquid crystal from the thin film polarizer. According to another embodiment, the present invention teaches that the LCD comprises separate LC-alignment layers, and a thin film polarizer forming an internal polarizer. Yet another embodiment of the present invention teaches that the LCD comprises separate LC-alignment layers, and a thin film polarizer forming an external polarizer. Different electrodes can be used in an inventive LCD. The LCD can comprise either traditional ITO electrodes or organic electrodes. If organic electrodes are used in combination with an internal polarizer made out of a thin film polarizer, then the present invention teaches that a second thin polymeric protective layer is positioned between respective electrode and the thin film polarizer, in order to protect the organic electrodes from the thin film polarizer. In order to adapt an inventive protection eyewear to different lighting conditions and protective applications the present invention teaches that the LCD is adapted to control the transmission of visible light, UV light and/or IR light. The present invention teaches different ways of controlling the transmission of light. The eyewear may comprise one or several potentiometers, and the driver electronics may be adapted to a manual control of light transmission according to the resistance of the potentiometer. It is also possible to let the eyewear comprise one or several light sensors, and the driver electronics may be adapted to an automatic control of light transmission according to detected light by the light sensors. It is also possible to divide the LCD into pixels. In this embodiment the driver unit may be adapted to control separate pixels, and thus the transmission of
light in selected sections of the LCD. The driver unit may also be adapted to control separate pixels, and thus to display characters or images on the LCD.
Advantages The advantages of the present invention are that it provides flexible, thin and lightweight protections eyewear that can be shaped, formed and adapted to various lighting conditions, environments and designs. It also provides a protection eyewear that will respond immediately on changes in the lighting conditions.
Brief description of drawings Protection eyewear according to the present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic and simplified view of protection eyewear according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a schematic and simplified cross sectional view of an LCD according to the present invention showing a first embodiment of a polarizer, Figure 3 is a schematic and simplified cross sectional view of an LCD according to the present invention showing a second embodiment of a polarizer, Figure 4 is a schematic and simplified cross sectional view of an LCD according to the present invention showing a third embodiment of a polarizer, and Figure 5 is a schematic and simplified view of protection eyewear according to the present invention showing various possibilities of controlling the transmission of light through used LCD.
Detailed description of embodiments as presently preferred Figure 1 shows a protection eyewear 1 , comprising a frame 2 with at least one LCD shield 3 and LCD driver electronics adapted to drive the LCD shield. The LCD shield 3 is made out of an LCD comprising a flexible substrate. Figure 2 shows the flexible substrate 3a, 3b. This substrate can be made out of different flexible materials suitable to act as a substrate in an LCD. It is
preferably made out of a polymer film, such as PET, PES, PC, polycyclic olefin or polyarlyate. The present invention teaches that the LCD comprises a thin film polarizer, thereby providing a flexible, thin and lightweight polarizer solution. Such solutions can be realised in different ways. According to one first embodiment for realising a polarizer the LCD comprises LC-alignment layers 3c, 3d made out of a thin film polarizer, where the thin film polarizers forms an internal polarizer 3e. Since the thin film polarizer in the LC-alignment layers 3c, 3d may contaminate the liquid crystal 3f in the LCD 3, the present invention teaches that, in an embodiment where the LC-alignment layers are made out of a thin film polarizer, a first thin polymeric protective layer 3g is positioned between LC- alignment layers 3c, 3d and the liquid crystal 3f. According to a second embodiment for realising a polarizer the present invention teaches that the LCD comprises LC-alignment layers 3h, 3i separate from the polarizer 3j, 3k, where the thin film polarizer forms an internal polarizer 3j, 3k. According to a third embodiment for realising a polarizer the present invention teaches that the LCD comprises LC-alignment layers 3m, 3n separate from the polarizer 3o, 3p, where the thin film polarizer forms an external polarizer 3o, 3p. The electrodes used in an inventive LCD can also be realised in different ways. The electrodes may for instance be made out of ITO. In order to increase the flexibility of the LCD, the present invention also teaches that the LCD comprises organic electrodes 3q, 3r. These electrodes can for instance be made out of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with po!y(4- styrenesylfonate) (PEDOT-PSS). If a thin film polarizer is used to form an internal polarizer, according to figures 2 and 3, in combination with an organic electrode 3q, 3r, then the present invention teaches that a second thin polymeric protective layer 3s, 3t is positioned between respective electrode 3q, 3r and adjacent polarizer, 3e in figure 2 and 3j, 3k in figure 3, in order to protect the organic electrodes 3q, 3r from the thin film polarizer.
Protection eyewear according to the present invention can be used in different environments and with different requirements for protection. An inventive LCD may thus be adapted to control the transmission of light in different wavelength ranges, such as the transmission of visible light, of UV light and/or of IR light. Figure 1 shows that the inventive protection eyewear 1 comprises one or several potentiometers 41 , in figure 1 attached to the frame 2. In this embodiment the driver electronics 4 may be adapted to a manual control of light transmission according to the resistance of the potentiometer 41. Figure 1 also shows that the inventive protection eyewear 1 may comprise one or several light sensors 42, in figure 1 attached to the frame 2. In this embodiment the driver electronics 4 may be adapted to an automatic control of light transmission according to detected light by the light sensors 42. The flexible LCD according to the present invention provides possibilities to control parts of the LCD shield in order to achieve different advantages. Figure 5 shows schematically and very simplified that the LCD 3 is divided into pixels 31 , 32, 33, ..., 3n. The driver unit 4 can thus be adapted to control separate pixels 31 , 32, 33, ..., 3n, and thereby the transmission of light in selected sections of the LCD 3. The driver unit 4 may also be adapted to control separate pixels 31 , 32,
33 3n in order to display characters or images on the LCD 3. It will be understood that the invention is not restricted to the aforede- scribed and illustrated exemplifying embodiment thereof and that modifications can be made within the scope of the inventive concept as illustrated in the accompanying Claims.