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Byeonghwa Choi, Seungbae Lee, Ja Eun Lee, Sungsu Hong, Jangdoo Lee &
Sungchul Kim
To cite this article: Byeonghwa Choi, Seungbae Lee, Ja Eun Lee, Sungsu Hong, Jangdoo Lee
& Sungchul Kim (2015) A study on the optimum curvature for the curved monitor, Journal of
Information Display, 16:4, 217-223, DOI: 10.1080/15980316.2015.1111847
Curved displays have been actively developed beyond the limits of the conventional at displays. The curved displays
are known to be advantageous for immersion, preferences, and viewing convenience. As such, it is necessary to conduct
ergonomic studies on the curvature of the curved display. In this study, experiments were conducted to determine the optimal
curvature of the curved display for six kinds of contents. The results of the experiments showed that the optimal curvature
is 560.9 mm at the standard viewing distance of 600 mm, which can be considered an evidence that there is an intriguing
correlation between the viewing distance and the display curvature. It is expected that the results of this study would improve
the existing display products and would provide ergonomic guidelines for the users.
Keywords: curved monitor; curvature; radius of curvature; preference
1. Introduction 2. Experiment
The curved display has evolved rapidly in the TV markets 2.1. Experiment device used
of late. The demand for the curved TV has increased in A exible, resilient prototype tin plate (0.5 mm) was fabri-
the premium TV market since 2014. Since that year, 34 cated for evaluation, as shown in Figure 2(a). The tin plate
monitors with a radius of curvature of 20004000 mm have has a support plate and a rod for supporting the center of
been exhibited, and products with various curvatures have the tin plate, and two handles for enabling the subjects to
been placed in the market. change the curvature of the tin plate. A ruler was attached
The curved display was introduced to compensate for to the support plate for measuring the range of curvature.
the image distortion that occurs due to the dierence A pointer was attached to the edge of the tin plate for indi-
between the distance from the viewer to the screen center cating the radius of curvature on the ruler. When the subject
and the distance from the viewer to the screen edge. Image pulls the handles, the tin plate bends with a specic cur-
distortion does not occur in a curved monitor, as shown vature, as shown in Figure 2(b). Pictures of the tin plate
in Figure 1(a), where the viewing distance and the curva- were taken at several radiuses to determine if the tin plate
ture are the same [1]. On the other hand, image distortion maintained its circular shape. Figure 3 shows some of the
can occur in a at monitor due to the dierence in viewing pictures.
distance, as shown in Figure 1(b).
A study using multiple 17 at monitors showed that
the subjects nished their target search and route tracing 2.2. Experiment conditions
tasks within a shorter time in a curved state. The curvature The experiment was conducted among 30 adults in the
created by multiple at monitors, however, is dierent from 20 s to the 40 s. The subjects were 15 men and 15 women
the curvature of the curved monitor [2]. Also, it was estab- with higher-than-0.8 eyesight. The evaluated prototype
lished in several researches that a curved monitor has better was a 27 screen with an aspect ratio of 16:9. The hor-
eciency than a at monitor, but few researches have been izontal illuminance was 500 lx. The viewing distance
conducted to determine the optimum curvature [3,4]. between the subject and the display screen was 600 mm
In this study, the optimum curvature of a display based [5,6].
on the consumer preference was investigated, and the
direction of development of the curved monitor was pro-
posed based on the study results. Toward this end, exper- 2.3. Calculating the radius of curvature
iments were performed on various contents, using a 27 In this experiment, the radius of curvature was calculated
curvature variable prototype, and the experiment ndings using Equation (1), by recording the pointed values P 2 and
were analyzed. P 3 of the pointer when a subject adjusted the tin plate to
(a) (b)
2.4. Contents
The contents were selected considering the main uses
of personal computers. According to Hanmi Micronicss
survey, people use their computer for surng the Internet
(32%), creating documents (26%), gaming (22%), doing
graphic works (10%), and watching movies (8%) [7]. Con-
tents were made based on these results. The contents were
sentences for document work, a map and a newspaper
for search work, a scenery for watching movies, a game
scene for playing games, and a rectangular lattice pattern Figure 4. Calculation method of curvature radius. WF : Screen
(50 15) for graphic work. The patterns that were used in width in a at state. C : center angle in a curved state. R1 , R2 , R3 :
the experiment are shown in Figure 5. The contents were radius of curvature. P 2 , P 3 : preference curvature point.
printed on a 27 paper with a 16:9 aspect ratio. The size of
the contents was the same as that of the tin plate. The con-
tents were matte-coated to minimize the glare caused by 2.5. Experiment method
the reection of light during the evaluation. A thin rubber The subjects were instructed to pull the handles toward
magnet was attached to the rear face of the contents so that the most preferred position for each content, as shown in
it would be easy to attach/remove the contents to/from the Figure 6. The subjects were also asked to select the cur-
tin plate. vature at which they could not feel any distortion of the
(a) (b)
Figure 2. Curvature variable bendable plate (prototype). (a) Structure of the prototype. (b) Example of bending motion.
J. Inf. Disp. 219
4. Summary
In this study, a bendable 27 prototype thin plate was fab- Figure 13. Prediction curve of the immersive angle by screen
ricated, and the most preferred curvature by content was size.
investigated. No statistically signicant curvature depen-
dency was found, except for the game scene and the largest curvature (radius: 511.0 mm; SD: 126.5 mm). Peo-
scenery, although the radiuses of curvature were not the ple seem to prefer a smaller radius of curvature when
same. The scenery had the smallest curvature (radius: they are in a more interactive situation with the computer
605.8 mm; SD: 148.1 mm), and the game scene had the display.
The average preferred radius of curvature for the six Sungsu Hong received his B.S. in
contents was 560.9 mm (SD: 125.5 mm), which is slightly Machine Design degree from Hongik
less than the viewing distance of 600 mm. Based on these University in 1993, and his M.S. in Pre-
observations, it is proposed that a display technology with cision Mechanical Engineering degree
a small radius of curvature around the viewing distance from Hongik University in 1995. He
then joined Samsung Electronics (LCD)
be developed, beyond the technical limits. Moreover, a
in 1998 and Samsung Display in 2009.
variable display curvature is needed due to the large stan-
Since 2010, he has been working on
dard deviation and the content dependence on the preferred conducting evaluations and researches for exible displays in
curvature. Samsung Display.
In the future, further studies should be conducted on
the preferred curvature for dierent monitor sizes, several
viewing distances, and several patterns, including moving Jangdoo Lee is the vice president of
patterns. Display Research Center at Samsung
Display Co., Ltd. He obtained his B.S.
in Physics Education degree from Seoul
Notes on contributors National University in 1988, and his
Byeonghwa Choi received his B.S. M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics degrees from
in Electronic Materials Engineering KAIST in 1990 and 1993, respectively.
degree from Kwangwoon University in Since joining Samsung Display Co.,
1997. He has been working on dis- Ltd., he has been working on the development of exible, trans-
play image quality assessment ever since parent, and high-resolution OLED displays.
he joined Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
He is also interested in exible display
Sungchul Kim is the executive vice
ergonomics.
president of Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
He obtained his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in
Physics degrees from Kyung Hee Uni-
Seungbae Lee is a master at Samsung versity in 1985, 1987, and 1992, respec-
Display Co., Ltd. He received his B.S. tively. He worked in LG Electronics for
in Chemistry and M.S. in Material Engi- 10 years, after which he joined SDI as
neering degrees from Korea University, vice president. He has been working on
and his Ph.D. in Image Science degree the development of exible, transparent, and high-resolution
from Chiba University in Japan. He has OLED displays.
been researching on the metrology stan-
dardization of display image quality. His
main interests are color science and vision science in the display References
characteristics. [1] S.H. Ahn, B. Jin and M.H. Yun, presented at the ESK
conference, UNIST, Ulsan, KR, 2013.
[2] L. Shupp, C. Andrews, M. Dickey-Kurdziolek, B. Yost
Ja Eun Lee received her B.S. in Com- and C. North, HumanComputer Interaction 24 (12), 230
puter Engineering degree from Kyung- (2009).
pook National University in 2001. She
[3] S. Park, D. Choi, J. Yi, G. Kyung, S. Lee and B. Choi,
worked for SDS in system security
presented at IMID, EXCO, Daegu, KR, 2014.
for three years. She received her B.S.
in Physics degree from Kyungpook [4] K.A. Jeong, N. Na and H.J. Suk, SID 46, 130133, (2015).
National University in 2006 and her [5] International standard ISO 9241-303:2011(E), pp. 2
M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics degrees from [6] R.A. Ruddle and S. Lessels, American Psychological Sci-
KAIST in 2008 and 2011, respectively. In 2011, after graduat- ence, 17, 460 (2006).
ing, she joined Samsung Display Co., Ltd., where she worked on [7] The research result about PC uses (2010) < www.kbench.
display evaluation, ergonomics, and standardization. com/?q = node/88230 > (in Korean, unpublished).