ADDRESSING SCHEME FOR A DISPLAY DEVICE WITH DISTRIBUTED SENSORS IN A DISPLAY AREA

Abstract

A display device includes an array of driver circuits distributed in a display area for driving corresponding LED zones and an array of sensor circuits distributed in the display area for sensing conditions associated with the driver circuits or LED zones. Various communication protocols and connectivity configurations may be employed to communicate driver control signals to the driver circuits and to obtain readback data from the sensors. A control circuit adjusts operation of the display device based on sensor data obtained from the sensor.

Description

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates generally to light emitting diodes (LEDs) and LED driver circuitry for a display, and more specifically to a display architecture with distributed driver circuits.

LEDs are used in many electronic display devices, such as televisions, computer monitors, laptop computers, tablets, smartphones, projection systems, and head-mounted devices. Modern displays include very large numbers of individual LEDs that may be arranged in rows and columns in a display area. In order to drive each LED, current methods employ driver circuitry that requires significant amounts of external chip area that impacts the size of the display device.

SUMMARY

A display device includes a group of light emitting diode zones each comprising one or more light emitting diodes, a group of driver circuits for driving the group of light emitting diode zones, a group of sensor circuits distributed in the display area of the display device, and a control circuit. The control circuit facilitates assignment of addresses to the group of sensor circuits during an addressing mode. In this process, the control circuit turns on a selected driver circuit to drive a corresponding LED zone and obtains sensor data from the group of sensor circuits that represents a sensed condition associated with the LED zone. The control circuit determines, based on the sensor data, a sensor value associated with a proximate sensor circuit that is proximate to the LED zone turned on by the selected driver circuit. The control circuit assigns an address to the proximate sensor circuit associated with an address of the selected driver circuit.

In various embodiments, the sensor circuits may comprise temperature sensing circuits that detect heat generated by the selected driver circuit, light sensing circuits that detect light generating by the LED zone, or audio sensing circuits that detect sound generating by an audio transducer proximate to the LED zone.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The teachings of the embodiments of the present invention can be readily understood by considering the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1A is a circuit diagram of a display device including distributed zone integrated circuits (ICs) that include a mixture of driver circuits and sensor circuits, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 1B is a first example embodiment of a zone IC.

FIG. 1C is a second example embodiment of a zone IC.

FIG. 1D is a third example embodiment of a zone IC.

FIG. 1E is a fourth example embodiment of a zone IC.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a display device including an array of zone ICs arranged in groups including a mixture of driver circuits and 3-pin sensor circuits.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example embodiment of a process for assigning addresses to sensor circuits in an addressing mode.

FIG. 4A is a cross sectional view of a first embodiment of an LED and driver circuit that may be utilized in a display device.

FIG. 4B is a cross sectional view of a second embodiment of an LED and driver circuit that may be utilized in a display device.

FIG. 4C is a cross sectional view of a third embodiment of an LED and driver circuit that may be utilized in a display device.

FIG. 5 is a top down view of a display device using an LED and driver circuit, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic view of several layers of an LED and driver circuit for a display device, according to one embodiment.

The features and advantages described in the specification are not all inclusive and, in particular, many additional features and advantages will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the drawings, specification, and claims. Moreover, it should be noted that the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive aspect matter.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

A display device includes an array of driver circuits distributed in a display area for driving corresponding LED zones and an array of sensor circuits distributed in the display area for sensing conditions associated with the driver circuits or LED zones. Various communication protocols and connectivity configurations may be employed to communicate driver control signals to the driver circuits and to obtain readback data from the sensors. In an addressing scheme, a control circuit selectively controls a driver circuit to turn on an LED zone and obtains sensor data representing sensed conditions. Based on the sensor data, the control circuit identifies a sensor circuit proximate to the LED zone that was turned on and assigns an address to the proximate sensor circuit that is associated with an address of the selected driver circuit that was turned on. During operation, the control circuit obtains sensor data together with addresses of the sensor circuits, and adjusts operation of the display device based on the sensor data and the discovered location-based mapping of the driver circuits to the sensor circuits.

FIG. 1A is a circuit diagram of a display device 100 for displaying images or video. In various embodiments, the display device 100 may be implemented in any suitable form-factor, including a display screen for a computer display panel, a television, a mobile device, a billboard, etc. The display device 100 may comprise a liquid crystal display (LCD) device or an LED display device. In an LCD display device, LEDs provide white light backlighting that passes through liquid crystal color filters that control the color of individual pixels of the display. In an LED display device, LEDs are directly controlled to emit colored light corresponding to each pixel of the display.

The display device 100 may include a device array 105 and a control circuit 110. The device array 105 comprises an array of zone integrated circuits (ICs) 120 that may have different configurations, examples of which are illustrated in FIGS. 1B-1E. As illustrated in FIG. 1B, a zone IC 120 may include an integrated package including an LED zone 140 and a driver circuit 150 that drives the corresponding LED zone 140. As illustrated in FIG. 1C, a zone IC 120 may comprise a driver circuit 150 that couples to an external LED zone 140 in a separate physical package. As illustrated in FIG. 1D, a zone IC 120 may comprise a sensor circuit 160 such as a temperature sensor, a light sensor, a voltage sensor, an audio sensor, or a device that performs a combination of sensing functions. As illustrated in FIG. 1E, a zone IC 120 may include an integrated package that includes an LED zone 140, a driver circuit 150, and a sensor circuit 160. The device array 105 generally includes a mixture of at least two different types of zone ICs 120, in which some of the zone ICs 120 include driver circuits 150 and at least some of the zone ICs 120 include sensor circuits 160.

As will be described in further detail below, at least some of the zone ICs 120 in the configurations of FIG. 1B or FIG. 1E may be physically structured with LED zones 140 that are stacked over the driver circuits 150. In other words, an array of LED zones 140 are arranged in a first x-y plane and an array of driver circuits 150 are arranged in a second x-y plane parallel to the first x-y plane in which each LED zone 140 is stacked over (i.e., in the z direction) the corresponding driver circuit 150 that drives it. Furthermore, the LED zone 140 and the driver circuit 150 of a zone IC 120 may be integrated on the same substrate and in a same package as further described in FIGS. 4-6. This structure enables a display device 100 in which the driver circuits 150 are distributed in a display area and therefore enables a more compact display device 100 than in devices where the driver circuits 150 are external to the display area.

The LEDs of each LED zone 140 may be organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), inorganic light emitting diodes (ILEDs), mini light emitting diodes (mini-LEDs) (e.g., having a size range between 100 to 300 micrometers), micro light emitting diodes (micro-LEDs) (e.g., having a size of less than 100 micrometers), white light emitting diodes (WLEDs), active-matrix OLEDs (AMOLEDs), transparent OLEDs (TOLEDs), or some other type of LEDs.

The LED zones 140 may be arranged in a two-dimensional array (e.g., in rows and columns). In an LCD display, the LED zones 140 can have one or more LEDs that provides backlighting for a backlighting zone, which may include a one-dimensional or two-dimensional array of pixels. In an LED display, the LED zones 140 may comprise one or more LEDs corresponding to a single pixel or may comprise a one-dimensional array or two-dimensional array of LEDs corresponding to an array of pixels (e.g., one or more columns or rows). For example, in one embodiment, the LED zones 140 may comprise one or more groups of red, green, and blue LEDs that each correspond to a sub-pixel of a pixel. In another embodiment, the LED zones 140 may comprise one or more groups of red, green, and blue LED strings that correspond to a column or partial column of sub-pixels or a row or partial row of sub-pixels. For example, an LED zone 140 may comprise a set of red sub-pixels, a set of green sub-pixels, or a set of blue sub-pixels.

In an embodiment, the driver circuits 150 and sensor circuits 160 may similarly be arranged in a two-dimensional array. Zone ICs 120 with driver circuits 150 are generally distributed throughout in the display area to drive corresponding LED zones 140. The sensor circuits 160 may also be distributed throughout the device array 105 to sense conditions relating to operation of a set of one or more adjacent driver circuits 150 as will be described in further detail below. Sensor circuits 160 may be positioned, for example, next to each driver circuit 150 or may be spread out between sets of driver circuits (e.g., one sensor circuit 160 in each row).

In other embodiments in which the zone ICs 120 have the configuration of FIG. 1D (i.e., correspond to sensor circuits 160), the driver circuits 150 may be located around the periphery of the display device 100 instead of in the display area.

The zone ICs 120 may operate in various modes including at least an addressing mode, a configuration mode, and an operational mode. During the addressing mode, the control circuit 110 initiates an addressing procedure to cause assignment of addresses to each of the zone ICs 120. During the configuration and operational modes, the control circuit 110 transmits commands and data that may be targeted to specific zone ICs 120 based on their addresses. In the configuration mode, the control circuit 110 configures driver circuits 150 of the zone ICs 120 with one or more operating parameters (e.g., overcurrent thresholds, overvoltage thresholds, clock division ratios, and/or slew rate control). During the operational mode, the control circuit 110 provides control data to the driver circuits 150 that causes the driver circuits 150 to control the respective driver currents to the LED zones 140, thereby controlling brightness. For example, in each of a sequence of image frames, the control circuit 110 provides driver control signals to the driver circuits 150 that control a driving current of the LED zones 140 (e.g., by controlling a duty cycle and/or current level through one or more LED strings). The control circuit 110 may also issue commands to request readback data from sensor circuits 160, and the sensor circuits 160 provide the sensor data to the control circuit 110 in response to the commands. The control circuit 110 may adjust driver control signals, supply voltage levels, sensor parameters, or other display parameters dependent on the received feedback data from the sensor circuits 160. For example, the control circuit 110 may calibrate the driver circuits 150 based on the sensed data so that LED zones 140 each output the same brightness in response to the same brightness control signal, despite process variations or other sensed conditions that may otherwise cause variations. The calibration process may be performed by measuring light output, channel voltages, temperature, or other data that may affect performances of the LEDs. The calibration process may be repeated over time (e.g., as the display device 100 heats up during operation). The control circuit 110 may furthermore calibrate sensor circuits 160, adjust supply voltage levels, or adjust parameters associated with the display device 100 based on the readback data.

The zone ICs 120 may be connected to the control circuit 110 in groups of zone ICs 120 that share common power lines, ground lines, and/or communication lines. In different embodiments, different connectivity configurations may be employed to couple the control circuit 110 to each group of zone ICs 120. For example, in an embodiment, each group of zone ICs 120 is coupled by a shared parallel communication line that provides the driver control signals and/or readback commands to zone ICs 120 within the group and targets different signals to different zone ICs 120 based on their addresses. The shared parallel communication line may comprise a dedicated communication line or may comprise a power communication line that both provides a supply voltage to the zone ICs 120 and includes digital data modulated on the supply voltage. The zone ICs 120 may furthermore include serial connections between adjacent zone ICs 120 in a group and between the group of zone ICs 120 and the control circuit 110 to form a serial communication chain. The serial communication chain may be utilized to facilitate assignment of addresses to the zone ICs 120 at startup, may be used to communicate various commands to the zone ICs 120, and/or may be used to communicate readback data from the zone ICs 120 to the control circuit 110. In other embodiments, some zone ICs 120 (e.g., zone ICs 120 including driver circuits 150) within a group may be serially connected, while the serial communications lines bypass other zone ICs 120 (e.g., sensor circuits 160) within the group.

Alternatively, the control circuit 110 may include sets of control lines across multiple dimensions to facilitate communication of the driver control signals without addresses. Here, a group of zone ICs 120 along a first dimension (e.g., a row) may be selected based on a first shared control line coupled to all the zone ICs 120 in the group. Then control signals may be communicated in parallel using a set of separate control lines that may be shared between zone ICs 120 along a second dimension (e.g., a column). In some embodiments, a display device 100 may utilize addresses for driver circuits 150 but not for sensor circuits 160. In yet further embodiments, driver circuits 150 may share an address with a corresponding sensor circuit 160 (e.g., an adjacent sensor circuit 160).

Each group of zone ICs 120 may comprise, for example, a row or partial row of zone ICs 120, a column or partial column of zone ICs 120, a block of adjacent zone ICs 120, or any arbitrary subset of the zone ICs 120. In some embodiments, each group of zone ICs 120 is of uniform type such that, for example, some groups of zone ICs 120 comprise driver circuits 150 while other groups of zone ICs 120 comprise sensor circuits 160. In this case, the connectivity configurations in the different types of groups may be different. Alternatively, a group of zone ICs 120 may include a mixture of zone ICs 120 with sensor circuits 160 (e.g., in the configuration of FIG. 1D) and zone ICs with driver circuits 150 (e.g., in the configuration of FIGS. 1B or 1C). Here, a set of communication lines may be shared between a set of zone ICs 120 that includes at least one driver circuit 150 and a least one sensor circuit 160.

FIG. 2 illustrates one example of a connectivity configuration for a device array 205 of a display device 200. In this embodiment, the driver circuits 250 and sensor circuits 260 are arranged in groups (e.g., rows) that share common power supply lines and common communication lines. In the illustrated configuration, the driver circuits 250 and sensor circuits 260 in a group are coupled in parallel to a shared command line 265. In an embodiment, the shared command line 265 may comprise a power communication line that supplies both power and data to the zone ICs 220 as a supply voltage modulated with digital data. Alternatively, the shared command line 265 may comprise a dedicated signal line and power may be supplied to the driver circuits 250 and sensor circuits 260 via a separate dedicated supply line (not shown). Serial communication lines 255 also couple the driver circuits 250 of a group in series to each other and to the control circuit 210 to enable communications between the driver circuits 250 and the control circuit 210 via a serial communication chain.

In the illustrated embodiment, the driver circuits 250 include an input pin 254, a power line communication pin 256, one or more output pins 258, and a ground pin 252. In an embodiment, the output pins 258 may comprise a set of multiple pins on each driver circuit 250 to control multiple channels of the LED zone 240. For example, the output pins 258 may each include 3 pins per driver circuit 250 to control red, green, and blue channels of the LED zones 740.

The ground pin 252 is configured to provide a path to a ground line for the driver circuit 250. The power line communication input pin 256 is configured to receive a power line communication signal from the control circuit 210 via the common power communication line 265. The data input pin 254 and the output pin 258 are coupled to the serial communication lines 255 to facilitate serial communication to and from the driver circuits 250. The serial communication lines 255 may be used, for example, to assign addresses to the driver circuits 250 as described below. The output pin 258 serves a dual-purpose dependent on the mode of operation. In an addressing mode, the output pin 258 facilitates communications on the serial communication lines 255 as described above. The output pin 258 is also coupled to sink current from a corresponding LED zone 240 to control the driver current during the operational mode.

The sensor circuits 260 include a power line communication pin 266, an output pin 268, and a ground pin 262. The ground pin 262 is coupled to ground. The power line communication input pin 266 is configured to receive readback commands from the control circuit 210 via the common power communication line 265. The output pin 268 is coupled to a shared readback line 225 for providing readback data to the control circuit 210.

The serial communication lines 255 may be utilized in the addressing mode to facilitate assignment of addresses to the driver circuits 250. Here, an addressing signal is sent from the control circuit 210 via the serial communication lines 255 to the driver circuit 250-1 in a group. The first driver circuit 250-1 stores an address based on the incoming addressing signal and generates an outgoing addressing signal for outputting to the next driver circuit 250-2 via the serial communication line 255. The second driver circuit 250-2 similarly receives the addressing signal from the first driver circuit 250-1, stores an address based on the incoming addressing signal, and outputs an outgoing addressing signal to the next driver circuit 250-3. This process continues through the chain of driver circuits 250. The addressing process may be performed in parallel or sequentially for each group of driver circuits 250.

In an example addressing scheme, each driver circuit 250 may receive an address, store the address, increment the address by one or by another fixed amount, and send the incremented address as an outgoing addressing signal to the next driver circuit 250 in the group. Alternatively, each driver circuit 250 may receive the address of the prior driver circuit 250, increment the address, store the incremented address, and send the incremented address to the next driver circuit 250. In other embodiments, the driver circuit 250 may generate an address based on the incoming address signal according to a different function (e.g., decrementing).

Once addresses are assigned to the driver circuits 250, an addressing scheme may be used by which the control circuit 210 turns on different LED zones 240 (via their corresponding driver circuits 250) in a detectable pattern to create local heat, light, or another detectable condition in an localized area of the device array 205 that can be detected by one or more sensor circuits 260 proximate to the LED zone 240 and/or driver circuit 250. After turning on a selected LED zone 240, the control circuit 210 can issue a power line communication command so that all the sensor circuits 260 in a group output their sensor data via the readback line 225. The control circuit 210 can then issue a command to assign an address to a specific sensor circuit 260 that can be referenced based on the sensor data value it provided. For example, the control circuit 210 can turn on a specific driver circuit 250, obtain temperature data from a set of sensor circuits 260, and assign addresses to sensor circuits 260 based on their provided values. If the sensor data is unique for each sensor circuits 260, the control circuit 210 can issue commands associating an assigned address with each sensor value. The sensors 260 can then each recognize the sensor value they each provided and store the assigned address.

Alternatively, addresses may be assigned one at a time as driver circuits 250 are turned on a particular sequence. For example, the control circuit 210 turns on a particular driver circuit 250 and obtains temperature data from a set of sensors 260. The control circuit 210 identifies the highest temperature in the sensor data and assigns an address to the sensor circuit 260 providing the highest temperature at this time step. This process may repeat for different driver circuits 210 in different areas of the device array 205. Here, the sensor circuit 260 that responds most strongly (e.g., highest temperature value) to a particular driver circuit 210 turning on is indicative of proximity of the sensor circuit 260 to the driver circuit 210 or to the corresponding LED zone 240. The sensor circuit 260 may be assigned an address associated with the address of the selected driver circuit 210. For example, the sensor circuit 260 may be assigned the same address as the selected driver circuit, or a mapping between the address of the sensor circuit 260 and the driver circuit 250 may be stored. The proximity information enables the control circuit 210 to later detect which driver circuits 250 and LED zones 240 are associated with the conditions sensed by the sensor circuits 260 so that operation of the driver circuits 250 can be calibrated accordingly.

If the control circuit 210 is preprogrammed with information about the relative locations of the sensor circuits 260 and the driver circuits 250 within the device array 205, then the control circuit 210 can quickly select the most optimal driver circuits 250 to turn on to detect and assign unique addresses to the sensor circuits 260. For example, the control circuit 210 can turn on the driver circuits 250 that are known to be most proximate to the sensor circuits 260 and assign addresses accordingly. However, if the control circuit 210 has no information about the relative locations of the sensor circuits 280, the control circuit 210 can instead scan across each row (e.g., one driver circuit 250 at a time) to determine the sensor circuit 260 that responds most strongly, indicating proximity to the driver circuit 250 or LED zone 240. The control circuit 210 then sends a command assigning a unique address to the sensor circuit 260 that outputted the sensor value indicative of proximity. Each sensor circuit 260 can determine whether or not the command applies to it. The control circuit 210 can furthermore produce a map of the relative locations of the driver circuits 250 or LED zones 240 and nearby sensor circuits 260.

In other examples, a similar technique may be used in device arrays of other devices that are not necessarily driver circuits 250. For example, other types of electronic devices can similarly be configured to generate a detectable condition such as light, heat, or sound in a localized portion of the device array 205 to enable assignment of unique addresses to the sensor circuits 260. Addresses can be assigned based on the relative detection levels in a similar manner as described above.

After addressing, commands may be sent to the driver circuits 250 based on the addresses. The commands may include dimming commands for driver circuits 250 to control dimming of corresponding the LED zones 240. Here, the driver circuits 250 receive the dimming data and adjust the driving currents to the corresponding LED zone 240 to achieve the desired brightness. Commands may be sent to the driver circuits 250 via the shared command line 265 or via the serial communication lines 255 and serially connected driver circuits 250. If commands are sent via the shared command line 265, the targeted driver circuit 250 having the specified address processes the command while the other driver circuits 250 may ignore the command. If the commands are sent via the serial communication lines 255, driver circuits 250 that are not targeted by the command may propagate the command to an adjacent driver circuit 250 via the serial communication lines 255 until it reaches the targeted driver circuit 250, which processes the command.

The control circuit 210 may also issue readback commands via the shared command line 265 to the sensor circuits 260 to request sensor data. The feedback commands may request information such as channel voltage information, temperature information, light sensing information, status information, fault information, or other data from sensor circuits 260. In response to these commands, the sensor circuits 260 may obtain the data from integrated sensors and send the readback data to the control circuit 210 via parallel connections to the single wire readback line 225. The commands generally specify a targeted sensor circuit 260 (e.g., by specifying an address). The sensor circuit 260 processes the command and outputs requested readback data on the single wire readback line 225. The other sensor circuits 260 may determine that they are not targeted by the command and configure their output pin coupled to the single wire readback line 225 in a high impedance state so that they do not affect the voltage on the single wire readback line 225. The display device 200 may utilize this communication scheme to detect channel voltage of corresponding LED zones 240, temperature data, status information, or other data and adjust operation accordingly as described above.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example embodiment of a process for automatically assigning addresses to sensor circuits 260. The control circuit 210 facilitates 302 assignment of addresses to the driver circuits using any of the techniques described above. The control circuit 210 then turns on 304 a selected LED zone 240 via its corresponding driver circuit 250. The control circuit 210 obtains 306 sensor data from the sensor circuits 260. The control circuit 210 then determines 308, based on the sensor data, a sensor circuit 260 that is proximate to the selected LED zone 240 (or to the selected driver circuit 250). The control circuit 210 assigns 310 an address to the sensor circuit associated with an address of the selected driver circuit 250. This process may repeat 312 for different driver circuits 250 and corresponding LED zones 240 until addresses are assigned to all of the sensor circuits 260.

Additional connectivity configurations for a display device are described in further detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/067,427 filed on Oct. 9, 2020 entitled “Display Device with Feedback via Serial Connections Between Distributed Driver Circuits”, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/067,432 filed on Oct. 9, 2020 entitled “Display Device with Feedback via Parallel Connections from Distributed Driver Circuits to a Single Wire Interface”, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/109,066 filed on Dec. 1, 2020 entitled “Display Device with Distributed Arrays of Driver Circuits and Sensors”, which are each incorporated by reference herein.

FIGS. 4-6 illustrate an example embodiment of an integrated package for a display device 400 that includes an integrated driver circuit 150 and LED zone 140. This architecture enables the driver circuits 150 to be distributed in the display area of the display device 400 adjacent to their respective LED zones 140. Other structures such as sensor circuits 160 are not shown in FIGS. 4-6 may be similar integrated in a common package together with the driver circuit 150 and LED zone 140.

FIG. 4A is a cross sectional view of a first embodiment of a display device 400 including an integrated LED and driver circuit 405. In the example shown in FIG. 4A, the circuit 400 includes a printed circuit board (PCB) 410, a PCB interconnect layer 420, and the integrated LED and driver circuit 405 which comprises a substrate 430, a driver circuit layer 440, an interconnect layer 450, a conductive redistribution layer 460, and an LED layer 470. Bonded wires 455 may be included for connections between the PCB interconnect layer 420 and the integrated LED and driver circuit 405. The PCB 410 comprises a support board for mounting the integrated LED and driver circuit 405, the control circuit 110 and various other supporting electronics. The PCB 410 may include internal electrical traces and/or vias that provide electrical connections between the electronics. A PCB interconnect layer 420 may be formed on a surface of the PCB 410. The PCB interconnect layer 420 includes pads for mounting the various electronics and traces for connecting between them.

The integrated LED and driver circuit 405 includes a substrate 430 that is mountable on a surface of the PCB interconnect layer 420. The substrate 430 may be, e.g., a silicon (Si) substrate. In other embodiments, the substrate 430 may include various materials, such as gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), gallium nitride (GaN), AlN, sapphire, silicon carbide (SiC), or the like.

A driver circuit layer 440 may be fabricated on a surface of the substrate 430 using silicon transistor processes (e.g., BCD processing) or other transistor processes. The driver circuit layer 440 may include one or more driver circuits 150 (e.g., a single driver circuit 120 or a group of driver circuits 150 arranged in an array). An interconnect layer 450 may be formed on a surface of the driver circuit layer 440. The interconnect layer 450 may include one or more metal or metal alloy materials, such as Al, Ag, Au, Pt, Ti, Cu, or any combination thereof. The interconnect layer 450 may include electrical traces to electrically connect the driver circuits 150 in the driver circuit layer 440 to wire bonds 455, which are in turn connected to the control circuit 110 on the PCB 410. In an embodiment, each wire bond 455 provides an electrical connection for the various connections described above.

In an embodiment, the interconnect layer 450 is not necessarily distinct from the driver circuit layer 440 and these layers 440, 450 may be formed in a single process in which the interconnect layer 450 represents a top surface of the driver layer 440.

The conductive redistribution layer 460 may be formed on a surface of the interconnect layer 450. The conductive redistribution layer 460 may include a metallic grid made of a conductive material, such as Cu, Ag, Au, Al, or the like. An LED layer 470 includes LEDs that are on a surface of the conductive redistribution layer 460. The LED layer 470 may include arrays of LEDs arranged into the LED zones 140 as described above. The conductive redistribution layer 460 provides an electrical connection between the LEDs in the LED layer 470 and the one or more driver circuits in the driver circuit layer 440 for supplying the driver current and provides a mechanical connection securing the LEDs over the substrate 430 such that the LED layer 470 and the conductive redistribution layer 460 are vertically stacked over the driver circuit layer 440.

Thus, in the illustrated circuit 400, the one or more driver circuits 150 and the LED zones 130 including the LEDs are integrated in a single package including a substrate 430 with the LEDs in an LED layer 470 stacked over the driver circuits 150 in the driver circuit layer 440. By stacking the LED layer 470 over the driver circuit layer 440 in this manner, the driver circuits 150 can be distributed in the display area of a display device 100.

FIG. 4B is a cross sectional view of a second embodiment of a display device 480 including an integrated LED and driver circuit 485, according to one embodiment. The device 480 is substantially similar to the device 400 described in FIG. 4A but utilizes vias 432 and corresponding connected solder balls 434 to make electrical connections between the driver circuit layer 440 and the PCB 410 instead of the wires 455. Here, the vias 432 are plated vertical electrical connections that pass completely through the substrate layer 430. In one embodiment, the substrate layer 430 is a Si substrate and the through-chip vias 432 are Through Silicon Vias (TSVs). The through-chip vias 432 are etched into and through the substrate layer 430 during fabrication and may be filled with a metal, such as tungsten (W), copper (C), or other conductive material. The solder balls 434 comprise a conductive material that provide an electrical and mechanical connection to the plating of the vias 432 and electrical traces on the PCB interconnect layer 420. In one embodiment, each via 432 provides an electrical connection for providing signals such as the driver control signal from the control circuit 110 on the PCB 410 to a group of driver circuits 150 on the driver circuit layer 440. The vias 432 may also provide connections for the incoming and outgoing addressing signals, the supply voltage (e.g., VLED) to the LEDs in a LED zone 140 on the LED layer 470, and a path to a circuit ground (GND).

FIG. 4C is a cross sectional view of a third embodiment of a display device 490 including an integrated LED and driver circuit 495. The device 490 is substantially similar to the device 480 described in FIG. 4B but includes the driver circuit layer 440 and interconnect layer 450 on the opposite side of the substrate 430 from the conductive redistribution layer 460 and the LED layer 470. In this embodiment, the interconnect layer 450 and the driver circuit layer 440 are electrically connected to the PCB 410 via a lower conductive redistribution layer 465 and solder balls 434. The lower conductive redistribution layer 465 and solder balls 434 provide mechanical and electrical connections (e.g., for the driver control signals) between the driver circuit layer 440 and the PCB interconnect layer 420. The driver circuit layer 440 and interconnect layer 450 are electrically connected to the conductive redistribution layer 460 and the LEDs of the LED layer 470 via one or more plated vias 432 through the substrate 430. The one or more vias 432 seen in FIG. 4C may be utilized to provide the driver currents from the driver circuits in the driver circuit layer 440 to the LEDs in the LED layer 470 and other signals as described above.

In alternative embodiments, the integrated driver and LED circuits 405, 485, 495 may be mounted to a different base such as a glass base instead of the PCB 410.

FIG. 5 is a top down view 500 of a display device using an integrated LED and driver circuit, according to one embodiment. The circuit can correspond to a top view of any of the integrated LED and driver circuits 405, 485, 495 depicted in FIGS. 4A-C. A plurality of LEDs of an LED zone 470 are arranged in rows and columns (e.g., C1, C2, C3, . . . Cn-1, Cn) in FIG. 5. For passive matrix architectures, each row of LEDs is connected by a conductive redistribution layer 460 to a demultiplexer which outputs a plurality of VLED signals (i.e., VLED_1 . . . VLED_M). The VLED signals provide power (i.e., a supply voltage) to a corresponding row of LEDs via the conductive redistribution layer 460.

FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic view 600 of several layers of a display device with an integrated LED and driver circuit, according to one embodiment. The schematic view includes the PCB 410, the driver circuit layer 440, the conductive redistribution layer 460, and the LED layer 470 as described in FIGS. 4A-C. The schematic of FIG. 6 shows circuit connections for the circuits 405, 485, 495 of FIGS. 4A-C but does not reflect the physical layout. As described above, in the physical layout, the LED layer 470 is positioned on top of (i.e., vertically stacked over) the conductive redistribution layer 460. The conductive redistribution layer 460 is positioned on top of the driver circuit layer 440 and the driver circuit layer 440 is positioned on top of the PCB 410.

The PCB 410 includes a connection to a power source supplying power (e.g., VLED) to the LEDs, a control circuit for generating a control signal, generic I/O connections, and a ground (GND) connection. The driver circuit layer 440 includes a plurality of driver circuits (e.g., DC1, DC2, DCn) and a demultiplexer DeMux. The conductive redistribution layer 460 provides electrical connections between the driver circuits and the demultiplexer DeMux in the driver circuit layer 440 to the plurality of LEDs in the LED layer 470. The LED layer 470 includes a plurality of LEDs arranged in rows and columns. In this example implementation, each column of LEDs is electrically connected via the conductive redistribution layer 460 to one driver circuit in the driver circuit layer 440. The electrical connection established between each driver circuit and its respective column of LEDs controls the supply of driver current from the driver circuit to the column. In this embodiment each diode shown in the LED layer corresponds to an LED zone. Each row of LEDs is electrically connected via the conductive redistribution layer 460 to one output (e.g., VLED_1, VLED_2, . . . VLED_M) of the demultiplexer DeMux in the driver circuit layer 440. The demultiplexer DeMux in the driver circuit layer 440 is connected to a power supply (VLED) and a control signal from the PCB 410. The control signal instructs the demultiplexer DeMux which row or rows of LEDs are to be enabled and supplied with power using the VLED lines. Thus, a particular LED in the LED layer 470 is activated when power (VLED) is supplied on its associated row and the driver current is supplied to its associated column.

Upon reading this disclosure, those of skill in the art will appreciate still additional alternative embodiments through the disclosed principles herein. Thus, while particular embodiments and applications have been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are not limited to the precise construction and components disclosed herein. Various modifications, changes and variations, which will be apparent to those skilled in the art, may be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the method and apparatus disclosed herein without departing from the scope described herein.

Claims

1. A method for assigning addresses to sensor circuits distributed in a display area of a display device, the method comprising: turning on a selected driver circuit to drive an LED zone in the display area;obtaining sensor data from the sensor circuits representing a sensed condition associated with the LED zone;determining, based on the sensor data, a sensor value associated with a proximate sensor circuit that is proximate to the LED zone being driven by the selected driver circuit; andassigning an address to the proximate sensor circuit associated with an address of the selected driver circuit.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: during an addressing mode, sending, by the control circuit, an addressing signal to a first driver circuit of a group of driver circuits coupled in a serial communication chain;propagating the addressing signal through the serial communication chain to facilitate assignment of addresses to the driver circuits.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein turning on the selected driver circuit comprises: sending a command on a shared communication line coupled to the group of driver circuits, the command referencing an address of the selected driver circuit.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the sensor data comprises: reading the sensor data from a shared readback line coupled in parallel to each of the sensor circuits.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning the address comprises: sending a command via a shared communication line coupled to the sensor circuits, the command specifying the address for assigning to the proximate sensor circuit and identifying the proximate sensor circuit by the sensor value provided by the proximate sensor circuit.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving operational sensor data from the proximate sensor circuit via a readback line during an operational mode of the display device; andcalibrating operation of the selected driver circuit based on the operational sensor data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor circuits comprise temperature sensing circuits that detect heat generated by the selected driver circuit.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor circuit comprise light sensing circuits that detect light generating by the LED zone.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor circuit comprise audio sensing circuits that detect sound generating by an audio transducer proximate to the LED zone.

10. A display device comprising: a group of light emitting diode zones each comprising one or more light emitting diodes;a group of driver circuits, the group of driver circuits for driving the group of light emitting diode zones;a group of sensor circuits distributed in the display area of the display device; anda control circuit to facilitate assignment of addresses to the group of sensor circuits during an addressing mode, the control circuit to turn on a selected driver circuit to drive a corresponding LED zone, obtain sensor data from the group of sensor circuits, the sensor data representing a sensed condition associated with the LED zone, determine, based on the sensor data, a sensor value associated with a proximate sensor circuit that is proximate to the LED zone turned on by the selected driver circuit, and assign an address to the proximate sensor circuit associated with an address of the selected driver circuit.

11. The display device of claim 10, further comprising: serial communication lines serially coupling the group of driver circuits to each other and to the control circuit in a serial communication chain,wherein the control circuit and the group of driver circuits are configured to propagate addressing signals through the serial communication chain to facilitate assignment of addresses to the driver circuits during the addressing mode.

12. The display device of claim 11, further comprising: a shared communication line coupled to the group of driver circuits in parallel,wherein the control circuit turns on the selected driver circuit by sending a command on the shared communication referencing an address of the selected driver circuit.

13. The display device of claim 10, further comprising: a readback line having parallel connections to the group of sensor circuits and coupled to the control circuit,wherein the sensor circuits are configured to send the sensor data via the shared readback line.

14. The display device of claim 10, wherein the control circuit assigns the address by sending a command via a shared communication line coupled to the sensor circuits, the command specifying the address to be assigned to the proximate sensor circuit and identifying the proximate sensor circuit by the sensor value provided by the proximate sensor circuit.

15. The display device of claim 10, wherein the control circuit is further configured to receive operational sensor data from the proximate sensor circuit via a readback line during an operational mode of the display device, and calibrate operation of the selected driver circuit based on the operational sensor data.

16. The display device of claim 10, wherein the sensor circuits comprise temperature sensing circuits that detect heat generated by the selected driver circuit.

17. The display device of claim 10, wherein the sensor circuit comprise light sensing circuits that detect light generating by the LED zone.

18. The display device of claim 10, wherein the sensor circuit comprise audio sensing circuits that detect sound generating by an audio transducer proximate to the LED zone.

19. A display device comprising: a group of drivers for driving a group of light emitting diode zones; anda control circuit to facilitate assignment of addresses to a group of sensor circuits distributed in the display area during an addressing mode, the control circuit to turn on a selected driver to drive a corresponding LED zone, obtain sensor data from the group of sensor circuits, the sensor data representing a sensed condition associated with the LED zone, determine, based on the sensor data, a sensor value associated with a proximate sensor circuit that is proximate to the LED zone turned on by the selected driver circuit, and assign an address to the proximate sensor circuit associated with an address of the selected driver circuit.

20. The display device of claim 19, wherein the sensor circuits comprise at least one of temperature sensing circuits, light sensing circuits, and audio sensing circuits.