This application claims priority under 35 USC § 119 of German Application Serial No. 10 2005 007 109.0, filed Feb. 16, 2005.
The present invention relates to a method of and a device for controlling the light intensity in a multi-lamp illumination device for a display panel.
Conventional display panels such as an LCD display panel with backlight illumination use a multi-lamp cold cathode fluorescent system. The light intensity of the backlight illumination is controlled by pulse-width modulation (PWM) of the lamp supply current. Modulating the light intensity in all lamps concurrently results in constant electromagnetic interference (EMI) emission irrespective of light intensity. The peak to average current ratio is also high, which translates into a higher cost system power supply.
The present invention provides a method of controlling the light intensity in a multi-lamp illumination device that permits an automatic sequencing of the PWM dimming to distribute the burst dimming pulses during the display's frame period. Specifically, the method comprises the steps of generating a plurality of synchronized pulse-width modulated lamp activation signals of equal duty-cycles; individually controlling the phase of each lamp activation signal within the frame periods; and separately supplying each lamp of the illumination device with one of the lamp activation signals. The lamp activation signals are preferably all derived from a common pulse-width modulated intensity control signal.
By evenly distributing the lamp activation signals, or pulses, within the display's frame period, the EMI emission is minimized, the refresh rate is artificially enhanced and the peak to average current is reduced.
In another aspect of the invention the lamp activation signals overlap each other within the frame periods. In addition, the lamp activation signals are determined by image tracking.
The device for controlling the light intensity in a multi-lamp illumination device for a display panel, includes a display controller that supplies a pulse-width modulated intensity control signal; and a plurality of lamp controllers, each associated with one lamp of the display panel and each receiving the pulse-width modulated intensity control signal from the display controller. Each lamp controller has a master/slave control input and a phase control input. Each lamp controller also has a logic control circuit that switches the lamp controller between a master mode and a slave mode in response to the master/slave control signal. An output multiplexer in each lamp controller has a select input connected to a select control output of the logic control circuit, a plurality of signal inputs and a lamp activation output, one of the signal inputs receiving the intensity control signal. A phase lock loop in the lamp controller has an output that, in the slave mode, is locked to the intensity control signal. A phase control circuit in the lamp controller has a first input connected to the output of the phase lock loop, a second input connected to the phase control input and an output connected to a signal input of the output multiplexer. The output multiplexer, in the master mode, routes the intensity control signal to the lamp activation output and, in the slave mode, passes to the lamp activation output a signal the phase of which is determined by the phase control circuit. Each lamp controller receives a master/slave control signal and a phase control signal from the display controller. As is understood, the device includes plural lamp controllers which may all be identical, although they may operate in either of the master and slave modes and may supply lamp activation pulses with a rising edge the position of which within the frame period can be adjusted individually. The design of the inventive device is flexible and allows an implementation of all variants of the inventive method without change in hardware.
Further features of the invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment with reference to the appending drawings. In the drawings:
With reference to
The lamp controller in
In operation, the lamp controller in
In the example illustrated in
The device of the present invention supports any phase relationship between the outputs of the lamp controllers. In an aspect of the inventive method illustrated in
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