This application is a Non-Provisional Patent Application of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/397,845, entitled “Noise Mitigation for Display Panel Sensing”, filed Sep. 21, 2016, which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
This disclosure relates to display panel sensing to compensate for operational variations in the display panel and, more particularly, to reducing or eliminating common-mode display panel noise that may interfere with display panel sensing.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present techniques, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Electronic displays are found in numerous electronic devices. As electronic displays gain higher resolutions that provide finer, more detailed images at higher dynamic ranges and a broader range of colors, the fidelity of the images becomes more valuable. To ensure the fidelity of the images displayed on an electronic display, display panel sensing may be used to sense operational variations in the pixels of an electronic display. These operational variations may be due to factors such as temperature or aging. Since factors such as temperature and aging tend to be non-uniform across the electronic display, a single uniform compensation may be insufficient to correct for image artifacts that would appear due to the operational variations of the electronic display. Display panel sensing may identify the variations across the display to enable a more precise image compensation.
Some electronic displays use single-ended display panel sensing, where parameters of the electronic display are sensed in comparison to a fixed reference value. While single-ended display panel sensing may work for electronic displays that are very large and thus have a relatively low pixel density, using single-ended display panel sensing on electronic displays that are smaller with a greater pixel density may result in the detection of a substantial amount of noise. The amount of noise may be further increased by other electronic components that may be operating near the display, which may frequently occur in portable electronic devices, such as portable phones. Indeed, processors, cameras, wireless transmitters, and similar components could produce electromagnetic interference that interferes with display panel sensing.
A summary of certain embodiments disclosed herein is set forth below. It should be understood that these aspects are presented merely to provide the reader with a brief summary of these certain embodiments and that these aspects are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. Indeed, this disclosure may encompass a variety of aspects that may not be set forth below.
A number of systems and methods may be used to mitigate the effects of noise in display panel sensing. These include: (1) differential sensing (DS); (2) difference-differential sensing (DDS); (3) correlated double sampling (CDS); and (4) programmable capacitor matching. These various systems and methods may be used individually or in combination with one another.
Differential sensing (DS) involves performing display panel sensing not in comparison to a static reference, as is done in single-ended sensing, but instead in comparison to a dynamic reference. For example, to sense an operational parameter of a test pixel of an electronic display, the test pixel may be programmed with test data. The response by the test pixel to the test data may be sensed on a sense line (e.g., a data line) that is coupled to the test pixel. The sense line of the test pixel may be sensed in comparison to a sense line coupled to a reference pixel that was not programmed with the test data. The signal sensed from the reference pixel does not include any particular operational parameters relating to the reference pixel in particular, but rather contains common-noise that may be occurring on the sense lines of both the test pixel and the reference pixel. In other words, since the test pixel and the reference signal are both subject to the same system-level noise—such as electromagnetic interference from nearby components or external interference—differentially sensing the test pixel in comparison to the reference pixel results in at least some of the common-mode noise subtracted away from the signal of the test pixel.
Difference-differential sensing involves differentially sensing two differentially sensed signals to mitigate the effects of remaining differential common-mode noise. Thus, a differential test signal may be obtained by differentially sensing a test pixel that has been programmed with test data and a reference pixel that has not been programmed with test data, and a differential reference signal may be obtained by differentially sensing two other reference pixels that have not been programmed with the test data. The differential test signal may be differentially compared to the differential reference signal, which further removes differential common-mode noise.
Correlated double sampling involves performing display panel sensing at least two different times and digitally comparing the signals to remove temporal noise. At one time, a test sample may be obtained by performing display panel sensing on a test pixel that has been programmed with test data. At another time, a reference sample may be obtained by performing display panel sensing on the same test pixel but without programming the test pixel with test data. Any suitable display panel sensing technique may be performed, such as differential sensing or difference-differential sensing, or even single-ended sensing. There may be temporal noise that is common to both of the samples. As such, the reference sample may be subtracted out of the test sample to remove temporal noise.
Programmable integration capacitance may further reduce the impact of display panel noise. In particular, different sense lines that are connected to a particular sense amplifier may have different capacitances. These capacitances may be relatively large. To cause the sense amplifier to sensing signals on these sense lines as if the sense line capacitances were equal, the integration capacitors may be programmed to have the same ratio as the ratio of capacitances on the sense lines. This may account for noise due to sense line capacitance mismatch.
These various systems and methods may be used separately or combination with one another. Moreover, various refinements of the features noted above may exist in relation to various aspects of the present disclosure. Further features may also be incorporated in these various aspects as well. These refinements and additional features may exist individually or in any combination. For instance, various features discussed below in relation to one or more of the illustrated embodiments may be incorporated into any of the above-described aspects of the present disclosure alone or in any combination. The brief summary presented above is intended only to familiarize the reader with certain aspects and contexts of embodiments of the present disclosure without limitation to the claimed subject matter.
Various aspects of this disclosure may be better understood upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in which:
One or more specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below. These described embodiments are only examples of the presently disclosed techniques. Additionally, in an effort to provide a concise description of these embodiments, all features of an actual implementation may not be described in the specification. It should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time consuming, but may nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.
When introducing elements of various embodiments of the present disclosure, the articles “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements. Additionally, it should be understood that references to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” of the present disclosure are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features. Furthermore, the phrase A “based on” B is intended to mean that A is at least partially based on B. Moreover, the term “or” is intended to be inclusive (e.g., logical OR) and not exclusive (e.g., logical XOR). In other words, the phrase A “or” B is intended to mean A, B, or both A and B.
Electronic displays are ubiquitous in modern electronic devices. As electronic displays gain ever-higher resolutions and dynamic range capabilities, image quality has increasingly grown in value. In general, electronic displays contain numerous picture elements, or “pixels,” that are programmed with image data. Each pixel emits a particular amount of light based on the image data. By programming different pixels with different image data, graphical content including images, videos, and text can be displayed.
As noted above, display panel sensing allows for operational properties of pixels of an electronic display to be identified to improve the performance of the electronic display. For example, variations in temperature and pixel aging (among other things) across the electronic display cause pixels in different locations on the display to behave differently. Indeed, the same image data programmed on different pixels of the display could appear to be different due to the variations in temperature and pixel aging. Without appropriate compensation, these variations could produce undesirable visual artifacts. By sensing certain operational properties of the pixels, the image data may be adjusted to compensate for the operational variations across the display.
Display panel sensing involves programming certain pixels with test data and measuring a response by the pixels to the test data. The response by a pixel to test data may indicate how that pixel will perform when programmed with actual image data. In this disclosure, pixels that are currently being tested using the test data are referred to as “test pixels” and the response by the test pixels to the test data is referred to as a “test signal.” The test signal is sensed from a “sense line” of the electronic display and may be a voltage or a current, or both a voltage and a current. In some cases, the sense line may serve a dual purpose on the display panel. For example, data lines of the display that are used to program pixels of the display with image data may also serve as sense lines during display panel sensing.
To sense the test signal, it may be compared to some reference value. Although the reference value could be static—referred to as “single-ended” testing—using a static reference value may cause too much noise to remain in the test signal. Indeed, the test signal often contains both the signal of interest, which may be referred to as the “pixel operational parameter” or “electrical property” that is being sensed, as well as noise due to any number of electromagnetic interference sources near the sense line. This disclosure provides a number of systems and methods for mitigating the effects of noise on the sense line that contaminate the test signal. These include, for example, differential sensing (DS), difference-differential sensing (DDS), correlated double sampling (CDS), and programmable capacitor matching. These various display panel sensing systems and methods may be used individually or in combination with one another.
Differential sensing (DS) involves performing display panel sensing not in comparison to a static reference, as is done in single-ended sensing, but instead in comparison to a dynamic reference. For example, to sense an operational parameter of a test pixel of an electronic display, the test pixel may be programmed with test data. The response by the test pixel to the test data may be sensed on a sense line (e.g., a data line) that is coupled to the test pixel. The sense line of the test pixel may be sensed in comparison to a sense line coupled to a reference pixel that was not programmed with the test data. The signal sensed from the reference pixel does not include any particular operational parameters relating to the reference pixel in particular, but rather contains common-noise that may be occurring on the sense lines of both the test pixel and the reference pixel. In other words, since the test pixel and the reference signal are both subject to the same system-level noise—such as electromagnetic interference from nearby components or external interference—differentially sensing the test pixel in comparison to the reference pixel results in at least some of the common-mode noise subtracted away from the signal of the test pixel.
Difference-differential sensing (DDS) involves differentially sensing two differentially sensed signals to mitigate the effects of remaining differential common-mode noise. Thus, a differential test signal may be obtained by differentially sensing a test pixel that has been programmed with test data and a reference pixel that has not been programmed with test data, and a differential reference signal may be obtained by differentially sensing two other reference pixels that have not been programmed with the test data. The differential test signal may be differentially compared to the differential reference signal, which further removes differential common-mode noise.
Correlated double sampling (CDS) involves performing display panel sensing at least two different times and digitally comparing the signals to remove temporal noise. At one time, a test sample may be obtained by performing display panel sensing on a test pixel that has been programmed with test data. At another time, a reference sample may be obtained by performing display panel sensing on the same test pixel but without programming the test pixel with test data. Any suitable display panel sensing technique may be performed, such as differential sensing or difference-differential sensing, or even single-ended sensing. There may be temporal noise that is common to both of the samples. As such, the reference sample may be subtracted out of the test sample to remove temporal noise.
Programmable integration capacitance may further reduce the impact of display panel noise. In particular, different sense lines that are connected to a particular sense amplifier may have different capacitances. These capacitances may be relatively large. To cause the sense amplifier to sensing signals on these sense lines as if the sense line capacitances were equal, the integration capacitors may be programmed to have the same ratio as the ratio of capacitances on the sense lines. This may account for noise due to sense line capacitance mismatch.
With this in mind, a block diagram of an electronic device 10 is shown in
The electronic device 10 shown in
The processor core complex 12 may carry out a variety of operations of the electronic device 10, such as causing the electronic display 18 to perform display panel sensing and using the feedback to adjust image data for display on the electronic display 18. The processor core complex 12 may include any suitable data processing circuitry to perform these operations, such as one or more microprocessors, one or more application specific processors (ASICs), or one or more programmable logic devices (PLDs). In some cases, the processor core complex 12 may execute programs or instructions (e.g., an operating system or application program) stored on a suitable article of manufacture, such as the local memory 14 and/or the main memory storage device 16. In addition to instructions for the processor core complex 12, the local memory 14 and/or the main memory storage device 16 may also store data to be processed by the processor core complex 12. By way of example, the local memory 14 may include random access memory (RAM) and the main memory storage device 16 may include read only memory (ROM), rewritable non-volatile memory such as flash memory, hard drives, optical discs, or the like.
The electronic display 18 may display image frames, such as a graphical user interface (GUI) for an operating system or an application interface, still images, or video content. The processor core complex 12 may supply at least some of the image frames. The electronic display 18 may be a self-emissive display, such as an organic light emitting diodes (OLED) display, or may be a liquid crystal display (LCD) illuminated by a backlight. In some embodiments, the electronic display 18 may include a touch screen, which may allow users to interact with a user interface of the electronic device 10. The electronic display 18 may employ display panel sensing to identify operational variations of the electronic display 18. This may allow the processor core complex 12 to adjust image data that is sent to the electronic display 18 to compensate for these variations, thereby improving the quality of the image frames appearing on the electronic display 18.
The input structures 22 of the electronic device 10 may enable a user to interact with the electronic device 10 (e.g., pressing a button to increase or decrease a volume level). The I/O interface 24 may enable electronic device 10 to interface with various other electronic devices, as may the network interface 26. The network interface 26 may include, for example, interfaces for a personal area network (PAN), such as a Bluetooth network, for a local area network (LAN) or wireless local area network (WLAN), such as an 802.11x Wi-Fi network, and/or for a wide area network (WAN), such as a cellular network. The network interface 26 may also include interfaces for, for example, broadband fixed wireless access networks (WiMAX), mobile broadband Wireless networks (mobile WiMAX), asynchronous digital subscriber lines (e.g., ADSL, VDSL), digital video broadcasting-terrestrial (DVB-T) and its extension DVB Handheld (DVB-H), ultra wideband (UWB), alternating current (AC) power lines, and so forth. The power source 28 may include any suitable source of power, such as a rechargeable lithium polymer (Li-poly) battery and/or an alternating current (AC) power converter.
In certain embodiments, the electronic device 10 may take the form of a computer, a portable electronic device, a wearable electronic device, or other type of electronic device. Such computers may include computers that are generally portable (such as laptop, notebook, and tablet computers) as well as computers that are generally used in one place (such as conventional desktop computers, workstations and/or servers). In certain embodiments, the electronic device 10 in the form of a computer may be a model of a MacBook®, MacBook® Pro, MacBook Air®, iMac®, Mac® mini, or Mac Pro® available from Apple Inc. By way of example, the electronic device 10, taking the form of a notebook computer 10A, is illustrated in
User input structures 22, in combination with the electronic display 18, may allow a user to control the handheld device 10B. For example, the input structures 22 may activate or deactivate the handheld device 10B, navigate user interface to a home screen, a user-configurable application screen, and/or activate a voice-recognition feature of the handheld device 10B. Other input structures 22 may provide volume control, or may toggle between vibrate and ring modes. The input structures 22 may also include a microphone may obtain a user's voice for various voice-related features, and a speaker may enable audio playback and/or certain phone capabilities. The input structures 22 may also include a headphone input may provide a connection to external speakers and/or headphones.
Turning to
Similarly,
As shown in
The electronic display 18 includes an active area 64 with an array of pixels 66. The pixels 66 are schematically shown distributed substantially equally apart and of the same size, but in an actual implementation, pixels of different colors may have different spatial relationships to one another and may have different sizes. In one example, the pixels 66 may take a red-green-blue (RGB) format with red, green, and blue pixels, and in another example, the pixels 66 may take a red-green-blue-green (RGBG) format in a diamond pattern. The pixels 66 are controlled by a driver integrated circuit 68, which may be a single module or may be made up of separate modules, such as a column driver integrated circuit 68A and a row driver integrated circuit 68B. The driver integrated circuit 68 may send signals across gate lines 70 to cause a row of pixels 66 to become activated and programmable, at which point the driver integrated circuit 68 (e.g., 68A) may transmit image data signals across data lines 72 to program the pixels 66 to display a particular gray level. By supplying different pixels 66 of different colors with image data to display different gray levels or different brightness, full-color images may be programmed into the pixels 66. The image data may be driven to an active row of pixel 66 via source drivers 74, which are also sometimes referred to as column drivers. The driver integrated circuit 68 may be apart or incorporated into the display panel (e.g., Display On Silicon or dedicated driving silicon).
As mentioned above, the pixels 66 may be arranged in any suitable layout with the pixels 66 having various colors and/or shapes. For example, the pixels 66 may appear in alternating red, green, and blue in some embodiments, but also may take other arrangements. The other arrangements may include, for example, a red-green-blue-white (RGBW) layout or a diamond pattern layout in which one column of pixels alternates between red and blue and an adjacent column of pixels are green. Regardless of the particular arrangement and layout of the pixels 66, each pixel 66 may be sensitive to changes on the active area of 64 of the electronic display 18, such as variations and temperature of the active area 64, as well as the overall age of the pixel 66. Indeed, when each pixel 66 is a light emitting diode (LED), it may gradually emit less light over time. This effect is referred to as aging, and takes place over a slower time period than the effect of temperature on the pixel 66 of the electronic display 18.
Display panel sensing may be used to obtain the display sense feedback 56, which may enable the processor core complex 12 to generate compensated image data 52 to negate the effects of temperature, aging, and other variations of the active area 64. The driver integrated circuit 68 (e.g., 68A) may include a sensing analog front end (AFE) 76 to perform analog sensing of the response of pixels 66 to test data. The analog signal may be digitized by sensing analog-to-digital conversion circuitry (ADC) 78.
For example, to perform display panel sensing, the electronic display 18 may program one of the pixels 66 with test data. The sensing analog front end 76 then senses a sense line 80 of connected to the pixel 66 that is being tested. Here, the data lines 72 are shown to act as the sense lines 80 of the electronic display 18. In other embodiments, however, the display active area 64 may include other dedicated sense lines 80 or other lines of the display may be used as sense lines 80 instead of the data lines 72. Other pixels 66 that have not been programmed with test data may be sensed at the same time a pixel that has been programmed with test data. Indeed, as will be discussed below, by sensing a reference signal on a sense line 80 when a pixel on that sense line 80 has not been programmed with test data, a common-mode noise reference value may be obtained. This reference signal can be removed from the signal from the test pixel that has been programmed with test data to reduce or eliminate common mode noise.
The analog signal may be digitized by the sensing analog-to-digital conversion circuitry 78. The sensing analog front end 76 and the sensing analog-to-digital conversion circuitry 78 may operate, in effect, as a single unit. The driver integrated circuit 68 (e.g., 68A) may also perform additional digital operations to generate the display sense feedback 56, such as digital filtering, adding, or subtracting, to generate the display sense feedback 56, or such processing may be performed by the processor core complex 12.
The single-ended display panel sensing shown in
Although the single-ended approach of
Differential Sensing (DS)
Differential sensing involves sensing a test pixel that has been driven with test data in comparison to a reference pixel that has not been applied with test data. By doing so, common-mode noise that is present on the sense lines 80 of both the test pixel and the reference pixel may be excluded.
As shown by a process 150 of
As a result, the signal-to-noise ratio of the sensed test pixel 66 data may be substantially better using the differential sensing approach than using a single-ended approach. Indeed, this is shown in a plot 160 of
Differential sensing may take place by comparing a test pixel 66 from one column with a reference pixel 66 from any other suitable column. For example, as shown in
One reason different electrical characteristics could occur on the sense lines 80 of different columns of pixels 66 is illustrated by
Such layer misalignment is shown in
Difference-Differential Sensing (DDS)
The different capacitances on the data lines 72A and 72B may mean that even differential sensing may not fully remove all common-mode noise appearing on two different data lines 72 that are operating as sense lines 80, as shown in
Difference-differential sensing may mitigate the effect of differential common-mode noise that remains after differential sensing due to differences in capacitance on different data lines 72 when those data lines 72 are used as sense lines 80 for display panel sensing.
A process 200 shown in
Difference-differential sensing may also take place in the analog domain. For example, as shown in
Correlated Double Sampling (CDS)
Correlated double sampling involves sensing the same pixel 66 for different samples at different, at least one of the samples involving programming the pixel 66 with test data and sensing a test signal and at least another of the samples involving not programming the pixel 66 with test data and sensing a reference signal. The reference signal may be understood to contain temporal noise that can be removed from the test signal. Thus, by subtracting the reference signal from the test signal, temporal noise may be removed. Indeed, in some cases, there may be noise due to the sensing process itself. Thus, correlated double sampling may be used to cancel out such temporal sensing noise.
One manner of performing correlated double sampling is described by a flowchart 270 of
It should be appreciated that correlated double sampling may be performed in a variety of manners, such as those shown by way of example in
A reference sample 238 and a test sample 240 may not necessarily occur sequentially. Indeed, as shown in
Correlated double sampling may lend itself well for use in combination with differential sensing or difference-differential sensing, as shown in
Capacitance Balancing
Capacitance balancing represents another way of improving the signal quality used in differential sensing by equalizing the effect of a capacitance difference (ΔC) between two sense lines 80 (e.g., data lines 72A and 72B). In an example shown in
Placing additional capacitor structures between the conductive lines 168 and some of the data lines 72 (e.g., the data lines 72A), however, may involve relatively large capacitors that take up a substantial amount of space. Thus, additionally or alternatively, a much smaller programmable capacitor may be programmed to a value that is proportional to the difference in capacitance (ΔC) between the two data lines 72A and 72B (shown in
Combinations of Approaches
While many of the techniques discussed above have been discussed generally as independent noise-reduction techniques, it should be appreciated that these may be used separately or in combination with one another. Indeed, the specific embodiments described above have been shown by way of example, and it should be understood that these embodiments may be susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms. It should be further understood that the claims are not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed, but rather to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of this disclosure.
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