BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a photo sensing display apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of configuration of dummy sub-pixels in a display panel of FIG. 1.
FIGS. 2B˜2D are schematic diagrams of another examples of signal control of the dummy sub-pixels on the display panel of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a relationship diagram of illumination intensity and photoelectric current.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2A, a schematic diagram of a photo sensing display apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the invention and a schematic diagram of configuration of dummy sub-pixels in a display panel of FIG. 1 are shown respectively. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2A, a photo sensing display apparatus 300 includes a display panel 310 and a photo sensing controller 320. The display panel 310 includes an active area AA, an inactive area VA, a number of sub-pixels pi and at least a dummy sub-pixel du. It is exemplified that a number of dummy sub-pixels du are disposed in the display panel 310 in the embodiment. The inactive area VA is disposed around the active area AA. The sub-pixels pi are disposed in the active area AA for displaying a frame. Each dummy sub-pixel du has a photo sensing device 500 for detecting an environmental luminance and accordingly outputting a photo sensing signal S1. A data driver SD and a scan driver GD are disposed in the inactive area VA for controlling the sub-pixels pi to display the frame.
For the second time, referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2A, The photo sensing controller 320 is coupled to the photo sensing device 500 of each dummy sub-pixel du and receives the photo sensing signal S1 for, such as, adjusting luminance of a light source of a backlight module. The photo sensing device 500 of each dummy sub-pixel du can have many ways to connect with the photo sensing controller 320. In the embodiment, the photo sensing devices 500 are coupled to each other in series and electrically coupled to the photo sensing controller 320. For example, the photo sensing device 500 of each dummy sub-pixel du is composed of a TFT and the gate of each TFT is connected to the photo sensing controller 320 via a control line G. The source of each TFT is connected to the photo sensing controller 320 via a control line S and the drain of each TFT is connected to the photo sensing controller 320 via a control line D.
Referring to FIG. 2B, a schematic diagram of another example of signal control of the dummy sub-pixels du on the display panel 310 of FIG. 1 is shown. The photo sensing device 500 of each dummy sub-pixel du is a TFT for instance. The photo sensing devices 500 are divided into a number of groups. Each group of photo sensing devices 500 have their gates coupled to each other via a first control line, their drains coupled to each other via a second control line and their sources coupled to each other via a third control line. For example, a group of photo sensing devices 500, such as TFTs T1˜T6 are coupled to each other in series with the gates coupled to a control line G1, the drains coupled to a control line D1 and the sources coupled to a control line S1. Another group of photo sensing devices 500, such as TFTs T7˜T12, are also coupled to each other in series with the gates coupled to a control line G2, the drains coupled to a control line D2 and the sources coupled to a control line S2. Besides, each photo sensing device 500 can also have a group of individual control lines (G, D, S) to couple with its gate, drain and source for signal control.
Referring to FIG. 2C, a schematic diagram of another example of signal control of the dummy sub-pixels du on the display panel 310 of FIG. 1 is shown. The photo sensing device 500 of each dummy sub-pixel du is a TFT for instance. The photo sensing devices 500 are divided into a number of groups. The gate and drain of each photo sensing device 500 are coupled to each other. Each group of photo sensing devices 500 have their gates (drains) coupled to each other via a first control line and their sources coupled to each other via a second control line. For example, a group of photo sensing devices 500, such as TFTs T1˜T6 are coupled to each other in series with the gates (drains) coupled to a control line A1, and the sources coupled to a control line K1. Another group of photo sensing devices 500, such as TFTs T7˜T12, are also coupled to each other in series with the gates (drains) coupled to a control line A2, and the sources coupled to a control line K2. Besides, each photo sensing device 500 can also have a group of individual control lines (A, K) to couple with its gate (drain) and source for signal control. In this way, the pins for control signals of the display panel 310 can be reduced.
Referring to FIG. 2D, a schematic diagram of another example of signal control of the dummy sub-pixels du on the display panel 310 of FIG. 1 is shown. The photo sensing device 500 of each dummy sub-pixel du is a TFT for instance. The photo sensing devices 500 are divided into a number of groups. Each group of photo sensing devices 500 have their gates coupled to each other via a first control line, their drains coupled to each other via a second control line and their sources coupled to each other via a third control line and the first control line is coupled to the second control line. For example, a group of photo sensing devices 500, such as TFTs T1˜T6 are coupled to each other in series with the gates coupled to a control line G1, the drains coupled to a control line D1 and the sources coupled to a control line S1. The control line G1 is coupled to the control line D1 outside the display panel 310. Another group of photo sensing devices 500, such as TFTs T7˜T12, are also coupled to each other in series with the gates coupled to a control line G2, the drains coupled to a control line D2 and the sources coupled to a control line S2. The control line G2 is coupled to the control line D2 outside the display panel 310. Besides, each of the photo sensing device 500 can also have a group of individual control lines (G, D, S) to couple with its gate, drain and source for signal control and the control lines (G, D) are coupled to each other.
A channel layer of the TFT can be composed of mono-crystalline silicone, polycrystalline silicone (poly-Si) or amorphous silicone (a-Si) for sensing light. Moreover, the photo sensing devices 500 can be electrically coupled to the photo sensing controller 320 respectively or be electrically coupled to the photo sensing controller 320 in group as shown in FIGS. 2B˜2D. The photo sensing controller 320 can be integrated with the data driver SD or the scan driver GD. It should be noted that the photo sensing controller 320 can determine the environmental luminance according to all or a part of the photo sensing signals S1 outputted by the photo sensing devices 500.
In the embodiment, the display panel 310 is a TFT liquid crystal display panel and includes a TFT substrate, a color filter substrate and a liquid crystal layer. The sub-pixels pi and dummy sub-pixels du are disposed on the TFT substrate and the liquid crystal layer is disposed between the TFT substrate and color filter substrate. Generally speaking, the TFT substrate includes an active matrix pixel array with a number of sub-pixels. The sub-pixels located at the edge of the active matrix pixel array of the display panel 310 are designed as dummy sub-pixels du, which are not electrically coupled to the sub-pixels pi for frame display. That is, the sub-pixels pi are driven by the data driver SD and scan driver GD, but not the dummy sub-pixels. According to the concept of the invention, all, a part, or at least one of the dummy sub-pixels du includes a photo sensing device 500 as shown in FIG. 1. The position of the dummy sub-pixel du disposed on the display panel 310 can be adjusted in accordance with requirement of a designer to achieve a more complete light sensing effect. As shown in FIGS. 2A˜2D, the dummy sub-pixels du with the photo sensing devices 500 are disposed at four sides of the active area AA.
In the embodiment, the dummy sub-pixels du with the photo sensing devices 500 can be continuously or discontinuously disposed at three sides of the active area AA. Besides, the dummy sub-pixels du with the photo sensing devices 500 can also be continuously or discontinuously disposed at two adjacent sides or two opposite sides of the active area AA. Or the dummy sub-pixels du with the photo sensing devices 500 can be continuously or discontinuously disposed at one side of the active area M.
The spectrum of sunlight is centered by visible light and has a main distribution range from an ultraviolet ray of 0.3 um to an infrared ray of a few ums, which is equivalent to a photon-energy range from 0.4 eV to 4 eV. When energy of a photon is smaller than band-gap of a semiconductor, the photon will not be absorbed by the semiconductor. At the time, the semiconductor is transparent for the photon. When energy of the photon is larger than the band-gap of the semiconductor, the amount of energy equivalent to the band-gap of the semiconductor will be absorbed by the semiconductor to generate pairs of electrons and electron holes. The remained energy will be released in form of heat. Therefore, band-gap of the material for manufacturing the photo sensing device 500 should be large enough to generate pairs of electrons and electron holes.
Generally speaking, an ideal material for the photo sensing device 500 must have the following features:
1. The material has a band-gap between 1.1 eV and 1.7 eV.
2. It is a direct semiconductor.
3. The material is not poisonous.
The material can be mass-manufactured by a thin-film deposition technique.
5. The material has good efficiency of photoelectric transformation.
The band-gap of silicone is known to be 1.12 eV and is the second richest element on earth. Therefore, it is preferably used as a material for a photo sensing device. Besides, the silicone atom can be classified into mono-crystalline silicone, poly-crystalline silicone (poly-Si) and amorphous silicone (a-Si) in terms of a crystallization pattern. The mono-crystalline silicone and poly-Si have higher and stable efficiency of photoelectric transformation and the a-Si has larger light absorption ability than silicone by 500 times. Therefore, a thin layer of a-Si can effectively absorb photon energy, and a-Si can be deposited in a large area and low temperature on a cheaper substrate made of, such as glass, ceramics or metal, which helps to reduce material cost.
When the a-Si material is illuminated to generate pairs of electrons and electron holes, a recombination effect due to illumination provides a large amount of moving carriers to improve its photo-conductivity. Referring to FIG. 3, a relationship diagram of illumination intensity and photoelectric current is shown. Normally, photo-conductivity due to illumination is directly proportional to the illumination intensity, that is, the more intense the illumination is, the larger the photo-conductivity becomes. For this reason, a a-Si TFT is used as a main photo sensing device in the invention, but the invention is not limited thereto and can also use a substrate of poly-Si or mono-crystalline silicone for designing the photo sensing device.
According to the invention, when a-Si is used for forming the channel layer of the photo sensing device 500, although it has a quite sensible light receiving feature, a width/length ratio WIL of the device 500 should be increased so as to supply enough large current for system application due to a low carrier moving rate (about 0.5˜1 cm2/V-s) of the a-Si TFT.
For example, if the display panel 310 has a resolution 176*RGB*220 (like a 1.9 inch panel) and the photo sensing device 500 configured in each dummy sub-pixel has a WIL value equal to 300/5, there are totally (176*3+2)*2+220*2=1,500 dummy sub-pixels and the designable maximum WIL value of all the photo sensing devices 500 is (1,500*300)/5=450,000/5.
The displays disclosed by the patents U.S. Pat. No. 5,831,693 and TW575849 have a dot-like distribution in pixels and require openings for the photo sensing devices to receive light from outside, which increases a layout area for photo sensing devices as well as an opening area of an outer covering, thereby reducing artistic appearance of the panel. Therefore, the invention can not only prevent reduction of artistic appearance of the panel due to an overlarge opening area, but also have a more complete light receiving angle by using a rod-like layout to effectively enhance light sensing efficiency, which is very different from the dot-like photo sensing design in the patents U.S. Pat. No. 5,831,693 and TW575849. Besides, the photo sensing devices in the invention is positioned at the edge of the active area and thus the panel-edge size and layout complication can be reduced.
As compared to the Japanese patent No. 11-125841, in the invention, the dummy sub-pixels of the active area are used for designing control signal lines, which has no issue of wiring layout complication in the active area and thus has less influence on display data of sub-pixels for displaying frames in the active area.
As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the photo sensing devices 500 can be driven as a whole or respectively by the photo sensing controller 320. Or a few photo sensing devices 500 are driven by one photo sensing controller 320. In practical application, the photo sensing controller 320 can be integrated with the data driver SD or scan driver GD or the photo sensing controller 320, data driver SD and scan driver GD can be an integrated controller. All these are not apart from the scope of the invention.
The photo sensing display apparatus and display panel thereof disclosed by the above embodiment of the invention is designed to include photo sensing devices in dummy sub-pixels of the active area. By doing this, it can prevent reduction of artistic appearance due to an overlarge opening area, have more complete light receiving angle by using a rod-like layout and thus higher photo sensing efficiency. Besides, photo sensing devices are positioned at the edge of the active area, which reduces panel edge size and layout complication and has less influence on display data of sub-pixels in the active area. The photo sensing devices are integrated with the display apparatus in an original manufacturing process, which increases an added value of a portable electronic apparatus such as a mobile phone or personal digital assistant. Moreover, a photo sensing layout can be designed to fit in various driver applications to reduce loss of signal transmission.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.
Patent Application
20070273778
