Not Applicable
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). In particular, the present invention relates to a system for color shift compensation in an OLED display using a look-up table, a method of using a look-up table to compensate for color variation with luminance, and a computer-readable medium holding a look-up table.
2. Description of Prior Art
An OLED device typically includes a stack of thin layers formed on a substrate. A light-emitting layer of a luminescent organic solid, as well as adjacent semiconductor layers, are sandwiched between a cathode and an anode. The light-emitting layer may be selected from any of a multitude of fluorescent and phosphorescent organic solids. Any of the layers, and particularly the light-emitting layer, also referred to herein as the emissive layer or the organic emissive layer, may consist of multiple sublayers.
In a typical OLED display, either the cathode or the anode is transparent or semitransparent. The films may be formed by evaporation, spin casting, chemical self-assembly or any other appropriate polymer film-forming techniques. Thicknesses typically range from a few monolayers (i.e., a single, closely packed layer of atoms or molecules, perhaps as thin as one molecule), up to about 1000 to 2,000 angstroms.
Protection of an OLED display against oxygen and moisture can be achieved by encapsulation of the device. The encapsulation can be obtained by means of a single thin-film layer surrounding the OLED situated on the substrate.
High resolution active matrix displays may include millions of pixels and sub-pixels that are individually addressed by the drive electronics. The drive electronics for each sub-pixel can have several semiconductor transistors and other integrated circuit (IC) components. Each OLED may correspond to a pixel or a sub-pixel, and therefore these terms are used interchangeably hereinafter.
In an OLED device, one or more layers of semiconducting organic material are sandwiched between two electrodes. An electric current is applied across the device, causing negatively charged electrons to move into the organic material(s) from the cathode. Positive charges, typically referred to as holes, move in from the anode. The positive and negative charges meet in the center layers (i.e., the semiconducting organic material), combine, and produce photons. The wave-length—and consequently the color—of the photons depends on the electronic properties of the organic material in which the photons are generated.
The color of light emitted from the organic light emitting device can be controlled by the selection of the material used to form the emissive layer. White light may be produced by generating blue, red and green lights simultaneously. Other individual colors, different than red, green and blue, can be also used to produce in combination a white spectrum. The precise color of light emitted by a particular structure can be controlled both by selection of the organic material, as well as by selection of dopants in the organic emissive layers. Alternatively or additionally, filters of red, green or blue (or other colors), may be added on top of a white light emitting pixel. In further alternatives, white light emitting OLED pixels may be used in monochromatic displays.
Pixel drivers can be configured as either current sources or voltage sources to control the amount of light generated by the OLEDs in an active matrix display.
The color of light emitted from an OLED sub-pixel may vary with luminance (e.g., current), and may also vary with a temperature of the emissive layer. The International Commission on Illumination (CIE) provides color charts that identify each color based on an x and y coordinate, which may be called the CIE x and the CIE y.
An exemplary embodiment of the present innovation compensates for color shift with current density in phosphorescent devices. A plot of the CIE coordinate variation with an energizing value (for example, a current density) is stored in a look-up table (also referred to as a “Look Up” table or an LUT). This look-up table may be stored either on the chip or on the board. The look-up table will adjust the strengths of the blue, green and red channel signals to maintain a fixed ratio of the luminance of the primary colors to maintain a fixed color balance. As the gray level is changed to the desired value, the look-up table adjusts the strength of the individual color channels according to a stored model of the OLED CIE dependence on current density. In some exemplary embodiments, a separate look-up table is required for each color channel which can have a uniquely defined value. Alternatively, each entry in the table may have energizing values for the different OLED sub-pixels corresponding to the different primary colors. Additionally, these look-up tables can be updated, or different tables can be accessed, according to the operating current density of the OLED pixels using a temperature model or based on an operating temperature.
A light emitting system is provided that includes an OLED pixel including at least two OLED sub-pixels having different associated color outputs, and at least one digitally accessible look-up table including energizing signal values for the at least two sub-pixels as a function of a desired color and a desired luminance intensity of the OLED pixel when energized. The light emitting system also includes a drive circuit adapted to access the at least one look-up table and able to independently energize the at least two OLED sub-pixels based on the energizing signal values obtained from the at least one look-up table.
In the light emitting system, the desired color includes a CIE x value and a CIE y value, and the at least one look-up table includes a CIE x dimension, a CIE y dimension and a luminance dimension. Each entry in the at least one look-up table may include the energizing signal values for each of the at least two sub-pixels.
The at least two OLED sub-pixels may be three OLED sub-pixels, specifically a red OLED sub-pixel, a green OLED sub-pixel and a blue OLED sub-pixel. The look-up table may compensate for color variation in the red OLED sub-pixel, the green OLED sub-pixel and the blue OLED sub-pixel by adjusting the energizing signal values to maintain a fixed ratio of a luminance of primary colors when the desired luminance intensity changes.
The light emitting system may include a temperature model providing an estimated temperature for the OLED pixel based on the energizing signal values from an immediately prior time period. The light emitting system may alternatively include a temperatures sensor adapted to provide a temperature reading of the OLED pixel. The at least one look-up table may include a temperature dimension, and the drive circuit may be further adapted to access the at least one look-up table based on the estimated temperature or the temperature reading. Alternatively, the at least one look-up table may include a plurality of look-up tables, each look-up table having a corresponding temperature range, and the drive circuit may be further adapted to access the at least one look-up table having the corresponding temperature range that includes the estimated temperature or the temperature reading.
The energizing signal values may include current densities for the at least two sub-pixels, and the drive circuit may energize the at least two OLED sub-pixels based on the current densities and known areas for the at least two OLED sub-pixels.
The look-up table may be stored in a chip on which the OLED pixel is situated or a board including a drive circuit for an array including the OLED pixel.
A method is provided for energizing an organic light emitting diode (OLED) pixel that includes at least two OLED sub-pixels having different associated color outputs. The method includes receiving a signal defining a desired color and a desired luminance intensity of the OLED pixel, and retrieving from at least one digitally accessible look-up table a respective energizing signal value for each of the OLED sub-pixels based on the desired color and the desired luminance intensity of the OLED pixel. The method also includes providing the respective energizing signal values to each of the OLED sub-pixels.
A computer-readable medium is provided that stores a digitally accessible look-up table accessible by a drive circuit and for operating an organic light emitting diode (OLED) pixel including a red OLED sub-pixel, a green OLED sub-pixel and a blue OLED sub-pixel. The look-up table includes a CIE x dimension, a CIE y dimension orthogonal to the CIE x dimension, and a luminance dimension orthogonal to the CIE x dimension and the CIE y dimension. The look-up table also includes a red OLED sub-pixel energizing signal value, a green OLED sub-pixel energizing signal value and a blue OLED sub-pixel energizing signal value at each point in the look-up table defined by the CIE x dimension, the CIE y dimension, and the luminance dimension.
The look-up table may further include a temperature dimension orthogonal to the CIE x dimension, the CIE y dimension and the luminance dimension. The drive circuit may be further adapted to access the at least one look-up table based on an estimated temperature or a temperature reading. The computer-readable medium may store at least one other look-up table, and each look-up table may have a corresponding temperature range and the drive circuit may be further adapted to access the at least one look-up table having the corresponding temperature range that includes the estimated temperature or the temperature reading.
a is a graph illustrating luminance as a function of current density superimposed on a graph illustrating CIE variation (x or y) as a function of current density for a phosphorescent white OLED;
b is a graph illustrating luminance as a function of current density superimposed on a graph illustrating CIE variation (x or y) as a function of current density for a phosphorescent white OLED and white OLEDs with color filters;
Phosphorescent based white OLED devices may exhibit CIE coordinate variation depending on the applied current due to the movement of the electron hole recombination zone in the emission layer of the device. This variation of the CIE coordinates may pose a problem in the realization of practical OLED displays with predictable color output, since the color changes with gray level (i.e., the luminance intensity).
a is graph 200 illustrating luminance as a function of current density superimposed on a graph illustrating CIE variation (x or y) as a function of current density for a phosphorescent white OLED. Graph 200 has x-axis 210 that plots a current density for the OLED. The current density plotted on x-axis 210 is in units of milliamps per centimeter squared, though alternative units may also be possible. The area in a current density measurement is the cross-sectional area of the OLED through which the current passes, i.e., a plane passing through the emissive layer and parallel to the anode and cathode, or a plane perpendicular to a line connecting the anode and cathode. Left y-axis 212 plots luminance of the OLED in units of candela per meter squared, and right y-axis 214 plots both a CIE x and a CIE y in a range from zero to 0.7. Alternative ranges for either the CIE x or the CIE y, or both, on right y-axis 214 are also possible depending on the range of possible outputs of the OLED pixel being graphed, and/or the CIE chart or the equivalent color chart being used. Luminance line 230 is associated with left y-axis 212 and illustrates a linear relationship between current density and luminance in a white OLED.
White CIE x line 220 is associated with right y-axis 214 and illustrates the relationship between current density and the x coordinate of the CIE chart (see
White CIE y line 225 is associated with right y-axis 214 and illustrates the relationship between current density and the y coordinate of the CIE chart (see
b is graph 240 illustrating luminance as a function of current density superimposed on a graph illustrating CIE variation (x or y) as a function of current density for a phosphorescent white OLED and white OLEDs with band pass color filters. Alternatively, rather than colored filters arranged on a surface of a white OLED, color outputs may be obtained by appropriate doping or other compositional variation in the emissive layer of the OLED. Graph 240 has the same x and y axes as graph 200, namely x-axis 210 plotting a current density for the OLED, left y-axis 212 plotting luminance of the OLED, and right y-axis 214 plotting both a CIE x and a CIE y. Luminance line 230, white CIE x line 220, and white CIE y line 225 are also shown on graph 240 and are the same as shown in graph 200.
Green luminance line 250, red luminance line 260 and blue luminance line 270 are each associated with left y-axis 212 and each illustrate a linear relationship between current density and luminance in the respective output of an OLED having the associated color. However, each of the luminance lines for the color outputs have lower slopes than for luminance line 230, reflecting the fact that the color filters operate by reducing or eliminating color in wavelengths that are not desired, and therefore reduce the overall luminance of the OLED having a color filter.
Green CIE y line 254, red CIE y line 264 and blue CIE y line 274 are each associated with right y-axis 214 and illustrates the relationship between current density and the y coordinate of the CIE chart (see
Green CIE x line 252, red CIE x line 262 and blue CIE x line 272 are each associated with right y-axis 214 and illustrates the relationship between current density and the x coordinate of the CIE chart (see
While only a limited number of preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for purposes of illustration, it is obvious that many modifications and variations could be made thereto. It is intended to cover all of those modifications and variations which fall within the scope of the present invention, as defined by the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/278,299 filed Oct. 5, 2009, which is incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61278299 | Oct 2009 | US |