Patent ID: 8599223

Claim:
A display device comprising: a plurality of display pixels configured to collectively display an image; a plurality of reference pixels comprising first reference pixels and second reference pixels, wherein the plurality of reference pixels do not contribute to display of the image and each of the plurality of reference pixels is configured to emit light having luminance based on an input signal voltage; a control unit configured to drive the plurality of reference pixels and to: drive the first reference pixels to emit light such that a cumulative duration of light emission for the first reference pixels substantially corresponds to a cumulative duration of light emission for the plurality of display pixels, drive the second reference pixels to emit light infrequently such that the second reference pixels approximate new pixels without current degradation; perform luminance degradation detection by: driving the first reference pixels to emit light by applying thereto respective predetermined input signal voltages, detecting luminances of light emitted by the first reference pixels, driving the second reference pixels to emit light by applying thereto respective predetermined input signal voltages, and detecting luminances of light emitted by the second reference pixels; and a correcting unit configured to correct luminance degradation of display pixels on the basis of a detection result of luminance degradation detection, wherein detected luminances of light emitted by the second reference pixels during luminance degradation detection are used as a reference for approximating an initial state of the display pixels.