PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-10785845-B1
Application Number: US-201916559480-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B1

Title: Electronic devices with backlit displays

Abstract:
An electronic device may have a display mounted in a housing. The housing may have a stand that supports the housing on a support surface or may have other shapes. The display may have pixels that display an image. The display may also have a two-dimensional array of light-emitting devices such as light-emitting diodes that supply backlight illumination for the pixels. An array of temperature sensors may be overlapped by the pixels. Control circuitry may maintain historical backlight aging information during operation of the display. The aging information may include information on output brightness levels of the light-emitting diodes and light-emitting diode operating temperatures.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electronic device, comprising:
 a housing; 
 a display in the housing that is configured to display an image, wherein the display includes:
 pixels; 
 temperature sensors; and 
 individually adjustable light-emitting devices configured to produce backlight illumination for the pixels; and 
 
 control circuitry configured to use temperature measurements from the temperature sensors in compensating the light-emitting devices for aging. 
 
     
     
       2. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the temperature sensors form a two-dimensional array of temperature sensors having rows and columns that are overlapped by the pixels. 
     
     
       3. The electronic device defined in claim  2  wherein the display has more pixels than light-emitting devices and has more light-emitting devices than temperature sensors. 
     
     
       4. The electronic device defined in  claim 3  wherein the control circuitry is configured to:
 maintain light-emitting device brightness history information on the light-emitting devices; and 
 produce correction factors for each of the light-emitting devices based on the light-emitting device brightness history information and the temperature measurements. 
 
     
     
       5. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the control circuitry is configured to map the temperature measurements associated with the temperature sensors to a set of subregion temperatures associated with a respective set of subregions of the display. 
     
     
       6. The electronic device defined in  claim 5  wherein the control circuitry is configured to map the subregion temperatures to individual temperatures for the light-emitting devices. 
     
     
       7. The electronic device defined in  claim 6  wherein the display has more of the subregions than the temperature sensors. 
     
     
       8. The electronic device defined in  claim 7  wherein the display has more light-emitting devices than the subregions. 
     
     
       9. The electronic device defined in  claim 8  wherein the display comprises at least ten temperature sensors that are arranged to form rows and columns in a two-dimensional array of temperature sensors. 
     
     
       10. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the housing has a stand configured to support the display on a surface. 
     
     
       11. The electronic device defined in  claim 10  wherein the light-emitting devices comprise light-emitting diodes. 
     
     
       12. A display system, comprising:
 pixels configured to display an image; 
 a two-dimensional array of light-emitting devices configured to produce backlight illumination for the array of pixels; 
 a two-dimensional array of temperature sensors overlapped by the pixels; and 
 control circuitry configured to gather temperature measurements from the two-dimensional array of temperature sensors and configured to produce correction factors that reduce light output of at least a first of the light-emitting devices relative to at least a second of the light-emitting devices based at least partly on the temperature measurements. 
 
     
     
       13. The display system defined in  claim 12  wherein the control circuitry is configured to maintain historical information on light output from each of the light-emitting devices. 
     
     
       14. The display system defined in  claim 13  wherein the control circuitry is configured to use the historical information on the light output and the temperature measurements in producing the correction factors. 
     
     
       15. The display system defined in  claim 14  wherein the control circuitry is configured to:
 use a first mapping to map the temperature measurements associated with the temperature sensors to a set of subregion temperatures associated with a respective set of subregions of the display; and 
 use a second mapping to map the subregion temperatures to individual temperatures for the light-emitting devices. 
 
     
     
       16. The display system defined in  claim 15  wherein the set of subregions comprises at least 50 subregions and wherein the display has fewer subregions than pixels. 
     
     
       17. The display system defined in  claim 15  wherein the two-dimensional array of temperature sensors comprises at least three rows and at least four columns of temperature sensors. 
     
     
       18. A desktop computer, comprising:
 a housing with a stand configured to support the housing on a surface; 
 a display mounted in the housing, wherein the display comprises:
 pixels configured to display an image; 
 a two-dimensional array of temperature sensors comprising at least two rows and at least three columns; 
 a two-dimensional array of light-emitting diodes configured to provide backlight illumination for the pixels; and 
 
 control circuitry configured to adjust the two-dimensional array of light-emitting diodes at least partly based on light-emitting diode aging history information gathered at least partly using the temperature sensors. 
 
     
     
       19. The desktop computer defined in  claim 18  wherein the control circuitry is configured to monitor light-emitting diode output brightness levels for the two-dimensional array of light-emitting diodes and wherein the light-emitting diode aging history information is based at least partly on the light-emitting diode output brightness levels. 
     
     
       20. The desktop computer defined in  claim 19  wherein the two-dimensional array of temperature sensors comprises at least three rows and at least four columns of temperature sensors and wherein the control circuitry is configured to map temperature sensor information from the two-dimensional array of temperature sensors to individual light-emitting diode temperatures associated with each of the light-emitting diodes in the two-dimensional array of light-emitting diodes.

Description:
This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application No. 62/852,871, filed May 24, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     This relates generally to electronic devices, and, more particularly, to electronic devices with displays. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Electronic devices may have displays. Displays may be used for displaying visual content for a user. Some displays have arrays of pixels that are backlit using a backlight unit. The backlight unit may contain light sources such as light-emitting diodes. 
     It can be challenging to ensure that a backlit display with light-emitting devices operates properly as light-emitting diodes age. Aging effects may result in degraded light output. Because aging may not occur uniformly across light-emitting diodes in a backlight, there is a risk that light output will not be uniform. This can negatively impact the quality of images on a display. 
     SUMMARY 
     An electronic device may have a display mounted in a housing. The housing may have a stand that supports the housing on a support surface or may have other shapes. The display may have pixels that display an image. The display may also have a two-dimensional array of light-emitting devices such as light-emitting diodes that supply backlight illumination for the pixels. 
     The light-emitting devices that supply the backlight illumination may experience reduced light output capabilities due to aging. Aging may be impacted by operating parameters such as light output level and operating temperature. During operation of the display, control circuitry in the device may track light-emitting device aging effects. Using this aging information, the control circuitry may compensate the light-emitting diodes for reduced output to ensure that backlight illumination is provided evenly to the display. 
     To track aging, temperature measurements may be made. An array of temperature sensors may be overlapped by the pixels. During operation, light-emitting diode operating temperatures gathered using the temperature sensors. Light output levels may also be monitored to assess aging. Light-emitting diode aging information may be processed to produce correction factors. The correction factors may be applied to the light-emitting diodes in a display so that the peak output intensity of light-emitting diodes that are not significantly aged are reduced and brought into line with the peak output intensity of significantly aged light-emitting diodes. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronic device with a backlit display in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a front view of an illustrative display in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a flow chart of illustrative operations involved in measuring backlight temperatures to track the thermal history of backlight light-emitting devices and thereby compensate for aging effects in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is a light-emitting device output efficiency equation for light-emitting devices in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  is a flow chart of illustrative operations involved in operating a display while compensating a backlight for light-emitting device aging effects in accordance with an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     An electronic device may have a display. During operation of the device, the display presents images for viewing by a user. The display may have an array of pixels such as liquid crystal display pixels or other pixels. Backlight illumination for the display may be provided by a backlight unit. 
     The backlight unit may be a local dimming backlight that has a two-dimensional array of individually adjustable light-emitting devices. The light sources of the backlight unit may be, for example, semiconductor light-emitting devices such as light-emitting diodes or lasers. An array of hundreds or thousands of light sources may be incorporated into the backlight unit. These light sources may be selectively adjusted during operation of the display. The ability to selectively adjust the brightness of backlight illumination across different areas of the display allows the display to exhibit enhanced dynamic range and to display high-dynamic-range images. 
     A cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronic device with a backlit display is shown in  FIG. 1 . Electronic device  10  may have a display such as display  14  mounted in a housing such as housing  12 . Device  10  of  FIG. 1  is a desktop device such as a desktop display with an embedded computer (e.g., a desktop computer) or a desktop display without an embedded computer. Device  10  may also be a cellular telephone, a wristwatch device, a computing device such as a laptop computer, a media player, a pendant device, a display, a gaming device, a head-mounted device, an embedded system such as a system mounted in a kiosk or automobile, or other electronic equipment. 
     Housing  12  may be formed from polymer, metal, glass, crystalline material such as sapphire, ceramic, fabric, fibers, fiber composite material, natural materials such as wood and cotton, other materials, and/or combinations of such materials. Housing  12  may be configured to form housing walls. The housing walls may enclose an interior region such as interior region  30  within device  10  and may separate interior region  30  from an exterior region surrounding device  10 . The housing walls may include a rear wall on rear side R of device  10 , sidewalls on edges W of device  10  (including the upper and lower edges W shown in  FIG. 1  and left and right edges W), and a transparent housing wall  12 T that serves as a display cover layer on front side F of device  10 . Front side F opposes rear side R of device  10  in the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 1 . Stand portion  12 B of housing  12  may support the main portion of housing  12  and display  14  on a desktop or other support surface. Other arrangements may be used for forming housing  12  and device  10 , if desired. The arrangement of  FIG. 1  is illustrative. 
     Display  14  may be a liquid crystal display or other suitable display. Display  14  may have an array of pixels P. The portion of housing  12  that overlaps display  14  may sometimes be referred to as a display cover layer. The display cover layer (e.g., display cover layer  12 T in the example of  FIG. 1 ) may be formed from glass, crystalline material such as sapphire, clear polymer, other transparent materials, and/or combinations of these materials. The display cover layer may be coupled to metal housing walls or other housing structures in housing  12  and may sometimes be referred to as forming transparent housing structures or a transparent housing wall. 
     Display cover layer  12 T may overlap an active area of display  14  containing pixels P on front side F of device  10 . During operation, pixels P may display an image for viewing by a user of device  10 . Backlight illumination  34  for the array of pixels P may be supplied by backlight unit  36 . 
     Backlight unit  36  may include a two-dimensional array of light sources  36 L that emit backlight illumination  34  (e.g., rows of light sources  36 L extending parallel to horizontal dimension X and columns of light sources  36 L extending parallel to vertical dimension Y). Light sources  36  may be formed by electrical components that emit light under the control of an applied drive current. Light sources  36 L may be, for example, light-emitting diodes formed from crystalline semiconductor dies or semiconductor lasers such as vertical cavity surface emitting lasers or other laser diodes. There may be any suitable number N of light sources  36 L in backlight unit  36 . For example, there may be 576 of light sources  36 L (e.g., an array of 18 rows and 32 columns of light sources  36 L). In general, the value of N may be 100-3,000, at least 300, at least 1000, at least 3,000, at least 10,000, at least 30,000, at least 50,000, fewer than 1,000,000, fewer than 300,000, fewer than 100,000, fewer than 30,000, fewer than 10,000, fewer than 3000, fewer than 1,000, or other suitable number. Light sources  36 L may be arranged in horizontal rows and vertical columns or may otherwise be patterned to cover the active area associated with display  14 . 
     During operation, backlight illumination  34  can be created only in those areas of display  14  that require backlight illumination. For example, light sources  36 L may be turned off in portions of display  14  that contain only black pixels P, thereby helping to conserve power. In areas of display  14  where bright content is present (e.g., bright high-dynamic-range content), light sources  36 L can be illuminated strongly. Other areas of display  14  can be provided with intermediate or low levels of backlight illumination  34  (as an example). By adjusting the intensities of each of light sources  36 L in backlight unit  36  individually in this way, the dynamic range of visual content provided by display  14  can be enhanced and display power consumption can be reduced. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , electrical components  22  may be mounted in interior  30  of device  10  (e.g., on a substrate such as printed circuit  24  located between display cover layer  12 T on front side F and an opposing rear housing wall on rear side R). Components  22  may include integrated circuits, discrete components, light-emitting components, sensors, and/or other circuits. Electrical components  22  may include control circuitry. The control circuitry may include storage and processing circuitry for supporting the operation of device  10 . The storage and processing circuitry may include storage such as hard disk drive storage, nonvolatile memory (e.g., flash memory or other electrically-programmable-read-only memory configured to form a solid state drive), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic random-access-memory), etc. Processing circuitry in the control circuitry may be used to control the operation of device  10 . For example, the processing circuitry may use input-output devices to gather input while using display  14  and other output devices to provide output. In some configurations, the control circuitry of device  10  may monitor the operation of display  14  (e.g., the control circuitry may gather temperature information from temperature sensors and may gather other information such as backlight light-emitting device brightness during device operation). This information may be used to adjust display  14  (e.g., to compensate components in display  14  for aging). The control circuitry of device  10  may be based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, baseband processors, power management units, audio chips, application specific integrated circuits, display timing controller integrated circuits (sometimes referred to as display driver circuits), etc. 
     The control circuitry may include wired and/or wireless communications circuitry (e.g., antennas and associated radio-frequency transceiver circuitry such as cellular telephone communications circuitry, wireless local area network communications circuitry, etc.). The communications circuitry of the control circuitry may allow device  10  to communicate with other electronic devices. For example, the control circuitry (e.g., communications circuitry in the control circuitry) may be used to allow wired and/or wireless control commands and other communications to be conveyed between devices such as cellular telephones, tablet computers, laptop computers, desktop computers, head-mounted devices, handheld controllers, wristwatch devices, other wearable devices, keyboards, computer mice, remote controls, speakers, accessory displays, accessory cameras, and/or other electronic devices. Wireless communications circuitry may, for example, wirelessly transmit control signals and other information to external equipment in response to receiving user input or other input from sensors or other devices in components  22 . 
     Input-output circuitry in components  22  of device  10  may be used to allow data to be supplied to device  10  and to allow data to be provided from device  10  to external devices. The input-output circuitry may include input devices that gather user input and other input and may include output devices that supply visual output, audible output, or other output. 
     Output may be provided using status indicator lights, display  14 , and other light-emitting devices, audio output devices (e.g., tone generators and/or speakers), haptic output devices (e.g., vibrators, electromagnetic actuators, piezoelectric actuators, and/or other equipment that supplies a user with haptic output), and other output devices. 
     The input-output circuitry of device  10  (e.g., the input-output circuitry of components  22 ) may include sensors. Sensors for device  10  may include temperature sensors. The temperature sensors may be, solid state temperature sensors (e.g., semiconductor temperature sensors), thermocouples, temperature sensitive resistors, or other temperature sensing components. In an illustrative configuration, temperature sensing circuitry in device  10  may be used to monitor the thermal history of display  14 . Temperature sensors may, as an example, monitor the operating temperatures of light-emitting devices  36 L and may use this information on assessing the amount of aging experience by each of light-emitting diodes so that corrective action may be taken when displaying images on display  14 . 
     If desired, other sensors may be included in device  10  such as force sensors (e.g., strain gauges, capacitive force sensors, resistive force sensors, etc.), audio sensors such as microphones, touch and/or proximity sensors such as capacitive sensors (e.g., a two-dimensional capacitive touch sensor integrated into a display, a two-dimensional capacitive touch sensor and/or a two-dimensional force sensor overlapping a display, and/or a touch sensor or force sensor that forms a button, trackpad, or other input device not associated with a display), and other sensors. Touch sensors for a display or for other touch components may be based on an array of capacitive touch sensor electrodes, acoustic touch sensor structures, resistive touch components, force-based touch sensor structures, a light-based touch sensor, or other suitable touch sensor arrangements. If desired, a display may have a force sensor for gathering force input (e.g., a two-dimensional force sensor may be used in gathering force input on a display). 
     If desired, the sensors may include optical sensors such as optical sensors that emit and detect light, ultrasonic sensors, optical touch sensors, optical proximity sensors, and/or other touch sensors and/or proximity sensors, monochromatic and color ambient light sensors in an assembly such as ambient light sensor assembly  36 , image sensors, fingerprint sensors, sensors for measuring three-dimensional non-contact gestures (“air gestures”), pressure sensors, sensors for detecting position, orientation, and/or motion (e.g., accelerometers, magnetic sensors such as compass sensors, gyroscopes, and/or inertial measurement units that contain some or all of these sensors), health sensors, radio-frequency sensors (e.g., sensors that gather position information, three-dimensional radio-frequency images, and/or other information using radar principals or other radio-frequency sensing), depth sensors (e.g., structured light sensors and/or depth sensors based on stereo imaging devices), optical sensors such as self-mixing sensors and light detection and ranging (lidar) sensors that gather time-of-flight measurements, humidity sensors, moisture sensors, gaze tracking sensors, three-dimensional sensors (e.g., time-of-flight image sensors, pairs of two-dimensional image sensors that gather three-dimensional images using binocular vision, three-dimensional structured light sensors that emit an array of infrared light beams or other structured light using arrays of lasers or other light emitters and associated optical components and that capture images of the spots created as the beams illuminate target objects, and/or other three-dimensional image sensors), facial recognition sensors based on three-dimensional image sensors, and/or other sensors. 
     In some configurations, components  22  may include mechanical devices for gathering input (e.g., buttons, joysticks, scrolling wheels, key pads with movable keys, keyboards with movable keys, and other devices for gathering user input). If desired, device  10  may operate in a system with keyboards, mice, and other controllers that use wired and/or wireless connections to provide the control circuitry in device  10  with input. The input supplied to device  10  from a user and/or environmental data or other data gathered by sensors in device  10  may be used in operating device  10 . For example, user input may be used in selecting content to be displayed on display  14  and can be used in adjusting audio playback volume, display color cast settings, and/or display brightness settings. Display brightness may also be adjusted based on ambient light sensor readings. 
     Light-emitting devices  36 L may be provided with reflectors to help direct backlight illumination  34  through pixels P. Optical films such as diffuser layers to reduce hotspots, light recycling structures formed from layers such as reflective polarizers and wave plates, brightness enhancement films to help collimate backlight illumination, birefringent compensation films to enhance off-axis viewing, and other optical films may be interposed between light-emitting devices  36 L and pixels P. 
     When the control circuitry of device  10  is displaying visual content on display  14 , the intensity of the backlight illumination produced by each of light-emitting devices  36 L can be controlled by control signals (voltages and currents) supplied to devices  36 L by the control circuitry of device  10  (e.g., by display driver circuitry in the control circuitry of device  10 ). As an example, a first drive current may be applied to a first of devices  36 L to create backlight illumination  34  of a first intensity for a first set of pixels P in a first area of display  14 , a second independently adjusted drive current that is potentially different than the first drive current may be applied to a second of devices  36 L to create backlight illumination  34  of a second intensity for a second sent of pixels P in a second area of display  14 , etc. In this way, a desired pattern of backlight illumination (bright areas, intermediate brightness areas, and dark areas) can be created. Backlit images are produced by adjusting the transmission of each of pixels P in the array of pixels P that overlap backlight  36 . 
     Light-emitting devices  36 L are subject to aging effects. When new, light-emitting devices  36 L will produce their maximum intensity of output light at a given drive current. As light-emitting devices  36 L are used in device  10 , light-emitting devices  36 L age and experience wear that degrades the output capabilities of light-emitting devices  36 L. At a given current, an aged light-emitting device  36 L will produce less backlight illumination than a new light-emitting device  36 L. Wear is generally non-linear with respect to drive current. For example, light-emitting devices  36 L will age more rapidly if operated at a current  21  for a duration TP than if operated at a current I for a duration 2TP. Operating temperature also affects wear. Less wear is experienced when light-emitting devices  36 L are operated at lower temperature than when operated at higher temperature. 
     The visual content that is displayed on display  14  may cause uneven wear in light-emitting devices  36 L. For example, if a bright white logo if often present in the lower right hand corner of display  14 , the light-emitting devices  36 L in the lower right hand corner of display  14  may be used more than other light-emitting devices  36 L and may therefore wear more than other light-emitting devices  36 L. 
     To compensate for the effects of uneven wear, the wear (aging) of each of light-emitting devices  36 L can be tracked by the control circuitry of device  10 . During image playback, device  10  can provide light-emitting devices that are weakened due to age with appropriately strengthen drive signals relative to light-emitting devices that are not weakened. As an example, the brightness levels of the less worn light-emitting devices  36 L in backlight unit  36  may be reduced to bring the performance of these devices  36 L into line with the aged and weaker devices  36 L in backlight unit  36 . This evens out the light output capabilities of backlight unit  36  across display  14 . 
     Wear tracking may involve monitoring the temperature of each of devices  36 L in backlight unit  36  while simultaneously gathering information on the light output history (intensity and duration) for each of devices  36 L. Running averages of operating conditions (e.g., average operating power, average temperature, etc.) may be gathered and processed by the device  10 . Device  10  can then produce compensating weighting factors (sometimes referred to as correction factors) to use when providing devices  36 L with control signals. Light-emitting device aging compensation information (e.g., correction factors, etc.) may be stored in non-volatile memory so that this information is retained even in the event of power interruptions. 
       FIG. 2  is a front view of an illustrative display for device  10 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , display  14  has an array of pixels P. Pixels P may be arranged in rows and columns. During operation, pixels P in device  10  display an image for viewing by a user. Backlight for the image formed from pixels P is provided by backlight unit  36 . Backlight unit  36  has an array of light-emitting devices  36 L overlapped by the pixel array. An array of temperature sensors  50  is overlapped by the array of light-emitting devices  36 L and pixels P. Temperature sensors  50  may be arranged in an array of rows and columns and/or temperature sensors  50  may be arranged in other patterns. The area of display  14  may be subdivided into subregions VB. As shown in  FIG. 2 , for example, an array of display subregions such as subregions VB may overlap and cover display  14 . Using temperature measurements from temperature sensors  50 , device  10  can determine the temperature in each of display subregions VB. 
     There may be any suitable number of pixels P in display  14 . For example, there may be at least 1000, at least 10,000, at least 100,000, at least 1,000,000, fewer than 1 billion, fewer than 100,000,000, fewer than 10,000,000, fewer than 2,000,000, or other suitable number of pixels in display  14 . 
     There may be fewer light-emitting devices  36 L in backlight unit  36  than pixels P in display  14 . For example, there may be hundreds or thousands of rows of pixels P and hundreds or thousands of columns of pixels P in the pixel array, whereas backlight unit  36  may have 500-600 light-emitting devices  36 L, 100-3,000 light-emitting devices  36 L, at least 300 light-emitting devices  36 L, fewer than 1000 light-emitting devices  36 L, or other suitable number of light-emitting devices  36 L. Light-emitting devices  36 L may be arranged in horizontal rows and vertical columns or may otherwise be patterned to cover display  14 . 
     There may be any suitable number of temperature sensors  50  in the array of temperature sensors in display  14 . As an example, there may be 2-20, 5-15, at least 2, at least three, at least four, at least 5, at least 100, fewer than 20, fewer than 300, or other suitable number of rows of temperature sensors  50  in display  14  and  2 - 10 , at least 2, at least 3, at least 4, at least five, at least 10, at least 100, fewer than 300, fewer than 15, fewer than 6, or other suitable number of columns of temperature sensors  50  in display  14 . The array of temperature sensors  50  may, if desired, have a staggered layout in which some of temperature sensors  50  in the rows and columns of the array are shifted slightly from their expected horizontal and/or vertical positions or may have a regular pattern in which each temperature sensor lies at the intersection of a horizontal row axis and vertical column axis. 
     There may be any suitable number of subregions VB overlapping display  14  (e.g., at least 10, at least 50, 70, at least 200, fewer than 300, fewer than 150, fewer than 100, or other suitable number). Subregions VB may be rectangular or may have other suitable shapes. Subregions VB may have the same size and shape or different subregions VB may have different sizes and/or different shapes. As an example, subregions VB may contain rectangles of multiple different sizes. In an illustrative configuration, there may be more subregions VB than temperature sensors  50 . There may be, for example, 12 temperature sensors and 70 subregions VB. 
     To ensure that display  14  is backlit as desired, light-emitting devices  36 L may be provided with drive signals that reflect the amount of aging experienced by the light-emitting devices. In particular, to ensure that devices  36 L that have aged less (and therefore have relatively larger output efficiencies) are not overly bright relative to devices  36 L that have aged more (and therefore have relatively lower output efficiencies), the peak output allowed from the unaged devices may be reduced by an amount appropriate to bring the unaged devices into line with the aged devices. Aging can be tracked on a per-device basis and aging history information can be updated continuously during operation of device  10 . 
     Aging is affected by how strongly light-emitting devices  36 L are operated and operating temperature. Higher operating powers cause devices  36 L to age faster and higher operating temperatures cause devices  36 L to age faster. Accordingly, during operation of device  10 , the control circuitry of device  10  can monitor operating power and operating temperature and can maintain a running history of these aging effects. When it is desired to supply backlight illumination for an image displayed by the pixels of display  14 , the strengths of the drive signals to the light-emitting devices can be adjusted to accommodate the light-emitting diodes with reduced efficiencies. 
     Illustrative operations associated with tracking aging effects during operation of display  14  are shown in  FIG. 3 . 
     During the operations of block  60 , the control circuitry of device  10  may measure operating parameters associated with backlight unit  36 . Digital samples may be acquired (sampled) over multiple sampling periods. As an example, a series of samples may be acquired over a measurement period. Samples may be acquired once per second or at any other suitable sampling rate for the duration of the measurement period. The measurement period over which the samples are acquired may be 15 minutes, at least 5 minutes, less than 30 minutes, or other suitable measurement interval. During each sample, the control circuitry of device  10  may measure the current IAVG for each light-emitting device  36 L (e.g., for each light-emitting diode in a configuration in which devices  36 L are light-emitting diodes). The measured current IAVG for each sample may, if desired, be determined by evaluating the digital brightness value for a given device  36 L over a series of image frames. The brightness value for determining the sample value IAVG for a given device  36 L may, as an example, be accumulated digitally over 60 frames in a scenario in which display  14  is being operated at 60 frames per second. In some embodiments, lower output light intensities (intensities less than a threshold amount) are produced by devices  36 L in display  14  by imposing variable amounts of pulse-width modulation (PWM) on a fixed light-emitting device drive current, whereas higher output light intensities are produced by devices  36 L using a variable current scheme. In a PWM scheme, which is appropriate for lower output intensities, the duty cycle of the drive signal is varied to vary light output. In a variable current scheme, which is appropriate for higher output intensities, current magnitude is varied without altering duty cycle. The value of IAVG can be determined by a display driver circuitry or other circuitry in the control circuitry of device  10  based on knowledge of the PWM (duty cycle) setting and peak current for the light-emitting device  36 L. 
     The relationship between IAVG and average power PAVG (which is affected by both the operating current and operating voltage for each light-emitting device  36 L) may be determined during characterization measurements made during manufacturing (e.g., representative devices may be tested to determine the functional relationship between IAVG and PAVG for each device  36 L in device  10 ). This predetermined relationship for each light-emitting device  36 L (e.g., the mapping between IAVG and PAVG) may be stored in a look-up table maintained by a digital microcontroller or other control circuitry in device  10 . During the operations of block  60 , the look-up table may be used to determine PAVG for each device  36 L from the known value of IAVG for each device  36 L (e.g., the known value of IAVG obtained by summing brightness levels for each device  36 L over the image frames of the sampling period). 
     Using temperature sensor measurements and the average operating power PAVG for each of devices  36 L, the operating temperatures of devices  36 L may be determined. In particular, the control circuitry of device  10  can gather temperature measurements from each of temperature sensors  50  and can use first and second mappings to determine the operating temperature of each of devices  36 L from these temperature measurements and the values of PAVG. 
     In the first mapping, the temperatures gathered from each of sensors  50  are mapped to the temperatures TVB of display subregions VB. In performing this mapping, K equations such as equation (1) may be used for each of the K subregions VB in display  14 .
 
 TVB ( i )= W 1* T 1+ W 2* T 2 . . . + WM*TM +CONST  (1)
 
     In equation 1, there are M temperature sensors that produce corresponding temperature measurements T 1  . . . TM. The temperature TVB(i) of the ith subregion VB(i) is based on a summation of weighted temperature measurements, where weights W 1  . . . WM and constant CONST are determined empirically and stored in the control circuitry of device  10  during manufacturing. 
     In the second mapping, which is represented by equation (2), the temperatures TVB for the subregions are mapped to individual temperatures for light-emitting devices  36 L (i.e., temperatures TVB are mapped to light-emitting device temperatures TLED(j), where j=1 to the total number N of light-emitting devices  36 L in backlight unit  36 ).
 
 T LED( j )= TVB ( i )+ k*P LED( i )  (2)
 
In equation 2, the temperature of the jth light-emitting device  36 L is determined by the temperature of the subregion in which the jth LED resides (the ith subregion in this example), a predetermined constant k, and the power of the jth light-emitting device  36 L. Using this approach, the temperature associated with each light-emitting device in a given subregion VB is apportioned between the light-emitting devices in that subregion in proportion to its power.
 
     The control circuitry of device  10  can maintain running averages of the values of TLED and IAVG over the desired measurement interval (e.g., 15 minutes, at least 1 minute, at least 10 minutes, less than 1 day, less than 1 hour, or other suitable time period). 
     During the operations of block  62 , the impact of the aging effects measured during block  60  may be used to update a running value that is being maintained of the output efficiency (η) of each light-emitting device  36 L. The measurements of the most recent measurement interval that are associated with block  60  indicate how much aging has occurred during the most recent interval. To combine the aging effects of the most recent measurement interval with the aging effects experienced over all prior measurement intervals, the control circuitry of device  10  can perform normalization and combining operations during the operations of block  62  (e.g., the control circuitry can normalize a historically accumulated efficiency (η-historical) to match the efficiency of the present measurement interval (η-present). 
     In particular, the control circuitry can: (a) determine the present interval efficiency η-present of each light-emitting device  36 L resulting from the aging measured during the present measurement interval using the equation of  FIG. 4 , (b) determine a virtual time period t-virtual over which each light-emitting device  36 L would have had to have aged at the present measurement interval&#39;s temperature and power values for that light-emitting device to exhibit its historically accumulated efficiency (η-historical), thereby effectively removing the temperature and power variables and allowing addition of the present aging effects to the historical aging effects. The control circuitry can then: (c) determine an updated aging time t-updated by adding the present measurement interval time (t-measurement-interval) to the value of t-virtual. After computing the value of t-updated, the efficiency equation of  FIG. 4  can then (d) be reapplied using the present temperature TLED, current (IAVG), and time t-updated. This reapplication of the efficiency equation produces the correct present value of efficiency η for each light-emitting device  36 L. 
     During the operations of block  64 , the values of η that have been obtained for the light-emitting devices  36 L of backlight unit  36  may be analyzed to produce compensation information. In particular, the maximum difference in efficiency (Δη) across all of the light-emitting devices  36 L can be identified. If the value of Δη is below a predetermined threshold, no corrective action need be taken. If, however, the value of Δη is above the predetermined threshold, a correction factor R(j) can be applied to each of the j light-emitting devices  36 L, where R(j) is the ratio between the efficiency of the least efficient light-emitting device and the efficiency of light-emitting device j (e.g., instead of driving a particular LED to output brightness level BL, the LED may be driven to output brightness level R*BL). By reducing the light output of the more efficient light-emitting devices  36 L relative to the less efficient light-emitting devices  36 L, aging-induced backlight illumination variations can be minimized or eliminated across display  14 . The values of R(j) can be stored in non-volatile memory for use by display driver circuitry in device  10  when displaying content on display  14 . The R(j) information may, if desired, be incorporated into a display driver circuit map (sometimes referred to as a timing controller map or TCON map) that maps desired light-emitting device brightness for each light-emitting device  36 L to a corresponding current and PWM setting to be applied to that light-emitting device  36 L to produce that desired brightness. 
     As indicated by line  66 , the operations of blocks  60 ,  62 , and  64  may be performed continuously to track potentially non-linear aging effects across all of the light-emitting devices  36 L in backlight unit  36  during operation of device  10 . 
       FIG. 5  is a flow chart of illustrative operations involved in displaying an image on display  14 . During the operations of block  70 , the control circuitry of device  10  (e.g., display driver circuitry that is displaying content on display  14 ) obtains an updated mapping (e.g., an updated TCON map) between desired light-emitting device brightness values and corresponding light-emitting device drive currents and duty cycles (PWM settings) to be used to achieve those brightness values. 
     During the operations of block  72 , the control circuitry may drive the light-emitting devices  36 L of backlight unit  36  at appropriate currents and duty cycles to produce backlight illumination of the desired magnitudes while simultaneously controlling pixels P to display a desired image that is backlit by the backlight illumination. This process may be performed continuously (e.g., to display time-varying images, video, etc.), as indicated by line  74 . 
     Device  10  may be operated in a system that uses personally identifiable information. It is well understood that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and handled so as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users. 
     The foregoing is merely illustrative and various modifications can be made to the described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may be implemented individually or in any combination.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20190903
Publication Date: 20200922
Grant Date: 20200922
Priority Date: 20190524
Inventors: SUN, ADRIAN E.
KIM, BYOUNGSUK
MARINI, JASON P.
QI, JUN
KOPP, KERRY J.
COOPER, MATTHEW W.
GU, MINGXIA
LI, YANMING
RYAN, KEVIN J.
LINK, SHMUEL G.
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H05K5/0017", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05B45/50", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05B45/50", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y02D10/00", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05B45/18", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/3218", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/206", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/3265", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1601", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K5/0234", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K5/0017", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1601", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K5/0234", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05B45/50", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 72516719