PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-9971454-B2
Application Number: US-201615335204-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Temperature sensing display assemblies

Abstract:
Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for determining the temperature of a light-generating component of a display assembly using a voltage of the light-generating component are provided. In one embodiment, a method for operating an electronic device, which may include an external surface and a light-emitting diode operative to emit light for illuminating the external surface, may include detecting the forward voltage of the light-emitting diode, calculating the temperature of the light-emitting diode using the detected forward voltage of the light-emitting diode, and altering the performance of the electronic device based on the calculated temperature of the light-emitting diode. Additional embodiments are also provided.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for operating an electronic device that comprises an external surface and a light-emitting diode operative to emit light through the external surface, the method comprising:
 calculating the temperature of a portion of the external surface using a forward voltage of the light-emitting diode; and 
 altering the performance of the electronic device based on the calculated temperature of the portion of the external surface. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, determining the position of a touch event on the external surface based on the calculated temperature of the portion of the external surface. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, determining an ambient temperature of an environment external to the electronic device based on the calculated temperature of the portion of the external surface. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, determining a temperature of an object external to the electronic device based on the calculated temperature of the portion of the external surface. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the altering the performance of the electronic device comprises throttling at least one component of the electronic device. 
     
     
       6. A method for operating an electronic device that comprises an external surface and a plurality of light-emitting diodes operative to emit light through the external surface, the method comprising:
 calculating a temperature of each portion of a plurality of portions of the external surface using a forward voltage of a respective light-emitting diode of the plurality of light-emitting diodes; and 
 determining a position of a touch event on the external surface using the calculated temperatures. 
 
     
     
       7. An electronic device comprising:
 an output assembly comprising:
 an external surface; and 
 a light-emitting diode operative to emit light through the external surface; and 
 
 a sensor management system operative to:
 access a correlator that defines a relationship between the forward voltage of the light-emitting diode and the temperature of the light-emitting diode; 
 detect the current forward voltage of the light-emitting diode; 
 determine the current temperature of the light-emitting diode based on the detected current forward voltage of the light-emitting diode and based on the accessed correlator; and 
 adjust a functionality of the electronic device based on the determined current temperature of the light-emitting diode, wherein the electronic device is operative to detect a user touch event on the external surface based on the determined current temperature of the light-emitting diode. 
 
 
     
     
       8. The electronic device of  claim 7 , wherein the sensor management system is operative to adjust the functionality of the electronic device based on the detected user touch event. 
     
     
       9. The electronic device of  claim 7 , wherein the functionality adjustment comprises one of:
 enabling a disabled component of the electronic device; and 
 disabling an enabled component of the electronic device. 
 
     
     
       10. The electronic device of  claim 7 , wherein the functionality adjustment comprises presenting new information to a user of the electronic device. 
     
     
       11. An electronic device comprising:
 an output assembly comprising:
 an external surface; and 
 a light-emitting diode operative to emit light through the external surface; 
 
 a sensor management system operative to:
 access a correlator that defines a relationship between the forward voltage of the light-emitting diode and the temperature of the light-emitting diode; 
 detect the current forward voltage of the light-emitting diode; 
 determine the current temperature of the light-emitting diode based on the detected current forward voltage of the light-emitting diode and based on the accessed correlator; and 
 adjust a functionality of the electronic device based on the determined current temperature of the light-emitting diode; and 
 
 a touch component operative to detect the current position of a user touch event on the external surface, wherein the sensor management system is operative to adjust the functionality of the electronic device based on the determined current temperature of the light-emitting diode and based on the detected current position of the user touch event on the external surface. 
 
     
     
       12. An electronic device comprising:
 an output assembly comprising:
 an external surface; and 
 a light-emitting diode operative to emit light through the external surface; and 
 
 a sensor management system operative to:
 access a correlator that defines a relationship between the forward voltage of the light-emitting diode and the temperature of the light-emitting diode; 
 detect the current forward voltage of the light-emitting diode; 
 determine the current temperature of the light-emitting diode based on the detected current forward voltage of the light-emitting diode and based on the accessed correlator; and 
 adjust a functionality of the electronic device based on the determined current temperature of the light-emitting diode, wherein:
 the output assembly comprises a plurality of light-emitting diodes operative to emit light through the external surface; 
 the plurality of light-emitting diodes comprises the light-emitting diode; 
 the external surface comprises a plurality of external surface portions; 
 for each particular light-emitting diode of the plurality of light-emitting diodes, the sensor management system is operative to:
 access a particular correlator that defines a relationship between the forward voltage of the particular light-emitting diode and the temperature of the particular light-emitting diode; 
 detect the current forward voltage of the particular light-emitting diode; and 
 
 
 determine the current temperature of the particular light-emitting diode based on the detected current forward voltage of the particular light-emitting diode and based on the accessed particular correlator; and
 the sensor management system is operative to adjust a functionality of the electronic device based on the determined current temperature of each particular light-emitting diode. 
 
 
 
     
     
       13. The electronic device of  claim 12 , wherein the electronic device is operative to detect a user touch event on a particular external surface portion of the external surface based on the determined current temperature of each particular light-emitting diode. 
     
     
       14. The electronic device of  claim 12 , wherein:
 the output assembly further comprises a back light unit; and 
 each light-emitting diode of the plurality of light-emitting diodes is operative to emit light into the back light unit. 
 
     
     
       15. The electronic device of  claim 14 , wherein the output assembly is a liquid crystal display assembly. 
     
     
       16. The electronic device of  claim 12 , wherein the plurality of light-emitting diodes is arranged as an array of rows and columns of light-emitting diodes extending underneath the external surface. 
     
     
       17. The electronic device of  claim 12 , wherein the output assembly is one of an organic light-emitting diode display assembly and a micro-light-emitting diode display assembly. 
     
     
       18. A method for operating an electronic device that comprises an external surface and a light-emitting diode operative to emit light for illuminating the external surface, the method comprising:
 detecting the forward voltage of the light-emitting diode; 
 calculating the temperature of the light-emitting diode using the detected forward voltage of the light-emitting diode; 
 altering the performance of the electronic device based on the calculated temperature of the light-emitting diode; and 
 determining the existence of a touch event on the external surface based on the calculated temperature of the light-emitting diode. 
 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 18 , wherein the altering the performance of the electronic device comprises altering the performance of the electronic device based on the determined existence of the touch event.

Description:
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/683,806 filed Apr. 10, 2015, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This disclosure relates to temperature sensing display assemblies and, more particularly, to temperature sensing display assemblies that leverage the forward voltage of a light-generating component. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     An electronic device (e.g., a laptop computer, a cellular telephone, etc.) may be provided with a display assembly that consumes a majority of an external device surface. However, heretofore, such display assemblies have prevented adequate temperature sensing along such an external device surface. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     This document describes systems, methods, and computer-readable media for determining the temperature of a light-generating component of a display assembly using a voltage of the light-generating component. 
     For example, an electronic device may include a display assembly that includes an external display surface, a light-emitting diode operative to emit light for illuminating the external display surface, and a component stack extending between the light-emitting diode and a portion of the external display surface, wherein the component stack provides a thermal resistance between the light-emitting diode and the portion of the external display surface. The electronic device may also include a sensor management system operative to access a correlator that defines a relationship between the forward voltage of the light-emitting diode and the temperature of the light-emitting diode, access the value of the thermal resistance of the component stack between the light-emitting diode and the portion of the external display surface, detect the current forward voltage of the light-emitting diode, determine the current temperature of the light-emitting diode based on the detected current forward voltage of the light-emitting diode and based on the accessed correlator, and determine the current temperature of the portion of the external display surface based on the determined current temperature of the light-emitting diode and based on the accessed value of the thermal resistance of the component stack between the light-emitting diode and the portion of the external display surface. 
     As another example, a method for operating an electronic device that includes an external surface, a light-emitting component operative to emit light for illuminating the external surface, and a component stack extending between the light-emitting component and a portion of the external surface, wherein the component stack provides a thermal resistance between the light-emitting component and the portion of the external surface, may include accessing, with the electronic device, a correlator that defines a relationship between the forward voltage of the light-emitting component and the temperature of the light-emitting component, retrieving, with the electronic device, the value of the thermal resistance of the component stack between the light-emitting component and the portion of the external surface, detecting, with the electronic device, the current forward voltage of the light-emitting component, determining, with the electronic device, the current temperature of the light-emitting component based on the detected current forward voltage of the light-emitting component and based on the accessed correlator, determining, with the electronic device, the current temperature of the portion of the external surface based on the determined current temperature of the light-emitting component and based on the retrieved value of the thermal resistance of the component stack between the light-emitting component and the portion of the external surface, and adjusting, with the electronic device, a function of the electronic device based on the determined current temperature of the portion of the external surface. 
     As yet another example, a non-transitory computer-readable medium for controlling an electronic device that includes an external surface, a light-emitting component operative to emit light for illuminating the external surface, and a component stack extending between the light-emitting component and a portion of the external surface, wherein the component stack provides a thermal resistance between the light-emitting component and the portion of the external surface, may include computer-readable instructions recorded thereon for accessing, with the electronic device, a correlator that defines a relationship between the forward voltage of the light-emitting component and the temperature of the light-emitting component, retrieving, with the electronic device, the value of the thermal resistance of the component stack between the light-emitting component and the portion of the external surface, detecting, with the electronic device, the current forward voltage of the light-emitting component, determining, with the electronic device, the current temperature of the light-emitting component based on the detected current forward voltage of the light-emitting component and based on the accessed correlator, determining, with the electronic device, the current temperature of the portion of the external surface based on the determined current temperature of the light-emitting component and based on the retrieved value of the thermal resistance of the component stack between the light-emitting component and the portion of the external surface, and adjusting, with the electronic device, a functionality of the electronic device based on the determined current temperature of the portion of the external surface. 
     As yet another example, an electronic device may include an output assembly including an external surface and a light-emitting diode operative to emit light through the external surface. The electronic device may also include a sensor management system operative to access a correlator that defines a relationship between the forward voltage of the light-emitting diode and the temperature of the light-emitting diode, detect the current forward voltage of the light-emitting diode, determine the current temperature of the light-emitting diode based on the detected current forward voltage of the light-emitting diode and based on the accessed correlator, and adjust a functionality of the electronic device based on the determined current temperature of the light-emitting diode. 
     As yet another example, a method for operating an electronic device that includes an external surface and a light-emitting diode operative to emit light for illuminating the external surface may include detecting the forward voltage of the light-emitting diode, calculating the temperature of the light-emitting diode using the detected forward voltage of the light-emitting diode, and altering the performance of the electronic device based on the calculated temperature of the light-emitting diode. 
     As yet another example, a method for operating an electronic device that includes an external surface and a light-emitting diode operative to emit light through the external surface may include calculating the temperature of a portion of the external surface using a forward voltage of the light-emitting diode, and altering the performance of the electronic device based on the calculated temperature of the portion of the external surface. 
     As yet another example, a method for operating an electronic device that includes an external surface and a number of light-emitting diodes operative to emit light through the external surface may include calculating a temperature of each portion of a number of portions of the external surface using a forward voltage of a respective light-emitting diode of the number of light-emitting diodes, and determining a position of a touch event on the external surface using the calculated temperatures. 
     This Summary is provided merely to summarize some example embodiments, so as to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the subject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the features described in this Summary are merely examples and should not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subject matter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparent from the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The discussion below makes reference to the following drawings, in which like reference characters may refer to like parts throughout, and in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of an illustrative system including an electronic device with a temperature sensing display assembly; 
         FIG. 1A  is a front, left, bottom perspective view of the electronic device of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with some embodiments; 
         FIG. 1B  is a back, right, bottom perspective view of the electronic device of  FIGS. 1 and 1A , in accordance with some embodiments; 
         FIG. 1C  is a cross-sectional view, taken from line  1 C- 1 C of  FIG. 1A , of the electronic device of  FIGS. 1-1B , in accordance with some embodiments; 
         FIG. 1D  is a cross-sectional view, similar to  FIG. 1C , of the electronic device of  FIGS. 1-1C , but with a particular display assembly, in accordance with some embodiments; 
         FIG. 1E  is a front view, taken from line  1 E- 1 E of  FIGS. 1-1D , of the electronic device of  FIG. 1D , in accordance with some embodiments; 
         FIG. 1F  is a cross-sectional view, similar to  FIGS. 1C and 1D , of the electronic device of  FIGS. 1-1C , but with another particular display assembly, in accordance with some embodiments; 
         FIG. 1G  is a front view, taken from line  1 G- 1 G of  FIG. 1F , of the electronic device of  FIGS. 1-1C and 1F , in accordance with some embodiments; 
         FIG. 1H  is a schematic view of an exemplary light-generating component of the display assembly of the electronic device of  FIGS. 1-1G , in accordance with some embodiments; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic view of an illustrative portion of the electronic device of  FIGS. 1-1H , in accordance with some embodiments; and 
         FIGS. 3-6  are flowcharts of illustrative processes for determining the temperature of a light-generating component of a display assembly. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     Systems, methods, and computer-readable media may be provided for determining the temperature of a light-generating component of a display assembly using a voltage of the light-generating component. A display assembly of an electronic device may include one or more light-generating components for emitting light through an external surface of the electronic device. A system component stack of a display assembly often prevents the effective positioning of a dedicated temperature sensor at or near the external surface, thereby reducing the number of positions within the device at which the device temperature may be accurately sensed. However, a forward voltage of one or more light-generating components of a display assembly may be dependent or otherwise correlate with the temperature of the light-generating component, such that detection of the forward voltage of such light-generating components may enable determination of the temperature at one or more locations of the display assembly. A display assembly with multiple light-generating components may be effectively leveraged as a temperature sensing assembly for the external surface of the device by exploiting the thermal dependence of the light-generating components&#39; forward voltage. In some embodiments, the position of a touch event on the external surface and/or the temperature of an object external to the device may be determined by such a temperature sensing display assembly. Any suitable functionality of the electronic device may be adjusted in any suitable manner based on any determined temperature of a display assembly of the electronic device. 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a system  1  with an illustrative electronic device  100  that may include a temperature sensing display assembly. Electronic device  100  can include, but is not limited to, a music player (e.g., an iPod™ available by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.), video player, still image player, game player, other media player, music recorder, movie or video camera or recorder, still camera, other media recorder, radio, medical equipment, domestic appliance, transportation vehicle instrument, musical instrument, calculator, cellular telephone (e.g., an iPhone™ available by Apple Inc.), other wireless communication device, personal digital assistant, remote control, pager, computer (e.g., a desktop (e.g., an iMac™ available by Apple Inc.), laptop (e.g., a MacBook™ available by Apple Inc.), tablet (e.g., an iPad™ available by Apple Inc.), server, etc.), monitor, television, stereo equipment, set up box, set-top box, boom box, modem, router, printer, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, electronic device  100  may perform a single function (e.g., a device dedicated to sensing the temperature of its display assembly) and, in other embodiments, electronic device  100  may perform multiple functions (e.g., a device that senses the temperature of its display assembly, plays music, and receives and transmits telephone calls). 
     Electronic device  100  may be any portable, mobile, hand-held, or miniature electronic device that may be configured to sense the temperature of its display assembly wherever a user travels. Some miniature electronic devices may have a form factor that is smaller than that of hand-held electronic devices, such as an iPod™. Illustrative miniature electronic devices can be integrated into various objects that may include, but are not limited to, watches (e.g., an Apple Watch™ available by Apple Inc.), rings, necklaces, belts, accessories for belts, headsets, accessories for shoes, virtual reality devices, glasses, other wearable electronics, accessories for sporting equipment, accessories for fitness equipment, key chains, or any combination thereof. Alternatively, electronic device  100  may not be portable at all, but may instead be generally stationary. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , for example, electronic device  100  may include a processor  102 , memory  104 , a communications component  106 , a power supply  108 , an input component  110 , an output component  112 , and a sensor assembly  114 . Electronic device  100  may also include a bus  118  that may provide one or more wired or wireless communication links or paths for transferring data and/or power to, from, or between various other components of device  100 . In some embodiments, one or more components of electronic device  100  may be combined or omitted. Moreover, electronic device  100  may include any other suitable components not combined or included in  FIG. 1  and/or several instances of the components shown in  FIG. 1 . For the sake of simplicity, only one of each of the components is shown in  FIG. 1 . 
     Memory  104  may include one or more storage mediums, including for example, a hard-drive, flash memory, permanent memory such as read-only memory (“ROM”), semi-permanent memory such as random access memory (“RAM”), any other suitable type of storage component, or any combination thereof. Memory  104  may include cache memory, which may be one or more different types of memory used for temporarily storing data for electronic device applications. Memory  104  may be fixedly embedded within electronic device  100  or may be incorporated onto one or more suitable types of components that may be repeatedly inserted into and removed from electronic device  100  (e.g., a subscriber identity module (“SIM”) card or secure digital (“SD”) memory card). Memory  104  may store media data (e.g., music and image files), software (e.g., for implementing functions on device  100 ), firmware, preference information (e.g., media playback preferences), lifestyle information (e.g., food preferences), exercise information (e.g., information obtained by exercise monitoring equipment), transaction information (e.g., credit card information), wireless connection information (e.g., information that may enable device  100  to establish a wireless connection), subscription information (e.g., information that keeps track of podcasts or television shows or other media a user subscribes to), contact information (e.g., telephone numbers and e-mail addresses), calendar information, pass information (e.g., transportation boarding passes, event tickets, coupons, store cards, financial payment cards, etc.), any suitable forward voltage-temperature correlator data of any light-generating component of a display assembly of device  100  (e.g., as may be stored in a correlator memory portion  105   a  of memory  104 ), any suitable thermal resistance data of any component stack of device  100  (e.g., as may be stored in a thermal resistance memory portion  105   b  of memory  104 ), any other suitable data, or any combination thereof. 
     Communications component  106  may be provided to allow device  100  to communicate with one or more other electronic devices or servers of system  1  (e.g., data source or server  50 , as may be described below) using any suitable communications protocol. For example, communications component  106  may support Wi-Fi™ (e.g., an 802.11 protocol), ZigBee™ (e.g., an 802.15.4 protocol), WiDi™, Ethernet, Bluetooth™, Bluetooth™ Low Energy (“BLE”), high frequency systems (e.g., 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, and 5.6 GHz communication systems), infrared, transmission control protocol/internet protocol (“TCP/IP”) (e.g., any of the protocols used in each of the TCP/IP layers), Stream Control Transmission Protocol (“SCTP”), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (“DHCP”), hypertext transfer protocol (“HTTP”), BitTorrent™, file transfer protocol (“FTP”), real-time transport protocol (“RTP”), real-time streaming protocol (“RTSP”), real-time control protocol (“RTCP”), Remote Audio Output Protocol (“RAOP”), Real Data Transport Protocol™ (“RDTP”), User Datagram Protocol (“UDP”), secure shell protocol (“SSH”), wireless distribution system (“WDS”) bridging, any communications protocol that may be used by wireless and cellular telephones and personal e-mail devices (e.g., Global System for Mobile Communications (“GSM”), GSM plus Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (“EDGE”), Code Division Multiple Access (“CDMA”), Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (“OFDMA”), high speed packet access (“HSPA”), multi-band, etc.), any communications protocol that may be used by a low power Wireless Personal Area Network (“6LoWPAN”) module, any other communications protocol, or any combination thereof. Communications component  106  may also include or may be electrically coupled to any suitable transceiver circuitry that can enable device  100  to be communicatively coupled to another device (e.g., a server, host computer, scanner, accessory device, etc.), such as server  50 , and communicate data  55  with that other device wirelessly, or via a wired connection (e.g., using a connector port). Communications component  106  may be configured to determine a geographical position of electronic device  100  and/or any suitable data that may be associated with that position. For example, communications component  106  may utilize a global positioning system (“GPS”) or a regional or site-wide positioning system that may use cell tower positioning technology or Wi-Fi™ technology, or any suitable location-based service or real-time locating system, which may leverage a geo-fence for providing any suitable location-based data to device  100 . As described below in more detail, system  1  may include any suitable remote entity or data source, such as server  50 , that may be configured to communicate any suitable data  55  with electronic device  100  (e.g., via communications component  106 ) using any suitable communications protocol and/or any suitable communications medium. 
     Power supply  108  may include any suitable circuitry for receiving and/or generating power, and for providing such power to one or more of the other components of electronic device  100 . For example, power supply  108  can be coupled to a power grid (e.g., when device  100  is not acting as a portable device or when a battery of the device is being charged at an electrical outlet with power generated by an electrical power plant). As another example, power supply  108  may be configured to generate power from a natural source (e.g., solar power using solar cells). As another example, power supply  108  can include one or more batteries for providing power (e.g., when device  100  is acting as a portable device). For example, power supply  108  can include one or more of a battery (e.g., a gel, nickel metal hydride, nickel cadmium, nickel hydrogen, lead acid, or lithium-ion battery), an uninterruptible or continuous power supply (“UPS” or “CPS”), and circuitry for processing power received from a power generation source (e.g., power generated by an electrical power plant and delivered to the user via an electrical socket or otherwise). The power can be provided by power supply  108  as alternating current or direct current, and may be processed to transform power or limit received power to particular characteristics. For example, the power can be transformed to or from direct current, and constrained to one or more values of average power, effective power, peak power, energy per pulse, voltage, current (e.g., measured in amperes), or any other characteristic of received power. Power supply  108  can be operative to request or provide particular amounts of power at different times, for example, based on the needs or requirements of electronic device  100  or periphery devices that may be coupled to electronic device  100  (e.g., to request more power when charging a battery than when the battery is already charged). 
     One or more input components  110  may be provided to permit a user or device environment to interact or interface with device  100 . For example, input component  110  can take a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, a touch pad, dial, click wheel, scroll wheel, touch screen, one or more buttons (e.g., a keyboard), mouse, joy stick, track ball, microphone, camera, scanner (e.g., a barcode scanner or any other suitable scanner that may obtain product identifying information from a code, such as a linear barcode, a matrix barcode (e.g., a quick response (“QR”) code), or the like), proximity sensor, light detector, biometric sensor (e.g., a fingerprint reader or other feature recognition sensor, which may operate in conjunction with a feature-processing application that may be accessible to electronic device  100  for authenticating a user), line-in connector for data and/or power, and combinations thereof. Each input component  110  can be configured to provide one or more dedicated control functions for making selections or issuing commands associated with operating device  100 . 
     Electronic device  100  may also include one or more output components  112  that may present information (e.g., graphical, audible, and/or tactile information) to a user of device  100 . For example, output component  112  of electronic device  100  may take various forms, including, but not limited to, audio speakers, headphones, line-out connectors for data and/or power, visual displays (e.g., for transmitting data via visible light and/or via invisible light), infrared ports, flashes (e.g., light sources for providing artificial light for illuminating an environment of the device), tactile/haptic outputs (e.g., rumblers, vibrators, etc.), and combinations thereof. As a specific example, electronic device  100  may include a display assembly output component as output component  112 , where such a display assembly output component may include any suitable type of display or interface for presenting visual data to a user with visible light. A display assembly output component may include a display embedded in device  100  or coupled to device  100  (e.g., a removable display). A display assembly output component may include, for example, a liquid crystal display (“LCD”), which may include any suitable backlight or other light source that may or may not use one or any other suitable number of light emitting diodes (“LEDs”), a light emitting diode (“LED”) display, a plasma display, an organic light-emitting diode (“OLED”) display, a micro-LED display, a nano-LED display, a surface-conduction electron-emitter display (“SED”), a carbon nanotube display, a nanocrystal display, any other suitable type of display, or combination thereof. Alternatively, a display assembly output component can include a movable display or a projecting system for providing a display of content on a surface remote from electronic device  100 , such as, for example, a video projector, a head-up display, or a three-dimensional (e.g., holographic) display. As another example, a display assembly output component may include a digital or mechanical viewfinder, such as a viewfinder of the type found in compact digital cameras, reflex cameras, or any other suitable still or video camera. A display assembly output component may include display driver circuitry, circuitry for driving display drivers, or both, and such a display assembly output component can be operative to display content (e.g., media playback information, application screens for applications implemented on electronic device  100 , information regarding ongoing communications operations, information regarding incoming communications requests, device operation screens, etc.) that may be under the direction of processor  102 . In some embodiments, a display assembly output component may include a single or only a few light sources (e.g., one or a few LEDs) that may provide sufficient light for enabling a multi-pixel display and/or that may provide a single display object (e.g., an illuminated logo or status light) when a single light source shines through a light-transmissive portion of housing  101  of device  100 . 
     It should be noted that one or more input components and one or more output components may sometimes be referred to collectively herein as an input/output (“I/O”) component or I/O interface (e.g., input component  110  and output component  112  as I/O component or I/O interface  111 ). For example, input component  110  and output component  112  may sometimes be a single I/O interface  111 , such as a touch screen, that may receive input information through a user&#39;s touch of a display screen and that may also provide visual information to a user via that same display screen. 
     Moreover, auxiliary sensor assembly  114  may include one or more auxiliary sensors  115  that can be provided to detect one or more auxiliary characteristics related to a current operation, performance, or environmental condition of one or more electronic components or areas of electronic device  100 , where such a detected characteristic may be utilized for at least partially controlling a functionality of electronic device  100 , such as the thermal management of electronic device  100  and/or biometric detection of a user of device  100  and/or detection of a user input event at electronic device  100  and/or generation of data output from electronic device  100 . For example, each auxiliary sensor  115  of auxiliary sensor assembly  114  may take one of various forms, including, but not limited to, any suitable temperature sensor (e.g., thermistor, thermocouple, thermometer, silicon bandgap temperature sensor, bimetal sensor, etc.) for detecting the temperature of a portion of electronic device  100 , a performance analyzer for detecting an application characteristic related to the current operation of one or more components of electronic device  100  (e.g., processor  102 ), one or more single-axis or multi-axis accelerometers, angular rate or inertial sensors (e.g., optical gyroscopes, vibrating gyroscopes, gas rate gyroscopes, or ring gyroscopes), magnetometers (e.g., scalar or vector magnetometers), pressure sensors, light sensors (e.g., ambient light sensors (“ALS”), infrared (“IR”) sensors, etc.), linear velocity sensors, thermal sensors, microphones, proximity sensors, capacitive proximity sensors, acoustic sensors, sonic or sonar sensors, radar sensors, image sensors, video sensors, global positioning system (“GPS”) detectors, radio frequency (“RF”) detectors, RF or acoustic Doppler detectors, RF triangulation detectors, electrical charge sensors, peripheral device detectors, event counters, and any combinations thereof. For example, processor  102  may be configured to read data from one or more auxiliary sensors  115  of auxiliary sensor assembly  114  in order to determine the orientation or velocity of electronic device  100 , and/or the amount or type of light, heat, or sound that device  100  is being exposed to, the load or amount of power being used by one or more components of device  100 , and the like. In some embodiments, auxiliary sensor assembly  114  may include at least two auxiliary sensor components  115 , such as a first temperature sensor and a second temperature sensor, where the two or more sensor components  115  of auxiliary sensor assembly  114  may be leveraged together by device  100  to measure one or more particular properties of device  100  in a more efficient or otherwise improved manner than may be possible by leveraging only a single one of such sensor components to do such measuring. Each sensor component  115  of auxiliary sensor assembly  114  may be positioned at any suitable location at least partially within or on an external surface of a housing  101  of device  100 . Electronic device  100  may be configured to leverage data (e.g., temperature data) detected by one or more sensor components  115  (e.g., one or more of sensor components  115   a - 115   e  of  FIG. 1C ) of auxiliary sensor assembly  114  together with temperature data determined from a display output component  112  to provide robust and intelligent control of one or more functionalities of electronic device  100  (e.g., to thermally manage device  100 ). 
     Processor  102  of electronic device  100  may include any processing circuitry that may be operative to control the operations and performance of one or more components of electronic device  100 . For example, processor  102  may receive input signals from input component  110  and/or drive output signals through output component  112 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , processor  102  may be used to run one or more applications, such as an application  103 . Application  103  may include, but is not limited to, one or more operating system applications, firmware applications, media playback applications, media editing applications, pass applications, calendar applications, state determination applications, biometric feature-processing applications, compass applications, health applications, thermometer applications, weather applications, thermal management applications, video game applications, or any other suitable applications. For example, processor  102  may load application  103  as a user interface program to determine how instructions or data received via an input component  110  and/or any other component of device  100  (e.g., one or more sensors of auxiliary sensor assembly  114 ) may manipulate the one or more ways in which information may be stored and/or provided to the user via an output component  112 . As another example, processor  102  may load application  103  as a background application program or a user-detectable application program (e.g., as a thermal management program (e.g., closed loop thermal management software with finite element simulation)) to determine how device characteristic data received via any suitable component and/or combination of components of device  100  (e.g., thermal or operational characteristic data from one or more sensors  115  of auxiliary sensor assembly  114  and/or thermal or operational characteristic data from display output component  112  and/or thermal or other ambient environment data from server  50 ) may be stored and/or otherwise used to control or manipulate at least one functionality of device  100  (e.g., a performance or mode of electronic device  100  may be altered (e.g., terminated) based on the temperature of one or more portions of device  100  (e.g., when a temperature at a certain portion of device  100  exceeds a certain threshold)). Application  103  may be accessed by processor  102  from any suitable source, such as from memory  104  (e.g., via bus  118 ) or from another device or server (e.g., server  50  or any other suitable remote source via communications component  106 ). Processor  102  may include a single processor or multiple processors. For example, processor  102  may include at least one “general purpose” microprocessor, a combination of general and special purpose microprocessors, instruction set processors, graphics processors, video processors, and/or related chips sets, and/or special purpose microprocessors. Processor  102  also may include on board memory for caching purposes. 
     Electronic device  100  may also be provided with a housing  101  that may at least partially enclose one or more of the components of device  100  for protection from debris and other degrading forces external to device  100 . In some embodiments, one or more of the components may be provided within its own housing (e.g., input component  110  may be an independent keyboard or mouse within its own housing that may wirelessly or through a wire communicate with processor  102 , which may be provided within its own housing). 
       FIGS. 1A-1H  are various views of various portions of electronic device  100  in accordance with some embodiments. As shown, electronic device  100  may include a touch screen I/O interface  111   a , which may include a touch assembly input component  110   a  and a display assembly output component  112   a , a button assembly input component  110   b , and an audio speaker assembly output component  112   b , where housing  101  may be configured to at least partially enclose each of the input components and output components of device  100 . Housing  101  may be any suitable shape and may include any suitable number of walls. In some embodiments, as shown in  FIGS. 1A-1H , for example, housing  101  may be of a generally hexahedral shape and may include a top wall  101   t , a bottom wall  101   b  that may be opposite top wall  101   t , a left wall  101   l , a right wall  101   r  that may be opposite left wall  101   l , a front wall  101   f , and a back wall  101   k  that may be opposite front wall  101   f , where at least a portion of touch screen I/O interface  111   a  may be at least partially exposed to the external environment via an opening  109   a  through front wall  101   f , where at least a portion of button assembly input component  110   b  may be at least partially exposed to the external environment via an opening  109   b  through front wall  101   f , and where at least a portion of audio speaker assembly output component  112   b  may be at least partially exposed to the external environment via an opening  109   c  through front wall  101   f . It is to be understood that electronic device  100  may be provided with any suitable size or shape with any suitable number and type of components other than as shown in  FIGS. 1A-1H , and that the embodiments of  FIGS. 1A-1H  are merely exemplary. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1C , I/O interface assembly  111   a  may include an external component  120  that may provide an external surface  121  that may be exposed to the external environment of electronic device  100  via housing opening  109   a , such that external surface  121  may be touched or otherwise affected by a user U or any other object or element (e.g., fluid, heat, etc.) of the external environment of electronic device  100 . In some embodiments, external component  120  may be a cover glass (e.g., an alkali-aluminosilicate sheet toughened glass, sapphire glass, etc.) or any other suitable material structure that may provide external surface  121  suitable for interfacing with the external environment and/or suitable for receiving light thereon and/or transmitting light therethrough for detection by user U or any other object of the external environment, where the material structure may include any suitable coating thereon (e.g., an oleophobic coating that may reduce the accumulation of fingerprints on external surface  121 ). 
     I/O interface  111  may also include a display assembly  130  underneath external component  120 . Display assembly  130  may be any suitable display assembly type that may include a light-emitting subassembly  140  that may be operative to generate and emit light that may be used to selectively illuminate at least a portion of external surface  121  (e.g., along the direction of arrow L 1 , such as to emit light through external surface  121  and towards user U of device  100 ). Light-emitting subassembly  140  may include at least one light-emitting diode or any other suitable light-emitting or light-generating element or light-generating component  142  that may operate with a forward voltage or voltage drop or forward voltage drop that may correlate with a temperature of the component. Power supply  108  may be configured to provide power to each light-generating component  142  (e.g., to an LED circuit) for enabling the generation and emittance of light therefrom. In some embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 1H , for example, light-generating component  142  may include any suitable light-emitting element  141  (e.g., any suitable light emitting diode D) with a first node O 1  and a second node O 2  across which a forward voltage V f  of light-generating component  142  (e.g., of light-emitting element  141 ) may be measured. As shown, a current (e.g., current I) may flow through light-generating component  142  (e.g., as may be enabled by power supply  108 ). Moreover, in some embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 1H , for example, light-generating component  142  may also include any resistance element  149  or combination of resistance elements (e.g., any suitable resistor R), which may be provided with a particular resistance (e.g., in series with light-emitting element  141 , where node O 2  may be between element  141  and element  149 , or where element  149  may be between element  141  and node O 2 ) for enabling an appropriate value for the operating current of light-generating component  142 , such that light (e.g., light L) may be emitted from a semiconductor junction J of light-emitting element  141  (e.g., at the p-n junction of anode A and cathode C of light-emitting diode D). The detected forward voltage V f  of light-generating component  142  (e.g., of light-emitting element  141 ) may correlate with the temperature of light-emitting element  141  (e.g., temperature T j  at its semiconductor junction J), as described below in more detail. In some embodiments, light-generating component  142  may include any suitable light-emitting element  141 , which may be any suitable light-emitting diode, including, but not limited to, an inorganic light-emitting diode, an organic light-emitting diode, a high brightness light-emitting diode, a micro-light-emitting diode, a nano-light-emitting diode, and the like. 
     Display assembly  130  may also include one or more other components, such as a selection component  139  that may be operative to selectively address individual pixels of the display (e.g., an active matrix that may be electrically controlled (e.g., on a pixel by pixel basis) to selectively transmit therethrough and towards a particular portion of external surface  121  any light emitted from light emitting subassembly  140 ). Moreover, in some embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 1C , for example, I/O interface assembly  111   a  (e.g., touch assembly input component  110   a ) may include a touch sensing assembly  124  (e.g., between external component  120  and display assembly  130  (e.g., between external component  120  and selection component  139 ), or at any other suitable location of I/O interface assembly  111 ), where touch sensing assembly  124  may be any suitable assembly operative to detect the position of one or more touch events or near touch events (e.g., by user U or any other suitable object in the external environment of device  100 ) along external surface  121  (e.g., a resistive touchscreen, a surface acoustic wave touchscreen, a capacitive sensing touchscreen, an infrared touchscreen, an acoustic pulse recognition touchscreen, etc.). In some embodiments, display assembly  130  may be described as including or being provided with touch sensing assembly  124 . Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, display assembly  130  may be described as including or being provided with external component  120 . 
     A component stack extending between a light-generating component  142  of display assembly  130  and external surface  121  may include any suitable elements of I/O interface assembly  111   a . For example, as shown in  FIG. 1C , a component stack  128  that may extend between light-generating component  142  and a point PO along external surface  121  (e.g., a point that may be the point of external surface  121  closest to light-generating component  142 ) may include various elements of I/O interface assembly  111   a , including, but not limited to, a thickness of a portion of display assembly  130  above light-generating component  142  (e.g., a thickness of a portion of light-emitting subassembly  140  and/or a thickness of a portion of selection component  139 ), a thickness of a portion of touch sensing assembly  124 , and a thickness of a portion of external component  120 . As described below in more detail, the thermal conductance and/or the thermal resistance of light-transmitting component stack  128  (e.g., thermal resistance R TH-LCS  of  FIG. 1C ) may be accessible to electronic device  100  (e.g., to processor  102 ) for leveraging by electronic device  100  (e.g., by processor  102 ) in combination with temperature Tj of light-generating component  142  (e.g., as may be determined based on the detected forward voltage V f  of light-generating component  142 ) for any suitable purpose, such as for determining the temperature of external surface  121  at point PO (e.g., temperature T SUR-PO  of  FIG. 1C ). 
     It is to be understood that, although I/O interface  111   a  has been described with respect to a “display” output component  112   a  and a “display” assembly  130 , in some embodiments, such features may be operative to provide illumination of external surface  121  (e.g., to emit light through external surface  121 ) for general illumination purposes, decorative purposes, or simple informational purposes rather than as a conventional display for high-resolution informational purposes. For example, one or more light-generating components  142  of light-emitting subassembly  140  may be operative to illuminate external surface  121  of external component  120  that may be provided through an opening in housing  101  in the shape of a logo (e.g., through back wall  101   k ) when device  100  is turned on (e.g., a light-up logo on the back of a laptop computer). In such embodiments, only a single light-generating component  142  or a limited number of light-generating components  142  may need to be provided by light-emitting subassembly  140 . 
     Display assembly output component  112   a  may include a particular one of various types of display assembly  130 , each of which may include one or more light-generating components  142  arranged in a particular manner for emitting light for illuminating external surface  121  while also enabling determination of the temperature T j  of the light-generating component  142  (e.g., via detection of a voltage or power of the light-generating component  142 ) for any suitable purpose (e.g., for thermal management of device  100 , for detecting a user input, etc.). As just one example of a particular type of display assembly that may be provided by display assembly output component  112   a , as shown in  FIGS. 1D and 1E , a display assembly  130 ′ may be a liquid crystal display (“LCD”) assembly or any other suitable display assembly type that may be backlit with a light-emitting subassembly  140 ′. For example, as shown, light-emitting subassembly  140 ′ of display assembly  130 ′ may include a back light unit  143  (e.g., a light guide pipe) and a single light-generating component  142  (e.g., light-generating component  142 - 1  of  FIG. 1D ) or at least one row of a number of light-generating components  142  (e.g., N light-generating components  142 - 1  through  142 -N along a row R of  FIG. 1E ) that may be operative to emit light into back light unit  143  (e.g., in the direction of arrow L 2 ), where back light unit  143  may be operative to reflect that light within back light unit  143  and out from light-emitting subassembly  140 ′ towards one or more portions of external surface  121  (e.g., in the direction of arrow L 3  of  FIG. 1D ). 
     Display subassembly  130 ′ may also include a selection component  139 ′ that may be operative to selectively enable transmission of light from back light unit  143  through selection component  139 ′ and towards external surface  121  (e.g., an active matrix that may be electrically controlled (e.g., on a pixel by pixel basis) to selectively transmit light therethrough from light-emitting subassembly  140 ′ towards one or more portions of external surface  121 ). For example, as shown in  FIG. 1D , display subassembly  130 ′ may be a liquid crystal display subassembly with a selection component  139 ′ that may include a bottom polarizing filter  135  (e.g., a polarizing filter film with a horizontal axis to block/pass certain light) that may be positioned above light emitting subassembly  140 ′, a bottom substrate  134  (e.g., a glass electrode substrate with horizontal electrode film) that may be positioned above filter  135 , a liquid crystal layer  133  (e.g., a twisted nematic device) that may be positioned above bottom substrate  134 , a top substrate  132  (e.g., a glass electrode substrate with vertical electrode film perpendicular that of bottom substrate  134 ) that may be positioned above layer  133 , and a top polarizing filter  131  (e.g., a polarizing filter film with a vertical axis perpendicular that of bottom polarizing filter  135 ) that may be positioned above top substrate  132 . By controlling the electric field applied across liquid crystal layer  133  between each set of crossing electrodes of substrates  132  and  134  for each pixel of display assembly  130 ′ (e.g., via a display application being run by processor  102 ), a varying amount of light reflected out from back light unit  143  up towards selection component  139 ′ may be allowed to pass through selection component  139 ′ and towards external surface  121 . 
     In some embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 1D , for example, I/O interface assembly  111   a  (e.g., touch assembly input component  110   a ) may include touch sensing assembly  124  between external component  120  and display assembly  130 ′ (e.g., between external component  120  and selection component  139 ′) or at any other suitable location of I/O interface assembly  111   a  of  FIGS. 1D and 1E ), where touch sensing assembly  124  may be any suitable assembly operative to detect the position of one or more touch events or near touch events (e.g., by user U or any other suitable object in the external environment of device  100 ) along external surface  121  (e.g., a resistive touchscreen, a surface acoustic wave touchscreen, a capacitive sensing touchscreen, an infrared touchscreen, an acoustic pulse recognition touchscreen, etc.). In some embodiments, display assembly  130 ′ may be described as including or being provided with touch sensing assembly  124 . Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, display assembly  130 ′ may be described as including or being provided with external component  120 . 
     A component stack extending between a light-generating component  142  of display assembly  130 ′ and external surface  121  may include any suitable elements of I/O interface assembly  111   a . For example, as shown in  FIG. 1D , a component stack  128 ′ that may extend between light-generating component  142 - 1  and a point PO- 1  along external surface  121 , which may be the closest point of external surface  121  to light-generating component  142 - 1 , may include various elements of I/O interface assembly  111   a , including, but not limited to, a thickness of a portion of display assembly  130 ′ above light-generating component  142 - 1  (e.g., a thickness of a portion of light emitting subassembly  140 ′ and/or a thickness of a portion of selection component  139 ′), a thickness of a portion of touch sensing assembly  124 , and a thickness of a portion of external component  120 . As described below in more detail, the thermal resistance of light-transmitting component stack  128 ′ (e.g., thermal resistance R TH-LCS-1  of  FIG. 1D ) may be accessible to electronic device  100  (e.g., to processor  102 ) for leveraging in combination with temperature T j-1  of light-generating component  142 - 1  (e.g., as may be determined based on the detected forward voltage V f-1  of light-generating component  142 - 1 ) for any suitable purpose, such as for determining the temperature of external surface  121  at point PO- 1  (e.g., temperature T SUR-PO-1  of  FIG. 1D ). Similarly, although not shown, each particular one of the other light-generating components  142 - 2  through  142 -N along row R of  FIG. 1E  may have its own respective component stack extending therefrom to a particular respective portion of external surface  121 , which may be the closest portion of external surface  121  to that particular light-generating component  142  (e.g., point PO- 2  with respect to light-generating component  142 - 2  and point PO-N with respect to light-generating component  142 -N of  FIG. 1E ), and the particular thermal resistance of each one of those other particular light-transmitting component stacks may also be accessible to electronic device  100  (e.g., to processor  102 ) for leveraging in combination with the particular temperature T j  of each respective one of those other particular light-generating components (e.g., as may be determined based on the detected forward voltage V f  of each one of those particular light-generating components (e.g., forward voltage V f-2  of light-generating component  142 - 2  and forward voltage V f-N  of light-generating component  142 -N of  FIG. 1E )) for any suitable purpose, such as for determining the temperature of external surface  121  at each one of those particular respective external surface portions. 
     Moreover, in some embodiments, although not shown, the entirety of row R of light-generating components  142 - 1  through  142 -N of  FIG. 1E  may have its own row component stack extending therefrom to a particular respective portion of external surface  121 , which may be the closest portion of external surface  121  to that row (e.g., portion PO-R with respect to row R of  FIG. 1E ), and the thermal resistance of that component stack of row R may also be accessible to electronic device  100  (e.g., to processor  102 ) for leveraging in combination with the temperature T j  of the entirety of row R (e.g., as may be determined based on the detected forward voltage V f-R  of the entirety of row R of  FIG. 1E ) for any suitable purpose, such as for determining the temperature of external surface  121  at portion PO-R. 
     As another example of a particular type of display assembly that may be provided by display assembly output component  112   a , as shown in  FIGS. 1F and 1G , a display assembly  130 ″ may be a light-emitting diode (“LED”) display assembly or any other suitable display assembly type that may use an array of light-generating components  142  provided by a light-emitting subassembly  140 ″ as pixels for the display. For example, as shown in  FIGS. 1F and 1G , light-emitting subassembly  140 ″ of display assembly  130 ″ may include an array of light-generating components  142  arranged in rows and columns (e.g., in a matrix) underneath all or at least a substantial portion of external surface  121  of external component  120 , where each light-generating component  142  may be operative to emit light towards a particular portion of external surface  121  while also enabling determination of its temperature T j  for any suitable purpose. As just one example, as shown, light-emitting subassembly  140 ″ of display assembly  130 ″ may include an array of light-generating components  142  arranged in M rows R 1 -RM and N columns C 1 -CN, where row R 1  may include light-generating components  142 - 1 . 1  through  142 - 1 .N, row M may include light-generating components  142 -M. 1  through  142 -M.N, column C 1  may include light-generating components  142 - 1 . 1  through  142 -M. 1 , column C 2  may include light-generating components  142 - 1 . 2  through  142 -M. 2 , and column CN may include light-generating components  142 - 1 .N through  142 -M.N (see, e.g.,  FIG. 1G ). Each light-generating component  142  of light-emitting subassembly  140 ″ may be operative to emit light (e.g., along the +Z-axis, such as in the direction of arrow L 4  from light-generating component  142 - 1 . 1  of  FIG. 1F ) towards external component  120  for illuminating a particular pixel or a particular subset of pixels of display assembly  130 ″. Each light-generating component  142  of light-emitting subassembly  140 ″ may be any suitable light-generating component  142  that may include any suitable light-emitting element  141 , such as an OLED, nano-LED, micro-LED, and the like. For example, as shown in  FIG. 1F , light-generating component  142 -M. 1  may include a light-emitting element  141 ″ that may include an LED cathode  148 , above which may be positioned an electron transport layer (“ETL”)  147 , above which may be positioned an emissive layer (“EML”)  146 , above which may be positioned a hole transport layer (“HTL”)  145 , above which may be positioned an LED anode  144 , which may be operative to emit light (e.g., when device  100  provides a current for flowing from cathode  148  to anode  144 ). 
     Display subassembly  130 ″ may also include a selection component  139 ″ that may be operative to selectively enable transmission of light from a particular light-generating component  142  of light-emitting subassembly  140 ″ therethrough and towards external surface  121  (e.g., an active matrix that may be electrically controlled (e.g., on a pixel by pixel basis) to selectively transmit light therethrough from a respective light-generating component  142  of light-emitting subassembly  140 ″ towards a respective portion of external surface  121 ). For example, as shown in  FIG. 1F , display subassembly  130 ″ may be an LED display assembly with a selection component  139 ″ that may include an active matrix, which may be realized using a thin-film-transistor (“TFT”) backplane or array, for addressing individual pixels, although any suitable selection component may be provided by display subassembly  130 ″ either above, below, or integrated with light-emitting subassembly  140 ″. By controlling each pixel of display assembly  130 ″ with selection component  139 ″ (e.g., via a display application being run by processor  102 ), a varying amount of light emitted by each respective light-generating component  142  of light-emitting subassembly  140 ″ may be selectively allowed to illuminate a respective portion of external surface  121 . 
     In some embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 1F , for example, I/O interface assembly  111   a  (e.g., touch assembly input component  110   a ) may include touch sensing assembly  124  between external component  120  and display assembly  130 ″ (e.g., between external component  120  and selection component  139 ″) or at any other suitable location of I/O interface assembly  111   a  of  FIGS. 1F and 1G , where touch sensing assembly  124  may be any suitable assembly operative to detect the position of one or more touch events or near touch events (e.g., by user U or any other suitable object in the external environment of device  100 ) along external surface  121  (e.g., a resistive touchscreen, a surface acoustic wave touchscreen, a capacitive sensing touchscreen, an infrared touchscreen, an acoustic pulse recognition touchscreen, etc.). In some embodiments, display assembly  130 ″ may be described as including or being provided with touch sensing assembly  124 . Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, display assembly  130 ″ may be described as including or being provided with external component  120 . 
     A component stack extending between a light-generating component  142  of display assembly  130 ″ and external surface  121  may include any suitable elements of I/O interface assembly  111   a . For example, as shown in  FIG. 1F , a component stack  128 ″ that may extend between light-generating component  142 - 1 . 1  and a point PO- 1 . 1  along external surface  121 , which may be the closest point of external surface  121  to light-generating component  142 - 1 . 1 , may include various elements of I/O interface assembly  111   a , including, but not limited, to a thickness of a portion of display assembly  130 ″ above light-generating component  142 - 1 . 1  (e.g., a thickness of a portion of light-emitting subassembly  140 ″ and/or a thickness of a portion of selection component  139 ″), a thickness of a portion of touch sensing assembly  124 , and a thickness of a portion of external component  120 . As described below in more detail, the thermal resistance of light-transmitting component stack  128 ″ (e.g., thermal resistance R TH-LCS-1.1  of  FIG. 1F ) may be accessible to electronic device  100  (e.g., to processor  102 ) for leveraging in combination with temperature T j-1.1  of light-generating component  142 - 1 . 1  (e.g., as may be determined based on the detected forward voltage V f-1.1  of light-generating component  142 - 1 . 1 ) for any suitable purpose, such as for determining the temperature of external surface  121  at point PO- 1 . 1  (e.g., temperature T SUR-PO-1.1  of  FIG. 1F ). Similarly, although not shown, each particular one of the other light-generating components  142 - 1 . 2  through  142 -M.N of the array of light-generating components of light-emitting subassembly  140 ″ may have its own respective component stack extending therefrom to a particular respective portion of external surface  121 , which may be the closest portion of external surface  121  to that particular light-generating component  142  (e.g., point PO- 1 . 2  with respect to light-generating component  142 - 1 . 2 , point PO- 1 .N with respect to light-generating component  142 - 1 .N, point PO-M. 1  with respect to light-generating component  142 -M. 1 , point PO-M. 2  with respect to light-generating component  142 -M. 2 , and point PO-M.N with respect to light-generating component  142 -M.N of  FIG. 1G ), and the particular thermal resistance of each one of those other particular light-transmitting component stacks may also be accessible to electronic device  100  (e.g., to processor  102 ) for leveraging in combination with the particular temperature T j  of each respective one of those other particular light-generating components (e.g., as may be determined based on the detected forward voltage V f  of each one of those particular light-generating components (e.g., forward voltage V f-1.2  of light-generating component  142 - 1 . 2 , forward voltage V f-1.N  of light-generating component  142 - 1 .N, forward voltage V f-M.1  of light-generating component  142 -M. 1 , forward voltage V f-M.2  of light-generating component  142 -M. 2 , and forward voltage V f-M.N  of light-generating component  142 -M.N of  FIG. 1G )) for any suitable purpose, such as for determining the temperature of external surface  121  at each one of those particular respective external surface portions. 
     Moreover, in some embodiments, although not shown, the entirety of each particular row of the array of light-generating components  142  of light-emitting subassembly  140 ″ (e.g., each one of rows R 1 -RM of  FIG. 1G ) may have its own row component stack extending therefrom to a particular respective portion of external surface  121 , which may be the closest portion of external surface  121  to that row (e.g., portion PO-R 1  with respect to row R 1  and portion PO-RM with respect to row RM of  FIG. 1G ), and the particular thermal resistance of each particular row component stack may also be accessible to electronic device  100  (e.g., to processor  102 ) for leveraging in combination with the particular temperature T j  of the entirety of that particular row (e.g., as may be determined for row R 1  based on the detected forward voltage V f-R1  of the entirety of row R 1  and as may be determined for row RM based on the detected forward voltage V f-RM  of the entirety of row RM of  FIG. 1G ) for any suitable purpose, such as for determining the temperature of external surface  121  at the respective external surface portion (e.g., portion PO-R 1  with respect to row R 1  and portion PO-RM with respect to row RM of  FIG. 1G ). Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, although not shown, the entirety of each particular column of the array of light-generating components  142  of light-emitting subassembly  140 ″ (e.g., each one of columns C 1 -CN of  FIG. 1G ) may have its own column component stack extending therefrom to a particular respective portion of external surface  121 , which may be the closest portion of external surface  121  to that particular column (e.g., portion PO-C 1  with respect to column C 1  and portion PO-CN with respect to column CN of  FIG. 1G ), and the particular thermal resistance of each particular column component stack may also be accessible to electronic device  100  (e.g., to processor  102 ) for leveraging in combination with the particular temperature T j  of the entirety of that particular column (e.g., as may be determined for column C 1  based on the detected forward voltage V f-C1  of the entirety of column C 1  and as may be determined for column CN based on the detected forward voltage V f-CN  of the entirety of column CN of  FIG. 1G ) for any suitable purpose, such as for determining the temperature of external surface  121  at the respective external surface portion (e.g., portion PO-C 1  with respect to column C 1  and portion PO-CN with respect to column CN of  FIG. 1G ). 
     As also shown in each one of  FIGS. 1C , ID, and IF, in addition to I/O interface assembly  111   a , electronic device  100  may include any suitable system assembly  190  positioned within housing  101 , where system assembly  190  may include any suitable component or components of device  100  (e.g., other than display assembly output component  112   a ). For example, as shown, system assembly  190  may include a support component  192 , such as a mid-plate, that may extend from an interior surface of a structural wall of housing  101  (not shown). In some embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 1C , for example, I/O interface assembly  111   a  (e.g., a bottom of display assembly  130 ) may be positioned in front of and separated from support component  192  by any suitable distance, such that an air gap  191   a  may exist in a space between I/O interface assembly  111   a  and support component  192 . Moreover, in some embodiments, a coupling  193   a  may be provided for structurally coupling at least a portion of I/O interface assembly  111   a  to support component  192  (e.g., to a front surface of support component  192 ) such that support component  192  may be enabled to provide some structural support for I/O interface assembly  111   a . Alternatively, in other embodiments, air gap  191   a  may extend the entirety of the space between I/O interface assembly  111   a  and support component  192  (e.g., such that an air gap may separate I/O interface assembly  111   a  from any component of system assembly  190 ). 
     One or more other components of system assembly  190  may be coupled to support component  192  or at least positioned in a space between support component  192  and a portion of housing  101  (e.g., between support component  192  and back wall  101   k ). For example, as shown in  FIG. 1C , system assembly  190  may include a power component  194 , such as a battery or any other suitable component of power supply  108  of device  100 . Power component  194  may be positioned between I/O interface assembly  111   a  and a wall of housing  101  (e.g., between support component  192  and back wall  101   k ). In some embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 1C , for example, power component  194  may be positioned in back of and separated from support component  192  by any suitable distance, such that an air gap  191   b  may exist in a space between power component  194  and support component  192  (e.g., where a portion of air gap  191   a  and a portion of air gap  191   b  may combine to exist in a space between power component  194  and I/O interface  111   a , with or without support component  192 ). Moreover, in some embodiments, a coupling  193   b  may be provided for structurally coupling at least a portion of power component  194  to support component  192  (e.g., to a back surface of support component  192 ) such that support component  192  may be enabled to provide some structural support for power component  194 . Alternatively, in other embodiments, air gap  191   b  may extend the entirety of the space between power component  194  and support component  192  (e.g., such that an air gap may separate power component  194  from support component  192  and/or I/O interface assembly  111   a  (e.g., along the Z-axis)). Additionally or alternatively, as also shown in  FIG. 1C , for example, power component  194  may be positioned in front of and separated from back wall  101   k  of housing  101  by any suitable distance, such that an air gap  191   c  may exist (e.g., along the Z-axis) in a space between power component  194  and back wall  101   k . Moreover, in some embodiments, a coupling  193   c  may be provided for structurally coupling at least a portion of power component  194  to back wall  101   k  (e.g., to an interior surface of back wall  101   k ) such that back wall  101   k  may be enabled to provide some structural support for power component  194 . Alternatively, in other embodiments, air gap  191   c  may extend the entirety of the space between power component  194  and back wall  101   k  (e.g., such that an air gap may entirely separate power component  194  from back wall  101   k ). 
     In addition to or instead of power component  194 , one or more other components of system assembly  190  may be coupled to support component  192  or at least positioned in a space between support component  192  and a portion of housing  101  (e.g., between support component  192  and back wall  101   k ). For example, as shown in  FIG. 1C , system assembly  190  may include at least one integrated circuit or system on chip (“SoC”)  196  that may integrate or otherwise include at least a portion of one, some, or all components of device  100  or couplings therefor (e.g., processor  102 , memory  104 , communications component  106 , etc.) into a single chip, and chip  196  may be mounted on or otherwise coupled to a main logic board (“MLB”)  198  that may support and/or interconnect various components integrated thereon or coupled thereto. Chip  196  may be positioned between I/O interface assembly  111   a  and a wall of housing  101  (e.g., between support component  192  and back wall  101   k ). In some embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 1C , for example, chip  196  may be positioned in back of and separated from support component  192  by any suitable distance, such that an air gap  191   d  may exist (e.g., along the Z-axis) in a space between chip  196  and support component  192  (e.g., where a portion of air gap  191   a  and a portion of air gap  191   d  may combine to exist in a space between chip  196  and I/O interface  111   a , with or without support component  192 ). Moreover, in some embodiments, a coupling  193   d  may be provided for structurally coupling at least a portion of chip  196  to support component  192  (e.g., to a back surface of support component  192 ) such that support component  192  may be enabled to provide some structural support for chip  196 . Alternatively, in other embodiments, air gap  191   d  may extend the entirety of the space between chip  196  and support component  192  (e.g., such that an air gap may entirely separate chip  196  from support component  192  and/or I/O interface assembly  111   a  (e.g., along the Z-axis)). Additionally or alternatively, as also shown in  FIG. 1C , for example, board  198  may be positioned in front of and separated from back wall  101   k  of housing  101  by any suitable distance, such that an air gap  191   e  may exist (e.g., along the Z-axis) in a space between board  198  and back wall  101   k . Moreover, in some embodiments, a coupling  193   e  may be provided for structurally coupling at least a portion of board  198  to back wall  101   k  (e.g., to an interior surface of back wall  101   k ) such that back wall  101   k  may be enabled to provide some structural support for board  198 . Alternatively, in other embodiments, air gap  191   e  may extend the entirety of the space between board  198  and back wall  101   k  (e.g., such that an air gap may entirely separate board  198  from back wall  101   k ). Moreover, in some embodiments, as shown in  FIG. 1C , for example, an air gap  191   f  may extend (e.g., along the Z-axis) in a space between at least a portion of back wall  101   k  of housing  101  and I/O interface assembly  111   a  and/or support component  192  (e.g., where a portion of air gap  191   a  and a portion of air gap  191   f  may combine to exist in a space between back wall  101   k  and I/O interface  111   a , with or without support component  192 ). Each one of coupling elements  193   a - 193   e  may be any suitable coupling element, such as an adhesive (e.g., a pressure-sensitive adhesive (“PSA”)) or a screw or the like. 
     One, some, or all of the auxiliary sensors  115  of auxiliary sensor assembly  114  may be provided by system assembly  190 . An auxiliary sensor  115  may be positioned within device  100  (e.g., within housing  101 ) at any suitable location for detecting one or more auxiliary characteristics related to a current operation, performance, or environmental condition of one or more electronic components or areas of electronic device  100 , where such a detected characteristic may be utilized for at least partially controlling a functionality of electronic device  100 , such as for controlling a thermal management functionality of electronic device  100 . For example, as shown in  FIG. 1C , an auxiliary sensor  115   b  of auxiliary sensor assembly  114  may be positioned adjacent a first surface of power component  194  (e.g., between bottom wall  101   b  and a bottom surface of power component  194 ) and/or an auxiliary sensor  115   c  of auxiliary sensor assembly  114  may be positioned adjacent another surface of power component  194  (e.g., between back wall  101   k  and a back surface of power component  194  adjacent air space  191   c  and/or coupling  193   c ). Additionally or alternatively, as also shown in  FIG. 1C , for example, an auxiliary sensor  115   d  of auxiliary sensor assembly  114  may be positioned adjacent a first surface of chip  196  and a first surface of board  198  (e.g., between top wall  101   t  and a top surface of chip  196 ) and/or an auxiliary sensor  115   e  of auxiliary sensor assembly  114  may be positioned adjacent another surface of board  198  (e.g., between back wall  101   k  and a back surface of board  198  adjacent air space  191   e  and/or coupling  193   e ). Each one of auxiliary sensors  115   b - 115   e  may be positioned proximal to one or more components of system assembly  190  and/or housing walls of housing  101  to detect one or more auxiliary characteristics (e.g., temperature) related to a current operation, performance, or environmental condition of those one or more components/housing walls of electronic device  100 , where each detected characteristic of each sensor  115  may be utilized (e.g., by processor  102 ) for at least partially controlling a functionality of electronic device  100 , such as for controlling a thermal management functionality of electronic device  100 . 
     As just one particular example, as shown in  FIG. 1C , auxiliary sensor  115   e  may be any suitable temperature sensor that may be positioned within device  100  for detecting the temperature T ENC  of a portion of housing  101  at point PE of back wall  101   k . Although detected temperature T ENC  may be useful for determining a temperature of an exterior surface of back wall  101   k  that may be exposed to user U or for determining a temperature of at least a portion of board  198  adjacent sensor  115   e  (e.g., for improving thermal management of device  100  (e.g., to prevent overheating of device  100 )), detected temperature T ENC  of sensor  115   e  may not be a rather effective data point for determining a temperature of external surface  121  of external component  120 . For example, despite point PE of T ENC  of sensor  115   e  being in-line (e.g., along the Z-axis) with point PO of external surface  121 , the thermal resistance of the component stack between point PE at sensor  115   e  and point PO of external surface  121  may be too unwieldy to be leveraged with TEN for determining T SUR-PO . As shown in  FIG. 1C , the thermal resistance of the component stack between point PO and point PE may include the thermal resistance R TH-LCS  of component stack  128  extending between point PO and light-generating component  142  of display assembly  130  in combination with the thermal resistance R TH-SYS  of component stack  198  extending between light-generating component  142  and point PE. Although the construction of component stack  128  may enable its thermal resistance R TH-LCS  to be predictable or consistently known or accessible to device  100  for effectively being leveraged in conjunction with determined temperature T j  to reliably determine temperature T SUR-PO  at point PO (e.g., due to the fact that I/O assembly  111   a  of component stack  128  may be a fully laminated air gapless stack up spanning a relatively short distance with a relatively low thermal resistance, such that temperature T j  may be more sensitive to changes in T SUR-PO ), the construction of component stack  198  may be such that its thermal resistance R TH-SYS  is difficult to predict or determine during use of device  100  for effectively being leveraged in conjunction with determined temperature T ENC  and R TH-LCS  to reliably determine temperature T SUR-PO  at point PO (e.g., due to the fact that component stack  198  may include one or more air gaps (e.g., air gaps  191   a  and  191   d ), one or more components (e.g., components  192 ,  196 , and  198 ), and the like spanning a relatively large distance with a relatively high thermal resistance, such that temperature Tec may not be as sensitive to changes in T SUR-PO ). Therefore, through leveraging a detectable forward voltage of a light-generating component of I/O assembly  111   a  to determine the temperature of the light-generating component (e.g., via a known voltage-temperature correlator of the light-generating component), not only may a new source of accurate temperature data (e.g., temperature T j ) be provided at a new location within device  100  (e.g., at point PJ of light-generating component  142  within display assembly  130  (e.g., at a location where a dedicated thermal sensing component  115  may not be easily positioned)) for any suitable purpose (e.g., for use in improving thermal management of device  100 ), but that new temperature data may itself be leveraged for more accurately determining the temperature of yet another location with respect to device  100  (e.g., temperature T SUR-PO  at location PO on external surface PO (e.g., at yet another location where a dedicated thermal sensing component  115  may not be easily positioned)) for any suitable purpose (e.g., for use in detecting the temperature or position of an object external to device  100  (e.g., user U)). The various functionalities of device  100  that may be impacted by leveraging the forward voltage of one or more light-generating components of any suitable display assembly of  FIGS. 1C-1H  may now be described in relation to a sensor management system  201  of device  100  of  FIG. 2 . 
       FIG. 2  shows a schematic view of a sensor management system  201  of electronic device  100  that may be provided to enable the determination of, and/or use of, the temperature of one or more light-generating components of a display assembly of device  100 . System  201  may be configured to receive or otherwise detect the current or most recent forward voltage V f  of at least one light-generating component  142  of a display assembly  130 , to access or otherwise determine any suitable forward voltage-temperature correlator CL for that light-generating component  142 , and to leverage such a detected forward voltage V f  in combination with such an accessed correlator CL to determine the current temperature of that light-generating component  142 . For example, as shown, a first display temperature determination module  220   a  may be configured to receive or otherwise detect first particular forward voltage data  203   a  (e.g., forward voltage V f-a ) from a first light-generating component (“LGC”)  142 - a  of device  100 , to access or otherwise determine first forward voltage-temperature correlator data  205   a  (e.g., correlator CL-a) for first light-generating component  142 - a , and then to determine current temperature data  207   a  (e.g., temperature T j-a ) for first light-generating component  142 - a  based on forward voltage data  203   a  and correlator data  205   a . Such operations may be repeated by display temperature determination module  220   a  at any suitable rate for continuously monitoring the current forward voltage of light-generating component  142 - a  by continuously receiving updated forward voltage data  203   a  and then leveraging that forward voltage data with correlator CL-a of correlator data  205   a  for continuously determining the current temperature of light-generating component  142 - a  and continuously re-defining current temperature data  207   a.    
     Forward voltage data  203   a  may be detected via any suitable circuitry or sensing apparatus provided at light-generating component  142 - a  (e.g., via nodes O 1  and O 2  of component  142  of  FIG. 1H ). Correlator CL-a of correlator data  205   a  may be any suitable correlator that may be used to determine the current temperature of light-generating component  142 - a  based on any value of a detected current forward voltage V f-a  of light-generating component  142 - a . For example, correlator CL-a may be a look-up table with multiple distinct associations between a particular forward voltage and a particular temperature, where first display temperature determination module  220   a  may be enabled to leverage received voltage V f-a  of data  203   a  to identify a particular appropriate association of the look-up table of correlator CL-a of data  205   a , and where first display temperature determination module  220   a  may then determine the particular temperature of that identified particular association of the look-up table to be used as the current temperature T j-a  of output current temperature data  207   a . As another example, correlator CL-a may be a polynomial curve or equation that may approximate the dependence between the forward voltage of light-generating component  142 - a  and the temperature of light-generating component  142 - a  at various voltages/temperatures, where first display temperature determination module  220   a  may be enabled to leverage received voltage V f-a  of data  203   a  in combination with such a curve or equation to identify the appropriate temperature to be used as the current temperature T j-a  of output current temperature data  207   a . Such a correlator CL-a may be defined by a testing process carried out on light-generating component  142 - a  prior to incorporating light-generating component  142 - a  in a display assembly  130  and/or prior to incorporating such a display assembly  130  into device  100  and/or after incorporating such a display assembly  130  into device  100  (e.g., a process during which light-generating component  142 - a  may be positioned in an environment of a known temperature and then its forward voltage may be measured and associated with that known temperature, and during which that sub-process may be repeated one or more times after altering the known temperature of the environment). Any suitable correlator CL-a may be accessible by display temperature determination module  220   a  as correlator data  205   a  from any suitable source (e.g., stored data from memory portion  105   a  of memory  104  of device  100  or data from a remote source, such as from at least a portion of data  55  from server  50 ). 
     In addition to system  201  including first display temperature determination module  220   a  for determining first current temperature data  207   a  (e.g., temperature T j-a ) for first light-generating component  142 - a  based on forward voltage data  203   a  (e.g., forward voltage V f-a ) and correlator data  205   a  (e.g., correlator CL-a), system  201  may include any suitable number Z- 1  of additional temperature determination modules, including Z th  display temperature determination module  220   z  for determining current temperature data  207   z  (e.g., temperature T j-z ) for light-generating component  142 - z  of device  100  based on forward voltage data  203   z  (e.g., forward voltage V f-z ) from light-generating component  142 - z  and correlator data  205   z  (e.g., correlator CL-z) for light-generating component  142 - z , as shown in  FIG. 2 . Each one of light-generating components  142 - a  through  142 - z  may be different light-generating components or different combinations of light-generating components of the same display assembly  130 , such as light-generating components  142 - 1  through  142 -N and/or the entire row R of light-generating components of display assembly  130 ′ of  FIGS. 1D and 1E , or such as light-generating components  142 - 1 . 1  through  142 -M.N and/or any entire row or column of light-generating components of display assembly  130 ″ of  FIGS. 1F and 1G . The correlator data  205  for different light-generating components  142  of device  100  (e.g., correlator CL-a of first correlator data  205   a  for first light-generating component  142 - a  and correlator CL-b of Z th  correlator data  205   z  for Z th  light-generating component  142 - z ) may be the same or different, for example, depending on whether the light-generating components are of the same type and/or whether different tests were conducted for each individual light-generating component in order to define distinct correlators, whether or not the individual light-generating components are of the same type. 
     System  201  may also be configured to process any current temperature data of any light-generating component  142  of a display assembly  130  (e.g., any temperature data  207   a - 207   z  as may be determined by one or more display temperature determination modules  220   a - 220   z ) alone or in conjunction with any other suitable data at a combiner module  230  for generating and transmitting system output data  223 , where system output data  223  may be any suitable data indicative of any suitable information that may be of any suitable use by any suitable receiving element  113  (e.g., an active application  103  of device  100 ) for adjusting any suitable functionality of device  100  (e.g., for performing an adjustment  113   a  of a functionality of device  100 ). Any other suitable data may be received by combiner module  230  for processing in combination with temperature data  207  of one or more light-generating components  142 , including, but not limited to, auxiliary sensor data  209   a - 209   z  that may be indicative of any suitable device characteristics as may be sensed by one or more respective auxiliary sensors  115   a - 115   z , ambient temperature data  211  that may be indicative of the ambient temperature T AMB  of the environment external to device  100  as may be sensed by any suitable ambient temperature sensor  117 , thermal resistance data  213  that may be indicative of the thermal resistance of any one or more component stacks of device  100  (e.g., thermal resistance R TH-LCS  of component stack  128 ) from any suitable thermal resistance source  105   b  (e.g., memory portion  105   b  of memory  104 ), and/or any suitable touch position data  215  from any suitable touch sensing assembly  124  of device  100 . Additionally or alternatively, any other suitable data available to device  100  may be received and processed by module  230  in combination with any of the above-mentioned data for generating and transmitting system output data  223 . 
     In some embodiments, ambient temperature sensor  117  may be a temperature sensor external to device  100  that may sense ambient temperature T AMB  (e.g., sensor  57  of  FIG. 1 ) and that may provide data indicative of that sensed temperature to remote server  50  for sharing with device  100  as at least a portion of communicated data  55  for use by device  100  as ambient temperature data  211 , where, for example, server  50  may be a national weather service provider (e.g., www.weather.com) or a temperature sensing system local to the environment in which device  100  is currently positioned (e.g., a home&#39;s smart-thermostat). In other embodiments, ambient temperature sensor  117  may be a temperature sensor of device  100  that may be directly exposed to ambient temperature T AMB  (e.g., auxiliary sensor  15   a  of  FIG. 1C  that may be positioned adjacent opening  109   a ) and that may be operative to sense ambient temperature T AMB  and provide ambient temperature data  211  to system  201 . 
     Thermal resistance data  213  indicative of the thermal resistance and/or thermal conductance of any suitable component stack of device  100  may be determined and made accessible to device  100  via any suitable testing process that may be carried out on that component stack prior to incorporating that component stack into device  100  or after incorporating that component stack into device  100  (e.g., a process where a known temperature may be applied to one side of the stack and the temperature at the other side of the stack may be detected and used in conjunction with the known temperature to calculate the thermal resistance of the stack for that known temperature, and then that process may or may not be repeated for various other known temperatures, such that a single thermal resistance value may be accessible and used whenever a stack&#39;s thermal resistance is to be used in conjunction with any temperature T j  of a light-generating component  142  for determining an external surface temperature T SUR , or such that different thermal resistance values may be accessible and used for a stack&#39;s thermal resistance in conjunction with different respective values of temperature T j  of a light-generating component  142  for determining an external surface temperature T SUR ). 
     As just one example of the many various ways in which system output data  223  may be generated and used, combiner module  230  may be operative to receive and process one or more instances of auxiliary sensor data  209   b - 209   e  from one or more of auxiliary sensors  115   b - 115   e  of  FIG. 1C  in combination with one or more instances of display temperature data  207   a - 207   z  associated with one or more light-generating components  142  of I/O interface assembly  111   a  for generating and transmitting system output data  223  indicative of a thermal temperature profile of device  100 , which may be used by receiving element  113  (e.g., a thermal management application  103 ) of device  100  for adjusting any suitable functionality of device  100 , such as for enabling or disabling a cooling component of device  100  (e.g., a fan) for altering the temperature within housing  101  to be within an acceptable temperature range, for dynamic frequency scaling (e.g., throttling) any suitable component of device  100  to prevent over-heating of device  100 , and/or the like. For example, module  230  may be operative to enable any suitable closed-loop thermal management (“CLTM”) process or processes (e.g., CLTM software) that may be dictated by various temperature data  207  and  209  and/or finite element simulation (e.g., look-up tables) to determine whether the current thermal profile of device  100  ought to incite the performance of any suitable adjustment of any suitable functionality of device  100 . By enabling the determination of the temperature T j  at one or more suitable points PJ of a display assembly of device  100 , system  201  may leverage that additional temperature data source in combination with any temperature or other operational data that may be detected by one or more suitable auxiliary sensors  115  for increasing the effectiveness and/or efficiency and/or accuracy of any thermal management processes of device  100 . 
     As another example, combiner module  230  may be operative to receive and process one or more instances of thermal resistance data  213  associated with one or more appropriate component stacks (e.g., data indicative of thermal resistance R TH-LCS  of stack  128  of  FIG. 1C ) in combination with one or more instances of display temperature data  207   a - 207   z  associated with one or more light-generating components  142  of I/O interface assembly  111   a  (e.g., temperature T j  of light-generating component  142  of  FIG. 1C ) for determining at least one external surface temperature (e.g., T SUR-PO  of surface point PO of  FIG. 1C ) and for generating and transmitting system output data  223  indicative of at least that determined external surface temperature, which may be used by receiving element  113  for any suitable purpose. For example, such output data  223  may be used by receiving element  113  as a thermal management application  103 , as described above, for determining how to adjust a functionality of device  100  for thermal management purposes (e.g., to cool or heat or otherwise attempt to affect the temperature of one or more components of device  100 ). In some embodiments, device  100  (e.g., module  230 ) may be operative to determine that a determined external surface temperature is due to an external object (e.g., user U) and generate output data  223  accordingly, whereby such data  223  may be used by receiving element  113  as a thermometer application  103  that may share the detected temperature with the user (e.g., via an output on display output component  112   a  of I/O assembly  111   a  or via audio output component  112   b  or via any other suitable technique), such that a detected temperature of such an external object may be made known to the user. This may be useful in many suitable scenarios, such as when user U may wish to detect the temperature of the user&#39;s body (e.g., T OBJ  of  FIG. 1C ), whereby the user may hold his ear or any other suitable body part up against or near external surface  121  such that the user&#39;s temperature may be detected by device  100 . Receiving element  113  may be a biometric or health-based application  103  that may be operative to determine and/or store and/or otherwise use a biometric temperature reading of a user for any suitable purpose, such as recommending that the user adjust an exercise routine in some way (e.g., instruct the user to rest for 3 minutes because the user&#39;s detected body temperature is currently too high). In some embodiments, such a health-based application  103  may instruct the user on how and where to hold a body part against external surface  121  (e.g., “please place your ear against the top of external surface  121  for 10 seconds” (e.g., adjacent row R of  FIG. 1D )) such that system  201  may be enabled to adequately process data for determining the user&#39;s temperature via one or more light-generating components  142 . Device  100  may be operative to indicate to the user (e.g., via a graphic element on display  112   a ) where to touch external surface  121  in order for system  201  to more efficiently or effectively determine the temperature of the user (e.g., by only analyzing the change in temperature of the one or more portions of surface  121  at which the user has been instructed to touch surface  121  (e.g., by determining that T SUR-PO  is T OBJ  at point PO). It is to be understood that this may be done with or without the aid of any suitable touch position data  215  from any suitable touch sensing assembly  124  of device  100  that may be indicative of the position of an external touch event on input assembly  110   a , as device  100  may be operative to process determined temperature data of one or more portions of external surface  121  (e.g., changes in temperature data of one or more portions of surface  121  over a certain period of time) in order to determine that an external object&#39;s temperature has been detected at one or more of those portions (e.g., through a determination of an isolated increase or decrease in temperature at a certain portion of surface  121  via only data  207  at module  230  and not necessarily in conjunction with a determination of a specific location of a touch event on surface  121  via data  215  from touch assembly  124 ). In some embodiments, rather than for detecting a temperature of user U, user U may leverage system  201  for measuring the temperature T OBJ  of some external object (e.g., the temperature of a baby&#39;s bottle) that may be positioned against or near external surface  121 . 
     In some embodiments, combiner module  230  may be operative to receive and process one or more instances of thermal resistance data  213  associated with one or more appropriate component stacks (e.g., data indicative of thermal resistance R TH-LCS  of stack  128  of  FIG. 1C ) in combination with one or more instances of display temperature data  207   a - 207   z  associated with one or more light-generating components  142  of I/O interface assembly  111   a  (e.g., temperature Ti of light-generating component  142  of  FIG. 1C ) for determining at least one external surface temperature (e.g., T SUR-PO  of surface point PO of  FIG. 1C ) and for generating and transmitting system output data  223  indicative of at least that external surface temperature, which may be used by receiving element  113  for any suitable purpose other than relaying a detected temperature (e.g., of a user or external object (e.g., T OBJ )) to a user. For example, such output data  223  may be used by receiving element  113  as a user touch input detection application  103 . In some embodiments, device  100  may be operative to determine that a determined external surface temperature is due to a touch or near touch event by an external object (e.g., user U) at one or more particular locations along external surface  121  (e.g., due to a localized increase or decrease in temperature that may be similar to an expected temperature of user U and/or at a location on external surface  121  that may be associated with a selectable displayed graphical element of display component  112   a  or otherwise that device  100  may be operative to determine is a touch event indicative of a particular user input (e.g., an input intended to select that displayed graphical element)). For example, through detection of a localized change in temperature along a portion of surface  121  using received data  207  (e.g., over time), module  230  may be operative to determine that a touch or near touch event or gesture has occurred at a particular location or along a particular path on external surface  121  and that that touch event data may be leveraged (e.g., as output data  223 ) by receiving element  113  for altering any suitable functionality of device  100 , where receiving element  113  may be any suitable interactive application  103  that may be operative to utilize any suitable touch event input data for dictating any resulting application output data (e.g., generating a new user interface display, opening another application, saving a file, taking a picture, etc.). 
     Touch position data  215  from touch assembly  124  may be indicative of a position or positions or a path along surface  121  at which one or more touch or near touch events have been detected by touch assembly  124 . Such touch position data  215  may be leveraged by combiner module  230  in any suitable way in conjunction with any display temperature data  207  for generating and transmitting any suitable output data  223  to any suitable receiving element  113 . For example, when it is determined via touch position data  215  that a particular position of external surface  121  is being touched (e.g., by user U at point PO), device  100  may be operative to more effectively and efficiently determine the temperature of the external object causing that touch event (e.g., T OBJ  of user U) by determining temperature T SUR-PO , for example, by determining that temperature before or instead of attempting to determine the external surface temperature of any other portion of external surface  121  (e.g., to focus processing power on that location at which a touch event is currently being detected). Additionally or alternatively, by knowing that a touch event is occurring at a particular position on surface  121  (e.g., via touch position data  215 ), device  100  may be operative to determine that a portion of a user&#39;s body or other detectable external object is at that particular position such that device  100  may be operative to determine the temperature at that position as the temperature of such an external object for any suitable use (e.g., biometric or health or thermometer applications, such as those mentioned above). Additionally or alternatively, temperature data  209  from one or more auxiliary sensors  115  may be leveraged by combiner module  230  in conjunction with display temperature data  207 , with or without touch data  215 , to more accurately determine the position of a potential touch event along surface  121 . For example, if temperature data  209  from one or more auxiliary sensors  115  indicates that the temperature at or near system on chip (“SoC”)  196  is high (e.g., above a certain threshold value or at a particular value that may be determined to have a particular effect on the temperature of one or more light-generating components  142  that may be positioned directly above or nearby SoC  196 ), then any temperature of at least one light-generating component  142  that may be proximate chip  196  (e.g., components  142 - 1 . 1  and  142 - 2 . 1  but not component  142 -M. 1 ) may be at least partially attributed (e.g., by combiner module  230 ) to the temperature of chip  196  such that the detected temperature of chip  196  may be accounted for when module  230  may be attempting to detect a localized change in temperature along a portion of surface  121  at point PO- 1 . 1  using received data  207 , and/or while any temperature of at least one light-generating component  142  that may be removed from chip  196  (e.g., components  142 -M. 1  but not components  142 - 1 . 1  and  142 - 2 . 1 ) may not be attributed (e.g., by combiner module  230 ) to the temperature of chip  196  such that the detected temperature of chip  196  may not be accounted for when module  230  may be attempting to detect a localized change in temperature along a portion of surface  121  above component  142 -M.  1  (e.g., heat from chip  196  may not affect the temperature of component  142 -M.  1 , such that a high temperature of chip  196  may not be leveraged with as much importance by module  230  when determining whether a touch event exists above component  142 -M. 1  than it may be by module  230  when determining whether a touch event exists above component  142 - 1 . 1 ). Therefore, by leveraging the known position and temperature of other components within device  100  (e.g., through data  209  from one or more sensors  115 , where the position of each sensor  115  with respect to the position of each light-generating component  142  may be accessible to system  201  (e.g., via system data of memory  104 )), the effect of the temperature of other device components (e.g., within system assembly  190 ) may be considered in any calculation by module  230  (e.g., with respect to determining the existence and/or position of a touch event or other change in temperature along surface  121  that may be determined to be attributable to a remote object). Module  230  may zero out or otherwise factor in the effect of the temperature of device components proximate to a light-generating component  142  when leveraging the temperature of that light-generating component  142  to determine various events, such as the position of a touch event on surface  121  or the temperature of a point along surface  121 . 
     Additionally or alternatively, if a known touch event is occurring at a first particular position PO of external surface  121  while no known touch event is occurring at a second particular position PX of external surface  121  (see, e.g.,  FIG. 1C ), device  100  may be operative to determine that the temperature of external surface  121  at that first position PO may be associated with an external object (e.g., T OBJ  of  FIG. 1C ) and that the temperature of external surface  121  at that second position PX may be more associated with the ambient temperature (e.g., T AMB ) of the external environment of device  100  that is a more general temperature not directly affected by the external object (e.g., user U). Such determination of ambient temperature T AMB  may be included in output data  223  and leveraged by receiving element  113  in any suitable way, such as by a weather accumulating or sharing application  103  that may share such determined ambient temperature data with user U of device  100  (e.g., as a local temperature application  103 ) via any suitable output component of device  100  and/or store such data thereon for any other suitable local use, and/or share such data (e.g., as a crowd-sourcing weather application  103 ) with a remote server (e.g., server  50  via data  55 ) such that the local temperature determined to be ambient to device  100  (e.g., TAME), as may be determined by system  201  with or without any data  211 , may be shared, along with any other suitable data (e.g., the location of device  100 , as may be determined by any suitable component of device  100 ), with any other device such that other electronic devices or systems may leverage such temperature data (e.g., for crowd-sourcing temperature data across many portable electronic devices located across any suitable geographic area). 
     In some embodiments, when the ambient temperature T AMB  of device  100  is received by module  230  (e.g., as data  211 ), such ambient temperature data may be leveraged by module  230  in combination with display temperature data  207  in any suitable way for generating any suitable output data  223  for use in any suitable way by any suitable receiving element  113 . For example, when ambient temperature T AMB  is known via data  211 , module  230  may be operative to more efficiently or effectively detect a user touch event and/or T OBJ  by comparing any determined external surface temperature data (e.g., T SUR-PO ) with that known ambient temperature T AMB  (e.g., if the difference between the two is greater than a certain threshold, than that determined external surface temperature data may be utilized by device  100  to determine the existence of a touch event at a particular position (e.g., the position of that external surface temperature) and the position of that touch event may be leveraged by device  100 , for example, without requiring any touch position data  215 ). 
     It is therefore to be appreciated that module  230  may leverage any display temperature data  207  alone or in combination with any auxiliary sensor data  209  and/or any ambient temperature data  211  and/or any thermal resistance data  213  and/or any touch position data  215  to generate any suitable output data  223  for use by any suitable receiving element  113  in any suitable manner (e.g., for altering any suitable functionality of device  100  in any suitable manner for any suitable purpose). Output data  223  may be indicative of a determined touch event on external surface  121  generally or at a particular location or locations of surface  121  for use as any suitable input by any suitable application as receiving element  113  for generating any appropriate responsive application output (e.g., any suitable adjustment of any suitable functionality of device  100  based on the parameters of that application). Output data  223  may be indicative of a determined type of temperature (e.g., T OBJ  of an external object at surface  121  and/or T AMB  of the ambient environment of device  100 ) for use by any suitable device thermal management application receiving element  113  (e.g., for adjusting a heating or cooling functionality of device  100 ) and/or for use by any suitable thermometer user interface application receiving element  113  (e.g., for updating a health application functionality or weather application functionality or for sharing determined external temperature information with user U or remote server  50 ). 
     Output data  223  may be indicative of the temperature profile of a particular subset or the entire array of light-generating components  142  that may be provided under any suitable portion or the entirety of external surface  121  and/or that may be indicative of the temperature profile of any portion or the entire area of external surface  121  itself, at a particular moment in time or over a length of time. Module  230  may be operative to conduct statistical analysis of each one of available display temperature data  207   a - 207   z  for each moment in time or over a certain period of time, alone or in combination with any other suitable available data (e.g., data  209   a - 209   z ,  211 ,  213 , and/or  215 ). This may enable device  100  to determine the temperature of any suitable external object that may touch or near touch external surface  121  (e.g., Tow of user U), the temperature of the ambient environment of device  100  (e.g., T AMB , with or without any suitable ambient temperature data  211 ), the location and/or movement of any suitable touch events or near touch events along surface  121  (e.g., position PO by an external object, such as user U, with or without any suitable touch assembly position data  215 ), and the like. In some embodiments, device  100  may be operative to process the temperature profile of an array of light-generating components  142  and/or of external surface  121  over a length of time (e.g., over the life of device  100 ) in order to determine that certain portions of display assembly output component  112   a  have been subjected to significantly higher temperatures than other portions of display assembly output component  112   a  (e.g., a top right corner of display  112   b  has been subjected to temperatures on average over the life of device  100  that are 20° Celsius higher than has the remainder of display  112   b  (e.g., if that corner had been permanently positioned adjacent a window that exposes that corner to an increased amount of sunlight)), such that device  100  may be operative to alter the functionality of device  100  to account for that exposure in order to prolong the life of display  112   b  (e.g., by ramping up the brightness of the pixels of display  112   b  in that corner to compensate for any brightness depreciation that may have been caused to that corner by its exposure to additional heat as compared to other pixels of display  112   b ). This may enable real-time and/or intermittent display calibration that may be based on any suitable conditions that may be detected by device  100  (e.g., display temperature data  207  and/or any other available other data  209 ,  211 ,  213 , and/or  215 ). For example, the current that may be injected into different light-generating components  142  (e.g., current I of  FIG. 1H ) may be varied amongst different light-generating components  142  based on the present or past average temperature of each light-generating component  142 . For example, a light-generating component  142  that may be proximate to chip  196  (e.g., light-generating component  142 - 1 . 1 ) may be hotter than another light-generating component  142  that may not be proximate a hot component of device  100 . Based on present or calculated average temperatures of different light-generating components  142  (e.g., by system  201 ), the amount of current injected into different light-generating components  142  may vary accordingly, for example, by driving hotter light-generating components  142  with a lower current than cooler light-generating components  142  (e.g., to even out their lifetimes and/or to provide constant brightness across surface  121 ). Spatial thermal contributions of each component of device  100  (e.g., of each component of system assembly  190 ) on each light-generating component  142  may be determined (e.g., during initial calibration or testing of device  100 ) and leveraged by system  201  during use thereof (e.g., to generate data  223  for varying current injection into one or more light-generating components  142 ). 
     In some embodiments, device  100  may be operative to process the temperature profile of an array of light-generating components  142  and/or of external surface  121  over time using the detected forward voltage of an entire row or column or of any other suitable subset or group of light-generating components (e.g., V f-R  of  FIG. 1E , V f-R1 , V f-RM , V f-C1 , and/or V f-CN  of  FIG. 1G , etc.) in any suitable manner, which may be the same as or different than any of the above-described manners in which the detected forward voltage of one or more individual light-generating components may be used. Independent or parallel strings of light-generating components  142  may be correlated to different temperature measurements. For example, measurements of different rows and/or columns of components  142  may be cross-referenced to increase temperature sensitivity and/or to determine location of temperature at specific areas of device  100 . Moreover, a particular location of a change in temperature may be determined based on a location of an intersection of two perpendicular strings of components  142  when each of those two strings is detected to exhibit a similar change. Various algorithms may be run by system  201  or otherwise by device  100  to make such a determination or other suitable determinations, such as to enable balloon action like touch sensing based on temperature sensing of one or more strings of light-generating components  142 . For example, when some or all light-generating components  142  in a series are determined to be heating up, multiplication of a voltage delta can gang all such components  142  together, which may improve signal to noise characteristics of the system. If a small voltage (e.g., V f ) shift is detected, and there are multiple light-generating components  142  in series, device  100  may be operative to get more signal to noise on the overall series V f  shift. When leveraging location information, an array of scannable light-generating components  142  in a series (e.g., a large 2-D array of light-generating components  142  in a back light unit of a display) may be provided and device  100  may be operative to determine which strings (e.g., which rows and/or columns) exhibit such a shift. As another example, progressive scan operations (e.g., row by row) may be enabled and carried out by system  201  to look at voltage shift of light-generating components  142  across entire strings (e.g., rows) as scanned such that voltage measurements at ends of strings may be accomplished in real time. 
     While a light-generating component  142  must be on (e.g., be driven by a current that may generate light) in order to enable determination of the temperature of that light-generating component  142 , the duration and strength with which a light-generating components  142  may be driven or pulsed may be minimized to reduce the visible effect of such driving to a user (e.g., very fast and quick scanning may be utilized to provide very short pulses at low brightness (e.g., via pulse width modulation) to enable temperature determination while minimizing the amount of light emitted by device  100  to a user). Therefore, when a display is in an off or sleep mode, temperature sensing by a light-generating component  142  may be enabled by quickly and faintly driving that light-generating component  142 . 
     As mentioned, I/O interface assembly  111   a  of device  100  may include touch assembly input component  110   a  with touch sensing assembly  124  that may be operative to receive a touch or near touch input from an object external to device  100  for interacting with other components of device  100  via wired or wireless bus  118 . Such a touch assembly input component  110   a  may be used to provide input to device  100  in lieu of or in combination with other input components, such as a button (e.g., input component  110   b ), keyboard, mouse, and the like. One or more touch input components may be used for providing user input to device  100 . 
     Touch sensing assembly  124  of touch assembly input component  110   a  may include a touch sensitive panel, which may be wholly or partially transparent, semitransparent, non-transparent, opaque, or any combination thereof. Touch assembly input component  110   a  may be embodied as a touch screen, touch pad, a touch screen functioning as a touch pad (e.g., a touch screen replacing the touchpad of a laptop), a touch screen or touch pad combined or incorporated with any other input device (e.g., a touch screen or touch pad disposed on a keyboard), or any multi-dimensional object having a touch sensitive surface for receiving touch input. In some embodiments, the terms touch screen and touch pad may be used interchangeably. 
     In some embodiments, touch sensing assembly  124  of touch assembly input component  110   a  embodied as a touch screen may include a transparent and/or semitransparent touch sensitive panel partially or wholly positioned over at least a portion of a display (e.g., over at least a portion of display assembly  130 ). In other embodiments, touch sensing assembly  124  of touch assembly input component  110   a  may be embodied as an integrated touch screen where touch sensitive components/devices are integral with display components/devices (e.g., of display assembly output component  112   a ). 
     Touch assembly input component  110   a  may be configured to detect the location of one or more touches or near touches based on capacitive, resistive, optical, acoustic, inductive, mechanical, chemical measurements, or any phenomena that can be measured with respect to the occurrences of the one or more touches or near touches in proximity to touch assembly input component  110   a  (e.g., in proximity to external surface  121 ). Software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof (e.g., module  230 ) may be used to process the measurements of the detected touches or near touches (e.g., as detected by touch position data  215  from touch assembly  124  or as detected via display temperature data  207  with or without any data  215  from touch assembly  124 ) to identify and track one or more gestures. A gesture may correspond to stationary or non-stationary, single or multiple, touches or near touches on touch assembly input component  110   a . A gesture may be performed by moving one or more fingers or other objects in a particular manner with respect to touch assembly input component  110   a , such as by tapping, pressing, rocking, scrubbing, rotating, twisting, changing orientation, pressing with varying pressure, and the like at essentially the same time, contiguously, or consecutively. A gesture may be characterized by, but is not limited to, a pinching, sliding, swiping, rotating, flexing, dragging, or tapping motion between or with any other finger or fingers. A single gesture may be performed with one or more hands, by one or more users, or any combination thereof. Through leveraging display temperature data  207 , with or without touch position data  215  from dedicated touch assembly  124 , system  201  may be operative to detect temperature differences between two or more detected touch events and leverage that temperature difference to differentiate between two or more sources of those detected touch events (e.g., a colder first touch event may be attributed to a first user or a first finger of a single user while a warmer second touch event may be attributed to a second user or a second finger or hand of the single user, such that the two touch events may be handled differently than if the two touch events were attributed to the same finger (e.g., the same external object)). Many receiving element applications may be operative to leverage such a distinction between detected touch event sources (e.g., as may be determinable by system  201 ) in any suitable way. As just one example, a video game application  103  as receiving element  113  may handle a portion of data  223  indicative of any touch events determined to be made by a first touch event source (e.g., the colder finger of a first user) as inputs by a first video game competitor and may handle a portion of data  223  indicative of any touch events determined to be made by a second touch event source (e.g., the warmer finger of a second user) as inputs by a second video game competitor, such that two users of device  100  may provide distinguishable touch events at the same time or consecutively on the same touch screen (e.g., external surface  121 ) for playing the video game. 
     Electronic device  100  may drive a display (e.g., display assembly output component  112   a ) with graphical data to display a graphical user interface (“GUI”). The GUI may be configured to receive touch input via a touch input component (e.g., via touch assembly  124  of touch assembly input component  110   a  and/or via display temperature data  207 ). Embodied as a touch screen (e.g., with display assembly output component  112   a  as I/O component  111   a ), touch I/O component  111   a  may display the GUI. Alternatively, the GUI may be displayed on a display (e.g., another display assembly output component  112 ) that may be separate from a touch input component  110 . The GUI may include graphical elements displayed at particular locations within the interface. Graphical elements may include, but are not limited to, a variety of displayed virtual input devices, including virtual scroll wheels, a virtual keyboard, virtual knobs, virtual buttons, any virtual user interface (“UI”), and the like. A user may perform gestures at one or more particular locations on a touch input component  110  or display output component  112  operative to detect touch inputs (e.g., via display temperature data  207 ), which may be associated with the graphical elements of the GUI. In other embodiments, the user may perform gestures at one or more locations that are independent of the locations of graphical elements of the GUI. Gestures performed on a touch input component  110  or on a display output component  112  operative to detect touch inputs may directly or indirectly manipulate, control, modify, move, actuate, initiate, or generally affect graphical elements, such as cursors, icons, media files, lists, text, all or portions of images, or the like within the GUI. For instance, in the case of a touch screen, a user may directly interact with a graphical element by performing a gesture over the graphical element on the touch screen. Alternatively, a touch pad may generally provide indirect interaction. Gestures may also affect non-displayed GUI elements (e.g., causing user interfaces to appear) or may affect other actions of device  100  (e.g., affect a state or mode of a GUI, application, or operating system). Gestures may or may not be performed on a touch input component  110  or a display output component  112  in conjunction with a displayed cursor. For instance, in the case in which gestures are performed on a touchpad, a cursor (or pointer) may be displayed on a display screen or touch screen and the cursor may be controlled via touch input on the touchpad to interact with graphical objects on the display screen. In other embodiments, in which gestures are performed directly on a display screen, a user may interact directly with objects on the screen, with or without a cursor or pointer being displayed on the screen. 
     Feedback may be provided to the user via bus  118  in response to or based on the touch or near touches detected on a touch input component  110  or on a display output component  112  operative to detect touch inputs via display temperature data. Feedback may be transmitted optically, mechanically, electrically, olfactory, acoustically, or the like or any combination thereof and in a variable or non-variable manner. 
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart of an illustrative process  300  for operating an electronic device, where the electronic device may include an external surface, a light-emitting component operative to emit light for illuminating the external surface, and a component stack extending between the light-emitting component and a portion of the external surface, and where the component stack may provide a thermal resistance between the light-emitting component and the portion of the external surface. At step  302  of process  300 , the electronic device may access a correlator that defines a relationship between the forward voltage of the light-emitting component and the temperature of the light-emitting component. For example, as described above with respect to  FIG. 2 , system  201  may be configured to access correlator data  205   a  (e.g., correlator CL-a) that may define a relationship between the forward voltage of light-generating component  142 - a  and the temperature of light-generating component  142 - a . Next, at step  304  of process  300 , the electronic device may retrieve the value of the thermal resistance of the component stack between the light-emitting component and the portion of the external surface. For example, as described above with respect to  FIG. 2 , system  201  may be configured to retrieve thermal resistance data  215  that may be indicative of the value of the thermal resistance of a component stack between light-generating component  142 - a  and an external surface of the electronic device (e.g., thermal resistance R TH-LCS  of stack  128  between light-generating component  142  and external surface  121  of device  100  of  FIG. 1C ). Next, at step  306  of process  300 , the electronic device may detect the current forward voltage of the light-emitting component. For example, as described above with respect to  FIG. 2 , system  201  may be configured to detect forward voltage data  203   a  (e.g., V f-a ) of light-generating component  142 - a  (e.g., forward voltage V f  of light-generating component  142  of  FIGS. 1C and 1H ). Next, at step  308  of process  300 , the electronic device may determine the current temperature of the light-emitting component based on the detected current forward voltage of the light-emitting component and based on the accessed correlator. For example, as described above with respect to  FIG. 2 , system  201  may be configured to determine current temperature data  207   a  (e.g., T j-a ) of light-generating component  142 - a  based on voltage data  203   a  and correlator data  205   a  (e.g., temperature T j  of light-generating component  142  of  FIGS. 1C and 1H ). Next, at step  310  of process  300 , the electronic device may determine the current temperature of the portion of the external surface based on the determined current temperature of the light-emitting component and based on the retrieved value of the thermal resistance of the component stack between the light-emitting component and the portion of the external surface. For example, as described above with respect to  FIG. 2 , system  201  may be configured to determine the current temperature at a portion of external surface  121  (e.g., as a portion of output data  223 ) based on current temperature data  207   a  (e.g., T j-a ) of light-generating component  142 - a  and based on the retrieved thermal resistance data  215  that may be indicative of the value of the thermal resistance of a component stack between light-generating component  142 - a  and external surface  121 . Next, at step  312  of process  300 , the electronic device may adjust a function of the electronic device based on the determined current temperature of the portion of the external surface. For example, as described above with respect to  FIG. 2 , output data  223  of system  201  may be of any suitable use by any suitable receiving element  113  (e.g., an active application  103  of device  100 ) for adjusting any suitable functionality of device  100  (e.g., for performing an adjustment  113   a  of a functionality of device  100 ). 
     It is understood that the steps shown in process  300  of  FIG. 3  are merely illustrative and that existing steps may be modified or omitted, additional steps may be added, and the order of certain steps may be altered. 
       FIG. 4  is a flowchart of an illustrative process  400  for operating an electronic device that may include an external surface and a light-emitting diode operative to emit light for illuminating the external surface. At step  402  of process  400 , the forward voltage of the light-emitting diode may be detected. For example, as described above with respect to  FIG. 2 , system  201  may be configured to detect forward voltage data  203   a  (e.g., V f-a ) of light-generating component  142 - a  (e.g., forward voltage V f  of light-generating component  142  of  FIGS. 1C and 1H ). Next, at step  404  of process  400 , the temperature of the light-emitting diode may be calculated using the detected forward voltage of the light-emitting diode. For example, as described above with respect to  FIG. 2 , system  201  may be configured to determine current temperature data  207   a  (e.g., T j-a ) of light-generating component  142 - a  based on voltage data  203   a . Next, at step  406  of process  400 , the performance of the electronic device may be altered based on the calculated temperature of the light-emitting diode. For example, as described above with respect to  FIG. 2 , output data  223  of system  201  may generated based on current temperature data  207   a  and used by any suitable receiving element  113  (e.g., an active application  103  of device  100 ) for adjusting any suitable functionality of device  100  (e.g., for performing an adjustment  113   a  of a functionality of device  100 ). 
     It is understood that the steps shown in process  400  of  FIG. 4  are merely illustrative and that existing steps may be modified or omitted, additional steps may be added, and the order of certain steps may be altered. 
       FIG. 5  is a flowchart of an illustrative process  500  for operating an electronic device that may include an external surface and a light-emitting diode operative to emit light through the external surface. At step  502  of process  500 , the temperature of a portion of the external surface may be calculated using a forward voltage of the light-emitting diode. For example, as described above with respect to  FIG. 2 , system  201  may be configured to determine temperature T SUR-PO  of portion PO of external surface  121  of device  100  using current temperature T j  of light-generating component  142 , which may be determined using forward voltage V f  of light-generating component  142 . Next, at step  504  of process  500 , the performance of the electronic device may be altered based on the calculated temperature of the portion of the external surface. For example, as described above with respect to  FIG. 2 , output data  223  of system  201  may generated based on a determined temperature of at least a portion of external surface  121  and used by any suitable receiving element  113  (e.g., an active application  103  of device  100 ) for adjusting any suitable functionality of device  100  (e.g., for performing an adjustment  113   a  of a functionality of device  100 ). 
     It is understood that the steps shown in process  500  of  FIG. 5  are merely illustrative and that existing steps may be modified or omitted, additional steps may be added, and the order of certain steps may be altered. 
       FIG. 6  is a flowchart of an illustrative process  600  for operating an electronic device that may include an external surface and a number of light-emitting diodes operative to emit light through the external surface. At step  602  of process  600 , the temperature of each portion of a number of portions of the external surface may be calculated using a forward voltage of a respective light-emitting diode of the number of light-emitting diodes. For example, as described above with respect to  FIG. 2 , system  201  may be configured to determine temperature T SUR-PO1  of portion PO- 1  of external surface  121  of device  100  of  FIGS. 1D and 1E  using current temperature T j-1  of light-generating component  142 - 1 , which may be determined using forward voltage V f-1  of light-generating component  142 - 1 , to determine temperature T SUR-PO2  of portion PO- 2  of external surface  121  of device  100  of  FIGS. 1D and 1E  using the current temperature of light-generating component  142 - 2 , which may be determined using forward voltage V f-2  of light-generating component  142 - 2 , and the like for any subset or all of light-generating components  142 - 1  through  142 -N. Next, at step  604  of process  600 , the position of a touch event on the external surface of the electronic device may be determined using the calculated temperatures. For example, as described above with respect to  FIG. 2 , system  201  may be configured to determine position PO- 1  on external surface  121  as the position of a touch event by user U based on the determined temperature of various portions of external surface  121 . 
     It is understood that the steps shown in process  600  of  FIG. 6  are merely illustrative and that existing steps may be modified or omitted, additional steps may be added, and the order of certain steps may be altered. 
     One, some, or all of the processes described with respect to  FIGS. 1-6  may each be implemented by software, but may also be implemented in hardware, firmware, or any combination of software, hardware, and firmware. Instructions for performing these processes may also be embodied as machine- or computer-readable code recorded on a machine- or computer-readable medium. In some embodiments, the computer-readable medium may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium. Examples of such a non-transitory computer-readable medium include but are not limited to a read-only memory, a random-access memory, a flash memory, a compact disc (e.g., compact disc (“CD”)-ROM), a digital versatile disk (“DVD”), a magnetic tape, a removable memory card, and a data storage device (e.g., memory  104  of  FIG. 1 ). In other embodiments, the computer-readable medium may be a transitory computer-readable medium. In such embodiments, the transitory computer-readable medium can be distributed over network-coupled computer systems so that the computer-readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion. For example, such a transitory computer-readable medium may be communicated from one electronic device to another electronic device using any suitable communications protocol (e.g., the computer-readable medium may be communicated from a remote device or server  50  as data  55  to electronic device  100  via communications component  106  (e.g., as at least a portion of an application  103 ). Such a transitory computer-readable medium may embody computer-readable code, instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and may include any information delivery media. A modulated data signal may be a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. 
     It is to be understood that any, each, or at least one module or component or element or subsystem of device  100  (e.g., of system  201 ) may be provided as a software construct, firmware construct, one or more hardware components, or a combination thereof. For example, any, each, or at least one module or component or element or subsystem of device  100  (e.g., of system  201 ) may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, that may be executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally, a program module may include one or more routines, programs, objects, components, and/or data structures that may perform one or more particular tasks or that may implement one or more particular abstract data types. It is also to be understood that the number, configuration, functionality, and interconnection of the modules and components and elements and subsystems of device  100  (e.g., of system  201 ) are merely illustrative, and that the number, configuration, functionality, and interconnection of existing modules, components, elements, and/or subsystems of device  100  (e.g., of system  201 ) may be modified or omitted, additional modules, components, elements, and/or subsystems of device  100  (e.g., of system  201 ) may be added, and the interconnection of certain modules, components, elements, and/or subsystems of device  100  (e.g., of system  201 ) may be altered. 
     At least a portion of one or more of the modules or components or elements or subsystems of device  100  may be stored in or otherwise accessible to an entity of system  1  in any suitable manner (e.g., in memory  104  of device  100  (e.g., as at least a portion of an application  103 ). For example, any or each module of system  201  may be implemented using any suitable technologies (e.g., as one or more integrated circuit devices), and different modules may or may not be identical in structure, capabilities, and operation. Any or all of the modules or other components of device  100  may be mounted on an expansion card, mounted directly on a system motherboard, or integrated into a system chipset component (e.g., into a “north bridge” chip). 
     Any or each module or component of device  100  may be a dedicated system implemented using one or more expansion cards adapted for various bus standards. For example, all of the modules may be mounted on different interconnected expansion cards or all of the modules may be mounted on one expansion card. With respect to system  201 , by way of example only, any one or more of the modules of system  201  may interface with a motherboard or processor  102  of device  100  through an expansion slot (e.g., a peripheral component interconnect (“PCI”) slot or a PCI express slot). Alternatively, any one or more of the modules of system  201  need not be removable but may include one or more dedicated modules that may include memory (e.g., RAM) dedicated to the utilization of the module. In other embodiments, any one or more of the modules of system  201  may be integrated into device  100 . For example, a module of system  201  and/or any intelligence that may be associated with one or more of components  113 ,  115 ,  117 , and/or  124  may utilize a portion of device memory  104  of device  100 . Any or each element or module or component of device  100  (e.g., any or each module of system  201  and/or element  113 ) may include its own processing circuitry and/or memory. Alternatively, any or each module or component of device  100  (e.g., any or each module of system  201  and/or element  113 ) may share processing circuitry and/or memory with any other module of system  201  and/or element  113  and/or processor  102  and/or memory  104  of device  100 . 
     While there have been described systems, methods, and computer-readable media for determining the temperature of a light-generating component of a display assembly using a voltage of the light-generating component, it is to be understood that many changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein in any way. Insubstantial changes from the claimed subject matter as viewed by a person with ordinary skill in the art, now known or later devised, are expressly contemplated as being equivalently within the scope of the claims. Therefore, obvious substitutions now or later known to one with ordinary skill in the art are defined to be within the scope of the defined elements. 
     Therefore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the concepts of the disclosure can be practiced by other than the described embodiments, which are presented for purposes of illustration rather than of limitation.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20161026
Publication Date: 20180515
Grant Date: 20180515
Priority Date: 20150410
Inventors: DOYLE, DAVID A.
WURZEL, JOSHUA G.
KAKUDA, TYLER R.
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H01L27/323", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/13338", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F3/0418", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F3/0418", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F3/0418", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/13338", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H10K59/40", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 57111765