Operation method of electronic device

• US 10,482,833 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2017
• Issued: 11/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Okamoto, Yuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Sherman, Stephen G
• Application Number:
  US15/805,589
• Publication Number:
  US 20180130434A1
• Time in Patent Office: 742 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2300/046 with an emissive area and a light-modulating area combined in one pixel
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/066 for control of contrast
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/144 the light being ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/20 for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/32 semiconductive, e.g. using light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3607 for displaying colours or for displaying grey scales with a specific pixel layout, e.g. using sub-pixels display of colours in flat matrix panels other than liquid crystal displays G09G3/2003; grey scales specific for television H04N3/127
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3648 using an active matrix G09G3/367 - G09G3/3696 take precedence

Abstract

An operation method of a display device with high visibility is to be provided. The display device is an electronic device including a first display element, a second display element, an optical sensor, and a gain calculation circuit. In the electronic device, the illuminance of external light is obtained with the optical sensor, and depending on the illuminance, images displayed using the first display element and the second display element are corrected. The gain calculation circuit obtains the illuminance and calculates a gain value depending on the illuminance. In particular, the gain value is calculated for each of the first display element and the second display element. Furthermore, the gain calculation circuit performs dimming and toning on image data displayed using the first display element and the second display element by multiplying the image data by the gain values or values corresponding to the gain values.

Claims

1. An operation method of an electronic device comprising a first display element, a second display element, a first circuit, and an optical sensor, comprising:

measuring an illuminance of external light by the optical sensor;

transmitting an illuminance data including the illuminance of external light to the first circuit;

obtaining a first data and a second data by the first circuit;

setting a first gain value to 0 by the first circuit and determining a second gain value with use of a first function and the illuminance of external light by the first circuit when the illuminance of external light in the first circuit is lower than a first illuminance;

determining the first gain value with use of a second function and the illuminance of external light by the first circuit and determining the second gain value with use of a third function and the illuminance of external light by the first circuit when the illuminance of external light in the first circuit is higher than or equal to the first illuminance and lower than a second illuminance;

determining the first gain value with use of a fourth function and the illuminance of external light by the first circuit and setting the second gain value to 0 by the first circuit when the illuminance of external light in the first circuit is higher than or equal to the second illuminance;

multiplying the first data by the first gain value or a value corresponding to the first gain value to generate a third data in the first circuit and multiplying the second data by the second gain value or a value corresponding to the second gain value to generate a fourth data in the first circuit after the first gain value and the second gain value are determined; and

displaying an image based on the third data using the first display element and an image based on the fourth data using the second display element.

2. The operation method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first to fourth functions is a linear function.

3. The operation method according to claim 2, further comprising:

setting the first gain value determined with use of the second function or the fourth function to a first maximum value when the first gain value is greater than or equal to the first maximum value; and

setting the second gain value determined with use of the first function or the third function to a second maximum value when the second gain value is greater than or equal to the second maximum value,

wherein multiplying the first data by the first gain value or a value corresponding to the first gain value and multiplying the second data by the second gain value or a value corresponding to the second gain value are conducted after setting the first gain value to the first maximum value and setting the second gain value to the second maximum value.

4. The operation method according to claim 3, further comprising:

performing a correction processing on one of the first data and the third data and one of the second data and the fourth data by a second circuit included in the electronic device.

5. The operation method according to claim 4, wherein the correction processing comprises a gamma correction processing.

6. The operation method according to claim 1,

wherein the first display element is a reflective element, and

wherein the second display element is a light-emitting element.

7. The operation method according to claim 1,

wherein each of the first to fourth functions is a monotonic increasing function.

8. An operation method of an electronic device comprising a first display element, a second display element, a first circuit, and an optical sensor, comprising:

measuring an illuminance of external light by the optical sensor;

transmitting an illuminance data including the illuminance of external light to the first circuit;

obtaining a first data and a second data by the first circuit;

determining a first gain value with use of a first function and the illuminance of external light and determining a second gain value with use of a second function and the illuminance of external light;

multiplying the first data by the first gain value or a value corresponding to the first gain value to generate a third data in the first circuit;

multiplying the second data by the second gain value or a value corresponding to the second gain value to generate a fourth data in the first circuit;

displaying an image based on the third data using the first display element and an image based on the fourth data using the second display element,

wherein the first function is different from the second function, and

wherein, when the illuminance of external light in the first circuit is lower than a first illuminance, the first gain value is set to 0, and the second gain value is determined with use of the second function and the illuminance of external light.

9. The operation method according to claim 8, further comprising:

performing a correction processing on one of the first data and the third data and one of the second data and the fourth data by a second circuit.

10. The operation method according to claim 9, wherein the correction processing comprises a gamma correction processing.

11. The operation method according to claim 8,

wherein the first display element is a reflective element, and

wherein the second display element is a light-emitting element.

12. The operation method according to claim 8,

wherein the first function is a linear function, and

wherein the second function is a linear function.

13. The operation method according to claim 8,

wherein the first display element is a reflective element, and

wherein the second display element is an organic EL, inorganic EL, or a nitride semiconductor light-emitting diode.