APPARATUS FOR DISPLAYING AND SENSING IMAGES

• US 20120307123A1
• Filed: 06/01/2011
• Published: 12/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Global OLED Technology LLC (LG Display Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Global OLED Technology LLC (LG Display Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Cok, Ronald S., Arnold, Andrew, Hamer, John W., Miller, Michael E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,520,114 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/333.01
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/14603 Special geometry or disposition of pixel-elements, address-lines or gate-electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/14643 Photodiode arrays; MOS imagers
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/60 OLEDs integrated with inorganic light-sensitive elements, e.g. with inorganic solar cells or inorganic photodiodes

Abstract

An apparatus for displaying and sensing images includes a display substrate and a plurality of electroluminescent pixels. A plurality of pixel control chiplets and one or more sensor chiplets are affixed to the device side of the display substrate in the display area. A transparent cover is spaced apart from and affixed to the device side of the display substrate, and has a plurality of imaging lenses formed on or in it, each imaging lens spaced apart from and corresponding to an image sensor array in a sensor chiplet for forming an imaging plane on the corresponding image sensor array.

Claims

1. ) An apparatus for displaying and sensing images, comprising:

a) a display substrate having a display area on a device side of the display substrate;

b) a plurality of pixels located in the display area on the device side of the display substrate, each pixel including a control electrode, a transparent electrode spaced apart from the control electrode, and at least one layer of light-emitting material located between the control electrode and the transparent electrode;

c) a plurality of pixel control chiplets, each pixel control chiplet associated with at least one pixel and having a chiplet substrate independent of the display substrate located over, and affixed to, the device side of the display substrate in the display area, each pixel control chiplet having at least one connection pad and at least one pixel control circuit;

d) wherein each pixel control circuit is electrically connected to the control electrode of the associated pixel(s) through one of the connection pads for driving the control electrode to cause the light-emitting material to emit light through the transparent electrode;

e) one or more sensor chiplets, each sensor chiplet having a chiplet substrate independent of the display substrate located over, and affixed to, the device side of the display substrate in the display area, each sensor chiplet having at least one connection pad and an image sensor array for sensing an image and forming a sensed image signal; and

f) a transparent cover spaced apart from and affixed to the device side of the display substrate having a plurality of imaging lenses formed on or in the transparent cover, each imaging lens spaced apart from and corresponding to an image sensor array for forming an imaging plane on the corresponding image sensor array.

2. ) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one pixel control chiplet further includes a sensor chiplet.

3. ) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the sensor chiplets is laterally located between two or more of the pixel control chiplets.

4. ) The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one color filter that filters the light emitted by at least one pixel and that filters the light sensed by at least one image sensor.

5. ) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein multiple sensor chiplets are arranged in rows and columns in the display area.

6. ) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transparent cover has a top side and an opposing bottom side closer to the sensor chiplet than the top side, further comprising at least one imaging lens formed in the top side or the bottom side of the transparent cover.

7. ) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transparent cover has a top side and an opposing bottom side closer to the sensor chiplet than the top side, further comprising a first film having imaging lenses formed therein located on the top side of the transparent cover or located on the bottom side of the transparent cover.

8. ) The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the transparent cover has a top side and an opposing bottom side closer to the sensor chiplet than the top side, further comprising a second film having imaging lenses formed therein located on the side of the cover opposite the first film.

9. ) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the number of pixel control chiplets is different from the number of sensor chiplets.

10. ) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensor chiplet is laterally located between two control electrodes.

11. ) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of a control electrode is partially transparent and a sensor chiplet is located beneath the partially transparent portion.

12. ) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a control electrode within the display area is positioned laterally adjacent to at least two sides of a sensor chiplet.

13. ) The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising first and second imaging lenses and wherein the first imaging lens corresponding to a first sensor chiplet is different from the second imaging lens corresponding to a second sensor chiplet.

14. ) The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the first imaging lens has a wider viewing angle than the second imaging lens.

15. ) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the image sensor array in a first sensor chiplet is different from the image sensor array in a second sensor chiplet.

16. ) The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a first imaging lens, a second imaging lens, a first sensor chiplet, and a second sensor chiplet, wherein the first imaging lens and first sensor chiplet define a first optical path and the second imaging lens and second sensor chiplet define a second optical path different from the first optical path.

17. ) The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first image sensor array has a different resolution, size, spectral sensitivity, optical axis, focal plane, or sensitivity than the second image sensor array.

18. ) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the imaging lens corresponding to a first sensor chiplet forms a first image of a scene on the image sensor array of the first sensor chiplet and the imaging lens corresponding to a second sensor chiplet forms a second image different from the first image of the same scene on the image sensor array of the second sensor chiplet or forms a second image of a portion of the first image of the same scene on the optical sensors of the second sensor chiplet.

19. ) The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the first and second images include images of a common object and further comprising image processing circuitry that calculates a three-dimensional image of the common object.

20. ) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the imaging lens corresponding to a first sensor chiplet forms a first image of a first scene on the image sensor array of the first sensor chiplet and the imaging lens corresponding to a second sensor chiplet forms a second image of a second scene different from the first scene on the image sensor array of the second sensor chiplet.

21. ) The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a planarization layer located over the substrate and wherein the sensor chiplet is embedded in the planarization layer, the planarization layer has a first index of refraction, the front surface of the sensor chiplet has a second index of refraction, and the second index of refraction is higher than the first index of refraction.

22. ) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein multiple sensor chiplets are arranged in first rows and first columns forming a first sensor-chiplet matrix and second rows and second columns of sensor chiplets forming a second sensor-chiplet matrix, and wherein the first and second sensor-chiplet matrices are offset from one another in a direction not parallel to the first or second columns.

23. ) The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the image sensor arrays of the first sensor-chiplet matrix sense first images of scene information and the image sensor arrays of the second sensor-chiplet matrix sense second images of scene information, and the first and second images together form a stereoscopic image pair.

24. ) The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the image sensor arrays of the first sensor-chiplet matrix sense images of scene information that partially overlaps the scene information of the images sensed by the image sensor arrays of the second sensor-chiplet matrix.

25. ) The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the sensor chiplets of the first sensor-chiplet matrix are laterally interspersed between the sensor chiplets of the second sensor-chiplet matrix.

26. ) The apparatus of claim 22, wherein all of the sensor chiplets of the first sensor-chiplet matrix are laterally located to one side of the sensor chiplets of the second sensor-chiplet matrix.

27. ) The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the apparatus has a selected design viewing distance of between 2 and 20 feet in front of the display, further comprising:

g) a first imaging lens array including a plurality of imaging lenses, each having a first optical axis corresponding to exactly one of the image sensor array in the first sensor-chiplet matrix;

h) a second imaging lens array including a plurality of imaging lenses, each having a second optical axis corresponding to exactly one of the image sensor arrays in the second sensor-chiplet matrix; and

i) wherein the first and second optical axes intersect at the design viewing distance for the display.

28. ) The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the imaging lenses corresponding to the image sensor arrays of the first sensor-chiplet matrix have a different focal length than the imaging lenses corresponding to the image sensor arrays of the second sensor-chiplet matrix

29. ) The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the first sensor-chiplet matrix has more sensor chiplets than the second sensor-chiplet matrix.

30. ) The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the imaging lenses of the first sensor-chiplet matrix have a narrower viewing angle than the imaging lenses of the second sensor-chiplet matrix.

31. ) The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the first sensor-chiplet matrices have a first image sampling rate and the second sensor-chiplet matrices have a second image sampling rate different from the first image sampling rate.

32. ) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

a) multiple sensor chiplets are arranged in first horizontal rows and first vertical columns forming a red sensor-chiplet matrix, second horizontal rows and second vertical columns of sensor chiplets forming a green sensor-chiplet matrix, and third horizontal rows and third vertical columns of sensor chiplets forming a blue sensor-chiplet matrix, the sensor chiplets of the red, green, and blue sensor-chiplet matrices interspersed with each other in either the horizontal or vertical direction; and

b) the image sensor arrays in the red, green and blue sensor-chiplet matrices are more sensitive to red, green and blue light, respectively, than the image sensor arrays in the other two sensor-chiplet matrices;

33. ) The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the imaging lenses of the green sensor-chiplet matrix have a narrower viewing angle than the imaging lenses of the red or blue sensor-chiplet matrix.

34. ) The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the number of sensor chiplets in the green sensor-chiplet matrix is greater than the number of chiplets in the red or blue sensor-chiplet matrix.

35. ) The apparatus of claim 32, further comprising fourth horizontal rows and fourth vertical columns of sensor chiplets forming a broadband sensor-chiplet matrix, the sensor chiplets of the broadband sensor-chiplet matrix interspersed with the sensor chiplets of the first, second, and third sensor-chiplet matrices, and wherein the image sensor arrays of the broadband sensor-chiplet matrix are sensitive to broadband or white light.

36. ) The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the imaging lenses of the broadband sensor-chiplet matrix have a different viewing angle than the imaging lenses of the red, green, or blue sensor-chiplet matrices.

37. ) The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the number of sensor chiplets in the broadband sensor-chiplet matrix is different than the number of chiplets in the red, green, or blue sensor-chiplet matrices.