DETECTING CORRECT OR INCORRECT OPERATION OF A DISPLAY PANEL

• US 20180190172A1
• Filed: 12/28/2017
• Published: 07/05/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ficosa Adas, S.L.U.
• Original Assignee: Ficosa Adas, S.L.U.
• Granted Patent: US 10,453,367 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/02 Details of power systems and of start or stop of display operation
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/12 Test circuits or failure detection circuits included in a display system, as permanent part thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/10 Automotive applications
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/006 Electronic inspection or testing of displays and display drivers, e.g. of LED or LCD displays testing individual LED's G01R31/2635; testing lamps G01R31/44; testing of optical features of LCD displays G02F1/1309
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3208 organic, e.g. using organic light-emitting diodes [OLED]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/045 Self-contained testing apparatus

Abstract

Methods are provided for detecting correct or incorrect operation of a display panel (e.g. LED or OLED) during display of a video signal, the display panel being associable with a controller system. The method comprises: adding, by the controller system, a dynamic pattern into the video signal for inducing the display panel to display the video signal with the added dynamic pattern substantially imperceptible to human vision, and to provoke an expected power consumption evolution during the display of the video signal with the added dynamic pattern; measuring, by the controller system, power consumed by the display panel during the display of the video signal with the added dynamic pattern to determine an actual power consumption evolution; and determining, by the controller system, whether the actual power consumption evolution corresponds to the expected power consumption evolution. Controller systems and computer programs suitable for performing such detection methods are also provided.

Claims

1. A method for detecting a correct or an incorrect operation of a display panel during a display of a video signal, the display panel being associable with a controller system, and the method comprising:

adding, by the controller system, a dynamic pattern into the video signal for inducing the display panel to display the video signal with the added dynamic pattern that is substantially imperceptible to human vision, and to provoke an expected power consumption evolution during the display of the video signal with the added dynamic pattern;

measuring, by the controller system, power consumed by the display panel during the display of the video signal with the added dynamic pattern to determine an actual power consumption evolution; and

determining, by the controller system, whether the actual power consumption evolution corresponds to the expected power consumption evolution.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining whether the actual power consumption evolution corresponds to the expected power consumption evolution comprises:

determining, by the controller system, whether a deviation between the expected power consumption evolution and the actual power consumption evolution are within a predetermined deviation threshold or range.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the video signal includes a sequence of video frames with a given frequency of video frames, and the dynamic pattern includes one or more pattern frames.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein adding the dynamic pattern into the video signal comprises:

adding, by the controller system, a pattern frame into a video frame for inducing the display panel to display the video signal with displaying of the added pattern frame on a physically covered part of the display panel, so that displaying of the added pattern frame is substantially imperceptible to human vision.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the frequency of video frames is greater than a frequency threshold, so that distortion included in a single video frame is substantially imperceptible to human vision;

and wherein adding the dynamic pattern into the video signal comprises;

adding, by the controller system, a pattern frame into a video frame in such a way that the video frame with the added pattern frame is preceded in the sequence of video frames by a first number of consecutive video frames without the added pattern frame, or is succeeded in the sequence of video frames by a second number of consecutive video frames without the added pattern frame, so that displaying of the added pattern frame is substantially imperceptible to human vision.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein adding the pattern frame into the video frame comprises adding, by the controller system, the pattern frame into the video frame in such a way that the video frame is replaced by another video frame including the pattern frame, or at least part of the video frame is overlapped by the pattern frame.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein adding the pattern frame into the video frame comprises adding, by the controller system, the pattern frame with white as predominant color into at least one of the video frame or the pattern frame with black as predominant color into the video frame.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the display panel is a Light Emitting Diode (LED) display panel or an Organic-LED (OLED) display panel.

9. A computer program product comprising program instructions for causing a controller system to perform the method of claim 1 for detecting the correct or the incorrect operation of the display panel.

10. A controller system for detecting a correct or an incorrect operation of a display panel during a display of a video signal, the display panel being associable with the controller system, and the controller system comprising:

a dynamic pattern adding module to add a dynamic pattern into the video signal for inducing the display panel to display the video signal with the added dynamic pattern that is substantially imperceptible to human vision, and to provoke an expected power consumption evolution during the display of the video signal with the added dynamic pattern;

a measurement module to measure power consumed by the display panel during the display of the video signal with the added dynamic pattern to determine an actual power consumption evolution; and

a detector module to determine whether the actual power consumption evolution corresponds to the expected power consumption evolution.

11. The controller system according to claim 10, wherein at least one of the dynamic pattern adding module, the measurement module, or the detection module is implemented through an integrated circuit.

12. The controller system according to claim 10, wherein at least one of the dynamic pattern adding module, the measurement module, or the detection module comprised in the controller system is executed by a processor, and wherein a memory stores instructions corresponding to a function of the dynamic pattern adding module, the measurement module, or the detection module as executed by the processor.

13. The controller system according to claim 10, wherein the display panel is a Light Emitting Diode (LED) display panel or an Organic-LED (OLED) display panel.

14. A safety-critical system comprising a display system including the controller system of claim 10, and the display panel.

15. A vehicle comprising a safety-critical system according to claim 14.

16. A controller system for detecting a correct or an incorrect operation of a display panel during display of a video signal, the display panel being associable with the controller system, and the controller system comprising:

a memory device; and

a processor coupled to the memory device to;

add a dynamic pattern into the video signal for inducing the display panel to display the video signal with the added dynamic pattern that is substantially imperceptible to human vision, and to provoke an expected power consumption evolution during the display of the video signal with the added dynamic pattern;

measure power consumed by the display panel during the display of the video signal with the added dynamic pattern to determine an actual power consumption evolution; and

determine whether the actual power consumption evolution corresponds to the expected power consumption evolution.

17. The controller system of claim 16 wherein the processor determines whether a deviation between the expected power consumption evolution and the actual power consumption evolution is within a predetermined deviation threshold or range.

18. The controller system of claim 16 wherein the video signal includes a sequence of video frames with a given frequency of video frames, and the dynamic pattern includes one or more pattern frames.

19. The controller system of claim 18 wherein the processor adds a pattern frame into a video frame for inducing the display panel to display the video signal with displaying of the added pattern frame on a physically covered part of the display panel so that displaying of the added pattern frame is substantially imperceptible to human vision.

20. The controller system of claim 18 wherein the frequency of the video frames is greater than a frequency threshold so that a distortion included in a single video frame is substantially imperceptible to human vision.