OLED display and sensor

• US 8,203,541 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2009
• Issued: 06/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Vibrant Licensing LLC (IP Edge LLC)
• Original Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Inventors: Wolfe, Andrew, Conte, Thomas Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Young, Wayne
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUTCHER, BRIAN M
• Application Number:
  US12/402,332
• Publication Number:
  US 20100231528A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,196 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 345/175
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0421 by interrupting or reflecting a light beam, e.g. optical touch-screen

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a display device with an OLED display including a plurality of nodes configured to emit light when drive circuitry provides a signal across the plurality of nodes at or above an illumination threshold. Measurement circuitry may be disposed proximate to the plurality of nodes and may be configured to sense the light reflected off of an object positioned over the OLED display to provide measurement signals. The measurement signals can be evaluated to determine the location of the display proximate to the object that provides the reflected light.

Claims

1. A display device for sensing the proximity of a touch, comprising:

an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display comprising OLED materials forming a plurality of nodes configured to emit light when drive circuitry provides a signal across the plurality of nodes at or above an illumination threshold; and

measurement circuitry disposed proximate to the plurality of nodes, wherein the measurement circuitry is configured to sense the light reflected off of an object positioned over the OLED display and passed through the OLED materials, and wherein the measurement circuitry is further configured to provide a measurement signal responsive to the sensed reflected light.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of nodes comprises an OLED pixel.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the measurement circuitry comprises a plurality of measurement circuits, and each of the measurement circuits is associated with one OLED pixel for sensing the reflected light emitted from the OLED pixel.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the OLED materials comprise a plurality of OLED display layers.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the measurement circuitry is configured to sense the reflected light at a predefined intensity.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the measurement circuitry is configured to sense the reflected light during a predefined time interval.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the OLED display is configured to emit pulsed light, and the measurement circuitry is configured to sense the reflected light that is emitted from the plurality of nodes as pulsed light.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the measurement circuitry further comprises a directional sensor configured to sense the reflected light from a limited area proximate the sensor.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the directional sensor is arranged on an outer edge of the OLED display.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the measurement circuitry further comprises a plurality of silvered mirrors arranged under a portion of the OLED display.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the measurement circuitry further comprises a filter for filtering out noise.

12. The device of claim 1, further comprising a processor coupled to the measurement circuitry, wherein the processor is configured to:

receive measurement signals from the measurement circuitry, the measurement signals being indicative of the sensed reflected light;

evaluate the received measurement signals; and

determine the location of the touch from the evaluation of the received measurement signals.

13. A method for sensing a touch on an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, comprising:

emitting light from a plurality of nodes on the OLED display when drive circuitry provides a signal across the plurality of nodes at or above an illumination threshold, wherein the nodes are formed from OLED materials;

detecting reflected light along the edges of the OLED display, wherein the reflected light is passed through the OLED materials, wherein the detecting occurs using measurement circuitry arranged along the edges of the OLED display to provide sensed signals corresponding to two or more objects proximate to the display, wherein the sensed signals for each object comprises a signal associated with an x-axis position and a signal associated with a y-axis position; and

evaluating the sensed signals associated with the x-axis and y-axis to identify the location of the touch.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein evaluating the sensed signals comprises:

re-emitting light at each of the x-axis and y-axis intersection points; and

detecting the presence of reflected light to identify the locations of the touch.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein evaluating the sensed signals comprises:

scanning the plurality of nodes by re-emitting light on a per column and/or per row basis; and

detecting the presence of reflected light at multiple points in time to identify the locations of the touch.

16. A method for sensing the proximity of an object to an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, comprising:

emitting light from a plurality of nodes on the OLED display when drive circuitry provides a signal across the plurality of nodes at or above an illumination threshold, and wherein the OLED display includes OLED materials;

detecting reflected light using measurement circuitry to provide a measurement signal, wherein the reflected light corresponds to at least a portion of emitted light that is reflected from the object proximate to the display through the OLED materials;

evaluating the measurement signal; and

determining the location of the display proximate to the object providing the reflected light based on at least the evaluation of the detected reflected light.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising amplifying a plurality of signals generated by the measurement circuitry in response to detecting the reflected light, and converting the plurality of amplified signals to a plurality of digital signals.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein emitting light from the plurality of nodes comprises emitting a pulsed light from the plurality of nodes.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein detecting the reflected light further comprises filtering out non-pulsed light.