Systems and method for display temperature detection

• US 8,687,026 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2011
• Issued: 04/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Wurzel, Joshua Grey, Al-Dahle, Ahmad
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheng, Joe H
• Application Number:
  US13/246,961
• Publication Number:
  US 20130076799A1
• Time in Patent Office: 916 Days
• Field of Search: 345/77, 345/83, 345/88, 345/89, 345/101, 345/173, 345/174, 345/690, 178 1805- 1807, 178/19.03, 348/790
• US Class Current: 345/690
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 1/026 arrangements for monitoring a plurality of temperatures, e.g. by multiplexing
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 2213/00 Temperature mapping
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0242 Compensation of deficiencies in the appearance of colours
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/041 Temperature compensation
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0666 for control of colour parameters, e.g. colour temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3426 the different display panel areas being distributed in two dimensions, e.g. matrix
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3677 suitable for active matrices only
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3688 suitable for active matrices only

Abstract

Disclosed embodiments relate to a display temperature detection system that can detect temperature variations in different regions of a display panel. The temperature measuring display system includes a display panel that provides graphical images. Further, the temperature measuring display system includes temperature measurement circuitry. The temperature measurement circuitry includes one or more thermal diodes, transistors, or a mesh layer useful to determine at least one temperature measurement of the display panel.

Claims

1. Temperature-measuring display system, comprising:

a display panel configured to display a graphical image;

temperature measurement circuitry, comprising;

a mesh layer disposed in or on the display panel, wherein the mesh layer comprises rows and columns of wire;

measurement circuitry configured to measure baseline resistance values or the baseline capacitance values or a combination thereof, at various points in a mesh layer disposed in or on the display panel and to determine temperature values in one or more areas of the display panel that correspond to various intersecting points of the rows and columns of the mesh layer based upon electrical attributes of the rows and columns in the mesh layer; and

a processor configured to control the display panel based at least in part upon the temperature values.

2. The temperature-measuring display system of claim 1, wherein the measurement circuitry is configured to determine the temperature values at each intersecting point of the rows and the columns.

3. The temperature-measuring display system of claim 1, wherein the temperature values represent a temperature measurement at the one or more areas of the display panel.

4. The temperature-measuring display system of claim 1, wherein the temperature values represent a change in temperature from baseline temperature values at the one or more areas of the display panel.

5. The temperature-measuring display system of claim 1, wherein the temperature measurement circuitry is configured to measure at least one of resistance values or capacitance values of the mesh layer in the plurality of locations that correspond to intersections of the rows and columns of wire and determine the temperature values of the intersections based at least in part upon the measured values of the mesh layer.

6. The temperature-measuring display system of claim 5, wherein the temperature measurement circuitry comprises a low-pass filter configured to filter high frequency components of the measured resistance values, the capacitance values, or a combination thereof.

7. The temperature-measuring display system of claim 1, comprising:

a driver integrated circuit configured to provide data signals for the graphical image; and

one or more thermal diodes disposed in the driver integrated circuit, wherein the temperature measurement circuitry is configured to provide a temperature measurement of the driver integrated circuit based upon measurements obtained from the one or more thermal diodes.

8. The temperature-measuring display system of claim 1, comprising display circuitry configured to generate a temperature gradient map based at least in part upon the temperature values.

9. The temperature-measuring display system of claim 8, wherein the temperature gradient map comprises regions of temperature value ranges based at least in part upon the temperature values.

10. The temperature-measuring display system of claim 1, comprising the display circuitry configured to generate a white point gradient map based at least in part upon the temperature values.

11. The temperature-measuring display system of claim 10, wherein the white point gradient map comprises regions of white point value ranges based at least in part upon the temperature values.

12. The temperature-measuring display system of claim 1, comprising display circuitry configured to adjust one or more white point values based at least in part upon the temperature values.

13. The temperature-measuring display system of claim 12, wherein the display circuitry is configured to adjust the white point value to offset an increased blue color when one or more temperature values is above a baseline value.

14. The temperature-measuring display system of claim 12, wherein the display circuitry is configured to adjust the white point value to offset an increased yellow color when one or more temperature values is below a baseline value.

15. The temperature-measuring display system of claim 1, comprising communications circuitry or an input/output port configured to provide the temperature values to an entity external to the temperature-measuring display system.

16. A method, comprising:

measuring, via measurement circuitry of a display panel, baseline resistance values or the baseline capacitance values or a combination thereof, at various points in a mesh layer disposed in or on the display panel, wherein the mesh layer comprises rows and columns of electrically conductive lines;

determining, via the measurement circuitry, a change in resistance, a change in capacitance, or combination thereof from the baseline resistance, capacitance, or combination thereof at various intersecting points of the rows and columns of electrically conductive lines in the mesh layer;

associating, via the processing circuitry, the change in resistance, the change in capacitance or combination thereof of the rows and columns of electrically conductive lines with one or more temperature values that correspond to various intersecting points of the rows and columns of electrically conductive lines; and

controlling the display panel, via the processing circuitry, based at least in part upon the temperature values.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein controlling the display panel comprises adjusting, via the circuitry, white point values of the display panel based at least in part upon the one or more temperature values.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein controlling the display panel comprises providing, via the circuitry, the one or more temperature values to an entity external to the display panel.

19. The method of claim 16, comprising comparing the one or more temperature values with a simulated temperature value to determine an accuracy of the simulated temperature value.

20. The method of claim 16, comprising determining a plurality of baseline temperature measurements by correlating the determined resistance values with the one or more temperature values.

21. The method of claim 16, comprising determining the one or more temperature values by correlating a range of resistance values with a specific temperature value.

22. The method of claim 16, comprising:

filtering high frequency components from at least one of the baseline resistance values, the baseline capacitance values, the change in resistance, or the change in capacitance, via a low-pass filter; and

determining the one or more temperature values based at least in part upon at least one of the filtered baseline resistance values, the filtered baseline capacitance values, the filtered change in resistance, or the filtered change in capacitance.

23. An electronic device, comprising:

a display panel configured to display a graphical image;

a processor configured to provide image data to the display panel; and

temperature measurement circuitry, comprising;

a mesh layer disposed in or on the display panel, wherein the mesh layer comprises rows and columns of wire, and wherein resistance values, capacitance values, or a combination thereof at various intersecting points of the rows and columns of wire change based upon temperature changes of the display panel;

measurement circuitry, configured to determine at least one of the resistance values or the capacitance values at various intersecting points of the rows and columns of wire, wherein the processor is configured to determine one or more temperature values in one or more areas of the display based at least in part upon the resistance values, capacitance values, or combination thereof; and

a processor configured to control the display panel based at least in part upon the temperature values.

24. The electronic device, of claim 23, comprising output circuitry comprising at least one of an input/output port, a network interface, or an RF transmitter;

wherein the processor is configured to transmit temperature statistics of the display panel via the output circuitry.

25. The electronic device of claim 23, comprising at least one of storage or memory configured to store temperature statistics of the display panel.

26. The electronic device of claim 23, comprising at least one input structure configured to accept an input from a user of the electronic device, wherein the input represents a request to display temperature statistics and the processor is configured to selectively provide image data representative of the temperature statistics to the display panel based upon the input.

27. A method, comprising:

measuring, via measurement circuitry of a display panel, baseline resistance values or the baseline capacitance values or a combination thereof to determine a plurality of temperature values that correspond to various points in a mesh layer disposed in or on the display panel;

generating, via display circuitry, a temperature gradient map that corresponds to various intersecting points of rows and columns of the mesh layer disposed in or on the display panel based at least in part on the plurality of temperature values; and

adjusting, via processing circuitry, one or more white point values of the display panel based at least in part on the plurality of temperature values.