Staggered column drive circuit systems and methods

• US 20060044246A1
• Filed: 02/08/2005
• Published: 03/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snaptrack Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm MEMS Technologies Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mignard, Marc
• Granted Patent: US 7,515,147 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/98
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/0218 with collection of electrodes in groups for n-dimensional addressing
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/0275 Details of drivers for data electrodes, other than drivers for liquid crystal, plasma or OLED displays, not related to handling digital grey scale data or to communication of data to the pixels by means of a current
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/025 Reduction of instantaneous peaks of current
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3466 based on interferometric effect

Abstract

A system and method for staggered actuation of columns of interferometric modulators. In one embodiment, the method determines data for actuating two or more groups of columns in the array, each group having one or more columns, and provides the data to the array to actuate two or more group of columns so that each group is activated during a group addressing period. In another embodiment, a display includes at least one driving circuit and an array comprising a plurality of interferometric modulators disposed in a plurality of columns and rows, said array being configured to be driven by said driving circuit which is configured to stagger the actuation of the plurality of columns during an array addressing period.

Claims

1. A display, comprising:

at least one driving circuit; and

an array comprising a plurality of interferometric modulators disposed in a plurality of columns and rows, said array being configured to be driven by said driving circuit,

wherein said driving circuit is configured to stagger the assertion of a signal for two or more columns.

2. The display of claim 1, wherein the driving circuit staggers the assertion of a signal for two or more columns in a column addressing period, and wherein the driving circuit is further configured to strobe one or more rows with a signal during a row addressing period.

3. The display of claim 2, wherein said driving circuit is further configured to assert signals on two or more groups of columns, each group having a group addressing period during the column addressing period, and each group having one or more columns, wherein the group addressing period of each group is at least partially different than the group addressing period of any other group.

4. The display of claim 2, wherein said driving circuit is further configured to assert signals on two or more groups of columns, each group being activated during a group addressing period within the column addressing period, and each group having one or more columns.

5. The display of claim 2, wherein said driving circuit is further configured to assert signals for two or more groups of columns, each group being activated during a group addressing period within a column addressing period, each group having one or more columns, wherein the relative start time for each group addressing period is temporally distinct.

6. The display of claim 1, wherein said driving circuit is further configured to assert a signal for a first column during a first time period and a second column during a second time period, wherein at least a portion of the first time period and the second time period occur at different times.

7. The display of claim 3, wherein each group has one column.

8. The display of claim 3, wherein said driving circuit asserts signals for each group in a predetermined order.

9. The display of claim 3, wherein said driving circuit asserts signals for one or more groups in a predetermined order.

10. The display of claim 3, wherein said driving circuit asserts signals for one or more groups in a random order.

11. The display of claim 3, wherein each group contains the same number of columns.

12. The display of claim 3, wherein one or more groups contain a different number of columns.

13. The display of claim 2, wherein said driving circuit asserts signals for each column in a sequential order.

14. The display of claim 2, wherein said driving circuit asserts signals for least two or more columns in a non-sequential order.

15. A display, comprising:

at least one driving circuit; and

an array comprising a plurality of columns of interferometric modulators and a plurality of rows of interferometric modulators, said array being configured to be driven by said driving circuit,

wherein said driving circuit is configured to receive column data for the plurality of columns, and is further configured to use the column data to non-simultaneously assert a signal on each of two or more columns of interferometric modulators during a column addressing period and to assert a signal on each of one or more rows during a row addressing period.

16. A method of providing data to an array having a plurality of columns of interferometric modulators and rows of interferometric modulators, the method comprising:

asserting a signal for each of the columns in the first group of columns based on a first data set during a first group addressing period in an array addressing period;

asserting a signal for each of the columns in the second group of columns using a second data set during a second group addressing period in the array addressing period, the second group addressing period overlapping the first group addressing period during a portion of time; and

asserting a signal in a first row during the portion of time to actuate interferometric modulators in the first row.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first group includes a different number of columns than the second group.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first group addressing period and the second group addressing period are in a predetermined order.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the first group addressing period and the second group addressing period are in random order.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the first group includes the same number of columns as the second group.

21. A method of providing data to an array having a plurality of columns of interferometric modulators and rows of interferometric modulators, the method comprising:

receiving data for two or more groups of columns in the array, each group having one or more columns; and

asserting signals based on the data to the two or more groups such that signals are asserted on two or more groups beginning at different times and there is a period of time when signals are asserted on all the groups at the same time.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein each group contains the same number of columns.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein a group addressing period of each group is at least partially different than a group addressing period for any other group.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein a group addressing period of each group begins at a temporally distinct time.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein a group addressing period of two or more groups are in a predetermined order.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein a group addressing period of two or more groups are in a random order.

27. A display, comprising:

an array comprising a plurality of interferometric modulators, each of the interferometric modulators being connected to a column electrode and a row electrode; and

a driving circuit connected to the column electrodes and row electrodes of said array and being configured to drive the array, said driving circuit configured to assert a signal on two or more columns beginning at two different times.

28. A driver circuit configured to drive an array of a plurality of interferometric modulators, each of the interferometric modulators being connected to a column electrode and a row electrode, the driving circuit comprising:

a storage device to store predetermined display data; and

a signal device in data communication with said storage device, said signal device configured to assert a signal on each column electrode of two or more columns non-simultaneously, wherein the signals are based on the predetermined display data.