Organic light emitting diode methods and apparatus

• US 7,598,686 B2
• Filed: 04/26/2007
• Issued: 10/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Philips Lighting North America Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Lys, Ihor A., Mueller, George G., Morgan, Frederick M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Owens; Douglas W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vu; Jimmy T
• Application Number:
  US11/740,380
• Publication Number:
  US 20070188427A1
• Time in Patent Office: 894 Days
• Field of Search: 315291-294, 315312-318, 315360-362, 315/149, 315/307, 362234-236, 362/249, 362/800
• US Class Current: 315/312
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/00 Circuit arrangements for operating light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/20 Controlling the colour of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/3725 Switched mode power supply [SMPS]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/38 using boost topology
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/397 Current mirror circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/46 having LEDs disposed in parallel lines
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/60 Circuit arrangements for operating LEDs comprising organic material, e.g. for operating organic light-emitting diodes [OLED] or polymer light-emitting diodes [PLED]
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/155 Coordinated control of two or more light sources
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/30 Semiconductor lamps, e.g. solid state lamps [SSL] light emitting diodes [LED] or organic LED [OLED]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 362/80 Light emitting diode

Abstract

Organic light emitting diode (OLED) methods and apparatus in which at least one first OLED generates first radiation having a first spectrum, and at least one second OLED generates second radiation having a second spectrum different from the first spectrum. In one example, an addressable controller is coupled to the first OLED and the second OLED for independently controlling a first intensity of the first radiation and a second intensity of the second radiation based on a network signal including lighting information for a plurality of light-generating apparatus. An OLED controller may be in communication with a user interface to control different OLED-generated spectrums in response to user operation of the user interface. In one aspect, a controller may be configured to implement a pulse width modulation (PWM) technique to control the OLEDs.

Claims

1. An illumination apparatus, comprising:

at least one first organic light emitting diode (OLED) for generating first radiation having a first spectrum;

at least one second OLED for generating second radiation having a second spectrum different from the first spectrum; and

at least one addressable controller coupled to the at least one first OLED and the at least one second OLED for independently controlling at least a first intensity of the first radiation and a second intensity of the second radiation based at least in part on at least one network signal including lighting information for a plurality of light-generating apparatus including the illumination apparatus.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one first OLED and the at least one second OLED include at least one light-emitting polymer.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lighting information includes intensity values for multiple OLEDs of the plurality of light-generating apparatus, and wherein the at least one addressable controller is configured to process the at least one network signal based on an address of the at least one addressable controller to recover from the lighting information the intensity values for at least the first and second OLEDs of the illumination apparatus.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the at least one network signal includes address information.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the address information relates to an arrangement of data packets in the at least one network signal.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one addressable controller has an alterable address.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one network signal is formatted using a DMX protocol, and wherein the at least one addressable controller is configured to control the at least one first OLED and the at least one second OLED based at least in part on the DMX protocol.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one addressable controller is configured to implement a pulse width modulation technique to control at least the first intensity of the first radiation and the second intensity of the second radiation.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one optical element disposed in a path of at least the first radiation and the second radiation to optically process at least the first radiation and the second radiation.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one addressable controller is configured to control the at least one first OLED and the at least one second OLED based at least in part on user operation of at least one user interface in communication with the at least one addressable controller.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one network signal is provided to the at least one addressable controller based at least in part on the user operation of the at least one user interface.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, in combination with the at least one user interface, wherein the at least one user interface includes a central network controller for generating the at least one network signal.

13. In an illumination apparatus comprising at least one first organic light emitting diode (OLED) for generating first radiation having a first spectrum and at least one second OLED for generating second radiation having a second spectrum different from the first spectrum, an illumination control method, comprising:

A) receiving at least one network signal including address information and lighting information for a plurality of light-generating apparatus including the illumination apparatus; and

B) independently controlling at least the first intensity of the first radiation and the second intensity of the second radiation based at least in part on the address information and the lighting information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the lighting information includes intensity values for multiple OLEDs of the plurality of light-generating apparatus, wherein the illumination apparatus has an address, and wherein B) comprises:

B1) processing the at least one network signal based on the address of the illumination apparatus and the address information in the at least one network signal to recover the intensity values for at least the first and second OLEDs of the illumination apparatus.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the address information relates to an arrangement of data packets in the at least one network signal, and wherein B1) comprises:

processing the at least one network signal based on the address of the illumination apparatus and the arrangement of data packets in the at least one network signal to recover the intensity values for at least the first and second OLEDs of the illumination apparatus.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one network signal is formatted using a DMX protocol, and wherein B) comprises:

controlling the at least one first OLED and the at least one second OLED based at least in part on the DMX protocol.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein B) comprises:

implementing a pulse width modulation technique to control at least the first intensity of the first radiation and the second intensity of the second radiation.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein A) comprises:

receiving the at least one network signal based at least in part on user operation of at least one user interface.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one user interface includes a central network controller, and wherein A) comprises:

receiving the at least one network signal from the central network controller.

20. An illumination apparatus, comprising:

at least one first organic light emitting diode (OLED) for generating first radiation having a first spectrum;

at least one second OLED for generating second radiation having a second spectrum different from the first spectrum;

at least one user interface; and

at least one controller coupled to the at least one first OLED and the at least one second OLED and in communication with the at least one user interface to independently control at least a first intensity of the first radiation and a second intensity of the second radiation in response to user operation of the at least one user interface,

wherein the at least one controller is configured to implement a pulse width modulation (PWM) technique to control at least the first intensity of the first radiation and the second intensity of the second radiation.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the at least one first OLED and the at least one second OLED include at least one light-emitting polymer.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the at least one controller is configured to independently control at least the first intensity of the first radiation and the second intensity of the second radiation such that an overall color generated by the apparatus represents a single observable color at a given time.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the at least one controller is configured to independently control at least the first intensity of the first radiation and the second intensity of the second radiation so as to produce a dynamic lighting effect as perceived by an observer.

24. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising at least one third OLED for generating third radiation having a third spectrum different from the first spectrum and the second spectrum, wherein the at least one controller is further configured to independently control a third intensity of the third radiation in response to the user operation of the at least one user interface.

25. The apparatus of claim 20, further including at least one sensor to monitor at least one detectable condition, wherein the at least one controller is configured to further control the at least one first OLED and the at least one second OLED in response to the at least one detectable condition.

26. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising at least one optical element disposed in a path of at least the first radiation and the second radiation to optically process at least the first radiation and the second radiation.

27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein:

the at least one controller includes at least one first register associated with the at least one first LED and at least one second register associated with the at least one second LED; and

the at least one controller is configured to program the at least one first register and the at least one second register based on the user operation.

28. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the at least one user interface comprises at least one of at least one potentiometer, a thumb plate, a trackball, a joystick, a switch, and a network interface.

29. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the at least one controller is configured as an addressable controller capable of receiving at least one network signal including address information and lighting information, and wherein the at least one network signal is provided to the addressable controller based at least in part on the user operation of the at least one user interface.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the addressable controller has an alterable address.

31. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the at least one network signal is formatted using a DMX protocol, and wherein the addressable controller is configured to control the at least one first OLED and the at least one second OLED based at least in part on the DMX protocol.

32. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the at least one user interface comprises a central network controller for generating the at least one network signal.