Display having a plurality of driver integrated circuits

• US 8,743,335 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Issued: 06/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Gettemy, Shawn R., Vieri, Carlin J., Lee, Yongman, Yao, Wei H.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, DUNG T
• Application Number:
  US13/620,014
• Publication Number:
  US 20130009899A1
• Time in Patent Office: 627 Days
• Field of Search: 349149-152, 345/103
• US Class Current: 349/152
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13452 Conductors connecting driver circuitry and terminals of panels
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/136277 formed on a semiconductor substrate, e.g. of silicon
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 2202/103 a-Si
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2300/0417 Special arrangements specific to the use of low carrier mobility technology
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2300/0426 Layout of electrodes and connections
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0223 Compensation for problems related to R-C delay and attenuation in electrodes of matrix panels, e.g. in gate electrodes or on-substrate video signal electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3666 with the matrix divided into sections

Abstract

An electronic device is disclosed. In some embodiments, the electronic device includes a liquid-crystal display (LCD) and a plurality of driver integrated circuits (ICs) coupled to the LCD. The driver ICs may be disposed near non-central locations along a side of the LCD, and in some embodiments, one of the driver ICs may be a master driver IC and the other driver IC or driver ICs may be slave driver ICs.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving image data in a master driver IC;

determining via the master driver IC whether the image data is addressed to a first portion of a pixel array controlled by the master driver IC or a second portion of the pixel array controlled by a slave driver IC; and

in response to a determination that the image data is addressed to the second portion of the pixel array, transmitting the image data to the slave driver IC from the master driver IC.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving image data in a master driver IC comprises receiving image data via a flex cable coupled to the master driver IC.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining via the master IC whether the image data is addressed to a third portion of the pixel array controlled by another slave driver IC; and

in response to a determination that the image data is addressed to the third portion of the pixel array, transmitting the image data to the other slave driver IC from the master driver IC.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising changing a transmissive state of a sub-pixel on an amorphous silicon LCD based on the image data.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising forming the image data based on data received over a cellular network.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising forming the image data based on data received from a server over the Internet.

7. A system, comprising:

a hand-held electronic device comprising;

a multi-touch touch screen sensor;

a display disposed adjacent the multi-touch touchscreen sensor, wherein the display comprises a plurality of driver ICs, wherein the plurality of driver ICs comprise a first driver IC and a second IC, wherein the first driver IC is configured to receive image data and determine whether the image data is addressed to a first portion of a pixel array controlled by the first driver IC or a second portion of the pixel array controlled by the second driver IC and transmit the image data to the second driver IC from the first driver IC when the first driver IC determines that the image data is addressed to the second portion of the pixel array.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the display comprises an amorphous silicon LCD.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of driver ICs are disposed on different sides of a central longitudinal axis of the display.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the first driver IC comprises a master driver IC and the second driver IC comprises a slave driver IC.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the master driver IC is spaced away from the slave driver IC by a distance between about 10 mm and about 20 mm.

12. The system of claim 7, comprising a flex cable coupled to the first driver IC and configured to transmit the image data to the first driver IC.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of driver ICs comprise a third driver IC, wherein the first driver IC is configured to determine whether the image data is addressed to a third portion of the pixel array controlled by the third driver IC and transmit the image data from the first driver IC to the third driver IC when the first driver IC determines that the image data is addressed to the third portion of the pixel array.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the third driver IC comprises a second slave driver.

15. A device comprising, comprising:

a master driver IC configured to receiving image data and control a first portion of a pixel array; and

a slave driver IC configured to control a second portion of the pixel array, wherein the master driver IC is configured to determine whether the image data is addressed to the first portion of the pixel array or the second portion of the pixel array, wherein the master driver IC is configured to transmit the image data to the slave driver IC in response to a determination that the image data is addressed to the second portion of the pixel array.

16. The device of claim 15, comprising a flex cable coupled to the master driver IC and configured to transmit the image data to the master driver IC.

17. The device of claim 15, comprising:

a second slave driver IC configured to control a third portion of the pixel array, wherein the master driver IC is configured to transmit the image data to the second slave driver IC in response to a determination that the image data is addressed to the second portion of the pixel array.

18. The device of claim 15, comprising an amorphous silicon LCD comprising a sub-pixel, wherein a transmissive state of the sub-pixel is configured to be changed based on the image data.

19. The device of claim 15, comprising a processor configured to form the image data based on data received over a cellular network.

20. The device of claim 15, comprising a processor configured to form the image data based on data received from a server over the Internet.