Processor thermal management for liquid crystal temperature regulation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10620439-B1
Application number	US-201715786116-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Oct 17, 2017
Priority date	Oct 17, 2017
Publication date	Apr 14, 2020
Grant date	Apr 14, 2020

Abstract

Thermal control logic receives a temperature signal representative of a temperature of a liquid crystal display (LCD). The thermal control logic is configured to selectively drive a motion actuator to couple a heat conduction element with a heat sinking layer that receives heat from one or more processors. The heat conduction element is coupled between the heat sinking layer and the LCD.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A Head Mounted Display (HMD) comprising:
a heat sinking layer for receiving heat from a processor of the HMD;
a liquid crystal display (LCD) positioned to display images to a wearer of the HMD;
a temperature sensor configured to generate a temperature signal representative of a temperature of the LCD;
a heat conduction element disposed between the LCD and the heat sinking layer;
a motion actuator coupled to the heat conduction element; and
thermal control logic configured to receive the temperature signal from the temperature sensor, wherein the thermal control logic is configured to selectively transfer the heat to the LCD by selectively driving the motion actuator to couple the heat conduction element with the heat sinking layer in response to the temperature signal.

2. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein the thermal control logic is configured to drive the motion actuator to couple the heat conduction element with the heat sinking layer when the temperature signal is below a lower temperature threshold, and wherein the thermal control logic is configured to drive the motion actuator to decouple the heat conduction element with the heat sinking layer when the temperature signal is above an upper temperature threshold.

3. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein the HMD further comprises:
an LCD thermal layer coupled to the heat conduction element to distribute the heat across the LCD, wherein the LCD thermal layer is disposed across a backside of the LCD that is opposite a viewing side of the LCD.

4. The HMD of claim 1 further comprising:
a chassis; and
a chassis heat conduction element disposed between the chassis and the heat sinking layer, wherein the chassis heat conduction element is decoupled from the heat sinking layer when the heat conduction element is coupled to the heat sinking layer.

5. The HMD of claim 4 further comprising:
a second temperature sensor configured to generate a second temperature signal representative of a second temperature of the processor; and
a second motion actuator, wherein the thermal control logic is configured to drive the second motion actuator to couple the chassis heat conduction element to the heat sinking layer in response to the second temperature signal reaching a processor temperature threshold.

6. The HMD of claim 1 further comprising:
a flexible circuit board coupled between the LCD and a mainboard that includes the processor, wherein the flexible circuit board delivers image signals from the mainboard to the LCD, and wherein the temperature signal is routed through a conductor of the flexible circuit board.

7. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein the motion actuator includes a voice coil.

8. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein the heat conduction element includes at least one of copper or aluminum.

9. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein the temperature sensor is disposed on the LCD.

10. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein the processor includes at least one of a CPU or a GPU.

11. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein the heat sinking layer includes an inner layer of a printed circuit board coupled to the processor.

12. The HMD of claim 1 , wherein the thermal control logic is included in the processor.

13. An apparatus comprising:
one or more processors;
a heat sinking layer coupled to sink heat from the one or more processors;
a motion actuator for coupling to a heat conduction element; and
thermal control logic coupled to drive the motion actuator, wherein the thermal control logic is configured to receive a temperature signal representative of a temperature of a liquid crystal display (LCD), and wherein the thermal control logic is configured to selectively transfer the heat to the LCD by selectively driving the motion actuator to couple the heat conduction element with the heat sinking layer to form a thermal conduction path between the heat sinking layer and the LCD.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the thermal control logic is configured to drive the motion actuator to couple the heat conduction element with the heat sinking layer when the temperature signal is below a lower temperature threshold, and wherein the thermal control logic is configured to drive the motion actuator to decouple the heat conduction element with the heat sinking layer when the temperature signal is above an upper temperature threshold.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the apparatus includes an image port coupled to deliver image signals from the one or more processors to a flexible circuit board of the LCD, and wherein the temperature signal is received from a conductor included in the image port.

16. A computer-implemented method of regulating a temperature of liquid crystal in a Head Mounted Display (HMD), the method comprising:
receiving a temperature signal from a temperature sensor coupled to a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) of the HMD;
directing heat generated by processors of the HMD to the LCD when the temperature signal is below a lower temperature threshold; and
directing the heat from the processors of the HMD to a chassis of the HMD when the temperature signal is above an upper temperature threshold.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , wherein directing the heat from the processors of the HMD to the LCD includes coupling a heat conduction element to a heat sinking layer coupled to sink the heat from the processors, wherein the heat conduction element is disposed between the LCD and the heat sinking layer.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17 , wherein coupling the heat conduction element to the heat sinking layer includes driving a motion signal onto a voice coil that is coupled to move the heat conduction element.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 further comprising:
receiving a second temperature signal representative of a second temperature of the processors; and
directing the heat to the chassis of the HMD when the second temperature signal reaches a processor temperature threshold.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19 , wherein directing the heat to the chassis of the HMD includes coupling a chassis heat conduction element to the heat sinking layer, wherein the chassis heat conduction element is disposed between the heat sinking layer and the chassis.

Assignees

• Facebook Tech Llc

Inventors

• Zhang Rui

Classifications

• G02B27/017

  Head mounted · CPC title

• G09G2370/16

  Use of wireless transmission of display information · CPC title

• G09G2320/041

  Temperature compensation · CPC title

• G09G2320/0252

  Improving the response speed · CPC title

• G09G3/3611 Primary

  Control of matrices with row and column drivers · CPC title