Driving controller, display apparatus including the same and method of driving display panel using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11908401-B2
Application number	US-202318183124-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2023
Priority date	Apr 16, 2020
Publication date	Feb 20, 2024
Grant date	Feb 20, 2024

Abstract

A driving controller includes: a logo determiner configured to determine whether or not input image data includes a logo; a logo grayscale value calculator configured to calculate a logo grayscale value of a logo area corresponding to the logo in response to the input image data including the logo; a light emitting element life expectancy determiner configured to determine a life expectancy of a light emitting element corresponding to the logo area; a compensation reference grayscale value generator configured to determine a compensation reference grayscale value according to the life expectancy of the light emitting element corresponding to the logo area; and a logo luminance compensator configured to compare the logo grayscale value to the compensation reference grayscale value to determine whether or not to compensate a luminance of the logo area.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A driving controller comprising:
a logo determiner configured to determine whether or not input image data includes a logo;
a logo grayscale value calculator configured to calculate a logo grayscale value of a logo area corresponding to the logo in response to the input image data including the logo;
a light emitting element life expectancy determiner configured to determine a life expectancy of a light emitting element corresponding to the logo area;
a compensation reference grayscale value generator configured to determine a compensation reference grayscale value according to the life expectancy of the light emitting element corresponding to the logo area; and
a logo luminance compensator configured to compare the logo grayscale value to the compensation reference grayscale value to determine whether or not to compensate a luminance of the logo area,
wherein the logo determiner is configured to determine that the input image data includes the logo in response to a fixed image being maintained over a reference time period and a size of the fixed image being included in a reference size range.

2. The driving controller of claim 1 , wherein the logo determiner is configured to compare a grayscale value of a previous frame of the input image data and a grayscale value of a present frame of the input image data to determine the fixed image is included in the input image data.

3. The driving controller of claim 2 , wherein the logo determiner is configured to determine that the input image data includes the logo in response to the fixed image being maintained over the reference time period.

4. The driving controller of claim 1 , wherein the light emitting element life expectancy determiner is configured to extract the life expectancy of the light emitting element of a display block corresponding to the logo area among a plurality of display blocks of a display panel.

5. The driving controller of claim 1 , wherein the light emitting element life expectancy determiner is configured to determine a number of display blocks corresponding to the logo area among a plurality of display blocks of a display panel.

6. The driving controller of claim 5 , wherein the light emitting element life expectancy determiner is configured to extract the life expectancy of the light emitting element of a display block corresponding to the logo area in response to a number of the display blocks corresponding to the logo area being one.

7. The driving controller of claim 5 , wherein the light emitting element life expectancy determiner is configured to extract a minimum life expectancy of light emitting elements of the display blocks corresponding to the logo areas in response to the number of the display blocks corresponding to the logo area being greater than one.

8. The driving controller of claim 1 , wherein the compensation reference grayscale value generator is configured to set the compensation reference grayscale value in proportion to the life expectancy of the light emitting element along a predetermined curve.

9. The driving controller of claim 8 , wherein the compensation reference grayscale value generator is configured to set the compensation reference grayscale value to a minimum preset reference grayscale value in response to the life expectancy of the light emitting element corresponding to the logo area being less than a minimum preset life expectancy.

10. The driving controller of claim 8 , wherein the compensation reference grayscale value generator is configured to set the compensation reference grayscale value to a maximum preset reference grayscale value in response to the life expectancy of the light emitting element corresponding to the logo area being greater than a maximum preset life expectancy.

11. A display apparatus comprising:
a display panel configured to display an image based on input image data;
a driving controller configured to generate a data signal based on the input image data, the driving controller comprising:
a logo determiner configured to determine whether or not the input image data includes a logo;
a logo grayscale value calculator configured to calculate a logo grayscale value of a logo area corresponding to the logo in response to the input image data including the logo;
a light emitting element life expectancy determiner configured to determine a life expectancy of a light emitting element corresponding to the logo area;
a compensation reference grayscale value generator configured to determine a compensation reference grayscale value according to the life expectancy of the light emitting element corresponding to the logo area;
a logo luminance compensator configured to compare the logo grayscale value to the compensation reference grayscale value to determine whether or not to compensate a luminance of the logo area; and
a data driver configured to convert the data signal to a data voltage and to output the data voltage to the display panel,
wherein the logo determiner is configured to determine that the input image data includes the logo in response to a fixed image being maintained over a reference time period and a size of the fixed image being included in a reference size range.

12. The display apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the driving controller and the data driver form an integrated driver.

13. The display apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the compensation reference grayscale value generator is configured to set the compensation reference grayscale value in proportion to the life expectancy of the light emitting element corresponding to the logo area.

14. The display apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the compensation reference grayscale value generator is configured to set the compensation reference grayscale value to a minimum preset reference grayscale value in response to the life expectancy of the light emitting element corresponding to the logo area being less than a minimum preset life expectancy.

15. The display apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the compensation reference grayscale value generator is configured to set the compensation reference grayscale value to a maximum preset reference grayscale value in response to the life expectancy of the light emitting element corresponding to the logo area being greater than a maximum preset life expectancy.

16. A method of driving a display panel, the method comprising:
determining whether or not input image data includes a logo;
calculating a logo grayscale value of a logo area corresponding to the logo in response to the input image data including the logo;
determining a life expectancy of a light emitting element corresponding to the logo area;
determining a compensation reference grayscale value according to the life expectancy of the light emitting element corresponding to the logo area;
comparing the logo grayscale value to the compensation reference grayscale value to compensate a luminance of the logo area;
generating a data signal based on the input image data having the compensated luminance of the logo area;
converting the data signal to a data voltage; and
outputting the data voltage to the display panel,
wherein the input image data is determined to include the logo in response to a fixed image being maintained over a reference time period and a size of the fixed image being included in a reference size range.

Assignees

• Samsung Display Co Ltd

Inventors

• Choi Eunjin
• Seo Wonjin
• Pyun Kihyun

Classifications

• G09G3/3208 Primary

  organic, e.g. using organic light-emitting diodes [OLED] · CPC title

• G09G2320/0233

  Improving the luminance or brightness uniformity across the screen · CPC title

• G09G2320/04

  Maintaining the quality of display appearance · CPC title

• G09G2320/043

  Preventing or counteracting the effects of ageing · CPC title

• G09G2320/046

  Dealing with screen burn-in prevention or compensation of the effects thereof · CPC title