Display device

Abstract

The present invention provides a display device and a driving method thereof, wherein the display device includes a display driver, a sensing driver, a display element and a sensing element. The display element is electrically connected to the display driver, and the sensing element is electrically connected to the sensing driver. The sensing element detects a biometric feature within a sensing period, the sensing period includes 3 to 120 time frames, the display element is refreshed once by the display driver within each of the 3 to 120 time frames, the sensing element can receive light generated by the display element 3 to 120 times within the sensing period, and the sensing driver receives multiple readout signals from the sensing element within an end portion of the sensing period.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the invention patent application with the application date of May 13, 2020, application number 202010402178.4, and invention name “Display device and driving method thereof”. Technical Field

[0002] The present invention relates to a display device and a driving method thereof, and in particular to a display device with a biometric recognition sensor and a driving method thereof. Background Art

[0003] The increasing demand for information security and privacy has driven the use of biometric authentication in electronic devices such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, banking devices, and gaming consoles. Fingerprint recognition is a popular form of biometric authentication. In recent years, fingerprint sensors have been used in a variety of electronic devices, allowing the owner of the device to unlock the electronic device through fingerprint authentication, thereby protecting the electronic device from unauthorized use.

[0004] For example, conventional fingerprint sensors are provided separately from the display panel in a display device, so that a locked display device can be unlocked by simply touching the fingerprint sensor. However, incorporating fingerprint sensors into display panels to increase the screen-to-body ratio of display devices and provide narrow or borderless designs has attracted great attention from display device manufacturers and users. However, it is not easy to add a fingerprint sensor to the display area of ​​a display device without losing the resolution of the display device, and when the fingerprint sensor is set in the display area, the area of ​​the fingerprint sensor may be too small, resulting in poor sensitivity. Summary of the invention

[0005] According to one embodiment, a display device is provided, which includes a display driver, a sensing driver, a display element electrically connected to the display driver, and a sensing element electrically connected to the sensing driver. The sensing element detects a biometric feature during a sensing period, the sensing period includes 3 to 120 time frames, the display element is refreshed once by the display driver in each of the 3 to 120 time frames, the sensing element can receive light generated by the display element 3 to 120 times during the sensing period, and the sensing driver receives a plurality of readout signals from the sensing element in an end portion of the sensing period.

[0006] According to another embodiment, a display device is provided, which includes a display driver, a sensing driver, a display element electrically connected to the display driver, a plurality of sensing scan lines, a plurality of sensing signal lines, and a sensing element electrically connected to the sensing driver. The sensing driver includes a gate driver and a readout driver, the sensing scan lines are electrically connected to the gate driver, and the sensing signal lines are electrically connected to the readout driver. The sensing element includes a plurality of sensing units and a plurality of transistors, wherein each of the sensing units is electrically connected to a corresponding one of the transistors, and the gate and source of each of the transistors are electrically connected to the gate driver and the readout driver through a corresponding one of the sensing scan lines and a corresponding one of the sensing signal lines, respectively. The sensing element detects a biometric feature within a sensing period, the sensing period includes 3 to 120 time frames, and the display element is refreshed once by the display driver in each of the 3 to 120 time frames.

[0007] According to another embodiment, a display device is provided, which includes a display driver, a sensing driver, a display element electrically connected to the display driver, and a sensing element electrically connected to the sensing driver. The display element includes a plurality of sub-pixels. The sensing element detects a biometric feature during a sensing period, the sensing period includes 3 to 120 time frames, the display element is refreshed once by the display driver in each of the 3 to 120 time frames, all sub-pixels with the same color in the sub-pixels are repeatedly turned on during the sensing period, and the remaining sub-pixels in the sub-pixels are turned off during the sensing period, and the remaining sub-pixels have different colors from the sub-pixels with the same color. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] Figure 1 FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0009] Figure 2 FIG. 4 is a schematic top view of a display device according to this embodiment of the present invention.

[0010] Figure 3 and Figure 4 Schematic cross-sectional views of display elements and sensing elements according to some embodiments of the present invention.

[0011] Figure 5 FIG. 4 is a schematic top view of the arrangement of sub-pixels and sensing units according to some embodiments of the present invention.

[0012] Figure 6 FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a driving method of a display device for identifying biometric features according to the present embodiment of the present invention.

[0013] Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the timing of the display control signal, the sensing control signal, the display scanning signal, the sensing scanning signal and the readout signal.

[0014] Figure 8 Schematic diagram of sub-pixels turned on in different time frames according to some embodiments of the present invention.

[0015] Fig. 9 Schematic diagram of sub-pixels turned on in different time frames according to some embodiments of the present invention.

[0016] Fig.10 Schematic diagram of sub-pixels turned on in different time frames according to some embodiments of the present invention.

[0017] Fig.11 Schematic diagram of sub-pixels turned on in different time frames according to some embodiments of the present invention.

[0018] Description of reference numerals: 1, 1A, 1B ~ display device; 10 ~ control unit; 12 ~ display driver; 121, 141 ~ gate driver; 122 ~ data driver; 123, 143 ~ timing controller; 14 ~ sensing driver; 142 ~ readout driver; 16, 16A, 16B ~ display element; 161 ~ sub-pixel; 1611 ~ liquid crystal controller; 161a ~ first sub-pixel; 161b ~ second sub-pixel; 161c ~ third sub-pixel; 162, 182 ~ transistor; 18 ~ sensing element; 181, 181a, 181b, 181c ~ sensing unit; 1D ~ display area; 1P ~ peripheral area; 24 ~ processing unit; 25 ~ integrated circuit; 26 ~ display scan line; 28 ~ display data line; 30 ~ sensing scan line; 32 ~ sensing signal line; 34A, 34B ~ display layer; 36 ~ cover substrate; 38 ~ biometric feature; 40 ~ Relative substrate; BLU~backlight module; DC~display control signal; DDS~display drive signal; DD1-DDN~display data signal; DS1-DSN~display scan signal; ET1, ET2~end time; F1A~first frame; F1B, F2B, F1C, F2C, F3C, F4C, F1D, F2D~frame; F2A~second frame; FT~time frame; G1~first group; G2~second group; G3~third group; HD~horizontal direction; LC~liquid crystal layer; LU~light emitting unit; RD~column direction; RS1-RSN~readout signal; S102, S104, S106, S108~step; SC~sensing control signal; SDS~sensing drive signal; SP~sensing period; ST1, ST2~start time; SS1-SSN~sensing scan signal; Sub~substrate; VD~vertical direction; W1, W2~distance. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The present invention can be understood by referring to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that in order to facilitate the understanding of the readers and the simplicity of the drawings, the multiple drawings in the present invention depict a portion of the electronic device, and the specific elements in the drawings are not drawn according to the actual scale. In addition, the number and size of each element in the drawings are only for illustration and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

[0020] Certain terms are used throughout the specification and claims of the present invention to refer to specific components. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that electronic equipment manufacturers may refer to the same components by different names. It is not intended to distinguish between components that have the same function but different names. In the following specification and claims, the words "including", "comprising", and "having" are open-ended words and should therefore be interpreted as "including but not limited to...".

[0021] It should be understood that when an element or film layer is referred to as being "on" or "connected to" another element or film layer, it can be directly on or directly connected to the other element or layer, or there may be an intervening element or film layer (indirectly) between the two. Conversely, when an element is referred to as being "directly" "on" or "directly connected to" another element or film layer, there may be no intervening element or film layer between the two.

[0022] In addition, relative descriptions may be used in the present specification. For example, “below”, “bottom”, “above” or “top” etc. may be used to describe the relative position of one element to another element.

[0023] Although the terms first, second, third, etc. can be used to describe multiple components, the components are not limited to these terms. This term is only used to distinguish a single component from other components in the specification. The same terms may not be used in the claims, but may be replaced by first, second, third, etc. according to the order of the components declared in the claims. Therefore, in the following description, the first component may be the second component in the claims.

[0024] As used herein, the terms “connected to” or “coupled to” used to specify that one element is connected or coupled to another element include the case where the element is “directly connected or coupled to” another element and the case where one element is “electrically connected or coupled to” another element through yet another element.

[0025] It should be noted that the technical features in the different embodiments listed below may be replaced, reorganized, or mixed to complete other embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0026] Figure 1FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The display device 1 can simultaneously display images and identify biometric features in its display area. For example, the display device 1 can be a smart watch, a smart phone, a tablet computer, or a display device with an under-screen biometric sensor, but is not limited thereto. In another embodiment, the display device 1 can also be used to splice with another display device to form a spliced ​​display device. Figure 1 As shown, the display device 1 of the present embodiment may include a control unit 10, a display driver 12, a sensing driver 14, a display element 16, and a sensing element 18. The display driver 12 and the sensing driver 14 may be electrically connected to the control unit 10, respectively, so that the control unit 10 may provide a display control signal DC to the display driver 12 and provide a sensing control signal SC to the sensing driver 14 to separately control the on / off state of the display driver 12 and the on / off state of the sensing driver 14. The control unit 10 may be, for example, an image processor, a digital signal processor, a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, or other suitable devices. Furthermore, the display element 16 may be electrically connected to the display driver 12 and driven by the display driver 12, and the sensing element 18 may be electrically connected to the sensing driver 14 and driven by the sensing driver 14. After receiving the display control signal DC, the display driver 12 may transmit a display drive signal DDS to the display element 16 to turn on the display element 16. Similarly, after receiving the sensing control signal SC, the sensing driver 14 may transmit a sensing drive signal SDS to the sensing element 18 to turn on the sensing element 18. The display element 16 may be used to display an image on a screen or to generate light for biometric identification. For example, the display element 16 may include a plurality of sub-pixels of a self-luminous display panel, such as an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display panel or an inorganic light-emitting diode (such as a quantum dot light-emitting diode (QD-LED), a sub-millimeter light-emitting diode (mini LED), or a micro light-emitting diode (micro LED)) display panel, or may include a plurality of sub-pixels of a non-self-luminous display panel, such as a liquid crystal display panel. The sensing element 18 may be used to receive light reflected from a biometric feature to obtain information of the biometric feature (such as an image). The sensing element 18 may be, for example, a fingerprint sensor or other types of image sensors, but is not limited thereto.

[0027] In this embodiment, the display device 1 may further selectively include a processing unit 24, and the control unit 10 may be electrically connected to the display driver 12 and the sensing driver 14 through the processing unit 24. The function of the processing unit 24 may be the same or similar to that of the control unit 10, but is not limited thereto. For example, the processing unit 24 may drive or operate the display driver 12 and the sensing driver 14, and read the signal transmitted from the sensing element 18. In this case, the control unit 10 may be used not only to drive the display driver 12, the sensing driver 14, the display element 16, and the sensing element 18, but also to drive other devices. Therefore, when the area of ​​the display element 16 and the area of ​​the sensing element 18 are large, the amount of data to be processed is large, and the signal processing speed of the control unit 10 may be reduced. By using the processing unit 24 designed in advance to process the signal, the load of the control unit 10 can be shared with the processing unit 24. Therefore, the signal processing speed of the display device 1 can be improved. In this case, the display control signal DC and the sensing control signal SC can be provided by the processing unit 24. In some embodiments, the display driver 12, the sensing driver 14, and the processing unit 24 may be integrated into a single integrated circuit 25, wherein the integrated circuit 25 may be bonded to the array substrate of the display device 1, and the display element 16 and the sensing element 18 may be electrically connected to the single integrated circuit 25 via wires, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the display device 1 may not include the processing unit 24.

[0028] The display driver 12 may include a gate driver 121 and a data driver 122 for driving the display element 16. The gate driver 121 may provide a scan signal for turning on the display element 16, and the data driver 122 may provide a display signal to the display element 16, so that the display element 16 can display a desired image. For example, the gate driver 121 may include a shift register unit, a logic unit, a level conversion unit and / or a digital buffer unit, and the data driver 122 may include a shift register unit, a level conversion unit, a digital-to-analog converter (or a multiplexer) and / or an analog buffer unit, but is not limited thereto. The sensing driver 14 may include another gate driver 141 and a readout driver 142 for reading out a signal from the sensing element 18. The gate driver 141 may provide a scan signal for turning on the sensing element 18, and the readout driver 142 may receive a readout signal from the sensing element 18, so that the signal detected by the sensing element 18 can be read out. In some embodiments, the gate driver 121, the data driver 122, the gate driver 141 and / or the readout driver 142 may be formed in the array substrate of the display device 1 by a thin film transistor process, but is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the gate driver 121, the data driver 122, the gate driver 141 and / or the readout driver 142 may be formed in one or more integrated circuits and bonded to the array substrate or bonded to a flexible printed circuit board attached to the array substrate.

[0029] In this embodiment, the display driver 12 may further selectively include a timing controller 123 electrically connected to the gate driver 121 and the data driver 122, for providing timing signals to the gate driver 121 and the data driver 122, respectively, and the gate driver 121 and the data driver 122 may be electrically connected to the control unit 10 or the processing unit 24 through the timing controller 123. In some embodiments, the timing controller 123 may be disposed outside the display driver 12, but may still be electrically connected between the gate driver 121 and the control unit 10 or the processing unit 24 and between the data driver 122 and the control unit 10 or the processing unit 24.

[0030] In this embodiment, the sensing driver 14 may further selectively include another timing controller 143 electrically connected to the gate driver 141 and the readout driver 142 to provide timing signals to the gate driver 141 and the readout driver 142, respectively, and the gate driver 141 and the readout driver 142 may be electrically connected to the control unit 10 or the processing unit 24 through the another timing controller 143. In some embodiments, the another timing controller 143 may be disposed outside the sensing driver 14, but may still be electrically connected between the gate driver 141 and the control unit 10 or the processing unit 24 and between the readout driver 142 and the control unit 10 or the processing unit 24.

[0031] In some embodiments, the timing controller 123 and another timing controller 143 can be integrated in a timing control unit located outside the display driver 12 and the sensing driver 14, and the integrated timing control unit can electrically connect the display driver 12 and the sensing driver 14 to the control unit 10 or the processing unit 24, respectively, so as to reduce the number of timing control units. Since the display driver 12 and the sensing driver 14 are controlled by the same timing control unit, the probability of timing confusion or timing errors can be reduced. In addition, when the processing unit 24, the integrated timing control unit, the display driver 12 and the sensing driver 14 are integrated into an integrated circuit, the size of the integrated circuit can be reduced, and the display device 1 can be used to set the border width of the integrated circuit to be narrower. In some embodiments, when the display driver 12 and the sensing driver 14 are not integrated into a single integrated circuit, the integrated timing control unit and the processing unit 24 can be integrated into a single integrated circuit.

[0032] In some embodiments, the display device 1 may further include a touch sensing element (not shown in the drawings) for sensing the position of a biometric feature. The touch sensing element may be electrically connected to the control unit 10 or the processing unit 24, so that when the touch sensing element senses the touch of a biometric feature on the display device 1, the control unit 10 or the processing unit 24 may define the touched position of the biometric feature as a biometric feature recognition area to further detect the biometric feature.

[0033] Figure 2 FIG. 1 is a schematic top view of a display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The display device 1 has a display area 1D for displaying an image and a peripheral area 1P for not displaying an image. The peripheral area 1P is disposed on at least one side of the display area 1D. For example, the peripheral area 1P may surround the display area 1D. The width of the peripheral area 1P may be referred to as the border width of the display device 1. The display element 16 and the sensing element 18 may be disposed in the display area 1D, and Figure 1 The display driver 12 , the sensing driver 14 , and the processing unit 24 shown may be disposed in the peripheral area 1P. Figure 2 The areas and numbers of the gate drivers 121 and the data drivers 122 of the display driver 12 and the areas and numbers of the gate drivers 141 and the readout drivers 142 of the sensing driver 14 are exemplary, and the present invention is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the number of the gate drivers 121 and / or the number of the data drivers 122 may be one or more. In some embodiments, the number of the gate drivers 141 and / or the number of the readout drivers 142 may be one or more.

[0034] Specifically, the display device 1 may further include a plurality of display scan lines 26, a plurality of display data lines 28, a plurality of sensing scan lines 30, and a plurality of sensing signal lines 32 formed on the substrate Sub. The display element 16 includes a plurality of sub-pixels 161 and a plurality of transistors 162 formed on the substrate Sub, wherein each sub-pixel 161 may be electrically connected to a corresponding transistor 162, and a gate and a source of each transistor 162 may be electrically connected to a gate driver 121 and a data driver 122 through a corresponding display scan line 26 and a corresponding display data line 28, respectively, so that the on / off state of each transistor 162 may be controlled by a display scan signal DS1-DSN from the gate driver 121, and the display of each sub-pixel 161 may be controlled by a display data signal DD1-DDN from the data driver 122. In one embodiment, the display element 16 may include at least one transistor 162 corresponding to one of the sub-pixels 161. For example, if the display element 16 includes at least two transistors 162 corresponding to one of the sub-pixels 161, the at least two transistors 162 may be transistors of the same type or different types, but are not limited thereto. In the example of the transistor of the display element 16 electrically connected to the corresponding sub-pixel 161, the number of transistors corresponding to one of the sub-pixels may be 1, 3, 4, or 7. In another example of the display element 16 including multiple transistors 162 corresponding to one sub-pixel 161, the multiple transistors 162 may include switching transistors and / or driving transistors, but are not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the transistor 162 "corresponding to" one of the sub-pixels used herein means that the transistor 162 can be electrically connected to the one of the sub-pixels 161.

[0035] Similarly, the sensing element 18 includes a plurality of sensing units 181 and a plurality of transistors 182 formed on the substrate Sub, wherein each sensing unit 181 can be electrically connected to a corresponding transistor 182, and the gate and source of each transistor 182 can be electrically connected to the gate driver 141 and the readout driver 142 through the corresponding sensing scan line 30 and the corresponding sensing signal line 32, respectively, so that the on / off state of each transistor 182 can be controlled by the sensing scan signal SS1-SSN from the gate driver 141, and the readout driver 142 can receive the readout signal RS1-RSN from each sensing unit 181. In addition, the sensing element 18 may include at least one transistor 182 corresponding to one of the sensing units 181. In another example of the transistor of the sensing element 18 electrically connected to the corresponding sensing unit 181, the number of transistors may be 2 or 3. In another example of the sensing element 18 including a plurality of transistors 182 corresponding to one sensing unit 181, the plurality of transistors 182 may include a readout transistor, a reset transistor and / or an amplifying transistor, but is not limited thereto. As used herein, the transistor 182 "corresponds to" one of the sensing units 181, which means that the transistor 182 can be electrically connected to the one of the sensing units 181. In some embodiments, the transistor 162 and / or the transistor 182 can be a thin film transistor. In some embodiments, the type of the transistor 162 and / or the transistor 182 can be an amorphous thin film transistor, a low temperature polysilicon thin film transistor, or a metal oxide thin film transistor, but is not limited thereto.

[0036] In the present embodiment, each sensing unit 181 can be used to detect light from a corresponding sub-pixel 161. For example, the sensing unit 181 may include a plurality of sensing units 181a, a plurality of sensing units 181b, and a plurality of sensing units 181c, and the sub-pixel 161 may include a plurality of first sub-pixels 161a for generating light having a first color, a plurality of second sub-pixels 161b for generating light having a second color, and a plurality of third sub-pixels 161c for generating light having a third color, and each sensing unit 181a, each sensing unit 181b, and each sensing unit 181c correspond to a first sub-pixel 161a, a second sub-pixel 161b, and a third sub-pixel 161c, respectively. In other words, each sensing unit 181a can detect light having a first color, each sensing unit 181b can detect light having a second color, and each sensing unit 181c can detect light having a third color, wherein the first color, the second color, and the third color are different colors from each other, but are not limited thereto. For example, the first color, the second color, and the third color may be red, green, and blue, respectively, but are not limited thereto. For example, the sensing unit 181 may include a corresponding color filter layer disposed thereon to allow light of one color to pass through and filter out light of other different colors to avoid interference of light. In some embodiments, each sensing unit 181 may be, for example, a light detector (e.g., a photodiode), a capacitive detector, a radio frequency detector, a thermal detector, a piezoresistive detector, an ultrasonic detector, or a piezoelectric detector, but are not limited thereto.

[0037] Figure 3 and Figure 4 FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a display element and a sensing element according to some embodiments of the present invention. Figure 3 In some of the embodiments shown, the display device 1A may include a self-luminous display panel, and each sub-pixel 161 of the display element 16A may include a light-emitting unit LU. Specifically, the display device 1A may include a display layer 34A formed on a substrate Sub and a covering substrate 36 that covers and protects the display layer 34A, wherein the display layer 34A may include the light-emitting unit LU of the display element 16A and a sensing element 18 including a plurality of sensing units 181, and the sensing element 18 may be formed under the light-emitting unit LU, but is not limited thereto. For example, the sensing element 18 is disposed between the light-emitting unit LU and the substrate Sub, that is, the light-emitting unit LU and the sensing element 18 are formed in the same display layer 34A. In a vertical direction VD (top-down direction), the sensing unit 181 may be disposed in the gap between the sub-pixels 161, so that light from the sub-pixels 161 may be reflected by the biometric feature 38 to the corresponding sensing unit 181, such as Figure 3As shown by the arrow. The vertical direction VD may be defined as a direction substantially perpendicular to the horizontal direction HD. The horizontal direction HD represents the horizontal direction of the horizontally flat substrate Sub. In some embodiments, the light emitting unit LU may include an organic light emitting diode, a quantum dot light emitting diode, a sub-millimeter light emitting diode, a micro light emitting diode, or other types of light emitting devices. In some embodiments, the sensing unit 181 may be formed under the substrate Sub, so that the sub-pixel 161 and the sensing unit 181 are formed on both sides of the substrate Sub ( Figure 3 not shown).

[0038] exist Figure 4 In some of the embodiments shown, the display device 1B may include a non-self-luminous display panel. For example, the non-self-luminous display panel may be a liquid crystal display panel, and the display layer 34B of the display device 1B may include a liquid crystal layer LC, a display element 16B, and a sensing element 18 located between the substrate Sub and the relative substrate 40, wherein the liquid crystal layer LC is disposed between the display element 16B and the sensing element 18. Specifically, the display element 16B is disposed between the liquid crystal layer LC and the substrate Sub, the sensing element 18 is disposed between the liquid crystal layer LC and the relative substrate 40, and the sensing unit 181 is disposed on the corresponding transistor (such as transistor 162) of the display element 16B. In addition, the display device 1B may also include a backlight module BLU disposed under the substrate Sub to generate suitable light (such as white light). In some embodiments, the sub-pixel 161 may include a liquid crystal controller 1611 to control the rotation of the liquid crystal molecules in the area corresponding to the sub-pixel 161. For example, the liquid crystal controller 1611 may be a pixel electrode or other element, but is not limited thereto. Therefore, light from the backlight module BLU can pass through the sub-pixel 161 and be reflected by the biometric feature to the corresponding sensing unit 181, such as Figure 4 As shown by the arrow. For example, the relative substrate 40 may include a color filter layer (not shown) that allows light of different colors to be emitted. In some embodiments, in order to generate light of uniform brightness, the color filter layers with different colors may have different thicknesses. In some embodiments, the display device 1B may selectively include a cover substrate 36 disposed on the relative substrate 40. In some embodiments, the sensing element 18 may be disposed between the relative substrate 40 and the cover substrate 36. In one embodiment, the cover substrate 36 may have a touch function, but is not limited thereto.

[0039] Figure 5Schematic diagram of the top view of the arrangement of sub-pixels and sensing units in some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, the sub-pixels 161 can be arranged in a PenTile matrix, and each sensing unit 181 is arranged between two adjacent sub-pixels 161. For example, in odd columns, the first sub-pixel 161a having a first color and the third sub-pixel 161c having a third color are arranged alternately along the column direction, and the sensing units 181 and sub-pixels 161 (e.g., the first sub-pixel 161a and the third sub-pixel 161c) in the odd columns are arranged alternately along the column direction. In even columns, the second sub-pixel 161b having a second color is arranged along the column direction, and the sub-pixels 161 (e.g., the second sub-pixel 161b) and sensing units 181 in the even columns are arranged alternately along the column direction. In addition, in odd rows, the second sub-pixels 161b and the sensing units 181 are arranged alternately along the row direction, in even rows, the first sub-pixels 161a and the third sub-pixels 161c are arranged alternately along the row direction, and the sub-pixels 161 (e.g., the first sub-pixel 161a and the third sub-pixel 161c) and the sensing units 181 in odd rows are arranged alternately along the row direction.

[0040] In some embodiments, the first sub-pixel 161a, the second sub-pixel 161b, and the third sub-pixel 161c may have different areas in the top-view direction of the display device 1. For example, since the first color, the second color, and the third color are red, green, and blue, respectively, the area of ​​the third sub-pixel 161c may be larger than the area of ​​the first sub-pixel 161a, and the area of ​​the first sub-pixel 161a may be larger than the area of ​​the second sub-pixel 161b. In some embodiments, based on the area difference between the sub-pixels 161, the sensing unit 181 may have different areas in the top-view direction of the display device 1. For example, the sensing unit 181 arranged in the same column (e.g., odd-numbered column) as the first sub-pixel 161a and the third sub-pixel 161c may have a larger area or a smaller area than the sensing unit 181 arranged in the same column (e.g., even-numbered column) as the second sub-pixel 161b. In some embodiments, one of the sensing units 181 located between the adjacent first sub-pixel 161a and the adjacent third sub-pixel 161c may be closer to the adjacent first sub-pixel 161a having the first color than the adjacent third sub-pixel 161c having the third color. In other words, since the third sub-pixel 161c may generate blue light, which is easier to scatter and is less effective than red light, in order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the sensing element 18, the distance W1 between the sensing unit 181 and the adjacent first sub-pixel 161a may be smaller than the distance W2 between the sensing unit 181 and the adjacent third sub-pixel 161c. The distance W1 is the shortest distance between the sensing unit 181 and the first sub-pixel 161a that are adjacent to each other in the column direction RD, and the distance W2 is the shortest distance between the sensing unit 181 and the third sub-pixel 161c that are adjacent to each other in the column direction RD. In some embodiments, any two of the colors of the first sub-pixel 161a, the second sub-pixel 161b, and the third sub-pixel 161c may be exchanged with each other or be other colors. In some embodiments, the first sub-pixel 161 a , the second sub-pixel 161 b , and the third sub-pixel 161 c may have other arrangements.

[0041] The details of the driving method of the display device of the present invention will be further described below. Figure 6 FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method for driving a display device for identifying biometric features according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. Figure 7 FIG. 1 is a timing diagram of a display control signal, a sensing control signal, a display scanning signal, a sensing scanning signal, and a readout signal. The driving method of the display device includes the following steps, and refers to Figure 7 , Figure 1 as well as Figure 2Detailed description is given. In step S102, the display device 1 starts the sensing period SP. In the sensing period SP, the display device 1 starts to detect the biometric feature. For example, when the sensing element 18 detects the touch of the biometric feature on the display device 1, the control unit 10 or the processing unit 24 can start the sensing period SP to detect the biometric feature. The situation of starting the sensing period SP in the present invention is not limited to the above.

[0042] In step S104, the control unit 10 or the processing unit 24 may provide a display control signal DC and a sensing control signal SC (enable signal) to the display driver 12 and the sensing driver 14, respectively, so that the sensing driver 14 may be activated by the enable signal issued by the control unit 10 or the processing unit 24. The duration of the display control signal DC and the duration of the sensing control signal SC may overlap, so that the display element 16 may generate light for biometric identification, and the sensing element 18 may detect light reflected from the biometric. For example, the control unit 10 or the processing unit 24 may provide the display control signal DC and the sensing control signal SC at the same time and end at the same time, so that the display driver 12 and the sensing driver 14 may be synchronized by the control unit 10 or the processing unit 24. In some embodiments, the start time ST1 of the display control signal DC may be earlier than the start time ST2 of the sensing control signal SC. As long as the biometric can be correctly identified, the start time ST1 and end time ET1 of the display control signal DC and the start time ST2 and end time ET2 of the sensing control signal SC may be adjusted.

[0043] In step S106, after the display driver 12 receives the display control signal DC, the display drive signal DDS may be transmitted to the display element 16 through the display driver 12, and when the sensing element 18 detects the biometric feature in the sensing period SP, the display element 16 may be refreshed a first predetermined number of times in the sensing period SP. In the present embodiment, the first predetermined number of times may range from 3 to 120 times in the sensing period SP. In other words, the display drive signal DDS may be repeatedly transmitted to the display element 16 3 to 120 times, so that the sub-pixel 161 may generate 3 to 120 light pulses. It should be noted that since the display element 16 may generate 3 to 120 light pulses in the sensing period SP, the sensing element 18 may receive 3 to 120 light rays, thereby accumulating sufficient charge and improving the signal-to-noise ratio and sensitivity of the sensing unit. Therefore, the sensing unit 181 can be set in the display area 1D without reducing the area of ​​each sub-pixel 161 or reducing the resolution of the display device 1, that is, the sensing element 18 can be integrated with the display element 16 into the display area 1D of the display device 1, so that the screen ratio can be increased when providing the biometric recognition function. In addition, even if the area of ​​the sensing unit 181 is small, the sensing unit 181 can still have good sensitivity by increasing the number of refreshes.

[0044] Specifically, the display drive signal DDS may include a plurality of display scan signals DS1-DSN respectively transmitted to the display scan lines 26 and a plurality of display data signals DD1-DDN respectively transmitted to the display data lines 28. In one time frame FT of the sensing period SP, the display scan signals DS1-DSN may be sequentially transmitted once, and the display data signals DD1-DDN may be transmitted according to the display scan signals DS1-DSN, so that when the sub-pixel 161 receives the display data signals DD1-DDN, a required light pulse may be generated once. When the display element 16 is refreshed 3 to 120 times in the sensing period SP, the display scan signals DS1-DSN may be sequentially transmitted to the display element 16 in 3 to 120 time frames FT, the number of times being 3 to 120 times. In some embodiments, two adjacent display scan signals DS1-DSN may overlap or not overlap each other in one time frame FT. In some embodiments, the first predetermined number of times may be 6 to 72 times. In order to have a shorter unlocking time, the first predetermined number of times may be reduced based on the time frame FT. For example, when the refresh rate (frequency) of the display device 1 is 60 Hz (the real-time frame FT is 0.0167 seconds), the first predetermined number of times may be 6 times, 18 times, or 30 times. When the refresh rate (frequency) of the display device 1 is 120 Hz (the real-time frame FT is 0.0083 seconds, which is less than 0.0167 seconds), the first predetermined number of times may be 12 times, 36 times, or 60 times.

[0045] In step S108, after the sensing driver 14 receives the sensing control signal SC, the sensing drive signal SDS may be transmitted to the sensing element 18 through the sensing driver 14, and the sensing element 18 may be refreshed a second predetermined number of times in the sensing period SP. Figure 7 As shown, the second predetermined number of times may be 1 time. Specifically, the sensing drive signal SDS may include a plurality of sensing scan signals SS1-SSN and a plurality of readout signals RS1-RSN. When the sensing element 18 is driven once, the duration of the sensing scan signals SS1-SSN may overlap with a plurality of time frames FT (e.g., all time frames FT in the sensing period SP) of the display element 16. The readout signals RS1-RSN may be received by the readout driver 142 at a time close to the end of the sensing scan signals SS1-SSN. The duration of the readout signals RS1-RSN may overlap with at least one time frame FT or may not overlap with the time frame FT. In some embodiments, the second predetermined number of times may be multiple times, so that the charge converted by the sensing unit 181 may be read out multiple times by the readout driver 142 in the sensing period SP, and the readout signals RS1-RSN received more than once by the readout driver 142 may be accumulated by the sensing driver 14 in the sensing period SP to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. In some embodiments, the sensing element 18 of the display device 1 may perform more than one detection of biometric features in more than one sensing period SP.

[0046] Figure 8 Schematic diagrams of sub-pixels turned on in different time frames according to some embodiments of the present invention are shown. In order to simplify the drawings, the arrangement of sub-pixels in the following embodiments is taken as an example of a PenTile matrix, and the sensing unit is not shown, but it is not limited to this. In some embodiments, all sub-pixels 161 with the same color can be repeatedly turned on during the sensing period, and the remaining sub-pixels with different colors can be turned off during the sensing period, so as to display a frame in each time frame. For example, when the first sub-pixel 161a and the third sub-pixel 161c are turned off, all second sub-pixels 161b with the second color can be repeatedly driven and turned on to sequentially generate multiple frame images (such as the first frame F1A, the second frame F2A, etc.), so as to generate light with the same second color in each time frame. Therefore, the sensing unit 181 corresponding to the second sub-pixel 161b can detect the light with the second color without being interfered by light of other colors, so as to improve the sensitivity of the sensing unit 181. For example, Figure 8The circles shown may represent the area of ​​the reflected light from each second sub-pixel 161b. In some embodiments, all sub-pixels 161 turned on in each time frame FT may also be all first sub-pixels 161a or all third sub-pixels 161c. In one embodiment, the shape of the area formed by the reflected light from one sub-pixel 161 may be circular, polygonal or any shape, but is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the area of ​​the area is not limited to that shown in the drawings and may be adjusted to an appropriate size, but is not limited thereto.

[0047] Fig. 9 Schematic diagram of sub-pixels turned on in different time frames according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, the first group G1 of sub-pixels 161 and the second group G2 of sub-pixels 161 may be turned on sequentially and alternately in the sensing period SP, and the remaining sub-pixels 161 may be turned off in the sensing period SP, wherein the sub-pixels 161 in the first group G1 are different from the sub-pixels 161 in the second group G2. Specifically, the first group G1 of sub-pixels 161 may be turned on in one time frame to display a frame F1B, and then the second group G2 of sub-pixels 161 may be turned on in another time frame to display another frame F2B, wherein the first group G1 of sub-pixels 161 and the second group G2 of sub-pixels 161 may have the same color. For example, the second sub-pixel 161b may be the sub-pixel 161 turned on in the sensing period SP. The second sub-pixels 161b in the first group G1 are not adjacent to the sub-pixels 161, so the distance between the adjacent second sub-pixels 161b in the first group G1 can be increased, thereby reducing the interference of reflected light from different second sub-pixels 161b. Fig. 9 . Similarly, the second sub-pixels 161b in the second group G2 can also reduce interference between different second sub-pixels 161b. For example, one of the second sub-pixels 161b in the first group G1 can be disposed between two adjacent second sub-pixels 161b in the second group G2. In other words, the second sub-pixels 161b in the first group G1 and the second sub-pixels 161b in the second group G2 can be arranged in a staggered manner, respectively, and in each even-numbered column, each second sub-pixel 161b in the first group G1 and each second sub-pixel 161b in the second group G2 can be arranged alternately.

[0048] Fig.10 Schematic diagram of sub-pixels turned on in different time frames in some embodiments of the present invention. Fig. 9In contrast, the first group G1 of the sub-pixels 161 and the second group G2 of the sub-pixels 161 that are sequentially turned on may have different colors. Specifically, when the remaining sub-pixels 161 are turned off, the first group G1 of the sub-pixels 161 having one color may be turned on to display a frame F1C in one time frame, and then the second group G2 of the sub-pixels 161 having another color may be turned on to display another frame F2C in another consecutive time frame. In some embodiments, after frame F2C, the third group G3 of the sub-pixels 161 having the same color as the first group G1 may be turned on to display another frame F3C in another consecutive time frame, and then the second group G2 of the sub-pixels 161 may be turned on to display another frame F4C in another consecutive time frame. Therefore, the first group G1 of the sub-pixels 161, the second group G2 of the sub-pixels 161, the third group G3 of the sub-pixels 161, and the second group G2 of the sub-pixels 161 may be turned on alternately. For example, a portion of the second sub-pixel 161b may be the first group G1 of the sub-pixels 161, the rest of the second sub-pixel 161b may be the third group G3 of the sub-pixels 161, and all of the first sub-pixels 161a may be the second group G2 of the sub-pixels 161. Fig. 9 The first group G1 is the same as shown, and the second sub-pixel 161b in the third group G3 can be the same as Fig. 9 The second group G2 shown is the same, so the pattern of the second sub-pixel 161b in the first group G1 and the third group G3 will not be described in detail. By alternately turning on the first group G1, the second group G2, the third group G3 and the second group G2, frames F1C, F2C, F3C and F4C can be alternately generated. It should be noted that by alternately turning on groups of sub-pixels with different colors, more sensing units can be used to detect biometric features, and interference from reflected light from different sub-pixels 161 of different colors can still be reduced.

[0049] In some embodiments, the first group G1 of sub-pixels 161 may be all sub-pixels 161 having the same color (e.g., the second sub-pixel 161b), the second group G2 of sub-pixels 161 may be all sub-pixels 161 having another color (e.g., the first sub-pixel 161a), and the first group G1 and the second group G2 may be alternately turned on to alternately display frame F1C and frame F2C.

[0050] Fig.11Schematic diagram of sub-pixels turned on in different time frames according to some embodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, the first group G1 of sub-pixels 161 having different colors and the second group G2 of sub-pixels 161 may be turned on at the same time. Specifically, when the remaining sub-pixels 161 are turned off, the first group G1 of sub-pixels 161 having one color and the second group G2 of sub-pixels 161 having another color may be turned on to display a frame F1D in one time frame. In some embodiments, after frame F1D, the third group G3 and the second group G2 of sub-pixels 161 having the same color as the first group G1 may be turned on to display another frame F2D in another consecutive time frame, so that frame F1D and frame F2D may be displayed alternately. For example, a portion of the second sub-pixel 161b may be the first group G1 of sub-pixels 161, and another portion of the second sub-pixel 161b may be the third group G3 of sub-pixels 161, and all of the first sub-pixels 161a may be the second group G2 of sub-pixels 161. The second sub-pixel 161b in the first group G1 may be Fig. 9 The first group G1 is the same as shown, and the second sub-pixel 161b in the third group G3 can be the same as Fig. 9 The second group G2 shown is the same, so the patterns of the second sub-pixels in the first group G1 and the third group G3 are not repeated. For example, the first sub-pixel 161a may have one color of red and green, and the second sub-pixel 161b may have the other color of red and green.

[0051] In some embodiments, after the frame F1D, the first group G1 of sub-pixels 161 of one color and the second group G2 of sub-pixels 161 of another color may be repeatedly turned on to display another frame F2D in the next time frame. In some embodiments, all second sub-pixels 161b may be the first group G1 of sub-pixels 161.

[0052] In summary, the display device can generate 3 to 120 light pulses during the sensing period, so the sensing element can receive 3 to 120 light pulses to accumulate sufficient signals and improve the signal-to-noise ratio and sensitivity of the sensing unit. Therefore, without reducing the area of ​​each sub-pixel or the resolution of the display device, the sensing element can be integrated with the display element in the display area of ​​the display device, thereby increasing the screen-to-body ratio when providing biometric recognition function.

[0053] The above description is only an embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. For those skilled in the art, the present invention may have various modifications and variations. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention shall be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A display device, characterized in that: include: a display driver; a display element electrically connected to the display driver; A plurality of display scanning lines electrically connected to the display elements; a sensing driver; as well as a sensing element electrically connected to the sensing driver; The sensing element detects a biometric feature within a sensing period, the display element performs 3 to 120 time frames within the sensing period, the display element is refreshed once by the display driver within each of the 3 to 120 time frames, the sensing element is capable of receiving the light generated by the display element 3 to 120 times within the sensing period, the sensing driver receives a plurality of readout signals from the sensing element within an end portion of the sensing period, and in each of the 3 to 120 time frames, a plurality of display scan signals are sequentially transmitted to the plurality of display scan lines once respectively.

2. The display device according to claim 1, wherein: The display element includes a plurality of sub-pixels, and a first group of the plurality of sub-pixels and a second group of the plurality of sub-pixels are turned on sequentially.

3. The display device according to claim 2, wherein: The first group of the plurality of sub-pixels has a first color, and the second group of the plurality of sub-pixels has a second color different from the first color.

4. A display device, characterized in that: include: a display driver; a display element electrically connected to the display driver; A plurality of display scanning lines electrically connected to the display elements; a sensing driver, the sensing driver comprising a gate driver and a readout driver; A plurality of sensing scan lines electrically connected to the gate driver; a plurality of sensing signal lines electrically connected to the readout driver; as well as a sensing element electrically connected to the sensing driver, the sensing element comprising a plurality of sensing units and a plurality of transistors, wherein each of the plurality of sensing units is electrically connected to a corresponding one of the plurality of transistors, and a gate and a source of each of the plurality of transistors are electrically connected to the gate driver and the readout driver through a corresponding one of the plurality of sensing scan lines and a corresponding one of the plurality of sensing signal lines, respectively; The sensing element detects a biometric feature within a sensing period, the display element performs 3 to 120 time frames within the sensing period, the display element is refreshed once by the display driver within each of the 3 to 120 time frames, and in each of the 3 to 120 time frames, a plurality of display scan signals are sequentially transmitted to the plurality of display scan lines once.

5. The display device according to claim 4, characterized in that The display element includes a plurality of light emitting units, and the sensing element is disposed under the plurality of light emitting units.

6. A display device, characterized in that: include: a display driver; a display element electrically connected to the display driver, the display element comprising a plurality of sub-pixels; A plurality of display scanning lines electrically connected to the display elements; a sensing driver; as well as a sensing element electrically connected to the sensing driver; The sensing element detects a biometric feature within a sensing period, the display element performs 3 to 120 time frames within the sensing period, the display element is refreshed once by the display driver within each of the 3 to 120 time frames, all sub-pixels with the same color among the multiple sub-pixels are repeatedly turned on during the sensing period, the remaining sub-pixels among the multiple sub-pixels are turned off during the sensing period, the remaining sub-pixels have different colors from the sub-pixels with the same color, and in each of the 3 to 120 time frames, multiple display scan signals are sequentially transmitted to the multiple display scan lines once respectively.

7. The display device according to claim 6, characterized in that The plurality of sub-pixels include a plurality of light-emitting units, and the sensing element is disposed under the plurality of light-emitting units.

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