Refresh rate switching method, electronic equipment and computer readable storage medium

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of display, and provides a refresh rate switching method, electronic equipment and a computer readable storage medium, and the method comprises the steps that a display driver of the electronic equipment controls a first DDIC to refresh a first display screen according to a refresh rate of a first queue; the display driver receives a first refresh rate switching instruction, wherein the first refresh rate switching instruction carries the display frame rate of the APP displayed on the first display screen and / or the minimum refresh rate of the first display screen; configuring a second queue for the first DDIC according to a display frame rate and / or a minimum refresh rate carried in the first refresh rate switching instruction; and if the first queue is a first-class refresh rate queue and the second queue is a second-class refresh rate queue, controlling the first DDIC to refresh a first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue before the TE signal is not skipped, and synchronously issuing an instruction to control a TE signal shielding function to be opened. Therefore, the problem of abnormal frame rate when the first DDIC is switched from the first refresh rate queue to the second refresh rate queue can be avoided.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of display technology of electronic devices, and more particularly to a refresh rate switching method, an electronic device, and a computer-readable storage medium. Background Art

[0002] With the continuous development of display technology for electronic devices (such as mobile phones), more and more display screens that can support multiple refresh rates have emerged. For example, a display screen that uses low temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) screen technology can support multiple refresh rates such as 120Hz, 90Hz, 60Hz, 40Hz, 30Hz, 10Hz and 1Hz. The higher the refresh rate of the display screen, the higher the display frame rate it can support, and the corresponding picture display is smoother. The lower the refresh rate of the display screen, although the lower the display frame rate that can be supported, it can save more power consumption. Therefore, in order to ensure smooth pictures while saving a certain amount of power consumption as much as possible, adaptive refresh rate technology has emerged.

[0003] The principle of traditional adaptive refresh rate technology is mainly to send a refresh rate switching instruction to the digital display indicator control (DDIC) to switch to an adaptive refresh rate based on the running scenario of the application (APP). Therefore, the adaptive refresh rate technology cannot be adapted to the situation where the running scenario cannot be distinguished, and further, the refresh rate of the DDIC cannot be reduced when the running scenario cannot be distinguished, resulting in unnecessary increase in power consumption.

[0004] In order to solve this problem, a new adaptive refresh rate method has been proposed. However, the adaptive refresh rate method has an abnormal frame rate problem when switching the DDIC refresh rate because the switching timing is unreasonable. Summary of the invention

[0005] The embodiments of the present application provide a refresh rate switching method, an electronic device, and a computer-readable storage medium, which are used to solve the problem of abnormal frame rate caused by unreasonable switching timing when switching the DDIC refresh rate in the adaptive refresh rate technology.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the embodiments of the present application adopt the following technical solutions:

[0007] In the first aspect, a refresh rate switching method is provided, which is applied to an electronic device. The electronic device includes a first display screen, and a first display driver chip corresponding to the first display screen. In the method, the display driver of the electronic device can control the first display driver chip to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate of the first queue. Among them, the first queue can be a first-class refresh rate queue or a second-class refresh rate queue. The first-class refresh rate queue is a refresh rate queue in which the refresh rate is distributed from high to low and includes at least two refresh rates. The second-class refresh rate queue is a refresh rate queue in which the last refresh rate has a refresh rate value and the refresh rate before the last refresh rate is empty.

[0008] In the process of the first display driver chip brushing the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate of the first queue, the display frame rate of the APP on the first display screen and / or the minimum refresh rate of the first display screen may change. At this time, the display driver of the electronic device can receive a first refresh rate switching instruction. The first refresh rate switching instruction carries the display frame rate of the APP displayed on the first display screen and / or the minimum refresh rate of the first display screen. Then, the display driver can configure a second queue for the first display driver chip according to the display frame rate and / or the minimum refresh rate carried in the first refresh rate switching instruction. Among them, the second queue can be a first type of refresh rate queue or a second type of refresh rate queue.

[0009] The display driver can control the first display driver to refresh the image to the first display screen at different refresh rates according to the queue types of the first queue and the second queue. Specifically, if the first queue is a first-class refresh rate queue and the second queue is a second-class refresh rate queue, the display driver can control the first display driver chip to refresh the image to the first display screen at the refresh rate in the second queue before the TE signal is not jumped, and simultaneously issue instructions to control the TE signal shielding function to be turned on. Among them, the TE signal that is not jumped is the TE signal reported to SF.

[0010] It can be seen that if the first queue is a first-class refresh rate queue and the second queue is a second-class refresh rate queue, then the first-class refresh rate queue switches to the second-class refresh rate queue. Then the display driver needs to control the TEMASK function of the first DDIC to switch from off to on. However, since the first DDIC is a DDIC with TEI function, its TE MASK function requires a TE signal to take effect, which may cause the next non-jump TE signal corresponding to the jump TE signal, which should not be skipped but should be reported, to be shielded, resulting in abnormal frame rate problems. Therefore, switching before the non-jump TE signal can avoid the abnormal frame rate problem when the first DDIC switches from the first-class refresh rate queue to the second-class refresh rate queue.

[0011] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the refresh rate switching method further includes: if the first queue is a second-type refresh rate queue and the second queue is a first-type refresh rate queue, the display driver controls the first display driver chip to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue within the second-to-last cycle of the refresh rate currently used by the first display driver chip to refresh the image, and simultaneously sends instructions to control the TE signal shielding function to be turned off and the TEI function to be initialized.

[0012] Since the switch from the second refresh rate queue to the first refresh rate queue is not completed within the penultimate cycle of the refresh rate currently used for refreshing the image, the first refresh rate queue after switching has an additional abnormal frame of 8.3ms because TEI needs to start the TE signal. Therefore, completing the frame switching within the penultimate cycle can avoid the abnormal frame rate problem when the first DDIC switches from the second refresh rate queue to the first refresh rate queue.

[0013] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the refresh rate switching method also includes: if the first queue is a first-class refresh rate queue, and the second queue is a first-class refresh rate queue, the display driver controls the first display driver chip to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue, and does not synchronously send instructions to the TE signal shielding function and TEI function of the first display driver chip. Since the same type of refresh rate queue switching does not need to control the TE MASK function and the TEI function, but because the TEI function is a jump TE implemented by counting with a register, when there is a refresh rate queue switching, it is necessary to initialize the TEI function register and start counting again to jump TE. Therefore, if the first refresh rate queue is switched from the first-class refresh rate queue in the first DDIC, an additional abnormal frame rate of 8.3ms will appear due to the initialization of the TEI function. Therefore, when the first refresh rate queue is switched from the first-class refresh rate queue to the first-class refresh rate queue, no TEI instruction is given, which can avoid the problem of abnormal frame rate.

[0014] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: if the first queue is a first-type refresh rate queue, and the second queue is a first-type refresh rate queue, the display driver controls the first display driver chip to refresh the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue, and asynchronously sends instructions to the TE signal shielding function and the TEI function of the first display driver chip, including:

[0015] If the first queue is a first-type refresh rate queue and the second queue is a first-type refresh rate queue, after the display driver determines that the first queue and the second queue are different, it controls the first display driver chip to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue, and does not synchronously send instructions to the TE signal shielding function and TEI function of the first display driver chip.

[0016] The electronic device may include one display screen (i.e., a first display screen), or may include multiple display screens (i.e., a first display screen and a second display screen). For example, the electronic device may be a folding screen device (e.g., a folding screen mobile phone), and the folding screen mobile phone may include a foldable inner screen and an outer screen, or the folding screen mobile phone may include two inner screens.

[0017] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the electronic device further includes a second display screen, and the second display screen corresponds to a second display driver chip. In the method, the display driver of the electronic device controls the second display driver chip to refresh the second display screen according to the refresh rate in the third queue. The third queue can be the first refresh rate queue or the second refresh rate queue.

[0018] In the process of the second display driver chip brushing the image to the second display screen according to the refresh rate of the third queue, the display frame rate of the APP on the second display screen and / or the minimum refresh rate of the second display screen may change. At this time, the display driver of the electronic device can receive a second refresh rate switching instruction. The second refresh rate switching instruction carries the display frame rate of the APP displayed on the second display screen and / or the minimum refresh rate of the second display screen. Then, the display driver can configure a fourth queue for the second display driver chip according to the display frame rate and / or the minimum refresh rate carried in the second refresh rate switching instruction. The fourth queue can be a first refresh rate queue or a second refresh rate queue.

[0019] Similarly, the display driver can control the second display driver to refresh images to the second display screen at different refresh rates according to the queue types of the third queue and the fourth queue. Specifically, if the third queue is a first-class refresh rate queue and the fourth queue is a second-class refresh rate queue, the second display driver chip is controlled to refresh a frame of image to the second display screen at a refresh rate of 120Hz, and then the second display driver chip is controlled to refresh the image to the second display screen at the refresh rate in the fourth queue, and a command is simultaneously issued to control the TE signal shielding function to be turned on.

[0020] Since the shielding function of the second DDICTE signal takes effect immediately, if the display driver sends a switching instruction to the second DDIC to control the second DDIC to switch from the first refresh rate queue to the second refresh rate queue in the first two cycles of the refresh rate currently used by the second DDIC, it is easy to cause the TE signal that should be reported later to be shielded and unable to be reported, resulting in abnormal frame rate. Therefore, switching from the first refresh rate queue to the second refresh rate queue after switching to 120Hz refresh rate can avoid abnormal frame rate.

[0021] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the refresh rate switching method also includes: if the third queue is a second-type refresh rate queue and the fourth queue is a first-type refresh rate queue, the display driver controls the second display driver chip to refresh the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the fourth queue within the last cycle of the refresh rate currently used by the second display driver chip to refresh the image, and simultaneously sends instructions to control the TE signal shielding function to be turned off, and reports the TE signal generated by the second display driver chip to SF based on the actual working frame rate of SF.

[0022] Since the TE MASK function takes effect immediately, if the display driver's switching instruction is not sent to the last cycle of the refresh rate currently used by the second DDIC to refresh the image, the originally shielded jump TE signal will be immediately generated and reported to the upper layer. At this time, the upper layer responds to the TE signal to send the image, which will cause the cycle corresponding to the refresh rate currently used by the second DDIC to refresh the image not to be completed, resulting in an abnormal frame rate. Therefore, switching from the second refresh rate queue to the first refresh rate queue in the last cycle can avoid the problem of abnormal frame rate when the second DDIC switches from the second refresh rate queue to the first refresh rate queue.

[0023] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first display driver chip may be a display driver chip with a TEI function.

[0024] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second display driver chip may be a display driver chip without a TEI function.

[0025] In a second aspect, the present application provides an electronic device, comprising: a memory, a first display screen, a first display driver chip, and one or more processors. The memory, the first display screen, and the first display driver chip are coupled to the processor. The memory stores one or more computer program codes, and the computer program codes include computer instructions; when the processor executes the computer instructions, the electronic device performs the following steps:

[0026] The display driver controls the first display driver chip to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate of the first queue; wherein the first queue is a first-class refresh rate queue or a second-class refresh rate queue, the first-class refresh rate queue is a refresh rate queue whose refresh rates are distributed from high to low and include at least two refresh rates, and the second-class refresh rate queue is a refresh rate queue whose last refresh rate has a refresh rate value and whose refresh rates before the last refresh rate are empty; the display driver of the electronic device receives a first refresh rate switching instruction, and the first refresh rate switching instruction carries the display frame rate of the APP displayed on the first display screen and / or the minimum refresh rate of the first display screen; according to the display frame rate and / or the minimum refresh rate carried in the first refresh rate switching instruction, a second queue is configured for the first display driver chip; wherein the second queue is a first-class refresh rate queue or a second-class refresh rate queue, if the first queue is a first-class refresh rate queue and the second queue is a second-class refresh rate queue, then before the TE signal is not jumped, the first display driver chip is controlled to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue, and an instruction is simultaneously issued to control the TE signal shielding function to be turned on; wherein the non-jumping TE signal is a TE signal reported to SF. The display driver may be a software code or a software module running in a processor.

[0027] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, when the above-mentioned computer instructions are executed by the processor, the electronic device further performs the following steps: if the first queue is a second-type refresh rate queue, and the second queue is a first-type refresh rate queue, the display driver controls the first display driver chip to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue within the second-to-last cycle of the refresh rate currently used by the first display driver chip to refresh the image, and simultaneously sends instructions to control the TE signal shielding function to be turned off and the TEI function to be initialized.

[0028] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, when the above-mentioned computer instructions are executed by the processor, the electronic device further performs the following steps: if the first queue is a first-type refresh rate queue, and the second queue is a first-type refresh rate queue, the display driver controls the first display driver chip to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue, and does not synchronously send instructions to the TE signal shielding function and TEI function of the first display driver chip.

[0029] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, when the above-mentioned computer instructions are executed by the processor, the electronic device further performs the following steps: if the first queue is a first-type refresh rate queue, and the second queue is a first-type refresh rate queue, after the display driver determines that the first queue and the second queue are different, it controls the first display driver chip to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue, and does not synchronously send instructions to the TE signal shielding function and TEI function of the first display driver chip.

[0030] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the electronic device further includes: a second display screen, and a second display driver chip corresponding to the second display screen. The second display screen and the second display driver chip are coupled to the processor. When the computer instructions are executed by the processor, the electronic device further performs the following steps: the display driver of the electronic device controls the second display driver chip to refresh the image to the second display screen according to the refresh rate in the third queue; the display driver of the electronic device receives a second refresh rate switching instruction, and the second refresh rate switching instruction carries the display frame rate of the APP displayed on the second display screen and / or the minimum refresh rate of the second display screen; according to the display frame rate and / or the minimum refresh rate carried in the second refresh rate switching instruction, the fourth queue is configured for the second display driver chip; if the third queue is a first-class refresh rate queue and the fourth queue is a second-class refresh rate queue, the second display driver chip is controlled to refresh a frame of image to the second display screen at a refresh rate of 120Hz, and then the second display driver chip is controlled to refresh the image to the second display screen according to the refresh rate in the fourth queue, and the instruction is simultaneously issued to control the TE signal shielding function to be turned on.

[0031] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, when the above-mentioned computer instructions are executed by the processor, the electronic device also performs the following steps: if the third queue is a second-type refresh rate queue, and the fourth queue is a first-type refresh rate queue, the display driver controls the second display driver chip to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the fourth queue within the last cycle of the refresh rate currently used by the second display driver chip to refresh the image, and simultaneously sends instructions to control the TE signal shielding function to be turned off, and reports the TE signal generated by the second display driver chip to SF based on the actual working frame rate of SF.

[0032] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the first display driver chip is a display driver chip with a TEI function.

[0033] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the second display driver chip is a display driver chip without a TEI function.

[0034] In a third aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon. When the computer program is executed by a processor in an electronic device, the electronic device executes a refresh rate switching method as in the first aspect and any possible design thereof.

[0035] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method of the first aspect and any possible design thereof. The computer may be the electronic device described above.

[0036] It can be understood that the beneficial effects that can be achieved by the electronic device of any possible design of the second aspect, the computer-readable storage medium of the third aspect, and the computer program product of the fourth aspect can be referred to as the beneficial effects in the first aspect and any possible design of the electronic device, and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0037] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a refresh rate corresponding to a refresh image method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0038] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of an interface of a video scene with bullet screen provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0039] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of an interface of a video scene without bullet screen provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a DDIC repeated image refresh provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] Figure 6 A software structure block diagram of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a refresh rate switching method provided in an embodiment of the present application Figure 1 ;

[0044] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of an abnormal frame rate when switching the refresh rate provided in an embodiment of the present application Figure 1 ;

[0045] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of a refresh rate switch without abnormal frame rate provided in an embodiment of the present application Figure 1 ;

[0046] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of an abnormal frame rate when switching the refresh rate provided in an embodiment of the present application Figure 2 ;

[0047] Fig.11 A schematic diagram of an abnormal frame rate when switching the refresh rate provided in an embodiment of the present application Figure 3 ;

[0048] Fig.12 A schematic diagram of a refresh rate switch without abnormal frame rate provided in an embodiment of the present application Figure 2 ;

[0049] Fig.13 A schematic diagram of a refresh rate switching method provided in an embodiment of the present application Figure 2 ;

[0050] Fig.14 A schematic diagram of an abnormal frame rate when switching the refresh rate provided in an embodiment of the present application Figure 4 ;

[0051] Fig.15 A schematic diagram of a refresh rate switch without abnormal frame rate provided in an embodiment of the present application Figure 3 ;

[0052] Fig.16 A schematic diagram of an abnormal frame rate when switching the refresh rate provided in an embodiment of the present application Figure 5 ;

[0053] Fig.17 A schematic diagram of a refresh rate switch without abnormal frame rate provided in an embodiment of the present application Figure 4 ;

[0054] Fig.18 A schematic diagram of a refresh rate switching method provided in an embodiment of the present application Figure 3 ;

[0055] Fig.19 A schematic diagram of a chip system provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0056] In order to clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, some of the terms and technologies involved in the embodiments of the present application are briefly introduced and explained below.

[0057] Frame rate: Also known as frame rate, it is the rate at which bitmap images appear continuously on the display screen in frames, generally measured in frames per second (FPS).

[0058] Refresh rate: It is the number of times the screen is refreshed per second, which can also be called the frame rate of the display screen, measured in Hz. For example, a 60Hz refresh rate means that the display screen can complete 60 refreshes in 1 second. In other words, the refresh rate is a hardware performance parameter of the display screen in an electronic device, which is used to characterize the number of times the display screen can refresh the display screen per second.

[0059] Application display frame rate: The speed at which an application draws the screen (i.e., image data). The application display frame rate can generally be expressed as the number of frames transmitted per second (fps). In other words, the application display frame rate is the rate at which the application outputs image data to the display screen.

[0060] Tearing effect (TE) signal: A signal generated by DDIC to prevent tearing during image display. Tearing refers to the phenomenon that a part of the old and new images are displayed separately when the image is refreshed.

[0061] Adaptive refresh rate technology: dynamically adjust the screen refresh rate according to user usage scenarios (APP operation scenarios) and needs.

[0062] Sending images: The application processor (AP) writes the rendered image data to be displayed into the random access memory (RAM) of the DDIC through the surface flinger (SF).

[0063] Refresh image: DDIC reads the image data to be displayed from RAM according to the refresh rate and refreshes the display to the corresponding display screen.

[0064] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application will be described clearly and completely below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Among them, in the description of the embodiments of the present application, the terms used in the following embodiments are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present application. In addition, in order to facilitate the clear description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, the words "first", "second" and the like are used to distinguish the same items or similar items with substantially the same functions and effects. It can be understood by those skilled in the art that the words "first", "second" and the like do not limit the quantity and execution order, and the words "first", "second" and the like do not limit certain differences. And, in the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, the meaning of "multiple" means two or more.

[0065] With the continuous development of display technology for electronic devices (such as mobile phones), more and more display screens that can support multiple refresh rates have emerged. For example, a display screen that uses low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) screen technology can support multiple refresh rates such as 120Hz, 90Hz, 60Hz, 40Hz, 30Hz, 10Hz and 1Hz. Among them, 120Hz and 90Hz are the base frequencies of LTPO, and other supported refresh rates are generated on the basis of 120Hz through frame skipping, so that the lowest refresh rate can be 1Hz.

[0066] For example, a refresh rate of 120 Hz means that the display screen can be refreshed 120 times in 1 second, so 120 Hz refreshes a frame of image in a cycle of 8.3 ms (milliseconds), and the image of each cycle is an active frame. Figure 1 The 120Hz corresponding diagram is shown in the figure. Among them, the active frame can be understood as the image frame sent from the upper layer SF to the lower layer DDIC.

[0067] Then, the principle of achieving a 60Hz refresh rate based on 120Hz is to use the same 8.3ms cycle, but each active frame is followed by a hold frame. A hold frame is when DDIC keeps one frame without refreshing after refreshing an active frame. It can be understood that the hold frame has no corresponding image content. That is, at a 60Hz refresh rate, there is an active frame every 16.6 milliseconds. Figure 1 As shown in the figure below, compared with refreshing an active frame in a cycle of 8.3ms, DDIC implements frame skipping by refreshing one frame and stopping one frame (commonly known as scan 1 stop 1), which extends the refresh time interval between two active frames by half, thus achieving a 60Hz refresh rate on the basis of 120Hz.

[0068] Similarly, to achieve 30Hz based on 120Hz, each active frame will be followed by 3 hold frames, commonly known as scan 1 stop 3, refer to Figure 1 30Hz corresponds to the figure. To achieve 10Hz at 120Hz, each active frame is followed by 11 hold frames, commonly known as scan 1 stop 11. To achieve 1Hz at 120Hz, each active frame is followed by 119 hold frames, commonly known as scan 1 stop 119.

[0069] The higher the refresh rate of a display, the higher the display frame rate it can support, and the corresponding picture display is smoother. The lower the refresh rate of a display, the lower the display frame rate it can support, but it can save more power. Therefore, in order to ensure smooth pictures while saving as much power as possible, adaptive refresh rate technology has emerged.

[0070] That is, usually when running a high frame rate application or sliding operation, the display screen is adaptively set to a high refresh rate by issuing a refresh rate switching instruction to the DDIC. Conversely, when running a low frame rate application, the display screen is adaptively set to a low refresh rate by issuing a refresh rate switching instruction to the DDIC.

[0071] Exemplary, if it is detected that the current running scene of the APP in the electronic device is a high frame rate game scene or a fast sliding scene, in order to improve the smoothness of the game screen or the screen sliding, a refresh rate switching instruction is sent to the DDIC via the display driver to switch the refresh rate of the display screen to a high refresh rate that can match the high frame rate game scene or the fast sliding scene. Assuming that the refresh rate of the current display screen is 60Hz, when it is detected that the APP running scene has changed and the refresh rate needs to be increased (for example, running a high frame rate game), the display driver can send a refresh rate switching instruction to the DDIC to switch the refresh rate to 120Hz. When it is detected that the APP running scene has changed and the refresh rate needs to be reduced (for example, exiting a high frame rate game), the refresh rate switching instruction can be sent to the DDIC through the display driver to switch the refresh rate from 120Hz back to 60Hz.

[0072] It can be seen that compared with the display screen that can only support one refresh rate in the past, the display screen that can support multiple refresh rates can adapt to more APP operation scenarios based on actual application conditions, thereby ensuring smooth picture while saving power consumption.

[0073] However, many apps are currently developed by third parties and are configured to run in electronic devices by downloading and installing. Therefore, there will be compatibility issues between electronic devices and apps. When the compatibility is high, the upper layer of the electronic device can distinguish the running scenarios of the apps very well, so that the refresh rate switching instructions can be directly issued based on the running scenarios to control the lower layer DDIC to switch the refresh rate that matches the running scenarios to implement adaptive refresh rate technology.

[0074] However, when the compatibility between electronic devices and apps is low, the upper layer of the electronic device may not be able to distinguish the app running scenarios well, and thus cannot accurately issue refresh rate switching instructions to the lower layer DDIC based on the running scenarios to switch the refresh rate to match the app running scenarios, resulting in increased power consumption. In other words, traditional adaptive refresh rate technology cannot adapt to situations where the running scenarios cannot be distinguished, and thus cannot reduce the refresh rate of the DDIC when the running scenarios cannot be distinguished, resulting in unnecessary increase in power consumption.

[0075] For example, take a short video APP with a bullet screen function as an example. In the video playback scenario with bullet screen, the short video APP refers to Figure 2 In order to ensure the smoothness of the bullet screen, the display frame rate required by the APP is generally 60Hz. Correspondingly, the refresh rate of the display screen must be adapted to 60Hz to keep the smoothness of the bullet screen running and display. In the video playback scenario without bullet screen, refer to Figure 3In order to reduce power consumption, the APP display frame rate is generally adapted to 30Hz to ensure smooth video playback. Therefore, when the running scene in the short video APP switches from a video with bullet screen to a video without bullet screen, the SF module on the AP side can reduce the drawing rate to 30Hz based on the 30Hz display frame rate required by the short video APP. However, due to the background adaptability issues, the electronic device and the short video APP cannot well distinguish whether the current video scene has bullet screen, and thus cannot accurately issue a refresh rate switching instruction to the lower-level DDIC to switch to a 30Hz refresh rate when the running scene of the short video APP is switched to a video without bullet screen. Therefore, after the upper-level SF has reduced the drawing rate to 30Hz, so that the picture sending frequency has been reduced to 30Hz accordingly, the lower-level DDIC still refreshes the picture at a refresh rate of 60Hz, which increases unnecessary power consumption.

[0076] The following introduces the above problems in combination with SF drawing and sending, as well as DDIC drawing process:

[0077] refer to Figure 4 , the rectangles marked with numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 represent the 1st frame image, the 2nd frame image, the 3rd frame image, and the 4th frame image, respectively. Among them, the 1st frame image and the 2nd frame image are images drawn at a display frame rate of 60Hz (corresponding to the bullet screen video scene of the short video APP). That is, the time interval between drawing, sending, and refreshing the images of the 1st frame image and the 2nd frame image is two cycles of 16.6ms. When the short video APP switches to the non-bullet screen video scene, SF reduces the drawing rate to 30Hz according to the 30Hz display frame rate requirement of the non-bullet screen video scene, and completes the drawing and sending of the 3rd and 4th frames at a rate of 30Hz. That is, the time interval between drawing, sending, and refreshing the images of the 3rd and 4th frames is four cycles of 33.3ms. However, since the upper layer of the electronic device cannot distinguish the scene at this time and send the instruction to the DDIC to switch to a 30Hz refresh rate, the DDIC still uses a 60Hz refresh rate to refresh the image. Therefore, in the interval when the upper SF does not send images, because no new images (active frames) are transmitted, the DDIC repeatedly refreshes the third and fourth frames (as shown in the rectangle with diagonal lines), thereby increasing unnecessary power consumption.

[0078] In order to solve the problem of unnecessary power consumption increase caused by failure to distinguish APP running scenarios and failure to accurately issue refresh rate switching instructions to DDIC to reduce refresh rate, a new adaptive refresh rate method has emerged, and an image display method based on the new adaptive refresh rate method has been proposed.

[0079] The main implementation principle of the image display method is: the upper layer of the electronic device dynamically configures the refresh rate queue SEQ for DDIC based on the data structure of the queue (sequeue, SEQ) used to configure the refresh rate in DDIC, according to the display frame rate of the APP displayed on the display screen and the minimum refresh rate of the display screen. Among them, the refresh rate queue can be a first-class refresh rate queue including refresh rates distributed from high to low, or a second-class refresh rate queue in which the last refresh rate is equal to the display frame rate and the refresh rates before the last refresh rate are all empty. Then, when the display driver controls DDIC to refresh the display screen based on the configured first-class refresh rate queue, the display driver sends a refresh rate switching instruction to DDIC according to the picture sending frequency of the SF module on the upper AP side to control DDIC to switch the refresh rate in the configured first-class refresh rate queue. When DDIC switches from a high refresh rate to a low refresh rate based on the picture sending frequency, the refresh rate is adaptively reduced, thereby achieving the effect of reducing unnecessary power consumption.

[0080] Specifically, SEQ can be understood as a functional module in DDIC that provides users with refresh rate configuration. Based on the type of DDIC, the length that its queue can support is different. In other words, the length of the refresh rate queue SEQ configured for DDIC depends on the type of DDIC.

[0081] For example, the two DDICs, model 37900 and model 37701A, which are currently the most commonly used in electronic devices, are used as examples. Model 37900 DDIC is a DDIC with a tearing interposition (TEI) function (hereinafter referred to as the first DDIC), and the queue length it can support is 5. That is, the refresh rate queue SEQ of the first DDIC can include 5 queue values, which is equivalent to SEQ=[SEQ1, SEQ2, SEQ3, SEQ4, SEQ5] of the first DDIC. Model 37701A DDIC is a DDIC without a tearing interposition (TEI) function (hereinafter referred to as the second DDIC), and the queue length it can support is 4, that is, SEQ in the second DDIC can include 4 queue values, which is equivalent to SEQ=[SEQ1, SEQ2, SEQ3, SEQ4] of the second DDIC.

[0082] Among them, the electronic device takes a mobile phone as an example. For a mobile phone with only a single display screen, the display screen can apply DDIC of model 37701A or DDIC of model 37900 according to actual needs. For a mobile phone with two displays, such as a folding mobile phone, according to the different requirements of the inner screen (the display screen for users to operate when the folding mobile phone is unfolded) and the outer screen (the display screen for users to operate when the folding mobile phone is folded), you can choose to apply the first DDIC and / or the second DDIC. For example, the existing inner screen often uses DDIC of model 37900, and the outer screen often uses DDIC of model 37701A.

[0083] Each queue value in the refresh rate queue SEQ (such as SEQ i, i=1, 2…n, n=4 or n=5) can be set to a different refresh rate, and different refresh rates correspond to different refresh modes. DDIC refreshes the picture according to SEQ, which means refreshing the picture according to the refresh rate corresponding to SEQ, which is equivalent to working at the refresh rate. For example, if a queue value in SEQ of DDIC is set to a refresh rate of 60Hz, when DDIC works according to the queue value 60Hz, DDIC refreshes the picture in a scan 1 stop 1 manner, thereby achieving a refresh rate of 60Hz. If the queue value in SEQ is set to 30Hz, when DDIC works according to the queue value 30Hz, DDIC refreshes the picture in a scan 1 stop 3 manner, thereby achieving a refresh rate of 30Hz. And, each SEQ i in the refresh rate queue SEQ can be switched according to the order of entering the queue. At the same time, each refresh rate SEQi in the refresh rate queue SEQ in DDIC can only be switched in sequence according to the queue order. And the restriction cannot jump to switch, but can directly switch to SEQ1. That is, DDIC can only switch from SEQ1 to SEQ2, and from SEQ2 to SEQ3, but cannot directly switch from SEQ1 to SEQ3, let alone from SEQ3 to SEQ1. However, it can directly switch from SEQ3 or SEQ2 to SEQ1.

[0084] Based on this, in order to realize adaptive reduction of refresh rate to save unnecessary power consumption when the operation scene cannot be distinguished, the image display method configures a refresh rate queue SEQ with refresh rates distributed from high to low for DDIC through dynamic configuration. For example, the first refresh rate SEQ1 in the refresh rate queue SEQ is set to a high refresh rate, and other refresh rates are set to low refresh rates lower than the first refresh rate SEQ1.

[0085] For example, taking the SEQ of the first DDIC as an example, SEQ1 is set to a high refresh rate, and SEQ2, SEQ3, SEQ4, and SEQ5 are set to a low refresh rate. For example, SEQ1 is set to 60 Hz, and SEQ2, SEQ3, SEQ4, and SEQ5 are set to 30 Hz.

[0086] Then, DDIC refreshes the image in the refresh rate queue SEQ configured for the upper-layer application based on the running scenario. The refresh process is as follows: DDIC first works in the refresh mode corresponding to the first refresh rate SEQ1 in the queue. While refreshing the image, the display driver determines whether the upper layer has stable image delivery based on the TE signal generated by DDIC and reported to the upper-layer SF.

[0087] In display technology, generally speaking, when DDIC reports a TE signal, it will get a frame of image sent from the upper layer. Therefore, if the corresponding image is not obtained after reporting the TE signal, it means that the SF module may reduce the speed of drawing and sending images according to the display frame rate of the APP running scene (for example, when the display frame rate required by the APP drops from 60Hz to 30Hz after the barrage is completed or closed). In other words, the upper-layer SF currently has no new images that need to be sent for display, so it does not respond to the TE signal reported by DDIC to send images. At this time, if DDIC still works at the refresh rate corresponding to SEQ1, repeated image refresh will occur, resulting in the problem of unnecessary power consumption.

[0088] Therefore, when the display driver determines that there is an unsent image in the upper SF according to the TE signal, it controls the DDIC to switch to the next refresh rate according to the order of the refresh rates SEQi in the refresh rate queue SEQ. For example, switch from SEQ1 to SEQ2. Then the DDIC refreshes the image according to the currently switched refresh rate, that is, the image is refreshed according to the refresh rate corresponding to the currently switched SEQi.

[0089] SEQ2, SEQ3, SEQ4 and SEQ5 are also switched in the same way when it is determined that the upper SF does not send pictures, until they switch to the last SEQ4 or SEQ5, and keep refreshing the pictures at the refresh rate corresponding to the last SEQ4 or SEQ5.

[0090] However, after DDIC reduces the refresh rate, the number of hold frames for DDIC to refresh images will increase. And if the upper layer SF resumes sending images, it will still send images at the original frequency. That is, the frequency of SF sending images after resuming sending images will be higher than the refresh rate of DDIC's current image refresh. Therefore, if the upper layer resumes sending images at this time, the image sent may correspond to the active frame of DDIC or the hold frame. However, if the hold frame corresponds to the moment when DDIC does not refresh images, if the image sent by SF corresponds to the hold frame, it may cause DDIC to be unable to respond to the refresh immediately, and then the new image sent by the upper layer will not be displayed immediately on the display. Therefore, in order to ensure that DDIC can immediately respond to the upper layer SF sending images for refreshing, it is necessary to ensure that the SF sending images corresponds to the active frame of DDIC. Therefore, when DDIC stipulates that it can only jump to SEQ1, the display driver needs to immediately control DDIC to switch back to the first refresh rate SEQ1 when receiving SF sending images.

[0091] In addition, in display technology, the TE signal is generated by the DDIC, and the upper SF usually sends images based on the TE signal reported by the lower display driver. That is, the image sending frequency of the upper SF module is equivalent to the reporting frequency of the TE signal. Therefore, the frequency of the TE signal reported by the display driver needs to be consistent with the working frame rate of the upper SF module (software frame rate synchronization requirement).

[0092] When the refresh rate of the traditional DDIC is directly controlled by the upper layer, the frequency of its reported TE signal usually corresponds to the currently used refresh rate, thereby ensuring consistency with the upper layer frame rate. However, when the adaptive refresh rate method uses the display driver to control the DDIC to achieve adaptive reduction of the refresh rate with the configured refresh rate queue SEQ, once the DDIC switches from a high refresh rate to a low refresh rate, the corresponding frequency of the reported TE signal will change with the switching of the refresh rate. Then, in the case where the upper layer simply does not respond to the TE signal to send the image, but does not actually reduce the working frame rate, if the TE signal is reported according to the low refresh rate after the switch, the frequency of the TE signal reporting will be out of sync with the working frame rate of the upper layer, which violates the software frame rate synchronization requirement.

[0093] Therefore, in this adaptive refresh rate method, in order to meet the software frame rate synchronization requirements, in the process of DDIC realizing adaptive reduction of refresh rate with the first type of refresh rate queue, the display driver needs to synchronously control DDIC to turn off the TE MASK function, and report the TE signal generated by DDIC based on the upper-layer SF working frame rate, that is, to realize the TE jump function.

[0094] Among them, TE MASK is a function in DDIC that is used to shield the TE signal in the refresh rate SEXi. When the TEMASK function is turned on, the TE signal in the middle of each SEXi will be shielded, that is, the TE signals corresponding to all the hold frames in SEXi will be shielded, and the shielded TE signals cannot be reported. When the TE MASK function is turned off, DDIC will generate a TE signal at a frequency of 120Hz and report it to the display driver and the upper SF.

[0095] The TE skipping function means reporting a TE signal to SF at intervals of one TE signal, which is equivalent to skipping some TE signals that need to be reported. The TE signal that is not reported can be called a TE skipping signal. For example. Because the DDIC will generate a TE signal at a frequency of 120Hz after the TE MASK function is turned off, when the upper layer working frame rate is 120Hz, the display driver can not implement the TE skipping function, and directly report the TE signal generated by the DDIC to the upper layer SF at a frequency of 120Hz to ensure that the frequency of reporting TE is synchronized with the software frame rate. When the upper layer working frame rate is not 120Hz, the TE skipping function needs to be implemented so that the frequency of TE signal reporting is consistent with the upper layer SF working frame rate, so as to meet the software frame rate synchronization requirements.

[0096] The implementation method of the TE jump function is determined by whether the DDIC has a TEI function (a hardware function for implementing TE jump in the DDIC). For a DDIC with a TEI function, such as the first DDIC, since its hardware has a TEI function, the TE jump function can be directly implemented through the TEI function of the DDIC. If the TE jump function needs to be implemented, it is only necessary to send an instruction to the DDIC to control the initialization of the register corresponding to the TEI function.

[0097] For DDICs without TEI function, such as the second DDIC, since its hardware is not equipped with TEI function, the display driver mainly implements the TE jump function through software program control. That is, the display driver implements the TE jump function by reporting one TE signal to the upper SF at intervals for the TE signal generated by the second DDIC. For example, when the working frame rate of the upper SF is 60Hz, the reporting rate of the TE signal needs to be 60Hz. Then after the TE MASK function is turned off, the TE signal cannot be reported to the upper SF at 120Hz. The display driver generates a TE signal at a refresh rate of 120Hz in DDIC, and reports a TE signal to the upper SF at intervals, so that the reporting rate of the TE signal is 60Hz, thereby ensuring synchronization with the working frame rate of the upper layer.

[0098] However, in the image display method, in order to configure the refresh rate queue that best suits the actual application for DDIC, when the display frame rate of the APP or the minimum refresh rate of the display changes, the electronic device will also reconfigure a new refresh rate queue for DDIC based on the changed display frame rate or minimum refresh rate for switching.

[0099] However, currently, when switching refresh rate queue configurations for different types of DDICs, there are many frame rate abnormality problems caused by unreasonable timing of sending switching instructions to the DDIC.

[0100] Based on this, in order to solve the abnormal frame rate problem caused by the display driver switching the refresh rate queue configuration for DDIC, an embodiment of the present application provides a refresh rate switching method, which is applied to an electronic device.

[0101] Exemplary, reference Figure 5 , is a schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0102] The electronic device 100 may include at least one of a mobile phone, a foldable electronic device (foldable mobile phone), a tablet computer, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, a notebook computer, an ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), a netbook, a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), an augmented reality (AR) device, a virtual reality (VR) device, an artificial intelligence (AI) device, a wearable device, an in-vehicle device, a smart home device, or a smart city device. The embodiment of the present application does not impose any special restrictions on the specific type of the electronic device 100.

[0103] The electronic device 100 may include a processor 110, an external memory interface 120, an internal memory 121, a universal serial bus (USB) connector 130, a charging management module 140, a power management module 141, a battery 142, an antenna 1, an antenna 2, a mobile communication module 150, a wireless communication module 160, an audio module 170, a speaker 170A, a receiver 170B, a microphone 170C, an earphone interface 170D, a sensor module 180, a button 190, a motor 191, an indicator 192, a camera module 193, a display screen 194, and a subscriber identification module (SIM) card interface 195, etc. Among them, the sensor module 180 may include a pressure sensor, a gyroscope sensor, an air pressure sensor, a magnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a distance sensor, a proximity light sensor, a fingerprint sensor, a temperature sensor, a touch sensor, an ambient light sensor, a bone conduction sensor, etc.

[0104] It is to be understood that the structure illustrated in the embodiment of the present application does not constitute a specific limitation on the electronic device 100. In other embodiments of the present application, the electronic device 100 may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine some components, or split some components, or arrange the components differently. The components shown in the figure may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

[0105] The processor 110 may include one or more processing units, for example, the processor 110 may include an application processor (AP), a modem processor, a graphics processor (GPU), an image signal processor (ISP), a controller, a video codec, a digital signal processor (DSP), a baseband processor, and / or a neural-network processing unit (NPU), etc. Different processing units may be independent devices or integrated into one or more processors.

[0106] The processor 110 can generate an operation control signal according to the instruction operation code and the timing signal to complete the control of fetching and executing instructions. Specifically in the embodiment of the present application, the processor 110 can control the lower layer DDIC to configure the refresh rate queue SEQ for the DDIC to implement the refresh rate adaptive method described in the embodiment of the present application.

[0107] The processor 110 may also be provided with a memory for storing instructions and data. In some embodiments, the memory in the processor 110 may be a cache memory. The memory may store instructions or data that have been used or are frequently used by the processor 110. If the processor 110 needs to use the instruction or data, it may be directly called from the memory. This avoids repeated access, reduces the waiting time of the processor 110, and thus improves the efficiency of the system.

[0108] In some embodiments, the processor 110 may include one or more interfaces. The interface may include an inter-integrated circuit (I2C) interface, an inter-integrated circuit sound (I2S) interface, a pulse code modulation (PCM) interface, a universal asynchronous receiver / transmitter (UART) interface, a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI), a general-purpose input / output (GPIO) interface, a subscriber identity module (SIM) interface, and / or a universal serial bus (USB) interface, etc. The processor 110 may be connected to a touch sensor, an audio module, a wireless communication module, a display, a camera, and other modules through at least one of the above interfaces.

[0109] It is understandable that the interface connection relationship between the modules illustrated in the embodiment of the present application is only a schematic illustration and does not constitute a structural limitation on the electronic device 100. In other embodiments of the present application, the electronic device 100 may also adopt different interface connection methods in the above embodiments, or a combination of multiple interface connection methods.

[0110] The external memory interface 120 can be used to connect an external memory card, such as a MicroSD card, to expand the storage capacity of the electronic device 100. The external memory card communicates with the processor 110 through the external memory interface 120 to implement a data storage function. For example, files such as music and videos are stored in the external memory card. Or files such as music and videos are transferred from the electronic device to the external memory card.

[0111] The internal memory 121 can be used to store computer executable program codes, which include instructions. The internal memory 121 may include a program storage area and a data storage area. Among them, the program storage area may store an operating system, an application required for at least one function (such as a sound playback function, an image playback function, etc.), etc. The data storage area may store data created during the use of the electronic device 100 (such as audio data, a phone book, etc.), etc. In addition, the internal memory 121 may include a high-speed random access memory, and may also include a non-volatile memory, such as at least one disk storage device, a flash memory device, a universal flash storage (UFS), etc. The processor 110 executes various functional methods or data processing of the electronic device 100 by running instructions stored in the internal memory 121, and / or instructions stored in a memory provided in the processor.

[0112] The charging management module 140 is used to receive the charging input of the charger and charge the battery 142. While the charging management module 140 is charging the battery 142, it can also power the electronic device through the power management module 141.

[0113] The power management module 141 is used to connect the battery 142, the charging management module 140 and the processor 110. The power management module 141 receives input from the battery 142 and / or the charging management module 140, and supplies power to the processor 110, the internal memory 121, the display screen 194, the camera module 193, and the wireless communication module 160. The power management module 141 can also be used to monitor parameters such as battery capacity, battery cycle number, battery health status (leakage, impedance), etc. In some other embodiments, the power management module 141 can also be set in the processor 110. In other embodiments, the power management module 141 and the charging management module 140 can also be set in the same device.

[0114] The wireless communication function of the electronic device 100 can be implemented through the antenna 1, the antenna 2, the mobile communication module 150, the wireless communication module 160, the modem processor and the baseband processor.

[0115] The antenna 1 and the antenna 2 are used to transmit and receive electromagnetic wave signals. The mobile communication module 150 can provide a solution for wireless communication including 2G / 3G / 4G / 5G etc. applied to the electronic device 100.

[0116] The wireless communication module 160 can provide wireless communication solutions for application in the electronic device 100, including wireless local area networks (WLAN) (such as wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) networks), Bluetooth (BT), Bluetooth low energy (BLE), ultra wide band (UWB), global navigation satellite system (GNSS), frequency modulation (FM), near field communication technology (NFC), infrared technology (IR), etc.

[0117] In some embodiments, antenna 1 of electronic device 100 is coupled to mobile communication module 150, and antenna 2 is coupled to wireless communication module 160, so that electronic device 100 can communicate with a network and other electronic devices through wireless communication technology.

[0118] The electronic device 100 can realize the display function through a GPU, a display screen 194, and an application processor. The GPU is a microprocessor for image processing, which connects the display screen 194 and the application processor. The GPU is used to perform mathematical and geometric calculations for graphics rendering. The processor 110 may include one or more GPUs, which execute program instructions to generate or change display information.

[0119] The display screen 194 is used to display images, videos, etc. The display screen 194 includes a display panel. In the embodiment of the present application, the display panel can be an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), an active-matrix organic light-emitting diode or an active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED), a flexible light-emitting diode (FLED), Miniled, MicroLed, Micro-oLed, a quantum dot light-emitting diode (QLED), etc.

[0120] In some embodiments, the electronic device 100 may include one or more display screens 194. According to actual needs, different display screens may be controlled by different DDICs. Exemplarily, the electronic device 100 includes a first DDIC with a TEI function and a second DDIC without a TEI function. The first DDIC may control the first display screen, and the second DDIC may control the second display screen.

[0121] The electronic device 100 can realize the camera function through the camera module 193, ISP, video codec, GPU, display screen 194, application processor AP, neural network processor NPU, etc.

[0122] refer to Figure 6 , which is a software structure block diagram of the electronic device 100 according to an embodiment of the present application. Figure 6 At the same time, a schematic diagram of system-level interaction of an existing image display method is shown by taking the first DDIC as an example.

[0123] The layered architecture divides the software into several layers, each with clear roles and division of labor. The layers communicate with each other through software interfaces. In some embodiments, the Android system is divided into four layers, from top to bottom: application layer (applications), application framework layer (application framework), hardware abstract layer (HAL) and kernel layer (kernel).

[0124] The application layer can include a series of application packages. Application packages can include desktop, games, camera, gallery, calendar, call, map, navigation, WLAN, Bluetooth, music, video, short message and other APPs.

[0125] The application framework layer provides application programming interface (API) and programming framework for the applications in the application layer. The application framework layer includes some predefined functions. Figure 6 As shown, in the embodiment of the present application, the application framework layer includes a refresh rate decision module.

[0126] The hardware abstraction layer runs in user space, encapsulates kernel layer drivers, and provides a calling interface to the upper layer. Figure 6As shown, the hardware abstraction layer of the embodiment of the present application includes a hardware abstraction layer interface definition language (HIDL) interface, a SF module and a hardware composer (HWC). The HWC has the function and ability to combine and display image data using hardware.

[0127] The kernel layer is the layer between hardware and software, such as Figure 6 As shown. Specifically in the embodiment of the present application, the kernel layer at least includes a display driver. The hardware involved may include a DDIC and a display panel. The display driver is used to drive the DDIC to complete the processing and implementation of the display. Among them, for a foldable electronic device (for example, a foldable screen mobile phone including two display screens, an inner screen and an outer screen), Figure 6 The first DDIC and the second DDIC, as well as the first panel and the second panel corresponding to the two DDICs are shown. Among them, the first DDIC can correspond to the first display screen of the folding screen mobile phone, and the second DDIC can correspond to the second display screen of the folding screen mobile phone. Of course, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to electronic devices that only include one display screen. Regardless of how many display screens the electronic device includes, the refresh rate switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to each display screen of the electronic device and its corresponding DDIC.

[0128] In the following embodiments, the present solution is introduced by taking the refresh rate switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application as an example for the first DDIC. The first DDIC refers to a DDIC with a TEI function, such as a DDIC of model 37900. The refresh rate switching method provided for the first DDIC is applied to an electronic device including the first DDIC, and the first DDIC corresponds to a display screen (hereinafter referred to as the first display screen). The structure of the electronic device can be referred to Figure 5 , the software structure can refer to Figure 6 .

[0129] refer to Figure 7 , which is a flow chart of the refresh rate switching method proposed for the first DDIC in an embodiment of the present application.

[0130] The following, combined Figure 7 The refresh rate switching method of the embodiment of the present application is described. The refresh rate switching method of the embodiment of the present application includes steps S701-S707.

[0131] S701: The display driver of the electronic device controls the first DDIC to refresh images to the first display screen according to the refresh rate of the first queue.

[0132] The first queue is a refresh rate queue currently used by the first DDIC, and the type of the first queue may be a first-type refresh rate queue or a second-type refresh rate queue.

[0133] The first type of refresh rate queue refers to a refresh rate queue SEQ that includes at least two refresh rates and the refresh rates are distributed from high to low. In the embodiment of the present application, the first type of refresh rate queue can also be called an adaptive SEQ. The second type of refresh rate queue is a refresh rate queue in which the last refresh rate has a refresh rate value, and the refresh rate before the last refresh rate is empty. That is, the last queue value in the second type of refresh rate queue has a corresponding refresh rate, and the refresh rates of other queue values ​​are empty. The second type of refresh rate queue can also be called a fixed SEQ.

[0134] The type of the first queue can be determined by the display driver based on the display frame rate of the APP displayed on the first display screen and the minimum refresh rate of the first display screen. When the display frame rate is greater than the minimum refresh rate, and when the display frame rate is not equal to 120Hz and the minimum refresh rate is not equal to 60Hz, the display driver will configure a first-class refresh rate queue for the first DDIC, and the type of the first queue is a first-class refresh rate queue. When the display frame rate is greater than the minimum refresh rate, but the display frame rate is equal to 120Hz and the minimum refresh rate is equal to 60Hz, or when the display frame rate is equal to the minimum refresh rate, the display driver will configure a second-class refresh rate queue for the first DDIC, and the type of the first queue is a second-class refresh rate queue.

[0135] When the first queue is a first-class refresh rate queue, the display driver controls the first DDIC to refresh the image based on the first-class refresh rate queue. Specifically, the display driver first controls the first DDIC to refresh the image to the corresponding display screen according to the first refresh rate in the first-class refresh rate queue. Then, when the display driver determines that the SF module has not sent the image based on the reported TE signal, the display driver controls the first DDIC to refresh the image to the display screen according to the next refresh rate in the first-class refresh rate queue according to the arrangement order of the refresh rates in the first-class refresh rate queue. In other words, the first DDIC is controlled to switch from the first refresh rate to the second refresh rate, and the image is refreshed to the display screen according to the second refresh rate. Similarly, the display driver can control the first DDIC to switch to the third refresh rate again based on the image delivery of SF, and refresh the image to the display screen according to the third refresh rate. By analogy, if the first DDIC has been controlled to refresh the image to the display screen according to the last refresh rate, it indicates that the current refresh rate has dropped to the minimum refresh rate that the display screen can support. If the refresh rate is not switched, the first DDIC is made to work at the minimum refresh rate.

[0136] When the first queue is a second-class refresh rate queue, since the empty queue value in the refresh rate queue SEQ will be directly skipped, when the display driver controls the first DDIC to refresh the image to the display screen with the second-class refresh rate queue, it is equivalent to directly controlling the first DDIC to refresh the image to the display screen with the last refresh rate in the second-class refresh rate queue, indicating that the DDIC works at a fixed refresh rate.

[0137] S702, the display driver of the electronic device receives a first refresh rate switching instruction, where the first refresh rate switching instruction carries a display frame rate of the APP displayed on the first display screen and / or a minimum refresh rate of the first display screen.

[0138] Among them, the first refresh rate switching instruction is a refresh rate switching instruction issued to the first DDIC. The first refresh rate switching instruction is issued when the display frame rate of the APP displayed on the display screen corresponding to the first DDIC (such as the first display screen) or the minimum refresh rate of the first display screen changes. Therefore, the first refresh rate switching instruction carries the display frame rate of the APP on the first display screen and / or the minimum refresh rate of the first display screen. The first refresh rate instruction is used to indicate to the display driver the frame rate that needs to be changed by the first DDIC.

[0139] Exemplarily, when the display frame rate of the APP displayed on the first display screen corresponding to the first DDIC in the electronic device changes, after the refresh rate decision module obtains the changed display frame rate, the first refresh rate switching instruction carrying the updated display frame rate is sent to the display driver via the SF module and HWC.

[0140] Alternatively, when the display brightness of the first display screen and / or the detected ambient light brightness causes the minimum refresh rate of the first display screen to change, after the refresh rate decision module obtains the changed minimum refresh rate, the HI DL interface is called to send a first refresh rate switching instruction carrying the updated minimum refresh rate to the display driver.

[0141] Alternatively, if the display frame rate of the APP displayed on the first display screen and the minimum refresh rate of the first display screen have changed, the updated display frame rate and minimum refresh rate can be sent to the display driver synchronously through two paths. That is, the refresh rate decision module sends the first refresh rate switching instruction carrying the display frame rate to the display driver through the SF module and HWC, and synchronously calls the HI DL interface to send the first refresh rate switching instruction carrying the minimum refresh rate to the display driver.

[0142] S703: Configure a second queue for the first display driver chip according to the display frame rate and / or the minimum refresh rate carried in the first refresh rate switching instruction.

[0143] Specifically, after the display driver receives the first refresh rate switching instruction, it can configure a new refresh rate queue (i.e., the second queue) for the first DDIC according to the display frame rate and / or the minimum refresh rate carried by the first refresh rate switching instruction. That is, the second queue can be understood as a refresh rate queue configured for the first DDIC based on the currently changing display frame rate and / or the minimum refresh rate, that is, the refresh rate queue that currently needs to be switched for the first DDIC. Its type may also be a first-class refresh rate queue or a second-class refresh rate queue. For the introduction of the first-class refresh rate queue or the second-class refresh rate queue, please refer to the description in S701, which will not be repeated here.

[0144] Therefore, when the first refresh rate switching instruction only carries the display frame rate, the display driver configures the second queue that needs to be switched according to the display frame rate carried by the first refresh rate switching instruction and the unchanged minimum refresh rate of the first display screen (i.e., the minimum refresh rate used when the refresh rate queue was configured for the first DDIC last time). When the first refresh rate switching instruction only carries the minimum refresh rate of the first display screen, the display driver configures the second queue that needs to be switched according to the minimum refresh rate carried by the first refresh rate switching instruction and the unchanged display frame rate (i.e., the display frame rate used when the refresh rate queue was configured for the first DDIC last time). When the first refresh rate switching instruction carries both the display frame rate of the APP displayed on the first display screen and the minimum refresh rate of the first display screen, the display driver directly configures the second queue that needs to be switched according to the display frame rate and the minimum refresh rate carried by the first refresh rate switching instruction.

[0145] S704: The display driver determines the switching type of the first DDIC through the first queue and the second queue corresponding to the first DDIC.

[0146] Specifically, after the display driver configures the corresponding second queue for the first DDIC in response to the first refresh rate switching instruction, the switching type of the refresh rate queue of the first DDIC can be determined by comparing the newly configured second queue with the first queue currently used by the first DDIC.

[0147] Among them, since the types of refresh rate queues included in the first queue and the second queue corresponding to the first DDIC may be the first refresh rate queue or the second refresh rate queue, the above-mentioned switching types may include: switching from the first refresh rate queue to the second refresh rate queue (equivalent to switching the adaptive SEQ to the fixed SEQ), and switching from the second refresh rate queue to the first refresh rate queue (equivalent to switching the fixed SEQ to the adaptive SEQ). Switching from the first refresh rate queue to the second refresh rate queue means that the first DDIC switches from refreshing the picture to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the first refresh rate queue to refreshing the picture to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second refresh rate queue. Switching from the second refresh rate queue to the first refresh rate queue means that the first DDIC switches from refreshing the picture to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second refresh rate queue to refreshing the picture to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the first refresh rate queue.

[0148] Furthermore, because different display frame rates or minimum refresh rates can correspond to different first-class refresh rate queues, or different second-class refresh rate queues. Therefore, the switching type can also include switching between different first-class refresh rate queues (equivalent to switching adaptive SEQ to adaptive SEQ), and switching between different second-class refresh rate queues (equivalent to switching fixed SEQ to fixed SEQ). Switching between different first-class refresh rate queues means that the first DDIC switches from refreshing the picture to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in a first-class refresh rate queue to refreshing the picture to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in another first-class refresh rate queue. Switching between different second-class refresh rate queues means that the first DDIC switches from refreshing the picture to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in a second-class refresh rate queue to refreshing the picture to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in another second-class refresh rate queue.

[0149] In the case where the switching type is the switching of the first refresh rate queue to the second refresh rate queue, S705 is executed. In the case where the switching type is the switching of the second refresh rate queue to the first refresh rate queue, S706 is executed. In the case where the display driver determines that the switching type is the switching of the first refresh rate queue to the first refresh rate queue, S707 is executed. It should be understood that the switching type not mentioned indicates that the frame rate abnormality does not occur during the switching.

[0150] The embodiment of the present application can ensure that an adaptive switching method is subsequently selected according to the switching type to switch the refresh rate queue for the first DDIC by identifying the switching type, so that specific measures can be taken according to specific circumstances to avoid the problem of abnormal frame rate.

[0151] S705 , the display driver controls the first DDIC to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue without jumping the TE signal, and simultaneously sends an instruction to control the TE signal shielding function to be turned on.

[0152] Among them, the non-jumping TE signal is the TE signal reported to SF, and correspondingly, the jumping TE signal is the TE signal that is not reported to SF. When DDIC refreshes the display screen according to the refresh rate in the first refresh rate queue, the TE signal shielding (TEMASK) function will be turned off. After the TEMASK function is turned off, DDIC will generate a TE signal at a frequency of 120Hz. In order to make the frequency of TE signal reporting consistent with the upper SF working frame rate to meet the software frame rate synchronization requirements, the jumping TE function will be implemented synchronously, and then a non-jumping TE signal and a jumping TE signal will be generated. When the upper working frame rate is 120Hz, the display driver can not implement the jumping TE function, and directly report the TE signal generated by DDIC to the upper SF at a frequency of 120Hz, then all are non-jumping TE signals. When the upper working frame rate is not 120Hz, it is necessary to implement the jumping TE function so that the frequency of TE signal reporting is consistent with the upper SF working frame rate, thereby generating non-jumping TE signals and jumping TE signals.

[0153] For the first DDIC with TEI function, since its hardware has TEI function, the TE jump function can be directly implemented through the TEI function of DDIC. If the TE jump function needs to be implemented, it is only necessary to send instructions to DDIC to control the initialization of the corresponding register of the TEI function. For the second DDIC without TEI function, since its hardware is not configured with TEI function, the TE jump function is mainly implemented by the display driver through software program control. That is, the display driver implements the TE jump function by reporting one TE signal to the upper SF at intervals for the TE signal generated by the second DDIC. For example, when the working frame rate of the upper SF is 60Hz, the reporting rate of the TE signal needs to be 60Hz. Then after the TEMASK function is turned off, the TE signal cannot be reported to the upper SF at 120Hz. The display driver generates a TE signal at a refresh rate of 120Hz in DDIC, and reports a TE signal to the upper SF at intervals, so that the reporting rate of the TE signal is 60Hz, thereby ensuring synchronization with the working frame rate of the upper layer.

[0154] Specifically, if the first queue is a first-class refresh rate queue and the second queue is a second-class refresh rate queue, then the first-class refresh rate queue switches to the second-class refresh rate queue, and thus the display driver needs to control the TE MASK function of the first DDIC to switch from off to on. However, since the first DDIC is a DDIC with a TEI function, controlling the TE MASK function to be off or on will not take effect immediately, but will only take effect after a vertical synchronization (vertical synchronization, Vsync) signal. Among them, since the DDIC outputs the TE signal according to the Vsync cycle, the Vsync signal and the TE signal are equivalent to being synchronized. Therefore, it can be understood that the TEMASK function of the first DDIC needs to pass through a TE signal before it can take effect. In addition, the TEI function of the first DDIC is the same as TEMASK, and it also requires a TE signal to take effect.

[0155] At the same time, when the first DDIC refreshes the image to the first display screen based on the first refresh rate queue (adaptive SEQ), the display driver reports the TE signal at a rate of 120Hz or 60Hz based on the actual working frame rate of the upper SF. At 60Hz, the TE signal is reported every other one. At this time, if the display driver directly gives a switching instruction to the first DDIC regardless of the timing, and controls the first DDIC to switch the currently used first refresh rate to the newly configured second refresh rate queue, if the timing of the switching instruction is before the jump TE signal, then after this jump TE signal, TEMASK takes effect, which may cause the next non-jump TE signal corresponding to the jump TE signal, which should not be skipped but should be reported, to be shielded, thereby causing an abnormal frame rate problem.

[0156] Exemplary, reference Figure 8 , assuming that the first DDIC is currently working at the fifth refresh rate of 30Hz (SEQ5) in the first refresh rate queue. At this time, if the display driver sends a switching instruction to the first DDIC within the first cycle 8.3ms of the fifth refresh rate (SEQ5), that is, the TE signal corresponding to the switching instruction is a jump TE signal ( Figure 8 At this time, because TE MASK needs a TE signal to take effect, the TE signal will jump after TE MASK is turned on ( Figure 8 Therefore, the TE signal that should have been reported ( Figure 8 The TE signal enclosed by the rectangle in the middle is shielded by the TE MASK and cannot be reported, which is equivalent to changing from no TE signal jumping to TE signal jumping, resulting in an abnormal frame rate of 33ms.

[0157] Based on this, in order to avoid frame rate abnormalities, refer to Fig. 9 When the display driver of the electronic device switches the first refresh rate queue of the first DDIC to the second refresh rate queue of the second refresh rate queue, the display driver of the electronic device can switch the switching instruction without jumping the TE signal ( Fig. 9 Then, after this non-jumping TE signal ( Fig. 9 After the TE signal is enclosed by the rectangle in the middle), even if the TE MASK takes effect, the corresponding first TE signal ( Fig. 9 However, the TE signal ( Fig. 9 The TE signal enclosed by the oval in the middle is originally a TE signal, that is, it is the TE signal that needs to be shielded, so it does not cause abnormal frames. After TE MASK takes effect, the TE signal is reported normally according to the second refresh rate queue after switching.

[0158] That is, for the first DDIC with the TEI function, when the configuration of its refresh rate queue SEQ needs to be switched from an adaptive SEQ to a fixed SEQ, a switching instruction needs to be issued before the TE signal is not jumped in order to avoid the problem of abnormal frames.

[0159] S706, the display driver controls the first DDIC to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue during the second-to-last cycle of the refresh rate currently used by the first DDIC, and simultaneously sends instructions to control the TE signal shielding function to be turned off and the TEI function to be initialized.

[0160] Specifically, since the TEI function of the first DDIC is a hardware TE jump, and TEI is a function that can be turned on and off without a clear control switch, it is mainly achieved by initializing the TEI function register of the DDIC and giving it a TE signal as the starting TE, and then jumping TE by counting.

[0161] It can be understood that after the TEI function of the first DDIC is initialized, a TE is first given to the TEI function as the first TE that does not jump, and then the function can start counting to determine that the second TE is the TE that needs to jump. Count down in this way to determine the third TE that does not jump, the fourth TE that jumps, and so on, so as to achieve TE jumping.

[0162] Based on this, when the first DDIC needs to switch from the second refresh rate queue (fixed SEQ) to the first refresh rate queue (adaptive SEQ), because the use of the first refresh rate queue requires turning off the TE MASK function and cooperating with the implementation of the TE jump function, the TEI function needs to be started to count and implement the TE jump. Therefore, after the TEI function takes effect after a TE signal, a TE signal needs to be given to the TEI function as the starting TE signal for TE jump.

[0163] At this time, if the display driver switching instruction is issued during the last cycle of the refresh rate currently used by the first DDIC to refresh the image, the TE MSAK will be turned off after a TE signal, making the most recently typed TE signal the starting TE signal of TEI. After the TE MASK is turned off, the TE signal will be generated directly at a frequency of 120Hz, so the most recent TE signal is at 8.3ms, which causes the first refresh rate queue to have an additional abnormal frame of 8.3ms after switching to the first refresh rate queue (adaptive SEQ), resulting in frame loss and display freezes. Among them, because the DDIC can only use a certain refresh rate in the refresh rate queue as the basis when refreshing the image to the display screen based on the refresh rate queue, the refresh rate currently used by the DDIC refers to the refresh rate currently used by the DDIC.

[0164] Exemplary, reference Fig.10 , when the first DDIC works at the refresh rate of 30Hz in the second refresh rate queue, if the display driver sends the switching instruction to the first DDIC at the last cycle of the refresh rate of 30Hz (the last 8.3ms), it will cause the TE MASK function to jump after a TE signal ( Fig.10 After the TE signal surrounded by the oval in the middle takes effect, a TE signal is issued, resulting in an additional TE signal (8.3ms later) in the first refresh rate queue after switching. Fig.10 TE signal surrounded by a rectangle in the middle). According to the TE skipping principle of the first refresh rate queue, the TE signal should normally be a skipped TE signal that is not reported. However, it is now generated by TE MASK as the starting TE signal of TEI, resulting in an additional 8.3ms abnormal frame in the first refresh rate queue after switching.

[0165] In addition, refer to Fig.11 If the display driver switching command is issued within the second cycle (the second 8.3ms) of the refresh rate used by the first DDIC to refresh the image, a TE signal will be generated immediately after the TE MASK function is turned off and takes effect. Fig.11At this time, if the TE signal corresponds to a picture being sent, it will immediately switch to the first refresh rate of the first refresh rate queue (adaptive SEQ), causing the refresh rate cycle used for the current picture to end prematurely and not be completed, resulting in abnormal frames.

[0166] Based on this, reference Fig.12 If the display driver needs to switch the second refresh rate queue of the first DDIC to the first refresh rate queue, in order to cooperate with the TEI function, a TE signal needs to be issued as the starting signal for TE jump. The display driver can control the switching instruction to be sent to the second to last cycle of the refresh rate used by the current image refresh of the first DDIC. In this way, the TEI function and TE MASK take effect after a TE signal and just encounter a non-TE signal that needs to be reported ( Fig.12 The TE signal surrounded by the ellipse in the middle), at this time, the occurrence of abnormal frames can be avoided.

[0167] That is to say, for the first DDIC with TEI function, when the configuration of its refresh rate queue SEQ is switched from fixed SEQ to adaptive SEQ, it is necessary to issue a switching instruction within the second to last cycle of the refresh rate currently used by the first DDIC to avoid the occurrence of abnormal frames.

[0168] S707 , when the display driver controls the first DDIC to refresh images to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue, it asynchronously sends instructions to the TE signal shielding function and the TEI function of the first DDIC.

[0169] Specifically, when the display driver controls the first DDIC to switch from the first refresh rate queue to the second refresh rate queue (adaptive SEQ switching adaptive SEQ), because the type of the refresh rate queue switched has not changed and the first refresh rate is 60Hz, the TE MASK function and TEI function of the first DDIC can actually be kept unchanged, so that they can continue to maintain their original state. However, because the TEI function is implemented by counting the register to jump TE, when there is a refresh rate queue switch, it is necessary to initialize the TEI function register and start counting again to jump TE. Therefore, when the first DDIC switches from the first refresh rate queue to the first refresh rate queue, the initialization of the TEI function will result in the same situation as the switching of the second refresh rate queue to the first refresh rate queue, that is, an additional abnormal frame rate of 8.3ms.

[0170] In order to avoid abnormal frame rate caused by this problem, the display driver can give up sending control instructions to the TEI function when switching the first refresh rate queue, and directly not control the initialization of the TEI function register. In this way, the TEI function does not need a start TE signal to count again, and thus does not have an extra 8.3ms abnormal frame.

[0171] In the following embodiments, the present solution is introduced by taking the refresh rate switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application as an example for the second DDIC. The second DDIC refers to a DDIC without a TEI function, such as a DDIC of model 37701A. The refresh rate switching method provided for the second DDIC is applied to an electronic device including the second DDIC, and the second DDIC corresponds to a display screen (hereinafter referred to as the second display screen). The structure of the electronic device can be referred to Figure 5 , the software structure can refer to Figure 6 .

[0172] refer to Fig.13 , which is a flow chart of the refresh rate switching method proposed for the second DDIC in an embodiment of the present application.

[0173] The following, combined Fig.13 The refresh rate switching method of the embodiment of the present application is described. The refresh rate switching method of the embodiment of the present application includes steps S1301-S1306.

[0174] S1301: The display driver of the electronic device controls the second display driver chip to refresh images to the second display screen according to the refresh rate of the third queue.

[0175] The third queue is the refresh rate queue currently used by the second DDIC, and the type of the third queue may be the same as or different from the type of the first queue. That is, the third queue may be a first-type refresh rate queue or a second-type refresh rate queue.

[0176] Similarly, the first type of refresh rate queue refers to a refresh rate queue SEQ including at least two refresh rates and the refresh rates are distributed from high to low. In the embodiment of the present application, the first type of refresh rate queue can also be called an adaptive SEQ. The second type of refresh rate queue is a refresh rate queue in which the last refresh rate has a refresh rate value, and the refresh rate before the last refresh rate is empty. That is, the last queue value in the second type of refresh rate queue has a corresponding refresh rate, and the refresh rates of other queue values ​​are empty. The second type of refresh rate queue can also be called a fixed SEQ.

[0177] The type of the third queue can be determined by the display driver based on the display frame rate of the APP displayed on the second display screen and the minimum refresh rate of the second display screen. When the display frame rate is greater than the minimum refresh rate, and when the display frame rate is not equal to 120Hz and the minimum refresh rate is not equal to 60Hz, the display driver will configure the second type of refresh rate queue for the second DDIC, then the type of the third queue is the first type of refresh rate queue. When the display frame rate is greater than the minimum refresh rate, but the display frame rate is equal to 120Hz and the minimum refresh rate is equal to 60Hz, or when the display frame rate is equal to the minimum refresh rate, the display driver will configure the second type of refresh rate queue for the second DDIC, then the type of the third queue is the second type of refresh rate queue.

[0178] When the third queue is a refresh rate queue of the first type, the display driver controls the second DDIC to refresh the image based on the refresh rate queue of the first type. Specifically, the display driver first controls the second DDIC to refresh the image to the corresponding display screen according to the first refresh rate in the first refresh rate queue. Then, when the display driver determines that the SF module has not sent the image based on the reported TE signal, the display driver controls the second DDIC to refresh the image to the display screen according to the next refresh rate in the first refresh rate queue according to the arrangement order of the refresh rates in the first refresh rate queue. In other words, the second DDIC is controlled to switch from the first refresh rate to the second refresh rate, and the image is refreshed to the display screen according to the second refresh rate. Similarly, the display driver can control the second DDIC to switch the third refresh rate again based on the image delivery of SF, and refresh the image to the display screen according to the third refresh rate. By analogy, if the second DDIC has been controlled to refresh the image to the display screen according to the last refresh rate, it indicates that the current refresh rate has dropped to the minimum refresh rate that the display screen can support. If the refresh rate is not switched, the second DDIC is made to work at the minimum refresh rate.

[0179] When the third queue is a second-class refresh rate queue, since the empty queue value in the refresh rate queue SEQ will be skipped directly, when the display driver controls the second DDIC to refresh the image to the display screen with the second-class refresh rate queue, it is equivalent to directly controlling the second DDIC to refresh the image to the display screen with the last refresh rate in the second-class refresh rate queue, indicating that the DDIC works at a fixed refresh rate.

[0180] S1302: The display driver of the electronic device receives a second refresh rate switching instruction, and the second refresh rate switching instruction carries a display frame rate and / or a minimum refresh rate of the APP displayed on the second display screen.

[0181] Among them, the second refresh rate switching instruction is a refresh rate switching instruction issued for the second DDIC. The second refresh rate switching instruction is issued when the display frame rate of the APP displayed on the display screen corresponding to the second DDIC (i.e., the second display screen) or the minimum refresh rate of the second display screen changes. Therefore, the second refresh rate switching instruction carries the display frame rate of the APP on the second display screen and / or the minimum refresh rate of the second display screen. The second refresh rate instruction is used to indicate to the display driver the frame rate that the second DDIC needs to change.

[0182] Exemplarily, when the display frame rate of the APP displayed on the second display screen corresponding to the second DDIC in the electronic device changes, after the refresh rate decision module obtains the changed display frame rate, the second refresh rate switching instruction carrying the updated display frame rate is sent to the display driver via the SF module and HWC.

[0183] Alternatively, when the display brightness of the second display and / or the detected ambient light brightness causes the minimum refresh rate of the second display to change, after the refresh rate decision module obtains the changed minimum refresh rate, it calls the HI DL interface to send a second refresh rate switching instruction carrying the updated minimum refresh rate to the display driver.

[0184] Alternatively, if the display frame rate of the APP displayed on the second display screen and the minimum refresh rate of the second display screen have changed, the updated display frame rate and minimum refresh rate can be sent to the display driver synchronously through two paths. That is, the refresh rate decision module sends the second refresh rate switching instruction carrying the display frame rate to the display driver through the SF module and HWC, and synchronously calls the HI DL interface to send the second refresh rate switching instruction carrying the minimum refresh rate to the display driver.

[0185] S1303: configure a fourth queue for the second display driver chip according to the display frame rate and / or the minimum refresh rate carried in the second refresh rate switching instruction.

[0186] Specifically, after the display driver receives the second refresh rate switching instruction, it can configure a new refresh rate queue (i.e., the fourth queue) for the second DDIC according to the display frame rate and / or the minimum refresh rate carried by the second refresh rate switching instruction. That is, the fourth queue can be understood as a refresh rate queue configured for the second DDIC based on the currently changing display frame rate and / or the minimum refresh rate, that is, the refresh rate queue that currently needs to be switched for the second DDIC. Its type may also be a first-class refresh rate queue or a second-class refresh rate queue. For the introduction of the first-class refresh rate queue or the second-class refresh rate queue, please refer to the description in S701 or S1301, which will not be repeated here.

[0187] Therefore, when the second refresh rate switching instruction only carries the display frame rate, the display driver configures the fourth queue that needs to be switched according to the display frame rate carried by the second refresh rate switching instruction and the unchanged minimum refresh rate of the second display screen (i.e., the minimum refresh rate used when the refresh rate queue was configured for the second DDIC last time). When the second refresh rate switching instruction only carries the minimum refresh rate of the second display screen, the display driver configures the fourth queue that needs to be switched according to the minimum refresh rate carried by the second refresh rate switching instruction and the unchanged display frame rate (i.e., the display frame rate used when the refresh rate queue was configured for the second DDIC last time). When the second refresh rate switching instruction carries both the display frame rate of the APP displayed on the second display screen and the minimum refresh rate of the second display screen, the display driver directly configures the fourth queue that needs to be switched according to the display frame rate and the minimum refresh rate carried by the second refresh rate switching instruction.

[0188] S1304: The display driver determines the switching type of the second DDIC through the third queue and the fourth queue corresponding to the second DDIC.

[0189] Specifically, after the display driver configures the corresponding fourth queue for the second DDIC in response to the second refresh rate switching instruction, the switching type of the refresh rate queue of the second DDIC can be determined by comparing the newly configured fourth queue with the third queue currently used by the second DDIC.

[0190] Among them, since the types of refresh rate queues included in the third queue and the fourth queue corresponding to the second DDIC may be the first refresh rate queue or the second refresh rate queue, the above-mentioned switching types may include: switching from the first refresh rate queue to the second refresh rate queue (equivalent to switching from adaptive SEQ to fixed SEQ), and switching from the second refresh rate queue to the first refresh rate queue (equivalent to switching from fixed SEQ to adaptive SEQ). Switching from the first refresh rate queue to the second refresh rate queue means that the second DDIC switches from refreshing the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the first refresh rate queue to refreshing the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second refresh rate queue. Switching from the second refresh rate queue to the first refresh rate queue means that the second DDIC switches from refreshing the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second refresh rate queue to refreshing the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the first refresh rate queue.

[0191] Furthermore, because different display frame rates or minimum refresh rates can correspond to different first-class refresh rate queues, or different second-class refresh rate queues. Therefore, the switching type can also include switching between different first-class refresh rate queues (equivalent to switching adaptive SEQ to adaptive SEQ), and switching between different second-class refresh rate queues (equivalent to switching fixed SEQ to fixed SEQ). Switching between different first-class refresh rate queues means that the second DDIC switches from refreshing the picture to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in a first-class refresh rate queue to refreshing the picture to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in another first-class refresh rate queue. Switching between different second-class refresh rate queues means that the second DDIC switches from refreshing the picture to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in a second-class refresh rate queue to refreshing the picture to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in another second-class refresh rate queue.

[0192] If the switching type is the switching of the first refresh rate queue to the second refresh rate queue, S1305 is executed. If the switching type is the switching of the second refresh rate queue to the first refresh rate queue, S1306 is executed. It should be understood that the unmentioned switching type indicates that the switching does not cause abnormal frame rate.

[0193] S1305, the display driver controls the second DDIC to refresh a frame of image to the second display screen at a refresh rate of 120 Hz, and then controls the second DDIC to refresh the image to the second display screen at a refresh rate in the fourth queue, and simultaneously sends an instruction to control the TE signal shielding function to be turned off.

[0194] Specifically, when the first refresh rate queue of the second DDIC switches to the second refresh rate queue, the second refresh rate queue needs to turn on the TE signal shielding function (TE MASK function), so it is also necessary to control the TEMASK function of the second DDIC from off to on. However, unlike the first DDIC, because the second DDIC is a DDIC without a TEI function, the TE jump function is mainly realized through display driver software control. Therefore, once the TE MASK function is turned off or on, it will take effect immediately. Therefore, if the display driver sends a switching instruction to the second DDIC to control the second DDIC to switch from the first refresh rate queue to the second refresh rate queue within the first two cycles of the refresh rate currently used by the second DDIC to refresh the picture, the TE MASK function takes effect immediately after it is turned on, which may easily cause the TE signal that should be reported later to be shielded and unable to be reported, resulting in abnormal frame rate.

[0195] Exemplary, reference Fig.14, assuming that the second DDIC is currently working at the fourth refresh rate of 30Hz (SEQ4) in the first refresh queue, if the display driver sends a switching instruction to the second DDIC within the second cycle of the fourth refresh rate, that is, within the second 8.3ms of SEQ4, the TE signals of the next two cycles will be shielded because the TE MASK function is turned on and takes effect immediately ( Fig.14 TE signals surrounded by rectangles and ellipses in the figure). However, based on the rate at which the first refresh rate queue reports TE signals at 120Hz or 60Hz, there may be non-jumping TE signals that were originally required to be reported. However, now that TE MASK is turned on and takes effect immediately, the non-jumping TE signals that were originally required to be reported cannot be reported due to being blocked. This is equivalent to the TE signal changing from a non-jumping TE signal to a jumping TE signal, resulting in an abnormal frame rate problem.

[0196] Based on this, reference Fig.15 , if the display driver of the electronic device in the embodiment of the present application needs to switch the first refresh rate queue of the second DDIC to the second refresh rate queue, in order to prevent the problem of TE signal shielding caused by the immediate effect of TE MASK. The display driver can first cut the 120Hz switching instruction in advance to control the second DDIC to switch the refresh rate to 120Hz. After completing the switch to 120Hz, send a switching instruction to the second DDIC to control the second DDIC to switch to the currently configured second refresh rate queue. Because the TE signals at 120Hz will need to be reported. Therefore, after 120Hz, when the second refresh rate queue is switched, even if the TE MASK function is turned on and takes effect immediately, the subsequent TE signals cannot be shielded, thereby not affecting the reporting of subsequent TE signals.

[0197] That is to say, for DDIC without TEI function, when its SEQ configuration needs to be switched from adaptive SEQ to fixed SEQ, 120Hz is switched in advance, and the second refresh rate queue of the current configuration is switched based on 120Hz.

[0198] S1306, the display driver controls the second display driver chip to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the fourth queue within the last cycle of the refresh rate currently used by the second display driver chip, and simultaneously sends instructions to control the TE signal shielding function to be turned on, and reports the TE signal generated by the second display driver chip to SF based on the actual working frame rate of SF.

[0199] Specifically, when the second DDIC needs to switch from the second refresh rate queue (fixed SEQ) to the first refresh rate queue (adaptive SEQ), because the first refresh rate queue needs to turn off the TE MASK function, it is necessary to synchronously control the TE MASK function of the second DDIC to switch from on to off, and the TE MASK function turns off and takes effect immediately. Therefore, because the TEMASK function takes effect immediately, if the display driver's switching instruction is not sent to the last cycle of the refresh rate currently used by the second DDIC to refresh the picture, the originally shielded jump TE signal will be immediately generated and reported to the upper layer. Based on the principle that once the upper layer resumes sending pictures, it will control the DDIC to switch back to the first refresh rate SEQ1. If the upper layer responds to the TE signal to send pictures at this time, it will cause the cycle corresponding to the refresh rate currently used by the second DDIC to refresh the picture not to be completed, resulting in frame rate abnormalities.

[0200] Exemplary, reference Fig.16 , when the second DDIC works at the last refresh rate (SEQ4) 30Hz in the second refresh queue, if the display driver sends a switching instruction to the second DDIC within the third cycle (the third 8.3ms) of the last refresh rate SEQ4. Since TE MASK takes effect immediately after it is turned off, the TE signal will be sent out in advance before the cycle corresponding to the last refresh rate is completed. At this time, if the upper layer responds to the TE signal to send the image, it will be immediately switched to the first refresh rate queue, resulting in an abnormal frame rate of 24ms. In other words, the original Fig.16 SEQ4 in the example should have four 8.3ms cycles, but because it was cut off in advance, only three 8.3ms cycles were completed, resulting in an abnormal frame of 24ms.

[0201] Based on this, reference Fig.17 In order to avoid the problem of abnormal frames caused by issuing the TE signal in advance, when the display driver sends the switching instruction of the second refresh rate queue to the first refresh rate queue to the second DDIC, it can be sent within the last cycle of the refresh rate used for the current refresh, that is, the last 8.3ms, thereby controlling the second DDIC to complete the switching of the refresh rate queue within the last cycle and avoiding the abnormal frame rate problem.

[0202] That is to say, for a DDIC without TEI function, when the configuration of its refresh rate queue SEQ is switched from fixed SEQ to non-adaptive SEQ, a switching instruction needs to be issued within the last cycle of the refresh rate currently used by the second DDIC to avoid the occurrence of abnormal frames.

[0203] In some embodiments, for a foldable electronic device including a first DDIC and a second DDIC at the same time, such as a foldable mobile phone including a first DDIC and a second DDIC at the same time, an embodiment of the present application provides a refresh rate switching method, referring to Fig.18 .

[0204] Among them, for Fig.18 For instructions, refer to Figure 7 and Fig.13 In addition, the refresh rate switching instructions of different DDICs can be issued through different mobile industry processor interfaces (MIPI) interfaces, and then the display driver can directly determine whether the refresh rate switching instruction corresponds to the first refresh rate switching instruction of the first DDIC or the second refresh rate switching instruction of the second DDIC according to the source interface of the refresh rate switching instruction.

[0205] To sum up, the refresh rate switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application specifically analyzes the reasons why the refresh rate queue switching produces abnormal frame rate, and proposes corresponding solutions based on the reasons, thereby avoiding the abnormal frame rate problem caused by the refresh rate queue switching.

[0206] In some embodiments, when the display driver controls the first DDIC to switch the refresh rate queue, especially when the first refresh rate queue switches the first refresh rate queue. Because the types of the refresh rate queues before and after the switch are the same, there may be two identical refresh rate queues. Therefore, in order to save certain resources, when the first queue of the first DDIC and the first refresh rate queue are both first refresh rate queues, it can be further determined whether the two first refresh rate queues are the same.

[0207] When it is determined that the two first-class refresh rate queues are different, the display driver controls the second DDIC to switch the refresh rate queue. When the two first-class refresh rate queues are the same, the display driver can directly end the switching process after recording the currently changed display frame rate and / or the minimum refresh rate. The recorded display frame rate and / or minimum refresh rate is used for the next refresh rate switching.

[0208] Another embodiment of the present application provides an electronic device, which includes a memory, a first display screen, a first display driver chip, and one or more processors. The memory, the first display screen, and the first display driver chip are coupled to the processor. One or more computer programs are stored in the memory, and when the processor executes the computer program, the electronic device can execute the refresh rate switching method described in any of the above embodiments. Specifically, the first display driver chip corresponds to the first display screen, and is used to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the first queue or the second queue based on the control of the processor. Among them, the display driver in the embodiment of the present application can be a software code or software module running in the above-mentioned processor. The structure of the electronic device can refer to Figure 5 The structure of the electronic device 100 shown in FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a structure of the electronic device 100 shown in FIG. 1 . In some embodiments, the electronic device may further include: a second display screen and a second display driver chip. The second display screen and the second display driver chip are coupled to the processor. Specifically, the second display driver chip corresponds to the second display screen and is used to refresh the image to the second display screen according to the third queue or the refresh rate in the third queue based on the control of the processor.

[0209] Another embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, which may include the first display driver chip. Fig.19 As shown, the chip system includes at least one processor and at least one interface circuit. The processor and the interface circuit can be interconnected by lines. For example, the interface circuit can be used to receive signals from other devices (such as a memory of an electronic device, a processor of an electronic device). For another example, the interface circuit can be used to send signals to other devices (such as a display screen of an electronic device) (such as brushing a picture to a first display screen of an electronic device). Exemplarily, the interface circuit can read instructions stored in a memory and send the instructions to the processor of the chip system. When the instruction is executed by the processor of the chip system, it can cooperate with the electronic device to execute the above-mentioned embodiment according to the refresh rate in the first queue or the second queue to brush the picture to the first display screen of the electronic device. Of course, the chip system may also include other discrete devices, which are not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0210] Another embodiment of the present application provides another chip system, which may include the second display driver chip. Fig.19As shown, the chip system includes at least one processor and at least one interface circuit. The processor and the interface circuit can be interconnected by lines. For example, the interface circuit can be used to receive signals from other devices (such as a memory of an electronic device, a processor of an electronic device). For another example, the interface circuit can be used to send signals to other devices (such as a display screen of an electronic device) (such as brushing a picture to a second display screen of an electronic device). Exemplarily, the interface circuit can read instructions stored in a memory and send the instructions to the processor of the chip system. When the instruction is executed by the processor of the chip system, it can cooperate with the electronic device to execute the above-mentioned embodiment according to the refresh rate in the third queue or the fourth queue to brush the picture to the second display screen of the electronic device. Of course, the chip system may also include other discrete devices, which are not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0211] Another embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a processor in an electronic device, the electronic device implements the refresh rate switching method described in any of the above embodiments.

[0212] The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product. When the computer program product is run on a computer, the computer is enabled to execute each function or step in the above method embodiment.

[0213] Through the description of the above implementation methods, technical personnel in the relevant field can clearly understand that for the convenience and simplicity of description, only the division of the above-mentioned functional modules is used as an example. In actual applications, the above-mentioned functions can be assigned to different functional modules as needed, that is, the internal structure of the device can be divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the functions described above.

[0214] In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic, for example, the division of modules or units is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another device, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0215] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may be one physical unit or multiple physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed in multiple different places. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the present embodiment.

[0216] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

[0217] If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium, including several instructions to enable a device (which can be a single-chip microcomputer, chip, etc.) or a processor (processor) to perform all or part of the steps of the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), disk or optical disk and other media that can store program code.

[0218] The above contents are only specific implementation methods of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A refresh rate switching method, characterized in that: Applied to an electronic device, the electronic device comprises a first display screen and a first display driver chip corresponding to the first display screen; the method comprises: The display driver of the electronic device controls the first display driver chip to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate of the first queue; wherein the first queue is a first-type refresh rate queue or a second-type refresh rate queue, the first-type refresh rate queue is a refresh rate queue whose refresh rates are distributed from high to low and include at least two refresh rates, and the second-type refresh rate queue is a refresh rate queue whose last refresh rate has a refresh rate value and whose refresh rates before the last refresh rate are empty; The display driver of the electronic device receives a first refresh rate switching instruction, where the first refresh rate switching instruction carries a display frame rate of the APP displayed on the first display screen and / or a minimum refresh rate of the first display screen; According to the display frame rate and / or the minimum refresh rate carried in the first refresh rate switching instruction, configure a second queue for the first display driver chip; wherein the second queue is the first type of refresh rate queue or the second type of refresh rate queue; If the first queue is the first type of refresh rate queue, and the second queue is the second type of refresh rate queue, then before the TE signal is not jumped, the first display driver chip is controlled to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue, and an instruction is simultaneously issued to control the TE signal shielding function to be turned on; wherein, the non-jumping TE signal is a TE signal that has been reported to SF.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: If the first queue is the second-type refresh rate queue and the second queue is the first-type refresh rate queue, the display driver controls the first display driver chip to refresh the image to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue within the second-to-last cycle of the refresh rate currently used by the first display driver chip to refresh the image, and simultaneously sends instructions to control the TE signal shielding function to be turned off and the TEI function to be initialized.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: If the first queue is the first type of refresh rate queue and the second queue is the first type of refresh rate queue, the display driver does not synchronously send instructions to the TE signal shielding function and the TEI function of the first display driver chip when controlling the first display driver chip to refresh the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that If the first queue is the first type of refresh rate queue, and the second queue is the first type of refresh rate queue, the display driver asynchronously sends instructions to the TE signal shielding function and the TEI function of the first display driver chip when controlling the first display driver chip to refresh the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue, including: If the first queue is the first type of refresh rate queue and the second queue is the first type of refresh rate queue, after the display driver determines that the first queue and the second queue are different, it controls the first display driver chip to refresh the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the second queue, and does not synchronously send instructions to the TE signal shielding function and TEI function of the first display driver chip.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The electronic device further includes a second display screen and a second display driver chip corresponding to the second display screen; the method further includes: The display driver of the electronic device controls the second display driver chip to refresh images to the second display screen according to the refresh rate in the third queue; wherein the third queue is the first refresh rate queue or the second refresh rate queue; The display driver of the electronic device receives a second refresh rate switching instruction, where the second refresh rate switching instruction carries a display frame rate of the APP displayed on the second display screen and / or a minimum refresh rate of the second display screen; According to the display frame rate and / or the minimum refresh rate carried in the second refresh rate switching instruction, configure the fourth queue for the second display driver chip; wherein the fourth queue is the first type of refresh rate queue or the second type of refresh rate queue; If the third queue is the first type of refresh rate queue and the fourth queue is the second type of refresh rate queue, then the second display driver chip is controlled to refresh a frame of image to the second display screen at a refresh rate of 120 Hz, and then the second display driver chip is controlled to refresh the image to the second display screen at the refresh rate in the fourth queue, and an instruction is simultaneously issued to control the TE signal shielding function to be turned on.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The method further comprises: If the third queue is the second-type refresh rate queue and the fourth queue is the first-type refresh rate queue, the display driver controls the second display driver chip to refresh the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the fourth queue within the last cycle of the refresh rate currently used by the second display driver chip to refresh the image, and simultaneously sends instructions to control the TE signal shielding function to be turned off, and reports the TE signal generated by the second display driver chip to the SF based on the actual working frame rate of the SF.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The first display driver chip is a display driver chip with a TEI function.

8. The method according to any one of claims 5-6, characterized in that: The second display driver chip is a display driver chip without a TEI function.

9. An electronic device, characterized in that: include: A memory, a first display screen, a first display driver chip, and one or more processors; The memory, the first display screen, and the first display driver chip are coupled to the processor; one or more computer program codes are stored in the memory, and the computer program codes include computer instructions; when the processor executes the computer instructions, the electronic device executes the refresh rate switching method according to any one of claims 1 to 8; Specifically, the first display driver chip corresponds to the first display screen, and is used to refresh images to the first display screen according to the refresh rate in the first queue or the second queue based on the control of the processor.

10. The electronic device according to claim 9, characterized in that: The electronic device further comprises: a second display screen and a second display driver chip; the second display screen and the second display driver chip are coupled to the processor; The second display driver chip corresponds to the second display screen, and is used to refresh images to the second display screen according to the third queue or the refresh rate in the third queue based on the control of the processor.

11. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that: When the computer program is executed by a processor of an electronic device, the electronic device executes the refresh rate switching method as described in any one of claims 1 to 8.

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