Display Panel Overcurrent Protection via Area-Specific Current Monitoring

Solution Overview

Problem

Display panels face challenges in ensuring overcurrent protection reliability, which can lead to circuit damage and inefficiencies due to varying current requirements across different areas, especially when displaying images with different luminance levels.

Innovation Solution

An electronic device with a display panel that includes a compensation unit to calculate compensation values and a control unit to determine correction ratios for each area, comparing input currents to a reference current to prevent overcurrent by blocking image data when it exceeds a predetermined threshold, thereby ensuring normal current ranges are maintained.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a single reference current is used for overcurrent protection across the entire display panel, then the protection mechanism is simple to implement, but it cannot accurately protect different areas with varying current requirements, leading to reduced reliability

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveovercurrent protection reliabilityVSAvoidcontrol unit complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The display panel is divided into multiple areas, each with its own reference current value stored in the control unit. This segmentation allows each area to be independently monitored and protected based on its specific current requirements, improving overcurrent protection reliability without requiring a completely complex system architecture

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Different reference current values are assigned to different areas of the display panel based on their specific luminance requirements. The control unit compares the actual current of each area against its local reference value, enabling precise localised protection while maintaining overall system simplicity

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

2Reliability

If the reference current is set to the maximum value among all areas, then all areas can be protected uniformly, but areas with lower current requirements will experience unnecessary blocking of image data, reducing productivity

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveovercurrent protection coverageVSAvoidimage data processing efficiency

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The display panel is divided into multiple areas, each with its own reference current value stored in the control unit. This segmentation allows each area to be independently monitored and protected based on its specific current requirements, improving overcurrent protection reliability without requiring a completely complex system architecture

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Different reference current parameters are assigned to different areas based on their luminance characteristics. The control unit dynamically selects the appropriate reference current value for each area, allowing precise current monitoring without unnecessary blocking of valid image data, thus maintaining high productivity

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

3Measurement precision

If area-specific reference currents are used for precise overcurrent protection, then protection accuracy is improved, but the device complexity increases due to multiple reference current values and comparison operations

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecurrent monitoring accuracyVSAvoidcontrol unit complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The display panel is divided into multiple areas, each with its own reference current value stored in the control unit. This segmentation allows each area to be independently monitored and protected based on its specific current requirements, improving overcurrent protection reliability without requiring a completely complex system architecture

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Different reference current values are assigned to different areas of the display panel based on their specific luminance requirements. The control unit compares the actual current of each area against its local reference value, enabling precise localised protection while maintaining overall system simplicity

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUS11501702B2Electronic device with improved overcurrent protection reliability and method for driving the same

Publication Date: 2022.11.15 SAMSUNG DISPLAY CO LTD

AI summary

An electronic device includes a display panel which includes a plurality of light emitting elements and in which a plurality of areas is defined based on the plurality of light emitting elements, a compensation unit which calculates compensation values for image data provided to each of the plurality of areas, and a control unit which controls the output of the image data provided to the display panel based on the compensation values and the image data, where the control unit may include a correction unit which outputs a correction ratio of each of the plurality of areas based on the compensation values and a comparison unit which determines whether an input current of the image data is in a normal range based on the correction ratio.