LED‐backlight feedback control system with integrated amorphous‐silicon color sensor on an LCD panel

Abstract— Thin‐film‐transistor liquid‐crystal displays (TFT‐LCDs) have the largest market share of all digital flat‐panel displays. An LCD backlighting system employing a three‐color red‐green‐blue light‐emitting diode (RGB‐LED) array is very attractive, considering its wide color gamut, tunable white point, high dimming ratio, long lifetime, and environmental compatibility. But the high‐intensity LED has problems with thermal stability and degradation of brightness over time. Color and white luminance levels are not stable over a wide range of temperature due to inherent long‐term aging characteristics. In order to minimize color point and brightness differences over time, optical feedback control is the key technology for any LED‐backlight system. In this paper, the feasibility of an optical color‐sensing feedback system for an LED backlight by integrating the amorphous‐silicon (a‐Si) color sensor onto the LCD panel will be presented. To minimize the photoconductivity degradation of a‐Si, a new laser exposure treatment has been applied. The integrated color‐sensor optical‐feedback‐controlled LED‐backlight system minimized the color variation to less than 0.008 Δu'v' (CIE1976) compared to 0.025 for an open‐loop system over the temperature range of 42–76°C.     

High‐efficiency UV LEDs and RGB white LEDs for lighting and LCD backlights

Abstract— Progress in the development of blue light‐emitting diodes and yellow phosphor has led to the realization of solid‐state lighting. The development was followed by improvement in the luminous efficacy of ultraviolet light‐emitting diodes (UV‐LEDs). By using near‐UV‐LEDs (n‐UV‐LEDs) excited light for red, green, and blue (RGB) phosphors, a new type of solid‐state lighting was realized. An innovative method for increasing the efficiency of LEDs by using a silicon nitride layer as the active layer and piling them up to a nano‐sized level with nano‐sized holes has been developed.     

Brightness preservation for LCD backlight dimming

Abstract— Backlight dimming is a dominant method for power reduction in LCDs. Image processing with a simple boost and clip can compensate for such dimming‐restoring image brightness. We propose a low complexity approach which replaces hard clipping with smooth roll‐off to reduce clipping artifacts. An additional high‐quality approach uses a two‐channel spatial‐frequency decomposition to preserve highlight detail attenuated by the roll‐off. Image quality is improved and power savings can be increased by more‐aggressive backlight dimming.     

White‐LED backlight control for motion‐blur reduction and power minimization in large LCD TVs

Abstract— A 1‐D LED‐backlight‐scanning technique and a 2‐D local‐dimming technique for large LCD TVs are presented. These techniques not only reduce the motion‐blur artifacts by means of impulse representation of images in video, but also increase the static contrast ratio by means of local dimming in the image(s). Both techniques exploit a unique feature of an LED backlight in large LCD TVs in which the whole panel is divided into a pre‐defined number of regions such that the luminance in each region is independently controllable. The proposed techniques are implemented in a Xilinx FPGA and demonstrated on a Samsung 40‐in. LCD TV. Measurement results show that the proposed techniques significantly reduce the motion‐blur artifacts, enhance the static contrast ratio by about 3×, and reduce the power consumption by 10% on average.     

Locally pixel‐compensated backlight dimming on LED‐backlit LCD TV

Abstract— The pixel brightness of an LCD panel perceived by a user is the product of the backlight brightness and the panel transmittance. In conventional LCD panels, the backlight brightness is constant and always at peak luminance. This design suffers from light leakage and power waste problems at dark scenes. This paper presents a new LCD system, which uses locally pixel‐compensated backlight dimming (PCBD). The proposed method combines backlight control and pixel processing for reducing light leakage and power consumption while keeping the image at the original brightness. Backlight luminance is dimmed locally in the dark‐image region, and pixel values are compensated synchronously according to the luminance profile of dimmed backlight. By reducing the light leakage, a static contrast of over 20,000:1 has been achieved on a large‐sized LCD panel with the proposed PCBD method. No obvious artifacts have been noticed as well. The power consumption of the panel can also be greatly reduced, depending on various video content. The PCBD method could be widely used for developing state‐of‐the‐art LCD panels with LED backlights.     

Thermal management of LED‐LCD TV display

Abstract— In the past years, the thermal management of the LEDs in an LCD TV with an LED backlight has evolved to cater to steadily increasing power densities in ever thinner product enclosures. In the lighting and computer industry, solutions to comparable thermal challenges are based on the use of large‐finned heat sinks. In the thin form factor of a modern TV set, this is not feasible, and the only large surface areas available for cooling are located on the front and the back of the TV set. The role of the in‐plane spreading has not been addressed thus far. The scope of the present work is to clarify the thermal significance of heat spreading in the in‐plane direction in the set, especially in relation to cost down through the use of less LED packages at equal total light output.     

LED backlight driving system with local dimming and scanning driver IC

Abstract— Novel LED backlight driving technology with a fully embedded LED driver IC is presented. This driving system and IC feature a high speed reduced swing differential signaling (RSDS) interface, an independent PWM controller with high‐resolution programming, and embedded scan logic. To attain high efficiency from the boost converter, highly advanced dynamic headroom control technology has been implemented onto the IC. The embedded current boosting function showed almost no brightness reduction when operated in scanning mode. The scanning function of the system improved motion blur values 26–44% compared to that of a non‐scanning LCD panel.     

Color performance of an MVA‐LCD using an LED backlight

Abstract— The color performance, including color gamut, color shift, and gamma curve, of a multi‐domain vertical‐alignment (MVA) liquid‐crystal display (LCD) using an LED backlight are calculated quantitatively. Simulation results indicate that an LED backlight exhibits better angular color uniformity and smaller color shifts than a CCFL backlight. Color gamut can be further widened and color shift reduced when using a color‐sequential RGB‐LED backlight without color filters, while the angular‐dependent gamma curves are less influenced using different backlights. The obtained quantitative results are useful for optimizing the color performance and color management of high‐end LCD monitors and LCD TVs.     

Two approaches to derive LED driving signals for high‐dynamic‐range LCD backlights

Abstract— The LED‐array backlight technique dramatically enhances the dynamic range of an LCD and hence extends its ability to present images with high reality. This is achieved by modulating LEDs individually, thus providing an area‐adaptive backlight for the display. The spatial overlap of light from the LED (crosstalk) occurs due to the diffusion screen placed between the backlight and LCD layer. However, the crosstalk is not only a blessing for supplying high brightness but is also a curse for causing potential artifacts, making the derivation of an LED driving signal a challenging task. This paper formulates the problem into two mathematical models: an iterative de‐convolution approach and a linear optimization approach. Algorithms for solving these two models are provided. The first approach provides instantaneous and satisfactory results except for high‐intensity highlights in the image. The linear optimization method conquers this drawback, but requires much more computation, possibly requiring preprocessing of the target, and also introduces undesired artifacts. These two approaches are extensively evaluated by building an image database composed of 161 high‐dynamic‐range images.     

Comparisons of motion‐blur assessment strategies for newly emergent LCD and backlight driving technologies

Abstract— Compared to the conventional cathode‐ray‐tube TV, the conventional liquid‐crystal TV has the shortcoming of motion blur. Motion blur can be characterized by the motion‐picture response‐time metric (MPRT). The MPRT of a display can be measured directly using a commercial MPRT instrument, but it is expensive in comparison with a photodiode that is used in temporal‐response (temporal luminance transition) measurements. An alternative approach is to determine the motion blur indirectly via the temporal point‐spread function (PSF), which does not need an accurate tracking mechanism as required for the direct “spatial” measurement techniques. In this paper, the measured motion blur is compared by using both the spatial‐tracking‐camera approach and the temporal‐response approach at various backlight flashing widths. In comparison to other motion‐blur studies, this work has two unique advantages: (1) both spatial and temporal information was measured simultaneously and (2) several temporal apertures of the display were used to represent different temporal PSFs. This study shows that the temporal method is an attractive alternative for the MPRT instrument to characterize the LCD's temporal performance.     

A fast transient LED driver with adaptive frequency control according to load variation for large‐sized LCD backlights

A fast transient light‐emitting diode (LED) driver is proposed for large‐sized liquid crystal display TV backlights in attempt to shorten the recovery time and to reduce the voltage fluctuation, while maintaining a high power efficiency. The direct current‐direct current (DC–DC) converter in the proposed LED driver accurately detects the load variation using the dimming data and then adjusts the slew rate and operating frequency according to the detected load variation. Thus, it rapidly controls the turn‐on time of the power switch and then controls the inductor current so that the output of the proposed LED driver can be accurately regulated during the load transient time. To verify the performance of the proposed LED driver, a DC–DC converter and an expandable LED current controller were fabricated using a 0.35‐μm bipolar–complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS)–double‐diffused metal–oxide–semiconductor (DMOS) process technology and assembled with 48 LED channels for measurement. The measurement results show that the proposed LED driver improves the recovery time and voltage fluctuation by 45.1% and 45.6%, respectively. In addition, it achieves a maximum power of 115.2 W and a maximum power efficiency of 89.2%. Therefore, the proposed LED driver is suitable for high‐end applications such as large‐sized LED TV backlight modules.     

Efficacy of global dimming backlight and high‐contrast liquid crystal panel for high‐dynamic‐range displays

Using an RGB organic light‐emitting diode display to emulate liquid crystal display systems, we examined the efficacy of different global dimming strategies for cinematic content. A global dimming solution with smoothed transitions was preferred over solutions using a static backlight level or the highly aggressive frame‐by‐frame backlight adjustment scheme. We compared two such smoothing approaches, one making use of causal data, and another using future information (which could be available via latency or dynamic metadata) and did observe some opportunities for an improved experience, but found the causal data to be a competitive approach. We also evaluated the importance of native panel contrast and how global dimming compares to local dimming approaches. For most content tested, a global dimming display with a high‐contrast liquid crystal panel was judged as being equivalent or more preferred to a full‐array local dimming display with a low‐contrast panel. These results build on the existing evidence that native panel contrast remains one of the strongest predictors of high‐dynamic‐range image quality even as backlight technologies continue to improve.     

Wide gamut LCD using locally dimmable four‐primary‐color LED backlight

This paper proposes a wide gamut LCD using locally dimmable four‐primary‐color (4PC) LED backlight. Although the color gamut of LCDs has been improved in recent years, it is insufficient to reproduce all the colors in the real world. The objective of this paper is to propose a wide gamut LCD that reproduces all the colors in the real world while keeping the cost increases to a minimum. We evaluated the color gamut reproduced by LEDs of multiple primary colors and selected cyan as the optimal color to be added to the three primary colors to reproduce all the colors in the real world. Therefore, we designed an LED backlight consisting of an additional only‐cyan LED with three‐primary‐color LEDs and developed a prototype LCD with 4PC LED backlight. Furthermore, we developed a local dimming algorithm for the 4PC LED backlight. As a result, we confirmed that the prototype LCD with the 4PC LED backlight is able to cover almost all the colors in the real world and also able to display natural images with highly saturated colors by local dimming.     

Color‐separating backlight for improved LCD efficiency

Abstract— A large part of the light generated in a backlight is usually absorbed in the color filters of the liquid‐crystal display. A new backlight system that uses a grating to split the white light into different colors and a lens array to focus this light onto the pixels is presented. The absorbing filters can be eliminated and efficiency is improved. The system is characterized, as well as its different components.     

Physical‐based photon mapping for an LED backlight lighting simulator

Abstract— Liquid‐crystal displays (LCDs) have become increasingly popular due to their lower price and larger sizes. In particular, backlights having an RGB LED source have recently attracted attention, because they have a wider color gamut, higher luminance, and lower power consumption. However, even when the backlight area is uniformly covered with light modules based on arrays of individual LEDs, this does not ensure a uniform chromaticity and luminance over the backlight panel, thereby stressing the need for lighting simulation of the backlight. Accordingly, this paper proposes an effective lighting simulator to predict the chromaticity and luminance distribution of an LED backlight panel for an LCD. First, the spectrum‐based photons are all initially generated using a random function with a constraint satisfying the spectral power distribution of the actual LED light sources, while their emitting directions are determined based on a pre‐calculated probability using a random variable angle. The optical characteristics of the inner sheets in the LCD backlight structure are then modeled using the wavelength and incident angle to predict the next direction of each photon based on the reflection and transmittance at an intersection. All the photons that reach the unit area of the outward panel are gathered to shape their spectral power distribution, then converted to CIEXYZ values and multiplied with a color‐matching function. Finally, a realistic image visualization of these CIEXYZ values is achieved through standardized device characterization using the sRGB mode. Experiments confirm that the proposed spectrum‐based photon mapping can effectively predict the chromaticity and luminance distribution of an LED backlight panel, providing a good lighting simulation of an LED backlight before manufacturing the LCD.     

Thermal management of edge‐lit wide color gamut backlight for LCD using red laser diodes and cyan LEDs

The color gamut is one of the critical parameters that dictate the image quality of displays. The liquid crystal displays using white color light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) as the backlight, though having been widely employed recently, are not very satisfactory in terms of their color gamut because of the broad spectrum inherent to white LEDs. This prompted the authors to develop improved liquid crystal displays using an edge‐lit wide color gamut backlight that used red laser diodes and cyan LEDs. Generating laser beams with high color purity, the laser diodes are light sources with a significant effect on expanding the color gamut. However, laser diodes, red ones in particular, have unfavorable thermal characteristics. To cope with this shortcoming, the authors clearly defined the restrictive criteria for laying out two kinds of light source on the edge‐lit backlight and made a prototype 55‐type laser backlight for performance evaluation.     

A novel ultra‐thin backlight system without optical sheets using a multi‐layered lightguide

Abstract— A backlight system using a newly developed multi‐layered lightguide (MLL) is described. The MLL can function as a backlight without additional optical sheets such as prism sheets or diffusers. It was developed as a multi‐layered sheet featuring different refractive indexes for different layers. A prototype was built, and the principles were confirmed by comparison with theory. With a thickness of 0.414 mm, the prototype is the thinnest backlight in the world, using only a MLL and a reflector.     

High‐performance polymer‐stabilized blue‐phase LCD with low driving voltage

We have developed a polymer‐stabilized blue‐phase LCD in which the diffraction wavelength of blue‐phase liquid crystal is in the ultraviolet region and which is driven at a low voltage of V₁₀₀ = 27 V. Prototypes of 3.4‐in polymer‐stabilized blue‐phase LCDs were made, which include a highly reliable crystalline oxide semiconductor. We succeeded in fabricating not a test cell but a display having a contrast ratio higher than 1000 : 1 for the first time in the world.     

Architectural choices in the Aptura™ scanning backlight for large LCD TVs

Abstract— A production‐ready scanning LCD backlight system for TV sets of 32 in. and larger has been designed. It improves the representation of moving objects and allows fast and deep dimming for higher contrast. The architectural choices made for these designs will be described.