Controller and driver features for bi-stable display
View Patent ↗The invention comprises systems and methods for partitioning displays, and in particular, displays of interferometric modulator displays. In one embodiment, a display system includes one driving circuit configured to provide signals based on video data intended for display, and a bi-stable display comprising an array having a plurality of bi-stable display elements. The array is configured to display video data using signals received from the driving circuit, and the driving circuit is configured to partition the array into two or more fields, each field including at least one bi-stable display element, and refresh each of the two or more fields in accordance with a refresh rate associated with each field. In another embodiment, a method of displaying data on a display of a client device includes partitioning a bi-stable display of the client device into two or more fields, displaying video data in the two or more fields, and refreshing each of the two or more fields in accordance with a refresh rate that is associated with each field.
1. A display system, comprising:
at least one driving circuit configured to provide signals for displaying video data; and
a display comprising an array having a plurality of bi-stable display elements, the array being configured to display video data using signals received from the driving circuit,
wherein the array is partitioned into one or more fields, each field including at least one bi-stable display element and wherein the driving circuit is configured to refresh each of the one or more fields in accordance with a refresh rate associated with each field,
wherein the plurality of bi-stable display elements comprise interferometric modulators, and wherein the one or more fields comprise a first field comprising a first set of interferometric modulators and a second field comprising a second set of interferometric modulators, and
wherein at least one interferometric modulator of the first set of interferometric modulators is also an interferometric modulator of the second set of interferometric modulators.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the driving circuit is configured to partition the array.
3. The display system of claim 1 , further comprising an input device configured to receive a user selection, wherein the driving circuit is configured to partition the array based on the user selection.
4. The display system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a server in communication with the display system,
wherein the driving circuit is configured to partition the array based on instructions from the server.
5. The display system of claim 1 , wherein the driving circuit is configured to receive at least a portion of the video data from a server in communication with the display system.
6. The display system of claim 1 , wherein the driving circuit is configured to receive at least a portion of the video data from a process running on the display system.
7. The display system of claim 1 , wherein the first set of interferometric modulators is refreshed at a first refresh rate and the second set of interferometric modulators is refreshed at a second refresh rate.
8. The display system of claim 7 , wherein the second refresh rate is different than the first refresh rate.
9. The display system of claim 7 , wherein the second refresh rate is the same as the first refresh rate, and refresh of the first field starts at a different time than the refresh of the second field.
10. The display system of claim 7 , wherein the first refresh rate is determined based at least in part on a frame rate of the data that is displayed in the first field.
11. The display system of claim 7 , wherein the first refresh rate is predetermined.
12. The display system of claim 7 , wherein the first refresh rate changes over time.
13. The display system of claim 1 , wherein the first set of interferometric modulators is arranged in the shape of a polygon.
14. The display system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one interferometric modulator is refreshed with the first set of interferometric modulators during a first refresh cycle and the at least one interferometric modulator is refreshed with the second set of interferometric modulators during a second refresh cycle.
15. A method of displaying data on a display of a device, the method comprising:
partitioning a bi-stable display of the device into one or more fields, wherein the one or more fields comprise a first field comprising a first set of interferometric modulators and a second field comprising a second set of interferometric modulators, and wherein at least one interferometric modulator of the first set of interferometric modulators is also an interferometric modulator of the seconed set of interferometric modulators;
displaying video data in the one or more fields; and
refreshing each of the one or more fields in accordance with a refresh rate that is associated with each of the one or more fields.
16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising receiving at least a portion of the video data at the device from a server.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein at least one of the one or more update schemes is selected using a program associated with the received data.
18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising updating the one or more fields using one or more update schemes.
19. The method of claim 15 , wherein refreshing at least one of the one or more fields comprises using a refresh rate that is based on a frame rate of the data that is displayed.
20. The method of claim 15 further comprising receiving display information that indicates a characteristic of the display, and selecting an update scheme using the display information.