IP Library Granted Patent US 10,769,982
Granted Patent B2
US 10,769,982 · App. 16/234,127 · Granted Sep 8, 2020

Alternate-logic head-to-head gate driver on array

Inventors: Rungrot Kitsomboonloha (San Jose, CA); Szu-Hsien Lee (San Jose, CA)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
G09G3/2092G09G3/3266G09G3/3677G09G2310/0286G09G2310/08
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,769,982
App. No.
16/234,127
Granted
Sep 8, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

The disclosure is related to head-to-head (H2H) gate on arrays (GOA) for pixel-based displays that may have reduced dimensions. In the described embodiments, the H2H design with alternate logic may be used to drive groups of pixels (e.g., a pixel row or column) with a primary and a secondary driver, located in opposite ends of the bezel of the electronic device. In the alternate-logic design, a shared shift-register may be used to enable two rows or columns. Embodiments in which more than two rows or columns are controlled by a single shift register are also described.

Claims (41)

1. An electronic device comprising:

a display comprising:

a pixel array comprising a plurality of pixel groups; and

gate on array circuitry comprising:

a first driver configured to receive a first clock signal and a first gate-enable signal, and provide a first driving output to a first pixel group of the plurality of pixel groups;

a second driver configured to receive a second clock signal and the first gate-enable signal, and provide a second driving output to a second pixel group of the plurality of pixel groups;

a bootstrapping capacitor coupled to the first driver and the second driver, wherein the bootstrapping capacitor is configured to facilitate operations of the first driver and the second driver; and

a first shift register configured to generate the first gate-enable signal.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein each pixel group of the plurality of pixel groups comprise a row of pixels.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first driver comprises a first gate driver output circuitry and the second driver comprises a second gate driver output circuitry.

4. The electronic device of claim 3 , wherein each gate driver output circuitry comprises an n-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) output circuitry.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first driver comprises the bootstrapping capacitor, and wherein the bootstrapping capacitor is disposed between an output of the first driver and a transistor gate of a transistor of the first driver.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first shift register comprises a SET input and a RESET input, and wherein the first gate-enable signal comprises a high signal in response to the SET input receiving a high signal and the RESET input receiving a low signal.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first gate-enable signal is configured to drive the first driving output to the first clock signal and drive the second driving output to the second clock signal.

8. A display comprising:

a display portion comprising at least a first pixel row, a second pixel row, and a third pixel row; and

a bezel disposed along a periphery of the display portion, wherein the bezel comprises a first bezel portion and a second bezel portion located on an opposite side of the bezel relative to the first bezel portion;

first gate on array (GOA) circuitry disposed in the first bezel portion, wherein the first GOA circuitry comprises a first plurality of logic units, wherein at least a first logic unit of the first plurality of logic units is configured to drive the first pixel row; and

second GOA circuitry disposed in the second bezel portion, wherein the second GOA circuitry comprises a second plurality of logic units, wherein at least a second logic unit of the second plurality of logic units is configured to drive the third pixel row, and wherein at least the first logic unit of the first GOA and at least the second logic unit of the second GOA are configured to drive the second pixel row.

9. The display of claim 8 , wherein the first pixel row comprises a dummy pixel row.

10. The display of claim 8 , wherein the at least the first logic unit of the first plurality of logic units comprises:

a shift register;

a primary driver configured to receive a first gate-enable signal from the shift register and generate a first driver output to the second pixel row; and

a secondary driver configured to receive the first gate-enable signal from the shift register and generate a second driver output to the first pixel row.

11. The display of claim 10 , wherein the primary driver comprises a respective bootstrapping capacitor disposed between an output of the primary driver and a gate of a transistor of the primary driver, wherein the at least the second logic unit of the second plurality of logic units comprises a second secondary driver, wherein the second secondary driver is configured to generate a third driver output to the second pixel row, and the second secondary driver does not comprise a bootstrapping capacitor.

12. The display of claim 10 , wherein the at least the first logic unit of the first plurality of logic units comprises a SET input signal and a RESET input signal, and wherein the first gate-enable signal comprises a high signal in response to the SET input signal receiving a high signal and the RESET input signal receiving a low signal.

13. The display of claim 12 , wherein the first plurality of logic units comprises a second logic unit configured to provide a carry output signal that is coupled to the SET input signal or the RESET input signal of the at least the first logic unit.

14. A display comprising:

a pixel array comprising a plurality of pixel rows; and

a bezel disposed along a periphery of the pixel array, wherein the bezel comprises a first bezel portion that comprises a first bezel length; and

first gate on array circuitry disposed in the first bezel portion, wherein the first gate on array circuitry comprises a plurality of logic units, wherein each logic unit of the plurality of logic units comprises a shift register coupled to a primary driver and a secondary driver;

wherein the first bezel length comprises a gate on array length and the gate on array length comprises a percentage of the first bezel length that is smaller than a threshold percentage, and wherein at least one pixel row is coupled to a respective primary driver of the first gate on array circuitry and a respective secondary driver of a second gate on array circuitry.

15. The display of claim 14 , comprising:

a second bezel portion of the bezel disposed on an opposite side of the pixel array from the first bezel portion, wherein the second bezel portion comprises the first bezel length; and

the second gate on array circuitry disposed in the second bezel portion, wherein the second gate on array circuitry comprises a second plurality of logic units, wherein each logic unit of the second plurality of logic units comprises a second shift register coupled to a second primary driver and a second secondary driver.

16. The display of claim 14 , wherein each primary driver comprises a gate driver output circuitry, wherein the gate driver output circuitry comprises a first bootstrapping capacitor coupled to an output of the primary driver and a transistor gate of a pull-up transistor of the gate driver output circuitry.

17. The display of claim 14 , wherein the first bezel length comprises a first metal bus length or a second metal bus length, or both.

18. The display of claim 14 , wherein at least one logic unit of the plurality of logic units comprises a SET input and a RESET input.

19. The display of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of logic units comprises a second logic unit configured to provide a carry output signal that is coupled to the SET input or the RESET input of the at least one logic unit.

20. The display of claim 14 , wherein the threshold percentage comprises 60%.

21. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first shift register is configured to output a first output signal comprising a gate enable signal, and output a second output signal comprising a complementary gate enable signal, to control the first and the second drivers.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 23, 2019
From: KITSOMBOONLOHA, RUNGROT; LEE, SZU-HSIEN
To: APPLE INC.
Reel/Frame 048109/0609 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 62725862 · Aug 31, 2018
Related Publication 20200074912A1 · Mar 5, 2020