IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,380,835
Granted Patent B2
US 12,380,835 · App. 18/223,794 · Granted Aug 5, 2025

Electronic display pixel grouping to mitigate motion blur

Inventors: Chengrui Le (San Jose, CA); Fang-Cheng Lin (San Jose, CA); Hyunwoo Nho (Palo Alto, CA); Lingyu Hong (San Jose, CA); Yi-Pai Huang (Cupertino, CA); Ze Yuan (Fremont, CA)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
G09G3/32G09G3/3208G09G3/3611G09G2300/06G09G2310/08G09G2320/0261G09G2340/0435
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,380,835
App. No.
18/223,794
Granted
Aug 5, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

Electronic devices, displays, and methods are provided for performing pixel grouping to enable efficient display operation at higher frame rates and lower image resolutions without sacrificing significant image quality. An electronic display may include a number of rows of display pixels and driving circuitry. The driving circuitry may receive a frame of image data and drive a set of adjacent groups of rows of equal number using the frame of image data. Adjacent groups of rows may respectively include two or more adjacent rows.

Claims (40)

1. An electronic display comprising:

a plurality of rows of display pixels; and

driving circuitry configured to:

receive a first frame of image data and drive a first set of adjacent groups of rows using the first frame of image data, wherein each group of the adjacent groups of rows has an equal number of rows comprising two or more adjacent rows at a time; and

receive a second frame of image data and drive a second set of adjacent groups of rows of the equal number using the second frame of image data, wherein the second set of adjacent groups of rows partially overlaps with the first set of adjacent groups of rows.

2. The electronic display of claim 1 , wherein the equal number of rows is an even number of rows.

3. The electronic display of claim 1 , wherein the first set of adjacent groups of rows comprises repeating groups of rows starting at rows N and N+1 and the second set of adjacent groups of rows comprises repeating groups of rows starting at rows numbered N+1 and N+2, wherein N is an integer greater than zero.

4. The electronic display of claim 1 , wherein the first frame of image data comprises a resolution having a number of rows that is a fraction or the fraction plus one or more odd remainders of the plurality of rows of display pixels of the electronic display.

5. The electronic display of claim 1 , wherein the first frame of image data comprises half-resolution image data having half the number of rows of the plurality of rows of display pixels of the electronic display.

6. The electronic display of claim 1 , wherein the first frame of image data comprises quarter-resolution image data having one-fourth the number of rows of the plurality of rows of display pixels of the electronic display.

7. The electronic display of claim 1 , wherein the driving circuitry is configured to drive the first set of adjacent groups of rows in groups of adjacent columns driven with pixel data of the image data that is the same for all display pixels in each combination of a group of rows and a group of columns.

8. The electronic display of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of rows of display pixels comprise organic light emitting diode or liquid crystal pixels and the driving circuitry comprises a scan driver configured to drive two or more adjacent rows.

9. The electronic display of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of rows of display pixels comprise micro-LED pixels of a local passive matrix and the driving circuitry comprises a microdriver configured to drive two or more adjacent rows of the local passive matrix at a time.

10. An electronic display comprising:

a plurality of rows of display pixels, wherein the plurality of rows of display pixels comprise micro-LED pixels of a local passive matrix; and

driving circuitry configured to receive a first frame of image data and drive a first set of adjacent groups of rows using the first frame of image data, wherein each group of the adjacent groups of rows has an equal number of rows comprising two or more adjacent rows at a time, wherein the driving circuitry comprises a microdriver configured to drive two or more adjacent rows of the local passive matrix at a time, wherein the microdriver is configured to time-multiplex driving of different groups of rows over multiple subframes to perform subframe dithering corresponding to the first frame of image data over the multiple subframes.

11. The electronic display of claim 10 , wherein the microdriver is configured to generate the multiple subframes at least in part by calculating at least two subframes of image data based on the first frame of image data, wherein each of the at least two subframes has a lower row resolution than the first frame of image data.

12. The electronic display of claim 1 , wherein the driving circuitry is configured to:

receive successive frames of image data that have a fractional row resolution of the electronic display or the fractional row resolution plus one or more odd remainders; and

cause the electronic display to display the successive frames of image data in groups of rows corresponding to the fractional row resolution that switch from frame to frame.

13. An electronic display comprising:

a plurality of rows of display pixels; and

driving circuitry configured to receive a first frame of image data and drive a first set of adjacent groups of rows using the first frame of image data, wherein each group of the adjacent groups of rows has an equal number of rows comprising two or more adjacent rows at a time, wherein the driving circuitry is configured to:

receive successive frames of image data that have a fractional row resolution of the electronic display or the fractional row resolution plus one or more odd remainders; and

cause the electronic display to display the successive frames of image data in groups of rows corresponding to the fractional row resolution that switch from frame to frame; and

wherein the driving circuitry is configured to:

receive successive frames of image data having a full row resolution of the electronic display at a first frame rate before receiving the successive frames of data having the fractional row resolution of the electronic display or the fractional row resolution plus one or more odd remainders.

14. The electronic display of claim 13 , wherein the successive frames of image data having the fractional row resolution of the electronic display are received at a second frame rate.

15. The electronic display of claim 14 , wherein the second frame rate is higher than the first frame rate.

16. The electronic display of claim 14 , wherein the fractional row resolution or the fractional row resolution plus one or more odd remainders of the electronic display comprises half of the rows of the electronic display or one less than half of the rows of the electronic display, and wherein the second frame rate is double the first frame rate.

17. The electronic display of claim 14 , wherein the fractional row resolution or the fractional row resolution plus one or more odd remainders of the electronic display comprises one fourth of the rows of the electronic display or one less than or three less than one fourth of the rows and wherein the second frame rate is four times the first frame rate.

18. The electronic display of claim 12 , wherein the driving circuitry is configured to enter a mode to receive the successive frames of image data having the fractional row resolution or the fractional row resolution plus one or more odd remainders of the electronic display based on motion of image content exceeding a threshold.

19. The electronic display of claim 18 , wherein the motion of image content exceeding the threshold is based on a scrolling rate.

20. The electronic display of claim 1 , wherein the driving circuitry is configured to:

receive frames of image data having a fractional row resolution or a fractional row resolution plus one or more odd remainders of the electronic display at a first frame rate; and

program the frames of image data onto display pixels in groups of rows that switch from frame to frame.

21. The electronic display of claim 20 , wherein the groups of rows switch from frame to frame by one row.

22. The electronic display of claim 1 , wherein the driving circuitry is configured to:

drive a first set of adjacent display pixels of the first set of adjacent groups of rows using a first pixel value of the first frame of image data; and

drive a second set of adjacent display pixels of the second set of adjacent groups of rows using a second pixel value of the second frame of image data.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 7, 2023
From: LIN, FANG-CHENG; NHO, HYUNWOO; HONG, LINGYU; HUANG, YI-PAI; LE, CHENGRUI; YUAN, ZE
To: APPLE INC.
Reel/Frame 064507/0626 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 63397627 · Aug 12, 2022
Related Publication 20240054942A1 · Feb 15, 2024
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