Method and apparatus for controlling the brightness of an lcd backlight
AssigneeITI Scotland Limited
InventorsKeith Noel Jenkins, Gary Bryan Wordsworth
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The brightness of a LCD backlight, comprising a plurality of LEDs or LED chains (221—1 to 221—n), is controlled by a processor (203) for calculating the number of LEDs of a plurality of LEDs to be illuminated for a determined brightness and selecting the calculated number of LEDs or LED chains to form a spatial distribution pattern; and drivers (219—1 to 219—n) for illuminating the calculated number of LEDs in a random or pseudo-random sequence.
Claims17
A method for controlling the brightness of a LCD backlight, said LCD backlight comprising a plurality of LEDs, the method comprising the steps:
- determining the brightness required for a LCD backlight;
- calculating the number of LEDs of a plurality of LEDs to be illuminated for said determined brightness;
- selecting said calculated number of LEDs of said plurality of LEDs to form a spatial distribution pattern of said calculated number of LEDs across said plurality of LEDs;
- and
- illuminating said selected, calculated number of LEDs.
A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said plurality of LEDs are arranged in a one-dimensional linear array of LED chains, each LED chain comprising at least one LED.
A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the step of illuminating said selected, calculated number of LEDs further comprises the step of:
- pulsing said selected, calculated number of LEDs on and off at a random or pseudo-random rate.
A computer program product comprising a plurality of program code portions for carrying out the method according to any one of the preceding claims.
Apparatus for controlling the brightness of a LCD backlight, said LCD backlight comprising a plurality of LEDs, the apparatus comprising:
- an input for receiving a determined brightness required for a LCD backlight;
- a processor for calculating the number of LEDs of a plurality of LEDs to be illuminated for said determined brightness and selecting said calculated number of LEDs of said plurality of LEDs to form a spatial distribution pattern of said calculated number of LEDs across said plurality of LEDs;
- and
- a driver for illuminating said selected, calculated number of LEDs.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.