Luminance measurement method, luminance measurement device, and image quality adjustment technique using the method and device

A luminance measurement device comprising:

• a control unit that controls turning-on of pixels of a display panel and controls imaging by a camera that is provided with a solid-state image sensor;
• and
• a calculation unit that performs calculation based on an image imaged by the camera,
• wherein, when pixels of the display panel are imaged by the camera, the control unit turns on one or more pixels of the display panel and causes the camera to image the pixels such that each pixel image ranges over a plurality of picture elements on an imaging surface of the camera and the pixel images do not overlap each other,
• the calculation unit then calculates a central exposure factor that indicates the luminance of a central part of the pixel image as a percentage of the luminance of the entire pixel image, on the basis of an output of one or more picture elements that correspond to the central part of the imaged pixel image, and a peripheral exposure factor that indicates the luminance of a peripheral part of the pixel image as a percentage of the luminance of the entire pixel image, on the basis of an output of one or more picture elements that correspond to the peripheral part of the pixel image,
• the control unit sorts all the pixels of the display panel into a plurality of groups, sequentially turns on the pixels one group after another, and causes the camera to image the pixels, and
• the calculation unit then calculates the luminance of all the pixels of the display panel, on the basis of the imaged image, the central exposure factor, and the peripheral exposure factor.

A correction data generation method comprising:

• an individual-pixel imaging step of, when pixels of a display panel are imaged by a camera provided with a solid-state image sensor, turning on one or more pixels of the display panel and imaging the pixels by the camera such that each pixel image ranges over a plurality of picture elements on an imaging surface of the camera and the pixel images do not overlap each other;
• an exposure factor calculation step of calculating a central exposure factor that indicates the luminance of a central part of the pixel image that was imaged in the individual-pixel imaging step as a percentage of the luminance of the entire pixel image, on the basis of an output of one or more picture elements that correspond to the central part of the pixel image, and calculating a peripheral exposure factor that indicates the luminance of a peripheral part of the pixel image as a percentage of the luminance of the entire pixel image, on the basis of an output of one or more picture elements that correspond to the peripheral part of the pixel image;
• an all-pixel imaging step of sorting all the pixels of the display panel into a plurality of groups, sequentially turning on the pixels one group after another, and imaging the pixels by the camera;
• a luminance calculating step of calculating the luminance of all the pixels of the display panel on the basis of the image imaged in the all-pixel imaging step, the central exposure factor, and the peripheral exposure factor;
• and
• a correction data generation step of generating correction data for reducing luminance unevenness of the display panel by correcting an input signal to the display panel on the basis of the luminance calculated in the luminance calculating step.

A correction data generation device, comprising:

• a control unit that controls turning-on of pixels of a display panel and controls imaging by a camera that is provided with a solid-state image sensor;
• a calculation unit that performs calculation based on an image imaged by the camera;
• and
• a correction data generation unit that generates correction data for reducing luminance unevenness of the display panel by correcting an input signal to the display panel,
• wherein, when pixels of the display panel are imaged by the camera, the control unit turns on one or more pixels of the display panel and causes the camera to image the pixels such that each pixel image ranges over a plurality of picture elements on an imaging surface of the camera and the pixel images do not overlap each other,
• the calculation unit then calculates a central exposure factor that indicates the luminance of a central part of the pixel image as a percentage of the luminance of the entire pixel image, on the basis of an output of one or more picture elements that correspond to the central part of the imaged pixel image, and a peripheral exposure factor that indicates the luminance of a peripheral part of the pixel image as a percentage of the luminance of the entire pixel image, on the basis of an output of one or more picture elements that correspond to the peripheral part of the pixel image,
• the control unit sorts all the pixels of the display panel into a plurality of groups, sequentially turning on the pixels one group after another, and causes the camera to image the pixels,
• the calculation unit then calculates the luminance of all the pixels of the display panel, on the basis of the imaged image, the central exposure factor, and the peripheral exposure factor, and
• the correction data generation unit generates the correction data based on the luminance of all the pixels of the display panel.

A method for manufacturing an image quality adjustment type display panel comprising:

• an individual-pixel imaging step of, when pixels of a display panel are imaged by a camera provided with a solid-state image sensor, turning on one or more pixels of the display panel and imaging the pixels by the camera such that each pixel image ranges over a plurality of picture elements on an imaging surface of the camera and the pixel images do not overlap each other;
• an exposure factor calculation step of calculating a central exposure factor that indicates the luminance of a central part of the pixel image that was imaged in the individual-pixel imaging step as a percentage of the luminance of the entire pixel image, on the basis of an output of one or more picture elements that correspond to the central part of the pixel image, and calculating a peripheral exposure factor that indicates the luminance of a peripheral part of the pixel image as a percentage of the luminance of the entire pixel image, on the basis of an output of one or more picture elements that correspond to the peripheral part of the pixel image;
• an all-pixel imaging step of sorting all the pixels of the display panel into a plurality of groups, sequentially turning on the pixels one group after another, and imaging the pixels by the camera;
• a luminance calculating step of calculating the luminance of all the pixels of the display panel on the basis of the image imaged in the all-pixel imaging step, the central exposure factor, and the peripheral exposure factor;
• a correction data generation step of generating correction data for reducing luminance unevenness of the display panel by correcting an input signal to the display panel on the basis of the luminance calculated in the luminance calculating step;
• a correction data storage step of storing the correction data in a storage unit of an image quality adjustment circuit, and
• a mounting step of mounting the image quality adjustment circuit to the display panel so that the image quality adjustment circuit corrects the input signal on the basis of the correction data.

An image quality adjustment type display panel comprising:

• a display panel;
• and
• an image quality adjustment circuit that is provided with a storage unit in which correction data for correcting an input signal to the display panel so as to reduce display unevenness of the display panel is stored,
• wherein the storage unit has stored therein correction data that is generated based on the luminance of all the pixels of the display panel, the luminance of all the pixels of the display panel being calculated by, when pixels of the display panel are imaged by a camera that is provided with a solid-state image sensor, turning on one or more pixels of the display panel and imaging the pixels by the camera such that each pixel image ranges over a plurality of picture elements on an imaging surface of the camera and the pixel images do not overlap each other, by calculating a central exposure factor that indicates the luminance in a central part of the pixel image as a percentage of the luminance of the entire pixel image, on the basis of an output of one or more picture elements that correspond to the central part of the imaged pixel image, and a peripheral exposure factor that indicates the luminance in a peripheral part of the pixel image as a percentage of the luminance of the entire pixel image, on the basis of an output of one or more picture elements that correspond to the peripheral part of the pixel image, by sorting all the pixels of the display panel into a plurality of groups, sequentially turning on the pixels one group after another, and imaging the pixels by the camera, and by calculating the luminance of all the pixels of the display panel, on the basis of the imaged image, the central exposure factor, and the peripheral exposure factor.