Meta Patent | Digital driving on microdisplays

Patent: Digital driving on microdisplays

Publication Number: 20250299615

Publication Date: 2025-09-25

Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies

Abstract

The disclosed computer-implemented method may include rendering frame data for pixel data values, converting a first part of each pixel data value using a first digital driving scheme, and converting a second part of each pixel data value using a second digital driving scheme. The method may also include displaying the frame data by driving pixels of a display using pulse width modulation based on a converted pixel value from the converted first and second portions of the pixel data value for each pixel. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:rendering frame data including a plurality of pixel data values;converting, for each of the pixel data values, a first portion of the pixel data value using a first digital driving scheme;converting, for each of the pixel data values, a second portion of the pixel data value using a second digital driving scheme; anddisplaying the frame data by driving a plurality of pixels of a display using pulse width modulation based on a converted pixel value comprising the converted first and second portions of the pixel data value that corresponds to each of the plurality of pixels.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first digital driving scheme corresponds to a ramp driving scheme converting discrete non-uniform pulses represented by bits into a continuous pulse represented by additional bits.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first digital driving scheme corresponds to a modified ramp driving scheme converting discrete non-uniform pulses represented by bits into a continuous pulse represented by additional bits and at least one separate discrete pulse.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second digital driving scheme corresponds to a subframe scheme converting discrete non-uniform pulses represented by bits into interleaved uniform pulses represented by rearranged bits.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion corresponds to upper bits of the pixel data value and the second portion corresponds to lower bits of the pixel data value.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:buffering a line of converted pixel values in a line buffer; anddriving a line of pixels using the converted pixel values in the line buffer.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising buffering, in the line buffer, bit values of a first bit index from each of the converted pixel values for a first line of the frame data.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising buffering, in the line buffer, bit values of the first bit index from each of the converted pixel values for a second line of the frame data after driving a first line of pixels based on the first bit index.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising buffering, in the line buffer, bit values of a second bit index from each of the converted pixel values for the first line of the frame data after driving the second line of pixels based on the first bit index.

10. A system comprising:at least one physical processor;physical memory comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the physical processor, cause the physical processor to:render frame data including a plurality of pixel data values;convert, for each of the pixel data values, a first portion of the pixel data value using a first digital driving scheme; andconvert, for each of the pixel data values, a second portion of the pixel data value using a second digital driving scheme; anda display configured to display the frame data by driving a plurality of pixels of the display using pulse width modulation based on a converted pixel value comprising the converted first and second portions of the pixel data value that corresponds to each of the plurality of pixels.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first digital driving scheme corresponds to a ramp driving scheme converting discrete non-uniform pulses represented by bits into a continuous pulse represented by additional bits.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the first digital driving scheme corresponds to a modified ramp driving scheme converting discrete non-uniform pulses represented by bits into a continuous pulse represented by additional bits and at least one separate discrete pulse.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the second digital driving scheme corresponds to a subframe scheme converting discrete non-uniform pulses represented by bits into interleaved uniform pulses represented by rearranged bits.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the first portion corresponds to upper bits of the pixel data value and the second portion corresponds to lower bits of the pixel data value.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the physical processor to:buffer a line of converted pixel values in a line buffer; anddrive a line of pixels using the converted pixel values in the line buffer.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause the physical processor to:buffer, in a line buffer, bit values of a first bit index from each of the converted pixel values for a first line of the frame data;driving a first line of pixels based on the first bit index;buffering, in the line buffer, bit values of the first bit index from each of the converted pixel values for a second line of the frame data after driving the first line of pixels based on the first bit index;driving the second line of pixels based on the first bit index; andbuffering, in the line buffer, bit values of a second bit index from each of the converted pixel values for the first line of the frame data after driving the second line of pixels based on the first bit index.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to:render frame data including a plurality of pixel data values;convert, for each of the pixel data values, a first portion of the pixel data value using a first digital driving scheme;convert, for each of the pixel data values, a second portion of the pixel data value using a second digital driving scheme; anddisplay the frame data by driving a plurality of pixels of a display using pulse width modulation based on a converted pixel value comprising the converted first and second portions of the pixel data value that corresponds to each of the plurality of pixels.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein:the first digital driving scheme corresponds to a ramp driving scheme converting discrete non-uniform pulses represented by bits into a continuous pulse represented by additional bits; andthe second digital driving scheme corresponds to a subframe scheme converting discrete non-uniform pulses represented by bits into interleaved uniform pulses represented by rearranged bits.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the first portion corresponds to upper bits of the pixel data value and the second portion corresponds to lower bits of the pixel data value.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to:buffer, in a line buffer, bit values of a first bit index from each of the converted pixel values for a first line of the frame data;drive a first line of pixels based on the first bit index;buffer, in the line buffer, bit values of the first bit index from each of the converted pixel values for a second line of the frame data after driving the first line of pixels based on the first bit index;drive the second line of pixels based on the first bit index; andbuffer, in the line buffer, bit values of a second bit index from each of the converted pixel values for the first line of the frame data after driving the second line of pixels based on the first bit index.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/568,840, filed 22 Mar. 2024, the disclosures of which is incorporated, in its entirety, by this reference.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings illustrate a number of example embodiments and are a part of the specification. Together with the following description, these drawings demonstrate and explain various principles of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example display pipeline for displaying an image.

FIGS. 2A-B illustrate examples of driving displays.

FIG. 3A-C illustrate example digital driving schemes.

FIGS. 4A-C illustrate bit conversion for a ramp driving scheme.

FIGS. 5A-B illustrate hybrid ramp driving schemes.

FIGS. 6A-B illustrate hybrid ramp driving schemes.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example architecture for the hybrid ramp driving schemes.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of an example method for digital driving on microdisplays.

FIG. 9 is an illustration of an example artificial-reality system according to some embodiments of this disclosure.

FIG. 10 is an illustration of an example artificial-reality system with a handheld device according to some embodiments of this disclosure.

FIG. 11A is an illustration of example user interactions within an artificial-reality system according to some embodiments of this disclosure.

FIG. 11B is an illustration of example user interactions within an artificial-reality system according to some embodiments of this disclosure.

FIG. 12A is an illustration of example user interactions within an artificial-reality system according to some embodiments of this disclosure.

FIG. 12B is an illustration of example user interactions within an artificial-reality system according to some embodiments of this disclosure.

FIG. 13 is an illustration of an example wrist-wearable device of an artificial-reality system according to some embodiments of this disclosure.

FIG. 14 is an illustration of an example wearable artificial-reality system according to some embodiments of this disclosure.

FIG. 15 is an illustration of an example augmented-reality system according to some embodiments of this disclosure.

FIG. 16A is an illustration of an example virtual-reality system according to some embodiments of this disclosure.

FIG. 16B is an illustration of another perspective of the virtual-reality systems shown in FIG. 16A.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing system components of example artificial- and virtual-reality systems.

Throughout the drawings, identical reference characters and descriptions indicate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements. While the example embodiments described herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown byway of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. However, the example embodiments described herein are not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the present disclosure covers all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the appended claims.