CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean patent application No. 10-2019-0109587 filed on Sep. 4, 2019, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Aspects of some example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an electronic device and a method of driving the electronic device.

2. Related Art

A Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) is a display protocol for portable electronic devices. The MIPI supports two display modes, that is, a video mode and a command mode.

In the video mode, image data may be transmitted in real time from a host to a display driver IC (DDI). In the video mode, even when the image to be transmitted to the display driver IC is a still or static image, the host may repeatedly transmit the same still or static image to the display driver IC. Therefore, the video mode may be utilized for displaying a video image, but may lead to inefficient power consumption of the host when the still images are displayed

In the command mode, the start of transmission of the image data may be controlled by a tearing effect (TE) signal. When the still image is intended to be displayed in a display, the display driver IC may periodically read the still image from a frame buffer mounted on the display driver IC and transmit the read still image to the display. While the still image is being displayed without being updated, no image data may be transmitted from the host to the display driver IC. However, such a command mode may utilize a frame buffer with a relatively large capacity, which may increase manufacturing cost.

The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background and therefore the information discussed in this Background section does not necessarily constitute prior art.

SUMMARY

Aspects of some example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an electronic device and a method of driving the electronic device, and for example, to an electronic device and a method of driving the electronic device, which enable a host to transmit a mode change signal to a display driver IC through an interface that is provided separately from a Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI).

Some example embodiments of the present disclosure may include an electronic device and a method of driving the electronic device, which enable a host to transmit a mode change signal to a display driver IC through an interface that is provided separately from a MIPI.

Some example embodiments of the present disclosure may include an electronic device and a method of driving the electronic device, in which a display driver IC detects a mode change of a host through a mode change signal received from the host and a display is controlled so as to output an image depending on the changed display mode.

According to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, an electronic device may include a host configured to output image data and a timing control signal in response to an image intended to be displayed, a display driver IC coupled to the host through a first interface and a second interface and configured to output a data signal based on the image data, and a display configured to display an image based on the data signal. The host may output the image data and the timing control signal through any one of the first interface and the second interface depending on a display mode.

According to some example embodiments, the host may output the image data and the timing control signal through the first interface when the image data is video image data, and may output the image data and the timing control signal through the second interface when the image data is still image data.

According to some example embodiments, the still image data may be image data for Always on Display (AoD).

According to some example embodiments, the display driver IC may include a frame buffer configured to store the image data.

According to some example embodiments, when the image data is received through the first interface, the display driver IC may generate the data signal from the image data and output the data signal to the display.

According to some example embodiments, when the image data is received through the second interface, the display driver IC may store the image data in the frame buffer and generate the data signal by reading the image data from the frame buffer.

According to some example embodiments, when the image data is received through the second interface, the display driver IC may generate a timing control signal and output the data signal to the display based on the timing control signal.

According to some example embodiments, the image data and the timing control signal may be output once through the second interface while the still image data is being displayed.

According to some example embodiments, the first interface may be a Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI), and the second interface may be an independent transmission line that is different from the first interface.

According to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, in a method of driving an electronic device including a host and a display driver IC coupled to the host through a first interface and a second interface, the method may include: outputting, by the host, image data and a timing control signal to the display driver IC through any one of the first interface and the second interface depending on a display mode; and outputting, by the display driver IC, a data signal based on the image data.

According to some example embodiments, outputting the image data and the timing control signal to the display driver IC may include outputting the image data and the timing control signal through the first interface when the image data is video image data; and outputting the image data and the timing control signal through the second interface when the image data is still image data.

According to some example embodiments, the display driver IC may include a frame buffer configured to store the image data.

According to some example embodiments, outputting the data signal based on the image data may include generating the data signal from the image data when the image data is received through the first interface; and outputting the generated data signal.

According to some example embodiments, outputting the data signal based on the image data may include storing the image data in the frame buffer when the image data is received through the second interface; generating the data signal by reading the image data from the frame buffer; and outputting the generated data signal.

According to some example embodiments, outputting the data signal based on the image data may include generating a timing control signal; and outputting the data signal to the display based on the timing control signal.

