Ams Ag

Ams International Ag

David Harlow Sin

Pradeep Hegde

George Richard Kelly

Timothy Cogan

James Archibald

Doug Nelson

George Kelly

Ryan Owen

Drew Paterson

Techniques are described for portable computing devices and other apparatus that include an ambient light sensor. The techniques can be particularly advantageous for situations in which the ambient light sensor is disposed behind a display screen of a host device such that ambient light detected by the sensor passes through the light emitting display before being detected by the sensor.

Ambient light sensor

A method for estimating ambient light at a display screen of a device. The method comprises determining one or more expected colour values of display screen output light, detecting light with a sensor positioned behind the display screen, determining one or more colour values of the detected light, determining a difference between the one or more expected colour values of the display screen output light and the one or more colour values of the detected light, and, from the determined difference, estimating a first portion of the detected light corresponding to the display screen output light and a second portion of the detected light corresponding to ambient light.

Method and device for estimating ambient light

An apparatus includes a display screen, an ambient light sensor disposed behind the display screen, and an electronic control unit. An integration time of the ambient light sensor is unsynchronized to a frame rate of the display screen. The electronic control unit is operable to control a brightness of the display screen based on a duty cycle of a PWM blanking signal, wherein at least one OFF time of the PWM blanking signal occurs fully within a first integration period of the ambient light sensor, and wherein at least one other integration period ON time of the PWM blanking signal occurs fully during an ON time of the PWM blanking signal. The electronic control unit is further operable to acquire samples of an output of the ambient light sensor, to identify a highest value and a lowest value from among a consecutive group of the samples, and to estimate a magnitude of an ambient light signal based at least in part on the highest value and the lowest value.

Ambient light sensing system

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Eindhoven, Netherlands

David Harlow Sin