Apple has been granted a patent (number 20200218204) for “electronic devices with display burn-in mitigation.” It applies mainly to the Apple Watch, but could also relate to the company’s other products.
In the patent filing, Apple notes burn-in in various display may result when a static image is displayed on a display for an extended period of time. This can cause uneven wear on the pixels of the display. If care isn’t taken, burn-in effects can lead to the creation of undesired ghost images on a display.
Apple says that the watch face image on the Apple Watch display may contain watch face elements such as watch face hands, watch face indices (tick marks), and watch face complications. To help avoid burn-in effects associated with displaying the watch face elements, control circuitry in the electronic device may impose burn-in constraints on attributes of the watch face elements. In response to these constraints, the control circuitry may perform burn-in mitigation operations that help reduce burn-in effects.
Here’s the summary of the invention: “An electronic device such as a wristwatch device or other device may have a display. The display may be used to continuously display information such as watch face information. A watch face image on the display may contain watch face elements such as watch face hands, watch face indices, and complications.
“To reduce burn-in risk for watch face elements, control circuitry in the electronic device may impose burn-in constraints on attributes of the watch face elements such as peak luminance constraints, dwell time constraints, color constraints, constraints on the shape of each element, and constraints on element style. These constraints may help avoid situations in which static elements such as watch face indices create more burn-in than dynamic elements such as watch face hands.”
