Attention to Detail: Sorting the LED Backlights

Most coverage of Apple's patent filings focuses on finding hints of upcoming product features.  Sometimes, though, we see a hint of Apple's attention to detail in sourcing, manufacturing, and assembly.

In publication 20110069511, we find a technique for separating LEDs based upon their white points, then ordering them during assembly such that the overall backlighting for the display produces a desirable average white point.

The end result?  Apple can presumably maintain a tighter tolerance on overall display white point while accepting a lower tolerance on the individual LED backlights.   The looser tolerance would likely lower the cost of the component LEDs.

1. An LED backlight method for display systems comprising:

• receiving a plurality of light emitting diodes categorized into a plurality of bins, wherein each bin references a separate range of white point colors; and

• determining an optimal order for mounting the plurality of light emitting diodes at spatially distributed positions, the plurality of light emitting diodes comprising white point colors associated with separate bins, 

• wherein the optimal order of the plurality of light emitting diodes produces a light of a desired white point color when the light outputs of the plurality of light emitting diodes are mixed.