New colour sensor for display-equipped devices such as smartphones and tablets

Capable of detecting the colour temperature, brightness, and RGB components of ambient light - a new colour sensor for display-equipped devices such as smartphones and tablets has been developed by Rohm. The BH1745NUC exploits original infrared removal technology and computing methods to achieve the industry's highest infrared cut-off characteristics, reducing the effects of infrared rays by over 10x compared with conventional products. This enables compatibility with dark (low permeability) optical windows - unlike conventional colour sensors that cannot provide accurate detection due to the effects of infrared interference when dark windows are used, says the company. In recent years a greater number of smartphones, tablets, and other display-equipped devices have begun to integrate colour sensors in order to analyze the RGB components of ambient light for display image adjustment or perform backlight dimming based on the surrounding brightness levels. Conventional colour sensors require a transparent optical window in order to accurately detect visible (i.e. RGB) light. However, the design trend in many smartphones and portable devices is to adopt dark optical windows, which although are more stylish make it difficult to precisely detect colours, since less visible light gets through and the light that does permeate gets mixed in with IR rays. In response, ROHM takes advantage of optical sensor expertise cultivated over many years, including original infrared removal technology and proprietary computing methods, to develop a colour sensor that provides unmatched performance - even with dark optical windows. Compatibility with dark optical windows provides greater design flexibility - Industry-leading infrared cut-off characteristics reduce the effects of IR rays by more than 10x compared with conventional products. This provides greater design freedom by enabling support for even dark optical windows. ROHM's new colour sensor is capable of filtering only the spectrum of visible light in order to perform more accurate brightness and colour temperature calculations based on ambient conditions. Applications include display-equipped devices such as smartphones and tablets where the device analyzes the RGB components of ambient light and detects the colour temperature for adjusting display images, or detects the brightness for optimized LED backlight dimming in displays based on surrounding conditions. It also targets industrial equipment and processing facilities that detect the colour of products and/or liquids.