In collaboration with LG Display, STMicroelectronics introduces what it describes as a unique interface standard promising to dramatically simplify interconnections and enhance the performance of high-refresh-rate LCD TVs. Crowned the Internal DisplayPort (iDP) interface, the standard debuts as a viable replacement for the current low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) standard. It is an open and royalty-free industry standard based on DisplayPort, an interface enabling high-bandwidth audio and video signal transmissions via a digital protocol. As per In Jae Chung, Executive Vice President and CTO of LG Display, “We believe iDP will support the increasing demand for high video bandwidth, which was considered as a challenge for the current LVDS standard”. The iDP standard handles the connection between a TV-controller system-on-a-chip (SoC) and an LCD-panel timing controller. With a link operating at 3.24 Gb/s per differential pair, only 17 signals?eight differential pairs and one Hot Plug Detect signal?are needed to transport full HD, 240-Hz at 10-bits per color over the iDP link. This is significantly less than the 96 signals necessary for a conventional LVDS link. The iDP technology employs a dynamic lane-count adjust feature that allows it to support pixel-rate changes due to events such as frame-rate change and 3D-stereo display timing without visual glitches on the screen. STMicroelectronics is planning to introduce a series of iDP devices for sampling in December. These will include LVDS-to-iDP and iDP-to-LVDS bridges, a 240-Hz video-enhancement IC with iDP output, and a 120-Hz TV SoC with iDP output. For more details, visit www.st.com and www.lgdisplay.com.
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