1. A method of analyzing ice cubes in an ice cube storage bin of a refrigerator comprising:
focusing a digital image capture device, mounted in a refrigerated compartment of the refrigerator, on an ice cube storage bin;
capturing digital images of ice cubes in the ice cube storage bin; and
evaluating the digital images of the ice cube storage bin captured by the digital image capture device with a digital image analyzing system to determine a physical characteristic of the ice cubes, with the physical characteristic including at least one of:
an existence of clumped ice, wherein evaluating the digital images includes analyzing the digital images to determine a quality of the ice cubes in the ice cube storage bin to determine if ice in one area of the ice cube storage bin is maintained at a relatively constant level while a level of another area is simultaneously decreasing to establish that ice in the one area is clumped; and
a presence of stale ice in the ice cube storage bin, wherein evaluating the digital images includes detecting a presence of stale ice in the ice cube storage bin by evaluating edge portions of ice cubes in the ice cube storage bin to determine if the ice cubes are stale;
providing at least one of a clumped ice alert when clumped ice is detected and providing a stale ice alert when stale ice is detected.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical characteristic further includes volume and evaluating the digital images includes:
evaluating a pixel count in digital images of the ice cube storage bin;
evaluating the pixel count in digital images of only a particular region of interest of the ice cube storage bin;
comparing the pixel count in the digital images of the ice cube storage bin and the pixel count in the digital images of the particular region of interest; and
estimating a volume of ice in the ice cube storage bin based on the compared pixel counts.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: capturing and storing multiple digital images of the ice cube storage bin intermittently during a given day.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the multiple digital images are further captured and stored after each ice dispensing event.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: bathing the ice cube storage bin in light prior to capturing the digital image.
6. The method of claim 2, further comprising: displaying the volume of ice on a user interface.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: estimating a volume of ice in the ice cube storage bin.
8. A method of analyzing ice cubes in an ice cube storage bin of a refrigerator comprising:
focusing a digital image capture device, mounted in a refrigerated compartment of the refrigerator, on an ice cube storage bin;
capturing digital images of ice cubes in the ice cube storage bin;
evaluating the digital images of only a particular region of interest of the ice cube storage bin captured by the digital image capture device with a digital image analyzing system to determine a physical characteristic of the ice cubes, with the physical characteristic including at least one of volume, an existence of clumped ice and a presence of stale ice in the ice cube storage bin; and
when the physical characteristic is volume, displaying the volume of a user interface;
when the physical characteristic is existence of clumped ice, providing a clumped ice alert; and
when the physical characteristic is stale ice, providing a stale ice alert when stale ice is detected.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the physical characteristic constitutes volume and the method further comprises:
evaluating a pixel count in digital images of the ice cube storage bin;
evaluating the pixel count in digital images of only the particular region of interest of the ice cube storage bin;
comparing the pixel count in the digital images of the ice cube storage bin and the pixel count in the digital images of the particular region of interest; and
estimating a volume of ice in the ice cube storage bin based on the compared pixel counts.
10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: analyzing the digital images to determine a quality of the ice cubes in the ice cube storage bin by:
evaluating the digital images to determine if ice in one area of the ice cube storage bin is maintained at a relatively constant level while a level of another area is simultaneously decreasing to establish that ice in the one area is clumped.
11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: capturing and storing multiple digital images of the ice cube storage bin intermittently during a given day.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein the multiple digital images are further captured and stored after each ice dispensing event.
13. The method of claim 10, further comprising: evaluating the digital images to detect a presence of stale ice in the ice cube storage bin by evaluating edge portions of ice cubes in the ice cube storage bin to determine if the ice cubes are stale.
14. The method of claim 9, further comprising: bathing the ice cube storage bin in light prior to capturing the digital image.
15. The method of claim 8, wherein evaluating the digital images includes evaluating a pixel count in the digital images of the ice cube storage bin.
16. The method of claim 7, wherein, in estimating a volume of ice in the ice cube storage bin, evaluating the digital images includes evaluating a pixel count in the digital images of the ice cube storage bin.
17. A method of analyzing ice cubes in an ice cube storage bin of a refrigerator comprising:
focusing a digital image capture device, mounted in a refrigerated compartment of the refrigerator, on an ice cube storage bin;
capturing digital images of ice cubes in the ice cube storage bin;
evaluating the digital images of the ice cube storage bin captured by the digital image capture device with a digital image analyzing system to determine a physical characteristic of the ice cubes, with the physical characteristic including volume and evaluating the digital images including:
evaluating a pixel count in digital images of the ice cube storage bin;
evaluating the pixel count in digital images of only a particular region of interest of the ice cube storage bin;
comparing the pixel count in the digital images of the ice cube storage bin and the pixel count in the digital images of the particular region of interest; and
estimating a volume of ice in the ice cube storage bin based on the compared pixel counts; and
displaying the volume of ice on a user interface.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A color OLED display having at least three different colored microcavity pixels, each including a light reflective structure and a semi-transparent structure, comprising:
a) an array of light-emitting microcavity pixels each having one or more common organic light-emitting layers, said light-emitting layer(s) including first and second light-emitting materials, respectively, that produce different light spectra, the first light-emitting material producing light having a first spectrum portion that extends between first and second different colors of the array, and the second light-emitting material producing light having a second spectrum portion that is substantially contained within a third color that is different from the first and second colors; and
b) each different colored pixel being tuned to produce light in one of the three different colors whereby the first, second, and third different colors are produced by the OLED display.
2. The OLED display of claim 1 wherein the first and second light-emitting materials are contained in separate layers and wherein the blue-green light-emitting layer includes a first host and a blue-green light-emitting compound, and the red light-emitting layer includes a second host and a red light-emitting compound.
3. The color OLED display of claim 2 wherein the first host comprises a mixture of host materials.
4. The color OLED display of claim 2 wherein the second host comprises a mixture of host materials.
5. The color OLED display of claim 2 wherein the red light-emitting compound has a full width at half maximum contained within the wavelength range of 560 nm and 700 nm.
6. The color OLED display of claim 5 wherein the red light-emitting compound has a full width at half maximum of between 5 and 90 nm.
7. The color OLED display of claim 2 wherein the red light-emitting compound is a diindenoperylene compound.
8. The color OLED display of claim 7 wherein the diindenoperylene compound has the following structure
wherein X1\u2013X16 are independently selected as hydrogen or substituents that include alkyl groups of from 1 to 24 carbon atoms; aryl or substituted aryl groups of from 5 to 20 carbon atoms; hydrocarbon groups containing 4 to 24 carbon atoms that complete one or more fused aromatic rings or ring systems; or halogen, provided that the substituents are selected to provide a full width at half maximum of 5 nm to 90 nm contained within the wavelength range of 560 nm and 700 nm.
9. The color OLED display of claim 8 wherein the diindenoperylene compound is
10. The OLED display of claim 2 wherein the blue-green light-emitting compound is a distyrylamine derivative.
11. The OLED display of claim 1 wherein the first and second light-emitting materials are contained in separate layers and wherein the yellow-orange light-emitting layer includes a first host and a yellow light-emitting compound, and the blue light-emitting layer includes a second host and a blue light-emitting compound.
12. The color OLED display of claim 11 wherein the first host comprises a mixture of host materials.
13. The color OLED display of claim 11 wherein the second host comprises a mixture of host materials.
14. The color OLED display of claim 11 wherein the blue light-emitting compound has a full width at half maximum contained within the wavelength range of 400 nm and 490 nm.
15. The color OLED display of claim 14 wherein the blue light-emitting compound has a full width at half maximum of between 5 and 25 nm.
16. The color OLED display of claim 11 wherein the blue light-emitting compound is a bis(azinyl)azene boron complex.
17. The color OLED display of claim 16 wherein the bis(azinyl)azene boron complex has the following structure
wherein:
A and A\u2032 represent independent azine ring systems corresponding to 6-membered aromatic ring systems containing at least one nitrogen;
(Xa)n and (Xb)m represent one or more independently selected substituents and include acyclic substituents or are joined to form a ring fused to A or A\u2032;
m and n are independently 0 to 4;
Za and Zb are independently selected substituents;
1, 2, 3, 4, 1\u2032, 2\u2032, 3\u2032, and 4\u2032 are independently selected as either carbon or nitrogen atoms; and
provided that Xa, Xb, Za, and Zb, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1\u2032, 2\u2032, 3\u2032, and 4\u2032 are selected to provide an a full width at half maximum of between 5 and 25 nm contained within the wavelength range of 400 nm and 490 nm.
18. The color OLED display of claim 17 wherein the bis(azinyl)azene boron complex is
19. The OLED display of claim 11 wherein the yellow light-emitting compound includes a tetracene derivative.
20. The OLED device of claim 1 where the reflector, the semitransparent reflector, or both, also serve as electrodes for the light-emitting layers.
21. The color OLED display of claim 1 wherein the material for reflector includes Ag, Au, Al, or alloys thereof.
22. The color OLED display of claim 1 wherein the material for the semitransparent reflector includes Ag, Au, or alloys thereof.
23. The color OLED display of claim 1 wherein at least two of the different colored microcavity pixels further include a cavity spacer layer wherein the thickness of the cavity spacer layer is different for each of said different colored microcavity pixels.
24. The color OLED display of claim 1 wherein the semitransparent reflector is disposed between the light-emitting layers and the substrate.
25. The color OLED display of claim 1 wherein the reflector is disposed between the light-emitting layers and the substrate.
26. The color OLED display of claim 1 wherein the thickness of at least one of the organic layers other than the light-emitting layers is changed for each different colored pixel.
27. The color OLED display of claim 1 further including a color filter array disposed in operative association with one or more of the array of light-emitting microcavity pixels that filters light corresponding to the portions of the array corresponding to the red, green, and blue portions.
28. The color OLED display of claim 11 wherein at least one of the hosts is an anthracene derivative having the following formula:
wherein:
Ar is an (un)substituted condensed aromatic group of 10\u201350 nuclear carbon atoms;
Ar\u2032 is an (un)substituted aromatic group of 6\u201350 nuclear carbon atoms;
X is an (un)substituted aromatic group of 6\u201350 nuclear carbon atoms, (un)substituted aromatic heterocyclic group of 5\u201350 nuclear carbon atoms, (un)substituted alkyl group of 1\u201350 carbon atoms, (un)substituted alkoxy group of 1\u201350 carbon atoms, (un)substituted aralkyl group of 6\u201350 carbon atoms, (un)substituted aryloxy group of 5\u201350 nuclear carbon atoms, (un)substituted arylthio group of 5\u201350 nuclear carbon atoms, (un)substituted alkoxycarbonyl group of 1\u201350 carbon atoms, carboxy group, halogen atom, cyano group, nitro group, or hydroxy group;
a, b, and c are whole numbers of 0\u20134;
n is a whole number of 1\u20133; and
when n is 2 or more, the formula inside the parenthesis shown below can be the same or different:
29. The color OLED display of claim 28 wherein Ar in general formula (1) is selected from the general formulas given below:
wherein Ar1 is an (un)substituted aromatic group of 6\u201350 nuclear carbon atoms.
30. The color OLED display of claim 28 wherein the host is selected from: