Research On Software Of TFT-LCD Testing Equipment Based On ARM

In the process of medium/small size LCD panel manufacture nowadays, every panel should be tested for quality. The test device is designed as unique device according to the specific requirements of various types of tested LCD panels. Meanwhile, medium/small size LCD panel is used in nearly every digital mobile production which has different requirements of LCD panels. Because of the high yield, various types and needing different test hardware and software, the cost of test and management of medium/small size LCD panels is increased, which limits the competition of the enterprise. In order to meet the various requirements of clients by alternating the software rather than changing the hardware of the test device, which can cut the cost by unifying the hardware of the test device, the enterprise starves for a new kind of platform for testing medium/small size LCD panels.This paper developed a new type of general medium/small size LCD panel testing control software which was based upon ARM9 chip S3C2410. By analyzing the driving theory of TFT-LCD and touch panel, the design procedure and method of driving TFT-LCD and touch panel in Linux was designed, and the rule of setting controller and the chart of control of TFT-LCD and touch panel were discussed. The profile of FrameBuffer in Linux was presented. Therefore, the device driving method under this profile was discussed particularly. When S3C2410 was used to display in high refresh rate and high resolution, the memory of S3C2410 itself was not sufficient. So the graphic accelerate chip SM501 was used to display different high resolution pictures, videos and user-defined shapes. Otherwise, this paper designed S3C2410 peripheral devices'driver programs, including SPI, IIC, UART and keys. EP2C5Q208 FPGA of Altera Corp was used to control outside time control chips and transform the output time of pixel datas. Finally, the Linux driver programs of TFT-LCD, touch panel, SM501 and peripheral communication buses were transplanted into the virtual system of RedHat9. All programs were debugged and then run normally.This software is tested by TFT-LCD module and touch panel module which are offered by AUO of Suzhou. The result shows that the software has strong capability of transplant, and it is convenient to operate. The LCD panels can be tested by displaying different user-defined pictures and videos. All requirements which are asked by AUO of Suzhou can be achieved.