Image retention, ghosting, and burn-in are critical concerns in display quality and durability. These phenomena impact performance, lifetime, and visual quality. The LMK Sticking Image Add-on provides a precise, standardized method to measure these effects, and it can be integrated into existing measurement workflows. LMK Sticking Image can be used for LCDs and OLEDs as well as other technologies prone to image sticking, especially in applications showing static or partially static content, e.g. in the automotive, aviation and public-information displays.

Patented Content-Based Trigger & Measurement Methodology

The LMK 5 and current LMK 6 imaging photometers and colorimeters, together with LabSoft, can run image sticking test series out of the box. A display under test is exposed to a burn-in phase with defined patterns, followed by relaxation phases in which the time-resolved luminance distribution is recorded.

Used with an LMK 6 system, the add-on unlocks our patented content-based trigger: the LMK camera itself optically observes a freely adjustable region of the burn-in pattern at very high frequency and detects the moment of pattern switching. This well-defined reference point aligns every relaxation measurement with the displayed content — independent of device-, cable- or PC-specific input lags — and without any external photodiode or trigger hardware.

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Three-level burn-in pattern for color sticking image measurement with our image-content trigger setup

Two- and Three-Level Evaluation Procedures for Reliable Results

Our LMK Sticking Image Add-On can be used to analyze the display burn-in behavior according to two established procedures:

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Burn-in pattern and relaxation images of a three-level measurement series

Three-level approach by Dr. Lauer

  • Can be extended to color sticking image
  • Method adapted by the German Flat Panel Forum (DFF)
  • Local or temporal non-uniformity correction possible
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Burn-in pattern and relaxation images of a two-level measurement series

Two-level approach by Dr. Bauer

  • Including automatic pattern rolling for warm-up
  • Classical checkerboard burn-in pattern
  • High-precision temporal-based non-uniformity correction

Advantages of LMK Sticking Image

  • Fast and precise measurement of image retention effects
  • Patent-protected trigger method for reliable synchronization
  • Flexible evaluation procedures (two-level, three-level, custom setups)
  • Seamless integration with existing LMK measurement setups
  • Compliance with established standards — DFF (3-level) and OEM (2-level) methods

Integration and Related Solutions

LMK Sticking Image is part of the TechnoTeam Display Package, ensuring compatibility with other LMK-based measurement solutions.

Publications

International Display Workshop (IDW 2020)

This study introduces two proposed Image Sticking evaluation methods from the automotive industry and identifies relevant differences. It further focusses on the importance of precise temporal alignment and outlines the differences between temporal and local non-uniformity corrections as well as grey level dependency. The complete study bases on measured data.
Authors: I. Rotscholl; J. Barnikol-Oettler; U. Krüger

SID Vehicle Displays & Interfaces 2019

Modern automotive displays may be sensitive to static content, which remains as an undesired effect of either temporary vanishing or being a static ghost image within the refreshed content. Therefore, there is a development of measurement procedures to quantize the degree of image sticking [1- 6]. Different aspects of these methods as the grey level dependencies or the importance of a temporal alignment were considered in [7]. But the mathematically necessary separation of unavoidable initial non-uniformities and the actual image sticking was excluded in that research.
This contribution concentrates on the performance of two selected image sticking evaluation methods [5, 6] from the automotive community and [1] for reference. After briefly introducing the three methods, this contribution focusses on their capability of separating initial non-uniformities from the actual sticking image effect of the target display. Therefore, a mathematical analysis, which is based on a simple but physically motivated sticking image model, is performed. Based on that, an additional non-uniformity correction is proposed. This additional correction has a positive influence on the precision but a negative influence on the measurement time of the fastest measurement method [6]. Thus, we propose a workflow, that decides based on the properties of the DUT whether the correction is necessary or not. All conclusions are supported by simulations and validated using measurement results of a randomly chosen non-uniform automotive LC display.
The aim of this paper is on the one hand to quantize the mathematical influence of the methods and on the other hand to suggest a workflow, which utilizes an existing method and optimizes its application with respect to precision and overall measurement time.
Authors: I. Rotscholl; U. Krüger

Society for Information Display

Image Sticking is an undesired display property, which requires time-consuming and expensive testing. This study summarizes some proposed Image Sticking evaluation methods and identifies relevant differences. It derives aspects, which should be considered prior to a time-consuming and potentially irreversible Sticking Image measurement. Further, parameter analysis associated with the Imaging Luminance Measurement Device is briefly outlined.
Authors: I. Rotscholl; U. Krüger
Type:
Add-On
Applications:
Automotive Aviation Display
Measurands:
Light measurement
Tasks:
Development & Industry