Definition of MIPI LCD Display

What is MIPI?

MIPI (Mobile Industry Processor Interface) is a standardized hardware interface specification developed by the MIPI Alliance. It is widely used in mobile devices to achieve high-speed data transmission. The MIPI Alliance defines a set of interface standards, including multiple interface standards for different types of data transmission and signal delivery. It standardizes internal interfaces of mobile devices such as cameras, displays, baseband, and RF interfaces, thereby increasing design flexibility. The main characteristics of the MIPI interface are its high speed, high performance, low power consumption, and low cost, while simultaneously reducing cost, design complexity, power consumption, and EMI.

1. Definition and function of MIPI

MIPI is a collection of standards developed by the MIPI Alliance (Mobile Industry Processor Interface Alliance). The MIPI Alliance is an organization comprised of multiple companies that aims to provide efficient interface solutions for mobile devices.

2. Components of MIPI

MIPI includes multiple interface specifications, each with its specific purpose:

MIPI DSI (Display Serial Interface): Used to connect the display screen and the processor, providing high-bandwidth serial data transmission. It is mainly used in the displays of mobile devices such as mobile phones and tablets.

MIPI CSI (Camera Serial Interface): Used to connect camera modules and processors, supporting high-bandwidth data transmission, and commonly used in mobile device cameras.

MIPI C-PHY and D-PHY: These two physical layer interface standards define the physical layer for data transmission and support high-speed data transmission. D-PHY is mainly used for DSI and CSI interfaces (TFT LCD displays mainly use this type), while C-PHY is used for applications with higher bandwidth.

MIPI I3C (Improved Inter-Integrated Circuit): Used for low-speed control and communication, replacing the traditional I2C interface, providing higher bandwidth and lower power consumption.

3. Application of MIPI

Display: MIPI DSI is used to connect the display to the processor, ensuring high-quality image transmission.

Camera module: MIPI CSI is used to connect the camera module to the processor to achieve high-resolution video capture.

Sensors and other peripherals: MIPI I3C is used to connect various sensors and low-speed peripherals.

4. Characteristics of MIPI

1. High speed: 1Gbps/Lane, 4Gbps throughput
2. Low power consumption: 200mV differential swing, 200mV common-mode voltage
3. Noise suppression
4. Fewer pins, easier PCB layout

5. Main characteristics of the MIPI interface

Serial communication data transmission
Support multiplexing
High transmission rate
Supports different data encoding formats
Low power consumption
Supports multiple power management modes

5. MIPI-DSI mode

Corresponding to the parallel interface MIPI-DBI-2, it has a frame buffer and the screen refresh is based on the DCS command set, similar to the CPU screen.

5. DSI

DSI stands for Display Serial Interface, a primary interface for LCD displays. It is based on the MIPI protocol, which is also used in other MIPI-based interfaces such as CSI (camera serial interface), DBI (display bus interface), and DPI (display pixel interface). Compared to a standard RGB interface, DSI offers advantages such as lower cost and higher speed.

DSI is divided into four layers, corresponding to D-PHY, DSI, and DCS specifications. The layered structure is as follows:

• PHY defines the transmission medium, input/output circuitry, and clock and signaling mechanisms.
• Lane Management layer: Sends and collects data streams to each lane.
• The Low Level Protocol layer defines how frames are assembled and parsed, as well as error detection.
• Application layer: Describes high-level encoding and parsing of data streams.

MIPI chip channel types include clock channels, unidirectional data channels, and bidirectional data channels. Transceiver channel modules include line interfaces, control/interface logic, and protocol interfaces. The control/interface logic can implement an Escape mode encoder (related to LP-TX), HS-Deskew, and Sequences (related to HS-TX). HS-RX enables data acquisition, and HS-Deskew and LP-RX enable decoding in both control and Escape modes. LP-CD is used for bidirectional data channels and enables collision detection.