The FCC posted an online guide to rescanning TV sets for consumers affected by the post-incentive auction repacking. “If you watch free over-the-air television with an antenna, you will need to rescan your TV set each time a station moves to a new frequency to be sure your TV recognizes the new frequency when you tune to that channel,” the page says. Though the agency has other online rescanning guides, the new page was released to coincide with the beginning of repacking's phase 2, which began Saturday.

Samsung applied for four U.S. trademarks that appear to foretell some of the artificial intelligence features it will trumpet in its CES TV lineup for 2019, Patent and Trademark Office records show. The trademarks, all described in their Friday applications as embedded in TV software: (1) “Audio scenic intelligence,” for enabling users “to enjoy their content as it is by achieving the optimum sound according to the content, such as sports or movies”; (2) “Audio spatial intelligence,” for “optimizing sound quality depending on the surrounding environment, such as space size and ambient noise”; (3) “Volume intelligence,” for “automatically adjusting television volume, depending on the surrounding environment”; (4) “Brightness intelligence,” for automatically adjusting TV screen brightness, “depending on the brightness of the surrounding environment.” Samsung also applied last week to register a U.S. trademark for “open content hub,” describing a wide variety of content-streaming applications on TVs and smartphones. Samsung didn’t comment.

The newest Nanosys patent on fashioning a quantum-dot-based color conversion layer in display devices (see 1811130059) “covers the basics” of the company’s QD color conversion (QDCC) technology and “is applicable to all display types,” Jeff Yurek, director-marketing and investor relations, emailed us. When Nanosys positions QDs as “the platform technology for all future displays," QDCC “is a big part of what we are talking about,” said Yurek. Next-generation QDCC “brings the benefits” of QD technology to “new architectures” like OLED and microLED displays, he said. Using QDCC, QDs “move out of the backlight to the front of the screen, replacing lossy color filters for improved image quality, lower cost and simplified manufacturing,” he said. QDCC can be inkjet-printed or patterned “using standard photolithography techniques in use today for color filter manufacturing,” he said. QDCC materials in the Nanosys arsenal are what the company calls “air-processable,” he said. “This means the QDCC layer can be made in ambient conditions,” with no vacuum required, unlike OLED, he said. Nanosys “can’t announce any timelines for specific commercial products on this technology but expect to see some great demos at CES,” said Yurek.

Nanosys landed a U.S. patent Tuesday for methods of fashioning a quantum-dot-based color conversion layer in display devices, Patent and Trademark Office records show. QDs “have the unique ability to emit light at a single spectral peak with narrow line width, creating highly saturated colors,” said the patent (No. 10,128,417), which names a team of nine Nanosys inventors, including CEO Jason Hartlove. “It is possible to tune the emission wavelength based on the size of the QDs.” This enables display engineers to custom-design “a spectrum of light to maximize both the efficiency and color performance of the display,” it said. “The size-dependent properties of QDs are used to produce a QD film,” which then may be used as a color down-conversion layer in display devices, it said. Doing so in emissive displays “can improve the system efficiency by down-converting white light to a more reddish light, greenish light, or both before the light passes through a color filter,” reducing the loss of “light energy,” it said. Nanosys didn’t comment on the invention’s commercial implications.

Neither OLED nor quantum dot TVs dominates the premium TV segment, IHS Markit analyst Paul Gagnon told us at an HDMI Licensing Administrator news briefing Thursday in New York (see 181108003), but the scale should tip toward OLED soon. In what IHS classifies as premium TV -- $1,000-and up -- 65-inch non-quantum dot LCD displays represent most TV shipments, said Gagnon. But those prices should fall below a grand in one to two years, leaving OLED to dominate the $1,000-and-over segment for a period. “It’s difficult to anticipate where price points will head for quantum dot because Samsung is the primary driver of that technology,” said Gagnon, who cited Samsung’s new “aggressive” pricing strategy for QLED TVs in its 2018 lineup. Samsung brought down the buy-in price for QLED in entry-level Q6 and Q7 product lines, which, size for size, are priced “quite a bit below” ($800-$1,000) entry-level OLED TVs from LG and Sony, he noted. By contrast, QLED was priced on par with OLED in 2016 and 2017, the analyst said. OLED supply will increase in 2019 due to a new LG OLED factory in Guangzhou, China, set to go on line late next year, which should help bring down prices, too, Gagnon said. Meanwhile, the trend toward larger TV screen sizes will continue through the holiday season, as 60-inch and larger TVs are forecast to see the most growth in Q4 vs. 2017. Gagnon also cited resurgence in the 50-inch category as price points have become more aggressive. Prices for LCD panels have been falling for 12 months, said Gagnon, saying “there’s room to maneuver on pricing” for retailers and brands in Q4. The analyst doesn’t expect issues with glut or inventory carryover from the holiday this year, citing an upbeat consumer mood fed by low unemployment and wage growth that he expects to translate to a “pretty decent” holiday season. The 40- and 55-inch 4K TV categories could have tight availability this season, with the 55-inch class having reached possible deal saturation after highly discounted Black Fridays in 2016 and 2017, he said. Meanwhile, Ultra HD 4K TVs have hit a tipping point and are expected to be 52 percent of global TV shipments in 2019, up from 45 percent this year, Gagnon said. More than 75 percent of TVs 40 inches and larger will be 4K next year, IHS forecast. Some 101 million 4K TVs will ship this year, it estimated, growing to 118 million in 2019 and 131 million in 2020.

The global 8K TV market will approach 2 million units in 2020, from fewer than 20,000 this year and 430,000 in 2019, said IHS Markit Monday. “All of this growth will be centered on 60-inch and larger screen sizes, with 65-inch TVs accounting for more than half of the volume.” It sees OLED TV volume growing by more than 40 percent in 2019 to 3.6 million sets. The OLED TV screen-size “mix” still favors 55-inch sets, based on current prices, but the market “will transition to mostly 65-inch TVs by 2020, when new production capacity is optimized for larger screen sizes, and when substantial growth is expected in the OLED TV category,” it said.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau said Adaptive Micro Systems agreed to adopt a compliance plan and pay a $50,000 penalty for marketing LED signs used in digital billboards and other applications without equipment authorization, labeling and user manual disclosures. In a consent decree, the company admitted it violated the rules. It didn't comment Friday.

Quantum-dot materials and technology supplier Nanosys devised a method for using QDs to boost the light output of microLED devices, said a patent application (20180287025) published Thursday at the Patent and Trademark Office. The application, which was filed March 26, describes an “illumination device” fashioned from a multilayer “beam splitter” positioned between a flexible microLED “substrate” and QD film. QDs “have the unique ability to emit light at a single spectral peak with narrow line width, creating highly saturated colors,” it says. “However, QDs emit light isotropically (i.e., in all directions), and as such, much of the emitted light is not directed towards the front of the display device to be viewed. This limits the light output of the device and its overall efficiency.” The illumination device described in the application can help “overcome” those limitations, “and specifically limitations that may arise when using quantum dots in display devices based on microLED technology,” it said. Nanosys didn’t comment on commercial implications.

Display Supply Chain Consultants forecasts the display industry will ship 3.1 million foldable units globally next year after Q1 debut of foldable smartphones from Samsung and Huawei, said the company Wednesday, publicizing release of what it called the industry’s first report dedicated to foldable display technology. By 2022, DSCC sees the foldable market for all applications at 63 million units, based on a 173 percent compound annual growth rate, it said. Most display brands and panel suppliers “are quite excited about the long-term prospects for foldable displays,” said CEO Ross Young. “They are hoping the innovative form factor and ability to incorporate larger displays into smaller form factors will drive ASPs and revenues higher,” he said of average selling prices. DSCC sees foldable displays becoming nearly a $9 billion global market in 2022, based on a 151 percent CAGR in revenue, it said.

Abstracts and summaries are due Dec. 1 for technical papers to be presented at the Display Week 2019 conference, said the Society for Information Display Thursday. It’s seeking papers on a wide variety of display subjects, including the “special topics” of virtual reality, artificial intelligence, quantum dots, microLEDs and wearables, it said. Display Week opens May 12 at San Jose’s McEnery Convention Center for a six-day run.