ISO/TR 9241-309:2008

Ergonomics of human-system interaction - Part 309: Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays

ISO/TR 9241-309:2008 gives guidelines for organic light‑emitting diode (OLED) displays.

Ergonomie de l'interaction homme-système — Partie 309: Écrans à diodes électroluminescentes organiques (OLED)

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 13-Nov-2008
• ICS: 13.180 - Ergonomics
• ICS: 35.180 - IT Terminal and other peripheral equipment
• Technical Committee: ISO/TC 159/SC 4 - Ergonomics of human-system interaction
• Drafting Committee: ISO/TC 159/SC 4/WG 2 - Visual display requirements
• Current Stage: 9093 - International Standard confirmed
• Start Date: 29-Sep-2022
• Completion Date: 13-Dec-2025

Overview

ISO/TR 9241-309:2008 - Ergonomics of human-system interaction: Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays is a Technical Report that introduces OLED display technology and provides guidance for the ergonomic assessment of OLED-based visual displays. Published as part of the ISO 9241 family, this report is informative (not normative) and recommends assessment approaches where specific OLED test methods are not yet standardized.

Key Topics

• OLED technology overview
  • Structure of AM‑OLED panels (substrate, organic layers, electrodes).
  • Emission types: bottom‑emission vs top‑emission.
  • Basic driving circuits (TFT switching, line scanning, memory capacitor).
• Perceptual and optical properties
  • High colour gamut potential (chromaticity characteristics).
  • Fast response time (typically < 1 ms) leading to improved motion picture quality and reduced motion blur.
  • Isotropic optical behaviour across viewing angles (luminance deviation ≤ ~12% up to 40° in reported measurements).
• Assessment guidance & metrology
  • Recommends using existing measurement and compliance routes (notably ISO 9241-307 methods for PDP indoor use) as a practical basis for OLED assessment.
  • Specific attributes to consider: design viewing distance, pixel faults, luminance, contrast ratios, luminance non‑uniformity, colour non‑uniformity and reflectance.
  • Example measurement values given (typical luminance ~200 cd/m²; darkroom contrast > 1000:1; contrast under 600 lx > 50:1).
• Intended contexts of use
  • Indoor viewing conditions (design illuminance up to 600 lx), handheld and stationary devices, full‑colour graphics and realistic scene reproduction.

Applications and Who Uses It

ISO/TR 9241-309:2008 is useful for:

• Display engineers and OLED manufacturers - to align product design and metrology with ergonomic considerations.
• Usability and human factors specialists - to evaluate visual comfort, viewing distances, and perceptual performance.
• Test laboratories and quality assurance - to adapt existing ISO 9241-307 test routes for OLED products.
• Product designers, procurement and compliance teams - for specifying ergonomic display requirements in consumer electronics, mobile devices, automotive clusters, medical displays and professional monitors.

Related Standards

• ISO 9241 series (Ergonomics of human‑system interaction) - especially parts in the “300” subseries:
  • ISO 9241-307 - Analysis and compliance test methods for electronic visual displays (referenced as a compliance route for OLED).
  • ISO 9241-302, -303, -304, -305, -306 - other visual display terminology, requirements and test methods referenced by the series.

ISO/TR 9241-309:2008 provides practical, ergonomics-focused guidance to assess OLED display performance and to adapt existing visual display test methods for emerging emissive technologies.

Standards Content (Sample)

TECHNICAL ISO/TR
REPORT 9241-309
First edition
2008-11-15
Ergonomics of human-system
interaction —
Part 309:
Organic light-emitting diode (OLED)
displays
Ergonomie de l'interaction homme-système —
Partie 309: Écrans à diodes électroluminescentes organiques (OLED)

Reference number
©
ISO 2008
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ii © ISO 2008 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword. iv
Introduction . vi
1 Scope. 1
2 OLED technology. 1
3 Information about OLED displays. 5
4 Intended contexts of use . 6
5 Guidelines for assessment . 6
6 Conclusion. 8
Annex A (informative) Overview of the ISO 9241 series. 9
Bibliography . 13

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies
(ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO
technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been
established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and
non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of technical committees is to prepare International Standards. Draft International Standards
adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an
International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.
In exceptional circumstances, when a technical committee has collected data of a different kind from that
which is normally published as an International Standard (“state of the art”, for example), it may decide by a
simple majority vote of its participating members to publish a Technical Report. A Technical Report is entirely
informative in nature and does not have to be reviewed until the data it provides are considered to be no
longer valid or useful.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/TR 9241-309 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 159, Ergonomics, Subcommittee SC 4,
Ergonomics of human-system interaction.
ISO 9241 consists of the following parts, under the general title Ergonomic requirements for office work with
visual display terminals (VDTs):
⎯ Part 1: General introduction
⎯ Part 2: Guidance on task requirements
⎯ Part 4: Keyboard requirements
⎯ Part 5: Workstation layout and postural requirements
⎯ Part 6: Guidance on the work environment
⎯ Part 9: Requirements for non-keyboard input devices
⎯ Part 11: Guidance on usability
⎯ Part 12: Presentation of information
⎯ Part 13: User guidance
⎯ Part 14: Menu dialogues
⎯ Part 15: Command dialogues
⎯ Part 16: Direct manipulation dialogues
⎯ Part 17: Form filling dialogues

iv © ISO 2008 – All rights reserved

ISO 9241 also consists of the following parts, under the general title Ergonomics of human-system interaction:
⎯ Part 20: Accessibility guidelines for information/communication technology (ICT) equipment and services
⎯ Part 110: Dialogue principles
⎯ Part 151: Guidance on World Wide Web user interfaces
⎯ Part 171: Guidance on software accessibility
⎯ Part 300: Introduction to electronic visual display requirements
⎯ Part 302: Terminology for electronic visual displays
⎯ Part 303: Requirements for electronic visual displays
⎯ Part 304: User performance test methods for electronic visual displays
⎯ Part 305: Optical laboratory test methods for electronic visual displays
⎯ Part 306: Field assessment methods for electronic visual displays
⎯ Part 307: Analysis and compliance test methods for electronic visual displays
⎯ Part 308: Surface-conduction electron-emitter displays (SED) [Technical Report]
⎯ Part 309: Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays [Technical Report]
⎯ Part 400: Principles and requirements for physical input devices
⎯ Part 410: Design criteria for products for physical input devices
⎯ Part 920: Guidance on tactile and haptic interactions
For the other parts under preparation, see Annex A.

Introduction
This part of ISO 9241 introduces the OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display technology, and provides
guidance for the assessment of OLED-based products. OLED technology is not addressed by ISO 9241-307
(which establishes test methods for the analysis of a variety of visual display technologies, tasks and
environments) or other parts of the “300” subseries.
ISO 9241 was originally developed as a seventeen-part International Standard on the ergonomics
requirements for office work with visual display terminals. As part of the standards review process, a major
restructuring of ISO 9241 was agreed to broaden its scope, to incorporate other relevant standards and to
make it more usable. The general title of the revised ISO 9241, “Ergonomics of human-system interaction”,
reflects these changes and aligns the standard with the overall title and scope of Technical Committee
ISO/TC 159, Subcommittee SC 4. The revised multipart standard is structured as series of standards
numbered in the “hundreds”: the 100 series deals with software interfaces, the 200 series with human centred
design, the 300 series with visual displays, the 400 series with physical input devices, and so on.
See Annex A for an overview of the entire ISO 9241 series.

vi © ISO 2008 – All rights reserved

TECHNICAL REPORT ISO/TR 9241-309:2008(E)

Ergonomics of human-system interaction —
Part 309:
Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays
1 Scope
This part of ISO 9241 gives guidelines for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays.
2 OLED technology
[3]
OLED is an emissive device used in visual displays for direct view . A typical active matrix OLED
(AM-OLED) display panel is shown in Figure 1. It consists of three parts: substrate, organic layers and
reflective electrode. A pixel contains three or more primary-colour sub-pixels in full-colour OLED displays.

Key
1 cathode
2 organic layer (electron transport layer, emitting layer, hole transport layer)
3 anode
4 low temperature poly-Si TFT substrate
5 driver, horizontal
6 driver, vertical
Figure 1 — Typical OLED display panel structure (bottom emission type)
The substrate of an AM-OLED display panel is usually a low temperature poly-Si TFT (thin film transistor)
substrate.
The organic layers consist of more than two layers. These layers are chosen from the electron injection layer
(EIL), electron transport layer, emitting layer, hole transport layer, hole injection layer (HIL) and so on. The
cathode is usually made of aluminium. It reflects light from the emitting layer (EML) in the viewing direction.
The OLED operation is summarized in Figure 2.

Key
+
1 hole, h
–
2 electron, e
3 exiton
4 emission
Figure 2 — OLED operation
Electrons and holes are injected through the cathode and the anode, respectively. Then electrons and holes
are recombined in the emission layer and the light is emitted.
There are two types of OLED, depending on the direction of the emissive light: the bottom emission type and
the top emission type. These are shown in Figure 3.

Bottom emission Top emission
Key
1 cathode, metal electrode
2 organic layer
3 cathode, semi-transparent
4 light
5 anode, metal electrode
Figure 3 — Ways of emission
2 © ISO 2008 – All rights reserved

[3]
OLED displays are driven by line scanning or TFT switching elements, as shown in Figure 4 . A sub-pixel
consists of at least an OLED, two TFTs and a memory capacitor which memorizes signal voltage in a
full-colour OLED display. Each signal line is driven by a data drive circuit and simultaneously selecting TFT
(TFT2) for writing is driven by a scan drive circuit. Signal voltage is applied to the gate of the driving TFT
(TFT1) when the pixel is selected for writing. The voltage is held by the memory capacitor during off-selected
term (TFT2 off). Current flow through the OLED continues, controlled by TFT1 corresponding to the signal
voltage. The memorized signal is applied to the LED through the scanning period by the driving TFT. The pixel
emits light according to the signal level. The response time of the OLED is so fast that moving picture quality
is excellent.
Pixel Panel
Key
1 signal
2 current
3 light emission
4 scan drive
5 data drive
6 power source
Figure 4 — Primitive circuit for driving AM-OLED
A typical colour reproduction range of OLED displays is shown in Figure 5.

Key
u′, v′ chromaticity coordinates
1 spectrum focus
2 OLED (typical)
3 ITU-R BT 470
4 ITU-BT 709
Figure 5 — Chromaticity diagram of an OLED display
The picture of a 3,5 in QVGA 116 ppi OLED panel is shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6 — OLED display of 3,5 in QVGA panel
4 © ISO 2008 – All rights reserved

The pixel image of an OLED panel is shown in Figure 7. The electroluminescence material of each colour is
deposited by using an appropriate mask for that colour.

Figure 7 — Electroluminescence image of pixels in a display panel
3 Information about OLED displays
Examples of dimensional specifications are given in Table 1.
Table 1 — Exa
...