Liquid crystal display apparatus

• US 10,310,307 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2017
• Issued: 06/04/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Kenichiroh, Hasegawa, Makoto
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhou, Hong
• Application Number:
  US15/807,325
• Publication Number:
  US 20180136501A1
• Time in Patent Office: 573 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/13306 Circuit arrangements or driving methods for the control of single liquid crystal cells G02F1/132, G02F1/133382 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/134345 Subdivided pixels, e.g. for grey scale or redundancy
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0247 Flicker reduction other than flicker reduction circuits used for single beam cathode-ray tubes
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/028 by changing the viewing angle properties, e.g. widening the viewing angle, adapting the viewing angle to the view direction
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3648 using an active matrix G09G3/367 - G09G3/3696 take precedence

Abstract

A liquid crystal display apparatus includes a liquid crystal panel including pixels each having sub-pixels numbered in n (n is an integer of two or greater), a viewing angle improvement circuit, and a processing object determination circuit. The processing object determination circuit determines a pixel as a non-object for viewing angle improvement processing if gradation values, in input video signals for the pixel, for the sub-pixels satisfy specified conditions prescribing gradation values for the sub-pixels causing no changes in color tones between views of a display surface of the panel from front and diagonal directions and determines a pixel as an object for the processing if the gradation values do not satisfy the conditions. The viewing angle improvement circuit performs the processing for the input gradation values for the pixels determined as the objects and does not perform the processing for the values for the pixels determined as the non-objects.

Claims

1. A liquid crystal display apparatus comprising:

a liquid crystal panel including a plurality of pixels each including sub-pixels numbered in n, where n is an integer equal to or greater than two;

a viewing angle improvement circuit that carries out viewing angle improvement processing in which switching between high-gradation display with conversion into a gradation higher than a gradation specified by video signals to be inputted into each of the plurality of pixels and low-gradation display with conversion into a gradation lower than the gradation specified by the video signals is carried out every frame, for each of the plurality of pixels; and

a processing object determination circuit that determines, for each of the plurality of pixels, that the pixel is a non-object for the viewing angle improvement processing in case where gradation values, included in the video signals for the pixel, for the sub-pixels numbered in n satisfy specified conditions prescribing gradation values for the sub-pixels numbered in n which gradation values cause no changes in color tones between views of a display surface of the liquid crystal panel from a front direction and from a diagonal direction and that determines that the pixel is an object for the viewing angle improvement processing in case where the gradation values included in the video signals satisfy none of the specified conditions, wherein

the viewing angle improvement circuit inputs the video signals, having undergone the viewing angle improvement processing for the gradation values in the video signals for the pixels, into only the pixels determined as the objects for the viewing angle improvement processing by the processing object determination circuit, wherein

provided that the number n is three or greater,

the specified conditions include following conditions (i) to (iii) in which

(i) the gradation values for the sub-pixels numbered in n are equivalent,

(ii) the gradation values for at least two or more sub-pixels among the sub-pixels numbered in n are equivalent and the gradation values for the other sub-pixels are zero or within a specified threshold range based on zero, and

(iii) the gradation value for one sub-pixel among the sub-pixels numbered in n is greater than zero and the gradation values for the other sub-pixels are zero or within the specified threshold range based on zero, and

the processing object determination circuit determines that a pixel is an object for the viewing angle improvement processing in case where the gradation values for the sub-pixels numbered in n in the pixel satisfy none of the conditions (i) to (iii).

2. The liquid crystal display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pixels each include three sub-pixels corresponding to colors of red, green, and blue.

3. The liquid crystal display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pixels each include four sub-pixels corresponding to colors of red, green, blue, and yellow.

4. The liquid crystal display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the viewing angle improvement circuit provides the high-gradation display on one of adjacent pixels on the liquid crystal panel and the low-gradation display on the other of the adjacent pixels in the viewing angle improvement processing.

5. The liquid crystal display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, for the pixels determined as the objects for the viewing angle improvement processing, the viewing angle improvement circuit converts the gradation values, prescribed in the video signals to be inputted into the pixels, into gradation values adapted to the high-gradation display or the low-gradation display and inputs the gradation values into the pixels and, for the pixels determined as the non-objects for the viewing angle improvement processing, the viewing angle improvement circuit inputs the gradation values, prescribed in the video signals to be inputted into the pixels, into the pixels.