INTELLIGENT DISPLAY INTERFACE

• US 20020118144A1
• Filed: 12/29/1999
• Published: 08/29/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: EDMONDS, RAYMOND C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,012,576 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/1.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1431 using a single graphics controller
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/04 Partial updating of the display screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/045 using multiple communication channels, e.g. parallel and serial
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/005 Adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/006 Details of the interface to the display terminal specific for a display terminal using a CRT G09G1/167; using a flat panel G09G3/2096; circuits for interfacing with colour displays G09G5/04

Abstract

A video display system that co-locates a video display memory with the video display device, and transmits to the display device those portions of the image data that have changed rather than continually updating the entire video image. Each display device is addressable, allowing multiple display devices showing different images to be updated through a single display controller port over a single bus or over a single daisy-chain connection. The image data can be updated synchronously or asynchronously, and display devices using different formats can share the same bus or cable.

Claims

1. A method of displaying an image, comprising:

transmitting a first portion of first video image data to a first video memory in a first display device; and

updating the first video memory with the first portion;

wherein the first portion contains video data representing a part of the first video image data that has changed since a previous transmission to the first display device, and the first portion excludes a substantial part of the first video image data that is unchanged since the previous transmission to the first display device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising refreshing a first displayed image in the first display device from the first video memory.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting a first portion is repeated at regular intervals.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting a first portion is repeated at irregular intervals.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said irregular intervals are based on detecting a change in the first video image data since a previous transmission to the first display device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a second portion of second video image data to a second video memory in a second display device; and

updating the second video memory with the second portion;

wherein the second portion contains video data representing a part of the second video image data that has changed since a previous transmission to the second display device, and the second portion excludes a substantial part of the second video image data that is unchanged since the previous transmission to the second video display device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first portion and the second portion are transmitted over a same communications channel.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the communications channel is a bus.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the communications channel is a daisy chain cable.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the first portion and the second portion are formatted differently.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the first portion and the second portion are formatted alike.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the first portion includes an address to identify the first video device and the second portion includes an address to identify the second video device.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a second portion of data to the first display device;

time-stamping the first and second portions before transmission; and

synchronizing a presentation of the first and second portions based on the time-stamping.

15. The display device of claim 14, further comprising a protocol handler to interpret the received data stream.

16. The display device of claim 14, further comprising a timing generator to generate timing signals for a display.

17. The display device of claim 16, further comprising a control circuit to configure the timing generator.

18. The display device of claim 14, further comprising a scalar circuit to change a granularity of the video image.

19. The display device of claim 18, further comprising a control circuit to configure the scalar circuit.

20. The display device of claim 14, further comprising a display interface to at least one of a CRT and a flat panel.

21. The display device of claim 14, further comprising at least one of a CRT and a flat panel.

14. A display device, comprising:

a memory to store image data for display of a video image; and

a receiver to detect a predetermined device address in a received data stream containing video data for updating a portion of the stored image data;

wherein the video data includes a part of the image data that has changed since a previously received data stream, and the video data excludes a substantial part of the image data that is unchanged since the previously received data stream.

22. A system for displaying video images, comprising:

a communications channel;

first and second display devices coupled to the communications channel; and

a graphics controller coupled to the communications channel to update a first portion of a first image displayed by the first display device and to update a second portion of a second image displayed by the second display device.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein:

the first portion is substantially a part of the first image that has changed since a previous update of the first image; and

the second portion is substantially a part of the second image that has changed since a previous update of the second image.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein:

the first display device includes a first address decoder to decode a first device address in a first message received over the communications channel; and

the second display device includes a second address decoder to decode a second device address in a second message received over the communications channel.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein a protocol of the first message is different than a protocol of the second message.

26. The system of claim 24, further comprising a non-display device coupled to the communications channel to receive non-video data.