Methods and systems for enhancing display characteristics with ambient illumination input

• US 20070211049A1
• Filed: 03/08/2006
• Published: 09/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Laboratories of America Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kerofsky, Louis
• Granted Patent: US 7,839,406 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/426
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0646 Modulation of illumination source brightness and image signal correlated to each other
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0653 Controlling or limiting the speed of brightness adjustment of the illumination source
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/066 for control of contrast
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0673 for control of gamma adjustment, e.g. selecting another gamma curve
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/144 the light being ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/2003 Display of colours specific for liquid crystal displays G09G3/3607
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/28 using luminous gas-discharge panels, e.g. plasma panels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/32 semiconductive, e.g. using light-emitting diodes [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3406 Control of illumination source illumination devices structurally associated with liquid crystal cells G02F1/1336

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention comprise systems, methods and devices for adjusting image code values for enhanced image display.

Claims

1. A method for adjusting an image pixel level, said method comprising:

a) receiving ambient illumination data;

b) adjusting a source light level in relation to said ambient illumination data; and

c) adjusting said image pixel level in relation to said ambient illumination data.

2. A method as described in claim 1 wherein said source light level is reduced when said ambient illumination data indicates a low ambient illumination level.

3. A method as described in claim 1 wherein further comprising receiving image data.

4. A method as described in claim 3 wherein said adjusting a source light level is also dependent on said image data.

5. A method as described in claim 3 wherein said adjusting said image pixel level is also dependent on said image data.

6. A method as described in claim 1 further comprising receiving a power mode indication,

wherein said adjusting a source light level is also dependent on said power mode indication.

7. A method as described in claim 1 wherein said adjusting said image pixel level comprises applying a tone-scale adjustment.

8. A method for adjusting image characteristics, said method comprising:

a) receiving an input image;

b) receiving ambient illumination data;

c) determining a source light illumination level based on said ambient illumination data;

d) calculating a tone scale adjustment model based on said source light illumination level; and

e) applying said tone scale adjustment model to said input image.

9. A method as described in claim 8 wherein said source light illumination level is also based on said input image.

10. A method as described in claim 8 wherein said tone scale adjustment model is also based on said input image.

11. A method as described in claim 8 wherein said applying a tone scale adjustment model comprises applying a constant gain multiplier to a first range of code values and applying a roll-off curve to a second range of code values.

12. A method as described in claim 8 further comprising applying a gain map to said input image.

13. A method as described in claim 12 wherein said gain map is related to the slope of said tone scale adjustment model.

14. A system for adjusting an image pixel level, said system comprising:

a) an ambient illumination sensor for sensing ambient illumination data;

b) a source light processing unit for determining a source light illumination level; and

c) an image processing unit for adjusting said image pixel level in relation to said ambient illumination data.

15. A system as described in claim 14 wherein said source light illumination level is reduced when said ambient illumination data indicates a low ambient illumination level.

16. A system as described in claim 14 wherein said source light illumination level is also determined in relation to image data.

17. A system as described in claim 14 wherein said adjusting said image pixel level is also dependent on image data.

18. A system as described in claim 14 further comprising a power mode indicator, wherein said adjusting a source light level is also dependent on data from said power mode indicator.

19. A system as described in claim 18 wherein said adjusting said image pixel level is also dependent on said data from said power mode indicator.

20. A system as described in claim 14 wherein said adjusting said image pixel level comprises applying a tone-scale adjustment.