LIGHT EMISSION CONTROL SYSTEM AND IMAGE DISPLAY SYSTEM

• US 20090167194A1
• Filed: 12/22/2008
• Published: 07/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Saturn Licensing LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: MIZUTA, Minoru
• Granted Patent: US 8,120,600 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 315/151
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/024 Scrolling of light from the illumination source over the display in combination with the scanning of the display screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/041 Temperature compensation
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/145 the light originating from the display screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/2088 with use of a plurality of processors, each processor controlling a number of individual elements of the matrix
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/342 using several illumination sources separately controlled corresponding to different display panel areas, e.g. along one dimension such as lines

Abstract

The present invention provides a light emission control system including a plurality of light emitting modules each including a plurality of light emitting elements and each being a unit to be controlled, light emitting module controllers each provided for each of the light emitting modules and controlling a corresponding light emitting module, and central controller controlling the light emitting modules. The plurality of light emitting module controllers are divided into a plurality of groups, a plurality of light emitting module controllers belonging to each of the groups are connected in a cascade manner within the group, the plurality of groups are connected in parallel with the central controller, and control information transmitted from the central controller to each of the plurality of groups is sequentially transferred from a light emitting module controller to a following light emitting module controller in each of the groups.

Claims

1. A light emission control system comprising:

a plurality of light emitting modules each including a plurality of light emitting elements and each being a unit to be controlled;

light emitting module controllers each provided for each of the light emitting modules and controlling a corresponding light emitting module; and

central controller controlling the light emitting modules,

wherein the plurality of light emitting module controllers are divided into a plurality of groups, a plurality of light emitting module controllers belonging to each of the groups are connected in a cascade manner within the group, the plurality of groups are connected in parallel with the central controller, and

control information transmitted from the central controller to each of the plurality of groups is sequentially transferred from a light emitting module controller to a following light emitting module controller in each of the groups.

2. The light emission control system according to claim 1, wherein the central controller transmits the control information in parallel to a plurality of groups.

3. The light emission control system according to claim 1, wherein a module ID is assigned to the light emitting module controller in each of the plurality of light emitting modules, an element ID is assigned to each of a plurality of light emitting elements belonging to each of the light emitting modules, and

the control information is generated on the basis of a light emission sequence table held in the central controller, the light emission sequence table being prescribed by using a light emitting element address specified by a combination of the module ID and the element ID.

4. The light emission control system according to claim 1, wherein each of a plurality of light emitting module controllers belonging to each group controls, on the basis of the control information, light emission of a corresponding light emitting module while responding to the light emitting module controller in another group step by step.

5. The light emission control system according to claim 1, wherein a module ID is assigned to the light emitting module controller in each of the plurality of light emitting modules, and

the plurality of light emitting module controllers are grouped so that light emitting module controllers included in each group have module IDs different from each other.

6. The light emission control system according to claim 1, further comprising a photosensitive sensor provided for each of the light emitting modules and detecting brightness of each of the light emitting elements in the light emitting module,

wherein each of the light emitting module controllers performs control so that the light emitting elements belonging to the corresponding light emitting module selectively perform light emitting operation for brightness detection by the photosensitive sensor.

7. The light emission control system according to claim 6, wherein each of the light emitting module controllers performs light emission control of the light emitting elements in a corresponding light emitting module on the basis of the control information so that light emitting operation for the brightness detection is not performed simultaneously in neighboring light emitting modules.

8. The light emission control system according to claim 7, wherein a module ID is assigned to the light emitting module controller in each of the plurality of light emitting modules, and

the plurality of light emitting modules are arranged so that light emitting module controllers in neighboring light emitting modules have module IDs different from each other.

9. The light emission control system according to claim 6, wherein, in each of the groups, detection data obtained from the photosensitive sensor is sequentially transferred from a light emitting module controller to a following light emitting module controller toward the central controller.

10. The light emission control system according to claim 6, wherein each of the light emitting module controllers performs a control so that a plurality of light emitting elements belonging to a corresponding light emitting module emit light sequentially, and

the photosensitive sensor performs brightness detection in accordance with light emitting operation of each of the light emitting elements.

11. The light emission control system according to claim 6, wherein, on the basis of the control information, each of the light emitting module controllers performs a light emission control of each of the light emitting elements so that,

with respect to a light emitting module which is instructed to perform the light emitting operation for brightness detection, a unit period of light emitting operation of each of light emitting elements belonging to the light emitting module includes a period of inherent light emitting operation of the element as a light source and a period of light emitting operation for the brightness detection, and

with respect to a light emitting module which is not instructed to perform the light emitting operation for brightness detection, a unit period of light emitting operation of each of light emitting elements belonging to the light emitting module includes only a period of inherent light emitting operation of the element as a light source.

12. The light emission control system according to claim 6, wherein, on the basis of the control information, each of the light emitting module controllers performs a light emission control of each of the light emitting elements on the basis of the control information so that,

with respect to a light emitting module which is instructed to perform the light emitting operation for brightness detection, a unit period of light emitting operation of each of light emitting elements belonging to the light emitting module includes a period of inherent light emitting operation of the element as a light source and a period of light emitting operation for the brightness detection, and

with respect to a light emitting module which is not instructed to perform the light emitting operation for brightness detection, a unit period of light emitting operation of each of light emitting elements belonging to the light emitting module includes a period of inherent light emitting operation of the element as a light source and a period of dummy light emitting operation.

13. An image display system comprising:

a display panel modulating incident light on the basis of an input video signal; and

an illuminating unit illuminating the display panel,

wherein the illuminating unit includes;

a plurality of light emitting modules each including a plurality of light emitting elements and each being a unit to be controlled;

light emitting module controllers each provided for each of the light emitting modules and controlling a corresponding light emitting module; and

central controller controlling the light emitting modules,

wherein the plurality of light emitting module controllers are divided into a plurality of groups, a plurality of light emitting module controllers belonging to each of the groups are connected in a cascade manner within the group, the plurality of groups are connected in parallel with the central controller, and

control information transmitted from the central controller to each of the plurality of groups is sequentially transferred from a light emitting module controller to a following light emitting module controller in each of the groups.