VARIABLE BACKLIGHT CONTROL FOR BEZEL

• US 20100052548A1
• Filed: 08/28/2008
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Allard, Rika, Shintani, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 8,456,104 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 315/154
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/066 for control of contrast
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/144 the light being ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3413 Details of control of colour illumination sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/73 Colour balance circuits, e.g. white balance circuits or colour temperature control camera processing pipelines for colour balance H04N23/88

Abstract

A method and system provide for dynamic control of backlighting of a light-transmissive bezel of a display device. A color control signal is received and processed by a processor and control element of the display device to generate a backlighting control signal and transmit the backlighting control signal to the backlighting element of the display device. The backlighting element generates a backlighting color to illuminate the light-transmissive bezel in accordance with the received backlighting control signal; the backlighting control signal adaptively controls the type and the duration of the backlighting color as determined by the color control signal received by the processor and control element.

Claims

1. A method of dynamically controlling backlighting of a light-transmissive bezel of a display device, comprising:

receiving a color control signal by a processor and control element of the display device;

the processor and control element of the display device generating from the received color control signal a backlighting control signal and transmitting the backlighting control signal to the backlighting element of the display device;

the backlighting element generating a backlighting color to illuminate the light-transmissive bezel in accordance with the received backlighting control signal, wherein the backlighting control signal adaptively controls the duration of the backlighting color as determined by the color control signal received by the processor and control element.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sensing a color of an environmental feature of an environment in which a display device having the light-transmissive bezel is proximate;

generating the color control signal as a function of the sensed color of the environmental feature; and

adaptively controlling the backlighting color of the light-transmissive bezel of the display device in response to the sensed color of the environmental feature.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising adaptively controlling the backlighting color to approximate the sensed color of the environmental feature.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the sensing is performed by a sensor located proximate the environmental feature in the environment.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising adaptively controlling the backlighting color to maximize contrast between the backlighting color and the sensed color of the environmental feature.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

detecting a primary display color of an image displayed on a display screen of the display device;

generating the color control signal from the sensed color of the environmental feature and the detected primary display color of the image displayed by the processor and control element of the display device; and

adaptively controlling the backlighting color of the light-transmissive bezel of the display device in response to the color control signal generated from the sensed color of the environmental feature and the detected primary color of the image displayed.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein detecting the primary display color is accomplished by monitoring a video signal displayed by the display screen of the display device.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising adaptively controlling the backlighting color to maximize contrast between the backlighting color and the sensed primary display color.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising adaptively controlling the backlighting color to minimize contrast between the backlighting color and the sensed primary display color.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising adaptively controlling the backlighting color to maximize contrast between the sensed primary display color and the sensed color of the environmental feature.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising adaptively controlling the backlighting color to minimize contrast between the sensed primary display color and the sensed color of the environmental feature.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

a user dynamically controlling the color control signal and thus the backlighting color of the bezel via a user interface.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the user interface is a remote controller operable to remotely control backlighting of the light-transmissive bezel of the display device.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the user interface is of a sensing device.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the sensing device sensing a color of an environmental feature of an environment in which the display device is proximate.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the sensing device is a digital camera that senses the color of the environmental feature.

17. A system operable to dynamically control backlighting of a display device, comprising:

a display device having a light-transmissive bezel, operable to display an image and located in an environment, the display device further comprising;

a processor and control element; and

a backlighting element operable to illuminate the light-transmissive bezel with a backlighting color in response to a backlighting control signal from the processor and control element,

wherein the backlighting control signal generated by the processor and control element and received by the backlighting element to control generation of the backlighting color is determined by a color control signal received by the processor and control element of the display device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the system further comprises:

a sensor operable to sense a color of an environmental feature of the environment of which the display device is proximate, wherein the color control signal determined by the color of the environmental feature.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the color control signal and the backlighting control signal generated from the color control signal adaptively changes in response to change in the color of the environmental feature.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the image displayed by the display device is characterized by a primary display color and the color control signal is determined by the processor and control element from the primary display color and the sensed color of the environmental feature.

23. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

a remote control device having a user interface by which a user can control operation of the display device and generation of the backlighting control signal; and

the display device further comprising;

a transceiver element operable to receive and transmit signals between the remote control device and the display device, wherein the color control signal is received by the transceiver element from the remote control device and used by the processor and control element to generate the backlighting control signal.

21. The system of 20, wherein the primary display color of the image is detected from a video signal of the image.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the video signal of the image is monitored by the processor and control element.