Display system

• US 7,728,829 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2006
• Issued: 06/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Leigh, Stan E, Moore, Jamie, Meados, David B
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia; Prabodh M
• Application Number:
  US11/332,389
• Publication Number:
  US 20070164944A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,600 Days
• Field of Search: 345/1.1, 345/3.1, 345/6, 345/7, 345/10, 345/31, 345/39, 345/76, 345 84- 87, 345/94, 345/108, 345/204, 345/210, 345/213, 345/506, 345/530, 345/537, 345/587, 345/671, 345/690, 353/31, 348/221.1, 348/771, 348/231.99, 348/333.1, 348/742, 348/513, 348/207, 348/229.1, 348/231.3, 348/607, 348/333.02, 348/333.04, 348/223.1, 250/201.3, 358/474, 396/234
• US Class Current: 345/204
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0271 Adjustment of the gradation levels within the range of the gradation scale, e.g. by redistribution or clipping
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/066 for control of contrast
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/04 Changes in size, position or resolution of an image
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/391 Resolution modifying circuits, e.g. variable screen formats

Abstract

One embodiment of a display system includes a control module that controls an adjustable aperture based on a calculated aperture setting and that applies a calculated gain setting to a set of frame data to define a modified set of frame data, an image analysis module that calculates a gain setting and an aperture setting for said set of frame data and forwards said calculated gain setting and said aperture setting to said control module, and a frame data buffer that stores said set of frame data during calculation by said image analysis module.

Claims

1. A display system, comprising:

a control module that controls an adjustable aperture based on a calculated aperture setting and that applies a calculated gain setting to a set of frame data to define a modified set of frame data;

an image analysis module that calculates a gain setting and an aperture setting for said set of frame data and forwards said calculated gain setting and said aperture setting to said control module; and

a frame data buffer that stores said set of frame data during calculation by said image analysis module.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising an image modulator that receives said modified set of frame data from said control module, and outputs a set of viewable image data, wherein said set of viewable image data corresponds to said set of frame data having said calculated gain setting applied thereto.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising an adjustable aperture that is mechanically adjusted to said calculated aperture setting by said control module to adjust an amount of light output therethrough, wherein light corresponding to said modified set of frame data is projected through said adjustable aperture.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising an image data capture module that receives said set of frame data and forwards said set of frame data to said image analysis module.

5. The system of claim 4 further comprising an input module that forwards said set of frame data to said image data capture module and to said frame data buffer.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said image analysis module calculates a gain setting and an aperture setting for sequential sets of frame data and sequentially forwards a calculated gain setting and an aperture setting to said control module for each of said sequential sets of frame data.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein said sequential sets of frame data comprise a video input.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said image analysis module calculates said gain setting and said aperture setting to increase a contrast ratio between pixel values of said set of frame data.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein said calculated gain setting and said calculated aperture setting are applied by said control module to said set of frame data from which said calculated gain setting and said calculated aperture setting are calculated.

10. A method of controlling a contrast ratio of an image, comprising:

receiving an image frame data;

routing said image frame data to both an image analysis module and to a frame buffer;

conducting an image analysis of said image frame data by said image analysis module to calculate a gain setting; and

applying said gain setting to said image frame data of said frame buffer to control a contrast ratio of said image frame data.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

conducting an image analysis of said image frame data by said image analysis module to calculate an aperture setting;

adjusting an adjustable aperture based on said calculated aperture setting; and

projecting light that corresponds to said image frame data through said adjustable aperture.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising routing said image frame data to an image data capture module prior to routing said image frame data to said image analysis module.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein said applying said gain setting to said image frame data of said frame buffer to control a contrast ratio of said image frame data comprises altering said image frame data with said gain setting to define a viewable frame data and reflecting light from said image modulator that correlates with said viewable frame data.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising displaying said viewable frame data on said imaging region, wherein said viewable frame data corresponds to said image frame data having said gain setting applied thereto.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein said modulator comprises a digital micromirror array.

16. The method of claim 10 wherein said conducting an image analysis of said image frame data by said image analysis module to calculate a gain setting comprises executing machine operable computer instructions to increase an overall dynamic range of light utilized by said image frame data.

17. An image projection apparatus, comprising:

an image modulator that outputs a viewable image having a controlled contrast ratio;

a set of machine operable instructions that calculates a gain setting and applies said gain setting to a set of frame data to define a modified set of frame data, and that transmits said modified set of frame data to said modulator to produce said viewable image; and

an electronic buffer that stores said set of frame data during calculation of said gain setting by said machine operable instructions, wherein said electronic buffer sends said set of frame data to said set of machine operable instructions after calculation of said gain setting.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising an adjustable aperture, a set of machine operable instructions that calculates an aperture setting that is applied to said adjustable aperture to produce said viewable image from said set of frame data, and a control device that applies said aperture setting to said adjustable aperture.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising a control device that controls activation of pixels of said modulator based on said modified set of frame data, and a light source that produces a light beam that is reflected by said image modulator to produce said viewable image.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising a video input splitter that forwards said image frame data to said set of machine operable instructions and to said electronic buffer.