Device, system and method for color display

• US 7,990,403 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2007
• Issued: 08/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Genoa Color Technologies Limited
• Inventors: Ben-Chorin, Moshe, Ben-David, Ilan, Roth, Shmuel
• Primary Examiner(s): Shalwala; Bipin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Holton; Steven E
• Application Number:
  US11/882,170
• Publication Number:
  US 20080030447A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,463 Days
• Field of Search: 345694-698, 345/88, 345/89
• US Class Current: 345/694
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/201 in the form of arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133514 Colour filters
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/134309 characterised by their geometrical arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/134345 Subdivided pixels, e.g. for grey scale or redundancy
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 2201/52 RGB geometrical arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2300/0452 Details of colour pixel setup, e.g. pixel composed of a red, a blue and two green components
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/0235 Field-sequential colour display
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0407 Resolution change, inclusive of the use of different resolutions for different screen areas
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0457 Improvement of perceived resolution by subpixel rendering
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/06 Colour space transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/20 for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/2003 Display of colours specific for liquid crystal displays G09G3/3607
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3406 Control of illumination source illumination devices structurally associated with liquid crystal cells G02F1/1336
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3413 Details of control of colour illumination sources
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3607 for displaying colours or for displaying grey scales with a specific pixel layout, e.g. using sub-pixels display of colours in flat matrix panels other than liquid crystal displays G09G3/2003; grey scales specific for television H04N3/127
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/02 characterised by the way in which colour is displayed details of colour display specific for CRTs G09G1/28; specific for flat matrix panels other than liquid crystal displays G09G3/2003; specific for liquid crystal displays G09G3/3607
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/67 for matrixing camera processing pipelines for matrixing of colour signals H04N23/85

Abstract

A color Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) device for displaying a color image using at least four different primary colors, the device including an array of Liquid Crystal (LC) elements, driving circuitry adapted to receive an input corresponding to the color image and to selectively activate the LC elements of the LC array to produce an attenuation pattern corresponding to a gray-level representation of the color image, and an array of color sub-pixel filter elements juxtaposed and in registry with the array of LC elements such that each color sub-pixel filter element is in registry with one of the LC elements, wherein the array of color sub-pixel filter elements comprises at least four types of color sub-pixel filter elements, which transmit light of the at least four primary colors, respectively.

Claims

1. A color display device for displaying an image, comprising an array of rectangular color sub-pixel elements including sub-pixel elements of n different colors, wherein n is greater than three, and wherein no combination of exactly one of each of n different colored sub-pixel elements forms a square, wherein said sub-pixel elements are arranged in pixels, each pixel including at least n different colored sub-pixel elements, and each pixel having an average aspect ratio of approximately 1:

1.

2. A color display device according to claim 1, wherein said sub-pixel elements are arranged in an array of periodically repetitive super-pixel structures covering substantially the entire image, each super-pixel structure comprising a predetermined, fixed, number of pixels, wherein no fixed combination of pixels, the combination covering only part of said super-pixel structure, can be periodically repeated to cover substantially the entire image.

3. A color display device according to claim 1 comprising a color Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) device, wherein said array of color sub-pixel elements comprises an array of color sub-pixel filter elements, and wherein each pixel comprises at least one color sub-pixel filter element transmitting light of each of said n different colors.

4. A device according to claim 2 wherein said n colors comprise red, green, blue and yellow.

5. A device according to claim 4 wherein said n different colors further comprise cyan.

6. A device according to claim 5 wherein said super pixel structure comprises a substantially rectangular arrangement including five sequences of four sub-pixel elements, each sequence including a different combination of four sub-pixel elements of said n different colors.

7. A device according to claim 5 wherein said n different colors further comprise magenta.

8. A device according to claim 7 wherein said super pixel structure comprises a substantially rectangular arrangement including three sequences of four sub-pixel elements, each sequence including a different combination of four sub-pixel elements of said n different colors.

9. The color display device of claim 1, wherein each said sub-pixel element has an aspect ratio of 1:

3.

10. The color display device of claim 1, wherein each said pixel has a non-rectangular shape.

11. A method of displaying a color image on a color display, said color display comprising an array of color sub-pixel elements including sub-pixel elements of each of n different colors, wherein n is greater than three, wherein no combination of exactly one of each of n different colored sub-pixel elements forms a square, wherein said sub-pixel elements are arranged in pixels, each pixel including at least n different colored sub-pixel elements, and each pixel having an aspect ratio of approximately 1:

1, the method comprising;

receiving an input representing three-component color image data including a plurality of three-component pixels and having a first resolution;

scaling said three-component color image data to produce scaled three-component color image data having a second resolution different from said first resolution;

converting said scaled three-component color image data into corresponding n-color pixel data representing said color image; and

generating a n-color input signal corresponding to said n-color pixel data.

12. A method according to claim 11, wherein said sub-pixel elements are arranged in an array of periodically repetitive super-pixel structures covering substantially the entire color display, each super-pixel structure comprising a predetermined, fixed, number of said pixels, wherein no fixed combination of pixels, the combination covering only part of said super-pixel structure, can be periodically repeated to cover substantially the entire display, and wherein said scaling said three-component color image data to produce scaled three-component color image data having a second resolution different from said first resolution comprises:

firstly allocating three-component color image data for each super-pixel structure, based on a position of each super-pixel structure; and

for each super-pixel, secondly allocating said firstly allocated image data for each pixel, and wherein said converting comprises;

computing n-color coefficients for each of the pixels based on the allocated three-component color image data; and

driving each of the color sub-pixels with color data represented by said coefficients.

13. A method according to claim 12 further comprising:

collecting the n-color coefficients for each super-pixel; and

distributing for each super-pixel the color data represented by the n-color coefficients into a plurality of sub-pixel data segments, each data segment representing one sub-pixel, wherein said distributing is based on similarity of the sub-pixel arrangements within each super pixel structure.

14. A method according to claim 12, wherein said secondly allocating is based on color-weighted centers of the pixels, and wherein the locations of the color-weighted centers are the same within each super pixel structure.

15. A method according to claim 11 wherein said color display comprises a color Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) device, wherein said array of color sub-pixel elements comprises an array of color sub-pixel filter elements, and wherein each pixel comprises at least one color sub-pixel filter element transmitting light of each of said n different colors.

16. A method according to claim 12 wherein said n different colors comprise red, green, blue and yellow.

17. A method according to claim 16 wherein said n different colors further comprise cyan.

18. A method according to claim 17 wherein said super-pixel structure comprises a substantially rectangular arrangement including five sequences of four sub-pixel elements, each sequence including a different combination of sub-pixel elements of four of said n different colors.

19. A method according to claim 17 wherein said n different colors further comprise magenta.

20. A method according to claim 19 wherein said super-pixel structure comprises a substantially rectangular arrangement including three sequences of four sub-pixel elements, each sequence including a different combination of sub-pixel elements of four of said n different colors.

21. A method according to claim 11, wherein generating said input signal comprises generating a gray-level value for each of said sub-pixels.

22. The method of claim 11, wherein each said sub-pixel element has an aspect ratio of 1:

3.

23. The method of claim 11, wherein each said pixel has a non-rectangular shape.

24. A system for displaying a color image, comprising:

a color display device comprising an array of color sub-pixel elements including sub-pixel elements of each of n different colors, wherein n is greater than three, wherein no combination of exactly one of each of n different colored sub-pixel elements forms a square, wherein said sub-pixel elements are arranged in pixels, each pixel including at least n different colored sub-pixel elements, and each pixel having an aspect ratio of approximately 1;

1;

a scaling unit able to receive an input representing three-component color image data including a plurality of three-component pixels and having a first resolution and to scale said three-component color image data to produce scaled three-component color image data having a second resolution different from said first resolution; and

a converter able to convert said scaled three-component color image data into corresponding n-color pixel data representing said color image and to generate an n-color input signal corresponding to said n-color pixel data.

25. A system according to claim 24, wherein said sub-pixel elements are arranged in an array of periodically repetitive super-pixel structures covering substantially the entire image, each super-pixel structure comprising a predetermined, fixed, number of said pixels, wherein no fixed combination of pixels, the combination covering only part of said super-pixel structure, can be periodically repeated to cover substantially the entire image, and wherein said scaling unit is further for firstly allocating three-component color image data for each super-pixel structure based on a position of each super-pixel structure and, for each super-pixel, secondly allocating said firstly allocated image data for each pixel, and wherein said converter is further for computing n-color coefficients for each of the n-color pixels based on the secondly allocated three-component color image data, said coefficients represent color data for driving each of the color sub-pixels.

26. A system according to claim 25 further comprising:

a collection unit for collecting the n-color coefficients for each super-pixel; and

a distribution unit for distributing for each super-pixel the color data represented by the n-color coefficients into a plurality of sub-pixel data segments, each data segment representing one sub-pixel, wherein said distributing is based on similarity of the sub-pixel arrangements within each super pixel structure.

27. A system according to claim 25, wherein said converter is further for generating a gray-level value for each of said sub-pixels.

28. A system according to claim 25, wherein said scaling unit secondly allocates the image data based on color-weighted centers of the pixels, and wherein the locations of the color-weighted centers are the same within each super pixel structure.

29. A system according to claim 24 wherein said display device comprises a color Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) device, wherein said array of color sub-pixel elements comprises an array of color sub-pixel filter elements, and wherein each pixel comprises at least one color sub-pixel filter element transmitting light of each of said n different colors.

30. A system according to claim 25 wherein said n different colors comprise red, green, blue and yellow.

31. A system according to claim 30 wherein said n different colors further comprise cyan.

32. A system according to claim 31 wherein said super-pixel structure comprises a substantially rectangular arrangement including five sequences of four sub-pixel elements, each sequence including a different combination of sub-pixel elements of four of said different colors.

33. A system according to claim 31 wherein said n different colors further comprise magenta.

34. A system according to claim 33 wherein said super-pixel structure comprises a substantially rectangular arrangement including three sequences of four sub-pixel elements, each sequence including a different combination of sub-pixel elements of four of said different colors.

35. The system of claim 24, wherein each said sub-pixel element has an aspect ratio of 1:

3.

36. The system of claim 24, wherein each said pixel has a non-rectangular shape.