Television device for adjusting quality of video image to be displayed

• US 8,390,640 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2009
• Issued: 03/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maxell, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi Consumer Electronics Company Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Aoki, Hiroshi, Kitazume, Akira, Honda, Daisuke, Oka, Naoya, Nagano, Yuki, Kurabayashi, Hiroyuki, Shiraishi, Akihiro, Ohyama, Toshiaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Sajous, Wesner
• Application Number:
  US12/615,394
• Publication Number:
  US 20100220109A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,211 Days
• Field of Search: 345/428, 345/581, 345/589, 345617-618, 345/204, 345/211, 345/207, 345/690, 345/63, 345/77, 348/553, 348/563, 348602-603, 348/673, 348/687, 348731-734, 348/739, 348/751, 348790-791, 358/504, 358/509, 358/516, 358/448, 382/254, 382/274, 382/312
• US Class Current: 345/589
• 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 television device structured to automatically adjust the color temperature on the display screen in accordance with the viewing environment includes an external light detection unit or an optical sensor for detecting the illuminance and the tint of the ambient light, and an image quality control unit or a microcomputer for adjusting quality of the video image to be displayed on the display panel. The image quality control unit adjusts the color temperature of the video image to be displayed in accordance with the illuminance value and the tint value detected by the external light detection unit. The optical sensor includes an illuminance sensor for mainly detecting the visible light, and an infrared sensor for mainly detecting the infrared light. The illuminance value and the tint value are obtained based on the output values of those two sensors.

Claims

1. A television device for adjusting quality of a received video image to be displayed on a display unit, comprising:

an external light detection unit which detects an illuminance and a tint of an ambient light; and

an image quality control unit which adjusts the quality of the video image to be displayed on the display unit;

wherein the image quality control unit adjusts a color temperature of the video image to be displayed in accordance with an illuminance value and a tint value detected by the external light detection unit; and

wherein the image quality control unit adjusts the color temperature to become high as both the illuminance value and the tint value become large.

2. A television device for adjusting quality of a received video image to be displayed on a display unit, comprising:

an external light detection unit which detects an illuminance and a tint of an ambient light; and

an image quality control unit which adjusts the quality of the video image to be displayed on the display unit;

wherein the image quality control unit adjusts a color temperature of the video image to be displayed in accordance with an illuminance value and a tint value detected by the external light detection unit, and adjusts a contrast of the video image to be displayed in accordance with at least the illuminance value detected by the external light detection unit; and

wherein the image quality control unit adjusts the contrast to become high as the illuminance value becomes large.

3. The television device according to claim 2, wherein the image quality control unit further adjusts a color density of the video image to be displayed in accordance with at least the illuminance value detected by the external light detection unit.

4. The television device according to claim 2, wherein the image quality control unit further adjusts a sharpness of the image to be displayed in accordance with at least the illuminance value detected by the external light detection unit.

5. A television device for adjusting quality of a received video image to be displayed on a display unit, comprising:

an external light detection unit which detects an illuminance and a tint of an ambient light; and

an image quality control unit which adjusts the quality of the video image to be displayed on the display unit;

wherein the display unit includes a liquid crystal panel provided with a backlight;

wherein the image quality control unit adjusts a color temperature of the video image to be displayed in accordance with an illuminance value and a tint value detected by the external light detection unit, and adjusts an illuminance of a light from the backlight in accordance with at least the illuminance value detected by the external light detection unit; and

wherein the video image quality control unit adjusts the illuminance of the light from the backlight to become high as the illuminance value becomes large.

6. The television device for adjusting quality of a received video image to be displayed on a display unit, comprising:

an external light detection unit which detects an illuminance and a tint of an ambient light; and

an image quality control unit which adjusts the quality of the video image to be displayed on the display unit;

wherein the image quality control unit adjusts a color temperature of the video image to be displayed in accordance with an illuminance value and a tint value detected by the external light detection unit; and

wherein the external light detection unit obtains the illuminance value and the tint value from an output value of a first sensor for detecting an illuminance of the external light and an output value of a second sensor for detecting a tint of the external light.

7. The television device according to claim 6, wherein the first sensor is an illuminance sensor for detecting a visible light, and the second sensor is an infrared sensor for detecting an infrared light.

8. A television device for adjusting quality of a received video image to be displayed on a display unit, comprising:

an external light detection unit which detects an illuminance and a tint of an ambient light; and

an image quality control unit which adjusts the quality of the video image to be displayed on the display unit;

wherein the image quality control unit adjusts a color temperature of the video image to be displayed in accordance with an illuminance value and a tint value detected by the external light detection unit; and

further comprising;

a remote control receiver for receiving an operation signal from a remote control;

wherein the image quality control unit interrupts a video image quality adjustment when the remote control receiver receives the operation signal from the remote control.

9. A television device for adjusting quality of a received video image to be displayed on a display unit, comprising:

an external light detection unit which detects an illuminance and a tint of an ambient light; and

an image quality control unit which adjusts the quality of the video image to be displayed on the display unit;

wherein the image quality control unit adjusts a color temperature of the video image to be displayed in accordance with an illuminance value and a tint value detected by the external light detection unit; and

wherein the detected illuminance value and the tint value, and a power saving state resulting from the video image quality adjustment are displayed on an OSD of the display unit.