Variable backlight control for bezel

• US 8,456,104 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2008
• Issued: 06/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• 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
• Primary Examiner(s): Owens, Douglas W
• Assistant Examiner(s): YANG, AMY X
• Application Number:
  US12/200,294
• Publication Number:
  US 20100052548A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,741 Days
• Field of Search: 315/291, 315/293, 315/294, 345/102, 345/204, 348/177, 348/179, 348/687, 348/799, 348/798, 348/832, 348/802, 362/97.4
• US Class Current: 315/294
• 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 system operable to dynamically control backlighting of a display device, the system comprising:

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

a processor and a control element operable to receive a color control signal; and

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

a sensor operable to sense a color of an environmental feature of the environment, wherein a user interface of the sensor is operable to receive, from a user, a color data associated with the color of the environmental feature, wherein the color control signal is determined by the received color data,

wherein the display device accesses a color database to retrieve information associated with the color data, wherein the backlighting control signal is generated from the color control signal based on the retrieved information, and

wherein the processor and the control element is operable to adaptively control the backlighting color.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the color control signal and the backlighting control signal adaptively change in response to change in the color of the environmental feature.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a remote control device having a user interface by which the 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 the control element to generate the backlighting control signal.

4. The system of claim 1, 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 the control element from the primary display color and the color of the environmental feature.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the color control signal and the backlighting control signal adaptively change in response to change in the color of the environmental feature and the primary display color.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the processor and the control element are operable to adaptively control the backlighting color to maximize contrast between the backlighting color and the primary display color.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the processor and the control element are operable to adaptively control the backlighting color to minimize contrast between the backlighting color and the primary display color.

8. The system of claim 4, wherein the processor and the control element is operable to adaptively control the backlighting color to maximize contrast between the primary display color and the color of the environmental feature.

9. The system of claim 4, wherein the processor and the control element are operable to adaptively control the backlighting color to minimize contrast between the primary display color and the color of the environmental feature.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor is a digital camera located proximate the environmental feature.

10. The system of 4, wherein the primary display color of the image is detected from a video signal of the image.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the video signal is monitored by the processor and the control element.

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

receiving a color control signal, wherein the color control signal comprises a user entered color data, wherein the color data is associated with a color of an environmental feature of an environment in which the display device is proximate, wherein the display device accesses a color database to retrieve information associated with the color data;

generating a backlighting control signal from the received color control signal based on the retrieved information; and

generating a backlighting color to illuminate the light-transmissive bezel in accordance with the backlighting control signal, wherein the backlighting control signal adaptively controls a duration of the backlighting color.

14. The method of claim 13, 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 a sensed color of the environmental feature and the detected primary display color; and

adaptively controlling the backlighting color of the light-transmissive bezel in response to the color control signal generated from the sensed color and the detected primary color.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein detecting the primary display color is accomplished by monitoring a video signal displayed by the display screen.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising adaptively controlling the backlighting color to maximize contrast between the backlighting color and the detected primary display color.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising adaptively controlling the backlighting color to minimize contrast between the backlighting color and the detected primary display color.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising adaptively controlling the backlighting color to maximize contrast between the detected primary display color and the sensed color of the environmental feature.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising adaptively controlling the backlighting color to minimize contrast between the detected primary display color and the sensed color of the environmental feature.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

dynamically controlling the color control signal and the backlighting color of the light-transmissive bezel based on a user input provided via a user interface and the detected primary display color.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the user interface is a remote controller operable to remotely control the backlighting color of the light-transmissive bezel.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the user input is provided via a user interface of a sensing device.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the sensing device senses the color of the environmental feature.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the sensing device is a digital camera that senses the color of the environmental feature.

25. The method of claim 13, further comprising sensing the color of the environmental feature, wherein the sensing is performed by a sensor located proximate the environmental feature.

26. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

dynamically controlling the color control signal and the backlighting color of the light-transmissive bezel based on a user input provided via a user interface.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the user interface is a remote controller operable to remotely control the backlighting color of the light-transmissive bezel.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the user input is provided via a user interface of a sensing device.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the sensing device senses the color of the environmental feature.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the sensing device is a digital camera that senses the color of the environmental feature.

31. The method of claim 13, wherein the color database comprises one or both of:

an internal database of the display device and/or a paint color database accessible via an Internet connection.