Panel control apparatus and operating method thereof

• US 9,105,244 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2012
• Issued: 08/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Himax Technologies Ltd. (Himax Technologies Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Himax Technologies Ltd. (Himax Technologies Incorporated)
• Inventors: Wu, Tung-Ying, Ho, Chun-Te
• Primary Examiner(s): EURICE, MICHAEL
• Application Number:
  US13/473,444
• Publication Number:
  US 20130307835A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,182 Days
• Field of Search: 345/547, 345/694, 382/232
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/103 Detection of image changes, e.g. determination of an index representative of the image change
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/02 Handling of images in compressed format, e.g. JPEG, MPEG
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/16 Determination of a pixel data signal depending on the signal applied in the previous frame
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/18 Use of a frame buffer in a display terminal, inclusive of the display panel
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3611 Control of matrices with row and column drivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/42 characterised by implementation details or hardware specially adapted for video compression or decompression, e.g. dedicated software implementation H04N19/635 takes precedence

Abstract

A panel control apparatus and an operating method thereof are provided, and which includes a scalar and a timing controller. The scalar transmits a present display data for composing a display frame, and determines whether to generate a refresh request signal according to a state of the display frame. The timing controller includes a memory, an over driving unit and a panel self refresh unit. When the refresh request signal is not generated, the over driving unit converts the present display data into an over driving display data according to a previous compression data from the memory. When the refresh request signal is generated, the panel self refresh unit compresses the present display data into a refresh display data, and stores the refresh display data into the memory.

Claims

1. A panel control apparatus, comprising:

a scalar, transmitting a present display data to compose a display frame, wherein the scalar determines whether a state of the display frame is static, when the state of the display frame is static, the scalar generates a refresh request signal, and when the state of the display frame is dynamic, the scalar stops generating the refresh request signal; and

a timing controller, comprising;

a memory;

an over driving unit, electrically connected to the memory, and only when the scalar stops generating the refresh request signal, the over driving unit converts the present display data into an over driving display data according to a previous compression data from the memory;

a panel self refresh unit, wherein only when the scalar generates the refresh request signal, the panel self refresh unit compresses the present display data into a refresh display data, and stores the refresh display data into the memory, and the panel self refresh unit comprises;

a self refresh enabler, electrically connected to the scalar, wherein the self refresh enabler generates a refresh enabling signal according to the refresh request signal when the scalar generates the refresh request signal, and the self refresh enabler stops generating the refresh enabling signal when the scalar stops generating the refresh request signal; and

a self refresh compressor, electrically connected to the memory and compressing the present display data into the refresh display data according to the refresh enabling signal, and generating a refresh replying signal according to the refresh enabling signal, wherein the scalar stops transmitting the present display data according to the refresh replying signal; and

a switch unit, electrically connected to the memory and the over driving unit, wherein when the scalar stops generating the refresh request signal, the switch unit transmits the over driving display data from the over driving unit, and when the scalar generates the refresh request signal, the switch unit transmits the refresh display data from the memory according to the refresh request signal.

2. The panel control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein only when the refresh request signal is generated, the panel self refresh unit generates a refresh replying signal to cause the scalar to stop transmitting the present display data.

3. The panel control apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the over driving unit comprises:

an over driving enabler, wherein the over driving enabler generates an over driving enabling signal when the refresh request signal is not generated, and the over driving enabler stops generating the over driving enabling signal when the refresh request signal is generated;

an over driving compressor, reading the previous compression data from the memory according to the over driving enabling signal; and

an over driving generator, looking up an over driving table according to the previous compression data and the present display data, and generating the over driving display data accordingly.

4. The panel control apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the over driving compressor further compresses the present display data into a present compression data according to the over driving enabling signal, and stores the present compression data into the memory.