Display device and display method

• US 9,159,273 B2
• Filed: 11/02/2012
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Katsu, Yoshihiro, Nishi, Tomohiro, Ohta, Akihiro, Asano, Mitsuyasu
• Primary Examiner(s): Moon, Seokyun
• Application Number:
  US13/667,529
• Publication Number:
  US 20130120475A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,075 Days
• Field of Search: 345/102
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 2320/0285 using tables for spatial correction of display data
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/062 Adjustment of illumination source parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0626 for control of overall brightness
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0646 Modulation of illumination source brightness and image signal correlated to each other
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3426 the different display panel areas being distributed in two dimensions, e.g. matrix
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/36 using liquid crystals

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a display device including: a liquid crystal display section adapted to display an image based on a video signal; a backlight; and a processing section adapted to correct the video signal and set the luminance of the backlight based on two pieces of information, a peak level of the video signal in a display screen or in each of a plurality of partial display areas into which the display screen is divided, and factor data obtained from a data map made up of a reference position on the display screen and the factor data that are associated with each other.

Claims

1. A display device comprising:

a liquid crystal display section to display an image based on a video signal on a display screen;

a backlight; and

a processing section to correct the video signal and set luminance of the backlight based on two pieces of information, a peak level of the video signal in each of a plurality of partial display areas into which the display screen is divided, and factor data obtained from a data map made up of a reference position on the display screen and the factor data that are associated with each other,

the backlight having a plurality of partial light-emitting sections each having a respective light source so to enable each partial lighting emitting section to emit light independently of each other,

each said partial lighting emitting section being respectively associated with one of the partial display areas and each partial display area being divided into a plurality of unit areas such that each said partial lighting emitting section is associated with a respective plurality of unit areas, and

the processing section being configured to (i) obtain the respective peak level for each partial display area by determining which unit area of the respective plurality of unit areas has a maximum value of the video signal and assigning the determined maximum value as the peak level of the respective partial display area and assigning the respective unit area having the maximum value as the respective reference position, (ii) calculate a corrected peak level for said each partial display area by use of the respective peak value for said each partial display area and respective factor data which is only associated with the respective reference position even when the respective unit areas of the respective partial display area have different values of factor data, such that the factor data associated with each position of a unit area which is a non-reference position is not utilized, and (iii) set for each of the partial lighting emitting sections a luminance level according to the corrected peak level of the partial display area corresponding to the partial lighting emitting section.

2. The display device of claim 1, wherein

the peak level is a peak level of an image to be displayed in each of the partial display areas.

3. The display device of claim 2, wherein

the data map is divided into a plurality of factor data areas that differ in the factor data from each other.

4. The display device of claim 2 further comprising:

an image recognition section to identify a predetermined image in the image to be displayed based on the video signal.

5. The display device of claim 4, wherein

the predetermined image is a face image.

6. The display device of claim 4, wherein

the predetermined image is an image of a portion of a displayed image that attracts much attention of a viewer.

7. The display device of claim 3 further comprising:

a data map generation section to generate the data map containing the factor data.

8. The display device of claim 1, wherein

the display device has a plurality of operation modes and the data map is changeable in accordance with a respective operation mode, and

the processing section determines changes for the data map according to the operation mode.

9. The display device of claim 1, wherein the data map is changeable and the processing section determines changes to the data map according to content to be displayed.

10. A display device comprising:

a liquid crystal display section to display an image based on a video signal on a display screen;

a backlight; and

a processing section to correct the video signal and set the luminance of the backlight based on two pieces of information, a peak level of the video signal in each of a plurality of partial display areas into which the display screen is divided, and a peak position which is a position on the display screen where the peak level occurs,

the backlight having a plurality of partial light-emitting sections each having a respective light source so to enable each partial lighting emitting section to emit light independently of each other,

each said partial lighting emitting section being respectively associated with one of the partial display areas and each partial display area being divided into a plurality of unit areas such that each said partial lighting emitting section is associated with a respective plurality of unit areas, and

the processing section being configured to (i) obtain the respective peak level for each partial display area by determining which unit area of the respective plurality of unit areas has a maximum value of the video signal and assigning the determined maximum value as the peak level of the respective partial display area and assigning the respective unit area having the maximum value as the respective peak position, (ii) calculate a corrected peak level for said each partial display area by use of the respective peak value for said each partial display area and respective factor data which is only associated with the respective reference position even when the respective unit areas of the respective partial display area have different values of factor data, such that the factor data associated with each position of a unit area which is a non-reference position is not utilized, and (iii) set for each of the partial lighting emitting sections a luminance level according to the corrected peak level of the partial display area corresponding to the partial lighting emitting section.

11. A display method comprising:

correcting a video signal and setting luminance of a backlight based on two pieces of information, a peak level of the video signal in each of a plurality of partial display areas into which the display screen is divided, and factor data obtained from a data map made up of a position on a display screen and the factor data that are associated with each other so as to display an image based on the corrected video signal,

the backlight having a plurality of partial light-emitting sections each having a respective light source so to enable each partial lighting emitting section to emit light independently of each other,

each said partial lighting emitting section being respectively associated with one of the partial display areas and each partial display area being divided into a plurality of unit areas such that each said partial lighting emitting section is associated with a respective plurality of unit areas, and

the respective peak level for each partial display area being obtained by determining which unit area of the respective plurality of unit areas has a maximum value of the video signal and assigning the determined maximum value as the peak level of the respective partial display area and assigning the respective unit area having the maximum value as the respective position,

a corrected peak level for said each partial display area being calculated by use of the respective peak value for said each partial display area and respective factor data which is only associated with the respective reference position even when the respective unit areas of the respective partial display area have different values of factor data, such that the factor data associated with each position of a unit area which is a non-reference position is not utilized, and for each of the partial lighting emitting sections a luminance level is set according to the corrected peak level of the partial display area corresponding to the partial lighting emitting section.