DISPLAY SYSTEM

• US 20160351172A1
• Filed: 11/26/2014
• Published: 12/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2013
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: DisplayLink Corporation (Synaptics Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: DisplayLink Corporation (Synaptics Incorporated)
• Inventors: HAMAKER, Eric Kenneth
• Granted Patent: US 10,290,288 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/04 Partial updating of the display screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/12 Overlay of images, i.e. displayed pixel being the result of switching between the corresponding input pixels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2350/00 Solving problems of bandwidth in display systems
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/02 Graphics controller able to handle multiple formats, e.g. input or output formats
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/127 Updating a frame memory using a transfer of data from a source area to a destination area
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/20 Details of the management of multiple sources of image data
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/005 Adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/377 for mixing or overlaying two or more graphic patterns G09G5/02, G09G5/397 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/393 Arrangements for updating the contents of the bit-mapped memory

Abstract

A display system for displaying images includes an image compositor which receives image tiles from different application engines independently from each other and combines them into one or more combined image tiles in which the received image tiles are combined according to information indicating how the received image tiles are to be combined and located in the final displayed image, and a monitor for displaying the final displayed image, wherein different portions of the monitor are refreshed at different refresh rates, as the combined image tiles are received from the image compositor.

Claims

1. An image compositor for generating image tiles for forming a final image for display on a monitor, the image compositor having a plurality of inputs for coupling to outputs of a plurality of application engines to receive one or more image tiles generated by the application engines, the image tiles from different application engines being received independently from each other and at independent rates, wherein the compositor comprises a processor for combining the received image tiles into one or more combined image tiles in which the received image tiles are combined according to information indicating how the received image tiles are to be combined and located in the final displayed image, the image compositor further comprising an output for outputting each combined image tile together with information indicating where the combined image tile is to be located in the final displayed image.

2. A display system for displaying an image on a monitor, the display system comprising an image compositor according to claim 1, and a monitor for displaying the final displayed image, wherein the combined image tiles are provided by the image compositor for rendering on the monitor, wherein different portions of the monitor are refreshed at different refresh rates, as the combined image tiles are received from the image compositor.

3. A display system according to claim 2, wherein the monitor comprises a plurality of pixels, each pixel being individually addressable and controllable, and a pixel memory for each pixel of the monitor for storing a power level for the respective pixel, wherein the pixel memories are updated according to the location of the corresponding pixel of the monitor and the refresh rate for that location of the monitor.

4. A display system according to claim 2, wherein only a portion of the monitor is refreshed at each update.

5. A display system according to claim 4, wherein the portion of the image that is refreshed comprises one or more image tiles, each image tile comprising a plurality of pixels.

6. A display system according to claim 2, wherein the combined image tiles provided by the image compositor are compressed prior to being transported to the monitor, and are decompressed prior to being displayed at the monitor.

7. A display system for displaying an image on a monitor, the display system comprising an image tile generator for providing image tile updates, and a monitor for displaying a final image formed of a plurality of image tiles, wherein the final image is displayed on the monitor by refreshing different portions of the monitor at different rates according to the rate at which the image tile updates are provided by the image generator, wherein the refreshed portions of the final image may be located anywhere on the monitor.

8. A display system according to claim 7, wherein the monitor comprises a plurality of pixels, each pixel being individually addressable and controllable, and a pixel memory for each pixel on the monitor for storing a power level for the respective pixel, wherein the pixel memories are updated according to the location of the corresponding pixel on the monitor and the refresh rate for that portion of the image displayed on the monitor.

9. A display system according to claim 7, wherein the portions of the image that are refreshed comprise one or more image tiles, each image tile comprising a plurality of pixels.

10. A display system according to claim 7, wherein the image tile updates that are received may update any portion of the image and the portions of the image that are refreshed are refreshed in any order, wherein a refresh rate of the monitor is independent from an update rate of a source of the image tile.

11. A display system according to claim 7, wherein the image tile updates provided by the image tile generator are compressed prior to being transported to the monitor, and are decompressed prior to being displayed at the monitor.

12. A method of displaying a final image on a monitor, the final image being formed of a plurality of image tiles, the monitor comprising a plurality of pixels, each pixel being individually addressable and controllable, and a pixel memory for each pixel on the monitor for storing a power level for the respective pixel, the method comprising:

receiving an image tile update comprising display information for displaying an image tile on the monitor;

determining a location of the image tile on the monitor;

addressing one or more pixels displaying that image tile to control the pixel memories of the one or more pixels according to the display information to display that image tile,

wherein successive image tile updates that are received may refresh any portion of the final image, whereby different portions of the final image may be refreshed at different rates.

13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the pixel memories are updated according to the location of the corresponding pixel on the monitor and the refresh rate for that portion of the final image displayed on the monitor.

14. A method according to claim 12, wherein the portions of the final image that are refreshed comprise one or more image tiles, each image tile comprising a plurality of pixels.

15. A method according to claim 12, wherein the received image tile updates are compressed and the method further comprises decompressing the image tile updates prior to the addressing the one or more pixels.

16. A method according to claim 12, further comprising:

receiving image tiles generated by a plurality of application engines; and

combining the received image tiles to produce the image tile updates according to information indicating how the received image tiles are to be combined and located in the final image.

17. A method according to claim 16, wherein each of the application engines generates the image tiles at a rate depending on an application being executed by the application engine.

18. A method according to claim 16, wherein the image tiles are received directly from the plurality of application engines by an image compositor and the image tile updates are sent directly from the image compositor to a transport mechanism for transporting the image tile updates to the monitor.

19. A method according to claim 18, further comprising compressing, encrypting, and/or encoding the image tile updates prior to being transported to the monitor.

20. An application engine for executing an application to process data and to provide one or more image tiles for displaying the processed data, the application engine comprising a processor for processing the data and generating the image tiles for display, the processor updating the image tiles at an update rate according to the application being executed and independent of a refresh rate of a monitor on which the image tile is to be displayed.

21. An application engine according to claim 20, wherein the application comprises any one of an application generating a video image, an application generating a 2D image, and an application generating a 3D image.

22. An application engine according to claim 21, wherein the 2D image is updated less frequently than a still image, and the 3D image is updated less frequently than the video image.