The invention relates to a method for assisting service technicians when aligning a television by performing an automatic color temperature alignment.
The term “color temperature” refers to the degree of “whiteness” of white-colored areas of a picture displayed on a television display screen, relative to a given standard. The manual alignment of color temperature by a service person at a television owner's house is a tedious and time-consuming process. Currently, the service person manually adjusts the color temperature parameters stored in a non-volatile memory, such as an EEPROM using test equipment called, Chipper Check and a color scope. The procedure includes the following steps:
However, the manual adjustment of the color temperature parameters is a difficult procedure, which requires the television manufacturer as well as the scope manufacturers to provide seminars to teach the service people.
The present invention is directed to a method of adjusting the color alignment of a television. In the method, a color scope and a microprocessor are interfaced to a non-volatile memory of a television. Eight color alignment parameters including red bias, red drive, blue bias, blue drive, green bias green drive, brightness and contrast are adjusted using the microprocessor in conjunction with the color scope.
First, adjustment of the red bias is controlled using the microprocessor in conjunction with the color scope. Second adjustment of red drive is controlled using the microprocessor in conjunction with the color scope. Third adjustment of blue bias is controlled using the microprocessor in conjunction with the color scope. Fourth adjustment of blue drive is controlled using the microprocessor in conjunction with the color scope. Fifth adjustment of green bias is controlled using the microprocessor in conjunction with the color scope. Sixth adjustment of green drive is controlled using the microprocessor in conjunction with the color scope. Seventh adjustment of brightness is controlled using the microprocessor in conjunction with the color scope. Eighth adjustment of contrast is controlled using the microprocessor in conjunction with the color scope.
The above method advantageously provides a software handle into the television non-volatile memory values that control the color settings to provide an automatic color temperature alignment.
The invention is hereinafter described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The present invention relates to the field of diagnosing, troubleshooting, initializing and updating television devices in the field by a service person. Thomson Inc., Indianapolis, Ind. uses test equipment, called Chipper Check, which can be implemented in a microprocessor, for retrieving and updating the information stored on a nonvolatile memory, such as an EEPROM, of a television. The present invention implements a user interface through Chipper Check that provides color scope manufacturers a software handle into the television EEPROM values that control the color temperature settings to provide an automatic color temperature alignment.
Referring to
In an exemplary embodiment, the automatic color temperature alignment method should include the following steps:
1. Place the color scope on the television monitor.
2. Connect the color scope to a non-volatile memory of television monitor, such as an EEPROM, with Chipper Check and select automatic color temperature alignment, at this point Chipper Check will turn into a TCP/IP server. Chipper Check will create a TCP/IP socket and listen for a connection from the color scope software. This connection may be an internal connection (a connection from a program on the same computer) or an external connection (a connection from a program on a different computer).
3. Start the color scope application software to initialize a connection with Chipper Check. The color scope software initializes a TCP/IP connection with the Chipper Check TCP/IP server over the socket established in step 2.
4. Once the connection is established, the color scope software may use a defined set of Chipper Check instructions including
The foregoing illustrates some of the possibilities for practicing the invention. Many other embodiments are possible within the scope and spirit of the invention. It is, therefore, intended that the foregoing description be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting, and that the scope of the invention is given by the appended claims together with their full range of equivalents.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/547,907, entitled “Chipper Chuck Automation of Field Service Color Temperature Alignment” and filed Feb. 26, 2004, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60547907 | Feb 2004 | US |