Patent Application
20250054452
This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 112130084, filed on Aug. 10, 2023. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of specification.
The invention relates to an electronic device, and particularly relates to a display device and an operation method thereof.
Known displays enable local dimming function for all images on the display panel. Local dimming refers to local backlight adjustment. The backlight light-emitting element may be adjusted differently in different areas according to the image brightness of the display panel. Therefore, the brightness of the highlighted portions in the displayed image may be maximized, and at the same time the brightness of the dark portions may be reduced (or even the backlight of this area is disabled) to increase the contrast. In addition, reducing the brightness of dark portions may reduce the power consumption of the backlight.
However, local dimming requires graphics processing unit (GPU) computing resources. For large display screens (a single display panel or a display wall composed of a plurality of display panels), the user usually only focuses on a specific area (attention area) of the large display screen. For other areas perceived by the peripheral vision of the user (even areas not seen by the eyes, collectively referred to as non-attention areas), it is usually difficult for the user to feel the enhanced display effect of local dimming on the non-attention areas. In other words, enabling the local dimming function for non-attention areas is a waste of computing resources.
The invention provides a display device and an operation method thereof to independently enable or disable local dimming function for different locations in image data.
In an embodiment of the invention, a display device includes a calculation unit and a local dimming driving unit. The calculation unit generates at least one image data for displaying on at least one display panel. In particular, the calculation unit determines a location of a mouse pointer in the at least one image data based on an operation of a user interface device, and the calculation unit defines an attention area corresponding to the mouse pointer based on the location of the mouse pointer. The local dimming driving unit is coupled to the calculation unit. Based on information of the calculation unit, the local dimming driving unit enables a local dimming function for the attention area corresponding to the location of the mouse pointer, or disables the local dimming function for a non-attention area outside the attention area.
In an embodiment of the invention, an operation method includes: generating at least one image data via a calculation unit of a display device for displaying on at least one display panel; determining a location of a mouse pointer in the at least one image data based on an operation of a user interface device via the calculation unit; defining an attention area corresponding to the mouse pointer based on the location of the mouse pointer via the calculation unit; and enabling a local dimming function for the attention area corresponding to the location of the mouse pointer or disabling the local dimming function for a non-attention area outside the attention area based on information of the calculation unit via a local dimming driving unit of the display device.
Based on the above, the calculation unit of the embodiments of the invention may determine the location of the mouse pointer in the image data based on the operation of the user interface device. In a general operating situation, the location of the mouse pointer is the specific area that the user is looking at (the attention area). The calculation unit may define the attention area in the image data based on the location of the mouse pointer in the image data. Using the mouse pointer as a guide, the local dimming driving unit may enable the local dimming function for a specific area, and disable the local dimming function in other areas (non-attention areas) outside the specific area. Therefore, the display device may independently enable or disable the local dimming function for different locations in the image data to reduce hardware computing resources.
In order to make the aforementioned features and advantages of the disclosure more comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
The term “coupled to (or connected to)” used in the entire text of the specification of the present application (including claims) may refer to any direct or indirect connecting means. For example, if it is herein described that a first device is coupled (or connected) to a second device, it should be interpreted that the first device may be directly connected to the second device, or the first device may be indirectly connected to the second device via other devices or some connection means. Terms such as “first” and “second” mentioned throughout the specification (including the claims) of the present application are used to name elements or to distinguish between different embodiments or scopes, and are not used to limit the upper bound or the lower bound of the number of elements, nor used to limit the sequence of elements. In addition, wherever possible, elements/members/steps using the same reference numerals in the drawings and embodiments denote the same or similar portions. Cross-reference may be made to relevant descriptions of elements/members/steps using the same reference numerals or using the same terms in different embodiments.
In terms of hardware, the calculation unit 110 may be implemented as a logic circuit on an integrated circuit. For example, the related functions of the calculation unit 110 may be implemented in one or a plurality of controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessing units, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processing units (DSPs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), central processing units (CPUs), and/or various logic blocks, modules, and circuits in other processing units. The relevant functions of the calculation unit 110 may be implemented as a hardware circuit by using a hardware description language (such as Verilog HDL or VHDL) or other suitable programming languages, such as various logic blocks, modules, and circuits in an integrated circuit.
In software form and/or firmware form, the related functions of the calculation unit 110 may be implemented as programming codes. For example, the calculation unit 110 is implemented by using a common programming language (e.g., C, C++, or assembly language) or other suitable programming languages. The programming code may be recorded/stored in a “non-transitory machine-readable storage medium”. In some embodiments, the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium includes, for example, a semiconductor memory and/or a storage device. An electronic equipment (such as a computer, CPU, controller, microcontroller, or microprocessing unit) may read and execute the programming code from the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, so as to implement the related functions of the calculation unit 110.
The calculation unit 110 is also coupled to the user interface device 10. In step S220, based on the operation of the user on the user interface device 10, the calculation unit 110 may determine the location of the mouse pointer in the image data (i.e., the location of the mouse pointer in the image displayed by the display panel unit 130). In a general operating situation, the location of the mouse pointer is the specific area that the user is looking at (the attention area). In step S230, based on the location of the mouse pointer, the calculation unit 110 may define an attention area corresponding to the mouse pointer. In different actual design examples and/or in different application situations, the attention area may have different forms.
Based on the operation of the user on the user interface device 10, a mouse pointer 410 may move at any location in the sub-display areas 133_1, 133_2, and 133_3. The “attention area” may be the entirety of a screen where the mouse pointer 410 is located in the different screens displayed in the sub-display areas 133_1, 133_2, and 133_3. As an example of an operating situation, it is assumed that the user moves the mouse pointer 410 to the sub-display area 133_2. Based on the location of the mouse pointer 410, the calculation unit 110 may define the entire screen of the sub-display area 133_2 as the attention area corresponding to the mouse pointer 410, and the other sub-display areas 133_1 and 133_3 as non-attention areas. By analogy, when the mouse pointer 410 moves to the sub-display area 133_1, the calculation unit 110 may define the entire screen of the sub-display area 133_1 as the attention area corresponding to the mouse pointer 410, and the other sub-display areas 133_2 and 133_3 as non-attention areas.
Please refer to
Based on the actual design, in some embodiments, the CPU 111 may define the attention area corresponding to the mouse pointer based on the location of the mouse pointer. Based on the attention area defined by the CPU 111, the GPU 112 controls the local dimming driving unit 140 via the scalar unit 113 to selectively enable the local dimming function for the attention area corresponding to the location of the mouse pointer, or disable the local dimming function for the non-attention area.
Based on actual design, in some other embodiments, the GPU 112 may define the attention area corresponding to the mouse pointer based on the location of the mouse pointer. Based on the attention area defined by the GPU 112, the scalar unit 113 controls the local dimming driving unit 140 to selectively enable the local dimming function for the attention area corresponding to the location of the mouse pointer, or disable the local dimming function for the non-attention area.
The plurality of local dimming drivers 141 are coupled to the calculation unit 110. The calculation unit 110 selects at least one attention local dimming driver corresponding to the attention area or at least one non-attention local dimming driver corresponding to the non-attention area from the local dimming drivers 141. The calculation unit 110 enables the local dimming function of the at least one attention local dimming driver, or the calculation unit 110 disables the local dimming function of the at least one non-attention local dimming driver.
Based on the above, the calculation unit 110 may determine the location of the mouse pointer in the image data based on the operation of the user interface device 10. In a general operating situation, the location of the mouse pointer is the specific area that the user is looking at (the attention area). The calculation unit 110 may define an attention area in the image data based on the location of the mouse pointer in the image data. Using the mouse pointer as a guide, the local dimming driving unit 140 may enable the local dimming function for a specific area, and disable the local dimming function in other areas (non-attention areas) outside the specific area. Therefore, the display device 100 may independently enable or disable the local dimming function for different locations in the image data to reduce hardware computing resources.
Although the invention has been described with reference to the above embodiments, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that modifications to the described embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is defined by the attached claims not by the above detailed descriptions.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 112130084 | Aug 2023 | TW | national |
