This application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. ยง365 of International Application PCT/IB09/00152, filed 29 Jan. 2009, which was published in accordance with PCT Article 21(2) on 5 Aug. 2010 in English.
The invention relates to display device that presents images associated with auxiliary devices.
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) of today commonly utilize a plurality cold cathode florescent light lamps to backlight the LCD panel with white light. An LCD front-end panel has a series of pixels which are further divided into red, green, and blue (R,G,B) sub-pixels, wherein each sub-pixel is equipped with a corresponding color filter. The common operation of LCDs is to have each of the lamps illuminate during the showing of each frame of video during the presentation of images on the display.
With large liquid crystal displays becoming more popular among consumers as their principal display devices, such displays are likely becoming one of the more visible and prominent features in consumer homes.
On the other hand, the audio industry has continuously been making audio devices such as radios, MP3 players and iPODs smaller, more portable and technologically more powerful. In light of the portable nature and/or technological prowess of such devices, these devices can become more interactive with other devices which could also include display devices such as LCDs.
In light of the above, it is contemplated that a future need exists for an LCD display that operates basically in the same manner as today's LCDs, but can also operate in an energy saving mode when auxiliary equipment is coupled to an LCD and when the consumer wishes to take advantage of or experience the auxiliary equipment through the LCD display.
The invention is a display system that reduces power consumption while the display system displays image banners associated with and/or produced by an auxiliary device when coupled to the display system such as a radio, audio music players or the like.
The display system comprises a front-end component having light shutters and a plurality of backlight devices, wherein the display operates in a full screen video display mode and partial screen energy-saving auxiliary mode. In the full screen video display mode, the backlight devices are activated or turned on and in the partial screen energy-saving auxiliary mode at least one backlight device is not activated or turned on. In the auxiliary mode, the light shutters can control luminance or the light shutters along with backlight device control luminance. In the auxiliary mode, the backlight devices can be driven via enabled inputs or a digital bus system.
The display is operated by a method comprising the steps of selecting an auxiliary mode having video frames with partial screen content and activating less than all backlight elements during the video frames. The method includes presenting a banner in the auxiliary mode and can further include coupling an auxiliary device to the display to present a banner. The auxiliary device can be a radio or a set-top box and can display an information or entertainment banner from the radio or set-top box.
More particularly, the full video display mode of
As mentioned above,
In the auxiliary mode, the lamps of the unused areas will be turned off. This invention matches all applications where only a banner type of display is used. Here, energy can be saved by increasing the efficiency of the lamps and their matching power supplies. This mode is particularly beneficial for audio modes that involve listening to radio stations or audio input through servers. A banner 20 containing the radio data can be displayed in a small field or textbox. The displayed information could be the radio station, title, name of a musician or the length of play. In this example, only one lamp is on during each frame.
The invention is particularly useful because of the growth of digital satellite channels (which transmit audio files), internet-radio, and digital audio broadcast (DAB) or the connection to so-called media streamers which can be included in a TV receiver and can be well suited for the operation of a banner mode. With the use of the invention, considerable energy can be saved. One exemplary measurement showed that 85 W of a total consumption of 125 Watt are used for backlighting in operating a 26 inch LCD screen display. When the display is operated in banner mode 80-90% of lighting energy can be saved. During the banner mode a remarkable amount of energy could be saved. The reduction could be up to 100 W.
A further possibility for the banner mode can be information derived from the information streams, such as weather or public broadcast alerts that can be tied to set-top boxes, or simple programmed information that can be displayed in banner mode when conventional television is not operating and the set-top box or the like is in a standby mode. Alternatively, a place-holder with channel information or the time could be displayed in a banner mode.
It should be pointed out that although only lamps a through k are shown, the display according to the invention can include more or less lamps and also backlight 13 from more than one lamp can be incident on any one liquid crystal cell. The backlighting can be constructed with 4-30 fluorescent lamps that can run pair-wise (serial connection) on respective inverters.
It should be pointed out that the invention can include in all of the embodiments having two ore more such banners displayed with only their respective backlight lamp and/or backlight lamps on. Further, the two or more banners can be associated with one auxiliary device or two or more auxiliary devices.
The invention is also applicable to displays in which light emitting diodes (LEDs) or field emission devices provide backlight to liquid crystal front-end or other light shutter/valve front-ends.
To prevent non-uniform ageing of the lighting device in the limited illuminated display area in the banner mode, the banner can be programmably controlled to move gradually around the screen. This change could be a gradual motion up and down or a random repositioning.
Also, during the banner mode more than one backlight can be activated for purposes of light uniformity.
Regarding light uniformity, it is important to point out that during the operation in full video display mode there are significant advantages in operating all backlight lamps in LCD displays. One advantage is that using all lamps provides and ensures light uniformity and another is that operating all of the lamps ensures that the lamps all age equally.
Although each of the examples shows that the backlights 12 extend across the entire screen, the invention also includes examples where there is a plurality of backlights 12 aligned end-to-end along horizontal lines. As such, examples include situations in the banner mode, wherein not all of the backlight lamps 12 in a given horizontal line are activated. This is particularly beneficial in the case where the banners do not to need extend across the screen.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein with reference to specific embodiments, the invention is not intended to be limited to the details shown. Rather, various modifications may be made in the details within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims and without departing from the invention.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/IB2009/000152 | 1/29/2009 | WO | 00 | 7/27/2011 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2010/086682 | 8/5/2010 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20030052903 | Weast | Mar 2003 | A1 |
20080252590 | Doi | Oct 2008 | A1 |
20100231814 | Yamada et al. | Sep 2010 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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101286305 | Oct 2008 | CN |
1 653 435 | Mar 2006 | EP |
WO 2008029536 | Mar 2008 | WO |
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Search Report Dated July 3, 2009. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20110310299 A1 | Dec 2011 | US |