The instant application claims priority from Japanese application JP 2005-85564 filed Mar. 24, 2005 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The instant application also relates to Japanese application JP 2004-195732 filed Jul. 1, 2004 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The disclosure relates to image processing unit and method, as well as an image display device and an electronic apparatus using such image processing unit and method.
In particular, the disclosure relates to an electro-optical device such as a liquid crystal device and to an electronic apparatus. Further, the disclosure relates to an electrophoresis device such as an electronic paper and an electroluminescent (EL) device.
Recently, color image display devices such as a color liquid crystal display device have been used to a portable terminal device such as a mobile phone, a PDA, etc. For example, a liquid crystal display device performs color display such that color filters are provided on one of a pair of transparent substrates with liquid crystal interposed therebetween. A general color filter is configured by repeatedly arranging red (R), green (G), and blue (B) filter regions according to an additive color mixing system. In particular, the red filter regions, the green filter regions, and the blue color filter regions are formed to be adjacent to one another, and one red filter region, one green filter region, and one blue filter region form one color pixel.
In a case that a color image display device using RGB color filters performs color display, colors that can be represented by R, G, and B colors are limited to colors in a region defined by a color triangle whose vertices are R, G, and B on a CIE chromaticity diagram.
Meanwhile, a method that forms one color pixel with sub-pixels of four colors containing one more color in addition to R, G, and B is disclosed in JP-A-3-109525 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Further, a method of realizing color display and high-definition black-and-white display by using R, G, B, and white pixels is disclosed in JP-A-10-10517 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
In accordance with an embodiment, an image display device comprises a display panel having a plurality of pixel regions, wherein each of the pixel regions has four color sub-pixels; an image processing unit for generating color signals for the four color sub-pixels from an input image signal; and a control unit for driving the display panel to display an image in the pixel regions of the display panel on the basis of the color signals. The image processing unit includes a discriminating unit for discriminating, for every data unit of the input image signal, whether the data unit is black-and-white image data or color image data; a black-and-white image processing unit for detecting at least one of pre-stored line segment patterns from the data unit, and generating color signals for a black-and-white image corresponding to the detected line segment pattern when the discriminating unit has discriminated that the data unit is black-and-white image data; and a color image processing unit for generating color signals for a color image when the discriminating unit has discriminated that the data unit is color image data or when the black-and-white image processing unit has failed to detect any of the pre-stored line segment patterns from the data unit.
In accordance with a further embodiment, an electronic apparatus comprises the image display device described immediately above.
In accordance with another embodiment, an image processing unit comprises a discriminating unit for discriminating, for every data unit of an input image signal, whether the data unit is black-and-white image data or color image data; a black-and-white image processing unit for detecting at least one of pre-stored line segment patterns from the data unit, and generating color signals for a black-and-white image corresponding to the detected line segment pattern when the discriminating unit has discriminated that the data unit is black-and-white image data; and a color image processing unit for generating color signals for a color image when the discriminating unit has discriminated that the data unit is color image data or when the black-and-white image processing unit has failed to detect any of the pre-stored line segment patterns from the data unit.
In accordance with yet another embodiment, an image processing method comprises discriminating, for every data unit of an input image signal, whether the data unit is black-and-white image data or color image data; detecting at least one of pre-stored line segment patterns from the data unit, and generating color signals for a black-and-white image corresponding to the detected line segment pattern when it has been discriminated that the data unit is black-and-white image data; and generating color signals for a color image when it has been discriminated that the data unit is color image data or when none of the pre-stored line segment patterns have been detected from the data unit.
The objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of the specific embodiments thereof, especially when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.
The embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numbers reference like elements.
Before the embodiments of the invention are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangements of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawing. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in various ways. Also, it is understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of letters to identify steps of a method or process is simply for identification and is not meant to indicate that the steps should be performed in a particular order.
Hereinafter, embodiments according to the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, a liquid crystal panel will be described as an example of an electro-optical panel according to the embodiments of the invention.
Color Filter
First, a color filter according to an embodiment of the invention will be described. In this embodiment, a four-color filter which has RGB regions used as a general color filter and additional color region is used. As additional color, cyan, white (achromatic color), yellow, and so on are conceivable but cyan (C) will be used in the following description.
Meanwhile, the color reproduction area 80 of a four-color filter using cyan in addition to RGB has a rectangular shape shown by a solid line. Apexes 80R, 80G, 80B, and 80C correspond to red, green, blue, and cyan, respectively. As can be seen by comparing the color reproduction area 90 of a three-color filter shown in
Black-and-White Image Display
Next, the black-and-white image display of a display device using four-color filters will be described.
However, in a case of arrange two pixels in a horizontal direction, it is possible to form one pixel even by the combination of four sub-pixels in the middle, as shown in
In this way, in black-and-white image display, it is possible to improve the resolution using the same four-color filters by performing display in units shifted by one sub-pixel (that is, half of a color pixel).
When an input image is a black-and-white image, the image is generally configured by line segments such as characters or figures. Meanwhile, it is understood that the visual sensibility of a human being for a color image is high than that for a black-and-white image. Therefore, in the display device using a four-color filter according to an embodiment of the invention, when the input image is a black-and-white image, if line segments are detected from an input image signal and the line segments are displayed as black-and-white line segment patterns shown in
Color Image Display
Next, color image display in the display device using a four-color filter will be described. When the input image is a color image and when the input image does not contain a line segment part even though the input image is a black-and-white image, the input image data is rendered to R, G, B, and C sub-pixels such that a color image is display (this is referred to as ‘color-sub-pixel rendering’).
In
In
In this way, the rendering of each sub-pixel of the four-color filter is performed using an input image signal containing R, G, B, and C color data in every sub-pixel of the four-color filter (that is, an input image data having twice the resolution of color pixels composed of four-color filters in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction), thereby color image display can be performed in the broad color reproduction area as shown in
Image Display Device
Next, an embodiment of a display device to which the above-mentioned color filter is applied will be described.
An RGB signal 20 is input from the outside to the display device 10. The RGB signal 20 includes an R signal Sr, a G signal Sg, and a B signal Sb. The image processing unit 12 generates four-color signals from the input RGB signal 20. The four-color signals correspond to R, G, B, and C, respectively, and are supplied to the driver 16 in the liquid crystal panel 14.
The liquid crystal display unit 18 is a liquid crystal display unit to which the above-mentioned four-color filter is applied. The driver 16 drives individual pixels of the liquid crystal display unit 18 on the basis of the input four-color signal 28. In this way, each pixel composed of a four-color filter is driven as shown in
Next, the image processing unit 12 will be described in detail. The image processing unit 12 generates a four-color signal, which corresponds to each sub-pixel region of the four-color filter provided in the liquid crystal display unit 18, from the input RGB signal.
As has already been described, the four-color filter according to the embodiment of the invention has an advantage that the four-color filter has a broader color reproduction area for a color image signal than a general RGB color filter. Meanwhile, as has been described with reference to
Further, in this embodiment, it is discriminated whether the input image is a black-and-white (achromatic) image or a color (chromatic) image and then different processes are performed on the individual images. In particular, when the input image is a black-and-white image, line segments (vertical lines and horizontal lines) are detected from the input image and white or black is assigned to every pixel, thereby performing display that accentuates line segments (hereinafter, referred to as a ‘lining process’). In this way, when the input image is a text or the like, it is possible to clearly display characters, figures, and so on.
Meanwhile, when the input image is a color image, the color image is displayed by the above-mentioned color sub-pixel rendering.
The RGB signal 20 input to the image processing unit 12 is input to the discriminating unit 41, the black-and-white image processing unit 42, and the color image processing unit 43. The discriminating unit 41 converts the RGB signal 20 into a YUV signal and then generates a luminance signal Y and color difference signals U and V. Subsequently, the discriminating unit 41 discriminates whether the input RGB signal is a black-and-white image or a color image on the basis of the obtained color difference signals. In particular, the discriminating unit 41 discriminates whether the color difference signals U and V are less than a predetermined value X. When both signals are less than the predetermined value X, the discriminating unit 41 discriminates that the input image is a black-and-white image, and when at least one of both signals is not less than the predetermined value X, the discriminating unit 41 discriminates that the input image is a color image. As the predetermined value X, for example, a value around ‘0.1’ (that is, 10%) can be used. In this case, the discriminating unit 41 discriminates that an image of which color component is less than 10% is a black-and-white image and an image of which color component is not less than 10% is a color image. A discrimination result signal 61 obtained in this way is sent to the black-and-white image processing unit 42 and the color image processing unit 43.
When the discrimination result signal 61 represents that the input image is a black-and-white image, the black-and-white image processing unit 42 operates to generate an image signal 62 by performing a lining process to be described on the input image so as to accentuate lines of the input image, and sends the generated image signal to the output unit (γ converter) 44 when the discrimination result signal 61 represents that the input image is a black-and-white image. Meanwhile, when the discrimination result signal 61 represents that the input image is a color image, the color image processing unit 43 operates to generate an image signal 63 by performing the color sub-pixel rendering process on the input image so as to improve the resolution, and sends the image signal 63 to the output unit 44. The output unit 44 performs γ conversion on the supplied image signal 62 or 63 on the basis of a predetermined γ characteristic to output the converted result as four color signals 28.
Further, the discriminating unit 41 discriminates whether image data is a black-and-white image or a color image for every predetermined unit of image data. The predetermined unit of image data can be, for example, a two-by-two color pixels (that is, a four-by-four sub-pixels) shown in
When it is discriminated that the input image is a black-and-white (Yes in step S2), the black-and-white image processing unit 42 detects lines. In order to detect lines, for the predetermined unit of image data (four-by-four sub-pixels in this embodiment), it is discriminated whether each sub-pixel is a black-and-white sub-pixel or a color sub-pixel by using a predetermined threshold. When it is discriminated that all the sixteen sub-pixels are white or black sub-pixels and the pattern matches any one of the line segment patterns shown in
When it is discriminated that the predetermined unit of image data is a line segment part (Yes in step S3), the black-and-white image processing unit 42 substitutes the predetermined unit of image data with the line segment pattern which matches the predetermined unit of image data. In other words, the black-and-white image processing unit 42 substitutes the color data of each sub-pixel of the predetermined unit of image data with the white sub-pixel value or the black sub-pixel value of the line segment pattern of
Meanwhile, when it is discriminated that the input image is a color image (No in step S2) or when it is discriminated that the predetermined unit of image data is not a line segment part even though it is discriminated that the input image is a black-and-white image (No in step S3), the color image processing unit 43 generates color image data by performing the color sub-pixel rendering process described above with reference to
As described above, in the display device having four-color filters according to the disclosed embodiment of the invention, when the input image is a black-and-white image and has line segments, four-color data is defined by a lining process so as to accentuate the line segments. Therefore, it is possible to improve the resolution of the black-and-white image. Meanwhile, when the input image is a color image and when the input image is a black-and-white image but the input image doesn't have any line segment, four-color data is generated by the color sub-pixel rendering process. Therefore, it is possible to perform color image display with excellent color reproductivity.
A further embodiment, while being similar to the previously disclosed embodiment, has a resolution that is improved in the horizontal or vertical direction by devising arrangement of sub-pixels in four-color filters.
Liquid Crystal Display Panel
Next, an example of a liquid crystal display panel to which a color filter substrate according to an embodiment of the invention is applied will be described. According to this example, a color filter substrate having the above-mentioned four-color filters is applied to a transflective liquid crystal display panel 14.
In
The substrate 101 is a transparent substrate made of glass or the like and the above-mentioned four-color filters CF are formed on the substrate 101. In particular, R, G, B, and C filter regions are arranged as described above. Further, if necessary, a transparent resin scattering layer may be formed of an acryl resin or the like on the substrate 101. Furthermore, metal films may be formed in reflective regions on the resin scattering layer. In addition, in the reflective regions, color filters may be formed on the metal films, respectively.
Furthermore, if necessary, a black matrix may be formed at borders among the individual color filters. On the color filters CF, transparent electrodes 17 are formed of a transparent conductive material such as ITO (indium tin oxide). According to the present embodiment, the transparent electrodes 17 are formed in stripes to be parallel to each other. Also, the transparent electrodes 17 extend in the direction orthogonal to transparent electrodes 121 which are formed on the substrate 102 in stripes. The members that constitute the liquid crystal display panel 14 and are included at intersections between the transparent electrodes 17 and the transparent electrodes 121 constitute pixel regions 20.
On the other hand, transparent electrodes 121 are formed on the internal surface of the substrate 102 so as to intersect the transparent electrodes 17 on the substrate 101 opposite to the substrate 102. Further, if necessary, alignment films may be formed on the transparent electrodes 17 on the substrate 101 and on the transparent electrodes 121 on the substrate 102.
In the liquid crystal display panel 14, when the reflective display is performed, external light incident onto the region where the metal reflecting films are formed is directed along the path R illustrated in
The above-mentioned liquid crystal display panel is just an example in which the four-color filter according to the disclosed embodiments of the invention is applied, and the four-color filter can be applied to various liquid crystal display panels having other constructions.
Electronic Apparatus
Next, an example of an electronic apparatus to which the liquid crystal display panel according to the disclosed embodiments of the invention can be applied will be described with reference to
First, an example in which the liquid crystal display panel according to an embodiment of the invention is applied to a display unit of a portable personal computer (a so-called notebook personal computer) will be described.
Subsequently, an example in which the liquid crystal display panel according to an embodiment of the invention is applied to a display unit of a mobile phone will be described.
In addition, the electronic apparatuses to which the liquid crystal display panels according to an embodiment of the invention can be applied include a liquid crystal TV, a view finder type and monitor direct-view-type videotape recorder, a car navigator, a pager, an electronic organizer, a calculator, a word processor, a work station, a video phone, a POS terminal, and a digital still camera, as well as the personal computer shown in
The embodiments of the invention advantageously provide an image display device in which four color sub-pixel regions form one pixel which can display color images with high color reproductivity and high-definition black-and-white images, by using a color input image signal such as a RGB signal.
The substrate and the liquid crystal device having the above-mentioned reflective layer and color filters are not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments but various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
According to the above-mentioned embodiments, the liquid crystal display panel is described as an example. However, the electro-optical device according to embodiments of the invention can also be applied to an electrophoresis device such as an electronic paper and an electroluminescent (EL) device.
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