Interface

Abstract

A controller for switching the operation state of a transmitter portion sets a transmitter portion in which the data amount to be transmitted is larger than a predetermined amount to a high speed mode, sets a transmitter portion in which the data amount to be transmitted is below a predetermined amount and larger than zero to a low speed mode, and sets a transmitter portion in which the data amount to be transmitted is equal to zero to a sleep mode. The power consumption in the transmitter portion in which the data amount to be transmitted is small and the transmitter portion in which the data amount to be transmitted is equal to zero can be suppressed and thus the power consumption can be reduced.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the transmission means side of an interface according to a first embodiment,

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the receiving means side of the interface,

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a bit distribution of image data at a predetermined time interval at the interface,

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a method for compressing image data at the interface,

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a graphic system using the interface,

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the transmission side of an interface according to a second embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 7( a) is a diagram showing interlaced scanning at the interface,

FIG. 7( c) is a diagram showing the rearrangement of an image signal at the transmission means,

and FIG. 7(d) is a diagram showing the rearrangement of making the image signal sequential in the same channel of the transmission means.

Claims

1. An interface comprising: transmission means of a plurality of channels for transmitting an image signal for displaying an image on an image display device;receiving means of a plurality of channels for receiving the image signal transmitted from the transmission means and outputting the image signal to the image display device side; andoperation switching means for switching the operation state of at least one of the transmission means and the receiving means, wherein at least one of the transmission means and the receiving means has a processing mode for subjecting the image signal to predetermined processing, a low speed processing mode for subjecting the image signal to predetermined processing with power lower than the processing mode, and a stop mode for stopping the predetermined processing of the image signal, and the operation switching means sets to the processing mode a channel in which an image signal amount to be processed is larger than a predetermined amount, sets to the low speed processing mode a channel in which the image signal amount to be processed is not more than the predetermined amount and is larger than zero, and sets to the stop mode a channel in which the image signal amount to be processed is equal to zero.

2. The interface according to claim 1, further comprising differential operation means for calculating the difference between an image display signal for displaying an image on the image display device and a predetermined reference signal and outputting an image signal, wherein at least one of the transmission means and the receiving means executes predetermined processing on the image signal output from the differential operation means.

3. The interface according to claim 1, further comprising data rearranging means that can rearrange bits of the image signal at least either in the same channel or between different channels, wherein at least one of the transmission means and the receiving means executes predetermined processing on the image signal rearranged by the data rearranging means.

4. The interface according to claim 1, further comprising compression means for compressing the image signal, wherein at least one of the transmission means and the receiving means executes predetermined processing on the image signal compressed by the compressing means.

5. The interface according to claim 1, further comprising scan means that can execute interlaced scanning on the image signal for displaying the image on the image display device, and data rearranging means that can rearrange the image signal which is subjected to the interlaced scanning by the scan means, wherein the transmission means transmits the image signal rearranged by the data rearranging means, and the data rearranging means can rearrange the image signal at least either in the same channel or between different channels.

6. The interface according to claim 5, wherein the data rearranging means can rearrange image signals separated in the same channel so that the image signals are continuous with each other in the same channel.