Patent Application
20090144641
This application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2007-0124521 filed on Dec. 3, 2007 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of Disclosure
The present disclosure of invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor and a combined computer-display system including the same.
2. Description of Related Technology
An LCD based video monitor receives video signals from an external host device, and after processing the supplied signals, displays predetermined images in accordance with the processed video signals. By way of example, an LCD monitor may receive DVI (Digital Visual Interface) signals and analog signals from a computer, and after performing conversion of the signals into LVDS (Low Voltage Differential Signaling) signals, processes the converted LVDS signals so as to display predetermined images.
A so-called DisplayPort (DP) interface standard has been recently put forth by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) to replace older computer-to-monitor interfaces. Under the older standards the display monitor was generally responsible for displaying monitor control visuals (On Screen Control visuals) such as those that indicate screen brightness, screen contrast, frame positioning, etc. One aspect of LCD monitors that is not common with older CRT-based display units is that screen brightness is typically controlled by controlling intensity of backlighting light provided by a local backlight unit.
The present disclosure provides a liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor having an OSD (On-Screen Display) capability that can interact with the VESA-DP function.
Another aspect of the present disclosure is that it provides a display system having an OSD function.
However, the aspects of the present disclosure are not restricted to those set forth herein. The above and other aspects of the present disclosure will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure pertains by referencing the detailed description as given below.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor including: a first bi-directional channel; a first unidirectional channel; a handling portion for providing a user command signal in response to user input manipulations; and a timing controller for receiving the user command signal and outputting to an external host device, an OSD (On-Screen Display) control request signal through the first bi-directional channel, and receiving a responsive OSD video signal corresponding to the OSD control request signal through the first unidirectional channel from the external host device.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a display system including: an LCD including a handling portion for providing a user command signal in response to user manipulation of user actuatable inputs, and a timing controller for receiving the user command signal and outputting an OSD control request signal, and receiving a responsive OSD video signal; and a host device for receiving the OSD control request signal, and providing the responsive OSD video signal in a manner corresponding to the OSD control request signal to the LCD.
The above and other aspects and features of the present disclosure will become apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
The disclosure will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure are illustrated. The disclosure may, however, be implemented in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the specific embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure conveys a fuller scope of appreciation of the disclosed concepts to those skilled in the art.
It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Like numbers denote like elements throughout the specification. As used herein the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections, these elements, components, regions, layers and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another element, component, region, layer or section. Thus, a first element, component, region, layer or section discussed below could be termed a second element, component, region, layer or section without departing from the teachings of the present disclosure.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure most closely pertains. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
A liquid crystal display (LCD) and a display system according to embodiments of the present disclosure will hereinafter be described in detail with reference to
Referring first to
The LCD monitor 200 interfaces with the host device 100 through the transmission cable 300. As an example, the LCD monitor 200 receives video signals and/or audio signals from the host device 100 via a unidirectional channel (e.g., MAIN link channel) of the transmission cable 300. Further, the LCD monitor 200 may transmit an OSD (on-screen display) requesting control signal to the host device 100 via a bi-directional channel (e.g., VESA-DP AUX channel) of the transmission cable 300. In response, the host device 100 provides an OSD video signal to the LCD monitor 200 via the unidirectional channel of the transmission cable 300. The LCD monitor 200 then processes the received OSD video signal and displays a corresponding OSD image (IMAGE_OSD).
Referring to
As an example, the handling portion 220 may include user-actuatable buttons disposed on a front portion of the LCD monitor 200 as shown by the + and − buttons at 220 in
The timing controller 210 receives the user command signal (UCS) and outputs a corresponding OSD requesting control signal (OSD1) to the host device 100. To be more precise, the timing controller 210 outputs the OSD requesting control signal (OSD1) to the host device 100 through a bi-directional channel 320 (e.g., AUX channel) of the transmission cable 300.
As shown in
In summary, the LCD monitor 200 exchanges request and response signals via cable 300 with the external host device 100 in order to cause display of an appropriate OSD image (IMAGE_OSD) on the monitor screen corresponding to what the user requested via the user interface handling portion 220. A computer program for determining what to display, if at all, as the requested OSD image (IMAGE_OSD) and its background is not contained in the LCD monitor 200; but rather is included in the external host device 100. Accordingly, the manufacturer of the host device 100 has great flexibility in determining what the OSD image and/or its background will look like and/or what the look and feel of the user interactions with the display control buttons 220 will be. For example, in some applications the host device 100 may intentionally disable certain user-actuatable monitor control options as deemed appropriate.
In terms of greater detail, in response to user input manipulations of the on-LCD user interface (220), the LCD monitor 200 outputs the corresponding OSD requesting control signal (OSD1) corresponding to the user command signal (UCS) to the host device 100 via bidirectional channel 320. In response to the OSD requesting control signal (OSD1) received from the LCD 200, the external host device 100 provides the corresponding OSD video signal (OSD2) to the LCD monitor 200 via unidirectional channel 310, and the LCD monitor 200 then displays the host-generated OSD image (IMAGE_OSD) in accordance with the OSD video signal (OSD2) provided from the host device 100 via unidirectional channel 310.
Various embodiments of an LCD and a display system comprising the same and in accordance with the present disclosure will be described hereinafter. The LCD in each embodiment is described as interfacing with the host device utilizing the VESA DisplayPort standard. However, the present disclosure is not limited in this respect. Other display interfaces that have bidirectional and unidirectional channels may be used. The VESA DisplayPort is a digital display interface standard put forth by VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association), a description of which is publicly available to those skilled in the art and thus will not be provided in detail herein. (See however,
An LCD and a display system comprising the same according to one embodiment of the present disclosure will hereinafter be described with reference to
Referring to
Further, the timing controller 211 of the LCD 201 is able to interface with internal modules of the LCD through a second disconnectable connector 270. As an example, the timing controller 211 of the LCD 201 may receive a user command signal (UCS) from a handling portion 220 through the second connector 270, and may provide a dimming signal (DIM) for controlling the brightness of an LCD backlighting unit 240 to an inverter 230 through the second connector 270. Such dimming may allow the system to conserve power as it waits for example, for response inputs from a user. In other words, the LCD may go into a low power idle state if no interactions from a host or a user are received after a predetermined wait time. In this low power idle state, the backlight unit 240 may be dimmed to a predefined idle state so as to save energy and increase lifetime of light emitters (e.g., fluorescent bulbs) of the backlight unit 240. If and when interaction is detected from a host or a user, the predefined idle state is halted and the backlight unit 240 resumes whatever DIM state it was last commanded to be in.
In the following, each module of one embodiment is described in greater detail. The LCD 201 includes the liquid crystal panel 280 whose image is projected in part by light provided from the backlighting unit 240. The LCD 201 further includes a circuit substrate 250 (e.g., printed circuit board or PCB), the timing controller 211 implemented as a monolithic integrated circuit (IC) mounted on the substrate 250, a gate driver IC (not shown), a plurality of data driver IC's (DIC), a backlight powering inverter 230, the user-input handling portion 220, and the backlight unit 240. As will be understood by those skilled in the LCD arts, the DIC's couple to data drive lines on a TFT's-containing transparent substrate of the LCD panel 280. The data lines are crossed by gate lines and bounded regions of these crossings define pixel areas on the LCD screen 280.
The liquid crystal panel 280 displays images utilizing a configuration that includes a plurality of gate lines (mentioned above but not shown), a plurality of data drive lines (mentioned above but not shown), and a plurality of pixel areas (not shown) formed at regions of intersection of the plurality of gate lines (not shown) and the plurality of data lines (not shown).
The gate driver IC (not shown) and the data driver IC's (DIC's) are coupled to the liquid crystal panel 280 via a typically flexible ribbon cable (not fully shown, but understood to extend from the top edge of circuit substrate 250 in
Further circuits (not shown) may be mounted on the circuit substrate 250 for generating various signals for driving the timing controller 211 and the LCD 201. A plurality of wires or PCB traces may be formed on the circuit substrate 250 for electrically interconnecting the timing controller 211, the data driver IC(s) (DIC(s)), and the various other circuits (not shown). Further, the circuit substrate 250 includes the first lo disconnectable connector 260 and the second disconnectable connector 270, and may include means for implementing the bi-directional channel 251 (e.g., AUX channel) and the unidirectional channel 252 (e.g., Main Link) for thereby electrically interconnecting the first connector 260 and the timing controller 211. In one embodiment, each of the bi-directional channel 251 and the unidirectional channel 252 is defined by one or more serial data links. More specifically (see
Referring still to
Internal modules such as the inverter 230 and the handling portion 220 of
The handling portion 220 is coupled to the second connector 270 so as to interface with the timing controller 211. The handling portion 220 provides a user command signal (UCS), which corresponds to user manipulation of user-actuatable inputs that couple to the handling portion 220. The user command signal (UCS) couples to the timing controller 211 via the second connector 270. The user command signal (UCS) may be a signal that requests control of the On/Off states of the backlight unit 240, which seeks to adjust the brightness of the backlight unit 240, or seeks to adjust the picture size or contrast of the image displayed on the liquid crystal panel 280. In other words, the user command signal (UCS) is a signal requesting to control operations such as those of the internal modules, and more specifically such as operations of the backlight unit 240.
The inverter 230 is coupled to the second connector 270 so as to interface with the timing controller 210. The inverter 230 receives a dimming control signal (DIM) for adjusting the brightness of the backlight unit 240 from the timing controller 211 through the second connector 270. The inverter 230 receives the dimming control signal (DIM) and responsively adjusts the brightness of light output by the backlight unit 240 accordingly.
As mentioned, the timing controller 211 interfaces with the off-board LCD internal modules through the second connector 270. That is, the timing controller 210 receives a user command signal (UCS) from the handling portion 220 through the second connector 270, and if the UCS is one that is requesting user control of the screen brightness or user control of the screen On/Off function, the timing controller 211 ultimately outputs a corresponding module control signal (e.g., the dimming signal (DIM) for adjusting the brightness of the backlight unit 240) through the second connector 270. By ultimately, it is meant here that the timing controller 211 may not necessarily immediately output a changed dimming signal (DIM) to inverter 230. Instead, the timing controller 211 may first wait for an OSD image selected by the host to be displayed and for additional user input manipulation to occur. For example, if the user seeks to control image brightness by reducing brightness to less than 50%, timing controller 211 may first wait for brightness control OSD image shown in
In the illustrated embodiment, however, the timing controller 211 does not include means for directly defining and adjusting the displayed OSD_Image (e.g., the one shown in
In addition, in accordance with VESA_DP protocol, the timing controller 211 may provide an EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) signal and/or an HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) signal to the host device (not shown) through the first bi-directional channel 251 and the transmission cable 300. Also at this time, the timing controller 211 may indicate by setting of bits in the header (HEADER) that transmission destination is the host device (not shown), and that the main packet data (MAIN DATA) is an EDID signal and/or an HDCP signal. Further, the EDID signal and/or HDCP signal may be transmitted as a portion of the MAIN DATA rather than as its entirety.
Furthermore, the timing controller 211 may receive from the host device (not shown) and through the first bi-directional channel 251, and the transmission cable 300 control signals for controlling output of a video signal (VIDEO) and/or an audio signal (AUDIO). At this time, the host device (not shown) may determine from the packet header (HEADER) of a requesting control signal that transmission is to be performed to the timing controller 211 by the host device (not shown), and that the requested main data (MAIN DATA) is the EDID signal and/or the HDCP signal. Further, the control signals that control the output of the video signal (VIDEO) and/or the audio signal (AUDIO) may be transmitted as part of the main data (MAIN DATA). The EDID and HDCP signals, and the control signals that control the output of the video signal (VIDEO) and/or the audio signal (AUDIO) may comply with the Monitor Control Command Set (MCCS) standard put forth by VESA.
When the requesting control signal (OSD1) output by the timing controller 211 requests a specified OSD_Image, the timing controller 211 receives the requested OSD video signal (OSD2) from the host through the cable 300, the first connector 260 and the first unidirectional channel 252. After receiving the requested OSD video signal (OSD2), the timing controller 211 controls the on-substrate data drivers (DIC's) and the gate driver (not shown) such that the corresponding OSD image (IMAGE_OSD) as determined by software executing in the host device will be displayed. Additionally, the timing controller 211 may receive an accompanying audio signal (AUDIO) from the host device (not shown) through the first unidirectional channel 252.
The transmission cable 300 is disconnectably coupled to the first connector 260 to thereby interconnect the LCD 201 and the host device (not shown). The transmission cable 300, as shown in
The in-cable bi-directional channel wires (AUX_CH) are connected to the in-monitor bi-directional channel lines 251 through the first connector 260 and similarly, the in-cable unidirectional channel wires (ML_Lane0, ML_Lane1, ML_Lane2, ML_Lane3) are connected to the in-monitor unidirectional channel lines 252 through the first connector 260. The hot plug detect line (HPDL) and the auxiliary power line (AUX_PWR) may be lines for enabling the LCD 201 to realize further VESA-DisplayPort interfacing functions with the host device (not shown).
In summary, the program and/or device for generating and/or defining the requested OSD image (IMAGE_OSD) is included in the external host device (not shown) rather than in the LCD monitor. Accordingly, the LCD monitor 200 must interface with a responsive external host device (not shown) so as to display OSD images (IMAGE_OSD) requested by the timing controller 211 but originated by the host device. In greater detail and in accordance with embodiment, the LCD monitor 200 interfaces with the host device (not shown) utilizing the DisplayPort standard. In this case, the LCD monitor 200 outputs the OSD image requesting control signal (OSD1) through the bi-directional channel (AUX_CH), and receives the corresponding OSD video signal (OSD2) through a unidirectional channel (Main Link).
Through use of such an LCD and display system, the LCD monitor does not need to include memory devices for storing the software program(s) that define the OSD images and/or hardware devices for supporting display and adjustment of the OSD images (IMAGE_OSD). Therefore, the LCD monitor may be made at lower cost, reduced energy consumption, with a slimmer profile and the internal structure of the LCD monitor may be simplified. Further, the LCD monitor 200, which interfaces with the host device (not shown) utilizing the DisplayPort standard, is provided with OSD functions including that of controlling backlight brightness to thereby enhance the convenience provided to users.
An LCD and a display system comprising the same according to another embodiment of the present disclosure will hereinafter be described with reference to
Referring to
A more detailed description will be provided hereinafter using the example in which the user manipulates the handling portion 220 to adjust the brightness of the LCD 202.
The handling portion 220 provides a user command signal (UCS) to the timing controller 212 that corresponds to user manipulation. As an example, the user command signal (UCS) is assumed to be a signal for increasing screen brightness.
In response to the user command signal (UCS), the timing controller 212 provides the OSD image-requesting control signal (OSD1) to the host device (not shown) through the first bi-directional channel 251, the first connector 260, and the transmission cable 300. Further, after the external host generates the requested OSD image data, the corresponding OSD video signal (OSD2) is transmitted by the host device (not shown) and is received by the LCD monitor 202 through the transmission cable 300, the first connector 260, and the first unidirectional channel 252. The timing controller 212 process the received OSD video signal (OSD2) and causes the corresponding OSD image (IMAGE_OSD) to be displayed on the LCD screen 280.
In addition, in response to the exemplary user command signal (UCS) requesting an increasing of screen brightness, the timing controller 212 provides a module control signal, e.g., the dimming signal (DIM), to the inverter 230 for causing the inverter to correspondingly increase the backlight intensity. The timing controller 212 may store the latest dimming signal (DIM) value in the nonvolatile memory 290. Thus even if the LCD monitor 202 is turned off and again turned on, the timing controller 212 does not lose track of the last dimming value because on power-up, the timing controller 212 reads the last dimming signal (DIM) value from the memory 290 and provide the corresponding DIM signal to the inverter 230 so as to restore the last screen brightness. That is, even if the LCD 202 is turned off and thereafter turned on, since the memory 290 stores the dimming signal (DIM) corresponding to the last level of brightness desired by the user, the brightness existing prior to turning off the LCD 202 is maintained and the user need not again adjust the brightness of the LCD 202 unless a new brightness is desired.
The memory 290 is able to store each of the internal module control signals or parameters, which are generated in accordance with user manipulation of input means 220. That is, the memory 290 receives (from the timing controller 212) and stores at least the information of the dimming signal (DIM) for controlling the brightness of the backlight unit 240. The memory 290 may additionally receive (from the timing controller 212) and store information representing the last contrast level, information representing the last size of the image displayed on the liquid crystal panel 280, and so forth. When it is requested by the timing controller 212, the memory 290 provides this stored information to the timing controller 212.
The memory 290 and the timing controller 212 may interface with each other via an 12C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) bus. However, the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.
While the present disclosure has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2007-0124521 | Dec 2007 | KR | national |
