Embodiments of the present invention comprise methods and systems for generating, modifying and applying backlight driving values for an LED backlight array.
Some displays, such as LCD displays, have backlight arrays with individual elements that can be individually addressed and modulated. The displayed image characteristics can be improved by systematically addressing backlight array elements.
Some embodiments of the present invention comprise methods and systems for generating, modifying and applying backlight driving values for an LED backlight array.
The foregoing and other objectives, features, and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
Embodiments of the present invention will be best understood by reference to the drawings, wherein like parts are designated by like numerals throughout. The figures listed above are expressly incorporated as part of this detailed description.
It will be readily understood that the components of the present invention, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein, could be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, the following more detailed description of the embodiments of the methods and systems of the present invention is not intended to limit the scope of the invention but it is merely representative of the presently preferred embodiments of the invention.
Elements of embodiments of the present invention may be embodied in hardware, firmware and/or software. While exemplary embodiments revealed herein may only describe one of these forms, it is to be understood that one skilled in the art would be able to effectuate these elements in any of these forms while resting within the scope of the present invention.
In a high dynamic range (HDR) display, comprising an LCD using an LED backlight, an algorithm may be used to convert the input image into a low resolution LED image, for modulating the backlight LED, and a high resolution LCD image. To achieve high contrast and save power, the backlight should contain as much contrast as possible. The higher contrast backlight image combined with the high resolution LCD image can produce much higher dynamic range image than a display using prior art methods. However, one issue with a high contrast backlight is motion-induced flickering. As a moving object crosses the LED boundaries, there is an abrupt change in the backlight: In this process, some LEDs reduce their light output and some increase their output; which causes the corresponding LCD to change rapidly to compensate for this abrupt change in the backlight. Due to the timing difference between the LED driving and LCD driving, or an error in compensation, fluctuation in the display output may occur causing noticeable flickering along the moving objects. The current solution is to use infinite impulse response (IIR) filtering to smooth the temporal transition, however, this is not accurate and also may cause highlight clipping.
An LCD has limited dynamic range due the extinction ratio of polarizers and imperfections in the LC material. In order to display high-dynamic-range images, a low resolution LED backlight system may be used to modulate the light that feeds into the LCD. By the combination of modulated LED backlight and LCD, a very high dynamic range (HDR) display can be achieved. For cost reasons, the LED typically has a much lower spatial resolution than the LCD. Due to the lower resolution LED, the HDR display, based on this technology, can not display high dynamic pattern of high spatial resolution. But, it can display an image with both very bright areas (>2000 cd/m2) and very dark areas (<0.5 cd/m2) simultaneously. Because the human eye has limited dynamic range in a local area, this is not a significant problem in normal use. And, with visual masking, the eye can hardly perceive the limited dynamic range of high spatial frequency content.
Another problem with modulated-LED-backlight LCDs is flickering along the motion trajectory, i.e. the fluctuation of display output. This can be due to the mismatch in LCD and LED temporal response as well as errors in the LED point spread function (PSF). Some embodiments may comprise temporal low-pass filtering to reduce the flickering artifact.
Aspects of some embodiments of the present invention may be described with reference to
Motion Blur Reduction with Flashing Backlight
Typical overdrive processes can reduce the motion blur due to an LCD's slow temporal response, but generally do not eliminate the motion blur completely. This is due to the fact that the image displayed on the LCD is always on during the entire frame time. The fact that the eye tracks the motion while the image is held during the frame time causes a relative motion on the retina. The average effect of this relative motion on the retina is perceived as motion blur.
One way to reduce this motion blur is to reduce the time that an image frame is displayed.
Backlight flashing can reduce motion blur, but, flickering, which is normally associated with a cathode ray tube (CRT) display, is visible due to the impulse backlight. One way to reduce the flickering artifacts is to increase the refresh rate. CRT monitors used in computer display are commonly set to a refresh rate of 75 Hz to reduce flickering. For an LCD, with a fixed frame rate, it is possible to flash the backlight multiple times per frame to increase the refresh rate. However, for motion images, multiple flashes in a single frame can cause ghosting images.
One way to solve this ghosting problem is to drive the LCD at the same rate as the backlight flashing rate, e.g. 120 Hz, and using motion compensated frame interpolation. However, the costs associated with motion estimation and a high frame rate driver in LCD is generally prohibitive.
Some embodiments of the present invention comprise a motion-detection-based temporal dithering algorithm that can adapt to the video content. Each frame in a video sequence may be divided into multiple blocks. Each block corresponds to a backlight element, such as a CCFL tube or an LED. The backlight (e.g., CCFL tube or LED) may be operated in either “on” or “off” mode. Temporal dithering may be used to have the desired backlight output for each block. In temporal dithering, the desired backlight level is compared to a preset value called the screen function. If the backlight level is greater than the screen function, the backlight is turned on; otherwise, the backlight is off.
In some embodiments, motion detection may be performed to classify each block as a motion block or a still block. The motion blocks may be temporally dithered with a “cluster” screen that is optimized for rendering a motion image. The still blocks may be dithered with a “dispersed” screen that is optimized for reducing flickering. The cluster screen can prevent motion blur, and since these blocks contain motion, flickering is typically not visible in these blocks. The dispersed screen can increase the backlight frequency to above the human visual system's flickering perception threshold.
S
c(t)=A(1−(t−floor(t)))
where t is the time in frames, and A is the screen amplitude, which determines the flashing duty cycle. Larger A reduces the duty cycle, which leads to lower motion blur.
S
d
=A(1−(2t−floor(2t))).
The desired backlight level 60, 70(dashed line in the figures) is compared to the screen function 62, 72 (solid line). If the desired backlight level 60, 70 is greater than the screen function 62, 72, the backlight is on as indicated with the thick solid line on top of the
One problem with the two-screen approach is the boundary effect. Switching from one screen (e.g., disperse) to another screen (e.g., cluster) causes a temporal discontinuity as shown in
To remove this flickering effect, some embodiments of the present invention create a transition region that may last one or more frames to gradually transition from one dither screen to another.
where N is the total number of transition frames, and i denotes the ith transition frame. The transition from cluster to disperse may be the reverse of the transition from disperse to cluster.
The concept of dithering using disperse and cluster screens can be implemented using an LED driver with programmable “on” timing and “off” timing.
The use of two PWM pulses in one LCD frame enables motion adaptive backlight flashing. If there is no detected motion, the two PWM pulses may have the same width, but may be offset in time by half of an LCD frame time. If the LCD frame rate is 60 Hz, the perceived image is actually 120 Hz, thus eliminating the perception of flickering. If motion is detected, the first PWM pulse may be reduced or eliminated, while the width of the second PWM pulse in that frame may be increased to maintain the overall brightness. Elimination of the first PWM pulse may significantly reduce the temporal aperture thereby reducing motion blur.
ΔT=λI
ΔT1+ΔT2=ΔT
An alternative approach in the LED driver is to set the PWM “off” signal at the blank signal, and the PWM “on” to be sometime before the blank signal as shown in
For each backlight element or HDR block, motion detection 144 is performed to determine whether it is a motion block or still block. For motion detection purposes, each backlight block may be subdivided into sub-blocks. In some embodiments, each sub-block may consist of 8×8 pixels in the high resolution HDR image 140.
In an exemplary embodiment, the process of motion detection 144, resulting in a motion map 145 and the determination of pulse timing 143, are as follows:
ΔT
1
=ΔT−0.5
ΔT2=0.5
The sub-sampled and low-pass filtered image 141 may be used to determine LED driving values 142, which may be sent to the LED backlight driver 146 after combination with the pulse timing data 143. Pulse timing data 143 may also be sent to a backlight prediction process 149. The actual backlight image that will be used to illuminate the full resolution input image 140, may be predicted by convolving the backlight signal with the point spread function of the display, which comprises the diffusion layer. This image may then be up-sampled 150 to the full LCD image resolution. The input image 140 may then be divided 152 by the up-sampled backlight image to create a display image that will have the proper image characteristics when displayed with the pulsed backlight determined for the image. This display image data may then be sent to the overdrive circuit 151, which may also access a frame buffer to determine overdrive image values. The overdriven image values may then be sent to the LCD driver 148, where a blank signal may be derived 147 and sent to the backlight driver 146 to synchronize LED flashing with LCD driving. The pulsed backlight may then be used to display the overdriven display image.
The terms and expressions which have been employed in the foregoing specification are used therein as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding equivalence of the features shown and described or portions thereof.