Patent Application
20070067498
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system displays, and more particularly to a system and method for information handling system video input and output.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems have a variety of interfaces to input and output information. For example, typical information handling systems include one or more video output interfaces that output video information from the system for presentation at a display, such as VGA and DVI outputs or more specialized S-Video, composite or component video outputs that output television compatible signals. The use of such standardized interfaces allows a wide variety of types of information handling system devices to present information at either displays or televisions, such as gaming devices like XBOX and PSII or set top television displays. Indeed, the introduction and use of high definition televisions has brought about a convergence of information handling system and television technology for improved resolution of images in the presentation of visual information received from either an information handling system or a television signal. As an example, an information handling system with a S-Video connector communicates visual information through an internal graphics card to output a television compatible signal through the S-Video connector for display of the visual information at a television.
Although information handling systems are typically configured to interface with external display devices, typical portable information handling systems have a display integrated in their housing. Generally, portable information handling system displays use liquid crystal display (LCD) panels because LCD panels have a thin configuration that fits in a housing lid and also because LCD panels present a high quality display with relatively little power consumption. These same characteristics have made LCD panels a popular option among consumers for use both as information handling system peripheral displays and as televisions. However, LCD panels that are integrated into portable information handling systems are typically not available to accept and display visual information from external information handling systems or devices. Instead, visual information from external devices is first typically processed by the portable information handling system before communication to the integrated display panel through the internal graphics card. For instance, external TV tuner modules provide television visual information through a USB interface which is transferred from the USB interface through an internal bus, such as MMI or PCI Express bus, is encoded and compressed to MPEGII by internal components and output to the LCD panel through an LVDS output. Internal encoding and compressing of the visual information introduces delays, desynchronizes video and audio information and reduces image quality. Further, such external devices are expensive and complex to use.
Therefore a need has arisen for a system and method which accepts visual information for presentation at a display integrated in an information handling system.
In accordance with the present invention, a system and method are provided which substantially reduce the disadvantages and problems associated with previous methods and systems for presenting external visual information at a display integrated in an information handling system. External visual information is input to an information handling system integrated display by selectively configuring a connector for outputting internal visual information to an external display to instead receive inputs of external visual information. The external visual information is converted to a format used by the integrated display and communicated to the integrated display for presentation of the external visual information.
More specifically, a graphics controller disposed in an information handling system housing accepts information generated by processing components disposed in the housing and provides the internally generated information to an integrated display panel for presentation in a display format, such as through a LVDS bus. The graphics controller also converts the internal visual information from a digital form to an analog form for presentation at an external display through connector, such as a S-Video or composite video connector. The connector selectively configures to accept signals from the graphics controller for output to an external display, such as a television, or to accept signals input from an external device, such as a set top box or gaming device, and provide the input external signals to the graphics controller. A multiplexer interfaces the graphics controller with the connector to output the internal visual information and switches the connector to instead interface with a video decoder to input external visual information. The video decoder converts the external analog signal to digital information and communicates the converted external visual information to a video port of the graphics controller, such as in 656 video format. In one embodiment, a connector selector automatically interfaces the connector with the video decoder when an external signal is detected at the connector and automatically interfaces the connector to the graphics controller when no external signal is detected at the connector.
The present invention provides a number of important technical advantages. One example of an important technical advantage is that visual information from an external source is presented at a display integrated in an information handling system. The use of a common connector to both input and output visual information reduces costs by sharing input and output functions with one set of hardware. Further, the use of the same connector simplifies user interaction with the connector by automated selection at the interface of input or output functions based on the signals present at the connector. Information handling system users are thus able to present high quality images with LCD panels of portable information handling systems that are communicated from external devices. Improved quality presentation of external visual information is achieved by providing raw uncoded video from the analog source through an analog-to-digital converter of the video decoder and directly to the graphics frame buffer.
The present invention may be better understood, and its numerous objects, features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings. The use of the same reference number throughout the several figures designates a like or similar element.
An information handling system video connector selectively inputs or outputs visual information to support display of external visual information at an integrated display panel of the information handling system. For purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, or other purposes. For example, an information handling system may be a personal computer, a network storage device, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. The information handling system may include random access memory (RAM), one or more processing resources such as a central processing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic, ROM, and/or other types of nonvolatile memory. Additional components of the information handling system may include one or more disk drives, one or more network ports for communicating with external devices as well as various input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a video display. The information handling system may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components.
Referring now to
External connectors 28 and 30 are selectively configurable to receive inputs of external visual information for presentation at display 24 instead of outputting internal video information from graphics controller 22. For instance, analog television signals generated by external devices, such as a gaming device 36 or set top television device 38, are communicated through external cable 32 to S-Video connector 28 or composite video connector 30 and converted to digital visual information for presentation at LCD panel 24. A multiplexer 40 selectively interfaces connectors 28 and 30 with output from graphics controller 22 to output internally generated visual information or selectively interfaces connectors 28 and 30 with a video decoder 42 to input externally generated visual information. Video decoder 42 converts the analog visual information received in S-Video or composite video formats into 656 video digital visual information for input to a video port 44 of graphics controller 22. For instance, video decoder 42 is a Conexant 25836 unit that transmits converted 656 data as uncompressed YUV data that is sent to frame buffer memory of graphics controller 22 through port 44. Graphics controller 22 scans the pixel data from the frame buffer memory to LVDS bus 26 for presentation at display 24.
The selective configuration of external connectors 28 and 30 to either input or output visual information is manually set by a user interface, such as through the BIOS, or automatically determined by a connector selector 46. Multiplexer 40 defaults to an output mode in which internally generated visual information is output from connectors 28 and 30 and analog television compatible signals. Connector selector 46 monitors connectors 28 and 30 for external signals and uses a GPIO multiplexer control signal to switch connectors 28 and 30 from a direct connection to graphics controller 22 to an indirect connection through video decoder 42. Once connector selector 46 detects the absence of external signals, another GPIO multiplexer control signal switches connectors 28 and 30 to again have a direct connection with graphics controller 22. Periodic monitoring of the connectors for external signals provides a prompt response to present external information at LCD panel 24 in a manner that is automatic for a user of the system.
Referring now to
Although the present invention has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
