WO2007072339A2

WO2007072339A2 - Active ambient light module

Info

Publication number: WO2007072339A2
Application number: PCT/IB2006/054826
Authority: WO
Inventors: Didier Vereecke
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics, N.V.; U.S. Philips Corporation
Priority date: 2005-12-20
Filing date: 2006-12-13
Publication date: 2007-06-28
Also published as: WO2007072339A3

Abstract

An ambient light device includes at least one light source configured to provide ambient light. A processor is configured to receive content rendered on a rendering device, and output a control signal for controlling the at least one light source to provide ambient light having at least one attribute associated with the content. The ambient light device and/or the light source(s) may be attached to the rendering device to provide an ambient light feature to the rendering device. Additionally or alternatively, light speakers may be connected to the ambient light device and situated throughout a room where the rendering device is located, for example, to provide enhanced ambient lighting effect.

Description

ACTIVE AMBIENT LIGHT MODULE

The present invention relates to systems, devices, and methods that generate ambient light from content displayed on a separate screen, where the ambient light is related to or associated with the content.

Display devices to enhance the viewing experience of television viewing through lighting applications have been introduced. A particularly interesting application is to project light on a wall from light sources surrounding a display, the so-called AmbiLight™ television (TV) from Philips Electronics as depicted in FIG 1 showing a display device 100 such as a TV which may be a flat TV typically hung on a wall. Controllable light sources 110, such as LED bars, are provided around the TV 100 surrounding a display area or screen 120 where images or content are displayed. The light sources 110 emit surround light 130, for example, to wash the back wall (on which the TV is hung) with what is referred to as AmbiLight™ or ambient light. The AmbiLight™ concept aims at enlarging the perceived image size through lighting effects or ambient light 130 surrounding the displayed image. The color of the ambient light 130 emitted from the light units or sources 110 is dynamically changed by sampling the video content that is currently being watched by the user, for example.

The ambient light feature, or AmbiLight, primarily involves automatic triggering of light effects based on the content that is currently being consumed by the user, where consumption refers to users or viewers watching movies, listening to music, browsing photos, etc. Furthermore, the content may be live or stored locally, for example, on a digital versatile disc (DVD) or hard drive of a personal video recorder (PVR). Alternatively or in addition to the ambient light 130, a TV may be provided with or coupled to a device with a surround light feature having light speakers, e.g., tower speakers with on-board light units, which may be integrated with or a stand alone device along with the TV and/or a home entertainment system. The light speakers are triggered based on the audio and/or visual content that is being consumed by the user thereby creating an immersive experience for the user.

The light effects may be realized by real-time analysis of the content stored or displayed through a unit such as a PVR or DVD player, a TV integrated with processing platform, a home theatre system, etc. Instead of real-time content analysis, the light effects may be stored as a script on e.g., on a DVD, as a separate track or may be downloaded from the Internet or broadcast with the content, and the script executed when the content is rendered thus generating light effects associated with or related to the content. Of course, the script may be generated in real-time during rendering, e.g. displaying, the content on the TV or any display device.

Ambient light 130 is automatically triggered when the content is rendered, e.g., when video content is displayed on the display area 120, by analyzing the color information in the content. The color of the ambient light 130 depends on the color information dominant in the content or portions thereof, particularly, the color of the content around the boundary of the scene/image or edges of the display area 120 of the TV 100.

The intensities and colors of the ambient light 130 depend on the video content displayed on the display area 120. For example, if the video content near one side or edge of the TV 100 has a green color, then green light is provided from this TV side to backwash the back wall near this light with green light. Similarly, if the video content near another side of the TV 100 has a yellow color, then yellow light is provided from this other TV side to backwash the corresponding wall portion with yellow light, for example. Thus, the ambient light 130 with various attributes, such as various colors and intensities, is provided from the four sides of the TV 100 to illuminate the surrounding environment, such as the back wall, with a desired ambilight or light scenario. The lighting scenario is either provided with the video content via a script accompanying the content, for example, or derived from the video content through content analysis such as in real-time as the video is being rendered.

Systems with active or passive ambient light features are described in International Publication No. WO 2006/003603 Al, entitled "Passive Diffuser Frame System for Ambient Lighting Using a Video Display Unit as a Light Source", filed on June 27, 2005, published on January 12, 2006, and as described in International Publication No. WO 2006/003604 Al, entitled "Active Frame System for Ambient Lighting Using a Video Display as a Signal Source", filed on June 27, 2005, published on January 12, 2006, both of which are assigned to the assignee hereof, and the contents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. These International Publications also describe various active diffuser systems where light output from the displayed content or the light source is modified or controlled in various ways to provide ambient light that follows or relates to the displayed content, such as via using various combinations of sensors, electromagnetic couplers, modulators and light source(s).

The light source(s) 110 that provide ambient light 130 may be controlled by a processor in response to the content information displayed on the display image area 120, such as content included in modulated RF signals received by the display device from a broadcast for example, or video signals derived from the RF signals using demodulators or other circuits needed for such controlled operation, as described in the above referenced International Publication Nos. WO 2006/003603 and WO 2006/003604, as well as described in International Publication No. WO 2005/062608, entitled "Supplementary Visual Display System", filed on December 20, 2004, published on July 7, 2005, and assigned to the assignee hereof, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Accordingly, the ambient light 130 will be related to, and/or derived from, the content displayed on display image area 120 under the control of a processor, for example.

Currently the information for active ambient light is taken out of a device, e.g., a processor, inside the TV set and then sent towards the lighting system integrated with the TV set or light speakers connected to the TV set. This is done because all the information required to do the calculation is provided to the TV and thus to the processor inside the TV. However this information is also accessible or provided to outside the TV set and can therefore be used for active ambient light calculations and control of the light units.

Many consumer devices such as TVs are not equipped with the ambient light feature. Replacing a TV just to have ambient light is very unlikely and costly. The typical mainstream devices, e.g., TV sets, also do not have the calculation power inside to provide the desired ambient light thus such TVs or other consumer electronic products can not even perform active ambient light calculations. Accordingly, there is a need for an a click-on or add-on module that can cooperate with conventional consumer electronic devices including TVs or other display devices to provide ambient light related to the content being consumed, such as video being displayed and/or audio being played. One object of the present systems is to overcome the disadvantage of conventional content providing devices that do not have the ambient light feature.

This and other objects are achieved by systems and ambient light devices comprising at least one light source configured to provide ambient light. A processor is configured to receive content rendered on a rendering device, and output a control signal for controlling the at least one light source to provide ambient light having at least one attribute associated with the content. The ambient light device and/or the light source(s) may be attached to the rendering device to provide an ambient light feature to the rendering device. Additionally or alternatively, light speakers may be connected to the ambient light device and situated throughout a room where the rendering device is located, for example, to provide enhanced ambient lighting effect. Thus, the present systems and devices give other consumer electronic devices/equipment with audio, video, data-stream and/or any content, the option to provide active ambient light related to the consumed content.

Further areas of applicability of the present systems will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating exemplary embodiments of the displays and guiding foils, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the apparatus, systems of the present invention will become better understood from the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawing where:

FIG 1 shows a conventional display device; and

FIG 2 shows a system and a device according to one embodiment.

The following description of certain exemplary embodiments is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention, its application, or uses. In the following detailed description of embodiments of the present systems and devices, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the described devices may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the presently disclosed systems, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural and logical changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present system.

The following detailed description is therefore not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present system is defined only by the appended claims. The leading digit of the reference numbers in the figures herein typically correspond to the figure number, with the exception that identical components which appear in multiple figures are identified by the same reference numbers. Moreover, for the purpose of clarity, detailed descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the present system.

In theory it is cheaper to integrate the ambient light feature as part of the picture and audio improvement chain which is inside a consumer electronic device such as a TV set, a set-top box, a personal computer, laptop, personal digital assistant (PDA), mobile phone or any other consumer electronic devices such as a digital video recorder (DVR), PVR, juke-box, media centre, e-hub, home theatre in the box (HTiB), etc. However if the consumer electronic device, e.g., a TV, does not have processors or other integrated circuits with enough calculation power, then active ambient light feature is not feasible. Most of these consumer electronic devices however do have an audio and/or video output, analogue or digital, such as stereo PCM, HDMI, DVI, VGA, LVDS, USB, Ethernet, and the like, including wired or wireless protocols such as Bluetooth™ or Zigbee™ for example.

Any of these standard interfaces can be used to extract the required content (audio and/or video) and provide it to a stand-alone or clip-on ambient light module for calculating the required information for driving or controlling ambient light unit(s) to provide ambient light. Of course there is no need to extract the content information from standard interfaces. For example, one alternative includes getting the content from a content source and transforming it to processed information to provide RGB values for the light units as described in International Patent Application Serial No. IB2006/053524 (Attorney Docket No. 003663) filed on September 27, 2006, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial Nos. 60/722, 903 and 60/826,117, all of which are assigned to the assignee hereof, and the contents of all which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. FIG 2 shows an ambient light system 200 in accordance with an embodiment of the present system. The system 200 includes a consumer electronic device 210, such as a TV, set-top box, personal computer, laptop, PDA, mobile phone, DVR, PVR, jukebox, media center, e-hub, HTiB or any other consumer electronic device, that receives a content signal 215 from any content source 220. The content 215 from the content source 220 may include video, audio content and/or data stream which may be live or pre-recorded, e.g., broadcast by a broadcaster or received from the Internet.

In the case where the content 215 is pre-recorded, the content source 220 may be any suitable type of memory, including a remote memory accessible through a network, local or wide area network such as the Internet, or a local memory of the consumer electronic device 210, such as a hard drive, or a removable memory including a DVD, for example. As is well known, the received content 215 may be a radio frequency (RF) signal that includes the audio and/or video content for example, where the RF signal is demodulated to extract the audio and/or video content for rendering thereof.

A processor 225 of the consumer electronic device 210, e.g., a TV, receives the content 215, processes the content for rendering on rendering device(s) 230. As is well known, the rendering devices 230 include at least one monitor screen that receives video information from the processor 225 for display of images or video clips/streams, and/or at least one speaker that receives audio information from the processor 225 to provide sound associated with any content on the screen.

FIG 2 also shows a stand alone ambient light module or device 240 which is operationally and/or mechanically connectable to the consumer electronic device 210. As it would be apparent to one skilled in the art, there are many ways to click on or mechanically attach the ambient light module 240 to the TV 210 or to any other consumer electronic device, for example, by bands such as Velcro™, plastics brackets, screws, small magnetic clicks/ fasteners or any other attachment means. The ambient light module or device 240 includes at least one light source or unit 250 to provide ambient light 255 which is related to the content being rendered or consumed. Of course, additional external light units or light speakers may also be connected to the ambient light module or device 240. Further, although the light unit(s) 250 is shown as being part of the ambient light module or device 240, the light unit(s) 250 may be external and operationally coupled to the ambient light module or device 240 via any type of link such as a wired or wireless link.

The ambient light module or device 240 includes an active ambient light processor or controller 260 which is operationally coupled, via any type of link such as a wired or wireless link, to the content source 220 and to at least one controllable light source/unit 250. The active ambient light processor receives the content 215 being rendered by the TV or any consumer electronic device 210. Instead of receiving the content 215 from the content source 220, the ambient light device 240 may receive processed content 270 from the TV processor 225 of the TV 210, such as audio and/or video signals, instead of an RF signal or other modulated signals including the content 215 from the content source 220 such as from a broadcaster via an antenna or cable, or from a server via the Internet, for example. The processed content 270 may be provided from the TV 210 to the ambient light device 240 through any interface or link, whether wired or wireless, such as stereo PCM, HDMI, DVI, VGA, LVDS, USB, Ethernet, Bluetooth™, Zigbee™ and the like.

The ambient light processor 260 analyzes the content, extracts color information included in the content 215 or in processed content 270, and transforms the extracted information into a control signal(s) 280 for controlling the light units 250 and/or additional light speakers located throughout a room, for example, to provide the ambient light 255. Of course, instead of content analysis to extract light/color information, a lighting scenario may be either provided with the content via a script accompanying the content (i.e., produced external to the system), or produced internal to the system, such as disclosed in the above-noted International Patent Application Serial No. IB2006/053524, (Attorney Docket No. 003663), which also discloses transforming the color information (whether extracted from the content or provided via a script) to form light control signals 280 for controlling the light units 250. Further, as disclosed in this International Patent Application Serial No. IB2006/053524, pixels of the video content near edges of the screen 230 may be analyzed to identify pixels that provide a coherent color, while incoherent color pixels are discarded. The coherent color pixels are then utilized to produce the video-based ambient lighting data.

The ambient light processor 260 may be configured to control various ambient lighting effects such as disclosed in International Publication No. WO 2004/006570, incorporated herein by reference as if set out in entirety, which discloses a system and device for controlling ambient lighting effects based on color characteristics of rendered content, such as hue, saturation, brightness, colors, speed of scene changes, recognized characters, detected mood, etc. In operation, the ambient light processor 260 analyzes the received content and may utilize the distribution of the content, such as average color, over one or more frames of the video content or utilize portions of the video content that are positioned near a border of the one or more frames to produce ambient lighting data related to the video content. Temporal averaging may be utilized to smooth out temporal transitions in the ambient lighting data caused by rapid changes in the analyzed video content.

The ambient light device 240 may also include a user interface 290 that allows the user to control the light units, such as turning on/off desired light units, adjusting the attributes of light emanating from the light units, individually or collectively, such as changing the intensity, color, hues, saturation and/or other light attributes, including adjusting the speed of light characteristic changes and/or the delay or synchronization of the ambient light 255 with the rendered, e.g., displayed, content. Various modes may also be selected from the user interface 290 via suitable input/output devices such as keys or buttons. The various selectable modes may include a soft mode, where the ambient light 255 is softer or less intense than a bright mode, and/or the speed of light characteristic changes is reduced, for example. Other modes may include a romantic mode where the ambient light 255 has some reddish or pinkish tint, a nature mode where the ambient light 255 has greenish tint, an island mode where the ambient light 255 has bluish tint, for example.

Further, the ambient light device 240 includes a memory 295 which may be used to store application data as well as other desired data accessible by the processor 240 for configuring it to perform operation acts in accordance with the present system. Other memories may also be provided for storing the content 215 from the content source 220, the processed content 270 from the TV processor 225, or any accompanying lighting scripts as desired.

The operation acts include generating the lighting script if not already available, and executing the generated or available lighting script to control the light source(s) 250 to provide ambient light 255 synchronous with and/or related to the content 215 displayed on the display 230, for example. As described, the ambient light 255 may be provided from light speakers located in the room where the TV is located, or from light sources that are attachable to the frame of the TV or any consumer electronic device having a display screen to provide an ambient light that surrounds the display screen of the consumer electronic device.

Clearly the ambient light processor 260, the memory 295 and any further memories, and/or the light source(s) 250 may all or partly be a portion of a single (fully or partially) integrated ambient light device 240. The methods of the present system are particularly suited to be carried out by a computer software program, such program containing modules corresponding to one or more of the individual steps or acts described and/or envisioned by the present system. Such program may of course be embodied in a computer-readable medium, such as an integrated chip, a peripheral device or memory, such as the memory 295 or other memory coupled to or accessible by the ambient light processor 260.

The computer-readable medium and/or memory 295 and/or a memory associated with the content source 220 for storing the content 215 may be any recordable medium (e.g., RAM, ROM, removable memory, CD-ROM, hard drives, DVD, floppy disks or memory cards) or may be a transmission medium (e.g., a network comprising fiber- optics, the world-wide web, cables, or a wireless channel using time-division multiple access, code-division multiple access, or other radio-frequency channel). Any medium known or developed that can store and/or transmit information suitable for use with a computer system may be used as the computer-readable medium and/or memory.

Additional memories may also be used. The computer-readable medium storing the content 215, the memory 295, and/or any other memories may be long-term, short- term, or a combination of long-term and short-term memories. These memories configure the ambient light processor 260 to implement the methods, operational acts, and functions disclosed herein. The memories may be distributed or local and the ambient light processor 260, where additional processors may be provided, may also be distributed or may be singular. The memories may be implemented as electrical, magnetic or optical memory, or any combination of these or other types of storage devices. Moreover, the term "memory" should be construed broadly enough to encompass any information able to be read from or written to an address in the addressable space accessed by a processor. With this definition, information on a network is still within memory 295 or the memory associated with the content source 220 where the content 215 is stored, for instance, because the ambient light processor 260 may retrieve the information from the network for operation in accordance with the present system.

The ambient light processor 260 is capable of providing control signals to control the light source(s) 250 and/or performing operations in response to executing the script, e.g., generated by the processor 260 from the content 215, such as edge pixels of the content, and executing instructions stored in the memory 295. The processor 260 may be an application- specific or general-use integrated circuit(s). Further, the processor 260 may be a dedicated processor for performing in accordance with the present system or may be a general-purpose processor wherein only one of many functions operates for performing in accordance with the present system. The processor 260 may operate utilizing a program portion, multiple program segments, or may be a hardware device such included in the ambient light module or device 240, utilizing a dedicated or multi-purpose integrated circuit(s).

Any type of processor may be used such as dedicated or shared one. The processor may include micro-processors, central processing units (CPUs), digital signal processors (DSPs), ASICs, or any other processor(s) or controller(s) such as digital optical devices, or analog electrical circuits that perform the same functions, and employ electronic techniques and architecture. The processor is typically under software control for example, and has or communicates with memory that stores the software and other data such as user preferences. The processor is configured to relate the ambient light to the video information displayed on the relevant display image area, such as the content displayed near edges of the screen.

The processor may also include any intelligent device that may allow controlling directly or indirectly the light source(s) 250 so that character of the output light emanating therefrom changes, such as by changing any light attributes including color, hue, saturation, intensity, or other photometric quality, e.g., specular reflection properties, retroreflective properties, etc. This may also include controlling an on/off duty cycle for a plurality of light generating devices, controlling modulators, changing the luminous output of an electroluminescent device, or any other modifications which change the ambient light character directly or indirectly as a function of content information signal (RF, video, audio or the like) and/or as a function of the video image(s) displayed on the display screen 230.

The light source(s) 250 may be any controllable light source(s) capable of providing lights of various attributes, such as various intensity levels, different colors, hue, saturation and the like, including any one of or combination(s) of LEDs, incandescent, fluorescent, halogen, or high intensity discharge (HID) light, which may have a ballast for control of the various light attributes. However, LEDs are particularly well suited light sources as they can be easily configured to provide light with changing light attributes (such as changing colors, intensity, hue, saturation and other attributes), and typically have electronic drive circuitry for control and adjustment of the various light attributes. Of course, the LEDs may include individually controllable red, green and blue LEDs that in combination provide any desired color, intensity and the like.

The different types of light source may be used alone or in combination with each other, such as incandescent, gaseous discharge, fluorescent, phosphorescence, laser, photo-luminescent, electro-luminescent, cathode-luminescent, galvano- luminescent, crystallo-luminescent, kine-luminescent, thermo-luminescent, tribo- luminescent, sono-luminescent and/or radio-luminescent sources, as described in the International Publication No. WO 2005/062608 A2. Further, the light source may be provided throughout a room and/or connected to the back boundary of the display, and/or side edges of the display screen 230 of the TV 210, to mimic the conventional flat TV 100 with integrated ambient feature as shown in FIG 1.

Although the following description is directed to an embodiment using TV, it should be understood that any display device may be provided with or connected to present systems and devices, to provide ambient light to the surrounding environment, in any desired direction, whether or not a back wall is included in the environment. Any display type may be used, such as cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD), light emitting diode (LED) displays, organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, plasma display panels (PDPs), field emission display (FEDs) or any other display such as projection displays, thin-film printed optically-active polymer displays, or displays using any other technologies or displays. Of course, it is to be appreciated that any one of the above embodiments or processes may be combined with one or with one or more other embodiments or processes to provide even further improvements in providing ambient light associated with the watched or displayed content, for example.

Finally, the above-discussion is intended to be merely illustrative of the present system and should not be construed as limiting the appended claims to any particular embodiment or group of embodiments. Thus, while the present system has been described in particular detail with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof, it should also be appreciated that numerous modifications and alternative embodiments may be devised by those having ordinary skill in the art without departing from the broader and intended spirit and scope of the present system as set forth in the claims that follow. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative manner and are not intended to limit the scope of the appended claims.

In interpreting the appended claims, it should be understood that: a) the word "comprising" does not exclude the presence of other elements or acts than those listed in a given claim; b) the word "a" or "an" preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements; c) any reference signs in the claims do not limit their scope; d) several "means" may be represented by the same or different item(s) or hardware or software implemented structure or function; e) any of the disclosed elements may be comprised of hardware portions (e.g., including discrete and integrated electronic circuitry), software portions (e.g., computer programming), and any combination thereof; f) hardware portions may be comprised of one or both of analog and digital portions; g) any of the disclosed devices or portions thereof may be combined together or separated into further portions unless specifically stated otherwise; and h) no specific sequence of acts or steps is intended to be required unless specifically indicated.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. An ambient light device comprising: at least one light source configured to provide ambient light; and a processor configured to: receive content rendered on a rendering device; and output a control signal for controlling the at least one light source to provide ambient light having at least one attribute associated with the content.

2. The ambient light device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to generate a lighting script from the content and to execute the lighting script to form the control signal.

3. The ambient light device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to receive a lighting script and to execute the lighting script to form the control signal.

4. The ambient light device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to analyze the content o form the control signal.

5. The ambient light device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is operationally coupled to the rendering device by at least one of a wired link and a wireless link.

6. The ambient light device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is mechanically connectable to the rendering device by at least one of a bracket, a band, screws, and magnetic fasteners.

7. The ambient light device of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface including an input/output device for controlling attributes of the ambient light.

8. The ambient light device of claim 7, wherein the attributes of the ambient light include at least one of synchronization with the content, hue, saturation, brightness, color, and speed of light characteristic changes.

9. A system comprising: a screen configured to display content; at least one light source configured to provide ambient light; and a module connectable to the screen and the at least one light source, the module including a processor configured to: receive content displayed on the screen; and output a control signal for controlling the at least one light source to provide the ambient light having at least one attribute associated with the content.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to generate a lighting script from the content and to execute the lighting script to form the control signal.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to receive a lighting script and to execute the lighting script to form the control signal.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to analyze the content to form the control signal.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is operationally coupled to the screen by at least one of a wired link and a wireless link.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is mechanically connectable to the screen by at least one of a bracket, a band, screws, and magnetic fasteners.

15. The system of claim 9, further comprising a user interface including an input/output device for controlling attributes of the ambient light.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the attributes of the ambient light include at least one of synchronization with the content, hue, saturation, brightness, color, and speed of light characteristic changes.

17. A method for controlling at least one light source comprising the acts of: displaying content on a screen; coupling at least one light source to the screen; and controlling the at least one light source to provide ambient light related to the content.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising selecting a mode to adjust at least one attribute of the ambient light.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one attribute includes least one of synchronization with the content, hue, saturation, brightness, color, and speed of light characteristic changes.

20. A computer program product stored on a computer readable medium, the computer program when executed by a processor is configured to perform the method as claimed in claim 17.