CN111971735A

CN111971735A - Display panel, display device and rendering method of sub-pixels

Info

Publication number: CN111971735A
Application number: CN201880090856.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陶霖密
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2018-03-22
Filing date: 2018-03-22
Publication date: 2020-11-20
Also published as: WO2019178811A1

Abstract

A display panel, a display apparatus and a sub-pixel rendering method are provided. The display panel is formed by arranging pixels in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, and each pixel is formed by arranging sub-pixels of at least three different primary colors; the arrangement mode of the sub-pixels in each pixel is mirror-symmetrical to that of each of two adjacent pixels in the row direction, and any sub-pixel in each pixel has the same-color sub-pixel adjacent in the row direction in the adjacent pixel; every two adjacent same-color sub-pixels of the adjacent pixels are combined into a strong sub-pixel and share a pair of electrodes. The novel color display directly reduces the complexity of the display panel circuit, reduces the manufacturing cost of the display panel, has higher luminous efficiency, smaller pixel area and fewer driving circuits, and can be used for manufacturing a low-cost color display device with high pixel density.

Description

Display panel, display device and rendering method of sub-pixels

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a display panel and a display device, which can be used as a color display panel and a display device for various devices such as various mobile phones, tablet computers, notebook computers, displays, and televisions, and also relates to a method for rendering sub-pixels of a display device.

Background

Various color display panels, such as a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display panel, a Light-Emitting Diode (LED) display panel, an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display panel, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) display panel, and the like, which are widely used at present, are formed by arranging pixels. A color display panel includes a plurality of pixels, such as 640x480, 1024x768, 1920x1080 pixels. Each pixel comprises two or three or more sub-pixels of different colors. It is common that each pixel has three sub-pixels, namely, a red sub-pixel, a green sub-pixel, and a blue sub-pixel. The three sub-pixels are arranged in parallel to form one pixel.

To prevent distortion of the displayed image, each pixel is generally square, and therefore the sub-pixels are rectangular with an aspect ratio of 3: 1, as shown in fig. 7. The plurality of pixels are repeatedly arranged to form a color display panel as shown in fig. 8. Of course, some of the pixels are self-luminous, such as an LED color display screen, an Active Matrix/Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) color display screen, etc., and some pixels do not emit Light and provide Light uniformly by a backlight, such as a Passive Organic Light Emitting Diode (PMOLED) color display screen, an LCD color display screen, etc.

An important indicator of a color display is the number of Pixels Per Inch (PPI), i.e. the pixel density of the color display. One important direction in the development of color display panels is to increase the pixel density of the color display panels. High-resolution mobile phone screens, computer screens, 4K televisions in fire and heat development and the like all put higher and higher requirements on the pixel density of color display screens. Such as Retina color display screens manufactured by apple computer corporation, have been used in apple cell phones, tablet computers, notebook computers, etc., by reducing the size of each pixel to obtain a high-resolution color display screen. The method for directly increasing the pixel density brings two problems which are difficult to overcome, firstly, the manufacturing process is complex, the yield is low, and the price of a high-resolution color display screen is high; secondly, the increase of the pixel density means the reduction of the area of each pixel, and the sub-pixels have black space. Therefore, the area of the sub-pixels is reduced, so that the area ratio occupied by the intervals among the sub-pixels is increased, the utilization rate of the light source is reduced, and the energy consumption of the color display screen for achieving the same brightness is obviously increased. This is a fatal weakness for mobile devices such as mobile phones, tablet computers, notebook computers and the like.

To increase the pixel density and reduce the production cost and energy consumption of the color display panel during the use process, samsung proposed a variety of new color display panel designs and manufacturing methods. In the Pentile RGBW color display panel and the Pentile RGBG color display panel, the company increases the pixel density by reducing the number of sub-pixels per pixel. Wherein the RGBW color display has four (red, green, blue, white) sub-pixels but only two sub-pixels per pixel, i.e. blue-white, or red-green, see fig. 9. Whereas in an RGBG color display panel there are normally three color sub-pixels, but each pixel has only two sub-pixels, i.e. green-blue, or green-red, see fig. 10. The color display screens improve the pixel density of the color display screens on the premise of not reducing the size of each sub-pixel. Compared with the Retina color display screen of apple, the display screen has the advantages of low power consumption and low cost. RGBW color displays have been used in devices such as:

·Motorola MC65

·Motorola ES55

·Motorola ES400

·Motorola Atrix 4G

·Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 version

·Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro

·HP ENVY TouchSmart 14-k022tx Sleekbook

RGBG color display is a very successful color display of samsung, and has been widely used in many cell phones, as follows:

·BlackBerry Q10

·Nexus One

·HTC Desire(AMOLED variants only)

·Samsung S8000

·Samsung Galaxy S

·Samsung Galaxy S Plus

·Samsung Galaxy S III

·Samsung Galaxy S III Mini

·Samsung Galaxy S 4

·Samsung Galaxy Note

·Samsung Wave S8500

·Samsung Ativ S

·Samsung NX10

·Nexus S(Super AMOLED variants only)

·Galaxy Nexus

·Dell Venue Pro

·Nokia N9

·Nokia Lumia 800

·Nokia Lumia 925

·Nokia Lumia 928

·Nokia Lumia 1020

·HTC One S

·Pantech Burst

·Huawei Ascend P1

·Alcatel One Touch Star 6010D

·Motorola RAZR i

in addition to the above method for increasing the pixel density by reducing the number of sub-pixels, the structure of the sub-pixel of the color display panel with variable structure is changed to obtain higher pixel density and better display effect, such as the S-Strip color display panel with three stars, as shown in FIG. 11, the blue sub-pixel is a long Strip, and the red and green sub-pixels are small squares, which are arranged in a cross way to form two pixels. Fig. 12 shows a related art of a samsung color display, in which a cell phone galiry S in 2010 and a cell phone galiry S3 in 2012 adopt a PenTile RGBG color display (including RG pixels and BG pixels), a cell phone galiry S2 in 2011 adopts a Stripe color display (RGB pixels), and a cell phone galiry Note2 in 2012 adopts an S-Stripe color display (RGB pixels).

In summary, the main method for increasing the pixel density is to reduce the number of sub-pixels in a single pixel. The method improves the pixel density, reduces the proportion of black pixel interval regions, improves the utilization rate of a light source, and reduces the energy consumption with the same brightness. However, compared with the traditional three primary color sub-pixel method, the method reduces the quality of the image, and the displayed image has color cast to a certain degree.

Disclosure of Invention

The inventors believe that a common feature of all of the above methods is to increase the pixel density of the display screen by reducing the area of the sub-pixels or reducing the number of sub-pixels. These methods are the main driving force for the development of display screen industry, but after the pixel density of the display screen exceeds the resolution of human eyes, the relationship among the number, size and vision of the pixels needs to be considered comprehensively.

One of the most fundamental assumptions of the modern display industry is that the size of the sub-pixels is much smaller than the resolution of the human eye, i.e. the human eye can only resolve different pixels at most. With the development of the display industry, the pixel density of the display screen is continuously increased, the size of the pixel is far smaller than the resolution of human eyes, and the human eyes actually see mixed light of a plurality of adjacent pixels on the screen. Therefore, another way to increase the pixel density of a display screen is to merge adjacent pixels, i.e. to merge adjacent sub-pixels of the same color, so that the colors of the adjacent pixels are on the sub-pixel level, i.e. mixed. Since the size of the pixel and the sub-pixel is much smaller than the resolution of human eyes, the combination of a few adjacent pixels does not affect the subjective feeling of human eyes.

The basic methods of merging adjacent pixels are two: (1) as shown in fig. 17(a) and (b), 17(a) represents a row of pixels, a small horizontal line represents a pixel, and 17(b) represents the combination of two adjacent pixels, and as shown in fig. 18, all the sub-pixels are arranged horizontally, and then two adjacent sub-pixels of the same color are combined. After merging, the luminance of the new strong sub-pixel is the sum of two adjacent sub-pixels, and the combined pixel is kept in a rectangular shape with the aspect ratio of 2 to 1, which is equivalent to extending the original pixel into two pixels. The pixel merging method is simple and easy to implement, but the essence of the method is that the size of the pixels is directly increased, the number of the pixels is reduced, and the development direction of reducing the pixel area and improving the pixel density in the display industry is opposite, and generally, the method is difficult to be accepted by users and markets. (2) As shown in fig. 17(a) - (c), 17(a) represents a row of pixels, and 17(c) represents that partial sub-pixels of two adjacent pixels are combined continuously, so that the area of the sub-pixels is increased while the number of pixels is kept unchanged. The method has the advantages of combining the continuous sub-pixels, having better display effect, and considering the advantages of unchanged pixel quantity and increased sub-pixel area.

The above analysis shows that although the core of the display is concerned at present, the barrier to patents on the arrangement of sub-pixels and the rendering method has been built up by some international companies through years of development and development efforts. This is also an accumulation of their research and development efforts in the display field over the years. A plurality of display screen and display manufacturers in China can only engage in low-end processing production, most profits fall into upstream manufacturers holding core patents, and poor circulation that scientific research investment is less due to tiny profits is generated by the manufacturers in China. However, as the pixel density of the display screen increases, the conventional method tends to be limited, and new progress is difficult to achieve. The breakthrough of the existing methods and patent barriers in the field of color display devices is a very challenging and creative work, and researchers need to engage in deep cross-disciplinary research in the fields of human visual cognition mechanisms, machine visual theories and methods, color display principles and methods, and the like to achieve the breakthrough.

The patent provides a new theoretical method for continuously combining sub-pixels based on the perception principle of vision, and is a great breakthrough in the field of display manufacturing.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display panel comprising pixels arranged in a plurality of rows and columns, each pixel comprising an arrangement of at least three different primary color sub-pixels, each pixel comprising at least a first color sub-pixel, a second color sub-pixel, and a third color sub-pixel; the second color sub-pixel and the third color sub-pixel are overlapped along the column direction; the first pixel P1 is adjacent to the second pixel P2 and the third pixel P3 along the row direction, and the first color sub-pixel SP11 of the first pixel P1 is adjacent to the same color sub-pixel SP21 of the second pixel P2 along the row direction; the second color sub-pixel SP12 of the first pixel P1 is adjacent to the same color sub-pixel SP32 of the third pixel P3 along the row direction, and the third color sub-pixel SP13 of the first pixel P1 is adjacent to the same color sub-pixel SP33 of the third pixel P3 along the row direction, wherein every two adjacent same color sub-pixels of the adjacent pixels are combined into one strong sub-pixel and share one pair of electrodes.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display panel comprising pixels arranged in a plurality of rows and columns, each pixel comprising an arrangement of at least three different primary color sub-pixels; the arrangement mode of the sub-pixels in each pixel is mirror-symmetrical in the row direction with the arrangement mode of the sub-pixels of each of two adjacent pixels in the row direction, and any sub-pixel in each pixel has the same-color sub-pixel adjacent in the row direction in the adjacent pixel; wherein every two adjacent same-color sub-pixels of the adjacent pixels are combined into a strong sub-pixel, and share a pair of electrodes.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a display device, which may include: the display panel described above; and a first driving circuit for transmitting a data signal to each sub-pixel of the display panel; and the second driving circuit is used for sending scanning signals to each sub-pixel of the display panel.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of rendering subpixels of a display device, an arrangement of subpixels in a display panel defining an output display format; the rendering method of the sub-pixel comprises the following steps: receiving input image data in a first format for rendering by a display device in the output display format; performing a sub-pixel rendering operation based on input image data to generate a luminance value for each sub-pixel on the display panel; sending a signal to each subpixel of the display panel, wherein rendering the strong subpixels comprises: obtaining a color numerical value corresponding to the color of the strong sub-pixel in the color numerical values of each of the associated two pixels of the input image data; and adding the two corresponding color values to obtain the color value of the strong sub-pixel.

The display panel is formed by arranging pixels in a plurality of rows and columns, wherein each pixel is formed by arranging strong sub-pixels of at least three different primary colors; the strong sub-pixel in each pixel is shared by the current pixel and the adjacent pixels in the row direction, and the brightness is determined by the corresponding color sub-pixel data in the corresponding image data of the current pixel and the adjacent pixels.

The display technology according to the embodiment of the invention enables the display device to obtain high pixel density and simultaneously maintain good color reduction capability and lower energy consumption.

Drawings

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent and more readily appreciated from the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

fig. 1(a) and 1(b) show two exemplary rearrangement schemes for three primary RGB sub-pixels in a display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2(a) and (b) schematically show examples of merging of two same-color sub-pixels to form an intense sub-pixel in a display panel of a backlight color display panel, corresponding to the result of merging of same-color sub-pixels for the sub-pixel rearrangement schemes of fig. 1(a) and 1(b), respectively.

Fig. 3(a) and (b) schematically show examples of merging of two same-color sub-pixels to form an intense sub-pixel in a display panel of an active light emitting color display panel, corresponding to the result of merging of same-color sub-pixels for the sub-pixel rearrangement schemes of fig. 1(a) and 1(b), respectively.

Fig. 4 shows a configuration block diagram of the display apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5(a) - (d) show schematic diagrams of a conventional display from image data to panel display.

Fig. 6(a) - (d) show schematic diagrams from image data to panel display according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a square pixel consisting of RGB sub-pixels.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional color display panel formed by repeatedly arranging a plurality of pixels.

FIG. 9 shows a schematic diagram of a conventional Pentile RGBW color display screen manufactured by Samsung.

FIG. 10 shows a schematic diagram of a conventional Pentile RGBG color display screen manufactured by Samsung.

FIG. 11 shows a schematic diagram of a conventional S-Strip color display screen manufactured by Samsung corporation.

Fig. 12 shows a schematic diagram of a color display screen related art from samsung.

Fig. 13 shows the working principle of a conventional general color display.

Fig. 14 shows a novel color display device of the present inventor in a prior international application in which the same color sub-pixels in the same row are combined to form a strong sub-pixel, wherein the wider sub-pixel is the strong sub-pixel.

In fig. 15, the same color sub-pixels in the same row are combined to form a strong sub-pixel, and the sub-pixels with dotted patterns in the figure are strong sub-pixels.

Fig. 16 shows a single sub-pixel (or pixel, sub-pixel) color display device.

Fig. 17(a), 17(b) and 17(c) show several sub-pixel merging method examples.

FIG. 18 shows an example of a method where neighboring sub-pixel merge results in neighboring pixel merge.

Detailed Description

In order that those skilled in the art will better understand the present invention, the following detailed description of the invention is provided in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the detailed description of the invention.

First, the meanings of some terms herein are explained.

The term "pixel", also called pixel, is the basic unit of image display, and is translated from English "pixel", and pixel is the common abbreviation of English word picture, and adding English word "element, the pixel is obtained, so" pixel "means" image element ". Each pixel may have a respective color value and thus a corresponding "sub-pixel" concept, e.g. a pixel may be displayed in three primary colors and thus be divided into three sub-pixels of red, green and blue (RGB color gamut), or four sub-pixels of cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK color gamut, common in the printing industry and printers), or four sub-pixels of red, green, blue and white (RGBW color gamut), or more primary colors.

The term "primary color" (also referred to as "primary color") denotes each color in the repeating sub-pixel group, for example, red (R), green (G), and blue (B) in RGB sub-pixels are referred to as three primary colors, and red (R), green (G), blue (B), and white (W) in RGBW sub-pixels are also primary colors.

The term "between adjacent pairs of pixels" herein refers to a case where pairs of pixels are sequentially composed of two pixels in the order of pixel arrangement in a pixel group, and there is no overlapping pixel between each pair of pixels, and will be described between such adjacent pairs of pixels. For example, in an example as will be described later, in a four-primary-color eight-pixel group "P1P 2P 3P 4P 4P 1P 2P 3P 3P 4P 1P 2P 2P 3P 4P 1", the first pixel contains sub-pixel P1P 2, the second pixel contains sub-pixel P3P 4, the third pixel contains sub-pixel P4P 1, the fourth pixel contains sub-pixel P2P 3, and so on until the eighth pixel contains sub-pixel P4P 1, in order from left to right. The first pixel, the second pixel, the third pixel, the fourth pixel, the fifth pixel, the sixth pixel, the seventh pixel and the eighth pixel form a pixel pair in sequence. Each pixel pair contains four primary color sub-pixels P1, P2, P3, P4. Here, the first pixel pair is composed of first and second pixels, the second pixel pair is composed of third and fourth pixels, the third pixel pair is composed of fifth and sixth pixels, and the fourth pixel pair is composed of seventh and eighth pixels; and there is no pixel pair consisting of the second pixel and the third pixel, no pixel pair consisting of the fourth pixel and the fifth pixel, and so on.

In the following examples, the description will be mainly given by taking the case where the kind of the sub-pixels is RGB sub-pixels as an example, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and the kind and number of the sub-pixels (primary colors) may be different.

Prior application 1(PCT International application No.: PCT/CN 2014/086036; publication No.: WO 2016033803A 1) and prior application 2(PCT International application No. PCT/CN2016/113509) by the same inventors, Mr. Taolin are incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth herein.

Generally, the pixels are repeatedly arranged to form a color display panel, and the methods of the repeated arrangement are various, and may include a same-color arrangement between lines and a different-color arrangement between lines. The arrangement of the same color between lines means that the color of the sub-pixels at the corresponding positions between the lines is the same, and the arrangement of different colors between the lines means that the color of the sub-pixels at the corresponding positions between the lines is different.

For the color display screen according to the embodiment of the invention, no matter the color display screen is arranged in the same color between lines or in different colors between lines, the common characteristic is that after the sub-pixels are rearranged, the colors of two adjacent sub-pixels between any two adjacent pixels in the same line are the same, and any sub-pixel has the adjacent sub-pixels in the same color; and merging two adjacent sub-pixels into an intense sub-pixel, sharing an electrode, thereby halving the scanning line. The color of the adjacent sub-pixels of the adjacent pixels is the same, and the saturation of the displayed color is increased, so that the color display screen provided by the invention has higher color saturation than the existing color display screen, the displayed color is more bright, and the gradation is richer; any sub-pixel (except individual boundary sub-pixels) has adjacent same-color sub-pixels in adjacent pixels and is combined into a strong sub-pixel, so that the number of lines is directly reduced, and the manufacturing cost of the display panel is directly reduced. The new color display can have higher luminous efficiency, smaller pixel area and less driving circuits. All these technological advances can be used, on the one hand, to provide a high pixel density color display device for a display screen at low cost, and, on the other hand, to produce a more energy efficient, lower cost color display.

For a better understanding of the invention, the working principle of a general color display will be briefly described. As shown in fig. 13, each pixel of the color display device is composed of three sub-pixels of red, green and blue. Each sub-pixel is driven by a pair of electrodes, controlled by a scanning circuit. The sub-pixels are generally rectangular, and the pixels formed by three sub-pixels are square. The three-color sub-pixels are repeatedly arranged in rows and columns to form a color display device having a plurality of pixels.

When a color display device displays a color digital image, the red, green and blue tristimulus values of each pixel of the image to be displayed are acquired. And then, the acquired tristimulus values are converted into voltage values by the driving of the display device, and the voltage values are loaded on red, green and blue subpixels of pixels corresponding to the display screen through the scanning controller respectively, so that color display is realized.

According to the visual principle and the principle of a display device, the novel display device with adjacent sub-pixels combined to form the hadron sub-pixels is created by the Tzuin < (R) > Temminck, and referring to fig. 14 and 15, the novel color display device with the hadron sub-pixels formed by combining the same-color sub-pixels in the same row in fig. 14 is shown, and the wider sub-pixels in the figure are the hadron sub-pixels; in fig. 15, the same color sub-pixels in the same row are combined to form a strong sub-pixel, and the sub-pixels with dotted patterns in the figure are strong sub-pixels. And more particularly to prior application 1(PCT international application No.: PCT/CN 2014/086036; publication No.: WO2016033803 a1), the aperture ratio of the display device is improved, the utilization rate of the light source is improved, and the complexity of the system is reduced. On the basis, the display device with only one sub-pixel is further invented by the Tao Lin Mi, and referring to FIG. 16, FIG. 16 shows a single sub-pixel (or pixel, i.e. sub-pixel) color display device, wherein each red, green and blue square in the figure represents one pixel, and more particularly, the display device is disclosed in the prior application 2(PCT International application No. PCT/CN2016/113509), so that the utilization rate of a light source is further improved, and the complexity of the system is reduced (FIG. 16). However, in the novel display device based on the strong sub-pixels shown in fig. 14 and 15, there are still sub-pixels in the conventional sense, so that the number of sub-pixels of each pixel of the novel display device of the invention is reduced from three to two, namely, reduced by one third. On the basis of the invention, the invention rearranges the sub-pixels to ensure that any sub-pixel has the adjacent sub-pixels with the same color and then is combined into the strong sub-pixel, thereby further reducing the number of electrodes and circuits, improving the aperture ratio of the display device based on the strong sub-pixel and reducing the complexity of the display device.

The technical solutions of the present disclosure are described below with reference to specific embodiments of the present disclosure.

To facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art, the following describes a specific embodiment of the present invention in terms of two steps of subpixel rearrangement and merging, compared to the case of the subpixel arrangement of fig. 8 or fig. 13 of the prior art.

A: sub-pixel rearrangement

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a display panel composed of a pixel repetition, each pixel composed of sub-pixels of three different primary colors, the sub-pixels being arranged according to a specific arrangement rule, wherein each of the three sub-pixels in each pixel is identical in color to an adjacent sub-pixel of one of two adjacent pixels.

In one example, after the sub-pixels are rearranged, the area of each sub-pixel is unchanged and still is one third of the area. The sub-pixels of the three primary colors together constitute a square pixel. This is a preferred example, and the display screen thus obtained shows a natural appearance, although the pixels may be arranged other than square if specifically desired; and the area of each sub-pixel may be more or less if specifically desired.

The key point of the subpixel rearrangement of the embodiment of the invention is that after the subpixels are rearranged, three subpixels of each pixel have the same color as the adjacent subpixels of the adjacent pixels. In the prior invention, at most two sub-pixels in each pixel have the same color as the adjacent sub-pixels of the adjacent pixels. The invention is essentially different from the previous invention.

According to the display panel provided by the embodiment of the invention, the saturation of the displayed color can be increased by enabling the colors of the adjacent sub-pixels of the adjacent pixels to be the same, and the displayed color is more bright and richer in hierarchy.

Fig. 1(a) and 1(b) show two exemplary rearrangement schemes for three primary RGB sub-pixels according to embodiments of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1(a), the display panel is composed of a plurality of pixels arranged in a plurality of rows and columns, and in the illustrated example, each row of pixels is connected to a scanning line S, and each column of pixels is connected to a data line D.

As shown in FIG. 1(a _), the pixel P1 has a green sub-pixel P11, a blue sub-pixel P12, and a red sub-pixel P13; the pixel P2 has a green sub-pixel P21, a blue sub-pixel P22 and a red sub-pixel P23; the pixel P3 includes a green subpixel P31, a blue subpixel P32, and a red subpixel P33. The pixel P1 is adjacent to the pixels P2 and P3 in the row direction.

It can be seen that the sub-pixel arrangement of the pixel P1 is mirror-symmetrical in the row direction to the sub-pixel arrangement of the adjacent pixel P2, the sub-pixel arrangement of the pixel P1 is mirror-symmetrical in the row direction to the sub-pixel arrangement of the adjacent pixel P3, and each of the sub-pixels P11, P12, P13 of the pixel P1 is adjacent to the same-color sub-pixel of the adjacent pixel, specifically, the green sub-pixel P11 of the pixel P1 is adjacent to the green sub-pixel P21 of the pixel P2; the blue sub-pixel P12 of P1 is adjacent to the blue sub-pixel P31 of P3; the red sub-pixel P13 of P1 is adjacent to the red sub-pixel P33 of P3.

As can be seen from fig. 1(a), except for the pixels at the boundary, e.g., P2, the sub-pixels of substantially all pixels have the same color sub-pixel adjacent thereto in the row direction. To achieve this, at least some of the sub-pixels are arranged to intersect (be vertical) with at least some of the other sub-pixels, for example, the green sub-pixel P11 of P1 is arranged vertically, the blue sub-pixel P12 and the red sub-pixel of P1 are arranged laterally, the laying direction of the green sub-pixel P11 intersects (is vertical) the blue sub-pixel P12 and the red sub-pixel P13, and the blue sub-pixel P12 and the red sub-pixel P13 are overlapped in the column direction.

Fig. 1(b) shows another rearrangement of the three primary RGB sub-pixels according to the embodiment of the present invention, which is different from fig. 1(a) in that the red sub-pixel is disposed vertically, and the blue and green sub-pixels are disposed horizontally.

B: homochromatic sub-pixel merging

In the color display device rearranged by the sub-pixels in fig. 1(a) and (b), the three sub-pixels of each pixel in the same row have the same color as the adjacent sub-pixels of the adjacent pixels. Considering that the pixel density (number of pixels per unit area) of current color display screens is very high, especially color display screens of mobile devices, the pixel density is far beyond the resolution of human eyes. The so-called retina screen of apple means that the pixel density of the display screen is high, exceeding the resolution of the human retina.

Since the human eye is unable to resolve a pixel on a color display screen, it is of course less able to resolve its sub-pixels. Based on this fact, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention combines all the adjacent same-color sub-pixels in the same row to form a strong sub-pixel.

In one example, the luminance or luminous intensity of the strong sub-pixel is the sum of the luminances of the original adjacent two sub-pixels (the strong sub-pixel is obtained by combining the two sub-pixels).

Preferably, the merging of adjacent same-color sub-pixels needs to satisfy two conditions: (1) the luminous intensity is the sum of the brightness of the two combined same-color sub-pixels, and (2) the pixel formed by the three-color-intensity sub-pixels is still square. By setting such conditions, the following advantages can be obtained: (1) the luminous intensity of the two sub-pixels is not changed before and after the two sub-pixels are combined, so that the brightness of the strong sub-pixel after the combination is the sum of the brightness of the two sub-pixels before the combination. The mixing mode of the emitted light changes before and after the two sub-pixels are combined. That is, the light emitted independently before the two sub-pixels are combined is received by human eyes after being mixed in space due to the limit of the resolution of the human eyes. After the two sub-pixels are combined, the light of the two sub-pixels is mixed at the level of the strong sub-pixel and then received by the human eye. Due to the limitation of human eye resolution, the human eye cannot distinguish light emitted by two independent sub-pixels from light emitted by one strong sub-pixel; (2) the pixels are still square, which means that before and after the sub-pixels are combined, only the shape of the sub-pixels is changed, but the shape of the pixels is not changed.

According to the principle of light emission of color displays, the displays are classified into active light emitting unit color displays (such as LED, OLED display, etc.) and backlight color displays (such as liquid crystal display), and the embodiments of the present invention are illustrated as follows.

B.1 backlight color display

A backlight display such as a liquid crystal display is characterized in that its backlight is a light source of constant brightness, and the brightness of its sub-pixels is realized by adjusting the light transmittance of liquid crystal. Therefore, in the liquid crystal color display, after the same-color sub-pixels are combined, the area of the strong sub-pixel is twice that of the atomic pixel, so as to ensure that the maximum brightness of the strong sub-pixel is twice that of the atomic pixel, namely the brightness of the strong sub-pixel is the sum of two adjacent same-color sub-pixels which are combined.

As mentioned above, the merging of adjacent same-color sub-pixels needs to satisfy two conditions: (1) the luminous intensity is the sum of the brightness of the two combined same-color sub-pixels, and (2) the pixel formed by the three-color-intensity sub-pixels is still square. Accordingly, the pixel value of the strong sub-pixel is the average value of the pixel values of the two adjacent same-color sub-pixels to be combined, and the driving voltage of the strong sub-pixel is also the average value of the voltage values of the two adjacent same-color sub-pixels to be combined.

Fig. 2(a) and (b) schematically show examples of merging of two same-color sub-pixels to form a strong sub-pixel in a display panel, corresponding to the result of merging of same-color sub-pixels for the sub-pixel rearrangement schemes of fig. 1(a) and 1(b), respectively.

As can be seen from fig. 2(a) and (b), the strong sub-pixel in each pixel is shared by the present pixel and its adjacent pixels in the row direction.

In addition, as can be seen from fig. 2(a) and (b), after the same color sub-pixels are combined, the driving circuit of the backlight type color display device is reduced by one half, which directly reduces the manufacturing cost of the display screen. Meanwhile, the reduction of the number of the sub-pixels and the enlargement of the area are beneficial to the manufacture of the liquid crystal panel, and the yield is improved. And after the same-color sub-pixels are combined, the black interval between the sub-pixels is saved, the light transmittance (aperture opening ratio) of the display screen is increased, the utilization efficiency of the light source is improved, and the energy-saving effect is good. After combination, the spacing between the sub-pixels disappears, which can further improve the pixel density of the display screen.

In a passive light-emitting color display screen such as a PMOLED, an LCD, or the like, a strong sub-pixel is realized by increasing the area of a light-emitting unit corresponding to the strong sub-pixel. In this case, the area of the strong sub-pixel is twice that of the atomic pixel, and the brightness of the strong sub-pixel is also the sum of the brightness of the original adjacent two same-color sub-pixels.

Preferably, the light emitting efficiency of the strong sub-pixel is improved due to the elimination of the black space between two adjacent sub-pixels of the same color, and the area of the strong sub-pixel is generally smaller than the sum of the two sub-pixels. Therefore, the height of the pixels also needs to be adjusted so that each pixel remains square.

B.2 active light-emitting color display

Active-matrix color displays may also incorporate same-color subpixels by increasing the area of the strong subpixels, as in backlight displays such as liquid crystal displays. Or the active light-emitting color display can increase the light-emitting intensity of the strong sub-pixel to combine the same color sub-pixels.

As mentioned above, the merging of adjacent same-color sub-pixels needs to satisfy two conditions: (1) the luminous intensity is the sum of the brightness of the two combined same-color sub-pixels, and (2) the pixel formed by the three-color-intensity sub-pixels is still square.

As shown in fig. 3(a) and 3(b), the combined strong sub-pixel is represented by a three-color block with a white pattern, and the luminance of the combined strong sub-pixel is the sum of the luminances of two adjacent same-color sub-pixels. Obviously, the driving circuit of the color display device is reduced by one half after combination, and the manufacturing cost of the display screen is directly reduced. Meanwhile, the luminous efficiency of each pixel is improved after combination, the area is reduced, and the pixel density of the display screen is improved.

In an active light-emitting color display screen such as an AMOLED or an LED, the intensity of light emitted by the light-emitting unit corresponding to the intensity sub-pixel can be increased to realize the intensity sub-pixel. For example, the area of the strong sub-pixel may be the same as that of the normal sub-pixel, but its shape is a new shape of the strong sub-pixel as shown in fig. 3(a), (b), so that each pixel is still square. The brightness or the luminous intensity of the strong sub-pixel is the sum of two adjacent same-color sub-pixels.

As can be seen from fig. 3(a) and (b), the strong sub-pixel in each pixel is shared by the present pixel and its adjacent pixels in the row direction.

The features of the color displays of the two embodiments described above in connection with fig. 1(a), (b), fig. 2(a), (b) and fig. 3(a), (b) are: (1) after the sub-pixels are rearranged, the colors of the adjacent sub-pixels between any two adjacent pixels in the same row of the display device are the same, and the three sub-pixels of any pixel are provided with the adjacent same-color sub-pixels of the adjacent pixels; (2) two adjacent same-color sub-pixels of adjacent pixels are merged into an intense sub-pixel. As described above, all three sub-pixels of each pixel have adjacent sub-pixels of the same color, and thus, after combination, the three sub-pixels of any one pixel become strong sub-pixels. Black spaces are eliminated in the strong sub-pixels. The saturation of the displayed color is increased by the adjacent same-color sub-pixels or the strong sub-pixels, so that the color display screen has higher color saturation, more bright displayed color and more abundant layers compared with the existing color display screen; and the strong sub-pixel improves the utilization rate of a light source and reduces the power consumption of the color display. Accordingly, the aspect ratio of the sub-pixels also needs to be adjusted so that each pixel remains square.

With the color display according to the embodiment of the present invention, the number of the strong sub-pixels in each row is half of the number of the sub-pixels before combination, so that the row scanning frequency of the color display of the embodiment is reduced to half of the original color display with the same number of pixels, thereby greatly reducing the manufacturing cost of the color display with high pixel density.

Fig. 1(a) and 1(b) show a subpixel rearrangement scheme in the case of RGB three-primary color subpixels, but this is by way of example and not limitation, the subpixel rearrangement scheme may be different from the above, and the number of the primary colors of the subpixels may be more, for example, four primary colors, red, blue, green, white. In the case of four primary colors, one sub-pixel may be placed vertically, and the other three sub-pixels may be placed horizontally; two sub-pixels may be disposed and stacked transversely, and the remaining two sub-pixels may be stacked transversely, while the first two sub-pixels and the second two sub-pixels are parallel to each other along the column direction.

Preferably, all the sub-pixels in a pixel include sub-pixels of all the primary colors, which can prevent color cast of the displayed image and ensure the display quality.

It should be noted that, although the expression "all sub-pixels are strong sub-pixels" is used herein, the inventor clearly reminds the person skilled in the art of the following fact: the following special cases exist: some of the sub-pixels at the display screen boundary may not be strong sub-pixels.

As an example, the display panel may be a liquid crystal display panel, an emissive electroluminescent display panel, a plasma display panel, a field emission display panel, an electrophoretic display panel, a flash display panel, an incandescent display panel, a light emitting diode display panel, an organic light emitting diode display panel, and the like.

In addition, the number and kinds of the primary colors or primary colors can be designed according to needs, for example, four primary colors of red, green, blue and white can be selected in addition to the three primary colors of red, green and blue, and other primary colors, such as cyan, magenta and the like, can also be included.

Fig. 4 shows a block diagram of a configuration of the display device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, which only shows components closely related to an embodiment of the present invention, and the configuration is not restrictive and non-exhaustive, but may also include other components.

As shown in fig. 4, the display apparatus 100 may include an input image receiving part 110, a subpixel rendering part 120, a driving part 130, and a display panel 140.

The input image receiving means 110 is for receiving input image data in a first format for rendering by a display device in the output display format. The format of the input image data may be a conventional three-color "full-pixel" RGB format, or may be other sRGB, YCbCr, RGBW formats, etc., and the output display format is determined by the layout of the sub-pixels in the display screen. In the case where the color space of the input image data is different from the color space of the output, the input image receiving part 110 may include a function of gamut mapping the input image data, for example, if the input data is in RGB format to be rendered on an RGBW display panel, a gamut mapping operation is required to utilize the W primary on the panel. Of course, instead of incorporating such gamut mapping functions into the input data receiving section 110, such gamut mapping functions may also be implemented by other sections or dedicated gamut mapping sections independent of the mapping data receiving section 110.

The subpixel rendering component 120 is configured to perform subpixel rendering operations based on input image data (including input image data that has been subjected to, for example, gamut mapping processing) to produce a luminance value for each subpixel on the display panel. Based on such luminance values, the driving section 130 sends a signal to each sub-pixel of the display panel, thereby realizing that the input image data in the first format is displayed on the display panel in a manner pleasing to the viewer. That is, the subpixel rendering (rendering) operation provides a luminance value for each subpixel on the display panel.

The display panel 140 may be, for example, the display panel of the above-described embodiment of the present invention, which is composed of pixels arranged in a plurality of rows and columns, each row of pixels corresponding to, for example, one scan line, each column of pixels corresponding to, for example, one data line, each pixel being composed of an arrangement of sub-pixels of at least three different primary colors; the arrangement mode of the sub-pixels in each pixel is mirror-symmetrical in the row direction with the arrangement mode of the sub-pixels of each of two adjacent pixels in the row direction, and any sub-pixel in each pixel has the same-color sub-pixel adjacent in the row direction in the adjacent pixel; wherein every two adjacent same-color sub-pixels of the adjacent pixels are combined into a strong sub-pixel, and share a pair of electrodes. The combination of the arrangement mode of the strong sub-pixels in the display screen and the rendering method of the embodiment enables the display device to have the advantages of high pixel density, low line number, low energy consumption and strong color restoration capability.

An example of a method of determining the luminance of a sub-pixel according to an embodiment of the present invention is described below.

In contrast, a method of determining the sub-pixel luminance of a conventional display is first described.

FIGS. 5(a) - (d) show schematic diagrams of a conventional display from image data to panel display, wherein FIG. 5(a) shows a portion of the input image data of a color image having a plurality of pixels; wherein Pij represents a partial input image data of pixels of an ith row and a ith column, and i and j are integers greater than or equal to 0; FIG. 5(B) shows in particular the color values of 6 pixels P0-P5 in the image shown in FIG. 5(a), respectively (R0G0, B0), …, (R5G5, B5); FIG. 5(c) shows a conventional RGB display displaying an image directly according to the values of FIG. 5(b), i.e., the color values of the sub-pixels of a pixel on the display directly correspond to the color values of the sub-pixels in the corresponding pixel on the image; FIG. 5(d) shows that the conventional RGBG display only displays an image according to some of the values in FIG. 5(B), for example, for the first column of pixel data of the input image, which corresponds to the R0 and G0 columns of subpixels of the first and second columns from the left of the display panel in FIG. 5(d), thereby discarding the B0 color values in the corresponding input pixel data; for the second column of pixel data of the input image, which corresponds to the B1 and G1 columns of subpixels of the third and fourth columns from the left of the display panel in fig. 5(d), the corresponding R1 color value in the input pixel data is discarded; and so on.

FIGS. 6(a) - (d) show schematic diagrams from image data to panel display according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 6(a) shows a portion of the input image data of a color image having a plurality of pixels; wherein Pij represents input image data of a pixel in the ith row and the jth column, and i and j are integers greater than or equal to 0; fig. 6(B) specifically shows color values of 6 pixels P0-P5 in the image shown in fig. 6(a), respectively (R0, G0, B0), …, (R5, G5, B5); its color value is (R0, G0, B0), …, (R5, G5, B5); fig. 6(c) shows the calculation of the color value of the strong sub-pixel from the sum of the color values of two adjacent sub-pixels having the same color according to the arrangement of the sub-pixels in fig. 2(b) and 3 (b). Specifically, the luminance value of the red-strong sub-pixel of the first column on the display panel is obtained by adding the red luminance value R0 of the first pixel P0 in the input image data and the red luminance value (referred to as R.) of the pixel (referred to as P.) before P0; then, the green luminance value G0 of the first pixel P0 and the green luminance value G1 of the second pixel P1 in the input image data are added to obtain the luminance value of the green strong sub-pixel on the second column of the display panel; similarly, the blue luminance value B0 of the first pixel P0 and the blue luminance value B1 of the second pixel P1 in the input image data are added to obtain the luminance value of the blue strong sub-pixel in the second column of the display panel; next, the red luminance value R1 of the second pixel P1 and the red luminance value R2 of the third pixel P2 in the input image data are added to obtain the luminance value of the red-strong sub-pixel of the third column of the display panel, and so on. Fig. 6(d) shows that the calculated value of fig. 6(c) is transmitted to a display panel for display.

The innovation point of the invention is that (1) the sub-pixels are rearranged so that all the sub-pixels of all the pixels have adjacent same-color sub-pixels, and (2) the adjacent same-color sub-pixels of the adjacent pixels are combined to form the strong sub-pixel, and all the sub-pixels of all the pixels form the strong sub-pixel. The invention directly reduces the complexity of the display panel circuit and directly reduces the manufacturing cost of the display panel. The new color display can have higher luminous efficiency, smaller pixel area and less driving circuits. All these technological advances can be used to increase the pixel density of the display screen and to produce low-cost, high-pixel-density color display devices, on the one hand, and to produce more energy-efficient, lower-cost color displays, on the other hand.

The present invention is a basic invention in the field of color display devices, and can be applied to all color display devices. The invention can break through the patent barriers of foreign factories and open up a wide prospect for Chinese screen factories.

Having described embodiments of the present invention, the foregoing description is intended to be exemplary, not exhaustive, and not limited to the embodiments disclosed. Various combinations, sub-combinations, modifications, and alterations may be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

A display panel comprises pixels arranged in multiple rows and columns,

each pixel is formed by arranging at least three sub-pixels with different primary colors, and each pixel at least comprises a first color sub-pixel, a second color sub-pixel and a third color sub-pixel; the second color sub-pixel and the third color sub-pixel are overlapped along the column direction;

the first pixel P1 is adjacent to the second pixel P2 and the third pixel P3 along the row direction, and the first color sub-pixel SP11 of the first pixel P1 is adjacent to the same color sub-pixel SP21 of the second pixel P2 along the row direction; the second color sub-pixel SP12 of the first pixel P1 is adjacent to the same color sub-pixel SP32 of the third pixel P3 in the row direction, the third color sub-pixel SP13 of the first pixel P1 is adjacent to the same color sub-pixel SP33 of the third pixel P3 in the row direction,

wherein every two adjacent same-color sub-pixels of the adjacent pixels are combined into a strong sub-pixel, and share a pair of electrodes.
The display panel of claim 1, each pixel having a square shape.
The display panel according to claim 1, an area of each sub-pixel is one third of an area of the pixel.
The display panel of claim 1, each pixel further comprising a fourth color sub-pixel, wherein the second, third and fourth sub-pixels are stacked in a column direction, wherein the fourth color sub-pixel SP14 of the first pixel P1 is adjacent to the same color sub-pixel SP34 of the third pixel P3 in a row direction.
The display panel of claim 1, each pixel further comprising a fourth color sub-pixel, wherein the second and third sub-pixels are stacked in a column direction, the first and fourth sub-pixels are stacked in a column direction, and the stacked second and third sub-pixels are parallel to the stacked first and fourth sub-pixels in the column direction, wherein the fourth color sub-pixel SP14 of the first pixel P1 is adjacent to the same color sub-pixel SP24 of the second pixel P2 in the row direction.
The display panel of claim 1, the merged strong sub-pixels having no black space and a luminance greater than the luminance of any of the merged same color sub-pixels.
The display panel of claim 1, wherein the sub-pixels of each pixel comprise sub-pixels of all primary colors, and the proportion of the sub-pixels of the primary colors in the pixel group is the same.
The display panel according to claim 1, wherein the luminous intensity of the combined strong sub-pixel is the sum of the luminous intensities of the two same-color sub-pixels that are combined.
The display panel according to any one of claims 1 to 7,

the luminous intensity of the strong sub-pixel obtained by combination is the sum of the brightness of the two sub-pixels with the same color; the pixels are square.
The display panel according to any one of claims 1 to 7,

under the condition that the display panel is an active light-emitting display panel, the area of the strong sub-pixel is the same as that of other sub-pixels; and

and under the condition that the display panel is a passive light-emitting display panel, the area of the combined strong sub-pixel is larger than that of other sub-pixels.
The display panel according to claim 10, wherein in the case where the display panel is a passive light emitting display panel, the area of the combined strong sub-pixel is substantially the sum of the areas of the pair of the same-color sub-pixels that are combined.
The display panel according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the first color, the second color, and the third color are each one of red, green, and blue.
The display panel according to any one of claims 1 to 7, which is one of a liquid crystal display panel, an emissive electroluminescent display panel, a plasma display panel, a field emission display panel, an electrophoretic display panel, a flash display panel, an incandescent display panel, a light emitting diode display panel, and an organic light emitting diode display panel.
A display panel is composed of pixels arranged in multiple rows and multiple columns, wherein each pixel is composed of at least three sub-pixels with different primary colors;

the arrangement mode of the sub-pixels in each pixel is mirror-symmetrical in the row direction with the arrangement mode of the sub-pixels of each of two adjacent pixels in the row direction, and any sub-pixel in each pixel has the same-color sub-pixel adjacent in the row direction in the adjacent pixel;

wherein every two adjacent same-color sub-pixels of the adjacent pixels are combined into a strong sub-pixel, and share a pair of electrodes.
The display panel according to claim 14, wherein,

the luminous intensity of the strong sub-pixel obtained by combination is the sum of the brightness of the two sub-pixels with the same color; the pixels are square.
A display device, comprising:

the display panel of any one of claims 1 to 15; and

a first driving circuit for transmitting a data signal to each subpixel of the display panel;

and the second driving circuit is used for sending scanning signals to each sub-pixel of the display panel.
A display device according to claim 16, wherein the arrangement of the sub-pixels in a pixel defines an output display format, the display device further comprising:

input image receiving means for receiving input image data in a first format for rendering by a display device in said output display format; and

a sub-pixel rendering component for performing a sub-pixel rendering operation based on input image data to generate a luminance value for each sub-pixel on the display panel.
The display device of claim 17, wherein the input image data is in the format of RGB color values for each pixel,

for a strong subpixel, the subpixel rendering component computes a luminance value for the strong subpixel based on the luminance values of the respective colors of the RGB color values of the two pixels associated with the strong subpixel.
The display device according to claim 18, wherein the sum of luminance values of respective colors among RGB color values of two pixels associated with the strong sub-pixel is calculated as the luminance value of the strong sub-pixel.
The display device according to any one of claims 16 to 19, the display panel being one of a liquid crystal display panel, an emissive electroluminescent display panel, a plasma display panel, a field emission display panel, an electrophoretic display panel, a flash display panel, an incandescent display panel, a light emitting diode display panel, and an organic light emitting diode display panel.
A method of rendering sub-pixels of a display device according to any one of claims 16 to 20,

the arrangement of the sub-pixels in the display panel defines the output display format;

the rendering method of the sub-pixel comprises the following steps:

receiving input image data in a first format for rendering by a display device in the output display format;

performing a sub-pixel rendering operation based on input image data to generate a luminance value for each sub-pixel on the display panel;

a signal is sent to each sub-pixel of the display panel,

wherein rendering the strong sub-pixels comprises: obtaining a color numerical value corresponding to the color of the strong sub-pixel in the color numerical values of each of the associated two pixels of the input image data; and adding the two corresponding color values to obtain the color value of the strong sub-pixel.
A display panel is composed of pixels arranged in multiple rows and multiple columns, wherein each pixel is composed of at least three strong sub-pixels with different primary colors;

the strong sub-pixel in each pixel is shared by the current pixel and the adjacent pixels in the row direction, and the brightness is determined by the corresponding color sub-pixel data in the corresponding image data of the current pixel and the adjacent pixels.
The display panel of claim 22, at least one of said hadron sub-pixels within each pixel being arranged to intersect at least some of the other hadron sub-pixels.