JP2003515775A - Apparatus and method for highlighting selected portions of a display screen - Google Patents

Abstract

SUMMARY An apparatus and method for highlighting one or more selected portions of a display screen is disclosed. The apparatus receives user input selecting one of a plurality of portions of a display screen, and changes a value of a pixel in the selected portion to increase the color temperature of the pixel in response to the user input selection. With a color shift controller. The method includes selecting a portion of the display screen and increasing a color temperature of at least one color in the selected portion of the display screen. In one advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the color shift controller changes the white pixel value in a selected portion of the display screen to a new white pixel value having a higher color temperature. Higher color temperatures increase the apparent brightness of the displayed image.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to electronic display systems, and more particularly to apparatus and methods for highlighting selected portions of a display screen.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Electronic data processing systems, such as personal computers, have become increasingly available for general use with reduced cost and increased capabilities.
Advances in technology have resulted in portable laptop computer systems of reduced size, weight, and cost and enhanced capabilities. The size and weight of laptop computers is significantly reduced when designers of laptop computer monitor displays can take advantage of advances in liquid crystal display (LCD) technology.

Graphic user interface (GUI) software allows data to be displayed on a screen of a display unit (eg, computer monitor) on one or more parts of the screen. These parts of the screen have a generally rectangular shape and are called windows. Two or more windows on the computer monitor screen may or may not overlap. When multiple windows are present on a computer monitor screen, it is desirable to be able to highlight one or more windows so that the selected and highlighted windows are easier to see than other unselected windows. .

It is desirable to be able to highlight windows that display television entertainment programs or movies, while allowing other unhighlighted windows to simultaneously display other data. It is desirable to highlight the window containing the entertainment program, and the observer is less distracted by other images that may be simultaneously displayed in other unhighlighted windows.

Methods for highlighting a portion of a display screen (eg, window) in a standard cathode ray tube (CRT) are well known in the art. One way is
This involves highlighting the selected portion by making it brighter than the rest of the display screen. This is done by overdriving the beam current in the area of the screen that contains the selected portion to be highlighted. This provides higher brightness levels in the selected portion than brightness levels in other areas.

In this method, 1) the maximum brightness on the LCD screen is limited to the brightness obtained by multiplying the brightness of the backlight by the maximum light transmittance of the LCD screen, and 2) the maximum brightness of each window. Cannot be used in an LCD display, since is usually chosen to be the same across the LCD screen.

It is known in the television industry that raising the color temperature of the white portion of a television image will make the television image appear brighter than other areas of the same emitted radiant energy of lower color temperature. is there. National Television Standards Committee (N) for television monitors
The TSC)) method specifies a white color temperature of 6,770 EK. Industrial practice is to use a white color temperature of 6,500 EK for television studio monitors. However, it is common practice to raise the white color temperature to make the screen look brighter. The color temperature of white in a cathode ray tube (CRT) television monitor is often set to be equal to the relatively high color temperature of 8,000 to 15,000 EK. This causes the white color in the resulting image to appear brighter without increasing the brightness of the image.

There is a need in the art for improved systems and methods for highlighting selected portions of the display screen of a display unit. In particular, there is a need for improved systems and methods that cause selected portions of a display screen to appear brighter than other areas of the display screen.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an improved apparatus and method for highlighting selected portions of a display screen of a processing system. The present invention highlights selected portions by increasing the color temperature of the colors in the image in the selected portion while leaving the unselected portion at an invariant lower level of color temperature. Higher color temperature increases the apparent brightness of the displayed image. The present invention may simultaneously highlight one or more selected portions of the display screen.

An advantageous embodiment of the invention comprises a color shift controller for changing the white pixel value of a selected part of the display screen to a new white pixel value having a higher color temperature.

In another advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the input red-blue-green (RGB) pixel values of a selected portion of the display screen are replaced with a new red-blue-green (RGB) having a higher color temperature. It has a color shift controller that changes to pixel values.

The present invention primarily aims to provide an apparatus and method for highlighting selected portions of a display screen.

The present invention provides a color shift controller that alters the value of a pixel within a selected portion of a display screen to raise the color temperature of the pixel and thereby increase the apparent brightness of the display screen. That is the further purpose.

The present invention provides a color shift controller that alters white pixel values within selected portions of a display screen to increase the color temperature of the white pixels and thereby increase the apparent brightness of the display screen. The other purpose is to provide.

The present invention provides a red-blue-green (RGB) within selected portions of a display screen to increase the color temperature of the resulting color pixels and thereby increase the apparent brightness of the display screen. It is a further object to provide a color shift controller that changes pixel values.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for highlighting selected portions of a cathode ray tube (CRT) display screen.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for highlighting selected portions of a liquid crystal display screen.

The above description is a relatively broad summary of features and technical advantages of the present invention so that those skilled in the art may better understand the detailed description of the invention that follows. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. Those skilled in the art should recognize that the disclosed concepts and particular embodiments can be readily used as a basis for modifying or designing other structures in carrying out the same purpose of the invention. Moreover, those skilled in the art should also recognize that such equivalent structures do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form.

Before going into the detailed description, it may be advantageous to first define certain terms and expressions used throughout this patent document, such as “comprising” and “having”,
And the word derived therefrom means to include without limitation, the term “or” also includes the meanings of and / or, and the expressions “associated with” and “associated with”, and expressions derived therefrom. Includes, included, interconnected, accommodated, accommodated, connected, connected, coupled, coupled, communicable, cooperating, interleaved, juxtaposed, approximated, May be closely related, closely related, having, having the characteristics of or equivalent to,
The term "controller" may mean any device, system, or part that controls the operation of at least one device, such device being hardware, firmware,
Alternatively, it may be implemented in software or at least a combination of two of these. It should be noted that the functionality associated with all particular controllers may be centralized or distributed, either locally or remotely.
Definitions of certain terms and expressions are provided throughout this patent document. Persons of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in most, if not most, such definitions will apply to the conventional and future uses of such defined terms and expressions. Is.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION For a more complete understanding of the present invention and advantages of the present invention, reference is made to the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals indicate like objects.

1 to 3 described below and the various embodiments used to explain the principles of the present invention in this patent document are merely exemplary and limit the scope of the invention in any way. Should not be interpreted as. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the principles of the present invention may be implemented in all properly arranged video display systems and display screens.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary processing system. The present invention is described with respect to an exemplary processing system such as a personal computer. It should be noted that other types of processing systems may also be used to implement the invention, and the invention is not limited to use in personal computers. As will be more fully described, the advantageous embodiment of personal computer 100 is for increasing the color temperature of colors in an image at selected portions of a display screen to simulate a higher level of image brightness. Have software.

The personal computer 100 includes a compact disk (CD) read-only memory (ROM) disk drive 102 and a hard disk drive (HDD) 1.
03, display monitor 104, keyboard 105, central processing unit (CP
U) 106, write-once read / write memory (RAM) 107, pointing device (eg mouse) 108, input / output (I / O) interface (IF) circuit 110, video / audio interface (IF) circuit 112, and audio It has a device (for example, a speaker) 120. The CD-ROM disc drive 102 can receive and read a removable CD-ROM disc 125.

The display monitor 014 functions as a computer monitor for the personal computer 100. Display monitor 104 may be a cathode ray tube (CRT) screen, a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen, a flat panel display screen, a plasma display screen, a projection display screen, or any other device suitable for displaying images. But it's okay. The display monitor 104 has a window 131, a window 132, and a screen 130 that may display several different images in the window 133. Although windows 131, 132, and 133 are shown non-overlapping, it is well known that two or more of these windows may at least partially overlap one another.

The hard disk drive 103 provides fast access to storage and retrieval of operating system programs, application programs, and data. The keyboard 105 and pointing device 108 are I / OIF
It is coupled to the personal computer 100 through the circuit 110. The display monitor 104 and the speaker 120 are coupled to the personal computer 100 via the video / audio IF circuit 112. CD-ROM disc 102,
Internal components of the personal computer 100, including the hard disk drive 103, CPU 106, RAM 107, I / O IF circuit 110, and video / audio IF circuit 112, couple to and communicate with each other through a computer bus 115.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing selected portions of RAM 107 in a personal computer according to one embodiment of the present invention. The RAM 107 stores an operating system program 210, a video driver 240, and application software. The application software is a user application 220,
It includes a user application 230 and a color shift application 250. Computer software 200 may include other application software (not shown). The operating system program 210 and application software are loaded into the hard disk drive 103 from one or more CD-ROM disks 125. Hard disk drive 103 is 1
It provides a non-volatile storage for the loaded software until one or more software programs are deleted from the hard disk drive 103.

The video driver 240 works in conjunction with the color shift application 250 to control the apparent brightness of the screen 130. Video driver 240 works with operating system program 210 to control and monitor the operation of display monitor 104 through video / audio IF circuit 112, in a manner well known in the art.

CPU 106 and color shift application 250 together have a color shift controller capable of implementing the present invention. The color shift application 250
Allows an application program, such as user application program 220 or user application program 230, to highlight a window selected from the group of windows 131-133. The selected window, when highlighted, appears brighter compared to the brightness of the unselected screen of the group of windows 131-133 and the background of screen 130.

For example, assume that window 131 is selected for highlighting. The user uses the keyboard 105 or the pointing device 108 to display the window 1
31 is selected, and the CPU 106 notifies the selection of the window 131 to the video driver 2
Send to 40. The video driver 240 then starts the color shift application 250. When the color shift application 250 is active, the window 13
Change the input 1 red-blue-green (RGB) pixel value to a new red-blue-green (RGB) pixel value with a higher color temperature. New RG with higher color temperature
The B pixel value is the image on the window 131
It will appear brighter (and brighter than the background in screen 130) than the images on 2 and 133. Color shift application 250 maintains a higher color level for window 131 until the user selects another window or exits the user application that controls window 131.

In one embodiment, the color shift application 250 uses the original red-green-blue (RGB
) Raise the color temperature of the white pixels using a linear matrix in the software to convert the values to a new red-green-blue (RGB) with a higher color temperature.

In one embodiment, color shift application 250 can highlight more than one screen at a time. By sending the appropriate select command, the user may selectively turn highlights on or off in any or all windows 131-133 within screen 130.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart 300 showing the operation of the personal computer 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention. The processing steps described in the flowchart 300 are CP
It is executed in U106. In the first processing stage 305, the CPU 106 simultaneously executes the user application 220 in the window 131 and the user application 230 in the window 132. At decision step 310, C
PU 106 determines whether window 131 has been selected to be highlighted. If window 131 is not selected to be highlighted, control proceeds to decision step 320. If window 131 is selected to be highlighted,
The CPU 106 enables the color shift application 250 to raise the color temperature in the window 131 (processing step 315). Control is at decision step 320.
Return to.

At decision step 320, the CPU 106 determines whether the window 132 has been selected to be highlighted. If window 132 is not selected to be highlighted, control proceeds to decision step 330. If the window 132 is selected to be highlighted, the CPU 106 allows the color shift application 250 to raise the color temperature in the window 132 (processing step 325).
). Control returns to decision step 330.

At decision step 330, the CPU 106 determines whether the window 133 has been selected to be highlighted. If window 133 is not selected to be highlighted, control proceeds to decision step 340. If the window 133 is selected to be highlighted, the CPU 106 allows the color shift application 250 to raise the color temperature in the window 133 (processing step 335).
). Control returns to decision step 340.

At step 340, the application on the highlighted screen (or screens) continues to run with the application on the other non-highlighted screens.

Although the present invention has been described in detail, those skilled in the art will appreciate that in its broadest form various changes, substitutions and changes can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. To do.

[Brief description of drawings]

[Figure 1]   1 is a block diagram of an exemplary processing system according to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates computer software that may be used within an exemplary processing system in accordance with an advantageous embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method of selecting one or more portions of a display screen to increase the apparent brightness of selected portions according to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G09G 3/36 G09G 5/14 Z 5/14 H04N 9/73 H H04N 9/73 G09G 3/28 K ( 81) Designated countries EP (AT, BE, CH, CY, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, IE, IT, LU, MC, NL, PT, SE, TR), CN, JP , KR (72) Inventor Lonose, Giovanni Netherlands, 5656 Aer Eindouven, Prof Holstraan 6 (72) Inventor Rigi, Andrea Netherlands, 5656 Aer Eindowen, Prof Holstraan 6 (72) Inventor Lamorpho , Albert Netherlands, 5656 Aer Eindouven, Prof. Rusutoran 6 F-term (reference) 5C006 AA22 AF85 EC11 FA03 FA54 5C066 AA20 CA21 EA13 FA00 5C080 AA05 AA10 BB05 CC03 DD01 EE32 JJ02 JJ07 KK02 5C082 AA01 BA12 BA34 BA35 BA39 BD01 BD02 CA12 CB05 DA86 MM10

Claims (17)

[Claims] 1. A device for use in a processing system having a display screen for highlighting a selected portion of the display screen, the user input selecting one of a plurality of portions of the display screen. A color shift controller capable of receiving and changing the value of at least one pixel in the selected portion in response to the user input selection to increase a color temperature of the at least one pixel. apparatus. 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the display screen comprises any one of a liquid crystal display screen, a flat panel display screen, a plasma display screen, and a projection display screen. 3. The selected portion of the display screen has a first window controlled by a first application executed by the processing system, and the color shift controller includes the first window. Red-blue-of multiple pixels in a window
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the green (RGB) value can be changed, thereby increasing the color temperature of the plurality of pixels. 4. The selected portion of the display screen has a first window controlled by a first application executed by the processing system, and the color shift controller has the first window. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first set of white pixel values in the window can be modified to increase the color temperature of the white pixel values. 5. The color shift controller is a linear matrix in software for converting an original red-blue-green (RGB) value to a new red-blue-green (RGB) value having a higher color temperature. 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein is used to raise the color temperature of the white pixel value. 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the color shift controller raises the color temperature of the at least one pixel with respect to the background color temperature of the display screen. 7. A display screen, a memory, a data processor, and a device for highlighting a selected portion of the display screen, the device for highlighting the selected portion of the display screen comprising: Receiving a user input selecting one of a plurality of portions and increasing a value of at least one pixel in the selected portion to increase a color temperature of the at least one pixel in response to the user input selection. A processing system having a color shift controller that can be modified to cause 8. A method for highlighting a selected portion of the display screen for use in a processing system having a display screen, the method comprising: selecting a portion of the display screen; Increasing the color temperature of at least one color in the colored portion. 9. The step of increasing the color temperature of the at least one color in the selected portion of the display screen comprises red-lighting a plurality of pixels in the selected portion of the display screen.
9. The method of claim 8, comprising the sub-step of altering the blue-green (RGB) values, thereby increasing the color temperature of the plurality of pixels. 10. The step of increasing the color temperature of the at least one color in the selected portion of the display screen comprises changing the white value of a plurality of pixels in the selected portion of the display screen to the white color. 9. The method according to claim 8, comprising the sub-step of changing to increase the color temperature of the pixel value. 11. The step of altering the white value of a plurality of pixels within the selected portion of the display screen to increase the color temperature of the white pixel value comprises the original red-blue-green (RGB). ) Values with new red-blue-green (R
11. A method according to claim 10, comprising the substep of converting to a GB) value with a linear matrix in software. 12. The method of claim 8, wherein raising the color temperature comprises raising the color temperature of the at least one pixel with respect to the background color temperature of the display screen. 13. A computer-readable storage medium for use in a processing system having a display screen for storing computer-executable instructions for highlighting selected portions of the display screen. Possible instructions include receiving a user input to select a portion of the display screen and raising the color temperature of at least one color in the selected portion of the display screen. Storage medium. 14. The step of raising the color temperature of at least one color in the selected portion of the display screen comprises red-blue-green () of a plurality of pixels in the selected portion of the display screen. 14. The sub-step of changing RGB values to raise the color temperature of the plurality of pixels.
The computer-readable storage medium described. 15. Increasing the color temperature of at least one color in the selected portion of the display screen comprises changing the white value of a plurality of pixels in the selected portion of the display screen to the white pixel. 14. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 13, having substeps of changing to increase the color temperature of the value. 16. The step of modifying the white value of a plurality of pixels within the selected portion of the display screen to increase the color temperature of the white pixel value is the original red-blue-green (RGB). 16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15, comprising the substep of converting the values into a new red-blue-green (RGB) value having a higher color temperature with a linear matrix in software. 17. The computer-readable method of claim 13, wherein increasing the color temperature comprises the sub-step of increasing the color temperature of the at least one pixel with respect to the color temperature of the background of the display screen. Storage medium.