JP2004198875A - Electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a display device whose display quality can easily be improved. <P>SOLUTION: Electronic equipment equipped with a display part which displays data with a plurality of pixels is equipped with a defective pixel storage part which stores information on a defective pixel included in the plurality of pixels, a correcting means of correcting data according to the information on the defective pixel, and a display control part which performs control for displaying the data corrected by the correcting means at a display part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electronic device including a display device for performing various displays.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an active matrix type liquid crystal panel has been used as a display device of various electronic devices such as a portable terminal such as a computer and a PDA. In such a liquid crystal panel, under the current situation where the number of pixels is increased and the size of each pixel is minimized, switching failure of the switching element due to short-circuiting of the transistor itself or defective wiring may occur. A pixel having a switching failure becomes a defective pixel called a bright spot or a black spot since the switching element is always turned on or off. In the case of displaying black, a bright point refers to a pixel whose pixel always transmits light and is displayed in white, and in the case of displaying white, a black point is a pixel whose pixel always blocks light and appears black. Point to.
[0003]
In order to correct a defective pixel, attention is paid to the fact that a black point is less noticeable between a bright point and a black point, and the bright point is darkened (see Patent Document 1). In this method of correcting a defective pixel, a portion of the alignment film provided on the glass substrate corresponding to the defective pixel is irradiated with laser light to alter the alignment film and change the alignment direction of the liquid crystal in the defective pixel portion. (See Patent Document 1).
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-9-146060 [0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above-described conventional defective pixel correction method (Patent Literature 1), since the darkened luminescent spots become black spots in addition to the originally existing black spots, the number of the dark spots increases, and the black spots may become conspicuous. In addition, when the alignment film is deteriorated, if the position where the laser light is irradiated is wrong, even a normal pixel may be blackened, and a careful operation is required.
An object of the present invention is to provide a display device which can easily enhance display quality even if it has a bright spot and a black spot.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic apparatus including a display unit that displays data using a plurality of pixels, the defective pixel storing information on a defective pixel included in the plurality of pixels. A storage unit, a correction unit that corrects the data based on the information of the defective pixel, and a display control unit that controls the display unit to display the data corrected by the correction unit. Features.
[0007]
According to the first aspect of the present invention, even if there is a defective pixel in the display section, the data is corrected based on the information of the defective pixel stored in the defective pixel storage section, so that the defective pixel is inconspicuous. The display quality can be easily improved. That is, the black point and the bright point can be made inconspicuous by lowering the luminance of the peripheral pixel adjacent to the black point pixel and correcting the data so as to increase the luminance of the peripheral pixel of the bright point.
[0008]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the electronic device according to the first aspect, the correction unit corrects data displayed on a pixel adjacent to the defective pixel based on information on the defective pixel. I do.
[0009]
According to the second aspect of the present invention, by correcting data to be displayed in a pixel adjacent to a defective pixel, the defective pixel can be made inconspicuous by melting with a peripheral pixel, thereby improving display quality. it can.
[0010]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the electronic device according to the first aspect, the correction unit corrects data to be displayed on the defective pixel based on information on the defective pixel.
[0011]
According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the data to be displayed on the defective pixel itself is corrected based on the information on the defective pixel, the defective pixel can be made inconspicuous, and the display quality can be improved.
[0012]
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic device according to any one of the first to third aspects, the electronic device further includes a defective pixel detection unit that detects a defective pixel of the display unit. The information of the defective pixel detected by the means is stored in the defective pixel storage unit.
[0013]
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the defective pixel detection means is provided in the electronic device itself, so that the defective pixel can be easily corrected at the time of an adjustment operation or the like performed before shipping the electronic device. .
[0014]
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the pixel is formed of three primary color pixel components of light, and information of the defective pixel is stored in the display unit. It is characterized by including a coordinate position of a defective pixel, a color of a pixel component having a defect among the three primary color pixel components, and a type of the defect.
[0015]
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the data can be appropriately corrected according to the color of the defective pixel component and the type of the defect, and the display quality can be further improved.
[0016]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
First, the configuration will be described.
FIG. 1 shows an electronic device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The electronic device 1 includes a display device 2, a CPU 3, an input device 4, a storage device 5, and a RAM 6, which are connected to each other by a bus 7.
[0017]
Note that examples of the electronic device 1 include a computer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), an electronic dictionary, and a mobile phone.
[0018]
In accordance with various instructions input from the input device 4, the CPU 3 stores a program specified from various programs such as a defective pixel detection program, a display correction program, and a data correction program recorded in the storage device 5 in a work area of the RAM 6. In accordance with these various programs, processing such as defective pixel detection processing, display correction processing, and data correction processing, which will be described later, is executed, and the processing results are stored in a predetermined area of the storage device 5 or the RAM 6 and stored in the display device 2. Display.
[0019]
The display device 2 includes a display unit 8, a VRAM (Video RAM) 10, and a display control unit 11.
[0020]
The display unit 8 is configured by an active matrix type liquid crystal panel that drives liquid crystal by an active matrix method.
As shown in FIG. 2, the active matrix type liquid crystal panel includes two glass substrates 81 and 82 which are opposed to each other at a predetermined interval, and the gap 83 is filled with liquid crystal.
[0021]
On one of the two glass substrates 81 and 82, a gate line 84 is arranged in a horizontal direction and a source line 85 is arranged in a vertical direction (see FIG. 2). A pixel electrode 87 is arranged near an intersection between the gate line 84 and the source line 85 via a switching element 86.
[0022]
On the other glass substrate 81, a common electrode 88 and a color filter 89 are formed. The color filter 89 has three primary color components (pixel components) of R (red), G (green), and B (blue) light, and each color is partitioned by a black matrix 90. One section corresponds to one pixel electrode 87, and R, G, and B pixel components are arranged in a predetermined order. One pixel shown in FIG. 3 is composed of these three primary color pixel components.
[0023]
Further, as shown in FIG. 2, polarizing plates 91 and 92 are provided so as to sandwich the two glass substrates 81 and 82, and a white light L is provided behind the polarizing plate 92 disposed on one glass substrate 82 side. (Not shown) that irradiates the glass substrates 81 and 82 with.
[0024]
Note that, due to the configuration of the polarizing plates 91 and 92 and the liquid crystal, the liquid crystal panel is of a normally black type that blocks light without applying a voltage to the liquid crystal, and conversely, the light is applied without applying a voltage to the liquid crystal. There is a normally white type that transmits light, but in the present embodiment, a normally black type liquid crystal panel will be described below as an example.
FIG. 3 shows a display color of each pixel when the switching element 86 of each pixel component is turned ON / OFF.
[0025]
The VRAM 10 (see FIG. 1) is a memory in which display contents (display data) to be displayed on the display unit 8 are written. The address of the VRAM 10 has one-to-one correspondence with each pixel component of one pixel. The CPU 3 can freely rewrite the contents of the VRAM 10 and transfer various display data such as images and texts stored in the storage device 5 to the VRAM 10.
[0026]
The display control unit 11 reads display data for each of the R, G, and B pixel components of each pixel from the VRAM 10, turns on / off a switching element 86 via a gate line 84 according to the display data, and outputs a signal via a source line 85. Thus, the voltage supplied to the pixel electrode 87 is adjusted. By changing the arrangement of the liquid crystal between the electrodes in accordance with the voltage applied between the pixel electrode 87 and the common electrode 88, the amount of transmission of light incident from the backlight is controlled, and the display data stored in the VRAM 10 is changed. It is reproduced on the screen of the display unit 8.
[0027]
The display unit 8 includes a pixel having a switching failure of the switching element 86 due to a defect of the transistor itself, such as a short circuit or a wiring failure, at a very low level. Such a pixel becomes a bright spot pixel when the switching element 86 is always ON, and becomes a black spot pixel when the switching element 86 is always OFF due to a wiring failure or the like. In the present embodiment, such defective pixels can be made inconspicuous by correcting the display data.
[0028]
(Defective pixel detection processing)
In order to correct the display data, first, a bright pixel and a black dot are detected, and a defective pixel detection process for generating information of a defective pixel is executed. As described above, this defective pixel detection processing is performed in cooperation with the CPU 3 and the defective pixel detection program stored in the storage device 5.
[0029]
FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the procedure of the defective pixel detection process. As shown in FIG. 4, first, the display unit 8 displays the entirety of yellow as a first screen (step S1). At this time, based on the display data transmitted from the CPU 3, the display control unit 11 supplies a signal to the gate line 84 to turn on the switching elements 86 of the R pixel component and the G pixel component of all the pixels, and A signal of a predetermined voltage is supplied to 85 to turn on the R pixel component and the G pixel component.
[0030]
Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the screen is scanned line by line in the Y direction and the X direction, respectively (step S2), and the defective pixel 93 is detected.
At this time, in the first screen display, the defective pixel 93 indicates a pixel displayed in any of white, red, and green. As shown in FIG. 4, since the B pixel component is also ON for the pixel displayed in white, it can be seen that the B pixel component has a bright spot defect. Similarly, it can be seen that a pixel displayed in red has a black point defect because the G pixel component is OFF, and a pixel displayed in green also has a black point defect in the R pixel component.
[0031]
The operator inputs “1” for a pixel displayed white, “2” for a pixel displayed red, and “3” for a pixel displayed green via the input device 4. Based on this input, the coordinates of the defective pixel, the type of the defect (the color of the pixel component having the defect, the distinction between the bright spot and the black spot) and the like are temporarily stored in a predetermined area of the RAM 6.
[0032]
Next, light blue is displayed on the display unit 8 as a second screen (step S3). At this time, based on the display data transmitted from the CPU 3, the display control unit 11 supplies a signal to the gate line 84 to turn on the switching elements 86 of the G pixel component and the B pixel component of all the pixels, and A signal of a predetermined voltage is supplied to 85 to turn on the G pixel component and the B pixel component.
[0033]
Next, the screen is scanned line by line in the Y direction and the X direction, and defective pixels are detected (step S4).
Here, the defective pixel 93 in the second screen display indicates a pixel displayed in any of white, green, and blue. Note that pixels displayed in white are bright point defects of the R pixel component, pixels displayed in green are black point defects of the B pixel component, and pixels displayed in blue are black point defects of the G pixel component (FIG. 4).
[0034]
The operator inputs “1” for a pixel displayed in white, “2” for a pixel displayed in green, and “3” for a pixel displayed in blue via the input device 4. Based on this input, the coordinates of the defective pixel, the type of the defect, and the like are stored in a predetermined area of the RAM 6.
[0035]
Next, pink is displayed on the display unit 8 as a third screen (step S5). At this time, the display control unit 11 supplies a signal to the gate line 84 based on the display data transmitted from the CPU 3 to turn on the switching elements 86 of the R pixel component and the B pixel component of each pixel, and To supply a signal of a predetermined voltage to turn on the R pixel component and the B pixel component.
[0036]
Next, the screen is scanned line by line in the Y direction and the X direction, respectively, to detect the defective pixel 93 (step S4). Here, a defective pixel in the third screen display indicates a pixel displayed in any of white, red, and blue. Pixels displayed in white are bright spot defects of G pixel components, pixels displayed in red are black spot defects of B pixel components, and pixels displayed in blue are black spot defects of R pixel components (FIG. 4). reference).
[0037]
The operator inputs "1" for a pixel displayed in white, "2" for a pixel displayed in red, and "3" for a pixel displayed in blue. Based on this input, the coordinates of the defective pixel, the type of the defect, and the like are stored in a predetermined area of the RAM 6.
[0038]
Next, the coordinates of the pixels 94, 95, 96 and 97 adjacent to the defective pixel 93 detected in the above steps are calculated, and as shown in FIG. 6, the coordinates (X _m , Y _n ) of the defective pixel and bright spot or black spot distinction, the color of the pixel components of the bright point or black point, coordinates of pixels adjacent to the defective pixel _{(X m-1, Y n} ), (X m + 1, Y n), (X m, Y n _{over 1} ) and (X _m , Y _{n + 1} ) are stored in the defect information storage area 51 of the storage device 5 in association with defective pixel information.
[0039]
The defective pixel detection process is a process executed by an operator or the like before the product is shipped. The display correction process and the data correction process described below are performed when the electronic device 1 displays various data after the product is shipped. This is a process executed one by one.
[0040]
(Display correction processing)
The display correction processing will be described based on FIG.
The display correction process is performed in cooperation with the CPU 3 and a display correction program stored in the storage device 5. When a display command signal is input from the input device 4 or the like, the CPU 3 expands the display data to the RAM 6 ( Step S11).
[0041]
Next, the presence or absence of a defective pixel in the display unit 8 is determined based on the information on the defective pixel stored in the defect information storage area 51 of the storage device 5 (Step S12).
[0042]
When it is determined that there is a defective pixel in the display unit 8 (step S12: Y), the display data is corrected according to a predetermined method (step S13). The correction of the display data will be described later.
[0043]
Next, the CPU 3 writes the display data corrected in step S13 into the VRAM 10 (step S14). The display control unit 11 causes the display unit 8 to display based on the display data written in the VRAM 10.
[0044]
(Data correction processing)
Next, the data correction processing in step S13 will be described with reference to FIG.
[0045]
First, information on a defective pixel stored in the defect information storage area 51 of the storage device 5 is read (step S21), and it is determined whether one of the defective pixels included in the defective pixel information is a bright point or a black point. (Step S22).
[0046]
If it is determined that the pixel is a bright point (step S22: Y), the signal intensity of the pixel component of the same color as the defective pixel component of the defective pixel is added to the data to be displayed on the neighboring pixels adjacent to the defective pixel (step S23).
[0047]
For example, when the defective pixel has a bright spot defect in the B pixel component, the signal strength of the data to be displayed in the B pixel component of the peripheral pixel is added. This makes it possible to reduce the signal intensity difference in the B pixel component between the defective pixel and the peripheral pixel, thereby making the defective pixel inconspicuous.
[0048]
On the other hand, if the defective pixel is a black point (step S22: N), the signal intensity of the pixel component of the same color as the defective pixel component of the defective pixel is subtracted from the data displayed on the peripheral pixels.
[0049]
For example, when the defective pixel has a black dot defect in the B pixel component, the signal intensity of the data to be displayed in the B pixel component of the peripheral pixel is subtracted. This makes it possible to reduce the signal intensity difference in the B pixel component between the defective pixel and the peripheral pixel, thereby making the defective pixel inconspicuous.
[0050]
When data correction is completed for one defective pixel, it is determined whether there is a next defective pixel that has not been corrected (step S25). If there is a defective pixel (step S25: Y), the process returns to step S1 again. The same procedure as described above is repeated. If there is no defective pixel that has not been corrected, the process is terminated, and the process proceeds to step S14 shown in FIG.
[0051]
(Modification)
Next, a modification of the data correction process will be described with reference to FIG.
First, defective pixel information is read from the defect information storage area 51 of the storage device 5 (step S31), and it is determined whether or not the defective pixel can display display data.
[0052]
Here, it is determined whether or not the display data can be displayed because, depending on the display data, there is a case where the display data can be displayed without correcting the display data even if it is a defective pixel. For example, when the color to be displayed by the defective pixel is red, red can be displayed even if the defective pixel has a bright spot defect of the R pixel component. Further, for example, when the color to be displayed by the defective pixel is black, even if the defective pixel has a black point defect in all the R, G, and B pixel components, black can be displayed.
[0053]
If the defective pixel cannot display the display data (N in step S32), and if the defective pixel has a bright-spot pixel component, the signal intensity of the other non-defective pixel components is added, and the defective pixel becomes a black-spot pixel. If there is a component, the signal intensity of another pixel component without defect is subtracted. As a result, the luminance of the defective pixel can be increased or decreased, the signal intensity difference between the defective pixel and the peripheral pixel can be reduced, and the defective pixel can be made inconspicuous.
[0054]
According to the electronic device 1 described above, the defective pixel included in the display unit 8 is corrected for display data, so that the defective pixel can be made inconspicuous with peripheral pixels, thereby reducing the display quality of the display unit 8. Can be improved. Further, by performing the defective pixel detection process and storing the display correction program and the like in the storage device 5, the defective pixels can be made inconspicuous even in a display unit having different coordinate positions and types of defective pixels, It does not take time and effort.
[0055]
It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it is needless to say that the present invention can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, a display device having a liquid crystal panel has been described as an example of the display device 2, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, data is displayed by a plurality of pixels such as a plasma display panel (PDP) and an organic EL panel. Any display device may be used as long as the display device includes a display unit that performs the operation.
[0056]
【The invention's effect】
According to the first aspect of the present invention, even if there is a defective pixel in the display section, the data is corrected based on the information of the defective pixel stored in the defective pixel storage section, so that the defective pixel is inconspicuous. can do. That is, the black point and the bright point can be made inconspicuous by lowering the luminance of the pixel around the black point and correcting the data so as to increase the luminance of the pixel around the bright point.
[0057]
According to the second aspect of the present invention, by correcting data to be displayed in a pixel adjacent to a defective pixel, the defective pixel can be made inconspicuous by being merged with a peripheral pixel, thereby improving display quality. it can.
[0058]
According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the data to be displayed on the defective pixel itself is corrected based on the information on the defective pixel, the defective pixel can be made inconspicuous, and the display quality can be improved.
[0059]
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the defective pixel detection means is provided in the electronic device itself, so that the defective pixel can be easily corrected at the time of an adjustment operation or the like performed before shipping the electronic device. .
[0060]
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the data can be appropriately corrected according to the color of the pixel component having a defect and the type of the defect, and the display quality can be further improved.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of an example of an electronic apparatus according to the invention.
FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing an example (active matrix type liquid crystal panel) of the display unit 8 shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship between ON / OFF of a pixel component and a display color.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a defective pixel detection process by a CPU 3 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a defective pixel scanning process in the defective pixel detection process of FIG.
FIG. 6 is a table showing a storage example of defective pixel information in the defective pixel detection processing of FIG. 4;
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a display correction process by a CPU 3 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a data correction process by the CPU 3 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a modified example of the display correction process by the CPU 3 of FIG. 1;
[Explanation of symbols]
1 electronic device 2 display device 3 CPU (correction means)
4 input device 5 storage device (defective pixel storage unit)
6 RAM
8 display unit 86 switching element 10 VRAM
11 Display control unit

Claims (5)

In an electronic device including a display unit that displays data with a plurality of pixels,
A defective pixel storage unit that stores information on defective pixels included in the plurality of pixels;
Correction means for correcting the data based on the information of the defective pixel,
A display control unit that controls the data corrected by the correction unit to be displayed on the display unit;
An electronic device comprising: The electronic device according to claim 1,
The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the correction unit corrects data to be displayed on a pixel adjacent to the defective pixel based on information on the defective pixel. The electronic device according to claim 1,
The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the correction unit corrects data to be displayed on the defective pixel based on information on the defective pixel. The electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A defective pixel detecting unit for detecting a defective pixel for detecting a defective pixel of the display unit,
An electronic device, wherein information on a defective pixel detected by the defective pixel detecting means is stored in the defective pixel storage unit. The electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The pixels are composed of three primary color pixel components of light,
The electronic device, wherein the information on the defective pixel includes a coordinate position of the defective pixel on the display unit, a color of a defective pixel component among the three primary color pixel components, and a type of the defect.

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