JP2010256794A - Electronic apparatus, display control method thereof, and display control program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To set display timing which is individually customized according to a display device to be used. <P>SOLUTION: The electronic apparatus includes: an acquisition means for acquiring EDID information that a display means has; a determination means for determining customized EDID information corresponding to the EDID information acquired by the acquisition means from among multiple EDID information obtained by customizing each piece of stored EDID information to various display means; and a providing means for providing the customized EDID information determined by the determination means to a display control means for controlling display of the display means on the basis of the EDID information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device such as a personal computer, a display control method thereof, and a display control program.

  As a data structure for transmitting the performance of a display connected to a personal computer (PC) to the PC, EDID (Extended Display Identification) is published as a standard by VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association). Based on this standard, a display device such as a liquid crystal device has a unique EDID in its memory. The EDID stores data such as the manufacturer, model number, and corresponding signal timing of the display device.

  In a conventional electronic device such as a PC that sets display timing on a connected display device based on this EDID, only a single set value according to this EDID is applied. Therefore, for example, when changing settings related to display timing individually according to the display device in order to cope with noise countermeasures and requests from applications, or to improve video display, such display timing When trying to improve the video display regardless of the setting related to the above, a method and means for that are required separately.

  For example, for the purpose of good video display, Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2 propose methods for acquiring information for setting display timing from video and controlling the display.

International Publication WO2003 / 003341 Pamphlet JP 2007-272200 A

  However, in conventional electronic devices such as PCs, there is a need for noise countermeasures (for example, countermeasures for preventing interference between radio signals used in a wireless LAN and display signal harmonics on a display device) or requests from applications ( For example, special hardware is prepared when it is desired to change the display timing in order to respond to a television broadcast field frequency of 59.94 Hz or to improve the video display. There was a need. In addition, in conventional electronic devices such as PCs, there is no way to set display timings that are individually customized according to the display device used.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and does not require a special hardware configuration, and can realize a function of individually setting a desired customized display timing according to a display device. An object is to provide an electronic device, a display control method thereof, and a display control program.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, an electronic device according to the present invention includes an acquisition unit that acquires EDID information included in a display unit, and a plurality of customized EDID information stored in various display units. Determining means for determining the customized EDID information corresponding to the EDID information acquired by the acquiring means, and the customized EDID information determined by the determining means based on EDID information. Providing means for providing to the display control means for controlling the display of the display means.

  The electronic apparatus according to the present invention includes a display unit, a reading unit that reads EDID information individually owned by various display units from the display unit, and a display control that controls display of the display unit at a display timing based on the EDID information. Storage means for storing a plurality of customized EDID information for various display means, determination means for determining the customized EDID information corresponding to the EDID information read by the reading means, and the determination And providing means for providing the display control means with customized EDID information determined by the means.

  The display control method of the present invention includes an acquisition step of acquiring EDID information included in the display means, and a plurality of EDID information obtained by customizing each EDID information for various display means stored in the control means. A determining step for determining the customized EDID information corresponding to the EDID information acquired in the acquiring step; and a control unit that displays the customized EDID information determined in the determining step based on the EDID information. Providing step of providing to a display control means for controlling the display of the display.

  The display control program according to the present invention includes an acquisition step of acquiring EDID information included in the display unit, and a plurality of EDID information stored by customizing each EDID information for various display units. A determination step for determining the customized EDID information corresponding to the acquired EDID information, and a display control unit for controlling display of the customized EDID information determined by the determination step based on the EDID information And providing the computer with the providing step.

  According to the electronic device, the display control method thereof, and the display control program according to the present invention, a function for setting display timing customized individually according to a display device is realized without requiring a special hardware configuration. Can do. Thereby, there is an effect that it is possible to cope with a desired noise countermeasure, video display, and a request from an application.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a notebook PC 100 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the notebook PC 100 according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram (A) of LCD EDID data and a schematic diagram (B) of an EDID data group. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining display control in the present embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of an electronic apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In an embodiment described later, an example in which the present invention is applied to a notebook PC as an embodiment of an electronic device will be described. However, if the electronic device conforms to the DDC (Display Data Channel) standard by VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association), a desktop PC or work It can also be applied to stations and other electronic devices.

[Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a notebook PC 100 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, a notebook PC 100 has the same configuration as a conventional notebook PC, and includes a casing 101, a keyboard 102 provided on the casing 101, and a casing 101 via a hinge portion 103. And a panel-side housing 104 that is rotatably connected. The housing 101 has a lower case 101a and an upper case 101b. A front end portion of the upper surface of the upper case 101b constitutes a palm rest portion 105, and a touch pad 106 is provided at substantially the center of the palm rest portion 105. Further, a flat panel display 107 that performs display is provided in the central region of the panel-side housing 104.

  Next, the hardware configuration of the notebook PC 100 according to the present embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the notebook PC 100 includes a CPU 201, a memory controller hub (MCH) 202, a memory 203 as a main storage device, an I / O controller hub (ICH) 204, a graphics controller (GPU) 205, a BIOS-ROM 206, It has an HDD 207 as an auxiliary storage device, a flat panel display 107, and a network I / F 208. Although not shown, the ICH 204 is connected to various peripheral devices such as ODD. Further, the auxiliary storage device is not limited to the HDD, and various storage means can be used.

  The CPU 201 is a processor that controls the operation of the notebook PC 100, and executes an operating system (OS) 213 and application programs loaded from the HDD 207 to the memory 203. The CPU 201 also executes a system BIOS (Basic Input Output System) 221 that is a program for hardware control stored in the BIOS-ROM 206, a VGA BIOS 222 that is a program for display control, and the like. The system BIOS 221 includes an EDID acquisition unit 221a, an EDID determination unit 221b, and an EDID provision unit 221c (described later) that are characteristic function units of the present embodiment.

  In addition to the system BIOS 221 and the VGA BIOS 222, the BIOS-ROM 206 stores a plurality of EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) data (EDID data group) 223 used for display control of the flat panel display 107 ( Details will be described later). Note that the EDID data group 223 may be constructed on the HDD 207 or another nonvolatile storage device (not shown). In addition, EDID data to be described later is stored in the HDD 207 or other nonvolatile storage device (not shown). Any data in the EDID data group 223 is expanded on the memory 203 as necessary.

  The memory controller hub (MCH) 202 is a bridge device that connects the local bus of the CPU 201 and the ICH 204. The MCH 202 also includes a memory controller that controls access to the memory 203. The MCH 202 also has a function of executing communication with the graphics controller 205 via an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) bus, a PCI express standard serial bus, or the like.

  The graphics controller 205 is a controller that performs display control of a flat panel display 107 such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) used as a display unit of the notebook PC 100.

  The graphics controller 205 includes a PLL circuit 231 and a display timing control circuit 232, and is connected to the flat panel display 107. The PLL circuit 231 can generate an arbitrary pixel clock (operation frequency), and can switch the operation frequency when a change in the operation frequency is required.

  The display timing control circuit 232 generates a display signal according to display timing information 212 instructed by the graphic driver 211 in accordance with a request from the OS or an application program, and supplies the display signal to the flat panel display 107 to display an image. .

  When activation of the notebook PC 100 is started, EDID data (hereinafter referred to as LCD EDID data) is read from the flat panel display 107 such as an LCD by the processing of the system BIOS 221 and the VGA BIOS 222. As will be described later, one of the EDID data in the EDID data group 223 of the BIOS-ROM 206 corresponding to the read LCD EDID data is determined as customized EDID data. Further, the graphic driver 211 is read by the processing of the OS and held in the memory 203.

  The display timing information 212 is generated by the graphic driver 211 based on the customized EDID data in order to set the display timing of the flat panel display 107 and held in the memory 203.

  An I / O controller hub (ICH) 204 controls each device on an LPC (Low Pin Count) bus and each device connected to a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus. The ICH 204 includes an IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) controller for controlling the HDD 207. A network I / F 208 connected to the ICH 204 is an interface for connecting to the server 250 or the like via a network such as the Internet, and the notebook PC 100 downloads a desired program or content from the server 250 or the like. Can do.

  Here, the EDID data group 223 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3A shows a schematic diagram of LCD EDID data acquired from a flat panel display 107 such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). FIG. 3B shows an EDID data group 223 stored in the BIOS-ROM 206. FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a plurality of customized EDID data (EDID data group).

  As shown in FIG. 3A, the LCD EDID data includes manufacturer information b1, model number b2, and display timing information b3. The EDID data group 223 includes various flat panel displays that can be used by changing information related to display timing in the EDID data from information a3, b3, c3,... Inherent to the device to a3 ′, b3 ′, c3 ′,. It is a collection of data that customizes EDID data for use. In the example of FIG. 3, the EDID data B ′ shown in FIG. 5B is obtained by changing the information regarding the display timing in the EDID data with respect to the EDID data B which is the LCD EDID shown in FIG. ing.

  Each EDID data in the EDID data group 223 is assigned a 1-byte panel ID for identifying them. The parts related to display timing (a3 ′, b3 ′, c3 ′,...) Do not interfere with the radio waves used in the settings and the harmonics of the display signal as noise countermeasures such as settings corresponding to application requirements and wireless LAN. In addition, settings are made so that the display signal is intentionally shifted in frequency. Note that the setting related to the display timing is changed within a predetermined margin.

  In addition, each EDID data in the EDID data group 223 includes data such as manufacturer and model number as well as the original LCD EDID data, so these data can be customized for various flat panel displays. EDID data can be identified and the corresponding panel ID can be determined.

  Next, display control in the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 4 shows the operations of the CPU 201 by the system BIOS 221, the VGA BIOS 222, and the OS & graphics drivers (213, 211) in time series. In the following description, for the sake of simplicity, the system BIOS 221, the VGA BIOS 222, and the OS & graphics driver (213, 211) are described as the main operating units, but each step by the system BIOS 211, the VGA BIOS 222, and the OS & graphics driver (213, 211) is described. Is executed by the CPU 201 as a control means.

  First, the boot process of the notebook PC 100 is started by turning on the power or resetting the system, and the system BIOS 221 checks whether necessary devices and peripheral devices are operating normally, and simultaneously initializes them (step S401). ).

  Further, the system BIOS 221 executes a VGA BIOS POST call (VGA BIOS POST Call) (step S402), and executes the VGA BIOS POST process by the VGA BIOS 222. This POST (Power On Self Test) process is the same as the process conventionally performed. At this time, processing for reading EDID from the flat panel display 107 is also performed by the VGA BIOS 222 as reading means (step S403).

  Next, after a series of VGA BIOS POST processes, the process is returned to the system BIOS 221 (step S404).

  When the processing shifts from the VGA BIOS POST processing by the VGA BIOS 222 to the system BIOS 221, the EDID acquisition unit 221 a of the system BIOS 221 acquires the EDID of the flat panel display 107 via the VGA BIOS 222 by VGA BIOS call (step S). S405). On the other hand, at this time, the VGA BIOS 222 returns the EDID data of the flat panel display 107 in response to the VGA BIOS call from the system BIOS 221 (step S406).

  The EDID determination unit 221b of the system BIOS 221 that has acquired the LCD EDID data of the flat panel display 107 collates the acquired data with each EDID data in the EDID data group 223, and identifies the flat panel display 107 such as manufacturer and model number. EDID data having the same information to be found is found, and the panel ID is determined (step S407).

  Next, the OS (for example, Windows (registered trademark) is used as the OS) is loaded from the HDD 207 to the memory 203 (step S408).

  When the OS 213 is activated, various drivers such as a graphic driver are loaded into the memory 203 (step S409).

  Further, after the OS 213 and the graphic driver 211 are started, the OS & graphic driver (213, 211) makes an inquiry about the EDID to the system BIOS 221 by a function (LCD._DDC method) defined in the APCI standard specification (step S410). The EDID providing unit 221c of the system BIOS 211 returns customized EDID data corresponding to the panel ID determined in step S407 (step S411). As a result, the display timing information 212 described above is generated based on the customized EDID data, and thus is different from the display timing information generated based on the LCD EDID data that the flat panel display 107 originally has. Display timing information 212 is generated.

  As described above, the present embodiment has the EDID data group 223 in which EDID data of various flat panel displays that can be used (particularly, information related to display timing therein) is customized. Using this, the system BIOS 221 replaces the original LCD EDID data with the customized EDID data. Thereby, the notebook PC 100 according to the present embodiment can individually change the display timing setting according to the purpose for various flat panel displays that can be mounted and used.

  Further, since the present embodiment can be realized only by changing the system BIOS 221, it is not necessary to prepare special hardware. Further, since there is no need to change the VGA BIOS 222 side, it is not necessary to prepare a VGA BIOS for each flat panel display and apply them separately. Further, when returning from the standby state, reading of EDID data from the flat panel display 107, which is generally slow in reading speed, is not performed from the high-speed system BIOS 221 side, so that the resume time can be shortened.

  Note that a program such as the system BIOS 221 executed in the startup process of the notebook PC 100 of this embodiment is provided by being incorporated in advance in a ROM or the like. Alternatively, an installable format or executable format file is provided by being recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, a flexible disk (FD), a CD-R, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), You may comprise so that it may incorporate in notebook PC100 from these media. Further, the program may be provided by being stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet and downloaded via the network.

100 notebook PC
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Case 101a Lower case 101b Upper case 102 Keyboard 103 Hinge part 104 Panel side case 105 Palm rest part 106 Touchpad 107 Flat panel display 201 CPU (control means)
202 MCH
203 Memory 204 ICH
205 Graphics controller (GPU) (display control means)
206 BIOS-ROM (storage means)
207 HDD
208 Network I / F
211 Graphic Driver 212 Display Timing Information 213 Operating System (OS)
221 System BIOS
221a EDID acquisition unit 221b EDID determination unit 221c EDID provision unit 222 VGA BIOS
223 EDID data group 231 PLL circuit 232 display timing control circuit 250 server

Claims (5)

Obtaining means for obtaining EDID information possessed by the display means;
Determining means for determining the customized EDID information corresponding to the EDID information acquired by the acquisition means, from among a plurality of EDID information customized for each EDID information stored in various display means;
An electronic apparatus comprising: a providing unit that provides the customized EDID information determined by the determining unit to a display control unit that controls display of the display unit based on the EDID information. Display means;
Reading means for reading from the display means the EDID information individually possessed by the various display means;
Display control means for controlling display of the display means at a display timing based on the EDID information;
Storage means for storing a plurality of customized EDID information for each display means;
Determining means for determining the customized EDID information corresponding to the EDID information read by the reading means;
An electronic apparatus comprising: providing means for providing customized EDID information determined by the determining means to the display control means.   2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the EDID information is data compliant with EDID (Extended Display Identification), which is a standard data format established for display by VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association). . An acquisition step of acquiring EDID information possessed by the display means;
A determining step for determining the customized EDID information corresponding to the EDID information acquired by the acquiring step from among a plurality of stored EDID information in which the respective EDID information for the various display units is customized; ,
A display control method comprising: a providing means for providing the customized EDID information determined in the determining step to a display control means for controlling display of the display means based on the EDID information; . An acquisition step of acquiring EDID information possessed by the display means;
A determination step of determining the customized EDID information corresponding to the EDID information acquired by the acquisition step from among a plurality of EDID information customized for each EDID information stored in the display unit;
A display control program causing a computer to execute a providing step of providing the customized EDID information determined in the determining step to a display control unit that controls display of the display unit based on the EDID information.

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