JP2016012093A - Display control device, display control method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To locally enhance luminance while considering power saving.SOLUTION: A display control device 1 which controls a display part for displaying an image includes: noticing area estimation means which estimates the noticing area in an image; and current consumption control means which controls current consumption so that current consumption in an area estimated as a noticing area by the noticing area estimation means differs from current consumption in an area not estimated as a noticing area. The noticing area estimation means and the current consumption control means are achieved by the control part 10.

Description

  The present invention relates to a display control device, a display control method, and a program, and more particularly to a display control device, a display control method, and a program suitable for use in controlling a display unit including a self-luminous display device.

  A display device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) adjusts the brightness of display using a backlight or the like. On the other hand, a self-luminous display device typified by organic EL (OEL: Organic Electro-Luminescence) adjusts the brightness by light emission of each pixel without using a backlight or the like.

  By the way, in a mobile device, the visibility deteriorates under sunlight, so the visibility is improved by increasing the luminance of the display unit. An example of a technology for improving the visibility of a device having an organic EL as a display device is described in Patent Document 1, for example.

JP 2007-29879 A

  According to the technique described in Patent Document 1, the visibility of a character area is improved by executing control for selectively raising the light emission luminance value of the character area as compared with the background area. However, an increase in current consumption in that case is not taken into consideration. Increasing the pixel brightness increases power consumption and shortens the battery life of the device.Therefore, for example, in the case of mobile devices such as smartphones and wearable terminals that do not have a large battery or battery capacity, such current consumption is considered. Controls that do not are undesirable.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a display control device, a display control method, and a program capable of locally increasing luminance while considering power saving. And

The present invention is grasped by the following composition in order to achieve the above-mentioned object.
(1) A display control apparatus according to the present invention is a display control apparatus that controls a display unit that displays an image, and includes an attention area estimation unit that estimates an attention area in the image, and an attention area that is determined by the attention area estimation unit. It is characterized by comprising a consumption current control means for controlling the consumption current so that the estimated area and the consumption current of the area other than the attention area are different.

(2) In the display control method of the present invention, the attention area estimation step for estimating the attention area in the image, the current consumption so that the current consumption of the area estimated as the attention area and the area other than the attention area are different. And a consumption current control step for controlling.

(3) The program of the display control apparatus of the present invention controls the current consumption so that the function of estimating the attention area in the image, the current consumption of the area estimated as the attention area, and the area other than the attention area are different. And a function to realize the function.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a display control device, a display control method, and a program capable of locally increasing luminance while considering power saving.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the display control apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the display control apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the brightness | luminance adjustment table which the display control apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention has. It is an example of the display of the display control apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is another example of the display of the display control apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a further another example of the display of the display control apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a mode for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter simply referred to as the present embodiment) will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the same numbers or symbols are assigned to the same elements throughout the description of the embodiment.

(Configuration of the embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a display control device 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the display control apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment controls an organic EL display (hereinafter simply referred to as OEL2) used as a display unit 2 that displays an image. As is well known, the OEL 2 is a display device in which one pixel composed of RGB basic primaries is arranged on a matrix, and an organic EL light emitting element is generated for each basic primary color. Further, a drive circuit is disposed at the intersection of the matrix, and further includes a control circuit for controlling the drive circuit. The control circuit includes a register that is read / written in a programmable manner by the display control device 1 (a control unit 10 described later).

  The display control device 1 includes a control unit 10, a storage unit 11, a current detection unit 12, an illuminance measurement unit 13, and an OEL power supply unit 14.

  The current detection unit 12 detects a current flowing through the OEL 2 and outputs it to the control unit 10. The illuminance measurement unit 13 measures the brightness around the OEL 2 and outputs it to the control unit 10. Note that the illuminance measurement unit 13 can be configured by utilizing changes in the power generation state of a solar panel provided in the display control device 1. The control unit 10 estimates the attention area in the image, and performs control so that the current consumption is different between the area estimated as the attention area and the area other than the attention area. For this reason, the control unit 10 functions as an attention area determination unit and a consumption current control unit.

  In executing the function as the attention area estimating means, the control unit 10 uses, for example, an image processing technique for distinguishing the main subject (main part) from the background. The image processing algorithm for this is described in detail in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-53759, which has been filed and published in the past by the same applicant as the present applicant, for example.

  Further, when executing the function as the current consumption control unit, the control unit 10 increases the current consumption in the region estimated as the attention region and decreases the current consumption in the region other than the attention region. Therefore, the control unit 10 functions as a first consumption current control unit that increases the consumption current and a second consumption current control unit that decreases the consumption current. In order to reduce power consumption, the control unit 10 performs control to turn off the areas other than the attention area, lower the lighting rate of the areas other than the attention area, or lower the luminance of the areas other than the attention area. In addition, in order to increase power consumption, control is performed to increase the brightness of the attention area.

  The control unit 10 uses the current value flowing through the OEL 2 detected by the current detection unit 12 and, for example, the brightness tone TBL (table) 110 allocated and stored in a partial area of the storage unit 11 illustrated in FIG. The brightness of the attention area and the area other than the attention area is controlled. Details will be described later.

  For example, when it is determined that the control unit 10 is outdoors based on the illuminance around the OEL 2 measured by the illuminance measurement unit 13, the control unit 10 increases the current consumption of the region estimated as the attention region and consumes the region other than the attention region. Control to reduce the current. In addition, when it is determined that the user is outdoors and the measured illuminance is equal to or higher than the predetermined illuminance, the current consumption of the area estimated to be the attention area is increased, and the current consumption of the area other than the attention area is decreased. Control may be performed.

  Note that the OEL power supply unit 14 uses the power supplied from the battery 3 and controls the current according to a signal given from the control unit 10 to the OEL 2 whose luminance changes according to the magnitude of the current. Apply.

(Operation of the embodiment)
Hereinafter, the operation of the display control apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  Power necessary for display of OEL2 is supplied from the OEL power supply unit 14 and instructs to start execution of “a function to increase the luminance of the attention area and decrease the luminance of the area other than the attention area”. When the depression of the switch SW for starting execution of the control is detected (step S101 “YES”), the luminance control described in detail below is started.

  When detecting a change in luminance based on the output of the illuminance determination unit 13 (step S102 “YES”), the control unit 10 determines whether the state has changed from a dark state to a bright state or, conversely, from a bright state to a bright state. (Step S103). For example, when the display needs to be brightened under sunlight (step S103 “YES”), the control unit 10 acquires information related to the display state of the current display area of OEL2 (step S104). Here, the information related to the display state includes, for example, the range of the area used for display in the display unit, the state of the range (lighted pixels (lighting rate), luminance), and the current detection unit 12. The current consumption current value detected by.

Next, the control unit 10 sets a target value of luminance based on the brightness of external light measured by the illuminance measurement unit 13 and estimates the attention area (the area used for display in the display unit). (Estimation of items to be emphasized) is performed (step S105).
In addition, since the relationship between the brightness of external light and the brightness set at the brightness is registered in the brightness adjustment TBL 110 stored in a partial area of the storage unit 11, the control unit 10 With reference to the adjustment TBL110, the above-described luminance target value is set based on the relationship between the brightness of external light and the luminance set at that brightness.

Next, the control unit 10 calculates the amount of increase in power consumption necessary for setting the estimated region of interest to the target luminance (step S106).
Specifically, in the luminance adjustment TBL 110, the relationship between the register value and the current consumption value (luminance level adjustment curve (the horizontal axis is the register value, the vertical axis is the current consumption value [mA]) as shown in FIG. ), And the luminance relationship corresponding to the register value or the current consumption value is also stored.
This luminance level adjustment curve is representative data corresponding to one pixel of OEL2.
The register is a brightness adjustment register built in the OEL 2 that is programmably accessed by the control unit 10, and a luminance adjustment value under the control of the control unit 10 is set therein. That is, the current consumption value is determined by setting an appropriate value indicated by the horizontal axis in the register by the control unit 10.

  Therefore, the current consumption value of each pixel is obtained based on which register value is set for each pixel in the attention area, and the current consumption current value is subtracted from the obtained current consumption value. The amount of increase in the current consumption value can be obtained.

Subsequently, the control unit 10 changes the setting of the register value of each pixel in the attention area and changes the luminance setting so that the estimated attention area is in a necessary luminance state, and is calculated as described above. In order to reduce the consumption current value by the amount equal to the increase in the consumption current value, the luminance setting of the area other than the attention area is changed, that is, the display area is reduced so that only the attention area is the display area. Or adjusting the lighting rate of pixels in a region other than the region of interest (step S107).
An example of the luminance setting change in step S107 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6, for example, the left side shows the display state of OEL2 when indoors, and the right side shows the display state of OEL2 under outdoor sunlight, for example.

FIG. 4 shows that the center area including the current date and time display (2013.12.13 Fri 10:35) of the display unit is estimated as the attention area in step S105 in a state where the full screen is displayed indoors (left in the figure). In order to increase the brightness of the attention area to the necessary brightness under sunlight and reduce the increase in the current consumption associated with increasing the brightness of the attention area, the brightness of the area other than the attention area (hatched part) In this example, the display area is reduced in order to lower the value.
In this case, as a method of increasing the luminance in the attention area, the luminance may be increased uniformly so as to maintain the contrast, or the luminance of the character part (number or alphabet part) may be increased. May be.

FIG. 5 shows that the center area including the current time display (10:35) of the display unit is estimated as the attention area in step S105 in the state where the full screen is displayed indoors (left in the figure). In order to increase the brightness to the required brightness under sunlight and reduce the increase in current consumption associated with increasing the brightness of the attention area, reduce the lighting pixels in the areas other than the attention area and reduce the lighting rate. This is an example in which the luminance is lowered by changing.
In FIG. 5, areas that are not shown in white except for the attention area are lit pixels, and black areas are pixels that are not lit.
In this case as well, as in the example of FIG. 4, as a method of increasing the luminance in the attention area, the luminance may be increased uniformly so as to maintain the contrast, or the luminance of the numbers may be increased. Also good.

Furthermore, FIG. 6 shows that the state that was displayed on the full screen indoors (the left in the figure) is that only the time display (10:35) of the display unit is estimated as the attention area in step S105, and the number that is the attention area is displayed. In order to reduce the increase in current consumption caused by increasing the brightness of the area of interest while raising the brightness of the area to the required brightness under sunlight, This is an example of lowering.
Note that the examples shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 are merely examples, and an appropriate combination of the current consumption values may be controlled as appropriate.
For example, in order to reduce the current consumption value in an area other than the attention area, the lighting rate may be changed so as to thin out the lit pixels, and the luminance of the lit pixels may be lowered.

  The description returns to the flowchart of FIG. As described above, the control unit 10 changes the luminance setting by controlling the display area or the lighting rate of the pixel (step S107), and then reflects it in the display by OEL2 (step S108), and branches to step S101. To do. That is, the processes in steps S102 to S108 are repeatedly executed until the power is turned off or a switch (SW) (not shown) is pressed and an instruction to end this control is generated. In step S103, when the illuminance measurement unit 13 detects that the luminance has changed from a bright state to a dark state (for example, the environment has changed from outdoor to indoor), the control unit 10 sets the set luminance adjustment value. Is changed to an initial value (step S109), and the process branches to step S108.

(Effect of embodiment)
As described above, according to the display control device 1 according to the present embodiment, the attention area is estimated, and control is performed so that the current consumption of the area estimated as the attention area is different from that of the area other than the attention area. In addition to increasing the brightness of the attention area to the required brightness, it is possible to control the brightness of the areas other than the attention area to decrease, and display in bright outdoors without changing the total amount of current consumption Visibility can be improved. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent an increase in power consumption due to high luminance when a self-luminous display device such as an organic EL display is used for the display unit, and to extend the life of a battery in a mobile device or the like.

  Note that, according to the display control apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the current detection unit 12 is provided between the OEL power supply unit 14 and the OEL 2, and the current consumption value detected by the current detection unit 12 is output to the control unit 10. However, the current detection unit 12 is not an essential configuration and can be replaced if the control unit 10 can estimate the current consumption value from the input value. In addition, the register in which the luminance value is set is described as being built in the OEL2, but may be outside the OEL2. Furthermore, although only OEL2 (organic EL) was illustrated as a display part, the kind will not be ask | required if it is a self-light-emitting display device like inorganic EL.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated using embodiment, it cannot be overemphasized that the technical scope of this invention is not limited to the range as described in the said embodiment. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications or improvements can be added to the above-described embodiments. Further, it is apparent from the scope of the claims that the embodiments added with such changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  The invention described in the scope of claims attached to the application of this application will be added below. The item numbers of the claims described in the appendix are as set forth in the claims attached to the application of this application.

[Appendix]
[Claim 1]
A display control device that controls a display unit that displays an image,
Region-of-interest estimation means for estimating a region of interest in the image;
Current consumption control means for controlling current consumption so that the current consumption of the area estimated as the attention area by the attention area estimation means and the area other than the attention area are different from each other;
A display control apparatus comprising:
[Claim 2]
The consumption current control means includes:
First consumption current control means for controlling consumption current of the area estimated as the attention area;
2. The second current consumption control unit that controls a region other than the region of interest to a current consumption according to a current consumption controlled by the first current consumption control unit. Display control device.
[Claim 3]
The consumption current control means includes:
The current consumption of the area estimated as the attention area by the attention area estimation means is increased by the first consumption current control means, and the current consumption of the area other than the attention area is decreased by the second consumption current control hand. The display control device according to claim 2.
[Claim 4]
The second consumption current control means includes
The display control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the current consumption is reduced by turning off an area other than the attention area.
[Claim 5]
The second consumption current control means includes
The display control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the current consumption is reduced by lowering a lighting rate of an area other than the attention area.
[Claim 6]
The second consumption current control means includes
The display control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the current consumption is reduced by lowering the luminance of an area other than the attention area.
[Claim 7]
The first consumption current control means includes
The display control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the current consumption is increased by increasing the luminance of the attention area.
[Claim 8]
It has an outdoor judging means for judging whether or not it is outdoors,
The consumption current control means includes:
When it is determined that the outdoor determination unit is outdoors, the current consumption of the region estimated as the attention region by the attention region estimation unit is increased, and the current consumption of the region other than the attention region is decreased. The display control apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 7.
[Claim 9]
With illuminance measuring means for measuring illuminance,
The consumption current control means includes:
When it is determined that the outdoor determination unit is outdoors and the illuminance measured by the illuminance measurement unit is equal to or higher than a predetermined illuminance, the current consumption of the region estimated as the attention region by the attention region estimation unit is calculated. The display control apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the display control apparatus increases the current consumption in a region other than the region of interest.
[Claim 10]
The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit uses a self-luminous display device.
[Claim 11]
A region of interest estimation step for estimating a region of interest in the image;
A current consumption control step of controlling the current consumption so that the current consumption of the region estimated as the region of interest and the region other than the region of interest differs.
A display control method comprising:
[Claim 12]
A function to estimate a region of interest in an image;
A function of controlling the current consumption so that the current consumption of the region estimated as the region of interest and the region other than the region of interest differs.
A program for a display control device that realizes the above.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Display control apparatus 2 Display part (OEL)
3 Battery 10 Control unit 11 Storage unit 12 Current detection unit 13 Illuminance measurement unit 14 OEL power supply unit 110 Brightness adjustment TBL

Claims (12)

A display control device that controls a display unit that displays an image,
Region-of-interest estimation means for estimating a region of interest in the image;
Current consumption control means for controlling current consumption so that the current consumption of the area estimated as the attention area by the attention area estimation means and the area other than the attention area are different from each other;
A display control apparatus comprising: The consumption current control means includes:
First consumption current control means for controlling consumption current of the area estimated as the attention area;
2. The second current consumption control unit that controls a region other than the region of interest to a current consumption according to a current consumption controlled by the first current consumption control unit. Display control device. The consumption current control means includes:
The consumption current of the area estimated as the attention area by the attention area estimation means is increased by the first consumption current control means, and the consumption current of the area other than the attention area is decreased by the second consumption current control means. The display control apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that: The second consumption current control means includes
The display control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the current consumption is reduced by turning off an area other than the attention area. The second consumption current control means includes
The display control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the current consumption is reduced by lowering a lighting rate of an area other than the attention area. The second consumption current control means includes
The display control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the current consumption is reduced by lowering the luminance of an area other than the attention area. The first consumption current control means includes
The display control apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the current consumption is increased by increasing the luminance of the attention area. It has an outdoor judging means for judging whether or not it is outdoors,
The consumption current control means includes:
When it is determined that the outdoor determination unit is outdoors, the current consumption of the region estimated as the attention region by the attention region estimation unit is increased, and the current consumption of the region other than the attention region is decreased. The display control apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 7. With illuminance measuring means for measuring illuminance,
The consumption current control means includes:
When it is determined that the outdoor determination unit is outdoors and the illuminance measured by the illuminance measurement unit is equal to or higher than a predetermined illuminance, the current consumption of the region estimated as the attention region by the attention region estimation unit is calculated. The display control apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the display control apparatus increases the current consumption in a region other than the region of interest.   The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit uses a self-luminous display device. A region of interest estimation step for estimating a region of interest in the image;
A current consumption control step of controlling the current consumption so that the current consumption of the region estimated as the region of interest and the region other than the region of interest differs.
A display control method comprising: A function to estimate a region of interest in an image;
A function of controlling the current consumption so that the current consumption of the region estimated as the region of interest and the region other than the region of interest differs.
A program for a display control device that realizes the above.

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