JP2017142339A - Display system and display system control method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve improvement in convenience of user operations in high resolution display instruments or multi display systems, as suppressing increase in system costs.SOLUTION: In a display system conducting video transmission by performing a cascade connection from a video source output instrument to a plurality of video display control instruments, and conducting a video display, an upstream video display control instrument is configured to interchange control information or graphic data created in a video area not used by a downstream video display control instrument but used by the upstream video display control instrument to transmit the interchanged control information and graphic data, and the downstream video display control instrument is configured to take in the control information or graphic data embedded in the video area to be used by the upstream video display control instrument, take in a video display area of an own video display control instrument, and conduct a video display of the video display area of the own video display control instrument on the basis of the control information or graphic data to be transmitted from the upstream video display control instrument.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a display system and a display system control method.

  In recent years, the resolution of video sources has been increasing. In order to display a high-resolution video, there is a product in which the display device itself can display a high-resolution video as one direction. On the other hand, there is also a technology for connecting a plurality of displays to form a high-resolution single screen image.

In a system that displays video by connecting multiple displays (hereinafter referred to as a multi-display system), video data from the video source is supplied to each display, and each display displays its own area of responsibility. Resolution display is possible.
In addition, a system has been built in which a plurality of display controllers are mounted in a display device, each display controller divides and processes a high resolution video, and outputs and displays it on a high resolution panel.

Various methods are conceivable as a method for supplying a high-resolution video source to each display device or display controller.
For example, a high-resolution screen is divided by a PC graphic card, etc., output from a plurality of video output terminals, input to a multi-display system or a high-resolution display device, and the divided high-resolution video is re-formed and displayed There is a technique.

In addition, display devices and controllers are connected in cascade, the video source device outputs high-resolution video, each display device and controller extracts its own video display area, performs display processing, and finally forms high-resolution video. There is a method to display.
Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which a multi-display system is realized by cascading output video from a video source with a display device.

JP 2003-316339 A

In a large-screen display using a multi-display system or a plurality of display controllers, it is expected that a plurality of devices and controllers operate in conjunction with each other.
If color adjustment or the like is performed, it is very complicated for the user to operate each display individually via the menu UI.

Therefore, when a user operation is performed via a menu UI or the like, it is desirable to perform the operation with a single user interaction for the entire screen instead of controlling each display device.
Regarding the display position of menus and graphics, it is desirable to display them without restrictions on the screen.

For example, in a multi-display system that displays a large screen by multi-projection, it is required to display the menu screen graphics at the center across the display area of each projector.
When color adjustment or the like is performed with reference to the lookup table, it is necessary to update the lookup table according to the user's instructions for color adjustment.

At the time of the update, it is strongly desired to reflect on all display devices and display controllers by a single operation from the user.
When control cannot be performed by a single operation from the user, it becomes a factor that significantly impedes user convenience in the multi-display system.

Therefore, in such a high-resolution display or multi-display system, transmission of image quality control information such as UI / graphics data and color adjustment data between the device and the controller is essential for cooperation between the display devices and the display controller. .
In order to realize the transmission between the device and the controller, a transmission path different from the video transmission path for transmitting control information and graphics data has been indispensable.

In order to secure a transmission path for control information and graphics data, general-purpose buses and sideband signals for transmission between devices and controllers are required, which is a factor that increases the system cost of high-resolution displays and multi-display systems. It was.
For example, when a graphics menu or the like is displayed on the entire screen, it is necessary to transfer a large amount of data between display devices or controllers.

  Furthermore, in the case of graphics using animation or the like, a corresponding data transmission rate is required. Therefore, a high-speed data transmission path such as PCI / PCI-Express / USB between each display device and controller must be prepared and connected separately from video data, and it is essential to have an interface for that purpose. .

Furthermore, it is necessary to construct a video transmission path separately for the connection topology, and it is very complicated to construct a multi-display device or a multi-display controller configuration.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and it is an object of the present invention to suppress an increase in system cost and to improve the convenience of user operations of high-resolution display devices and multi-display systems.

  The display system according to the present invention is a display system that performs video transmission by performing cascade connection from a video source output device to a plurality of video display control devices, and displays the video, wherein the video display control device disposed upstream of the cascade connection is Video data receiving means for receiving video data output from the video source output device, generating means for generating video display control information related to video display of a display system, and video data received by the video data receiving means Output video selection means for replacing a video data area which is a part and is not used by the video display control equipment connected downstream of the cascade connection with the video display control information generated by the generation means, and the output video selection means A part of the video data received by the video data receiving means enters the video display control information. Video data output means for outputting the changed video data to a video display control device connected downstream of the cascade connection, and the video display control device arranged downstream of the cascade connection is connected to the cascade connection The video data receiving means for receiving the video data output from the video display control device arranged upstream of the video data, and the video display control information output by replacing the video data received by the video data receiving means is extracted. An extraction unit; an information analysis unit that analyzes the video display control information extracted by the extraction unit; and an image processing unit that performs image processing based on the video display control information input from the information analysis unit. Features.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the convenience of user operation of a high-resolution display or a multi-display system while suppressing system cost.

It is a figure explaining the structure of the display controller system by cascade connection. It is a block diagram explaining the structure of the display controller arrange | positioned in a cascade connection uppermost stream. It is a block diagram explaining the structure of the display controller arrange | positioned downstream from cascade connection. It is a figure explaining the outline of the display controller system in this embodiment. It is a figure explaining the outline of the display system by the cascade connection using a display apparatus. It is a figure explaining the example of physical arrangement | positioning of the display in the structure of FIG. It is a figure explaining an example of the effective image area division of a high resolution video. It is a timing diagram which shows the image | video coordinate system of a high resolution image | video. It is a figure explaining an example of the timing waveform which shows operation | movement of an output image | video selection part. It is a block diagram explaining an example of the circuit structure of an output image | video selection part. It is a figure explaining the operation | movement concept which shows the effect | action of this embodiment. It is a figure explaining the structural example of the video control information in this embodiment. It is a figure explaining an example of the transmission packet structure of the video control information in this embodiment.

[First Embodiment]
As an embodiment of the present invention, the system configuration shown in FIG. 4 will be described as an example.
In the present embodiment, the video transmission of a plurality of video display control devices such as a plurality of display devices and controllers is realized by cascade connection.
One high-resolution video image is output from the video source output device 100 and input to the display controller 0 (200).

The display controller 0 (200) extracts the video area to be displayed from the input high-resolution video 1 screen, and outputs the input high-resolution video 1 screen to the display controller 1 (300) cascade-connected in the subsequent stage. To do.
Similarly, the display controller 1 (300) extracts a video area to be displayed by itself, and outputs the input high resolution video 1 screen to the display controller 2 (300) cascade-connected in the subsequent stage.

Hereinafter, similarly, one high-resolution video image is transmitted to the display controller 2 (300) and the display controller 3 (300) by cascade connection.
The video processed for each video area by each display controller 0 to 3 is output to the display panel 400 to display a high-resolution one-screen video.

  In the present embodiment, the system is described in which the display controllers 0 to 3 are cascade-connected. However, the present invention can be similarly realized in a multi-display system in which the display devices 0 to 3 described in FIG. 5 are cascade-connected. it can.

In the multi-display system shown in FIG. 5, the display surfaces of the display devices 0 to 3 are physically arranged as shown in FIG. Of course, the same applies to multi-projection using a liquid crystal projector. Each of the display devices 0 to 3 shown in FIG. 5 is equipped with a video control device corresponding to the display controller described above.
In the present embodiment, a configuration in which four display controllers 0 to 3 or display devices 0 to 3 are cascade-connected is described as an example. However, in the present embodiment, the number of cascade-connected devices is limited to four. Instead, various changes are possible.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the display controller will be described.
The display controller 0 (200) is a display controller arranged at the uppermost stream of the cascade-connected display controllers that receive the video of the video output source device.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration diagram of the display controller 0 (200).
The video data input unit 201 has an input interface mechanism for video data sent from the video source output device 100. The configuration and protocol of the video data is arbitrary, but it has a video blanking area and an effective video display area as a general format, and the video is transmitted together with the vertical synchronization signal and horizontal synchronization signal.

The video data input unit 201 includes means for converting the video data into a data format that can be processed in the display controller 0 (200). The video data received by the video data input unit 201 and converted into the internal data format is transmitted to the display area extraction unit 204 and the output video selection unit 203.
The display area extraction unit 204 extracts a video area to be displayed on the display controller 0 (200) from the high-resolution video data output from the video source output device 100.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a region image of the video display that is finally output.
If the display control area of the display controller 0 (200) is the upper left area A in FIG. 7, the display area extracting unit 204 extracts only the upper left area A from the high-resolution video data, and the image processing unit as effective image data. Output to 207 and transmit.

  The display control information generation unit 205 controls display of the entire display system and plays a role of generating commands and data related to display control. The configuration of the display control information generation unit 205 is arbitrary, but it can be realized as a collection of functions for managing and controlling the entire video displayed on the panel or display surface by installing an accelerator such as a CPU or graphics, for example. , Sometimes including applications.

Examples of the management and control of the entire video include commands such as menu screen graphic data generation and color adjustment in response to user interaction, color conversion table data generation, screen stillness and mute control command generation, and the like. The commands and data generated by the display control information generation unit 205 are collectively referred to as video display control information hereinafter.
The display control information generation unit 205 has a user interface (not shown) that receives user interaction, and generates a series of commands and data related to control of the entire screen based on menu operations and the like.

Hereinafter, functions and operations of the display control information generation unit 205 will be described.
The display control information generation unit 205 generates and transmits the generated video display control information in a packet format as shown in FIG. The video display control information to be generated has a plurality of types of commands and data as described above, and can be configured to transmit a plurality of types as a series of packets.

  The packet has a field called Total Header (1201) indicating the entire video display control information. The Total Header (1201) has an InfoNum (1204) field that is number information indicating how many pieces of information are included in the packet as video display control information.

Subsequent to the Total Header (1201), a set of Sub Header (1202) and Information Contents (1203) is configured.
Assume that the sub header (1202) and information contents (1203) continue for the number of sets specified in the InfoNum (1204) field of the total header (1201).

The Sub Header (1202) includes an InfoID (1205) field indicating the type of Information Contents (1203) and an Info Length (1206) indicating the data length of a set of video display control information.
In the Information Contents (1203) field, data is held in different data formats for each InfoID (1205) of the Sub Header (1202).

For example, the data format is individually illustrated for the InfoID (1205) illustrated in FIG.
When InfoID (1205) = 0000, that is, graphic data, information on the origin coordinates of the graphics data and the horizontal and vertical sizes of the graphics data is stored at a fixed length at the head of Information Contents. It is assumed that graphics data is stored following the above-mentioned fixed length information.

If InfoID (1205) = 0001, that is, look-up table (LUT) data used for color conversion, fixed-length identification information for identifying the LUT is stored at the head, followed by the LUT table data. Shall be.
If InfoID (1205) = 0010, that is, Freeze Command indicating screen stillness, nothing is stored in Information Contents, and only Sub Header (1202) is stored.
If InfoID (1205) = 0011, that is, a screen mute command, the mute color, that is, the pixel values of R, G, and B, are stored in Information Contents.

Hereinafter, an operation for displaying a menu in response to an interaction from a user will be described as a first example.
Upon receiving the user interaction, the display control information generation unit 205 analyzes the content and determines to display the menu.
When menu display is performed, the display control information generation unit 205 renders menu display video data to be displayed on the entire display screen or a part thereof in accordance with designation from an application or the like. The menu screen generated by rendering may be generated in a bitmap format or may be generated in a format in which menu screen data is compressed.

As for the generated menu screen, the horizontal and vertical sizes of the menu screen itself and the position information displayed in the entire display screen are also generated. Since the horizontal and vertical sizes of the menu screen are known in this case, the displayed position information can be shown as the coordinates of the origin in the coordinate system of the entire screen.
For example, when a menu is displayed on the entire display screen, the horizontal and vertical sizes of the menu screen are equal to the horizontal and vertical sizes of the display screen, and the origin coordinates as position information are (X, Y) = (0, 0).

  When menu display is performed on a part of the display screen, the horizontal and vertical sizes of the menu screen are designated as the sizes of the arbitrarily generated menu screens, and the origin coordinates as position information are also (X, Y). Each is designated as any designated coordinates.

This will be described using the packet format configuration described above.
In this case, if only the menu display is used as the screen control, 1 is specified in InfoNum (1204) of Total Header (1201). Then, 0000 is specified in the InfoID (1205) of the Sub Header (1202).
In Info Length (1206), the total data length of Sub Header (1202) and Information Contents (1203) in which graphics information and data are stored is stored.
At the beginning of Information Contents (1203), the origin coordinates of the menu image and the horizontal / vertical size of the menu image are stored, and then the menu image data is stored.

Hereinafter, an operation of performing color conversion in response to user interaction will be described as a second example.
Here, a case where color conversion is performed while displaying a menu is illustrated. The operations related to the menu display are described above, and the addition and difference items are described below.
Upon receiving the user interaction, the display control information generation unit 205 analyzes the content and decides to perform color conversion, and generates a color conversion parameter. Here, it is assumed that LUT table data is generated as a color conversion parameter. At this time, for example, when a plurality of LUTs exist in the image processing unit 207, the LUT IDs are generated together.

In this case, in order to generate two pieces of video display control information for the menu screen and color conversion, 2 is specified in InfoNum (1204) of the Tol Header (1201). Then, 0001 is specified in the InfoID (1205) of the Sub Header (1202) related to color conversion.
In the Info Length (1206), the total data length of the Sub Header (1202), the ID of the LUT, and the Information Contents (1203) in which the LUT data is stored is stored.
A LUT ID defined as a fixed-length field is stored at the head of this Information Content (1203), and subsequently, LUT data is stored.

FIG. 13 shows a packet configuration example combining the first example and the second example.
By using such a packet format, the display control information generation unit 205 can handle and transmit a plurality of video display control information.
The video display control information generated by the display control information generation unit 205 in this way is output and transmitted to the display control information analysis unit 206 and the output video selection unit 203.

The display control information analysis unit 206 analyzes the input video display control information, converts the analysis result into a format that can be handled by the image processing unit 207, and outputs the result to the image processing unit 207.
As described above, in this embodiment, the video display control information is transmitted in a packet format.
The display control information analysis unit 206 first analyzes the total header (1201) and identifies the number of transmitted video display control information.
In accordance with the number of transmitted video display control information, each Sub Header (1202) is detected, the type of transmitted video display control information is analyzed, and data of Information Contents (1203) is acquired and analyzed based on the analysis result. To analyze.

In the example of FIG. 13, since the InfoNum (1204) field of the Total Header (1201) is 2, it is detected that two pieces of video display control information have been transmitted.
The display control information analysis unit 206 analyzes the Sub Header (1202) in the order of transmission and detects that the video display control information related to the menu display is transmitted from the InfoID (1205).
Since this is video display control information related to menu display, the origin coordinates and menu display data for menu display are acquired.
The display control information analysis unit 206 extracts the menu display data of the area to be displayed by the display controller from the origin coordinates and size of the menu display, and sends the menu composite coordinates and data to the image processing unit 207.

It is also possible to issue a menu or a single command cut out for the device by providing a device ID field in the packet and embedding the device ID in the information.
When the device ID is used, the device only needs to refer to the origin coordinates and the size, and the menu display data need not be extracted.
Further, the display control information analysis unit 206 analyzes the Sub Header transmitted following the video display control information of the menu display, and detects that the LUT data for color conversion is transmitted from InfoID (1205).
The display control information analysis unit 206 refers to the Information Contents (1203) transmitted following the Sub Header (1202), and identifies the LUT to be updated by identifying the LUT.
The display control information analysis unit 206 further acquires LUT data and sends LUT update data for the designated LUT mounted in the image processing unit 207.

The image processing unit 207 performs arbitrary image processing on the video data of the area to be displayed by the display controller 0 (200) transmitted from the display area extracting unit 204. In addition, as described above, image processing is performed based on the video display control information input from the display control information analysis unit 206.
For the video display control information related to graphics display, the image processing unit 207 combines the input graphics display data and video data to generate a menu composite video. The image processing unit 207 rewrites the table display data based on the video display control information related to the color conversion table data and reflects the information in the image processing.

  The video data that has been subjected to image processing by the image processing unit 207 is finally transmitted to the panel output interface unit 208, converted into an arbitrary panel display data format, and output to the display panel 400.

The output video selection unit 203 plays a role of generating video data to be output to a downstream display controller connected in cascade.
The output video selection unit 203 has input of video data from the video data input unit 201 and video display control information from the display control information generation unit 205, determines a video region, and outputs one of the data. It has a function to select. That is, it has a function of replacing a part of video data with video display control information and outputting it.

  When the video data from the video data input unit 201 is a video area that is not used by a downstream display controller that is cascade-connected, video display control information is output, and when it is a video area that is used, video data is output. To be controlled.

Here, the function of the output video selection unit 203 will be described in detail.
FIG. 8 is a timing diagram showing a frame coordinate system of video data output from the video source output device 100. Here, a coordinate system surrounded by a broken line is a video data area transmitted as video data including a blanking period, and is transmitted as video data in units of one pixel per pixel clock.

  In the coordinate system surrounded by the broken line, the period transmitted with the assertion of the video valid signal (DE) is the video valid period, and the other period is the blanking period. In FIG. 8, the effective video period is divided into A, B, C, and D in a simulated manner, but each divided area indicates an area where display processing is performed by each display controller.

  In this example, the A area is an area displayed by the display controller 0 (200) arranged upstream, and the B, C, and D areas are areas displayed by the display controllers 1 to 3 arranged downstream. The display area extraction unit 204 described above extracts the area A in FIG. 8 as an effective image period and transmits it to the image processing unit 207.

In FIG. 8, the video areas indicated by diagonal lines, that is, the B, C, and D areas are video areas that are used by the downstream display controller, and the other video areas are video areas that are not used by the downstream display controller.
Here, an area in which the video display control information is selectively output among video areas not used by the downstream display controller by the output video selection unit 203 is arbitrary. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the selected image is output to the area of the effective image area A displayed by the display controller 0 (200).

Therefore, the output video selection unit 203 has means for detecting the coordinate system of the region A among the coordinate systems of the input video data. For example, this function can be realized by having means for counting the effective image period and designating the range of the A area with a register or the like in the horizontal and vertical effective image periods.
Further, the selector selection signal is set to 1 when it is determined as the area A in the coordinate system of the input video data, and the selector selection signal is set to 0 when it is determined as the other area. Based on this selection signal, it is possible to select whether to output video data from the video data input unit 201 or to output video display control information input from the display control information generation unit 205.

A timing chart showing the operation of the output video selection unit 203 is shown in FIG.
At least three signals from the top of FIG. 9, that is, Vsync, Hsync, and video data are input to the output video selection unit 203 from the video data input unit 201. Further, a DE signal indicating an effective image period may be input.

The output video selection unit 203 is configured to identify the area A displayed by itself in the video data and to assert the selector signal to 1 only during the corresponding video period.
Video data output from the output video selection unit 203 is selected and output based on the generated selector signal. That is, video display control information input from the display control information generation unit 205 is output during a period when the selector signal is asserted to 1, and video from the video data input unit 201 is output during a period when the selector signal is not asserted. Data is output as is.

FIG. 10 shows a configuration of the output video selection unit 203 for realizing this action.
The input of the output video selection unit 203 is the video data from the video data input unit 201 and the video display control information from the display control information generation unit 205 described above. In addition to these inputs, it has self-display area coordinate system information as an input.

This is information indicating the coordinates of the area A that is the area to be displayed in the frame coordinate system shown in FIG. 8, for example, the horizontal effective pixel period start offset, the horizontal effective pixel period, and the vertical effective pixel handled in the own area. The setting of the period start offset and the vertical effective pixel period is input.
Although the determination of the input value is arbitrary, it is preferable that the input value is determined through a changeable interface such as a programming register in order to cope with input of various formats and coordinate systems.

The output video selection unit 203 includes a video data analysis unit 1001.
The video data analysis unit 1001 monitors the coordinate system of the input video data, and based on the self-display area coordinate system information described above, the video data currently input in the progressive form is in its own display area. It has a function of analyzing and determining whether or not. Assume that the video data analysis unit 1001 asserts the selector signal 1002 as an output to 1 if it is the display area of its own, and outputs the selector signal 1002 as 0 if it is outside its display area.

The input video data is also input to the selector 1003.
The selector 1003 of this embodiment is configured as a 2-input 1-output selector, and the input has video display control information input from the display control information generation unit 205 in addition to video data. The selector 1003 outputs video display control information when the selector signal 1002 indicates 1, and outputs video data as it is when the selector signal 1002 indicates 0.

The output of the selector 1003 of this embodiment is formed as it is as the output of the output video selection unit 203 and is input to the cascade video data output unit 202.
The configuration of the output video selection unit 203 shown in FIG. 10 makes it possible to operate the input / output timing chart of this block shown in FIG.

The cascade video data output unit 202 converts the input output video data into a video data transmission format as necessary, and outputs the video data to a downstream display controller connected in cascade.
With this display controller 0 (200) configuration, the self-display area is fetched from the video data input from the video source output device 100, and the video display control information is switched to the self-display area and output to the downstream of the cascade. Is possible.
The display controllers 1 to 3 are display controllers arranged downstream in the cascade-connected system and have the same configuration.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration diagram of the display controllers 1 to 3 (hereinafter referred to as downstream display controllers).
The main block configuration of the downstream display controller 300 can be realized by the same configuration as the display controller 200 shown in FIG.
Video data input from the upstream display controller 200 while being partly replaced with video display control information is captured by the video data input unit 201.

  The video data input unit 201 has the same configuration as that of the display controller 200 described above, that is, has a means for converting the input video data into a data format that can be processed inside the downstream display controller 300. The video data received by the video data input unit 201 having the video data receiving function and converted into the internal data format is transmitted to the display area extraction unit 204 and the display control information extraction unit 301.

  The configuration of the display area extraction unit 204 is the same as that of the display controller 200, and the video area to be displayed on the downstream display controller 300 is extracted from the input high-resolution video data.

  Based on the image diagram of the video display area shown in FIG. 7, if the downstream display controller 300 is responsible for the display of the area B, only the upper right area B is extracted and output to the image processing unit 207 as effective image data. To transmit. In addition, even in the regions C and D, the same operation is performed.

The display control information extraction unit 301 has a function of extracting video display control information applied by the display controller 200 arranged upstream of the cascade.
As described above with respect to the display controller 200, in this embodiment, the video display control information is added to the area displayed on the display controller 200, that is, the coordinates corresponding to the area A in FIG.
The display control information extraction unit 301 extracts the coordinate data corresponding to the area A in FIG. 8 from the video data, reconstructs it into video display control information generated by the display controller 200, and displays it in the display control information analysis unit 206. Output.

The configuration of the display control information analysis unit 206 is the same as that installed in the display controller 200 disposed upstream as described above, and the video control information is input in a packet format, and the same processing is performed.
The display control information analysis unit 206 analyzes the input video display control information, converts the analysis result into a format that can be handled by the image processing unit 207, and outputs the result to the image processing unit 207.

  The image processing unit 207 performs arbitrary image processing on the video data of the area to be displayed on the display controller 300 transmitted from the display area extraction unit 204. In addition, image processing is performed based on the video display control information input from the display control information analysis unit 206.

If the video display control information generated by the display controller 200 is, for example, graphics data, the image processing unit 207 combines the input graphics data and video data to generate a menu composite video.
If the video display control information is color conversion table data, the image processing unit 207 rewrites the table data based on the data and reflects it in the image processing.
The video data that has been subjected to image processing by the image processing unit 207 is finally transmitted to the panel output interface unit 208, converted into an arbitrary panel display data format, and output to the display panel 400.

Hereinafter, the operation of the system configured using the display controllers 0 to 3 will be described.
FIG. 1 is a detailed system configuration diagram clearly showing the configuration of each display controller described above with reference to the configuration diagram of FIG.
This system includes a video source output device 100 that outputs high-resolution video data, a display controller 200 disposed upstream of the cascade connection, and three downstream display controllers 300 disposed downstream of the cascade.

With this system configuration, the high-resolution video data shown in FIG. 8 is divided into four areas, and video processing is performed to form a panel or video display surface as one screen data.
The video source output device 100 inputs high-resolution video data as shown in FIG. 8 to the display controller 200 arranged upstream.
The display controller 200 performs video processing of its own region (region A in FIG. 7 in this embodiment), and the display control information generation unit 205 generates display control data and commands for the entire screen.

  The generated display control data and commands for the entire screen are reflected in the image processing of the display controller 200 itself, and the video data in the area A is replaced and transmitted to the connected downstream display controller 300 in the video data. To do.

  Each of the downstream display controller 300 groups performs display control of its own area (areas B, C, and D), extracts video display control information that is incorporated and input into area A, and each display controller 300 Reflected in image processing and displayed.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing the flow of video data and video display control information.
In FIG. 11, the area indicated by the dotted line is the entire video data including blanking, and the area divided into four within the dotted line is the video data of the effective image area.
Here, an area filled with gray indicates valid video data, and an area without gray fill indicates that video display control information exists as data.

In the transmission path 1100 between the video source output device 100 and the display controller 0 (200) arranged in the uppermost stream of the cascade, the entire valid image video area is transmitted as valid video data.
Here, the most upstream display controller 0 (200) generates video display control information for the entire screen, and the video data in the effective image area of the display controller 0 (200) is replaced with the video display control information for transmission.

  Therefore, in the transmission path (1101, 1102, 1103) to the downstream display controller shown in FIG. 11, the effective image display area of the display controller 0 (200) is replaced with video display control information as shown in FIG. Transmission takes place. Here, an example is shown in which a graphics menu is displayed as the video display control information.

The most upstream display controller 0 (200) and the downstream display controller 300 group are responsible for image processing of each area obtained by dividing the image into four as shown in FIG.
The display controller 0 (200) generates graphics menu data, performs graphics synthesis processing on its own area and displays it, and transmits graphics data to the downstream display controller 300 group as video display control information.
At this time, display position information in the display screen is also transmitted as video display control information together with the graphics data.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the display controller 0 (200) forms and outputs an image in which the graphics menu data is synthesized in its own area based on the graphics display position information.

The display controllers 1 to 3 as the downstream display controller 300 group extract the graphic display data and the graphic display position information transmitted as the video display control information. Then, the image processing unit 207 performs graphics data synthesis processing and displays it.
Similar to the most upstream display controller 200, as shown in FIG. 11, an image in which graphics menu data is synthesized in its own area is formed and output.

  As a result, as the output from each display controller 0 to 3, an image including a graphics menu is output, and finally a high-resolution screen in which the graphics menu is synthesized is formed as shown on the right side of FIG. .

In this example, graphics menu data is described as an example. However, as described above, the present invention is not limited to transmission of graphics menu data.
For example, image processing control parameter data such as table data for color conversion processing, an image processing control command for designating full screen mute, or the like may be used.

  In this embodiment, the display controller or the display device is exemplified for four configurations, but the number of display controllers or display devices is not limited, and the number of various cascade connections can be changed.

Further, in the present embodiment, a configuration in which the display area of the display controller arranged upstream is replaced with video display control information and output / transmitted is illustrated, but the present embodiment is not limited thereto.
For example, it is possible to replace the blanking period data in the video data with the video display control information and output / transmit it.
Furthermore, in addition to the blanking period, it is also possible to replace the video data in the video data area not used by the downstream display controller with the video display control information and output / transmit the configuration.

As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to use a video transmission path for transmission of video display control information in a multi-display or a multi-display controller. This eliminates the need for a wide-band device / chip connection interface, thereby reducing the system cost.
Further, since the video display control information can be transmitted through the video transmission path, the video display control information can be exchanged with a simple configuration.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention is also realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (computer program) that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various computer-readable storage media. Then, the computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or apparatus reads out and executes the program.

100 Video source output device 200 Cascade uppermost display controller 201 Video data input unit 202 Cascade video data output unit 203 Output video selection unit 204 Display area extraction unit 205 Display control information generation unit 206 Display control information analysis unit 207 Image processing unit 208 Panel output interface unit 300 Cascade downstream display controller 301 Display control information extraction unit 400 Display panel 1001 Output video selection unit In-block video data analysis unit 1002 Selector signal 1003 Selector

Claims (9)

A display system for displaying images by transmitting images by cascading from a video source output device to a plurality of video display control devices,
The video display control device arranged upstream of the cascade connection is
Video data receiving means for receiving video data output from the video source output device;
Generating means for generating video display control information related to video display of the display system;
The video data area that is a part of the video data received by the video data receiving unit and is not used by the video display control device connected downstream of the cascade connection is replaced with the video display control information generated by the generating unit. Output video selection means;
Video data for outputting video data in which a part of the video data received by the video data receiving means by the output video selection means is replaced with video display control information to a video display control device connected downstream of the cascade connection Output means,
The video display control device arranged downstream of the cascade connection is
Video data receiving means for receiving video data output from a video display control device arranged upstream of the cascade connection;
Extraction means for extracting the video display control information output by replacing the video data received by the video data receiving means;
Information analysis means for analyzing the video display control information extracted by the extraction means;
A display system comprising image processing means for performing image processing based on video display control information input from the information analysis means.   The display system according to claim 1, wherein the video data area not used by the video display control device connected downstream is a blanking area of video data output from the video source output device.   The video data area not used by the video display control device connected downstream includes an effective video display area displayed by the video display control device arranged upstream. Display system.   The display system according to claim 1, wherein the video display control information is graphics display data.   The display system according to claim 4, wherein the graphics display data includes display position information in a display screen.   The display system according to claim 1, wherein the video display control information is image processing control parameter data.   The display system according to claim 1, wherein the video display control information is an image processing control command.   The display system according to claim 1, wherein the video display control information includes a plurality of display control information. A control method for a display system for performing video transmission by displaying a cascade connection from a video source output device to a plurality of video display control devices,
In the video display control device arranged upstream of the cascade connection,
A video data receiving step of receiving video data output from the video source output device;
A generation process for generating video display control information related to video display of the display system;
The video data area that is a part of the video data received in the video data reception step and is not used by the video display control device connected downstream of the cascade connection is replaced with the video display control information generated in the generation step. Output video selection process,
Video data for outputting video data in which a part of the video data received in the video data receiving step in the output video selection step is replaced with video display control information to a video display control device connected downstream of the cascade connection An output process,
In the video display control device arranged downstream of the cascade connection,
A video data receiving step for receiving video data output from a video display control device arranged upstream of the cascade connection;
An extraction step of extracting the video display control information output by replacing the video data received in the video data reception step;
An information analysis step of analyzing the video display control information extracted in the extraction step;
A display system control method comprising: an image processing step of performing image processing based on video display control information input from the information analysis step.