KR20100052592A - A remote controller and a image display system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A remote control unit and an image display system are provided to control the picture quality of image naturally by measure more accurately the illuminance of the location of viewer. CONSTITUTION: An illumination sensing unit(130) measures illuminance around a remote control unit. A signal transmitting unit(170) transmits the measured illumination value to infrared ray or RF(Radio Frequency) signal. A proximity object sensing unit(101) senses the presence of object within distance adjacent to the remote control unit. A microcomputer(140) transmits the measured information to an image display device through the signal transmitting unit.

Description

Remote control unit and image display system

The present invention relates to a remote control unit capable of measuring illuminance, and an image display system for adjusting luminance or power consumption of an image display apparatus using illuminance information transmitted from the remote control unit.

The image display apparatus provides a menu for allowing the user to directly set the image brightness, and includes a function for implementing the brightness of the entire image according to the brightness set by the user.

In addition, the image display apparatus includes a function to reduce power consumption of the image display apparatus while the user views the image at a low luminance.

Even if the brightness of the displayed image is constant, the user may perceive the brightness of the displayed image differently according to the external illumination around the image display apparatus. That is, even when the user sets a constant brightness, the brightness of the image may be felt to be inconsistent depending on the external illumination at the user or the image display device location.

In this regard, an image display device for actively controlling the brightness of the display screen according to the surrounding environment has been introduced.

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a video display device introduced in a conventional patent document.

Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional image display apparatus includes an illuminance measuring unit 10 for measuring illuminance, and the illuminance measuring unit 10 measures illuminance and transmits the illuminance measurement value to the control unit 20. .

In addition, the illuminance measuring unit 10 is connected to a control unit 20 that receives the illuminance measurement value and determines a setting condition of the display. The controller 20 detects an operation mode on the current display window, selects an image to be changed, and changes display setting conditions for the selected images.

The control unit 20 includes a data storage unit 30, and the data storage unit 30 stores information on display setting conditions to be changed by the control unit 20. That is, it stores the information of the brightness of the image displayed according to the operation mode.

In addition, the display unit 40 is connected to the control unit 20 to display an image under a changed setting condition according to the control signal of the control unit 20.

The conventional image display apparatus proposes a configuration of changing the brightness of an image according to the measured illuminance value. However, since an illuminance sensor to measure the peripheral illuminance of the image display apparatus should be provided on the exterior of the image display apparatus, the apparatus Can hurt the beauty of That is, in order to improve light transmittance, the illuminance sensor to measure the illuminance should make a part of the case of the image display apparatus transparent, and in this case, it may harm the aesthetics of the image display apparatus.

On the other hand, when the illuminance sensor is formed of a color or material similar to the appearance cabinet or case of the image display device, the probability that light is received by the illuminance sensor is significantly reduced, which makes it difficult to accurately measure illuminance.

The provision of an illuminance sensor on the exterior of the video display device means that the position of a user who actually watches an image is overlooked. That is, a plurality of lighting devices are generally installed in a space such as a living room in which an image display device is installed, and the brightness of the image perceived by the user is greatly influenced by the illuminance of the user's location.

The present invention is proposed in order to solve the above problems, using a remote control unit for measuring the illuminance at the user position, an image display apparatus for adjusting the image quality of the image using the illuminance signal transmitted from the remote control unit For the purpose of proposing.

In addition, in order to more accurately measure the ambient illuminance, a proximity sensor capable of confirming the presence of obstacles within a distance adjacent to the remote control unit is provided. It is done.

The remote control unit according to the embodiment includes an illuminance sensor for measuring peripheral illuminance, a microcomputer for reading illuminance information measured by the illuminance sensor, and a signal transmitter for transmitting a signal including the illuminance information. do.

And a proximity object detector connected to the micom to measure the presence or absence of an object within a proximity distance, wherein the microcomputer controls the operation of the illuminance detector according to the information measured by the proximity object detector. It features.

An image display system according to an embodiment includes a remote control unit including an illuminance sensor for measuring an ambient illuminance and a signal transmitting unit for transmitting a signal including illuminance information measured by the illuminance sensor; And a signal receiving unit for receiving a signal transmitted from the remote control unit, a control unit for reading illuminance information included in the received signal, and a display unit displaying an image at a set image quality value of the control unit. Device;

According to the embodiment of the present invention as described above, the illuminance of the place where the viewer watching the display image is located can be measured more accurately, and the picture quality of the display image can be more naturally adjusted to the viewer.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings for the present embodiment will be described in detail. However, the scope of the idea of the present invention may be determined from the matters disclosed by the present embodiment, and the idea of the invention of the present embodiment may be performed by adding, deleting, or modifying components to the proposed embodiment. It will be said to include variations.

In the following description, the word 'comprising' does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps than those listed.

2 is a view showing the appearance of a remote control unit according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 is a view showing the configuration of a remote control unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, referring to Figure 1, the remote control unit 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is provided with an illuminance detection unit for detecting the illuminance of the location where the remote control unit is located, the illuminance detection unit photo for the illumination detection It may be made of an optical sensor such as a diode, a photo transistor or a photoconductive element.

In the drawing, an illuminance window 110 of a transparent material is shown on one side of the remote control unit 100, and ambient light is incident to the illuminance detection unit through the illuminance window 110. In addition, one side of the remote control unit 100 is provided with a transmission window 120 for transmitting a signal for remotely controlling the operation of the image display device.

The remote control unit 100 remotely controls the operation of the image display device using an infrared or RF signal, the signal transmitted from the remote control unit 100 includes the illuminance value measured by the illuminance sensor have.

In addition, the remote control unit 100 is provided with a proximity object detecting unit 101 for detecting the presence or absence of an object present in a close distance using the force of the electromagnetic field, the remote object detection unit 101 by the remote It may be detected whether an obstacle is present within an adjacent distance of the control unit 100.

In addition, the remote control unit 100 is arranged with a plurality of input keys, such as a channel key for changing the channel of the image display device, a volume key for adjusting the volume.

As the illumination control unit for measuring the peripheral illumination is provided in the remote control unit 100, it is not necessary to configure such an illumination sensor in an electronic device that receives a signal transmitted from the remote control unit 100.

The configuration of the remote control unit will be described in more detail.

Referring to FIG. 2, the remote control unit 100 according to the embodiment includes an illuminance sensor 130 measuring the illuminance around the remote control unit and an illuminance value measured by the illuminance sensor 130. A signal transmitter 170 for transmitting an RF signal, an input unit 150 including a plurality of keys that can be input by a user, and a proximity object capable of detecting whether an object exists within a close distance from the remote control unit. The microcomputer 140 that reads the information measured by the sensor 101, the illuminance detector 130, and the proximity object detector 101 to be transmitted to the image display device through the signal transmitter 170. ).

In addition, the remote control unit 100 further includes a memory unit 160 that stores information on the presence or absence of the illuminance value measured by the illuminance sensing unit 130 or the proximity object detecting unit 101. can do.

The microcomputer 140 reads peripheral illumination value information measured by the illumination intensity detector 130 and controls the signal transmitter 170 to transmit an infrared or RF signal including illumination information.

According to the control of the microcomputer 140, the operation of measuring the ambient illuminance of the illuminance sensor 130 may be variously performed as follows.

That is, when the user inputs a specific key of the input unit 150, the illuminance measurement by the illuminance detecting unit 130 is performed, so that the measured illuminance value is transmitted through the signal transmitting unit 170 can do.

For example, when a user inputs a channel key of the input unit 150, since the channel of the image display apparatus is changed according to the input of the channel key, the brightness of the displayed image signal itself is likely to change.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the brightness of the image display apparatus is changed by using the illuminance value of the location where the remote control unit is located, while the user predicts that the brightness of the displayed image will be changed by inputting a specific key. If the illuminance measurement, transmission and reception of the measured illuminance value, and the image quality change process are performed, a natural image quality change can be made.

In this embodiment, a separate function key may be provided in the input unit 150. As described above, an input such as a channel key or a numeric key for changing a channel may be a signal for illuminance measurement.

On the other hand, it is also possible for the illuminance sensing unit 130 to measure the peripheral illuminance periodically. In other words, the microcomputer 140 performs illuminance measurement by the illuminance sensor 130 at predetermined intervals and periodically transmits the measured illuminance value to the image display apparatus.

If the image quality of the display image is changed with a predetermined period, the brightness of the display image may suddenly change as illumination or external light gradually changes during viewing. In this case, it is necessary to gradually change the brightness (quality) of the display image.

For example, when the image display device is a liquid crystal display device, the amount of current applied to the backlight is gradually changed, and when the image display device is a plasma display device, the number of sustain pulses is gradually reduced.

If it is difficult to continuously change the brightness of the display image on the panel, change the brightness of the panel gradually when it reaches the target brightness by using the contrast ratio. It is also possible to return the contrast to its original value together.

On the other hand, the remote control unit 100 of the embodiment may be provided with a proximity object detection unit 101 that can measure whether there is an object within the proximity distance, the proximity object detection unit 101 has a mechanical contact If it does not exist, it is composed of a switch that emits an on / off output when the sensing object falls within a sensing distance set by each sensor.

The proximity object detecting unit 101 may be further required when the illuminance is periodically measured by the illuminance detecting unit 130. For example, a user often leaves the remote control unit while watching TV. In this case, if the illuminance sensor 130 is covered by a peripheral object such as a sofa, the measurement of the ambient illuminance may be incomplete.

Therefore, when it is determined that the obstacle exists within the proximity distance by the proximity object detection unit 101, the illumination measurement by the illumination detection unit 130 may be suspended or the wireless transmission of the measured illumination value may be temporarily suspended. Can be.

In this regard, when it is determined that the peripheral object is detected by the proximity object detecting unit 101, the microcomputer 140 is information about the inability to measure the illuminance to the image display device through the signal transmitting unit 170. Send a signal containing. In this case, the image display apparatus receiving the signal may display an OSD including information indicating that accurate illuminance measurement is not performed on the screen.

As a result, the microcomputer 140 may stop the illumination measurement according to the measurement result of the proximity object detecting unit 101 or may not transmit the measured illumination information to the outside.

By providing an illuminance sensor on the remote control unit located at the user side, it is possible to measure the brightness of the place where the user is located more accurately, and also to change the channel of the image display device or to periodically measure the illuminance and the image quality accordingly. The variation of may be performed to provide a comfortable image to the user.

Hereinafter, an image display apparatus for receiving the signal transmitted from the above-described remote control unit and changing the image quality of the display image using the information included in the received signal will be described.

4 is a view for explaining an image display apparatus for receiving a signal transmitted from a remote control unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, an image display apparatus according to an embodiment includes a tuner 310 that tunes and outputs a broadcast signal, a demodulator 320 that demodulates a channel selected through the tuner 310, and demodulates the demodulated signal. A demultiplexer (330) for demultiplexing audio, video, DVB-SI, and PSIP tables, a video signal processor (340) for controlling to output a decoded video signal, and a video signal processor (340). And a display unit 350 on which the output video signal is displayed.

In addition, a signal receiving unit 360 for receiving a signal transmitted from the above-described remote control unit is included, and a wireless signal or a wired signal such as an infrared signal or an RF signal transmitted from the remote control unit is the signal receiving unit 360 Is received).

In addition, the image display apparatus may include a memory unit 380 in which a look-up table for changing the image quality of the display image is stored using information (for example, illuminance information) included in the signal received through the signal receiver 360. It further includes.

In addition, the image display apparatus may operate the image signal processor 340 or the display 350 to change the image quality according to the illumination information using the look-up table stored in the memory unit 380. It includes a control unit 390 for controlling.

In addition, the image display apparatus further includes an OSD generator 370 for generating an OSD message on the display 350 under the control of the controller 390.

In particular, the controller 390 reads illuminance information included in a signal received through the signal receiver 360, and refers to the look-up table corresponding to the illuminance information through the display unit 350. Change the quality of the video to be displayed.

Here, the image quality may be brightness, contrast, color or tint of the image, an example of which is illustrated in FIG. 5.

That is, the look-up table stored in the memory unit 380 includes brightness, contrast, color density, and tint values corresponding to the received illumination information, and the controller 390 receives the received illumination information. You can readjust the brightness, contrast and so on.

For example, when the illuminance value received through the signal receiver 360 indicates color information of a yellow color system, the controller 390 adjusts the tint in the image quality so that the display image displays the tint of the yellow characteristic. Have it. If the incandescent lamp is being irradiated where the remote control unit is located, the measured illuminance information will include yellow color information.

In addition, when the image quality is changed by the illumination information, the controller 390 causes an OSD message including contents such as presence or absence of image quality change to be displayed on the display 350 to inform the user of such information. . For example, as shown in FIG. 6, a message indicating that the tint value in the image quality is changed from 'D' to 'E' may be output to the OSD.

As described above, the illumination information received through the signal receiver 360 may be transmitted together with the data for the channel key or the numeric key for channel change, and when the channel is changed, the user expects to change the image quality. This eliminates the need for special user attention.

In addition, the controller 390 may induce power saving of the panel constituting the display unit according to the received illuminance information, which is illustrated in FIG. 7.

7 is a graph illustrating screen brightness according to illuminance measured according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

When adjusting the brightness of the image according to the illuminance of the user's location, it is necessary to determine whether to set a high or low reference threshold value of the illuminance for determining the power saving level. To this end, it is possible to use the graph shown to set the power saving illuminance.

In order to increase the frequency or intensity of the power saving according to the height of the home environment or the need for power saving of the viewer, the power saving illuminance may be set high, and vice versa. That is, the user may set the power saving degree of the image display apparatus to any one of a plurality of levels, and in this case, the controller 390 adjusts the brightness of the display unit in the form of a graph.

In particular, at each power saving level, the current illumination intensity is not uniquely determined only by the current illuminance value using hysteresis characteristics, but depends on the change process of the state in which the illuminance value has elapsed previously. Ensures that power savings continue to occur when accidentally stays near the threshold value.

In the graph shown, three sections are set as strengths and weaknesses of the power saving illuminance, and screen brightness is set for each of the power saving levels 0 to 4 according to the hysteresis phenomenon applied.

According to the embodiment of the present invention as described above, the illuminance of the place where the viewer watching the display image is located can be measured more accurately, and the picture quality of the display image can be more naturally adjusted to the viewer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a video display device introduced in a conventional patent document.

2 is a view showing the appearance of a remote control unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a view showing the configuration of a remote control unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a view for explaining a video display device for receiving a signal transmitted from a remote control unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a view showing a change element of the image quality according to the illumination information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 illustrates an example of an OSD message displayed on a screen when an image quality is changed according to illuminance information according to an embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a graph illustrating screen brightness according to illuminance measured according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (8)

An illuminance sensor for measuring ambient illuminance; A microcomputer for reading illuminance information measured by the illuminance sensor, And a signal transmitter for transmitting a signal including the illuminance information. The method of claim 1, The microcomputer remote control unit, characterized in that for controlling the illuminance measurement by the illuminance sensing unit to be performed periodically. The method of claim 1, The remote control unit is a device for remotely controlling the image display device for displaying an image on the screen, An input unit further includes a channel key or a numeric key for changing a channel of the image display device. The microcomputer remote control unit, characterized in that when the channel key or the numeric key in the input unit is input, the illumination measurement by the illuminance sensing unit is controlled to be performed. The method of claim 1, It is connected to the microcomputer, further includes a proximity object detecting unit for measuring the presence or absence of an object within a close distance, The microcomputer remote control unit, characterized in that for controlling the operation of the illuminance sensor according to the information measured by the proximity object detector. A remote control unit including an illuminance sensor for measuring an illuminance of the surroundings, and a signal transmitting unit configured to transmit a signal including illuminance information measured by the illuminance sensor; And An image display device including a signal receiving unit for receiving a signal transmitted from the remote control unit, a control unit for reading illuminance information included in the received signal, and a display unit displaying an image at a set image quality value of the control unit; Image display system consisting of. The method of claim 5, And a look-up table in which a set value of an image quality according to illuminance information is stored in the image display apparatus. The method of claim 5, And a controller of the image display apparatus adjusts brightness, contrast, color intensity, or tint of an image to be displayed on the display unit according to the read illumination information. The method of claim 5, And the controller of the image display apparatus varies power consumption according to driving of the display unit according to the read illumination information.

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