KR20140077281A - Image display methods and apparatuses for providing adaptive variable resolution - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, a virtual pixel is generated using pixels of a pre-produced content image according to the resolution of a pre-produced content and the resolution of the display unit, and displayed on the display unit to display an image of the content on the display unit in accordance with the resolution of the display unit There is provided an image display method that provides an adaptive variable resolution so that a viewer can naturally receive a desired video service.

Description

[0001] IMAGE DISPLAY METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING ADAPTIVE VARIABLE RESOLUTION [0002]

The present invention relates to a display method, and more particularly to a method of displaying an image.

The resolution of the display is determined by the resolution of the TV centered on the maximum resolution that can provide the resolution of each content, such as DTV, HDTV, and UHDTV. Conventional displays have a fixed number of pixels, and it is required to preprocess contents in accordance with the resolution provided by each display. Therefore, in order to reproduce the HDTV contents on the UHDTV display, the contents must be re-processed using a method of inserting pixels such as the interpolation method. Conversely, in order to reproduce UHDTV contents on an HDTV, a method of reducing pixels is used.

In order to reproduce a high-resolution content on a low-resolution display, a process such as down conversion is used. However, since the image is very sensitive to the view, unlike other information, there is a problem that when a method such as a simple down conversion is used, the viewer is provided with a non-natural image such as a block effect.

This method uses a method of increasing or decreasing the number of physical pixels of a content in consideration of the difference between the number of pixels supported by the content in the display in which the number of pixels is fixed. However, when such a method is used, there is a problem that the same contents must be produced and distributed in various formats according to the number of pixels supported by each display.

Korean Patent No. KR 10-0249403 ("Video Enlargement Device ", Common Instruments Corporation, Shawn of Delaware Robert A. Scott, published May 25, 1998)

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and system for providing a variety of viewer-centric services such as an N screen service by effectively eliminating the inconvenience that a user has to convert a content for viewing on a display having a different resolution by allowing a viewer to adaptively select a variable resolution And to provide a method of displaying an image.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an image display apparatus and a display apparatus which can maintain the number of pixels of an image when the existing high resolution data is reproduced in a low resolution display or conversely reproduce low resolution data in a high resolution display, So that unnatural phenomena are reduced and the viewer can view the content without any sense of discomfort.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of displaying an image, the method comprising: generating a virtual pixel using a resolution of a designated display and a resolution of the media; And displaying the media using the generated virtual pixel.

According to the image display method according to the embodiments of the present invention described above, virtual pixels are generated using pixels of pre-manufactured contents according to the resolution of pre-produced contents and the resolution of the display unit, and displayed on the display unit, An adaptive variable resolution can be provided so that a video of the content is displayed in accordance with the resolution of the subtitle so that the viewer can receive the desired video service naturally.

1 is a conceptual diagram of an image display method using a virtual pixel according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a diagram showing the resolution of a display unit partitioned by a plurality of pixels.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the RGB primary colors represented by one pixel.
4 is a diagram showing RGB primary colors represented by a plurality of pixels.
5 is a flowchart of an image display method using a virtual pixel according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a conceptual diagram comparing one pixel and a plurality of pixels.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail.

It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

The terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, the second component may also be referred to as a first component. And / or < / RTI > includes any combination of a plurality of related listed items or any of a plurality of related listed items.

It is to be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected or connected to the other element, . On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that there are no other elements in between.

The terminology used in this application is used only to describe a specific embodiment and is not intended to limit the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In the present application, the terms "comprises" or "having" and the like are used to specify that there is a feature, a number, a step, an operation, an element, a component or a combination thereof described in the specification, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning in the context of the relevant art and are to be interpreted in an ideal or overly formal sense unless explicitly defined in the present application Do not.

The image display method according to an embodiment of the present invention is a method of displaying the same media contents in a format compatible with a variety of technologies such as a portable terminal, a tablet, a DTV, an HDTV, a 4K UHDTV, a DMB, In order to solve the hassle of being produced and distributed in various formats in accordance with the resolution, the display unit variably changes the number of pixels using the virtual pixel technique. Accordingly, when high-definition contents are watched on a low-resolution display or conversely when low-resolution contents are watched on a high-resolution display, it is possible to improve artificial block effect or a phenomenon that obstructs viewers' have.

1 is a conceptual diagram of an image display method using a virtual pixel according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image 100 may be image data of the media included in the content. The image 100 is configured in a format having a specific resolution.

The resolution conversion module 200 changes the resolution of the image 100. The resolution conversion module 200 receives the image 100. The resolution conversion module 200 generates and changes the resolution of the image 100 to a virtual pixel. The resolution conversion module 200 may obtain the resolution of the image 100 from the image file or may obtain the image 100 data. The resolution conversion module 200 receives the resolution of the display unit 300 from the user or receives the resolution from the display unit 300. The resolution conversion module 200 calculates the ratio of the resolution of the image 100 to the resolution of the display unit 300. [ The resolution conversion module 200 generates virtual pixels according to the ratio of the resolution of the image 100 and the resolution of the display unit 300 and displays the virtual pixels on the display unit 300. The resolution conversion module 200 may be provided in the display unit.

The display unit 300 displays the image 100 of the content by displaying the virtual pixel generated by the resolution conversion module 200.

2 is a diagram showing a screen of the display unit 300 divided into a plurality of pixels. A screen of the display unit 300 is composed of pixels 101 to 104 having a predetermined size and a resolution is determined according to the number of pixels constituting the screen of the display unit 300.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the RGB primary colors represented by one pixel. In order to display a screen in which one pixel 201 shown in FIG. 3 corresponds to one pixel, the pixel 201 is made up of RGB three-color combinations 202, 203, and 204 shown in FIG. One RGB primary color combination (202, 203, 204) must be assigned to one pixel (201) in order to display an image of the content in one pixel.

4 is a diagram showing RGB primary colors represented by a plurality of pixels.

4, in order to display the content image on the pixels of the plurality of pixels 301, 302, 303, 304 on the high-resolution screen in which the plurality of pixels 301, 302, 303, 304 are represented, Each of the three RGB primary colors 305 through 315 shown in FIG. The RGB primary color of 308, 309 and 310 should be specified for the pixel 302, the RGB primary color of 311, 312 and 313 should be designated for the pixel 303, and the RGB color of the pixel 304 The RGB primary colors of 314, 315, and 316 should be specified.

5 is a flowchart of an image display method using a virtual pixel according to an embodiment of the present invention. A method of displaying an image using a virtual pixel according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the image display apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention decodes an image (S101). The decoded image 100 is input to the resolution conversion module 200.

Next, the resolution conversion module 200 calculates the resolution of the image (S102). Then, the resolution conversion module calculates the resolution of the display unit 300 (S103).

Next, the resolution conversion module 200 generates a virtual pixel (S104). When a content image having a specific resolution is displayed on a display unit having a resolution matching the resolution of the image, one pixel of the image 100 is displayed on one pixel of the display unit 300 as shown in FIG. 3 .

However, in order to display a content image having a specific resolution on a low-resolution screen, a plurality of pixels as shown in Fig. 4 should be displayed as one pixel as shown in Fig. 3, and in order to display on a high- The pixels of one image 100 as shown in FIG. 4 should be displayed as pixels of the plurality of display units 300 as shown in FIG.

The resolution conversion module 200 calculates a resolution ratio between the image 100 and the display unit 300 using the resolution of the image 100 and the resolution of the display unit 300. [ In addition, by using the resolution ratio, it is possible to increase the number of pixels of one image 100 to a plurality of pixels using virtual pixels, or to reduce the number of pixels of a plurality of images 100 to one pixel, And transmits the generated pixel to the display unit 300.

Finally, the display unit 300 displays the virtual pixel on the display unit 300 to display the image 100 at the resolution of the display unit 300 (S105).

6 is a conceptual diagram comparing one pixel and a plurality of pixels. Referring to FIG. 6, a method of displaying an image 100 on a display unit 300 having a resolution four times larger than the resolution of the image 100, according to an image display method using a virtual pixel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention do.

One pixel 411 shown in FIG. 6 can be represented by the RGB primary colors of 405, 406, and 407. FIG. However, when the viewer wants to view the image 100 using the display unit 300 having a resolution four times higher than the image 100, one pixel of the image 100 is displayed on the display unit 300, Pixel. The RGB primary colors 405, 406 and 407, which are the basic elements of color, divide the pixel 411 of the original image into four pixels 401, 402, 403, and 404, and assign each pixel 412 to 423 RGB primary colors . Thus, each virtual pixel is composed of four pixels 401, 402, 403, and 404. In the same manner, a virtual pixel is generated for all the pixels of the image 100. The generated virtual pixel can be displayed to the user through the display unit 300.

In the same way, the image display method using the virtual pixel according to an embodiment of the present invention displays the image 100 in the display unit 300 having the resolution of 9 times, 16 times, or more than the resolution of the image 100 can do.

6, an image display method using a virtual pixel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes displaying an image 100 on a display unit 300 having a resolution four times smaller than the resolution of the image 100 Explain the method.

When a viewer desires to view the image 100 using the display unit 300 having a resolution four times smaller than the image 100, one pixel of the display unit 300 is divided into four pixels 100 of the image 100, .

The pixels constituting the original image 100 are summarized into four pixels. Referring to FIG. 6, the four pixels may be 401, 402, 403, and 404. Each of the four pixels has RGB primary colors 412 to 423, which are basic elements of color.

The resolution conversion module 200 may select one of the four pixels of the image 100 to generate a virtual pixel and then correspond to the pixel 411 of the display unit 300. [ Alternatively, the resolution conversion module 200 may generate an average of the RGB three-primary-color values of the four pixels of the image to correspond to the pixels of the display unit.

The resolution conversion module 200 generates a virtual pixel by an average of RGB three-primary-color values of four pixels of an image and corresponds to the display unit 100. The four pixels 401 and 402 of the image 100 , 403, and 404 are 412 values in 401 pixels, 418 values in 402 pixels, 415 values in 403 pixels, and 421 values in 404 pixels. The resolution conversion module may set the average of the values of 412, 418, 415, and 421 to the red value of the generated virtualizer. Similarly, a blue value and a green value can be set as an average value of four pixels. The resolution conversion module 200 may use a specific formula to give an average value.

Thus, each one virtual pixel is generated using the pixels 401, 402, 403, and 404 of the four images 100. In the same manner, a virtual pixel is generated for all the pixels of the image 100. The generated virtual pixel can be displayed to the user through the display unit 300.

In the same way, the image display method using the virtual pixel according to the embodiment of the present invention displays the image 100 in the display unit 300 having the resolution of 9 times, 16 times, or less than the resolution of the image 100 can do.

Also, in the image display method using virtual pixels according to an embodiment of the present invention, a viewer can select a specific resolution of low resolution or high resolution to support adaptive variable resolution. The viewer can specify the size of the resolution to a desired size.

In the present invention, in order to view contents having different resolutions in various existing displays, the display resolution is variably changed using a virtual pixel instead of receiving content suitable for each resolution or performing a preprocessing process for content change, Can flexibly provide services to viewers as a method of providing an adaptive variable resolution capable of providing other contents with a resolution desired by a viewer on a display held by a viewer.

Claims (1)

A method of displaying an image,
Generating a virtual pixel using the resolution of the specified display and the resolution of the media; And
And displaying the media using the generated virtual pixel.

Images