TWI471837B - Panel control apparatus and operating method thereof - Google Patents

Description

Panel control device and operation method thereof

The present invention relates to a panel control device and an operation method thereof, and more particularly to a panel control device that switches a compression method according to a state of a display screen and an operation method thereof.

In order to pursue higher resolution and clearer images, today's display technology is accompanied by an increase in the memory space occupied by image data. Based on commercial considerations, the general panel control device will use image compression technology to reduce the memory space used by the timing controller (T-CON), thereby achieving cost reduction benefits. Therefore, for panel control devices, the application of image compression technology is becoming more and more important.

In the panel control device, over driving (OD) technology and Panel Self Refresh (PSR) technology, both use different image compression technologies to achieve their respective functions. Among them, the overdrive technology compresses the previously displayed data into the memory, and then generates the overdrive display data based on the comparison between the previously displayed data and the currently displayed data. Thereby, the panel control device can adjust the driving signal according to the change of the screen, thereby accelerating the transition state of the liquid crystal and improving the reaction time of the pixel. On the other hand, the panel self-updating technique compresses the display data into the memory when it detects that the display is still. Thereby, the display material stored in the memory can be displayed while the screen is stationary, thereby saving power consumption.

However, the timing and mechanism of the above two technologies using image compression are not the same. Therefore, how to integrate the above two technologies is an important issue that the panel control device is designed to solve. In addition, in general, with the integration of the above two technologies, it is bound to lead to an increase in memory, which inevitably causes an increase in the volume of the panel control device and the manufacturing cost.

The present invention provides a panel control device that selectively switches between an overdrive technology and a panel self-updating technique according to a state of a display screen, and uses the same memory to store display materials under different compression technologies. Thereby, the volume of the panel control device can be reduced.

The invention provides a method for operating a panel control device, which determines whether to generate an update request signal according to the state of the display screen, to switch to different compression technologies, and to use the same memory to store display materials under different compression technologies. Thereby, the manufacturing cost of the panel control device can be reduced.

The invention provides a panel control device comprising a scaler and a timing controller. The scaler transmits the current display data used to form the display screen, and determines whether to generate an update request signal according to the state of the display screen. The timing controller includes a memory, an overdrive unit, and a panel self-updating unit. The overdrive unit is electrically connected to the memory, and when the update request signal is not generated, the overdrive unit converts the current display data into overdrive display data according to the previously compressed data from the memory. The panel self-updating unit is electrically connected to the memory, and when the update request signal is generated, the panel self-updating unit compresses the current display data into the updated display data. And save the updated display data to the memory.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the scaler determines whether the state of the display screen is stationary, and when the state of the display screen is stationary, the scaler generates an update request signal, and when the display screen changes, the scaler Stop generating the update request signal.

In an embodiment of the invention, the panel control device further includes a switching unit. The switching unit is electrically connected to the memory and the overdrive unit. When the update request signal is not generated, the switching unit transmits the overdrive display data. When the update request signal is generated, the switching unit transmits the updated display data from the memory.

In an embodiment of the invention, the overdrive unit includes an overdrive actuator, an overdrive compressor, and an overdrive generator. The overdrive enabler stops generating the overdrive enable signal according to the update request signal. The overdrive compressor reads the previously compressed data from the memory based on the overdrive enable signal. The overdrive generator queries the driver table based on the previously compressed data and the currently displayed data, and generates overdrive display data accordingly.

In an embodiment of the invention, the panel self-updating unit comprises a self-updating enabler and a self-updating compressor. The self-renewal enabler generates an update enable signal based on the update request signal. The self-updating compressor compresses the current display data into the updated display data according to the update enable signal, and generates an update reply signal, wherein the scaler stops transmitting the currently displayed data according to the update reply signal.

From another point of view, the present invention provides a method for operating a panel control device comprising the steps of: transmitting a current display resource for constructing a display screen Determining whether to generate an update request signal according to the state of the display screen; when the update request signal is not generated, converting the currently displayed data into overdrive display data according to the previously compressed data from the memory of the panel control device; When the update request signal is generated, the current display data is compressed into an updated display material, and the updated display data is stored in the memory.

Based on the above, the panel control device and the operation method thereof according to the embodiments of the present invention provide a display data that can be switched to different image compression methods according to the state of the display screen and stored in different compression technologies by using the same memory. Thereby, the volume and manufacturing cost of the panel control device can be reduced.

The above described features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description.

The panel control device and the method for operating the same according to the embodiments of the present invention can switch different compression technologies according to the state of the display screen, and reduce the memory capacity used by the timing controller by using a shared memory. In turn, the cost-saving benefits are achieved. In order to make the content of the present invention easier to understand, the following specific embodiments are illustrative of the embodiments of the present invention. In addition, wherever possible, the elements and/

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a panel control apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 1 , the panel control device 100 is configured to control the display panel 200 and includes a scaler 110 and a timing controller 120 . Wherein, the scaler 110 transmits the current display data D_P used to form the display screen, so that The display panel 200 can display a corresponding display screen under the control of the panel control device 100. The scaler 110 further determines whether to generate the update request signal S_req according to the state of the display screen.

The timing controller 120 includes a memory 130, an overdrive unit 140, a panel self-updating unit 150, and a switching unit 160. The overdrive unit 140 is electrically connected to the memory 130. In addition, when the update request signal S_req is not generated, the overdrive unit 140 converts the current display material D_P into the overdrive display material D_OD according to the previously compressed data D_CV from the memory 130. The panel self-updating unit 150 is electrically connected to the memory 130. Further, when the update request signal S_req is generated, the panel self-updating unit 150 compresses the current display material D_P into the updated display material D_PSR, and stores the updated display material D_PSR to the memory 130.

The switching unit 160 is electrically connected to the memory 130 and the over driving unit 140. When the update request signal S_req is not generated, the switching unit 160 transmits the overdrive display material D_OD to cause the display panel 200 to display the corresponding display screen according to the driving display data D_OD. On the other hand, when the update request signal S_req is generated, the switching unit 160 transmits the updated display material D_PSR from the memory 130 to cause the display panel 200 to display the corresponding display screen according to the updated display material D_PSR.

In other words, the scaler 110 performs motion detection on the display screen displayed on the display panel 200 to determine whether the current display screen meets the generation condition of the update request signal S_req. Moreover, the timing controller 120 determines whether to overdrive or panel self refresh (PSR) according to the update request signal S_req. The method is to perform compression of the currently displayed data D_P to generate a corresponding overdrive display data D_OD or to update the display data D_PSR.

In detail, when the current display screen does not meet the generation condition of the update request signal S_req (for example, the state of the display screen is stationary), the scaler 110 does not generate the update request signal S_req. At this time, the timing controller 120 will not receive the update request signal S_req, and cannot return the update reply signal S_res. Since the timing controller 120 cannot transmit the update reply signal S_res, the scaler 110 will continuously transmit the current display data D_P to the timing controller 120.

On the other hand, in the case where the timing controller 120 cannot receive the update request signal S_req, the overdrive unit 140 will be enabled, and the panel self-updating unit 150 will be disabled. In this way, the overdrive unit 140 at this time converts the current display data D_P into the overdrive display data D_OD according to the previously compressed data D_CV stored in the memory 130. The previously compressed data D_CV is compressed by the display data corresponding to the previous display screen. At this time, the display panel 200 displays the current display screen based on the overdrive display material D_OD. Furthermore, the panel self-updating unit 150 at this time will stop operating.

Conversely, when the current display screen meets the generation condition of the update request signal S_req (for example, the display screen changes), the scaler 110 generates the update request signal S_req. At this time, the timing controller 120 will receive the update request signal S_req and correspondingly return the update reply signal S_res. Since the timing controller 120 returns the update reply signal S_res, the scaler 110 will stop transmitting the current display data D_P to the timing controller 120.

On the other hand, in the event that the timing controller 120 receives the update request signal S_req, the overdrive unit 140 will be disabled and the panel self-updating unit 150 will be enabled. In this way, the panel self-updating unit 150 at this time compresses the current display material D_P into the updated display material D_PSR, and stores the updated display data D_PSR in the memory 130. At this time, the scaler 110 does not need to continuously transmit the current display material D_P, and the display panel 200 can still display the current display screen according to the updated display data D_PSR stored in the memory 130. Furthermore, the overdrive unit 140 at this time will stop operating.

Further, the overdrive unit 140 includes an overdrive enabler 142, an overdrive compressor 144, and an overdrive generator 146, and the panel self-updating unit 150 includes a self-updating enabler 152 and a self-updating compressor 154. 2 is a flow chart showing an operation method of the panel control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The panel control device will be further described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

The scaler 110 transmits the current display material D_P for constituting the display screen (step S200), and determines whether or not the update request signal S_req is generated in accordance with the state of the display screen (step S202).

In step S202 of the present embodiment, the scaler 110 determines whether or not the state of the display screen is stationary (step S204) as a basis for generating the update request signal S_req. In other words, when the scaler 110 determines that the display screen has changed, the scaler 110 will stop generating the update request signal S_req (step S206). Conversely, when the scaler 110 determines that the display screen is stationary, the scaler 110 will generate an update request signal. S_req (step S208).

When the update request signal S_req is not generated, as shown in step S210, the overdrive unit 140 converts the current display data D_P into the overdrive display data D_OD according to the previously compressed data D_CV from the memory 130 of the panel control device 100.

In step S210, that is, in the process of converting the currently displayed data D_P into the overdrive display data D_OD, since the overdrive enabler 142 cannot receive the update request signal S_req, the overdrive enabler 142 will continue to be generated. Drive enable signal S_ode. At this time, the overdrive compressor 144 will read the previous compressed data D_CV from the memory 130 according to the overdrive enable signal S_ode, and transfer the previously compressed data D_CV to the overdrive generator 146. The overdrive generator 146 queries the overdrive table based on the previously compressed data D_CV and the currently displayed data D_P, and accordingly generates the overdrive display material D_OD. The method for establishing and querying the overdrive table can be well known in the art, and the details thereof will not be described herein.

In addition, as shown in step S212, the overdrive compressor 144 further compresses the current display data D_P into the current compressed data D_CP according to the overdrive enable signal S_ode, and stores the current compressed data D_CP into the memory 130. The current compressed data D_CP compressed by the overdrive compressor 144 and stored in the memory 130 is the previously compressed data D_CV of the next display screen.

It should be noted here that the sequence of step S210 and step S212 is one embodiment of the embodiment. In the operation method of the panel control device 100, the current display data D_P may be first compressed into the current compressed data. The D_CP is stored in the memory 130 (step S212), and the current display data D_P is converted into the overdrive display data D_OD (step S210), which is not limited thereto.

Moreover, as shown in step S214, since the switching unit 160 does not receive the update request signal S_req, the switching unit 160 transmits the overdrive display data D_OD generated by the drive generator 146 to the display panel 200, so that the display panel 200 has been The drive display data D_OD displays the current display screen.

On the other hand, when the update request signal S_req is generated, as shown in step S216, the panel self-updating unit 150 compresses the current display material D_P into the updated display material D_PSR, and stores the updated display material D_PSR in the memory 130.

In step S216, that is, in the process of compressing the current display material D_P into the updated display material D_PSR and storing the updated display material D_PSR in the memory 130, since the self-updating enabler 152 receives the update request signal S_req, The self-updating enabler 152 further generates an update enable signal S_ena according to the update request signal S_req, and transmits the update enable signal S_ena to the self-updating compressor 154. At this time, the self-updating compressor 154 compresses the current display material D_P into the updated display data D_PSR according to the update enable signal S_ena, and stores the updated display data D_PSR in the memory 130.

In addition, as shown in step S218, the self-updating compressor 154 further generates an update reply signal S_res, and transmits the update reply signal S_res to the scaler 110 to stop the scaler 110 from continuing to transmit the current display. The data D_P is in the timing controller 120. It should be noted that the order of step S216 and step S218 is only one embodiment of the embodiment, which is not intended to limit the present invention.

Furthermore, as shown in step S220, since the switching unit 160 receives the update request signal S_req, the switching unit 160 transmits the updated display material D_PSR from the memory 130 to the display panel 200, so that the display panel 200 displays the current display data D_PSR according to the updated display data D_PSR. Display screen.

For example, in a case where the display screen continues to be a dynamic picture, the scaler 110 does not generate the update request signal S_req, and transmits the current display material D_P to the timing controller 120. At this time, the timing controller 120 further compresses the current display data D_P according to the overdrive program performed by the overdrive unit 140, and queries the overdrive table to generate the overdrive display data D_OD. Thereby, the display panel 200 can display the screen according to the overdrive display material D_OD. However, once the display screen becomes stationary, the scaler 110 generates an update request signal S_req. At this time, the timing controller 120 switches to the operation mode of the panel self-updating, that is, the timing controller 120 drives the display panel 200 according to the updated display material D_PSR stored in the memory 130.

In summary, the panel control device of the embodiment of the present invention utilizes the architecture and operation mode of the memory shared by the overdrive unit and the panel self-updating unit, so that the volume and manufacturing cost of the panel control device are reduced. Wherein, when the display screen is a dynamic screen, the display panel displays the data display screen according to the overdrive generated by the overdrive unit. Conversely, when the display screen is stationary, the timing controller reads the updated display material from the memory. In order for the display panel to display the data display screen according to the update.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the invention, and any one of ordinary skill in the art can make some modifications and refinements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The scope of the invention is defined by the scope of the appended claims.

100‧‧‧ Panel control unit

110‧‧‧Scaler

120‧‧‧Timing controller

130‧‧‧ memory

140‧‧‧Overdrive unit

142‧‧‧Overdrive Actuator

144‧‧‧Overdrive compressor

146‧‧‧Overdrive generator

150‧‧‧ Panel Self-Updating Unit

152‧‧‧ Self-renewal actuator

154‧‧‧ Self-updating compressor

160‧‧‧Switch unit

200‧‧‧ display panel

D_CP‧‧‧ currently compressing data

D_CV‧‧‧ previously compressed data

D_OD‧‧‧Overdrive display data

D_P‧‧‧ Currently showing information

D_PSR‧‧‧Updated display information

S200~S220‧‧‧ Panel Control Unit Operation Procedure

S_ena‧‧‧Update enable signal

S_ode‧‧‧Overdrive enable signal

S_res‧‧‧Update reply signal

S_req‧‧‧Update request signal

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a panel control apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention.

2 is a flow chart showing an operation method of a panel control device according to an embodiment of the invention.

100‧‧‧ Panel control unit

110‧‧‧Scaler

120‧‧‧Timing controller

130‧‧‧ memory

140‧‧‧Overdrive unit

142‧‧‧Overdrive Actuator

144‧‧‧Overdrive compressor

146‧‧‧Overdrive generator

150‧‧‧ Panel Self-Updating Unit

152‧‧‧ Self-renewal actuator

154‧‧‧ Self-updating compressor

160‧‧‧Switch unit

200‧‧‧ display panel

D_CP‧‧‧ currently compressing data

D_CV‧‧‧ previously compressed data

D_OD‧‧‧Overdrive display data

D_P‧‧‧ Currently showing information

D_PSR‧‧‧Updated display information

S_ena‧‧‧Update enable signal

S_ode‧‧‧Overdrive enable signal

S_res‧‧‧Update reply signal

S_req‧‧‧Update request signal

Claims (12)

A panel control device includes: a scaler, configured to transmit a current display data for forming a display screen, and determining whether to generate an update request signal according to a state of the display screen; a timing controller comprising: a memory The drive unit is electrically connected to the memory, and when the update request signal is not generated, the overdrive unit converts the current display data into an overdrive display according to a previously compressed data from the memory. And a panel self-updating unit electrically connected to the memory, and when the update request signal is generated, the panel self-updating unit compresses the current display data into an updated display data, and stores the updated display data to The memory unit and the switching unit are electrically connected to the memory and the overdrive unit, wherein when the update request signal is not generated, the switching unit transmits the overdrive display data when the update request signal is generated. The switching unit transmits the updated display material from the memory. The panel control device of claim 1, wherein the scaler determines whether the state of the display screen is stationary, and when the state of the display screen is stationary, the scaler generates the update request signal. When the display screen changes, the scaler stops generating the update request signal. The panel control device of claim 1, wherein when the update request signal is generated, the panel self-updating unit generates an update reply signal to cause the scaler to stop transmitting the currently displayed data. The panel control device of claim 1, wherein the overdrive unit comprises: an overdrive enabler that stops generating an overdrive enable signal according to the update request signal; and an overdrive compressor The overdrive enable signal reads the previously compressed data from the memory; and an overdrive generator queries the overdrive table according to the previously compressed data and the current display data, and generates the overdrive display data accordingly . The panel control device of claim 4, wherein the overdrive compressor further compresses the current display data into a current compressed data according to the overdrive enable signal, and stores the current compressed data into the memory. body. The panel control device of claim 1, wherein the panel self-updating unit comprises: a self-updating enabler, generating an update enable signal according to the update request signal; and a self-updating compressor, according to the Updating the enable signal to compress the current display data into the updated display data, and generating an update reply signal, wherein the scaler stops transmitting the current display data according to the update reply signal. A method of operating a panel control device, comprising: Transmitting a current display data for forming a display screen; determining whether to generate an update request signal according to a state of the display screen; and when the update request signal is not generated, according to a memory from a memory of the panel control device The data is previously compressed, and the current display data is converted into an overdrive display data, and the overdrive display data is transmitted; and when the update request signal is generated, the current display data is compressed into an updated display data, and the update is updated. The display data is stored in the memory and the updated display material from the memory is transmitted. The method for operating a panel control device according to claim 7, wherein the step of determining whether to generate the update request signal according to the state of the display screen comprises: determining whether the state of the display screen is stationary; when the display When the status of the screen is stationary, the update request signal is generated; and when the display screen changes, the update request signal is stopped. The method for operating the panel control device of claim 7, further comprising: when the update request signal is generated, generating an update reply signal to stop transmitting the currently displayed data. The method of operating a panel control device according to claim 7, wherein when the update request signal is not generated, The step of converting the current display data into the overdrive display data by the panel control device, the step of converting the current display data into the overdrive display data comprises: stopping generating an overdrive enable signal according to the update request signal; The previously compressed data is read from the memory by the signal; and the drive table is queried according to the previously compressed data and the current display data, and the overdrive display data is generated accordingly. The method for operating the panel control device of claim 10, further comprising: compressing the current display data into a current compressed data according to the overdrive enable signal, and storing the current compressed data in the memory. The method of operating a panel control device according to claim 7, wherein when the update request signal is generated, the current display data is compressed into the updated display data, and the updated display data is stored in the memory. The step of: generating an update enable signal according to the update request signal; and compressing the current display data into the update display data according to the update enable signal.