WO2003079326A1

WO2003079326A1 - Monochromatic liquid crystal display apparatus and monochromatic liquid crystal display system

Info

Publication number: WO2003079326A1
Application number: PCT/JP2003/003239
Authority: WO
Inventors: Masao Hatanaka
Original assignee: Totoku Electric Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2002-03-19
Filing date: 2003-03-17
Publication date: 2003-09-25
Also published as: JP2003271113A

Abstract

In a monochromatic liquid crystal display system (100), a personal computer, for example, includes a plotting application (plot routine of application program) AP for generating 8-bit r, g, b of an image, an OS, and a general-purpose color graphic board (11) for converting 8-bit r, g, b into 8-bit R, G, B signals and outputting them. The OS is, for example, Windows (trademark registered). A monochromatic liquid crystal display apparatus (101) includes a monochromatic liquid crystal display module (5) having a monochromatic liquid crystal display panel (4) capable of expressing each pixel with a gray scale of 8-bit gradation and an LCD controller (3), and a monochromatic liquid crystal drive board (2) having a color-monochromatic conversion circuit (1). It becomes possible to employ a cheap general-purpose graphic board for an image output device, thereby reducing the cost. It becomes also possible to prevent lowering of display quality due to presence of a reserved color in a pallet.

Description

Description Monochrome liquid crystal display device and monochrome liquid crystal display system

The present invention relates to a monochrome liquid crystal display device and a monochrome liquid crystal display system, and more particularly, to a monochrome liquid crystal display device capable of directly inputting a color signal and improving display quality, and a mode using the monochrome liquid crystal display device. It relates to a nocro liquid crystal display system. Background art

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional monochrome liquid crystal display system. In the monochrome liquid crystal display system 500, the personal computer 50 includes a drawing application AP for generating 8 bits each of r, g, and b (red, green, and blue) of an image, and an OS

(Operating System), a system palette P managed by the OS, and a monochrome display-only graphic board 52 having a physical palette 52p.

The monochrome liquid crystal display device 501 includes a monochrome liquid crystal display module 5 having a monochrome liquid crystal display panel 4 having an 8-bit gradation and an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) controller 3, and a monochrome liquid crystal driving board 51. ing.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the contents of the physical palette 52p.

As the pallet address, a pallet address equal to the number of gradations of the monochrome liquid crystal display panel 4, that is, "00 ₍₁ 'to" FF ( ₁₆₎₎ "in hexadecimal notation is stored in order. Is the gradation value of 256 gradations corresponding to the pallet address, _One of the values "0 ₍₁ " to "255 ( ₁₀ )) is stored in decimal notation. For example," 0 ( ₁₀ ) "corresponds to the pallet address" 00 ( ₁₆ ) ". Is stored, "1 ( ₁₀ )" is stored for the pallet address "01 ( ₁₆ )", "235 ₍₁₀₎ " is stored for the pallet address "FE ( ₁₆₎ ", and the pallet address is stored. '' FF ₆₎ "is stored with" 255 _(1. ) ". The gradation values are assigned for convenience of explanation, and the actual gradation values are accurate. It is not a reflection.

Here, pallet Bok address "00 _(16)" - "09 _(16)" Oyobi '卞6 ₍₁₆₎ "~'卞" ₍₁₆₎ "20 colors corresponding to the system of the OS in advance This is a reserved color that defines a gradation value, and changing of the gradation value by the drawing application AP is basically prohibited. The reason for fixing the gradation value corresponding to the reserved color is to avoid confusion for the user by unifying the display gradation of the basic elements of the desktop (window frame, scroll bar, menu, etc.). .

- How pallet address _{"0A (l6)" ~ "} F 5 (16)" 236 colors corresponding to the drawing § applicator Chillon AP is definable application-defined color.

Although not shown, the system palette P also has the same address space as the physical palette 52p, and is synchronized with the contents of the physical palette 52p by the OS pallet manager.

The operation of the image display processing by the monochrome liquid crystal display system 500 is as follows.

(1) The drawing application AP of the personal computer 50 generates an image and passes 8 bits each of r, g, and b to the OS.

(2) The OS converts each of the 8 bits of r, g, and b into a palette address of the physical palette 52p, and passes the palette address to the graphic board 52 for monochrome display. For example, in the case of a monochrome image with 256 gradations, the drawing application AP can allocate only 236 of the used gradations to the physical palette 52p. 0303239

Three

If a part or all of the 0 gradation is different from the gradation value corresponding to the reserved color, the gradation is substituted by any of the 236 gradation values or the gradation value of the reserved color. There is a need to. In other words, the OS selects a palette address having a tone value closest to the tone for a tone that does not exist in the physical palette 52p, and transfers it to the monochrome display dedicated graphic board 52p.

(3) The graphic port dedicated to monochrome display 52 reads out the gradation value corresponding to the pallet address passed from the OS, and outputs it to the monochrome liquid crystal display device 501 as an 8-bit monochrome gradation value y. In the example of FIG. 5, for example, y = 210 is output to the pallet address “F3 ₆₎ ”.

(4) The monochrome liquid crystal driving board 51 of the monochrome liquid crystal display device 501 converts the monochrome gradation value y into a monochrome gradation value signal y 'to be passed to the monochrome liquid crystal display module 5 and outputs the signal. , A driving signal V is generated and applied to the monochrome liquid crystal display panel 4).

As described above, a monochrome image is displayed on the display surface of the monochrome liquid crystal display panel 4.

FIG. 6 shows a display example of a monochrome image S ′ (X-ray image of the chest).

In the monochrome image S ′, the area substituted by the approximate color appears as fine granular noise.

In the conventional monochrome liquid crystal display system 500 described above, when the monochrome graphic board 52 for monochrome display converts, for example, an 8-bit grayscale image to a monochrome grayscale value y, a maximum of 20 grayscale levels correspond to the approximate color grayscale value. In this case, there is a problem that the image quality is reduced due to the appearance of granular noise in the screen (see FIG. 6). Note that special functions (for Windows OS,

If the SetSystemPaletteUse function) is used, the application AP draws gradation values other than the palette address “00” (black) and “FF” (white) of the physical palette 52p. P03 03239

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However, the tone value of the basic element of the desktop is different from the original, and the user tends to feel uncomfortable.

In addition, since it is necessary to incorporate a special monochrome display-dedicated graphic board 52 in the non-controller 50, there is a problem that the cost increases.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a monochrome liquid crystal display device capable of directly inputting a color signal and improving display quality, and a monochrome liquid crystal display system using the monochrome liquid crystal display device. Disclosure of the invention

In a first aspect, the present invention provides a monochrome liquid crystal display panel (4) capable of expressing each pixel with a gray scale having a predetermined number of gradations, and a color display value capable of expressing a number of colors larger than the number of gradations. And a color-monochrome conversion means (1) for gray-scale converting the color display value into a monochromatic gradation value of the gradation number, and a color-monochrome conversion means (1) for expressing each pixel by the monochrome gradation value. A monochrome liquid crystal display device (101) comprising: a monochrome liquid crystal driving means (2) for driving a monochrome liquid crystal display panel (4).

Since the monochrome liquid crystal display device (101) according to the first aspect is provided with a color-to-monochrome conversion means (1) for converting a color display value to a grayscale value in grayscale, a higher-level image output is performed. Color signals generated by devices (eg personal computers) can be directly input. Therefore, there is no need to incorporate a special graphics board dedicated to monochrome display into the image output device, and the cost can be reduced.

In addition, by operating the image output device in a display mode having a large number of colors (display mode not using a palette), it is possible to avoid a decrease in image quality due to the use of so-called approximate colors, and to achieve high image quality. Images can be displayed easily. PT / JP03 / 03239

Five

In a second aspect, the present invention provides a monochrome liquid crystal display panel (4) capable of expressing each pixel in a gray scale of a predetermined number of gradations, and a three-primary color display capable of expressing a number of colors larger than the number of gradations. Color-to-monochrome conversion means (1) for inputting the values and gray-scale the three primary color display values to monochrome gradation values of the gradation number by the NTSC system weighted averaging method; A monochrome liquid crystal display device (101) comprising: a monochrome liquid crystal driving means (2) for driving the monochrome liquid crystal display panel (4) so as to be expressed by monochrome gradation values. .

In the monochrome liquid crystal display device (101) according to the second aspect, the color display value is

Since the gray scale is converted to monochrome gradation values by the NTSC (National Television System Committee) system weighted average method, it is sensitive to human visual characteristics (for example, it is sensitive to the luminance of green and not so sensitive to the luminance of blue). Conversion that does not react).

Also, it becomes possible to directly input the color signal generated by the image output device.

Further, by operating the image output device in a display mode having a large number of colors (a display mode not using a palette), it is possible to avoid a decrease in image quality due to the use of so-called approximate colors.

In a third aspect, the present invention provides an image output means (10) for generating a color image or a monochrome image and outputting three primary color display values of each pixel of the image, and a monochrome liquid crystal display device having the above-described configuration. (101) There is provided a monochrome liquid crystal display system (100) characterized by comprising (101).

Since the monochrome liquid crystal display system (100) according to the third aspect includes the image output means and the monochrome liquid crystal display device (101) having the above configuration, a monochrome image with excellent visibility is displayed. become able to. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a monochrome liquid crystal display system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a color-to-monochrome conversion board in the monochrome crystal display system of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example by the monochrome liquid crystal display system of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional monochrome liquid crystal display system. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the contents of a physical pallet.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example by the monochrome liquid crystal display system of FIG. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited by this.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a monochrome liquid crystal display system according to an embodiment of the present invention. .

In the monochrome liquid crystal display system 100, the personal computer 10 includes, for example, a drawing application (drawing routine of an application program) AP for generating r, g, and b of each image of 8 bits, an OS, and each of r, g, and b. It comprises a general-purpose color graphic board that converts 8 bits into R, G, and B 8-bit signals and outputs the signals. The OS is, for example, Windows (registered trademark).

The monochrome liquid crystal display device 10〗 includes a monochrome liquid crystal display module 5 having a monochrome liquid crystal display panel 4 and an LCD controller 3 capable of expressing each pixel in 8-bit gray scale, and a color-monochrome conversion circuit 1. Monochrome And a liquid crystal drive board 2.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing the color-to-monochrome conversion circuit 1.

The color-monochrome conversion circuit 1 converts the red luminance R into a conversion value D1 obtained by multiplying the red luminance R by a weighting factor k1 and the 綠 luminance G into a conversion value D2 obtained by multiplying the red luminance R by a weighting factor k2. G conversion table for conversion 1 G, B conversion table 1 B for converting blue luminance B into a conversion value D3 multiplied by weighting factor k3, and an integer obtained by rounding the addition value of conversion values D1, D2, and D3 And an integer output type adder 1M for converting the output to a monochrome gradation value 丫.

The weighting factors kl, k2, and k3 are weighting factors by which each primary color is multiplied when 8 bits each of R, G, and B are converted to grayscale by NTSC C power B weighted average.

= 0.298911, k2 = 0.586611, k3 = 0.1114478. In this case, Y = ROUND {0.298911X R + 0.586611X G + 0.114478X B}). Note that ROUND represents a function that converts to an integer by rounding. Therefore, for example, if 8 bits of R, G, and B (R = G = B) corresponding to a monochrome image of 256 gradations are input, they are converted to monochrome gradation values of 256 gradations. Become. That is, it is possible to avoid the conventional inconvenience that the number of gradations is reduced due to the use of the approximate color or the display gradation becomes unnatural.

Note that kl, k2, and k3 may be changed so as to obtain the desired conversion characteristics (however, the sum of kl, l, and k3 needs to be 1).

The operation of the image display processing by the monochrome liquid crystal display system 100 is as follows. It is assumed that the personal computer 10 is operating in the display mode of 24-bit color (6.77 million colors).

(1) The drawing application AP of the personal computer 10 generates an image and passes 8 bits each of r, g, and b to the OS. (2) The OS passes the 8 bits of each of r, g, and b to the general-purpose color graphic board 11 as it is.

(3) The general-purpose color graphic board 101 generates R, G, and B 8-bit signals corresponding to r, g, and b 8-bit signals, and outputs the signals to the monochrome liquid crystal display device 101.

(4) The monochrome liquid crystal driving board 1 of the monochrome liquid crystal display device 101 generates the monochrome gradation value Y obtained by the above equation (1) by the color-monochrome conversion circuit〗 (see FIG. 2). The LCD controller 3 converts the monochrome gradation value Y ′ into a monochrome gradation value signal Y ′ to be passed to the LCD controller 3 of the monochrome liquid crystal display module 5 and outputs the monochrome gradation value signal Y ′. Is converted to an analog drive signal V and applied to the monochrome liquid crystal display panel 4).

FIG. 3 shows a display example of a monochrome image S (X-ray image of the chest).

In this monochrome image S, there is no area substituted for the reserved color when using the palette (see FIG. 5 according to the prior art), so no fine granular points appear. That is, the image is easier to see than the conventional one (see FIG. 6). According to the monochrome liquid crystal display system 100 described above, the 8-bit R, G, and B bits generated by the general-purpose color graphic board 11 in the personal computer 10 are directly input to the monochrome liquid crystal display device 101. In addition, there is no need for a special graphics board dedicated to monochrome display (52 in Fig. 4), and costs can be reduced. In addition, since a decrease in image quality due to the assignment of reserved colors to the S letter does not occur in principle, a high-quality monochrome image can be displayed. Industrial applicability

According to the monochrome liquid crystal display device of the present invention, a color signal can be directly input. Therefore, an inexpensive general-purpose graphic board can be used for the image output device, and the cost can be reduced. In addition, by increasing the number of colors represented by the color signal, a palette for color reduction becomes unnecessary, so that it is possible to avoid a disadvantage that display quality is deteriorated due to the presence of so-called reserved colors. Further, according to the monochrome liquid crystal display system of the present invention, for example, a high-definition medical image can be displayed in an easily viewable manner by a combination of the image output means and the above-described monochrome liquid crystal display device.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. A monochrome liquid crystal display panel (4) capable of expressing each pixel in a gray scale of a predetermined number of gradations, and a color display value capable of expressing a number of colors larger than the number of gradations is input and the color display is performed. A color-to-monochrome conversion means (1) for converting a value into a gray scale to a monochrome gradation value of the gradation number, and driving the monochrome liquid crystal display panel (4) so that each pixel is represented by the monochrome gradation value. And a monochrome liquid crystal display device (101).

2. A monochrome liquid crystal display panel (4) capable of expressing each pixel with a gray scale of a predetermined number of gradations, and three primary color display values capable of expressing a number of colors larger than the number of gradations are inputted and A color-to-monochrome conversion means (1) for converting the primary color display values to grayscale values of the aforementioned number of gradations by the NTSC C-based weighted averaging method, and each pixel is represented by the monochrome gradation values. A monochrome liquid crystal display device (101) comprising: a monochrome liquid crystal driving means (2) for driving the monochrome liquid crystal display panel (4).

3. An image output means (10) for generating a color image or a monochrome image and outputting three primary color display values of each pixel of the image, and a monochrome liquid crystal display device (101) according to claim 2. A monochrome liquid crystal display system (100).