WO2022146108A1

WO2022146108A1 - Electronic device and method of operating same

Info

Publication number: WO2022146108A1
Application number: PCT/KR2021/095028
Authority: WO
Inventors: 양민철
Original assignee: 삼성전자 주식회사
Priority date: 2020-12-31
Filing date: 2021-01-20
Publication date: 2022-07-07
Also published as: KR20220096699A

Abstract

Disclosed is a method of operating an electronic device. The method of operating an electronic device comprises: receiving a plurality of input signals; obtaining corresponding content from each of the plurality of input signals, thereby obtaining a plurality of pieces of content; and outputting the plurality of pieces of content via a plurality of partial screens, and may further comprise: detecting, as no signal, a first input signal from among the plurality of input signals that provides first content to be output through a first partial screen; obtaining replacement content by processing a second input signal in response to detection of no signal; and outputting the replacement content via the first partial screen.

Description

Electronic device and method of operation thereof

The disclosed various embodiments relate to an electronic device and an operating method thereof, and more particularly, to an electronic device for outputting a plurality of images together on one screen and an operating method thereof.

There is a multi-view technology that simultaneously outputs a plurality of screens from one monitor or display device. The multi-view technology is a technology in which an electronic device is connected to different external source devices through a plurality of terminals to simultaneously output different images on one screen.

The electronic device may obtain a plurality of images by processing each of a plurality of input signals using a multi-view technology, and may simultaneously output the plurality of images on one screen. If there is an input signal with no image to be output among the plurality of input signals, the electronic device may output a black image to a portion where the corresponding image is to be output, or output a warning message indicating that there is no image to be output on the corresponding screen. have. However, there is a problem that a black image or a warning message not only impairs aesthetics, but also goes against the intention of a user to use a plurality of images together through one screen.

The method of operating an electronic device according to an embodiment includes receiving a plurality of input signals, obtaining a plurality of contents by obtaining corresponding contents from each of the plurality of input signals, and dividing the plurality of contents into a plurality of parts. and outputting through a screen, wherein the method includes detecting, among the plurality of input signals, a first input signal providing first content to be output through a first partial screen as no signal; Accordingly, the method may further include processing the second input signal to obtain replacement content and outputting the replacement content through the first partial screen.

1 is a diagram for explaining that an electronic device simultaneously outputs a plurality of images on one screen, according to an embodiment.

2 is a diagram for explaining that an electronic device outputs alternative content, according to an embodiment.

3 is an internal block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment.

4 is an internal block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment.

5 is an internal block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining output of an alternative content to a second partial screen when a second input signal is no signal, according to an exemplary embodiment;

7 is a diagram for explaining output of an alternative content to a second partial screen when a second input signal is no signal, according to another exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining output of one content to an area in which a first partial screen and a second partial screen are combined when the first input signal is no signal, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining output of one content to an area in which a first partial screen and a second partial screen are combined when the first input signal is no signal, according to another exemplary embodiment.

10 is an internal block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment.

11 is a flowchart for explaining that an electronic device obtains and outputs alternative content, according to an embodiment.

12 is a flowchart illustrating a method for obtaining and outputting alternative content by an electronic device according to an embodiment of FIG. 11 .

13 is a flowchart illustrating a method for obtaining and outputting alternative content by an electronic device according to another exemplary embodiment of FIG. 11 .

FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining a method of operating an electronic device according to an exemplary embodiment of FIG. 13 .

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a method of operating an electronic device according to another exemplary embodiment of FIG. 13 .

In an embodiment, the second input signal is a signal corresponding to second content to be output through a second partial screen among the plurality of partial screens, the second partial screen is adjacent to the first partial screen, and the The first partial screen may be positioned in a predetermined direction among left, right, vertical, or diagonal directions of the screen.

In an embodiment, the obtaining of the replacement content may include obtaining the replacement content by processing the second input signal by a first signal processing unit that processes the first input signal.

In an embodiment, the method may include outputting, by a second signal processing unit, second content obtained by processing the second input signal through a second partial screen.

In an embodiment, the step of obtaining the replacement content comprises the step of resizing a first area of the content obtained by the first signal processing unit decoding the second input signal to obtain the replacement content, the method comprising: According to the no-signal detection, the second signal processing unit resizes the second area excluding the size of the first area from the second content obtained by decoding the second input signal and outputs it through the second partial screen. , outputting the content corresponding to the second input signal to a region where the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined.

In an embodiment, the receiving of the plurality of input signals includes receiving an N-th input signal corresponding to N-th content to be output through an N-th partial screen from an N-th source device, and the N-th input signal The receiving includes requesting an input signal having a resolution suitable for the size of the N-th partial screen from the N-th source device using EDID information, and an input having the requested resolution from the N-th source device. and receiving a signal as the Nth input signal, wherein a resolution suitable for the size of the Nth partial screen may correspond to the size of each partial screen when the entire screen is divided into the plurality of partial screens. .

In an embodiment, according to the no-signal detection, the method includes: using the updated EDID information, requesting a new second input signal having a different resolution from a second source device that has provided the second input signal; The method further comprising the step of receiving the new second input signal from a second source device, wherein the new second input signal has a resolution of a ratio closest to the size of a combined area of the first partial screen and the second partial screen It could be a signal.

In an embodiment, the acquiring of the replacement content includes: acquiring, by the second signal processing unit, new second content from the new second input signal; and acquiring a first area of the new second content as the replacement content. and outputting an area excluding the first area from the new second content through the second partial screen according to the detection of the no signal, so that the first partial screen and the second partial screen The method may further include outputting the new second content to an area in which .

In an embodiment, the method may further include determining whether the first input signal is the no-signal, wherein the determining includes: when the first input signal is not input from the first source device, the first input signal is applied to the first input signal. Based on at least one of a case in which a sync does not exist, a case in which a sync existing in the first input signal does not satisfy a predetermined criterion, and a case in which the electronic device cannot process the first input signal, the first It may include determining whether the input signal is the non-signal.

In an embodiment, the method further includes determining that the first input signal is no longer the no-signal, and outputting the first content obtained from the first input signal through the first partial screen. can do.

An electronic device according to an embodiment includes a display that outputs content through a plurality of partial screens, a memory that stores one or more instructions, and a processor that executes one or more instructions stored in the memory, wherein the processor executes the one or more instructions by executing, obtaining a plurality of contents by obtaining corresponding contents from each of a plurality of input signals, and causing the plurality of contents to be output through the plurality of partial screens, and among the plurality of input signals, a first partial screen Detects a first input signal providing the first content to be output through a no-signal signal, and according to the no-signal detection, a replacement content is obtained from a second input signal, and the replacement content is transmitted through the first partial screen can be printed out.

A computer-readable recording medium according to an embodiment includes the steps of: receiving a plurality of input signals, obtaining a plurality of contents by obtaining corresponding contents from each of the plurality of input signals, and the plurality of contents outputting through a plurality of partial screens, wherein the method includes detecting, among the plurality of input signals, a first input signal providing first content to be output through a first partial screen as no signal; A program for implementing an operating method of an electronic device, further comprising the steps of: processing a second input signal to obtain replacement content according to detection of no signal; and outputting the replacement content through the first partial screen It may be a recorded computer-readable recording medium.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure pertains can easily implement them. However, the present disclosure may be implemented in several different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein.

The terms used in the present disclosure have been described as general terms currently used in consideration of the functions mentioned in the present disclosure, but may mean various other terms depending on the intention or precedent of a person skilled in the art, the emergence of new technology, etc. can Therefore, the terms used in the present disclosure should not be construed only as the names of the terms, but should be interpreted based on the meaning of the terms and the contents of the present disclosure.

In addition, the terms used in the present disclosure are only used to describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.

Throughout the specification, when a part is "connected" with another part, this includes not only the case of being "directly connected" but also the case of being "electrically connected" with another element interposed therebetween. .

As used herein, particularly in the claims, "the" and similar referents may refer to both the singular and the plural. Moreover, unless there is a description explicitly designating the order of steps describing a method according to the present disclosure, the described steps may be performed in an appropriate order. The present disclosure is not limited according to the description order of the described steps.

Phrases such as “in some embodiments” or “in one embodiment” appearing in various places in this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure may be represented by functional block configurations and various processing steps. Some or all of these functional blocks may be implemented in various numbers of hardware and/or software configurations that perform specific functions. For example, the functional blocks of the present disclosure may be implemented by one or more microprocessors, or by circuit configurations for a given function. Also, for example, the functional blocks of the present disclosure may be implemented in various programming or scripting languages. The functional blocks may be implemented as an algorithm running on one or more processors. In addition, the present disclosure may employ prior art for electronic configuration, signal processing, and/or data processing, and the like. Terms such as “mechanism”, “element”, “means” and “configuration” may be used broadly and are not limited to mechanical and physical components.

In addition, the connecting lines or connecting members between the components shown in the drawings only exemplify functional connections and/or physical or circuit connections. In an actual device, a connection between components may be represented by various functional connections, physical connections, or circuit connections that are replaceable or added.

In addition, terms such as "...unit" and "module" described in the specification mean a unit that processes at least one function or operation, which may be implemented as hardware or software, or a combination of hardware and software. .

Further, in the specification, the term “user” means a person who uses an electronic device and/or source device to control the function or operation of the electronic device and/or source device, and may include viewers, consumers, administrators, or installers. can

Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the electronic device 100 may output content. In an embodiment, the electronic device 100 may be a display device capable of outputting content to a screen.

In an embodiment, the electronic device 100 may provide a multi-view service to provide users with more diverse content experiences. The multi-view service may refer to a service in which the electronic device 100 receives a plurality of input signals and processes the received input signals to provide different contents in a plurality of areas of the display screen. Hereinafter, a mode in which the electronic device 100 outputs content in a multi-view using a multi-view service will be referred to as a multi-view mode.

In the multi-view mode, the electronic device 100 may divide the display into a plurality of screens and output different contents to the divided screens. In the multi-view mode, each divided screen of the display may also be referred to as a partial screen.

In an embodiment, the electronic device 100 may completely divide one screen so that the partial screen is output without blocking the other partial screens.

The plurality of screens provided in the multi-view mode may be determined in various numbers, and may be two, three, four, or more. FIG. 1 exemplarily shows that four partial screens are configured, and the screens output in the multi-view mode are the first partial screen 110 , the second partial screen 120 , the third partial screen 130 , and the second partial screen. It may be composed of four partial screens 140 .

The sizes of the plurality of screens provided in the multi-view mode may be determined in various ways. For example, the sizes of the plurality of partial screens may all be the same or may have different sizes. The arrangement of the plurality of screens provided in the multi-view mode may be determined in various ways. In FIG. 1 , the four partial screens are exemplarily displayed as having the same size and arranged in a grid shape, but this is an example, and sizes and arrangements of the plurality of partial screens may be variously determined. For example, the electronic device 100 may arrange one large partial screen in the upper center of the display and a plurality of other small partial screens side by side at the bottom of the display.

In an embodiment, the electronic device 100 may be a sink to which content is transmitted, such as an AV device, a monitor, or a digital television. The electronic device 100 may receive an input signal from the source device 150 , process it, obtain content, and output the obtained content.

The source device 150 may be an electronic device capable of transmitting an input signal to the electronic device 100 . In an embodiment, the source device 150 may be various types of electronic devices such as a personal computer (PC) such as a notebook or tablet, a DVD player, a video game machine, an AV receiver, and the like.

Also, in an embodiment, the source device 150 may include a cable receiving device, a satellite broadcast receiving device, a set-top box, etc. that receive an input signal through radio waves, cables, satellites, or the like. Also, in an embodiment, the source device 150 may include an Internet receiving device that receives input signals for various contents from an over-the-top (OTT) service provider that provides an input signal or an IPTV service provider.

The electronic device 100 may be connected to the source device 150 using an interface. For example, the electronic device 100 may be connected to the source device 150 using a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI). HDMI is one of the digital video/audio interface standards, and may provide an interface between the source device 150 such as a set-top box or DVD player supporting HDMI and the electronic device 100 such as an AV device, a monitor, or a digital television. .

However, HDMI is an example, and the present application is not limited thereto. For example, the electronic device 100 may be connected to the source device 150 by using at least one of a digital visual interface (DV1), a DisplayPort, and a serial digital interface (SDI) in addition to HDMI.

The electronic device 100 may be connected to each of the plurality of source devices 150 using the same or different interfaces.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the electronic device 100 may receive input signals from a plurality of source devices 150 , respectively. Content displayed in the multi-view mode may be respectively obtained from a plurality of input signals received through the plurality of source devices 150 . The plurality of source devices 150 may include first to fourth source devices 150 - 1 , 150 - 2 , 150 - 3 and 150 - 4 .

The electronic device 100 may receive first to fourth input signals from the first to fourth source devices 150-1, 150-2, 150-3, and 150-4, respectively. The electronic device 100 may obtain content by processing each input signal.

In an embodiment, the electronic device 100 may include a signal processing unit (not shown) that processes each input signal. In FIG. 1 , the electronic device 100 may include four signal processing units that respectively process four input signals, that is, a first signal processing unit to a fourth signal processing unit. The first signal processing unit may obtain the first content by processing the first input signal received from the first source device 150 - 1 . The electronic device 100 may display the first content obtained by the first signal processing unit through the first partial screen 110 . Similarly, the second signal processing unit included in the electronic device 100 processes the second input signal received from the second source device 150 - 2 to obtain second content, and displays the second content on the second partial screen 120 . can be displayed through

In some cases, the electronic device 100 may not be able to acquire content to be output on any one partial screen among a plurality of partial screens. When the electronic device 100 fails to acquire the content, it may mean that the input signal received by the electronic device 100 from the source device 150 is no signal. The fact that the input signal is no signal means that the first source device 150-1 is not connected to the electronic device 100 or that the first source device 150-1 is not connected to the electronic device 100 due to a communication failure or the like. may mean a case in which the input signal cannot be transmitted. Since the electronic device 100 does not receive the first input signal, it cannot obtain the first content from the first input signal.

Alternatively, that the input signal is non-signal corresponds to a case in which content is not included in the input signal received from the first source device 150 - 1 or the input signal is a signal that cannot be processed by the electronic device 100 . This may mean a case in which the electronic device 100 cannot obtain content from the input signal.

In an embodiment, when the input signal is non-signal for the various reasons described above, the electronic device 100 cannot obtain content from the input signal, and thus may output other content to a partial screen on which the corresponding content is to be output.

In an embodiment, the electronic device 100 may obtain the replacement content by using an input signal received from another source device and output the replacement content on a partial screen on which the corresponding content is to be output instead. In an embodiment, the replacement content may mean content that is output instead of content that should be originally output through the corresponding partial screen. That is, the replacement content may refer to content generated by being obtained from an input signal corresponding to content to be output through another partial screen, rather than an input signal corresponding to content to be originally output to the corresponding partial screen.

A method for the electronic device 100 to output alternative content will be described below with reference to FIG. 2 .

Referring to FIG. 2 , the electronic device 100 may output a total of four partial screens in a multi-view mode. The electronic device 100 may obtain the first content to the fourth content from the first input signal to the fourth input signal, respectively, and output them on the first partial screen to the fourth partial screen, respectively. For convenience of description, contents obtained from the first to fourth input signals are denoted by numbers 1 to 4, respectively.

The electronic device 100 may not be able to acquire content to be output on a predetermined partial screen among the plurality of partial screens. In this case, the content to be originally output cannot be output to the predetermined partial screen. Reference numeral 210 of FIG. 2 denotes an image output by the electronic device 100 in the multi-view mode, indicating a case in which a black image is output on the first partial screen because content to be output on the first partial screen is not obtained. indicates.

In an embodiment, when the electronic device 100 fails to acquire content to be output on any one of the plurality of partial screens, the electronic device 100 may acquire alternative content by using another input signal.

In an embodiment, when the electronic device 100 fails to acquire content to be output on any one of the plurality of partial screens, the user may set an input signal to be processed instead.

Alternatively, in another embodiment, the electronic device 100 may automatically select an input signal used to acquire the replacement content. The electronic device 100 may select an input signal used to acquire replacement content in a predetermined order or in a random order.

In an embodiment, the electronic device 100 may select an input signal used to acquire alternative content based on various criteria. For example, from among the plurality of partial screens, the electronic device 100 may select an input signal corresponding to a partial screen located to the left or right of the corresponding partial screen on the basis of the partial screen in which the content to be output is not obtained. Alternatively, the electronic device 100 may select an input signal corresponding to a partial screen located in an upward, downward, or diagonal direction of the corresponding partial screen. The electronic device 100 may obtain the replacement content from the selected input signal, and may output the replacement content on a partial screen on which the content to be output is not obtained. According to the arrangement of the partial screen corresponding to the selected input signal and the partial screen on which the content to be output is not obtained, the electronic device 100 may output the replacement content to the partial screen in various ways.

FIG. 2 illustrates a case in which the electronic device 100 selects a second input signal as an input signal used to acquire alternative content. The electronic device 100 may obtain the replacement content by processing the second input signal and output the replacement content on the first partial screen. A method for the electronic device 100 to output the replacement content obtained from the second input signal on the first partial screen can be roughly divided into two embodiments.

In a first embodiment, the electronic device 100 may process an input signal corresponding to content output through the other partial screens so that the same content as the content output on the other partial screens is output through the first partial screen . For example, as indicated by reference numeral 220 of FIG. 2 , the electronic device 100 may obtain the content obtained by processing the second input signal as the replacement content, and may output the replacement content on the first partial screen. At the same time, the electronic device 100 may also output the content obtained by processing the second input signal to the second partial screen. In this case, the electronic device 100 outputs the content obtained by processing the second input signal on both the first partial screen and the second partial screen.

To this end, in an embodiment, the electronic device 100 processes the second input signal to obtain the second content, copies the second content, and the same second content is transmitted through the first partial screen and the second partial screen. Each can be output.

Alternatively, in another embodiment, the electronic device 100 may obtain content by processing the second input signal by both the first signal processing unit processing the first input signal and the second signal processing unit processing the second input signal. may be That is, the first signal processing unit may process the second input signal to obtain the replacement content, and the second signal processing unit may also process the second input signal to obtain the second content. The electronic device 100 may output the replacement content obtained by the first signal processing unit to the first partial screen, and output the second content obtained by the second signal processing unit to the second partial screen, respectively.

In the second embodiment, the electronic device 100 may output the content obtained from the selected input signal through a screen in which the partial screen on which the content to be output is not obtained and the partial screen corresponding to the selected input signal are combined. .

In an embodiment, when the arrangement of the second partial screen corresponding to the second input signal and the first partial screen on which the content to be output is not obtained is arranged side by side in the horizontal direction, the first partial screen The second content obtained from the second input signal may be output in a horizontally stretched form in the area where the screen and the second partial screen are combined. For example, as indicated by reference numeral 230 of FIG. 2 , the electronic device 100 may output the content obtained by processing the second input signal to the area in which the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined.

To this end, in an embodiment, the electronic device 100 obtains the second content from the second input signal using only one signal processing unit, for example, the second signal processing unit, and then uses only a partial region of the second content as the first part. It may be resized to a size suitable for the screen and output through the first partial screen, and the remaining area of the second content may be resized to a size suitable for the second partial screen and output through the second partial screen. In this case, the electronic device 100 may output the horizontally stretched second content to the area in which the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined.

In another embodiment, in the electronic device 100, the first signal processing unit processing the first input signal and the second signal processing unit processing the second input signal each process the second input signal to obtain content, and The signal processing unit resizes a partial area of the acquired content and outputs it through the first partial screen, and resizes the remaining area except for the size corresponding to the partial area in the second content obtained by the second signal processing unit to display the second partial screen. can be output through Even in this case, the electronic device 100 can output the horizontally stretched second content to the area where the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined.

Although not shown in FIG. 2 , when another input signal, for example, a third input signal, is selected as the input signal to be output on the first partial screen, the electronic device 100 displays the first partial screen and the third input signal. Content obtained by processing the third input signal may be output to all of the partial screens, respectively. Alternatively, since the arrangement of the third partial screen corresponding to the third input signal and the first partial screen on which the content to be output is not obtained is arranged side by side in the vertical direction, the electronic device 100 performs the first partial screen Through a screen in which the screen and the third partial screen are combined, the content obtained from the third input signal may be output in a vertically stretched form.

To this end, the first signal processing unit vertically resizes the upper half area of the content obtained by processing the third input signal to fit the first partial screen, and the third signal processing unit processes the third input signal to obtain the content By vertically resizing the lower half area to fit the third partial screen, the resized content may be output on the first partial screen and the third partial screen, respectively.

Alternatively, only the third signal processing unit processes the third input signal to obtain the third content, the upper half area of the third content is output through the first partial screen, and the lower half area of the third content is the third partial screen It can also be output through

The above-described method may be equally applied even when a plurality of contents among contents to be output on a plurality of partial screens are not obtained. For example, in the above example, when content to be output to the first partial screen, the third partial screen, and two partial screens among the plurality of partial screens output by the electronic device 100 cannot be obtained, the electronic device 100 may obtain the alternative content by using another input signal and output it to the first partial screen and the third partial screen, respectively. In this case, the content output to the first partial screen and the third partial screen may or may not be the second content obtained from the same input signal, for example, the second input signal. For example, when the electronic device 100 obtains an alternative content from an input signal corresponding to a partial screen diagonally positioned on a diagonal of the partial screen for which the content to be output is not obtained, the electronic device 100 displays the fourth input on the first partial screen. The fourth content obtained from the signal may be output, and the second content obtained from the second input signal may be outputted to the third partial screen.

In an embodiment, the electronic device 100 may detect the input signal as a non-signal and then detect the corresponding input signal as a normal signal again. For example, the electronic device 100 is connected to the unconnected source device 150 and receives an input signal corresponding to the corresponding content from the source device 150 or the source device 150 disappears due to a communication failure or the like. ), or when various reasons occur, such as when content can be normally obtained from the input signal from the source device 150 , the electronic device 100 determines that the input signal is no longer It can be determined that there is no signal. In this case, the electronic device 100 may process the input signal corresponding to the content that has not been output, obtain the content corresponding to the corresponding partial screen from the corresponding input signal, and output it to the corresponding partial screen.

For example, when the electronic device 100 can obtain the first content from the first input signal while outputting the content obtained by processing the second input signal to the first partial screen as indicated by reference numeral 220 of FIG. 2 . , the electronic device 100 may output the first content obtained from the first input signal on the first partial screen.

Also, as shown in reference numeral 230 of FIG. 2 , the electronic device 100 processes the second input signal so that the obtained content is output to the area in which the first partial screen and the second partial screen are merged. When it is possible to obtain one content, the electronic device 100 outputs the first content obtained from the first input signal to the first partial screen, and the second content obtained from the second input signal is the second partial screen can be printed individually.

As described above, according to an embodiment, the electronic device 100 may output the content obtained from another input signal to the partial screen on which the content to be output has not been obtained, using various methods. Also, according to an embodiment, when the input signal is no longer a non-signal and the electronic device 100 obtains content to be output from the input signal, the electronic device 100 outputs the content obtained from each input signal through each partial screen. can do.

Referring to FIG. 3 , the electronic device 300 may include a processor 310 , a memory 320 , and a display 330 .

In an embodiment, the electronic device 300 may be an image display device. The image display device may be implemented as various types of electronic devices that can output a plurality of input signals in a multi-view, including a display.

For example, the electronic device 300 may include a digital television, a desktop, a smart phone, a tablet personal computer, a mobile phone, a video phone, a smart phone, and an e-book reader. (e-book reader), laptop personal computer, netbook computer, digital camera, PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), PMP (Portable Multimedia Player), camcorder, navigation, wearable device, It may include at least one of a smart watch, a home network system, a security system, and a medical device.

The electronic device 300 may be of a fixed type or a mobile type. The electronic device 300 may be connected to a source device. Source devices include personal computers (PCs), DVD players, video game consoles, set-top boxes, AV receivers, cable receivers or satellite broadcast receivers, over-the-top (OTT) service providers, or Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). ) may include at least one of Internet receiving devices that receive content from a service provider.

In an embodiment, the display 330 may display content corresponding to the input signal received from the source device on the screen. For example, the display 330 may output to the screen content obtained from a broadcast program received from a video game machine or a DVD player, or received in real time through a set-top box, or an input signal streamed or downloaded from a server.

In an embodiment, the display 330 may output content in a multi-view mode. The display 330 may divide the screen into a plurality of partial screens and display different content on the divided partial screens. The display 330 may output each content on each partial screen.

When the display 330 is implemented as a touch screen, the display 330 may be used as an input device such as a user interface in addition to an output device. For example, the display 330 may include a liquid crystal display, a thin film transistor-liquid crystal display, an organic light-emitting diode, a flexible display, 3 It may include at least one of a 3D display and an electrophoretic display. In addition, two or more displays 330 may be included according to an implementation form of the display 330 .

The memory 320 according to an embodiment may store at least one instruction. The memory 320 may store at least one program executed by the processor 310 . A predefined operation rule or program may be stored in the memory 320 . Also, the memory 320 may store data input to or output from the electronic device 300 .

The memory 320 may include a flash memory type, a hard disk type, a multimedia card micro type, a card type memory (eg, SD or XD memory, etc.), RAM (RAM, Random Access Memory) SRAM (Static Random Access Memory), ROM (Read-Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), PROM (Programmable Read-Only Memory), magnetic memory, magnetic disk , may include at least one type of storage medium among optical disks.

The processor 310 controls the overall operation of the electronic device 300 . The processor 310 may control the electronic device 300 to function by executing one or more instructions stored in the memory 320 .

In an embodiment, the processor 310 may control the electronic device 300 to obtain a plurality of contents from input signals received from a plurality of source devices. The processor 310 may control the display 330 so that the display 330 outputs a plurality of contents through a plurality of partial screens.

In an embodiment, the processor 310 may determine whether the input signal is a non-signal.

When a communication connection is not established between the electronic device 300 and the source device, for example, because a cable is not physically connected, or an initialization signal is not valid even though the electronic device 300 is physically connected, the electronic device 300 is connected to the source device. It will not receive an input signal from the device. In this case, the electronic device 300 may determine that the input signal is no signal.

Alternatively, when the electronic device 300 is connected to the source device and receives an input signal from the source device, but a synchronization signal, that is, a sink does not exist in the input signal, or even if a synchronization signal exists in the input signal, the processor 310 may determine whether the input signal is not normal based on the characteristics of the synchronization signal. For example, the processor 310 may determine whether the input signal is non-signal in consideration of the frequency value of the synchronization signal included in the input signal. Also, when the input signal has a timing not supported by the EDID of the electronic device 300 , the processor 310 may determine that the corresponding input signal is no signal.

When the source device is a device that streams an input signal through the Internet, such as an Internet receiving device, the electronic device 300 includes no image information in the content obtained from the input signal received from the source device or a black screen is continuously maintained. , it can be determined that the input signal is non-signal.

The processor 310 may determine that the input signal is non-signal when the above-described predetermined requirement is satisfied for a predetermined time or longer.

In an embodiment, when the processor 310 fails to acquire content to be output to the partial screen from the input signal because the input signal corresponds to no signal for various reasons, the processor 310 acquires content using an input signal received from another source device It is possible to obtain alternative content to be output on the screen of the part that has not been done. For example, when the first content that is obtained from the first input signal and is to be output through the first partial screen is not obtained, the processor 310 may process another input signal, for example, the second input signal to obtain replacement content. can The processor 310 may control the display 330 to output the replacement content through the first partial screen. The processor 310 causes the content obtained from the second input signal to be output through the first partial screen and the second partial screen, respectively, or obtains from the second input signal in the area where the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined. It is possible to enlarge the displayed content to be output.

In an embodiment, when the processor 310 acquires content to be output on the partial screen again, the processor 310 may output the content obtained from each input signal through each partial screen. For example, when the electronic device 300 acquires the first content again from the first input signal, the processor 310 controls the display 330 to display the first content acquired from the first input signal on the first partial screen. may be output through , and the second content obtained from the second input signal may be output through the second partial screen.

The electronic device 400 of FIG. 4 may include a processor 410 , a memory 420 , a display 430 , an input unit 440 , and a video processing unit 450 .

The electronic device 400 of FIG. 4 may be an example of the electronic device 300 of FIG. 3 . Accordingly, the processor 410 , the memory 420 , and the display 430 included in the electronic device 400 of FIG. 4 include the processor 310 , the memory 320 and the display 430 included in the electronic device 300 of FIG. 3 , respectively. The function performed by the display 330 is the same, and a redundant description thereof will be omitted.

In an embodiment, the input unit 440 may be connected to a source device to receive an input signal from the source device. The input unit 440 may transmit an initialization signal to the source device to start a connection with the source device. In an embodiment, the input unit 440 may transmit an initialization signal to each of the plurality of source devices.

The initialization signal may include a Hot Plug Detect (HPD) signal. The hot plug detection signal may be a signal for recognizing whether the electronic device 400 is turned on to the source device. For example, the electronic device 400 may change the voltage value of the hot plug detection signal to notify the source device that the electronic device 400 is turned on. The electronic device 400 changes the voltage of the hot plug detection signal whenever the source device and the source device are disconnected and then reconnected through an HMDI cable, or connected to a new source device different from the previous one. may inform the new source device of a signal that a connection is possible.

When the source device determines that the initialization signal is valid, the source device may transmit data to the electronic device 400 . Data transmitted from the source device to the electronic device 400 may include an EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) request command.

When the electronic device 400 receives an EDID request command from the source device, the electronic device 400 may transmit the EDID of the electronic device 400 to the source device. EDID may include information such as a manufacturer, serial number, resolution, refresh rate, and color space of the electronic device 400 . The electronic device 400 may notify the function and requirements of the electronic device 400 by transmitting the EDID to the source device.

The source device may transmit a video signal and an audio signal suitable for the resolution, refresh rate, and color space of the electronic device 400 by using the EDID received from the electronic device 400 .

The electronic device 400 may receive an input signal having an outputable resolution from the source device by transmitting the maximum outputable resolution as EDID to the source device. For example, when the electronic device 400 can output an image having a maximum resolution of 8K, that is, an image having the number of horizontal and vertical pixels of 7680X4320, the electronic device 400 includes 8K, the maximum resolution that can be processed, in EDID and transmits it to the source device to request an input signal having a corresponding resolution from the source device. When the source device has an input signal having a resolution of 8K, it may transmit it to the electronic device 400 .

In an embodiment, when the electronic device 400 operates in the multi-view mode, the electronic device 400 may transmit a resolution suitable for a partial screen to which each input signal is to be output to each source device through EDID. The resolution suitable for the partial screen may mean the size of each partial screen when the size of an image having a resolution output by the electronic device 400 is divided into a plurality of partial screens.

For example, as in the above example, when the display 430 can output an image of up to 8K to the screen, when the display 430 operates in a multi-view mode to output four partial screens having the same size, The display 430 may output content having a maximum resolution of 4K, ie, content having a number of horizontal and vertical pixels of 3840X2160 through the four partial screens. In an embodiment, the electronic device 400 may request, from the beginning, to transmit an input signal having a resolution of 4K to each source device using EDID. Alternatively, if the electronic device 400 has already requested an input signal having a resolution of 8K using EDID, the electronic device 400 operates in the multi-view mode, updates the EDID and transmits a new EDID to the source device to 4K You can request an input signal with a resolution of .

In an embodiment, when the source device has the 4K input signal requested by the electronic device 400 , the source device may transmit the 4K input signal to the electronic device 400 .

In an embodiment, the electronic device 400 may transmit different EDIDs to each of the plurality of source devices. In an embodiment, the electronic device 400 may transmit an EDID including information on a resolution suitable for a partial screen to which each input signal is to be output to each source device. For example, when the first partial screen on which the first input signal is output and the second partial screen on which the second input signal is output have different sizes, the electronic device 400 provides information on the resolution suitable for the first partial screen. The included EDID may be transmitted to the first source device, and the EDID including information on a resolution suitable for the second partial screen may be transmitted to the second source device.

The source device may store the same content as input signals having different resolutions. For example, the source device may store 8K, 4K, and 2K input signals for the same input signal, respectively. The source device may transmit an input signal having a resolution requested by the electronic device 400 to the electronic device 400 by using the EDID received from the electronic device 400 .

The video processing unit 450 according to an embodiment may process an input signal received from the source device. The video processing unit 450 may obtain content from the input signal by performing decoding and resizing on the input signal.

In an embodiment, when the electronic device 400 operates in the multi-view mode, the video processing unit 450 may obtain a plurality of contents by processing each of a plurality of input signals. The video processing unit 450 may resize the acquired content to a size suitable for the size of a partial screen on which each content is to be output. The video processing unit 450 may mix each content resized to fit the partial screen size and transmit it to the display 430 .

The electronic device 500 of FIG. 5 may include an input unit 510 and a video processing unit 520 . For convenience of explanation, only the input unit 510 and the video processing unit 520 are illustrated among the internal components of the electronic device 500 in FIG. 5 , but the present invention is not limited thereto. Like the

electronic devices

300 and 400 illustrated in FIG. 1 , other components may be further included.

The input unit 510 of FIG. 5 may be an example of the input unit 440 included in the electronic device 400 of FIG. 4 . Also, the video processing unit 520 of FIG. 5 may be an example of the video processing unit 450 of FIG. 4 .

The input unit 510 may be respectively connected to a plurality of source devices through cables or the like. The input unit 510 may transmit an initialization signal to the source device to start a connection with the source device. The input unit 510 may transmit an initialization signal to each of the plurality of source devices. Each of the plurality of source devices may transmit data to the input unit 510 when it is determined that the initialization signal received from the input unit 510 is valid. The input unit 510 may receive data from the source device and transmit the EDID of the electronic device 500 to the source device. The input unit 510 transmits the EDID including information on specifications or requirements of the electronic device 500 such as the manufacturer, serial number, resolution, refresh rate, and color space of the electronic device 500 to the plurality of source devices, respectively. can Each of the plurality of source devices may transmit to the electronic device 500 a video signal and an audio signal suitable for the resolution, refresh rate, and color space of the electronic device 500 by using the EDID received from the electronic device 500 .

The video processing unit 520 according to an embodiment may include a plurality of pipelines and a mixer 529 . The pipeline may be referred to as a signal processing unit. The video processing unit 520 may include a plurality of pipelines for processing each of a plurality of input signals to support multi-view.

One pipeline may be created for each input signal. That is, when there are four pieces of content to be output to the partial screen in the multi-view mode, four pipelines may be generated for each of the four input signals.

In FIG. 5 , when there are four source devices, it is illustrated that the video processing unit 520 includes four pipelines for respectively processing four input signals received from the four source devices. The four pipelines may be first to

fourth pipelines

521 , 523 , 525 , and 527 , respectively.

The pipeline may be manufactured in the form of at least one hardware chip and mounted on the electronic device 500 , or may be implemented as a software module.

The plurality of

pipelines

521 , 523 , 525 , and 527 may respectively process input signals received from a plurality of source devices to obtain content corresponding to each input signal.

A pipeline may have a plurality of modules that perform a function to be processed. 5 , the first to fourth pipelines 521 to 527 may include a decoding unit and a resizing unit, respectively.

Specifically, the first pipeline 521 may include a first decoding unit and a first resizing unit. The first decoding unit may obtain the first content by decoding the first input signal input from the first source device. The first resizing unit may adjust the size of the first content obtained by the first decoding unit to increase or decrease the size to fit the first partial screen on which the first content is to be output. For example, it is assumed that the electronic device 500 can output an 8K image and receives a first 8K input signal from the first source device. When the electronic device 500 outputs four partial screens having the same size in the multi-view mode, the first resizing unit may adjust the first content obtained from the first input signal to a size of 4K.

Similarly, the second pipeline 523 includes a second decoding unit and a second resizing unit to obtain the second content from the second input signal input from the second source device, and to adjust the size of the second content to the second part. It can be adjusted to fit the screen.

The mixer 529 according to an embodiment may generate one image including content acquired through the first to

fourth pipelines

521 , 523 , 525 , and 527 as partial images, respectively. In the above example, the mixer 529 may generate a full 8K image consisting of four 4K partial screens.

Although not shown in FIG. 5 , the video processing unit 520 may further include a scaling unit. When the entire image generated by the mixer 529 is smaller or larger than the display resolution of the electronic device 500 , the scaling unit may perform a function of changing the entire image to the display resolution of the electronic device 500 .

In general, the electronic device 500 may receive and process an image having an outputable resolution from a source device. However, in some cases, the resolution of an image outputable by the electronic device 500 may be different from the resolution of an input signal that the electronic device 500 can receive and process. For example, in the above example, there may be a case where the resolution of an input signal that the electronic device 500 can receive and process is 8K, but the resolution of an outputable image is 4K instead of 8K. In this case, the scaling unit may scale the 8K image obtained from the mixer 529 to the 4K image so that the 4K image is displayed.

In an embodiment, the input unit 510 may not be able to acquire content to be output to a predetermined partial screen among a plurality of partial screens. For example, the input unit 510 may not be able to acquire content to be output on the first partial screen among the plurality of partial screens. When the input unit 510 fails to acquire content to be output on the first partial screen, it may be a case in which the first input signal is no signal. When the first input signal is no signal, for example, the input unit 510 is not connected to the first source device, or even though it is connected, the first input signal cannot be received due to a communication error. . Alternatively, when the first input signal is no signal, the input unit 510 receives the first input signal from the first source device, but the synchronization signal is not included in the first input signal, or even if the synchronization signal is included, synchronization It may be the case that the frequency value of the signal does not satisfy a predetermined requirement, and the like.

When the electronic device 500 fails to acquire content to be output on the first partial screen, the electronic device 500 may acquire alternative content using another input signal, for example, a second input signal. To this end, the input unit 510 may allow the second input signal to be input to the first pipeline 521 instead of the first input signal. The first pipeline 521 may decode the second input signal instead of the first input signal and resize it to fit the partial screen to obtain the replacement content. At the same time, the input unit 510 may allow the second input signal to the fourth input signal to be input to the second pipeline 523 to the fourth pipeline 527 , respectively. The second pipelines 523 to fourth pipelines 527 may process the second input signal to the fourth input signal, respectively, to obtain second to fourth content, and resize the second to fourth content to fit the respective partial screen sizes.

The mixer 529 may obtain the entire image by arranging the resized replacement content and the resized second to fourth content on the first partial screen to the fourth partial screen, respectively. In this case, since the contents output to the first partial screen and the second partial screen are contents obtained through different pipelines from the second input signal, they may be the same or almost similar images.

In an embodiment, when the resolutions of the input signals are different, the mixer 529 may configure the screen based on the highest resolution among the input signals.

In another embodiment, in the electronic device 500 , the arrangement of the second partial screen corresponding to the second input signal and the first partial screen on which the content to be output is not obtained is horizontal as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 . When they are arranged side by side in the direction, the second content obtained from the second input signal may be output in a horizontally stretched form in the area where the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined.

To this end, the first resizing unit included in the first pipeline 521 may obtain only a partial region of the content obtained by the first decoding unit processing the second input signal, and resize the partial region to fit the first partial screen. have. For example, the first resizing unit may cut only the left half area of the decoded content and resize the left half area to fit the first partial screen size. Similarly, the second resizing unit included in the second pipeline 523 cuts only the right half area from the second content obtained by the second decoding unit, and resizes the right half area to fit the second partial screen size. can do. In this case, the mixer 529 causes the image of the left half of the replacement content to be placed on the first partial screen and the image from the right half of the second content to be placed on the second partial screen, so that the second content is displayed on the first partial screen. and the second partial screen may be output in a horizontally stretched form over the combined area.

In another embodiment, when there is no content to be output on the first partial screen, the input unit 510 does not send any signal to the first pipeline 521 and the second pipeline 523 to the fourth pipeline 527 ) can transmit the second input signal to the fourth input signal. The second decoding unit included in the second pipeline 523 obtains second content by decoding the second input signal, and the second resizing unit is the size of a region in which the second content is a combination of the first partial screen and the second partial screen. The size of the second content may be resized to fit the . The mixer 529 may cause the image of the left half of the resized second content to be disposed on the first partial screen and the image of the right half of the second content to be disposed on the second partial screen. Even in this case, the second content is output to the entire area in which the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined.

For convenience of explanation, in FIG. 6 , only one decoding unit 621 and a resizing unit 623 are illustrated in the video processing unit 620 , but as described above in FIG. 5 , each input signal is provided to the video processing unit 620 in FIG. 5 . A plurality of decoding units and resizing units to be processed may be included.

In FIG. 6 , contents 600-1 to 600-4 shown on the lower left side of the input unit 610 are diagrams illustrating contents corresponding to input signals, respectively.

In an embodiment, the input unit 610 may transmit the EDID to each of the plurality of source devices. For example, in FIG. 6 , if the electronic device can receive and process an image of up to 8K, the electronic device may request an input signal having a resolution of 8K from each of the plurality of source devices using EDID. The source device may transmit an input signal having a resolution of 8K to the electronic device.

6 illustrates a case in which second content to be obtained from the second input signal is not obtained because the second input signal corresponds to no signal. When the second input signal is non-signal, the second content 600 - 2 corresponding to the second input signal may also be non-video.

In FIG. 6 , contents 600-1, 600-1, 600-3, and 600-4 shown on the lower right side of the input unit 610 are contents corresponding to input signals input to the first to fourth pipelines, respectively. is a diagram showing The input unit 610 may allow the first input signal to be input to the first pipeline. Also, in an embodiment, the input unit 610 may allow the first input signal to be input instead of the second input signal to the second pipeline for processing the second input signal. That is, the input unit 610 may allow the first input signal to be input to the first pipeline and the second pipeline, respectively. The input unit 610 may allow the third input signal and the fourth input signal to be input to the third pipeline and the fourth pipeline, respectively.

The decoding unit 621 may include first to fourth decoding units for decoding a plurality of input signals, respectively. In FIG. 6, contents 600-1, 600-1', 600-3, and 600-4 shown in the lower right of the decoding unit 621 show contents decoded by the first to fourth decoding units, respectively. it is one drawing

In an embodiment, the first decoding unit and the second decoding unit may obtain content 600-1 and content 600-1' by decoding the first input signal, respectively. According to the specifications of the first decoding unit and the second decoding unit, the content 600-1 and the content 600-1' obtained by the first decoding unit and the second decoding unit may be the same or similar.

The resizing unit 623 may adjust the sizes of the respective contents 600-1, 600-1', 600-3, and 600-4 obtained by decoding the decoding unit 621 . The resizing unit 623 may adjust the size of each content according to the number of multi-view content output in the multi-view mode. For example, when there are four partial screens as in FIG. 6 , the resizing unit 623 may adjust the size of the content decoded by the decoding unit 621 to 1/4 respectively. For example, when the resolution of the content decoded from the input signal is 8K, the resizing unit 623 may resize each content to a size of 1/4 of the original size so that each image has a resolution of 4K.

The mixer 625 may mix the resized contents with a resolution of 4K. The mixer 625 may generate one 8K image including four pieces of content divided.

In FIG. 7 as in FIG. 6 , it is assumed that the electronic device cannot acquire the second content because the second input signal corresponds to no signal. In FIG. 7 , contents 700 - 1 to 700 - 4 shown at the lower left of the input unit 710 are diagrams illustrating contents corresponding to input signals, respectively. It can be seen that the size of the content corresponding to the input signal received by the input unit 710 from the source device is reduced in FIG. 7 , unlike the content 600-1 to 600-4 illustrated in FIG. 6 .

In an embodiment, the input unit 710 may transmit the EDID to each of the plurality of source devices.

In an embodiment, the input unit 710 may request content having a size adjusted according to the number of multi-view content output in the multi-view mode from each source device. For example, even when the electronic device of FIG. 7 is capable of receiving and processing an image of up to 8K, when the electronic device operates in the multi-view mode and outputs four partial screens, the input unit 710 is 1/4 in size. can request a 4K input signal with That is, the input unit 710 may request an input signal of a 4K image instead of an 8K image having the maximum resolution from each source device. If there are two partial screens instead of four, the input unit 710 may request an input signal having a size of 1/2 of the maximum resolution from the source device.

In an embodiment, when the electronic device does not operate in the multi-view mode and automatically operates in the multi-view mode according to a user's setting or is connected to a plurality of source devices, the input unit 710 transmits the You can create a new EDID different from one EDID. That is, the input unit 710 may request an input signal having a resolution different from the previously requested resolution from the source device using the updated EDID including information on the 4K resolution.

7 illustrates a case in which an electronic device requests an image having a resolution of 4K from each of a plurality of source devices and receives an input signal having a resolution of 4K from each of the source devices.

In FIG. 7 , contents 700-1, 700-1, 700-3, and 700-4 shown on the lower right side of the input unit 710 are contents corresponding to input signals input to the first to fourth pipelines, respectively. is a diagram showing The input unit 710 may allow a first input signal having a resolution of 4K to be input to the first pipeline. Also, in an embodiment, when the second input signal is no signal, the input unit 710 may allow the first input signal to be input to the second pipeline instead of the second input signal. The input unit 710 may allow the third input signal and the fourth input signal to be input to the third pipeline and the fourth pipeline, respectively.

The decoding unit 721 may include first to fourth decoding units for decoding a plurality of input signals, respectively. In an embodiment, both the first decoding unit and the second decoding unit may obtain content 700-1 and content 700-1' by decoding the first input signal, respectively. In FIG. 7 , since the respective contents 700-1 to 700-4 obtained by decoding by the decoding unit 721 already have sizes adjusted to fit the partial screen size, the resizing unit 723 does not need to adjust the size separately. none.

The mixer 725 may generate an 8K multi-view image by combining the decoded contents 700-1 to 700-4.

It is assumed that the electronic device of FIG. 8 can receive an image of up to 8K and receives an input signal having a resolution of 4K from each of a plurality of source devices in order to operate in a multi-view mode.

In FIG. 8 , contents 800-1 to 800-4 shown on the lower left side of the input unit 810 are diagrams illustrating contents corresponding to input signals, respectively.

8 illustrates a case in which the first content corresponding to the first input signal cannot be obtained because the first input signal is no signal.

In an embodiment, when the first input signal is no signal, the input unit 810 may allow the second input signal to be input to the first pipeline 820 to process the first input signal instead of the first input signal.

Contents 800-2, 800-2, 800-3, and 800-4 shown on the lower right side of the input unit 810 are diagrams illustrating contents corresponding to input signals input to the first to fourth pipelines, respectively. to be.

In an embodiment, the first decoding unit 821 included in the first pipeline 820 may obtain content by decoding the second input signal. In an embodiment, the first resizing unit 823 included in the first pipeline 820 may resize only a partial area of the content obtained from the second input signal to fit the size of the first partial screen, that is, the size of 4K. can

In an embodiment, the second decoding unit 831 included in the second pipeline 830 may also decode the second input signal to obtain the second content. In an embodiment, the second resizing unit 833 included in the second pipeline 830 may resize only a partial area of the second content to fit the size of 4K, which is the size of the second partial screen.

In FIG. 8 , the first partial screen and the second partial screen constituting the multi-view are arranged adjacent to each other in the horizontal direction. Only the area corresponding to the left half is acquired and doubled in the horizontal direction to resize to fit the 4K image size, and the second resizing unit 833 acquires only the area corresponding to the right half of the second content and horizontally It can be doubled and resized to fit the size of a 4K video.

The electronic device may also obtain 4K content by decoding the third input signal and the fourth input signal, respectively.

The mixer 840 may generate one image including four 4K contents in a multi-view. The image generated by the mixer 840 may include an image received from the first pipeline 820 and an image received from the second pipeline 830 as a first partial screen and a second partial screen, respectively. In this case, an image in which the content obtained from the second input signal is enlarged in the horizontal direction is output to the area in which the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined.

It is assumed that the electronic device of FIG. 9 can receive and output an image of up to 8K.

In an embodiment, when the first input signal is non-signal, the electronic device may output the second content obtained from the second input signal to an area in which the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined. To this end, the electronic device may update the EDID to request a second input signal having a resolution of a ratio closest to the size of the combined area of the first partial screen and the second partial screen from the second source device. For example, the input unit 910 may request the longest wide image in the horizontal direction from the EDID resolution list, for example, an image having a ratio of 21:9 from the second source device. When the second source device has the wide image requested by the input unit 910 , it may transmit it to the input unit 910 .

The electronic device may receive an input signal having a resolution of 4K from the third source device and the fourth source device using EDID.

Contents 900-1, 900-2', 900-3, and 900-4 shown on the lower left side of the input unit 910 are diagrams illustrating contents corresponding to input signals, respectively. Contents 900-3 and 900-4 corresponding to the third input signal and the fourth input signal are illustrated as having a resolution of 4K, and contents 900-2′ corresponding to the second input signal are illustrated as having a resolution of UWQHD. did The UWQHD image may have a size of 3440X1440.

The input unit 910 may input the wide image received from the second source device to the second pipeline 920 . In an embodiment, the input unit 910 does not allow the second input signal to be input to the first pipeline, so that only the second pipeline 920 may process the second input signal.

The second decoding unit 921 included in the second pipeline 920 may obtain the second content by decoding the second input signal.

The second resizing unit 923 may resize the second content to fit an area in which the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined, that is, a region having a size of 7680X2160 horizontally and vertically. The second resizing unit 923 may adjust the width and length by the same ratio to minimize distortion. For example, the second resizing unit 923 may increase the width and length of the second content by 1.5 times, which is the same ratio, respectively. In this case, the resized second content has a horizontal and vertical length of 5160X2160, respectively.

The electronic device may also obtain the 4K third content and the fourth content by processing the third input signal and the fourth input signal, respectively.

The mixer 930 may generate one image by using the resized second content, the third content, and the fourth content. The image generated by the mixer 930 may be an image including the resized second content in a region in which the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined. In this case, the size of the resized second content may not exactly match the combined size of the first partial screen and the second partial screen. The mixer 930 may allow the resized second content to be positioned at the center of the combined size of the first partial screen and the second partial screen. In this case, as shown in FIG. 9 , a little black image may be included and output to the left side of the first partial screen and the right side of the second partial screen, but the second partial screen output through the first partial screen and the second partial screen may be output. It has the advantage of less distortion of content.

The electronic device 1000 of FIG. 10 may include components of the electronic device 400 of FIG. 4 . Accordingly, descriptions overlapping with those described in FIG. 4 will be omitted.

Referring to FIG. 10 , the electronic device 1000 includes a processor 410 , a memory 420 , a display 430 , and a video processing unit 450 , a tuner unit 1010 , a communication unit 1020 , and a sensing unit 1030 . ), an input/output unit 1040 , an audio processing unit 1050 , an audio output unit 1060 , and a user interface 1070 may be further included.

The tuner unit 1010 uses only the frequency of a channel to be received by the electronic device 1000 from among many radio wave components through amplification, mixing, resonance, etc. of broadcast content received by wire or wirelessly. It can be selected by tuning. The content received through the tuner unit 1010 is decoded and separated into audio, video and/or additional information. The separated audio, video, and/or additional information may be stored in the memory 420 under the control of the processor 410 .

The communication unit 1020 may connect the electronic device 1000 to a peripheral device, an external device, a server, or the like under the control of the processor 410 . The communication unit 1020 may include at least one of a wireless LAN 1021 , a Bluetooth 1022 , and a wired Ethernet 1024 in response to the performance and structure of the electronic device 1000 .

The communication unit 1020 may receive a control signal through a control device (not shown) such as a remote control. The control signal may be implemented as a Bluetooth type, an RF signal type, or a Wi-Fi type. The communication unit 1020 may further include other short-distance communication (eg, near field communication (NFC)) in addition to the Bluetooth 1022 . The Bluetooth 1022 may include a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication module. The BLE communication module may transmit and receive signals to and from the control device through the BLE communication method.

The sensing unit 1030 detects a user's voice, a user's image, or a user's interaction, and may include a microphone 1031 , a camera unit 1032 , and a light receiving unit 1033 . The microphone 1031 may receive a user's uttered voice, convert the received voice into an electrical signal, and output the received voice to the processor 410 . The camera unit 1032 includes a sensor (not shown) and a lens (not shown), and may capture an image formed on the screen. The light receiver 1033 may receive an optical signal (including a control signal).

The optical receiver 1033 may receive an optical signal corresponding to a user input (eg, a touch, a press, a touch gesture, a voice, or a motion) such as a remote control or a mobile phone. The received optical signal may include a key code command corresponding to a key input of the control device. The processor 410 may extract a key code command from the optical signal received by the optical receiver 1033 and control the electronic device 1000 to operate accordingly.

The input/output unit 1040 may include the input unit 440 of FIG. 4 . The input/output unit 1040 receives video (eg, a moving image signal or a still image signal), audio (eg, a voice signal or , music signals, etc.) and additional information such as metadata can be received. The metadata may include HDR information about the content, a description or content title for the content, a content storage location, and the like. The input/output unit 1040 is one of an HDMI port (High-Definition Multimedia Interface port, 1041), a component jack (component jack, 1042), a PC port (PC port, 1043), and a USB port (USB port, 1044). may include The input/output unit 1040 may include a combination of an HDMI port 1041 , a component jack 1042 , a PC port 1043 , and a USB port 1044 .

In an embodiment, the electronic device 1000 may be connected to a plurality of source devices using ports of the input/output unit 1040, respectively. The electronic device 1000 may transmit EDID to each source device using the input/output unit 1040 and receive an input signal from each source device.

The video processing unit 450 processes image data to be displayed by the display 430, and in addition to decoding and resizing the image data, various image processing operations such as rendering, noise filtering, frame rate conversion, and resolution conversion and scaling can be performed. In the multi-view mode, the video processing unit 450 may process each of the plurality of pieces of content by different pipelines and obtain the plurality of pieces of content therefrom.

The display 430 may output content received from a broadcasting station or the like through a source device or received from an external server or an external storage medium on the screen. The content is a media signal, and may include a video signal, an image, a text signal, and the like.

The audio processing unit 1050 performs processing on audio data. The audio processing unit 1050 may perform various processing such as decoding, amplification, and noise filtering on audio data.

The audio output unit 1060 includes audio included in the content received through the tuner unit 1010 under the control of the processor 410, audio input through the communication unit 1020 or the input/output unit 1040, memory ( 420) may output the stored audio. The audio output unit 1060 may include at least one of a speaker 1061 , a headphone output terminal 1062 , and a Sony/Philips Digital Interface (S/PDIF) output terminal 1063 .

The user interface 1070 may receive a user input for controlling the electronic device 1000 . The user interface 1070 includes a touch panel for detecting a user's touch, a button for receiving a user's push operation, a wheel for receiving a user's rotation operation, a keyboard (key board), and a dome switch, and voice recognition. Various types of user input devices including a microphone for sensing a motion, a motion sensor for sensing a motion, etc. may be included, but are not limited thereto.

Referring to FIG. 11 , the electronic device may determine whether an input signal is a non-signal (operation 1110). When it is determined that the first input signal is non-signal, the electronic device may process the second input signal instead of the first input signal to obtain replacement content (operation 1120 ). The electronic device may select an input signal to be used to acquire the replacement content according to various criteria. For example, when the first content is not obtained among the plurality of partial screens output in the multi-view mode, the electronic device may display a predetermined direction among the screens adjacent to the first part, left, right, up and down, or diagonal directions of the first partial screen. You can select an input signal to be output on the partial screen located in .

The electronic device may output the replacement content obtained from the second input signal through the first partial screen (step 1130).

Although not shown in FIG. 11 , there may be a case in which the electronic device acquires the first content corresponding to the first input signal again. In this case, the electronic device may cause the first content obtained from the first input signal to be output through the first partial screen and the second content obtained from the second input signal to be output through the first partial screen.

Referring to FIG. 12 , when the electronic device determines that the first input signal is no signal (step 1210 ), a first pipefine to a first signal processing unit that processes the first input signal by using the second input signal instead of the first input signal can be entered as

The electronic device may cause the first signal processing unit to obtain the replacement content by processing the second input signal instead of the first input signal (operation 1220 ).

The first signal processing unit of the electronic device may obtain content by decoding the second input signal, and may obtain replacement content by resizing the obtained content to fit the first partial screen. The electronic device may output the replacement content obtained by the first signal processing unit through the first partial screen (step 1230).

Also, the electronic device may cause the second signal processing unit to process the second input signal to obtain the second content (step 1240). The second content obtained by the second signal processing unit may be resized to fit the second partial screen and output through the second partial screen (step 1250). In this case, since the content obtained from the second input signal is output to both the first partial screen and the second partial screen, the two contents may be the same or similar.

Referring to FIG. 13 , when it is determined that the first input signal is no signal (operation 1310 ), the electronic device may use the second input signal instead of the first input signal.

That is, the electronic device may obtain the second content by using the second input signal, and output the second content to the area in which the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined (step 1320).

When the arrangement of the second partial screen corresponding to the second input signal and the first partial screen on which the content to be output is not obtained is arranged side by side in a horizontal or vertical direction, the first partial screen and the second partial screen The second content obtained from the second input signal may be output in a horizontally or vertically extended form in the area where the screens are combined.

Referring to FIG. 14 , if the electronic device determines that the first input signal is no signal (operation 1410 ), the electronic device may cause the second input signal to be input to the first signal processing unit instead of the first input signal. The first signal processing unit of the electronic device may decode the second input signal (operation 1420).

The electronic device may resize the first area of the content obtained by the first signal processing unit decoding the second input signal to fit the size of the first partial screen.

Also, the electronic device may process the second input signal with the second signal processing unit (step 1440). The electronic device may obtain the second content from the second input signal. The electronic device may resize the second area of the second content to fit the size of the second partial screen.

For example, when the first partial screen and the second partial screen are arranged side by side on the left and right, respectively, in the horizontal direction, the electronic device obtains the left half area of the content obtained by decoding by the first signal processing unit as the first area, and The half area may be resized to fit the size of the first partial screen. Also, the electronic device may acquire a right half area of the second content obtained by decoding by the second signal processing unit as the second area, and resize the right half area to fit the size of the second partial screen.

Alternatively, when the first partial screen and the second partial screen are arranged side by side in the vertical direction, respectively, the electronic device obtains the upper half area of the content obtained by decoding by the first signal processing unit as the first area, The upper half area may be resized to fit the size of the first partial screen. Also, the electronic device may obtain the lower half area of the second content obtained by decoding by the second signal processing unit as the second area, and resize the lower half area to fit the second partial screen size.

The electronic device may output the first area resized to fit the size of the first partial screen through the first partial screen (step 1430). Also, the electronic device may output the second area resized to fit the size of the second partial screen through the second partial screen (step 1450). Accordingly, the electronic device may output the content corresponding to the second input signal to the area in which the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined.

15 is a flowchart illustrating an operating method of an electronic device according to another exemplary embodiment of FIG. 13 .

Referring to FIG. 15 , if the electronic device determines that the first input signal is no signal (step 1510), it may request a second input signal having a new resolution from the second source device (step 1520).

The electronic device may update the EDID to request a second input signal having a resolution corresponding to a size of a combined area of the first partial screen and the second partial screen from the second source device. The electronic device may request, from the second source device, a second input signal having a resolution of a ratio closest to the size of the combined area of the first partial screen and the second partial screen from the EDID resolution list.

For example, when the first partial screen and the second partial screen are arranged side by side in the vertical direction, the electronic device may request the longest image in the vertical direction from the second source device. When the second source device has a vertically long image requested by the electronic device, it may transmit it to the electronic device.

The electronic device may receive a new second input signal from the second source device (operation 1530). The second signal processing unit of the electronic device may obtain new second content by processing the second input signal (operation 1540).

The electronic device may output the new second content to an area in which the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined (step 1550). For example, the electronic device adjusts the upper half area of the new second content to fit the first partial screen and outputs it through the first partial screen, and adjusts the lower half area of the second content to fit the second partial screen to fit the second partial screen It can be printed through the screen.

Accordingly, the electronic device may output the new second content to the area in which the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined.

The electronic device and its operating method according to some embodiments may also be implemented in the form of a recording medium including instructions executable by a computer, such as a program module executed by a computer. Computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer and includes both volatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. In addition, computer-readable media may include both computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Communication media typically includes computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave, or other transport mechanism, and includes any information delivery media.

Also, in this specification, “unit” may be a hardware component such as a processor or circuit, and/or a software component executed by a hardware component such as a processor.

In addition, the electronic device and the method for operating the same according to an embodiment of the present disclosure described above include receiving a plurality of input signals, acquiring a plurality of contents by acquiring corresponding contents from each of the plurality of input signals, and the plurality of outputting contents through a plurality of partial screens, wherein the method includes the steps of: detecting, among the plurality of input signals, a first input signal providing first content to be output through a first partial screen as no signal; , A program for implementing an operating method of an electronic device, further comprising the steps of: processing a second input signal according to the detection of no signal to obtain replacement content; and outputting the replacement content through the first partial screen It can be implemented as a computer program product including the recorded computer-readable recording medium.

The foregoing description is for illustrative purposes, and those of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention pertains will understand that it can be easily modified into other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features of the invention. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are illustrative in all respects and not restrictive. For example, each component described as a single type may be implemented in a dispersed form, and likewise components described as distributed may be implemented in a combined form.

Claims

A method of operating an electronic device, comprising:

receiving a plurality of input signals;

obtaining a plurality of contents by obtaining corresponding contents from each of the plurality of input signals; and

outputting the plurality of contents through a plurality of partial screens,

the method

detecting, among the plurality of input signals, a first input signal providing first content to be output through a first partial screen as no signal;

according to the no-signal detection, processing a second input signal to obtain replacement content; and

The method of operating an electronic device, further comprising outputting the replacement content through the first partial screen.
The method of claim 1, wherein the second input signal is a signal corresponding to second content to be output through a second partial screen among the plurality of partial screens,

The method of operating an electronic device, wherein the second partial screen is adjacent to the first partial screen, and is located in a predetermined direction among left, right, vertical, or diagonal directions of the first partial screen.
The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the replacement content comprises:

and obtaining, by a first signal processing unit that processes the first input signal, the replacement content by processing the second input signal.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the method

and outputting, by a second signal processing unit, second content obtained by processing the second input signal through a second partial screen.
The method of claim 3, wherein the obtaining of the replacement content comprises:

Resizing the first area of the content obtained by the first signal processing unit decoding the second input signal to obtain the replacement content,

In the method, according to the no-signal detection, a second signal processing unit resizes a second area excluding the size of the first area from the second content obtained by decoding the second input signal to display a second partial screen. The method of claim 1, further comprising outputting the content corresponding to the second input signal to an area in which the first partial screen and the second partial screen are merged by outputting the content.
The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving of the plurality of input signals comprises:

Receiving an N-th input signal corresponding to an N-th content to be output through an N-th partial screen from an N-th source device,

Receiving the N-th input signal comprises:

requesting an input signal having a resolution suitable for the size of the Nth partial screen from the Nth source device using EDID information; and

Receiving an input signal having the requested resolution as the N-th input signal from the N-th source device,

The resolution corresponding to the size of the Nth partial screen corresponds to the size of each partial screen when the entire screen is divided into the plurality of partial screens.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the method

requesting a new second input signal having a different resolution from a second source device that has provided the second input signal using the updated EDID information according to the no-signal detection; and

Receiving the new second input signal from the second source device,

The new second input signal is a signal having a resolution of a ratio closest to a size of a combined area of the first partial screen and the second partial screen.
The method of claim 7, wherein the obtaining of the replacement content comprises:

acquiring, by the second signal processing unit, new second content from the new second input signal; and

acquiring a first area of the new second content as the replacement content;

In the method, according to the non-signal detection, an area excluding the first area from the new second content is output through the second partial screen, and the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined into the area. The method of operating an electronic device, further comprising the step of outputting new second content.
The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining whether the first input signal is the no-signal;

In the determining step, when the first input signal is not input from the first source device, when there is no sink in the first input signal, when the sink in the first input signal does not satisfy a predetermined criterion and determining whether the first input signal is the non-signal based on at least one of a case in which the electronic device cannot process the first input signal.
The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining that the first input signal is no longer the no-signal; and

The method of operating an electronic device, further comprising outputting the first content obtained from the first input signal through the first partial screen.
In an electronic device,

a display for outputting content through a plurality of partial screens;

a memory storing one or more instructions; and

A processor for executing one or more instructions stored in the memory;

The processor by executing the one or more instructions,

obtaining a plurality of contents by obtaining corresponding contents from each of a plurality of input signals, and causing the plurality of contents to be output through the plurality of partial screens;

Detecting a first input signal providing first content to be output through a first partial screen among the plurality of input signals as no signal, and according to the detection of no signal, replacement content is obtained from a second input signal, and outputting the replacement content through the first partial screen.
The method of claim 11 , wherein the second input signal is a signal to be output through a second partial screen among the plurality of partial screens,

The second partial screen is adjacent to the first partial screen, and is located in a predetermined direction among left, right, vertical, or diagonal directions of the first partial screen.
The method of claim 11, further comprising a plurality of signal processing units for processing each of the plurality of input signals,

The processor by executing the one or more instructions,

An electronic device configured to obtain the replacement content by a first signal processing unit processing the first input signal among the plurality of signal processing units by processing the second input signal.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the processor executes the one or more instructions by:

and a second signal processing unit among the plurality of signal processing units to output second content obtained by processing the second input signal through a second partial screen.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the processor executes the one or more instructions by:

and the first signal processing unit acquires the replacement content by resizing a first area of the content obtained by decoding the second input signal,

According to the no-signal detection, a second signal processing unit resizes a second area excluding the size of the first area from the second content obtained by decoding the second input signal, and the resized second area is so that it is output through the second partial screen,

and outputting a content corresponding to the second input signal to an area in which the first partial screen and the second partial screen are combined.