Method and system for efficient transmission of monochrome video data, in particular for laser beam scanning applications

1 . A method for transmission of monochrome video data of a monochromatic image, comprising:

encoding, at a transmitting device, three source monochromatic pixels into one compressed three-color pixel;

transmitting, by the transmitting device, the compressed three-color pixel;

receiving, by a receiving device, the compressed three-color pixel; and

decoding, by the receiving device, the compressed three-color pixel into three sink monochromatic pixels;

acquiring the three source monochromatic pixels, each source monochromatic pixel being associated to three-color values;

extracting a single-color value from each of the three source monochromatic pixels; and

generating the compressed three-color pixel using the single-color values extracted from the three source monochromatic pixels.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein decoding the compressed three-color pixel includes:

extracting the single-color value from the compressed three-color pixel; and

associating each of the single-color values extracted from the compressed three-color pixels to a respective pixel of the three sink monochromatic pixels.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the three source monochromatic pixels are first three source monochromatic pixels of the monochromatic image and wherein encoding further includes:

acquiring three further source monochromatic pixels in the monochromatic image, each further source monochromatic pixel being associated to respective three color values;

extracting a single-color value from each of the three further source monochromatic pixels; and

generating a further compressed three-color pixel using the single-color values extracted from the three further source monochromatic pixels.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the three further source monochromatic pixels are processed in parallel with the first three source monochromatic pixels.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting includes using the RGB MIPI DSI protocol.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the three source monochromatic pixels are adjacent pixels in the monochromatic image.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the monochromatic image comprises a matrix of pixels arranged in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, wherein the adjacent pixels in the monochromatic image are adjacent pixels in a row of the plurality of rows or adjacent pixels in a column of the plurality of columns.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving device is coupled to a projection unit.

9 . A transmitting device in a system for transmission of monochrome video data, comprising:

an encoding unit configured to encode three source monochromatic pixels into one compressed three-color pixel; and

an MIPI DSI transmitting unit configured to transmit the compressed three-color pixel, wherein the encoding unit is configured to:

acquire the three source monochromatic pixels, each source monochromatic pixel being associated to three-color values;

extract a single-color value from each of the three source monochromatic pixels; and

generate the compressed three-color pixel using the single-color values extracted from the three source monochromatic pixels.

10 . The transmitting device of claim 9 , wherein the three source monochromatic pixels are first three source monochromatic pixels of the monochromatic image and the encoding unit is further configured to:

acquire three further source monochromatic pixels in the monochromatic image, each further source monochromatic pixel being associated to respective three-color values;

extract a single-color value from each of the three further source monochromatic pixels; and

generate a further compressed three-color pixel using the single-color values extracted from the three further source monochromatic pixels.

11 . The transmitting device of claim 10 , wherein the three further source monochromatic pixels are processed in parallel with the first three source monochromatic pixels.

12 . The transmitting device of claim 9 wherein the encoding unit is a multiplexing unit.

13 . The transmitting device of claim 9 , comprising a memory configured to store a matrix of pixels.

14 . A receiving device in a system for transmission of monochrome video data, comprising:

a MIPI receiving unit configured to receive a compressed three-color pixel; and

a decoding unit configured to decode the received compressed three-color pixel into three sink monochromatic pixels, wherein the decoding unit is configured to:

wherein the decoding unit is configured to:

extract a first color of the received compressed three-color pixel p j ;

associate the extracted first color to a first sink monochromatic pixel p k of the three sink monochromatic pixels;

extract a second color of the received three-color pixel p j ;

associate the extracted second color to a second sink monochromatic pixel p k+1 of the three sink monochromatic pixels;

extract a third color of the received three-color pixel p j ; and

associate the extracted third color to a third sink monochromatic pixel p k+2 of the three sink monochromatic pixels.

15 . The receiving device of claim 14 , wherein the decoding unit is a demultiplexing unit.

16 . The receiving device of claim 14 , comprising a field programmable gate array.

17 . The receiving device of claim 16 , wherein the MIPI receiving unit is implemented in the field programmable gate array.