Luminance qualified vector display

1. A method of generating a luminance qualified vector display comprising the steps of:

gating color components of a video signal according to a specified luminance range for a luminance component of the video signal; and

displaying the color components passed by the gating step as the luminance qualified vector display, wherein the gating step comprises the steps of:

high luma gating the color components using a specified high luminance threshold to define a high luminance range as the specified luminance range to pass the color components to the displaying step when the luminance component is greater than the specified high luminance threshold;

low luma gating the color components using a specified low luminance threshold to define a low luminance range as the specified luminance range to pass the color components to the displaying step when the luminance component is less than the specified low luminance threshold; and

medium luma gating the color components to pass those color components to the displaying step when the luminance component is less than or equal to the specified high luminance threshold and greater than or equal to the specified low luminance threshold to define a medium luminance range as the specified luminance range.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the displaying step comprises the steps of:

selecting the color components from one of the high, low and medium luma gating steps for input to the displaying step; and

displaying the selected color components as the luminance qualified vector display.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the displaying step comprises the step of simultaneously displaying the color components from each of the high, low and medium luma gating steps.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 wherein the simultaneously displaying step comprises the steps of:

assigning a different color to each of the color components output from each of the high, low and medium luma gating steps; and

combining the color components to produce a combined vector display as the luminance qualified vector display, the different color indicating the particular specified luminance range of the color components.

5. The method as recited in claim 3 wherein the simultaneously displaying step comprises the step of displaying the color components from each of the high, low and medium luma gating steps in separate display areas of a display device.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 wherein the simultaneously displaying step further comprises the step of displaying the color components of the video signal directly without processing by the high, low and medium luma gating steps in a display area of the display device separate from the separate display areas for the high, low and medium luma gating steps.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the specified luminance range for the medium luma gating step is specified by a low luminance threshold less than the specified low luminance threshold and a high luminance threshold greater than the specified high luminance threshold to provide an overlap between the high and low luminance ranges with the medium luminance range.

8. An apparatus for generating a luminance qualified vector display comprising:

means for gating color components of a video signal according to a specified luminance range for a luminance components of the video signal; and

means for displaying the color components passed by the gating means as the luminance qualified vector display, wherein the gating means comprises:

means for high luma gating the color components using a specified high luminance threshold to define a high luminance range as the specified luminance range to pass the color components to the displaying means when the luminance component is greater than the specified high luminance threshold;

means for low luma gating the color components using a specified low luminance threshold to define a low luminance range as the specified luminance range to pass the color components to the displaying means when the luminance component is less than the specified low luminance threshold; and

means for medium luma gating the color components to pass those color components to the displaying means when the luminance component is less than or equal to the specified high luminance threshold and greater than or equal to the specified low luminance threshold to define a medium luminance range as the specified luminance range.

9. The apparatus as recited in claim 8 wherein the displaying means comprises:

means for selecting the color components from one of the high, low and medium luma gating means for input to the displaying means; and

means for displaying the selected color components as the luminance qualified vector display.

10. The apparatus as recited in claim 8 wherein the displaying means comprises means for simultaneously displaying the color components from each of the high, low and medium luma gating means.

11. The apparatus as recited in claim 10 wherein the simultaneously displaying means comprises:

means for assigning a different color to each of the color components output from each of the high, low and medium luma gating means; and

means for combining the color components to produce a combined vector display as the luminance qualified vector display, the different color indicating the particular specified luminance range of the color components.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 10 wherein the simultaneously displaying means comprises means for displaying the color components from each of the high, low and medium luma gating means in separate display areas of a display device.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 12 wherein the simultaneously displaying means further comprises means for displaying the color components of the video signal directly without processing by the high, low and medium luma gating means in a display area of the display device separate from the separate display areas for the high, low and medium luma gating means.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 8 wherein the specified luminance range for the medium luma gating means is specified by a low luminance threshold less than the specified low luminance threshold and a high luminance threshold greater than the specified high luminance threshold to provide an overlap between the high and low luminance ranges with the medium luminance range.

15. An apparatus for generating a luminance qualified vector display comprising:

a luminance gate having color components of a video signal as inputs, and providing the color components as outputs if a luminance component of the video signal is within a specified luminance range; and

a display device coupled to the outputs of the luminance gate for displaying the color components from the luminance gate as the luminance qualified vector display, wherein the luminance gate comprises:

a high luma gate having the color components as inputs and providing the color components as outputs when the corresponding luminance component exceeds a specified high luminance threshold that defines a high luminance range as the specified luminance range;

a low luma gate having the color components as inputs and providing the color components as outputs when the corresponding luminance component is less than a specified low luminance threshold that defines a low luminance range as the specified luminance range; and

a medium luma gate having the color components as inputs and providing the color components as outputs when the corresponding luminance component is between the specified high and low luminance thresholds that defines a medium luminance range as the specified luminance range.

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 15 wherein the displaying means comprises a switch for selecting the color components from one of the high, low an medium luma gates for input to the display device, the display device displaying the selected color components as the luminance qualified vector display.

17. The apparatus as recited in claim 15 wherein the display device simultaneously displays the color components from each of the high, low and medium luma gates.

18. The apparatus as recited in claim 17 wherein the display device further comprises a combiner having the color components from each of the high, low and medium luma gates as inputs that assigns a different color to each of the color components from each of the high, low and medium luma gates and produces a combined vector display at an output as the luminance qualified vector display to the display device, the different color indicating the particular specified luminance range of the color components.

19. The apparatus as recited in claim 17 wherein the display device further comprises a combiner having the color components from each of the high, low and medium luma gates as inputs and outputs the color components from each of the high, low and medium luma gates in separate display areas of the display device as the luminance qualified vector display.

20. The apparatus as recited in claim 19 wherein the combiner further has the color components from the video signal directly as an additional input and outputs the color components from the video signal in combination with the color components from each of the high, low and medium luma gates in an area of the display device separate from the separate display areas for the high, low and medium luma gates as the luminance qualified vector display.

21. The apparatus as recited in claim 15 wherein the specified luminance range for the medium luminance range is specified by a low luminance threshold less than the specified low luminance threshold and a high luminance threshold greater than the specified high luminance threshold to provide an overlap between the high and low luminance ranges with the medium luminance range.