Granted Patent B2

US 8,723,889 · App. 13/013,660 · Granted May 13, 2014

Abstract

Claims (51)

1. A display controller, comprising:

a pixel processor for processing working pixel data for a plurality of pixels of a frame, said pixel processor comprising:

an overlap detector which detects an overlap region when at least one pixel is within a new update region of a new update is also within a current update region of a temporally overlapping current update of said frame;

a collision detector which issues a correction request to request a different and subsequent update upon detection of any colliding pixel within said overlap region that corresponds with a begin pixel value and an end pixel value of said current update in which said begin pixel value is different from said end pixel value and which corresponds with a new pixel value provided by said new update that is different from said end pixel value; and

a construction processor which updates working pixel data for each pixel corresponding with one of at least one new pixel value of said new update and that is within said new update region and outside of said current update region and which does not update working pixel data for said any colliding pixel; and

a display processing system which simultaneously updates at least one pixel within said current update region and outside said overlap region and at least one pixel within said new update region and outside said overlap region.

2. The display controller of claim 1 , wherein said collision detector issues said correction request to request said subsequent update upon detection of any colliding pixel of said new update and within said overlap region for which said new pixel value is different from said end pixel value and for which said end pixel value is the same as said begin pixel value of said current update.

3. The display controller of claim 1 , wherein when said new pixel value is different from said end pixel value and when said begin pixel value is the same as said end pixel value for at least one overlapping pixel within said overlap region, said construction processor updates said working pixel data of each of said at least one overlapping pixel by reassigning said overlapping pixel to said new update including replacing said end pixel value of said overlapping pixel with said new pixel value.

4. The display controller of claim 3 , wherein said collision detector does not issue said correction request when, for each overlapping pixel within said overlap region, a corresponding new pixel value provided by said new update is the same as a corresponding end pixel value or when said overlapping pixel is reassigned to said new update.

5. The display controller of claim of claim 1 , wherein said collision detector does not issue said correction request when a corresponding new pixel value provided by said new update is the same as a corresponding end pixel value for each overlapping pixel within said overlap region.

6. The display controller of claim of claim 1 , wherein said display processing system converts said working pixel data to waveform information during sequential scan updates of said frame, including converting working pixel data for said new update region concurrently with converting working pixel data for said current update region for at least one scan update of said frame when said overlap region is detected.

7. A display system, comprising:

an update buffer and a working buffer, wherein said working buffer stores working pixel data for each of a plurality of pixels of a frame;

a processing unit which stores at least one update pixel value in said update buffer for a new update corresponding with a new update region of said frame; and

a display controller, comprising:

at least one fetch block which retrieves each of said at least one new pixel value from said update buffer for each new update, and which retrieves corresponding working pixel data from said working buffer;

an overlap detector which detects an overlap region when any pixel of said new update region is within a current update region of a current update of said frame;

a collision detector which issues an interrupt to said processing unit when said overlap region is detected and when at least one pixel within said overlap region is being updated by said current update to an end pixel value which is different from a corresponding new pixel value provided by said new update for said at least one pixel within said overlap region; and

a construction processor which updates said corresponding working pixel data in said working buffer using a corresponding one of said at least one new pixel value from said update buffer for each pixel that is within said new update region and outside of said current update region before said current update is completed.

8. The display system of claim 7 , wherein said collision detector issues said interrupt whenever said end pixel value is different from said corresponding new pixel value for at least one pixel within said overlap region even when said at least one pixel within said overlap region is not being updated by said current update.

9. The display system of claim 7 , wherein whenever said end pixel value is different from said corresponding new pixel value for at least one overlapping pixel within said overlap region that is not being updated by said current update, said construction processor updates said working pixel data of each of said at least one overlapping pixel by reassigning said overlapping pixel to said new update and by replacing said end pixel value with said new pixel value.

10. The display system of claim 9 , wherein said collision detector does not issue said interrupt when, for each of said at least one overlapping pixel within said overlap region, a corresponding new pixel value provided by said new update is the same as a corresponding end pixel value or when said overlapping pixel is reassigned to said new update.

11. The display system of claim 7 , wherein said collision detector does not issue said interrupt when a corresponding new pixel value provided by said new update is the same as a corresponding end pixel value for each pixel within said overlap region.

12. The display system of claim 7 , wherein said display controller further comprises a display processing system which converts said working pixel data from said working buffer to waveform information during sequential scan updates of said frame, including converting working pixel data for said new update region concurrently with converting working pixel data for said current update region for at least one scan update of said frame when said overlap region is detected.

13. The display system of claim 12 , wherein said display controller further comprises:

a plurality of lookup tables, wherein each of said plurality of lookup tables is active when assigned to an update, is released when said update is completed, and is inactive when not assigned to any update, and wherein each active lookup table includes a corresponding update region;

wherein said working pixel data for each of said pixels of said frame includes a lookup number indicating one of said plurality of lookup tables;

wherein said overlap detector detects said overlap region when a lookup table indicated by said corresponding working pixel data is active and when said any pixel of said new update region is within an assigned update region of said indicated lookup table; and

an update frame controller which programs each active one of said plurality of lookup tables with waveform values prior to said scan update.

14. A method of processing pixel information for a display panel, comprising:

detecting a new update for a new update region of a frame of pixels;

receiving a new value for at least one pixel within the new update region and receiving corresponding working pixel data for the at least one pixel;

detecting an overlap region when the new update temporally overlaps at least one current update and when the new update region spatially overlaps at least one current update region of the at least one current update;

when the overlap region is detected, for each pixel of the new update region that is not within the overlap region and for which a new value is received, updating the corresponding working pixel data;

when the overlap region is detected, for each overlapping pixel within the overlap region, detecting a collision when the overlapping pixel is being updated by the at least one current update to an end value which is different from a new value of the new update;

for each collision that is detected within the overlap region, performing no new pixel construction for the corresponding working pixel data for the corresponding overlapping pixel;

simultaneously updating at least one pixel within the current update region of the frame and outside the overlap region and at least one pixel within the new update region of the frame and outside the overlap region; and

when at least one collision is detected, issuing a correction request for a different and subsequent update.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein said detecting a collision comprises detecting a collision for each overlapping pixel in which a corresponding end value of the at least one current update is different from a corresponding new value of the new update.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising reassigning an overlapping pixel to the new update by replacing an end value within corresponding working pixel data with a corresponding new value when the corresponding new value is different from the end value and when the overlapping pixel is not being updated by the at least one current update.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein said detecting a collision comprises detecting a collision for an overlapping pixel only when the overlapping pixel is being updated by the at least one current update and is not reassigned to the new update.

18. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

for each new update, converting working pixel data for each pixel of the frame to waveform information during sequential scan updates of the frame until the new update is completed; and

when the overlap region is detected, said converting comprising concurrently converting working pixel data updated by the new update and converting working pixel data updated by the at least one current update for at least one scan update of the frame.

19. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

upon detecting an update, activating one of a plurality of lookup tables by assigning it to the update and to a corresponding update region;

programming each activated lookup table with waveform values prior to each scan update of the frame; and

deactivating an activated lookup table when a corresponding update is completed.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein said detecting an overlap region comprises:

determining whether a table number stored the corresponding working pixel data indicates an active one of the plurality of lookup tables; and

when the table number in the corresponding working pixel data indicates an active one of a plurality of lookup tables, detecting an overlap region when a pixel location of the corresponding working pixel data is within a region assigned to the active one of the plurality of lookup tables.

Assignments (31)