MASK-BASED SPATIO-TEMPORAL DITHERING

1 - 20 . (canceled)

21 . A method comprising, by a computing system:

determining a target pixel value for a pixel of a current subframe of a series of N subframes, wherein the series of N subframes are to be displayed consequently in a time domain;

determining an aggregated target pixel value of target pixel values of the pixel in subframes prior to the current subframe in the series of N subframes;

determining an aggregated actual pixel value of displayed pixel values of the pixel in the subframes prior to the current subframe in the series of N subframes;

determining an aggregated quantization error based on a difference between the aggregated target pixel value and the aggregated actual pixel value; and

determining a compensated target pixel value based on the target pixel value and the aggregated quantization error.

22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the aggregated target pixel value is determined based on the target pixel value for the pixel and a current subframe number n of the series of N subframes.

23 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the aggregated actual pixel value is a sum of the displayed pixel values of the pixel in the subframes prior to the current subframe in the series of N subframes.

24 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising:

accessing a mask value from a dithering mask having a spatial stacking property;

determining a quantized pixel value for the pixel of the current frame based on the compensated target pixel value and the accessed mask value; and

providing the quantized pixel value for display.

25 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the quantized pixel value is determined based on the compensated target pixel value and a quantization level unit corresponding a least significant bit (LSB) of a quantization range.

26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein the quantized pixel value corresponds to a closest quantization level lower than the compensated target pixel value adjusted by the mask value, and wherein the quantized pixel value is determined based on a floor operation.

27 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the quantized pixel value is determined based on a non-linear quantization on a quantization range comprising non-uniformly distributed quantization levels within the quantization range.

28 . The method of claim 27 , wherein the quantized pixel value is determined by:

determining a first closest quantization level lower than the compensated target pixel value;

determining a second closest quantization level greater than the compensated target pixel value;

determining a remainder of the compensated pixel value over the first closest quantization level;

comparing the remainder to the mask value accessed from the dithering mask; and

in response to a determination that the remainder is less than the mask value, determining the quantized pixel value based on the first closest quantization level; and

in response to a determination that the remainder is greater than the mask value, determining the quantized pixel value based on the second closest quantization level.

29 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the dithering mask comprises a plurality of stacked dot patterns each comprising a plurality of dots, wherein each dot of the dithering mask is associated with a threshold value, and wherein the threshold value corresponds to a lowest threshold value which has a corresponding dot pattern comprising that dot.

30 . The method of claim 29 , wherein each of the plurality of stacked dot patterns corresponds to a particular grayscale level and satisfies a constraint for the spatial stacking property by comprising all dot patterns corresponding to lower grayscale levels than that particular grayscale level.

31 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising:

determining an intermediate compensated target pixel value based on a difference between (1) the aggregated target pixel value of the target pixels of the pixel of the current subframe and the previously subframes of the series of N subframes, and (2) the aggregated actual pixel value of the displayed pixel values of the pixel in the previous subframes of the series of N subframes, wherein the intermediate compensated target pixel corresponds to N times of the compensated target pixel value; and

clipping the intermediate compensated target pixel value into a range of [0, 1].

32 . The method of claim 31 , wherein the compensated target pixel value is determined based on a quantization result of the intermediate compensated target pixel.

33 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising:

displaying the series of N subframes sequentially in the time domain within a pre-determined time duration, wherein the pre-determined time duration allows human visual systems to work as temporal integrators for perceiving the series of N subframes.

34 . One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:

determine a target pixel value for a pixel of a current subframe of a series of N subframes, wherein the series of N subframes are to be displayed consequently in a time domain;

determine an aggregated target pixel value of target pixel values of the pixel in subframes prior to the current subframe in the series of N subframes;

determine an aggregated actual pixel value of displayed pixel values of the pixel in the subframes prior to the current subframe in the series of N subframes;

determine an aggregated quantization error based on a difference between the aggregated target pixel value and the aggregated actual pixel value; and

determine a compensated target pixel value based on the target pixel value and the aggregated quantization error.

35 . The media of claim 34 , wherein the aggregated target pixel value is determined based on the target pixel value for the pixel and a current subframe number n of the series of N subframes.

36 . The media of claim 34 , wherein the aggregated actual pixel value is a sum of the displayed pixel values of the pixel in the subframes prior to the current subframe in the series of N subframes.

37 . The media of claim 34 , further embodying software that is operable to:

access a mask value from a dithering mask having a spatial stacking property;

determine a quantized pixel value for the pixel of the current frame based on the compensated target pixel value and the accessed mask value; and

provide the quantized pixel value for display.

38 . A system comprising:

one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media embodying instructions; and

one or more processors coupled to the storage media and operable to execute the instructions to:

determine a target pixel value for a pixel of a current subframe of a series of N subframes, wherein the series of N subframes are to be displayed consequently in a time domain;

determine an aggregated target pixel value of target pixel values of the pixel in subframes prior to the current subframe in the series of N subframes;

determine an aggregated actual pixel value of displayed pixel values of the pixel in the subframes prior to the current subframe in the series of N subframes;

determine an aggregated quantization error based on a difference between the aggregated target pixel value and the aggregated actual pixel value; and

determine a compensated target pixel value based on the target pixel value and the aggregated quantization error.

39 . The system of claim 38 , wherein the aggregated target pixel value is determined based on the target pixel value for the pixel and a current subframe number n of the series of N subframes.

40 . The system of claim 38 , wherein the aggregated actual pixel value is a sum of the displayed pixel values of the pixel in the subframes prior to the current subframe in the series of N subframes.