IP Library Granted Patent US 9,324,255
Granted Patent B2
US 9,324,255 · App. 13/606,821 · Granted Apr 26, 2016

Electro-optic device and electronic apparatus

Inventors: Tetsuro Yamazaki (Shiojiri, JP); Takashi Toyooka (Matsumoto, JP)
Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
G09G3/2025G09G3/3648G09G2320/0252G09G2340/0435G09G2340/16
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,324,255
App. No.
13/606,821
Granted
Apr 26, 2016
Kind
B2
Abstract

An electro-optic device according an embodiment of the invention can increase the number of gray scales capable of being expressed. A liquid crystal panel is viewed via a blocking unit which blocks the field of view in a predetermined non-viewing period. A converting unit converts, based on a video signal, a gray-scale value input for each frame composed of a subfields into a subfield code indicating a combination of ON and OFF of b (2≦b≦a) subfields included in a viewing period other than the non-viewing period and c (1≦c≦b) subfields included in the non-viewing period. A driving unit drives a plurality of electro-optic elements each based on the converted subfield code.

Claims (30)

1. An electro-optic device comprising:

a plurality of electro-optic elements which are viewed via a shutter glass which blocks a field of view in a predetermined non-viewing period, and each of which is brought into an optical state corresponding to a supplied signal;

a non-transitory memory that stores a combined subfield code indicating a combination of ON and OFF and combines a non-viewing subfield code for the non-viewing period and a viewing sub-field code for a viewing period other than the non-viewing period;

a converting unit that refers to the non-transitory memory and converts, based on a video signal indicating a video divided into a plurality of frames, a gray-scale value input for the viewing period of each of the frames which is composed of a subfields into the combined subfield code including the viewing subfield code of b (2≦b≦a) subfields and the non-viewing subfield code of c (1≦c≦b) subfields; and

a driving unit which drives the plurality of electro-optic elements by supplying, based on the combined subfield code converted by the converting unit, the signal for controlling the optical state of each of the plurality of electro-optic elements.

2. The electro-optic device according to claim 1 , wherein

a response time of each electro-optic element is longer than an initial subfield of the a subfields in the frame.

3. The electro-optic device according to claim 1 , wherein

the converting unit performs, on a gray-scale value of a current frame as an object to be processed in the plurality of frames, the conversion based on the gray-scale value in the current frame and an optical state of the electro-optic element in an immediately previous frame one frame before the current frame.

4. The electro-optic device according to claim 3 , wherein the non-transitory memory stores a table in which a pair of a gray-scale value and the combined subfield code are recorded for each of optical states of the immediately previous frame, wherein

the converting unit converts the gray-scale value input with reference to the table stored in the non-transitory memory.

5. The electro-optic device according to claim 4 , wherein

the table includes an identifier indicating an optical state corresponding to the gray-scale value for each of the combined subfield codes,

the non-transitory memory stores the identifier in the immediately previous frame, and

the converting unit converts the gray-scale value input based on the identifier and the table stored in the non-transitory memory.

6. The electro-optic device according to claim 1 , wherein

the video signal indicates a three-dimensional video including a left-eye image and a right-eye image which are alternately switched time-divisionally.

7. An electronic apparatus comprising the electro-optic device according to claim 1 .

8. An electronic apparatus comprising the electro-optic device according to claim 2 .

9. An electronic apparatus comprising the electro-optic device according to claim 3 .

10. An electronic apparatus comprising the electro-optic device according to claim 4 .

11. An electronic apparatus comprising the electro-optic device according to claim 5 .

12. An electronic apparatus comprising the electro-optic device according to claim 6 .

13. An electro-optic device that displays a two-dimensional video and a three-dimensional video using subfield driving, the device comprising:

a plurality of electro-optic elements which are viewed via a shutter glass which blocks a field of view in a predetermined non-viewing period, each electro-optic element being brought into an optical state corresponding to a supplied signal;

a non-transitory memory that stores a subfield code that is a combination of codes of symbols indicating ON or OFF of the electro-optic elements;

a converting unit that refers to the non-transitory memory and converts, based on a video signal indicating a video that is divided into a plurality of frames, a gray-scale value that was input for each of the frames to the subfield code in a plurality of subfields that constitute each of the frames; and

a driving unit that drives the plurality of electro-optic elements by supplying the signal that controls the optical state of each of the plurality of electro-optic elements, based on the subfield code, wherein:

when the video signal is a three-dimensional video signal including a left-eye image and a right-eye image, and the non-viewing period is a period in which both the left-eye image and the right-eye image are not viewed,

the converting unit converts the gray-scale value that was input for each of the frames to subfield codes that are a combination of (i) a code containing a subfield included in a viewing period other than the non-viewing period and (ii) a code containing a subfield included in the non-viewing period.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 28, 2019
From: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
To: 138 EAST LCD ADVANCEMENTS LIMITED
Reel/Frame 050197/0212 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 7, 2012
From: YAMAZAKI, TETSURO; TOYOOKA, TAKASHI
To: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 028940/0257 →
Priority Claims (1)
JP 2011-226003 · Oct 13, 2011 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20130093864A1 · Apr 18, 2013