Synchronization of a display device in a system including multiple display devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10762875-B2
Application number	US-201815944592-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 3, 2018
Priority date	Apr 3, 2018
Publication date	Sep 1, 2020
Grant date	Sep 1, 2020

Abstract

Embodiments include apparatuses, methods, and systems including a selector. A selection signal may be provided to the selector to select a first synchronization signal as a control signal when the first synchronization signal is available, otherwise a second first synchronization signal as the control signal. The first or the second synchronization signal may synchronize a first or second display content received by a first or second display device with a first or a second display refresh rate, respectively. The control signal may be provided to a controller to control the second display content received by the second display device. Other embodiments may also be described and claimed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for computing, comprising:
a selector;
a first link coupled to the selector to receive a first synchronization signal from a first display device through the first link between the selector and the first display device, wherein the first synchronization signal is to synchronize a first display content received by the first display device with a first display refresh rate of the first display device, and wherein there is a connection between the first display device and a controller to supply the first synchronization signal to the controller to synchronize the first display content, the first link and the connection providing two different signal paths disjoint from each other;
a second link coupled to the selector to receive a second synchronization signal from a second display device, wherein the second synchronization signal is to synchronize a second display content received by the second display device with a second display refresh rate of the second display device;
a third link coupled to the selector to provide a control signal to the controller to control the second display content received by the second display device; and
a fourth link coupled to the selector to provide the selector with a selection signal to select the first synchronization signal as the control signal to be provided to the controller when the first display device is configured to function as a display device and the first synchronization signal is available, otherwise to select the second synchronization signal as the control signal to be provided to the controller when the first display device is not configured to function as a display device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first display device is a master display device, and the second display device is a slave display device.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second display content received by the second display device is synchronized by the second synchronization signal from the second display device when the first synchronization signal is not available, or synchronized by the first display device when the first synchronization signal is available.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first synchronization signal from the first display device is a tearing effect removal timing signal for the first display device, or the second synchronization signal from the second display device is a tearing effect removal timing signal for the second display device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first display refresh rate of the first display device or the second display refresh rate of the second display device is in a frame by frame basis.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first display refresh rate of the first display device or the second display refresh rate of the second display device is 60 Hz, 120 hz, or 240 hz.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first display device or the second display device includes a display, and wherein the display is a selected one of a light-emitting diode (LED) display, a cathode ray tubes (CRT) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD), a digital light processing (DLP) display, a plasma display, an electroluminescent panel, an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, or an electronic paper.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first display content received by the first display device or the second display content received by the second display device is received according to a protocol selected from a mobile industry processor interface display serial interface (MIPI-DSI) protocol, a high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) protocol, a display port (DP) protocol, a Miracast protocol, or a wireless display (WiDi) protocol.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first display device functions as a display device or as an input device.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus further comprises:
the first display device; and
the second display device, wherein the apparatus is a tablet, a mobile device, a smart phone, a smart television (TV), a touchscreen display, or a head-mounted display (HMD).

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is hosted within a computing device, wherein the computing device is a tablet, a mobile device, a smart phone, a smart television (TV), a touchscreen display, or a head-mounted display (HMD).

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the selector is a multiplexer, and the selection signal is a logic power signal to the first display device to determine a power supply to the first display device.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: a detection circuit to generate the selection signal by detecting the first synchronization signal from the first display device is available or not.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the detection circuit includes a capacitor-resistor constant mono-stable timer, with a duration longer than a display refresh time determined by the display refresh rate of the first display device.

15. An apparatus for computing, comprising: a communication interface to receive a control signal, wherein the control signal is selected by a selector to be a first synchronization signal from a first display device when the first display device is configured to function as a display device and the first synchronization signal is available, otherwise is selected by the selector to be a second synchronization signal from a second display device when the first display device is not configured to function as a display device, wherein the first synchronization signal is to synchronize a first display content received by the first display device with a first display refresh rate of the first display device, and the second synchronization signal is to synchronize a second display content received by the second display device with a second display refresh rate of the second display device; and
a controller coupled to the communication interface to determine to transmit the second display content to the second display device based on the control signal, wherein the first synchronization signal is supplied to the selector by a first link between the first display device and the selector, and also supplied to the controller by a connection between the first display device and the controller to supply the first synchronization signal to the controller to synchronize the first display content, the first link and the connection providing two different signal paths disjoint from each other.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the controller is further to determine to transmit the first display content to the first display device based on the control signal when the first synchronization signal is available.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the first display device is a master display device, and the second display device is a slave display device.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the first synchronization signal from the first display device is a tearing effect removal timing signal for the first display device, or the second synchronization signal from the second display device is a tearing effect removal timing signal for the second display device.

19. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the first display device or the second display device includes a display, and wherein the display is a selected one of a light-emitting diode (LED) display, a cathode ray tubes (CRT) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-L

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Suzuki Nobuyuki
• Zhuang Zhiming
• Tomar Arvind S
• Ansari Nausheen

Classifications

• G06F3/1431 Primary

  using a single graphics controller · CPC title

• G09G5/12 Primary

  Synchronisation between the display unit and other units, e.g. other display units, video-disc players · CPC title

• G06F3/0412

  Digitisers structurally integrated in a display · CPC title

• G09G2370/16

  Use of wireless transmission of display information · CPC title

• G06F3/1454

  involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay · CPC title