Display control device and display control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9307187-B2
Application number	US-201314397304-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 15, 2013
Priority date	May 22, 2012
Publication date	Apr 5, 2016
Grant date	Apr 5, 2016

Abstract

A display control device includes a determining portion determining a frame rate in displaying a frame image on a display portion as a determined frame rate; and a converter converting a present frame rate into the determined frame rate when the determined frame rate is different from the present frame rate. The determining portion determines, based on information about an OSD image, whether the determined frame rate is set to a frame rate identical to or higher than the present frame rate, and when determining that the determined frame rate is set to the frame rate higher than the present frame rate, determines the frame rate as the determined frame rate to display the frame image at the determined frame rate starting from a frame image which is K frames after a currently displayed frame image, where K is an integer not less than 1 and not more than 10.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A display control device which controls display of a frame image on a display portion which displays the frame image, the frame image including an input image based on an input image signal and an OSD image for on-screen display, the display control device comprising:
a processor configured to function at least as:
a determining portion which is electrically connected to outside of the display control device by a signal line, to which the input image signal and an OSD image signal representing the OSD image are input via the signal line, and which is configured to determine a frame rate in displaying the frame image on the display portion as a determined frame rate; and
a converter which is electrically connected to the determining portion and the display portion, to which the input image signal and the OSD image signal are input, and which is configured to convert a present frame rate into the determined frame rate when the determined frame rate is different from the present frame rate, wherein
the determining portion is configured to:
acquire information about the OSD image;
determine whether the determined frame rate is set to a frame rate identical to the present frame rate or a frame rate higher than the present frame rate, based on the acquired information about the OSD image; and
when determiningthat the determined frame rate is set to the frame rate higher than the present frame rate, determine the frame rate as the determined frame rate to display the frame image on the display portion at the determined frame rate starting from a frame image which is K frames after a frame image currently displayed on the display portion, where K is an integer not less than 1 and not more than 10,

the information about the OSD image includes information about an OSD frame rate which is a frame rate in displaying the OSD image, and
when the information about the OSD image includes information indicating that the OSD frame rate is higher than the present frame rate, the determining portion is configured to determine to set the determined frame rate to a frame rate which is N-time as great as the OSD frame rate, where N is an integer not less than 1.

2. The display control device according to claim 1 , wherein, when the information about the OSD image includes information indicating that the OSD frame rate is not higher than the present frame rate, the determining portion determines to set the determined frame rate to a frame rate identical to the present frame rate.

3. The display control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the information about the OSD image further includes information indicating whether or not the OSD image is a moving image, and
when the information about the OSD image includes information indicating that the OSD frame rate is higher than the present frame rate and includes information indicating that the OSD image is a moving image, the determining portion determines to set the determined frame rate to a frame rate which is N-times as great as the OSD frame rate, where N is an integer not less than 1.

4. The display control device according to claim 3 , wherein, when the information about the OSD image includes information indicating that the OSD image is not a moving image, the determining portion determines to set the determined frame rate to a frame rate identical to the present frame rate irrespective of whether the OSD frame rate is high or low.

5. The display control device according to claim 1 , wherein
the information about the OSD image includes an OSD signal representing a display region of the OSD image in the display portion,
the determining portion includes an OSD image judging portion which is electrically connected to outside of the display control device by a signal line, to which the input image signal, the OSD image signal, and the OSD signal are input via the signal line, and which is configured to judge whether or not the OSD image is a moving image, based on the OSD signal, and
when the OSD image judging portion judges that the OSD image is not a moving image, the determining portion is configured to determine to set the determined frame rate to a frame rate identical to the present frame rate.

6. The display control device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to function as:
a photographing portion which photographs an observer who observes the display portion; and
a photographing information judging portion which judges information about the observer based on a photographing result of the photographing portion, wherein
the photographing information judging portion judges, as the information about the observer, whether or not time during which the observer does not view the display portion continues for not less than a predetermined time, or, whether or not the observer is away from the display portion by not less than a predetermined distance, and
when the photographing information judging portion judges that the time during which the observer does not view the display portion continues for not less than the predetermined time, or the photographing information judging portion judges that the observer is away from the display portion by not less than the predetermined distance, the determining portion determines to set the determined frame rate to a frame rate identical to the present frame rate irrespective of the information about the OSD image.

7. The display control device according to claim 1 , further comprising a battery which supplies electric power at least to processor, wherein
the determining portion includes a residual amount judging portion which judges a residual amount of the battery, and
when the residual amount judging portion judges that the residual amount of the battery is not more than a predetermined value, the determining portion determines to set the determined frame rate to a frame rate identical to the present frame rate irrespective of the information about the OSD image.

8. A display control method for controlling display of a frame image on a display portion which displays the frame image, the frame image including an input image based on an input image signal and an OSD image for on-screen display, the display control method comprising:
a first step of determining a frame rate in displaying the frame image on the display portion as a determined frame rate; and
a second step of converting a present frame rate into the determined frame rate when the determined frame rate is different from the present frame rate,
wherein the first step includes:
an acquiring step of acquiring information about the OSD image; and
a determining step of determining whether the determined frame rate is set to a frame rate identical to the present frame rate or a frame rate higher than the present frame rate, based on the acquired information about the OSD image,

wherein in the first step, when it is determined in the determining step that the determined frame rate is set to the frame rate higher than the present frame rate, the frame rate is determined as the determined frame rate to display the frame image on the display portion at the determined frame rate starting from a frame image which is K frames after a frame image currently displayed on the display portion, where K is an integer not less than 1 and not more than 10,
wherein the information about the OSD image includes information about an OSD frame rate which is a frame rate in displaying the OSD image, and
wherein in the first step, when the information about the OSD image includes information indicating that the OSD frame rate is higher than the present frame rate, it is determined to set the determined frame rate to a frame rate which is N-time as great as the OSD frame

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Izumi Yoshiki

Classifications

• G09G2330/021

  Power management, e.g. power saving · CPC title

• H04N21/440218

  by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 (conversion of standards in analogue television systems H04N7/01) · CPC title

• H04N7/0132

  the field or frame frequency of the incoming video signal being multiplied by a positive integer, e.g. for flicker reduction · CPC title

• G09G2340/0435

  Change or adaptation of the frame rate of the video stream · CPC title

• H04N7/0127

  by changing the field or frame frequency of the incoming video signal, e.g. frame rate converter · CPC title