System for digitally driving addressable pixel matrix
OwnerWilliam J. Mandlinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for digitally driving an addressable pixel display by modulating each pixel e.g., on or off, in short time pulses. A preferred embodiment responds to N-bit pixel words derived from a source digital file at a rate F1 for producing M-bit data streams at a rate F2 where N>M and F1<F2. Each data stream is preferably produced by an oversampling data modulator employing a delta-sigma implementation.
Claims15
Apparatus responsive to a digital file containing X·Y N-bit pixel values for forming a gray or color scale image on a matrix of X·Y addressable pixels where X·Y≧10000, said apparatus comprising:
- a pixel value source supplying each of said N-bit pixel values at a rate F1;
- an oversampling data modulator;
- said data modulator being responsive to each supplied N-bit pixel value for producing an output stream of M-bit values at a rate F2 where N>M and F1<F2;
- and
- means applying each such output stream to an associated one of said addressable pixels such that each output stream directly modulates its associated pixel to produce a light output which can be readily filtered by a human eye to extract an apparent gray or color scale image.
Apparatus for driving a display comprised of X·Y pixels, where X·Y≧10000, to create a visible gray or color scale image, said apparatus comprising:
- an image file including X·Y N-bit input words each uniquely associated with a different one of said X·Y pixels, said image file being refreshed at a rate F1;
- an oversampling data modulator;
- said data modulator being operable to derive from each N-bit input word, an M-bit output pixel value at a rate F2 where N>M and F1<F2;
- and
- means applying each M-bit output pixel value to the display pixel associated with the N-bit input word from which it was derived to directly modulate the light output of the pixel for filtering by a human eye to extract an apparent gray or color scale image.
A method of directly modulating each pixel in a matrix of X·Y addressable pixels, where X·Y≧10000, to form a visible gray or color scale image, said method comprising the steps of:
- supplying X·Y N-bit words each uniquely associated with a different one of said X·Y pixels, at a rate of F1;
- converting each of said N-bit words to a stream of M-bit values occurring at a rate of F2 where N>M and F1<F2;
- directly modulating each addressable pixel by a different one of said streams of M-bit values to vary the light output therefrom;
- and
- relying on the psycho-physical response of the human eye to low pass filter the light output to extract an apparent flicker free gray or color scale image.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.