Filling blank spaces of a display screen

A method for displaying video images on a display screen, the method comprising:

• determining whether or not color bands are to be displayed on a display screen configured to display a stream of video images;
• filling blank spaces of the display screen with color bands having a color representing an approximation of a predominant color of at least a portion of the stream of video images when it is determined that the color bands are to be displayed, wherein pixels are sampled from the stream of video images for determination of the predominant color from one of the central location of the images or the periphery of the images as selected by a user, wherein the determination of the predominant color minimizes a weighting factor for sampled pixels that exceed a pre-determined standard deviation;
• and
• transitioning the predominant color based on determined rates of change in the predominant color.

A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program for filling the unused portions of a display screen, the computer program comprising:

• logic configured to sample a plurality of pixels from a plurality of frames of a stream of video images to be displayed on a display screen, wherein the pixels are sampled from one of the central location of the images or the periphery of the images as selected by a user;
• logic configured to process the sampled pixels to determine a background color representing an approximation of a predominant color of the video images wherein the determination of a background color minimizes a weighting factor for sampled pixels that exceed a pre-determined standard deviation;
• logic configured to fill unused spaces of the display screen with the background color;
• and
• logic configured to transition the predominant color based on determined rates of change in the predominant color.