Display control method, time schedule controller, storage medium and display equipment

Abstract

The invention discloses a display control method, a time schedule controller, a storage medium and display equipment. The method comprises the steps that the time schedule controller detects whether at least parts of multiple rows of display data of a display panel are the same or not and whether the data volume of the same part is larger than or equal to a preset data volume threshold value or not; and when at least parts of the multiple rows of display data of the display panel are the same and the data volume of the same part is greater than or equal to a preset data volume threshold value, the time schedule controller controls the source driver or the display panel to display the same part by using the displayed data.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of display technologies, and particularly to a display control method, a timing controller, a storage medium, and a display device. Background Art

[0002] A liquid crystal display panel usually includes a timing controller (TCON), a source driver, a gate driver, etc. Among them, the main function of the TCON is to process each frame of image data to generate a data signal and a control signal corresponding to each frame of image data. The control signal includes an output enable signal for controlling the gate driver to output a gate signal, and the data signal is used to control the source driver to output a data voltage to be written into the corresponding pixels on the liquid crystal display panel. Specifically, when the gate scan line in the liquid crystal display panel receives the gate signal output by the gate driver, the source driver charges and discharges the pixels corresponding to the gate scan line in the liquid crystal display panel according to the corresponding data voltage, so that the display panel displays an image.

[0003] However, when transmitting data, regardless of whether the multi-line data is consistent or not, the TCON needs to transmit the data signal to the source driver line by line, resulting in a problem of relatively high overall power consumption of the liquid crystal display panel. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The following is an overview of the subject matter described in detail herein. This overview is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the claims.

[0005] The present disclosure provides a display control method, including: the timing controller detecting whether at least part of multi-line display data of the display panel is the same, and whether the amount of data in the same part is greater than or equal to a preset data amount threshold; when at least part of the multi-line display data of the display panel is the same and the amount of data in the same part is greater than or equal to the preset data amount threshold, the timing controller controls the source driver or the display panel to use the displayed data to display the same part.

[0006] An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a timing controller, including: a processor and a memory storing a computer program that can run on the processor, wherein the processor implements the steps of the display control method as described above when executing the program.

[0007] Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a display device, including: a timing controller as described in any embodiment of the present disclosure, and further including a source driver, a gate driver, and a display panel, where: the display panel includes data lines and scan lines; the source driver is configured to drive the data lines of the display panel; the gate driver is configured to drive the scan lines of the display panel; and the timing controller is configured to drive and control the source driver and the gate driver.

[0008] Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions, which when executed by a processor can implement the display control method as described in any one of the above.

[0009] In the display control method, timing controller, storage medium, and display device according to embodiments of the present disclosure, by detecting whether at least part of multiple lines of display data of the display panel are the same, and whether the amount of data in the same part is greater than or equal to a preset data amount threshold; when at least part of multiple lines of display data of the display panel are the same and the amount of data in the same part is greater than or equal to the preset data amount threshold, controlling the source driver or the display panel to use the already displayed data to display the same part, and for the repeated display data exceeding the preset data amount threshold, there is no need to perform data update from the TCON to the source driver, reducing the display control from the TCON to the source driver and lowering the power consumption of the display control.

[0010] Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be described in the subsequent specification, and in part, will be obvious from the specification, or will be understood by implementing the present disclosure. Other advantages of the present disclosure can be achieved and obtained through the solutions described in the specification and the drawings. Description of the Drawings

[0011] The drawings are used to provide an understanding of the technical solutions of the present disclosure, and constitute a part of the specification. Together with the embodiments of the present disclosure, they are used to explain the technical solutions of the present disclosure, and do not constitute a limitation to the technical solutions of the present disclosure.

[0012] Figure 1A and Figure 1B are respectively a schematic diagram of an LCD display system architecture and display control.

[0013] Figure 2 is a flowchart of a display control method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0014] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of functional modules of a source driver according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0015] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of data flow directions among the timing controller, the source driver, and the display panel.

[0016] Figure 5A and Figure 5B are schematic diagrams of two display screens.

[0017] Figure 5C is a schematic flowchart of another display control method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 6A is a schematic diagram of a display screen for two consecutive frames.

[0019] Figure 6B is a schematic flowchart of yet another display control method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 7A is a schematic flowchart of yet another display control method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 7B is a schematic diagram of a display screen.

[0022] Figure 8A is a schematic diagram of the arrangement of sub-pixel display data on a display panel.

[0023] Figure 8B is Figure 8A a schematic diagram of the data transmission method for the second row in

[0024] Figure 9A is a schematic diagram of the transmission timing of a row data packet according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0025] Figure 9B is a schematic diagram of the structure of a row data packet according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0026] Figure 10 is a schematic flowchart of the data transmission sequence according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0027] Figure 11A is a schematic diagram of the mapping method for eight-bit color depth display data in a one-channel mode.

[0028] Figure 11B is a schematic diagram of the mapping method for eight-bit color depth display data in a two-channel mode.

[0029] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a timing controller according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0030] Figure 13 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a display panel according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. Detailed implementation manners

[0031] The present disclosure describes multiple embodiments, but the description is exemplary rather than restrictive, and it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that there can be more embodiments and implementation solutions within the scope encompassed by the embodiments described in the present disclosure. Although many possible feature combinations are shown in the drawings and discussed in the detailed description, many other combinations of the disclosed features are also possible. Unless specifically restricted, any feature or element of any embodiment can be used in combination with any other feature or element in any other embodiment, or can replace any other feature or element in any other embodiment.

[0032] The present disclosure includes and contemplates combinations with features and elements known to those of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiments, features, and elements already disclosed in the present disclosure can also be combined with any conventional features or elements to form unique inventive solutions defined by the claims. Any feature or element of any embodiment can also be combined with features or elements from other inventive solutions to form another unique inventive solution defined by the claims. Therefore, it should be understood that any feature shown and / or discussed in the present disclosure can be implemented alone or in any suitable combination. Therefore, the embodiments are not subject to other limitations except those made in accordance with the appended claims and their equivalents. In addition, various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the appended claims.

[0033] In addition, when describing representative embodiments, the specification may have presented the method and / or process as a specific sequence of steps. However, to the extent that the method or process does not depend on the specific order of the steps described herein, the method or process should not be limited to the specific order of steps described. As will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art, other step sequences are possible. Therefore, the specific order of steps set forth in the specification should not be construed as a limitation on the claims. In addition, the claims directed to the method and / or process should not be limited to performing their steps in the order written, and those skilled in the art can readily understand that these orders can vary and still remain within the spirit and scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0034] As a mainstream display method today, the liquid crystal display panel (LCD) is widely used in products such as mobile phones, tablets, TVs, vehicles, and wearables. Figure 1A and Figure 1BRespectively, it is a schematic diagram of an LCD display system architecture and display control. The system board is connected to the TCON via a connection line. Through display interfaces such as LVDS / VBO (Low-Voltage Differential Signaling / V-by-One), a frame of picture data is transmitted to the TCON. The TCON is connected to the source driver via a connection line. The TCON transmits a whole frame of data of the display picture to the source driver in the form of gray levels. The source driver converts the gray level data into corresponding data voltages to charge the sub-pixels of the LCD display panel and controls the display panel to display. No matter what the display picture is, during the whole transmission process, a whole frame of data needs to be transmitted.

[0035] A way to reduce power consumption is panel self-refresh (PSR). Its technical principle is as follows: When the TCON recognizes that the graphic data of the current frame is the same as that of the previous frame, the system transmission circuit can be suspended, and the previously stored data is remapped to the screen to relieve the computing pressure of the system GPU, thereby effectively reducing the power consumption of the system board. When the picture switches, the TCON will receive new graphic data, and at this time PSR is released. PSR includes PSR1 and PSR2. The biggest difference between PSR1 and PSR2 is the full refresh and partial refresh of the panel picture. Among them, when PSR1 enters the still picture, no matter where the picture is updated, the system board needs to update the data of the whole frame of the picture to the TCON. When PSR2 enters the still picture, when the picture is updated, only the system board needs to update the changed part of the data to the TCON.

[0036] The PSR method only reduces the transmission from the system board to the TCON and reduces the power consumption at the system end. However, after PSR is enabled, the transmission data from the TCON to the source driver remains unchanged and the power consumption remains unchanged.

[0037] As Figure 2 shown, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a display control method, including:

[0038] Step 201, the timing controller detects whether at least part of the multi-line display data of the display panel is the same, and whether the data volume of the same part is greater than or equal to a preset data volume threshold;

[0039] Step 202, when at least part of the multi-line display data of the display panel is the same and the data volume of the same part is greater than or equal to the preset data volume threshold, the timing controller controls the source driver or the display panel to use the already displayed data to display the same part.

[0040] The display control method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure detects whether at least part of the multi-line display data of the display panel is the same, and whether the data volume of the same part is greater than or equal to a preset data volume threshold; when at least part of the multi-line display data of the display panel is the same and the data volume of the same part is greater than or equal to the preset data volume threshold, the source driver or the display panel is controlled to use the displayed data to display the same part. For the repeated display data exceeding the preset data volume threshold, there is no need to update the data from the TCON to the source driver, reducing the display control from the TCON to the source driver and lowering the power consumption of the display control.

[0041] The display control method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure controls the source driver or the display panel to use the displayed data to display the same part when the TCON detects that at least part of the multi-line display data of the display panel is the same and the data volume of the same part is greater than or equal to the preset data volume threshold. Therefore, this power consumption reduction method can be called the Driver self-refresh (DSR) method. It should be noted that the DSR method of the present disclosure and the current PSR method can be used in combination (i.e., the PSR method is used to reduce power consumption between the system board and the TCON, and the DSR method is used to reduce power consumption between the TCON and the source driver / display panel); or, the DSR method of the present disclosure can be used alone, that is, only the DSR method of the present disclosure is used to reduce power consumption between the TCON and the source driver / display panel, and the PSR method is not used between the system board and the TCON. Users can set according to their needs, and the present disclosure does not limit this.

[0042] Figure 3 It is a main module working flowchart of a source driver. As Figure 3 shown, the source driver includes a receiving (Rx) unit, a clock data recovery unit, a serial data to parallel data unit, a bidirectional shift register, a line buffer unit, a level conversion unit, a digital to analog conversion unit, a buffer and an output unit connected in sequence. Among them, the display data is stored in the line buffer unit. If the TCON does not send the next line of display data, the source driver will always latch and output the current data.

[0043] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the data transceiver relationship between a TCON and a source driver. As Figure 4 shown, there is a Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM) unit inside the TCON that can be used as a FrameBuffer to store frame data. The TCON sends the display data to the source driver through the sending (Tx) unit, and the source driver receives the display data through the receiving (Rx) unit and finally outputs it to the display panel.

[0044] In some exemplary embodiments, when the timing controller controls the source driver or the display panel to display the same part using the displayed data, the data transmission channel between the timing controller and the source driver enters a sleep state so that the display control time for each row is consistent.

[0045] The source driver has the function of latching one row of data and can only update the voltage of one row of pixels at a time. The TCON can store and process the picture through the SRAM. When the TCON finds that adjacent rows or a part of the picture data are repetitive, it can send a command through the P2P (point to point) signal without updating the row data in the source driver, and at the same time make the data transmission channel between the sending unit of the TCON and the receiving unit of the source driver enter a sleep state so that the display control time for each row is consistent.

[0046] In some exemplary embodiments, the detected multi-row display data of the display panel is the display data of multiple adjacent rows within the same frame, and the preset data volume threshold is N1 rows of display data, where N1 is a positive integer greater than 1;

[0047] The timing controller controls the source driver or the display panel to display the same part using the displayed data, including:

[0048] The timing controller designates the first row or the last row among multiple adjacent rows as the update row, and the rows other than the update row among the multiple adjacent rows are the hold rows;

[0049] When the gate driver scans the update row, the timing controller outputs the display data of the update row to the source driver so that the source driver outputs the data voltage corresponding to the display data of the update row to the data line on the display panel;

[0050] When the gate driver scans the hold row, the timing controller stops outputting the display data to the source driver so that the source driver still outputs the data voltage corresponding to the display data of the update row to the data line on the display panel.

[0051] Figure 5A and Figure 5B are schematic diagrams of two display pictures, and both of these two display pictures have obvious data repetitiveness. Taking forward scanning as an example, for the Figure 5B picture, only after updating the data in the first row of the picture, the Tx unit of the TCON and the Rx unit of the source driver can be disconnected (power saving), and the source driver can output the data of this row throughout this frame of the picture. For the Figure 5A picture, only the row data needs to be updated at the data switching point (i.e., the update row marked in the figure). As Figure 5CAs shown, first, the system screen inputs TCON. TCON compares the data of adjacent rows in the current frame with the corresponding source driver regions. If the number of identical rows of data ≥ N1 rows (N1 is a preset retention row number threshold, and N1 is an integer greater than 1), then TCON extracts the coordinates and data of the rows to be updated according to the comparison result, and updates the row data at the corresponding row positions according to the coordinate data; otherwise, the data is sent and updated row by row.

[0052] In some exemplary embodiments, the multi-line display data of the display panel detected by the timing controller is the display data of adjacent rows of adjacent two frames, and the preset data volume threshold is N2 rows of display data, where N2 is a positive integer greater than 1;

[0053] The timing controller controls the source driver or the display panel to display the same part using the displayed data, including:

[0054] The timing controller marks the multi-line adjacent rows in the latter frame of adjacent two frames as scan-off rows, and the rows other than the scan-off rows are scan-on rows;

[0055] The timing controller controls the gate driver to scan the scan-on rows row by row and output the display data of the scan-on rows to the source driver.

[0056] Figure 6A These are the display pictures of two consecutive frames. As Figure 6A shown, TCON compares the pictures of two consecutive frames. For the repeated picture parts, the GOA can be skipped, and the data transmission channel between the Tx unit of TCON and the Rx unit of the source driver is put into a sleep state (power saving). When the row data needs to be scanned, the GOA is turned on, and the data transmission channel between the Tx unit of TCON and the Rx unit of the source driver exits the sleep state to output the updated picture. As Figure 6B shown, after the system screen is input, TCON compares the current frame data with the previous frame data. If the number of identical rows of data ≥ N2 rows (N2 is a preset scan-off row number threshold, and N2 is an integer greater than 1), then TCON extracts the coordinates and data of the scan rows according to the comparison result, adjusts the GOA signal according to the coordinate data, turns off the GOA of the rows that do not need to be scanned (i.e., skips the GOA), and finally outputs the row data to be scanned together with the GOA signal; otherwise, the data is sent and updated row by row.

[0057] In some exemplary embodiments, the multi-line display data of the display panel detected by the timing controller is the continuous display data of adjacent two rows within the same frame, and the preset data volume threshold is m, 1 < m ≤ M, where M is the number of sub-pixel columns in the display panel;

[0058] The timing controller controls the source driver or the display panel to display the same part using the displayed data, including:

[0059] When the gate driver scans to the latter row of two adjacent rows row by row, the timing controller divides the sub-pixels corresponding to consecutive identical display data into a first segment; and divides the sub-pixels other than the first segment into a second segment.

[0060] The timing controller sends the position information of the first segment and the display data of the second segment to the source driver, so that the source driver controls the display of the latter row according to the display data corresponding to the position information of the first segment in the previous row and the display data of the second segment.

[0061] As Figure 7A shown, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a display control method, including:

[0062] Step 701: Detect one by one whether the display data of each sub-pixel in the current row is the same as the display data of the corresponding sub-pixel in the previous row;

[0063] Step 702: When the number of consecutive identical display data is greater than or equal to a preset data volume threshold m, divide the sub-pixels corresponding to the consecutive identical display data into a first segment; and divide the sub-pixels other than the first segment into a second segment;

[0064] Step 703: Send the position information of the first segment and the display data of the second segment to the source driver, so that the source driver controls the display of the current row of the display panel according to the display data corresponding to the position information of the first segment in the previous row and the display data of the second segment in the current row.

[0065] The display control method of the embodiment of the present disclosure detects one by one whether the display data of each sub-pixel in the current row is the same as the display data of the corresponding sub-pixel in the previous row. When the number of consecutive identical display data is greater than or equal to the preset data volume threshold m, the sub-pixels corresponding to the consecutive identical display data are divided into a first segment; the sub-pixels other than the first segment are divided into a second segment; the position information of the first segment and the display data of the second segment are sent to the source driver, so that the source driver controls the display of the current row of the display panel according to the display data corresponding to the position information of the first segment in the previous row and the display data of the second segment in the current row. For the display data that is continuously repeated in a segment, there is no need to perform data update from the TCON to the source driver, reducing the display control from the TCON to the source driver. The display data of one row can be sent in advance, and then the Tx / Rx display control channel from the TCON to the source driver is closed, reducing the power consumption of the display control.

[0066] From the user's perspective, reducing the product power consumption can extend the product's usage time. Especially for mobile products, there is no need for frequent charging, which is convenient and reliable. At the same time, reducing the power consumption also reduces the user's expenses. From a technical perspective, reducing the LCD power consumption reduces the load on the system battery and the requirements for power supply design. In addition, with the increasing awareness of environmental protection, reducing power consumption is of great significance for saving energy and achieving a green society.

[0067] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the display data of each sub-pixel can be grayscale data. Grayscale, also known as gray level, refers to the range of brightness values of each sub-pixel when converting a color image into a black-and-white image in computer image processing. Simply put, grayscale refers to the brightness level corresponding to the grayscale value of each sub-pixel in an image. For example, assuming that an 8-bit binary number is used to represent the grayscale value of each sub-pixel, the grayscale value corresponding to black is 0, and the grayscale value corresponding to white is 255. All the intermediate gray tones have different grayscale values, and these values will be represented as 8-bit binary numbers in the computer.

[0068] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the setting of the preset data volume threshold m needs to be adjusted according to the actual project situation (such as parameters like resolution and frame rate). If the threshold is set too small, the repeated data segment is too short, and there is too much transmission address information. Compared with the traditional display control scheme, the power consumption may even be higher. If the threshold is set too large, the application probability is lower, and the effect of reducing power consumption is smaller. Therefore, it is necessary to debug and select the optimal threshold according to the specific project situation. For a 4K resolution product, the preset data volume threshold m can be set to 1500; for a 2K resolution product, the preset data volume threshold m can be set to 400.

[0069] As Figure 7B For the displayed picture shown, assuming that the display data in the area between two arrows in each row on the left side of the display panel is the same, then from the second row to the last row, this area is the first segment. The display data of this segment only needs to be sent once in the first row, and only the position information of this segment needs to be sent from the second row to the last row, thereby reducing the display control between the TCON and the source driver and reducing the display control power consumption.

[0070] In some exemplary embodiments, the position information of the first segment includes any one of the following:

[0071] The starting position information of the sub-pixels of the first segment and the number of consecutive identical display data;

[0072] The starting position information and the ending position information of the sub-pixels of the first segment.

[0073] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the position information of the first segment can be described in various ways. For example, it can be described by the starting position information of the sub-pixels of the first segment and the number of consecutive identical display data, or by the starting position information and the ending position information of the sub-pixels of the first segment. In some other exemplary embodiments, the position information of the first segment can also be described by the ending position information of the sub-pixels of the first segment and the number of consecutive identical display data.

[0074] Exemplarily, when the number of consecutive repetitions of two rows of data exceeds the preset data volume threshold m, this segment is regarded as a repeated data segment. For this repeated data segment, the data stored in the row buffer unit of the source driver is used for display, and only the starting coordinates and the number of repetitions of the repeated data segment are sent using the row data packet.

[0075] In some exemplary embodiments, in each row, the first segment can include one or more, and the second segment can include one or more.

[0076] The embodiments of the present disclosure support multiple repeated data segments (i.e., the first segment), which are implemented by multiple sets of position information (such as the starting position information address + the number of consecutive identical display data num). The total number of bytes occupied by multiple sets of address + num can be specified in advance. Exemplarily, the total number of bytes occupied by multiple sets of address + num is 12 bytes, each address occupies 2 bytes, num occupies 2 bytes, and a total of 3 segments are supported.

[0077] Exemplarily, as Figure 8A shown, in the first row L1 to the sixth row L6, the first segment is from the 41st column S41 to the 440th column S440, and the second segment is from the first column to the 40th column, from the 42nd column to the 1040th column; in the seventh row L7 to the tenth row L10, the first segment is from the 41st column S41 to the 1040th column S1040, and the second segment is from the first column to the 40th column.

[0078] The data comparison process is as follows: As Figure 8AAs shown, it is set that the number of continuously repeated data needs to be greater than 380 to not update the data, that is, the preset data volume threshold is 380. First, the display data of the first line L1 is stored in the line buffer of the source driver, and at the same time, the first line is displayed; when the data of the second line L2 arrives, compare the display data of the first line and the second line. The continuously repeated data of the two lines is S41 - S440, and the quantity is 400, which is greater than the threshold 380. Then S41 - S440 do not need to update the data, and S1 - S40, S441 - S1040 need to update the data. When the second line L2 is displayed, at the same time, update the data of L2 into the line buffer, and so on. When the data of the eighth line L8 arrives, compare the data of the eighth line L8 and the data of the seventh line L7. The continuously repeated data of the two lines is S41 - S1040, and the quantity is 1000, which is greater than the threshold 380. Then S41 - S1040 do not need to update the data, and S1 - S40 need to update the data.

[0079] Display control process: As Figure 8B shown, the display data of the second line L2 is compared through the above data comparison process and can be divided into three segments. Among them, data segment 1 is S1 - S40, and data segment 3 is S441 - S1040, both of which are non-repeated data segments (i.e., the second segment); data segment 2 is S41 - S440, which is exactly the same as the first line L1 and is a repeated data segment (i.e., the first segment). First, the TCON transmits the position information of data segment 2 to the source driver (since data segment 2 is repeated data and does not need to be updated), and then transmits data segment 1 and data segment 3 to the source driver. The display data of data segment 2 comes from the stored data in the line buffer of the source driver.

[0080] In some exemplary embodiments, the position information of the first segment and the display data of the second segment are sent through a line data packet. The line data packet includes a line start code, a line control instruction, one or more groups of position information data of the first segment, one or more groups of display data of the second segment, and a line end code. Each frame of data ends with a frame end code and a frame control instruction.

[0081] In some exemplary embodiments, the method further includes: after transmitting the display data of the second segment and before transmitting the line end code, making the data transmission channel between the timing controller and the source driver sleep for a period of time so that the display control time of each line is consistent.

[0082] After the preparation of the display data of one line is completed, immediately make the data transmission channel between the TCON and the source driver enter the sleep state to reduce power consumption.

[0083] Figure 9AA schematic diagram of a row data packet structure provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. For the second row L2, since there is no need to transmit data segment 2, the transmission time is saved. After the data preparation of the second row L2 is completed, the data transmission channel between the TCON and the source driver is immediately put into the sleep state, reducing the power consumption.

[0084] Figure 9B Another schematic diagram of a row data packet structure provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. The K code is an 8-bit / 10-bit code specially defined to be different from other data. Figure 9B Among them, K1 and K2 are used to identify the start and end of a row of display data. K4 replaces K2 and represents the end of a frame of data. In the data packet, invalid data is filled with zero (1'b0, that is, 1-bit binary zero). The control instruction packet includes two types: CTRL_L (Control Package Line) and CTRL_F (Control Package Frame). Among them, CTRL_L is used to describe the transmission information of the next row of data. CTRL_L is located at the start of each row of data. CTRL_F is used to describe the transmission information of the next frame of data. CTRL_F is located after the end of the last row of each frame. The CTRL_L control instruction packet is used to identify the frame start polarity control signal, the inversion mode, and the loading signal timing of the source driver chip. After the end of a frame of data, the CTRL_F instruction packet follows K4. The CTRL_F control instruction packet is used to define the settings of the transmission source driver chip, including the number of differential channels, the transmission rate, the color depth, etc.

[0085] In the CTRL_F control instruction packet, there is a register with reserved bits. For example, the third bit of the sixth byte Byte6[3] can be selected as the selection bit for enabling DSR. When this bit is 0, it means that the DSR function of the next frame is turned off. When this bit is 1, it means that the DSR function of the next frame is turned on. In the data packet, after CTRL_L, the start position information address of the data that needs to be updated in a row is transmitted. There are 2 bytes of data in total, and the maximum support is 2^16, that is, 65536 start bit selections. After the start position information address, the number of repeated data num needs to be transmitted. There are 2 bytes of data in total, and the maximum support is 2^16, that is, 65536 repeated data, which can correspond to an 8K product at most (the data volume of each row is 7680*3 = 23040). The display data is only the data of the non-repeated data segment.

[0086] When performing display control, 8 / 10 encoding is adopted, and each grayscale data occupies ten bits, such as Figure 10As shown, during display control, following the least significant bit first principle, the least significant byte (Byte 0) is transmitted first. And in each byte, the least significant bit (LSB) D[0] is transmitted first, while the most significant bit (MSB) D[9] is transmitted last.

[0087] In some exemplary embodiments, the position information of the first segment and the display data of the second segment are transmitted through one or more channels. When transmitting the display data of the second segment, each channel transmits in a preset sub-pixel order, and within the data corresponding to each sub-pixel, the data is transmitted in ascending order of the significant bits.

[0088] The mapping of 8-bit color depth display data is specified as follows. As Figure 11A shown, in the 1-channel mode, the ten-bit data corresponding to Byte0 is transmitted first, decoded and mapped to obtain R0[7:0], then the ten-bit data corresponding to Byte1 is transmitted, decoded and mapped to obtain G0[7:0], then the ten-bit data corresponding to Byte2 is transmitted, decoded and mapped to obtain B0[7:0]...;

[0089] As Figure 11B shown, in the 2-channel mode, the data transmission order of lane 0 channel is: first transmit the ten-bit data corresponding to Byte0, decoded and mapped to obtain R0[7:0]; then transmit the ten-bit data corresponding to Byte1, decoded and mapped to obtain B0[7:0]; then transmit the ten-bit data corresponding to Byte2, decoded and mapped to obtain G1[7:0]...; the data transmission order of lane 1 channel is: first transmit the ten-bit data corresponding to Byte0, decoded and mapped to obtain G0[7:0]; then transmit the ten-bit data corresponding to Byte1, decoded and mapped to obtain R1[7:0]; then transmit the ten-bit data corresponding to Byte2, decoded and mapped to obtain B1[7:0]...

[0090] In some exemplary embodiments, before the method, it further includes: dividing multiple sub-pixels in each row into multiple groups according to the number of source drivers, and the sub-pixels in each group correspond to one source driver.

[0091] Sending the position information of the first segment and the display data of the second segment to the source driver includes: respectively sending the position information of the first segment and / or the display data of the second segment of each group to the corresponding source driver.

[0092] The display control method of this embodiment compares the display data of the previous line with that of the current line one by one, sets a preset data volume threshold m. When the number of consecutive repetitions of the two lines of data exceeds the preset data volume threshold m, for this repeated data segment, the data stored in the source driver line buffer unit is used for display, and the TCON does not need to send repeated data to the source driver. Instead, the line data packet only sends the starting position information of the repeated data segment + the number of repeated data to confirm the position of the repeated data segment. When the number of consecutive repetitions of the two lines of data does not exceed the set threshold, for this non-repeated data segment, the TCON needs to send the corresponding current line data to the source driver. Therefore, if there is a repeated data segment in a line, only the starting position information + the number of repeated data need to be sent, which saves time compared to sending pixel display data. The display data of this line is prepared in advance, and then the data transmission channel from the TCON to the source driver is closed, reducing power consumption.

[0093] An embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a timing controller, which may include a processor and a memory storing a computer program that can run on the processor. When the processor executes the computer program, it implements the steps of the display control method described in any one of the previous items in the present disclosure.

[0094] As Figure 12 shown, in one example, the timing controller may include: a processor 1210, a memory 1220, a bus system 1230, and a transceiver 1240. Among them, the processor 1210, the memory 1220, and the transceiver 1240 are connected through the bus system 1230. The memory 1220 is used to store instructions, and the processor 1210 is used to execute the instructions stored in the memory 1220 to control the transceiver 1240 to send signals. Specifically, the transceiver 1240 can send data signals to the source driver under the control of the processor 1210. The processor 1210 detects whether at least part of the multi-line display data of the display panel is the same, and whether the data volume of the same part is greater than or equal to the preset data volume threshold. When at least part of the multi-line display data of the display panel is the same and the data volume of the same part is greater than or equal to the preset data volume threshold, it controls the source driver or the display panel to use the already displayed data to display the same part.

[0095] It should be understood that the processor 1210 may be a central processing unit (CPU), and the processor 1210 may also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), off-the-shelf programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may also be any conventional processor, etc.

[0096] The memory 1220 may include a read-only memory and a random access memory, and provide instructions and data to the processor 1210. A part of the memory 1220 may also include a non-volatile random access memory. For example, the memory 1220 may also store information about the device type.

[0097] The bus system 1230 may include, in addition to a data bus, a power bus, a control bus, a status signal bus, etc. However, for the sake of clear illustration, in Figure 12 all kinds of buses are labeled as the bus system 1230.

[0098] In the implementation process, the processing performed by the processing device may be completed by the integrated logic circuit in the hardware of the processor 1210 or the instructions in the form of software. That is, the method steps of the embodiments of the present disclosure may be embodied as being executed and completed by the hardware processor, or executed and completed by the combination of the hardware and software modules in the processor. The software module may be located in a storage medium such as a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, or an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, etc. This storage medium is located in the memory 1220, and the processor 1210 reads the information in the memory 1220 and combines its hardware to complete the steps of the above method. To avoid repetition, it will not be described in detail here.

[0099] As Figure 13 shown, the embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a display device, including a timing controller, a source driver, a gate driver, and a display panel. The timing controller may be the timing controller described in any embodiment of the present disclosure. The display panel includes a plurality of data signal lines D1 to Dn and a plurality of scan signal lines S1 to Sk. The plurality of data signal lines D1 to Dn and the plurality of scan signal lines S1 to Sk define a plurality of sub-pixels Pxij arranged in an array; the source driver is used to drive the data signal lines D1 to Dn of the display panel; the gate driver is used to drive the scan signal lines S1 to Sk of the display panel; the timing controller is used to drive and control the source driver and the gate driver. Of course, in addition to the above-mentioned timing controller, source driver, and gate driver, the display device may also include a system-on-chip (i.e., Figure 1AIn the system board), the system-on-chip processes the incoming image data and provides multiple frames of image data to the timing controller through the display interface. The timing controller generates display data for display based on the image data. The display data includes multiple lines of display signals, and each line of display signals may include the display gray levels of multiple sub-pixels included in that line. In this way, the display data can include the display gray levels of each sub-pixel. The timing controller sends the display data to the source driver. The source driver determines the display timing of each line of display signals, determines the gray-scale voltages of each sub-pixel, and the address information of the data signal lines corresponding to each line of display signals. Then, it drives the sub-pixels of each line on the display panel based on the address information, display timing, and gray-scale voltages.

[0100] In an exemplary embodiment, the timing controller can provide display gray levels and control signals suitable for the specifications of the source driver to the source driver, and can provide clock signals, scan start signals, etc. suitable for the specifications of the gate driver to the gate driver. The source driver can use the display gray levels and control signals received from the timing controller to generate data voltages to be provided to the data signal lines D1, D2, D3,..., and Dn. For example, the source driver can sample the gray values using the clock signal and apply the data voltages corresponding to the gray values to the data signal lines D1 to Dn in pixel row units, where n can be a natural number. The gate driver can generate scan signals to be provided to the scan signal lines S1, S2, S3,..., and Sk by receiving clock signals, scan start signals, etc. from the timing controller. For example, the gate driver can sequentially provide scan signals with conductive level pulses to the scan signal lines S1 to Sk. For example, the gate driver can be configured in the form of a shift register and can generate scan signals in a manner that sequentially transmits the scan start signal in the form of a conductive level pulse to the next-stage circuit under the control of the clock signal, where k can be a natural number. The pixel array can include multiple sub-pixels Pxij. Each sub-pixel Pxij can be connected to the corresponding data signal line and the corresponding scan signal line, where i and j can be natural numbers. The sub-pixel Pxij can refer to the sub-pixel in which the transistor is connected to the i-th scan signal line and the j-th data signal line.

[0101] Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions, which, when executed by a processor, can implement the display control method provided in any of the above embodiments of the present disclosure. The display control method can be used to control the timing controller provided in the above embodiments of the present disclosure to perform display control, solving the problem that the TCON transmits data signals to the source driver line by line, resulting in a relatively high overall power consumption of the liquid crystal display panel. The method of driving the timing controller to perform display control by executing the executable instructions is basically the same as the display control method provided in the above embodiments of the present disclosure, and will not be elaborated herein.

[0102] In the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the orientation or positional relationship indicated by the terms "middle", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", etc. is based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and is only for the convenience of describing the present disclosure and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and thus should not be construed as a limitation to the present disclosure.

[0103] In the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "mounted", "connected" and "connected" shall be understood in a broad sense. For example, it may be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it may be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it may be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, and it may be the communication inside two elements. For those of ordinary skill in the art, the meanings of the above terms in the present disclosure can be understood according to the context.

[0104] Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that all or some of the steps in the methods disclosed above, and the functional modules / units in the systems and devices, can be implemented as software, firmware, hardware, or a suitable combination thereof. In the hardware implementation, the division of the functional modules / units mentioned above does not necessarily correspond to the division of physical components; for example, one physical component can have multiple functions, or one function or step can be executed by several physical components in cooperation. Some or all components can be implemented as software executed by a processor, such as a digital signal processor or a microprocessor, or as hardware, or as an integrated circuit, such as an application-specific integrated circuit. Such software can be distributed on a computer-readable medium, which can include a computer storage medium (or non-transitory medium) and a communication medium (or transitory medium). As is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, the term computer storage medium includes volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storing information, such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technologies, CD-ROM, digital versatile disk (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, tapes, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store the desired information and can be accessed by a computer. In addition, it is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art that a communication medium typically contains computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transmission mechanism, and can include any information delivery medium.

[0105] Although the embodiments disclosed in this disclosure are as described above, the content described is only an embodiment adopted for the convenience of understanding this disclosure and is not intended to limit this disclosure. Any person skilled in the art within the scope of this disclosure can make any modifications and changes in the form and details of the implementation without departing from the spirit and scope disclosed in this disclosure. However, the scope of protection of this disclosure shall still be subject to the scope defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A display control method, characterized in that, Including: The timing controller detects whether at least part of the multi-line display data of the display panel is the same, and whether the amount of data in the same part is greater than or equal to a preset data amount threshold; When at least part of the multi-line display data of the display panel is the same and the amount of data in the same part is greater than or equal to the preset data amount threshold, the timing controller controls the source driver or the display panel to use the already displayed data to display the same part.

2. The display control method according to claim 1, wherein The multi-line display data of the detected display panel is the display data of multiple adjacent lines within the same frame, and the preset data amount threshold is N1 lines of display data, where N1 is a positive integer greater than 1; The timing controller controls the source driver or the display panel to use the already displayed data to display the same part, including: The timing controller designates the first line or the last line of the multiple adjacent lines as the update line, and the lines other than the update line in the multiple adjacent lines are the hold lines; When the gate driver scans to the update line, the timing controller outputs the display data of the update line to the source driver, so that the source driver outputs a data voltage corresponding to the display data of the update line to the data lines on the display panel; When the gate driver scans to the hold line, the timing controller stops outputting display data to the source driver, so that the source driver still outputs a data voltage corresponding to the display data of the update line to the data lines on the display panel.

3. The display control method according to claim 1, characterized in that The multi-line display data of the display panel detected by the timing controller is the display data of multiple adjacent lines of two adjacent frames, and the preset data amount threshold is N2 lines of display data, where N2 is a positive integer greater than 1; The timing controller controls the source driver or the display panel to use the already displayed data to display the same part, including: The timing controller designates multiple adjacent lines in the latter frame of the two adjacent frames as scan-off lines, and the lines other than the scan-off lines are scan-on lines; The timing controller controls the gate driver to scan the scan-on lines row by row and outputs the display data of the scan-on lines to the source driver.

4. The display control method according to claim 1, wherein The multi-line display data of the display panel detected by the timing controller is the continuous display data of two adjacent lines within the same frame, and the preset data amount threshold is m, where 1 < m ≤ M, and M is the number of sub-pixel columns in the display panel; The timing controller controls the source driver or the display panel to use the already displayed data to display the same part, including: When the gate driver scans row by row to the latter of the two adjacent lines, the timing controller divides the sub-pixels corresponding to the continuously identical display data into a first segment; and divides the sub-pixels other than the first segment into a second segment; The timing controller sends the position information of the first segment and the display data of the second segment to the source driver, so that the source driver controls the display of the latter line according to the display data corresponding to the position information of the first segment of the previous line and the display data of the second segment.

5. The display control method according to claim 4, wherein The position information of the first segment includes any one of the following: The starting position information of the sub-pixels of the first segment and the number of continuously identical display data; The start position information and end position information of the sub-pixels in the first segment.

6. The display control method according to claim 4, wherein In each row, the first segment includes one or more, and the second segment includes one or more.

7. The display control method according to claim 4, wherein The position information of the first segment and the display data of the second segment are sent through a row data packet, and the row data packet includes a row start code, a row control instruction, one or more groups of position information data of the first segment, one or more groups of second segment display data, and a row end code. The end of each frame of data includes a frame end code and a frame control instruction.

8. The display control method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The position information of the first segment and the display data of the second segment are transmitted through one or more channels. When transmitting the display data of the second segment, each channel transmits in a preset sub-pixel order, and in the data corresponding to each sub-pixel, the transmission is in the order from the lowest to the highest data valid bit.

9. The display control method according to claim 4, wherein Before the method, it further includes: Dividing the multiple sub-pixels in each row into multiple groups according to the number of source drivers, and the sub-pixels in each group correspond to one of the source drivers; The sending the position information of the first segment and the display data of the second segment to the source driver includes: Sending the position information of the first segment of each group and / or the display data of the second segment of each group to the corresponding source driver respectively.

10. The display control method according to claim 1, wherein The method further includes: when the timing controller controls the source driver or the display panel to display the same part using the displayed data, the data transmission channel between the timing controller and the source driver enters a sleep state so that the display control time of each row is consistent.

11. A timing controller, characterized in that, It includes: A processor and a memory storing a computer program that can run on the processor. When the processor executes the computer program, it implements the steps of the display control method as described in any one of claims 1 to 10.

12. A display device, characterized in that, It includes: The timing controller as described in claim 11 further includes a source driver, a gate driver, and a display panel, wherein: The display panel includes data lines and scan lines; The source driver is used to drive the data lines of the display panel; The gate driver is used to drive the scan lines of the display panel; The timing controller is used to drive and control the source driver and the gate driver.

13. A storage medium, characterized in that, Storing computer-executable instructions for executing the display control method as described in any one of claims 1 to 10.

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