Control method for a display and related circuit

Abstract

The present invention provides a control method for a display, where the display is a first display. The control method includes the following steps: obtaining second resolution information from at least one second display; combining the second resolution information from the at least one second display with first resolution information of the first display to generate modified resolution information; transmitting the modified resolution information to an image source device; receiving image frame data from the image source device; extracting a first frame data from the image frame data, displaying the first frame data on the first display; and transmitting the image frame data to the at least one second display.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a control method for a display, and more particularly to a control method for a display with an extended screen. Prior Technology

[0002] To better serve computer users, most computer system chips and operating systems now support extended display operation, allowing users to transmit multiple video files from one computer to multiple monitors for display. Currently, there are two mechanisms for controlling extended displays. One mechanism involves connecting multiple monitors to multiple output ports on the computer. For example, the first monitor connects to the computer's High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connector, and the second monitor connects to the computer's Universal Serial Bus (USB-C) connector. The computer then transmits multiple video files to the first and second monitors via Single Stream Transport (SST) mode through the HDMI and USB-C connectors respectively. However, if the computer is a laptop, the limited number of output ports restricts the number of extended displays that can be used.

[0003] The second mechanism for extending screen control involves multiple displays being daisy-chained to a single output port on the computer. The computer then uses multi-stream transport to send multiple video streams to the displays through this single output port. However, because some system chips do not currently support multi-stream transport, and the number of streams supported by multi-stream transport is limited by the system chip's capabilities, the number of extended screens remains restricted. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Therefore, one of the objectives of this invention is to provide a control method for a display with an extended screen, which allows a computer to transmit multiple image contents through a single output port to multiple displays connected in a daisy chain using a single-stream transmission mode, and also allows a computer that supports multi-stream transmission mode to connect to more displays, thereby solving the problems described in the prior art.

[0005] In one embodiment of the present invention, a method for controlling a display is disclosed, wherein the display is a first display, and the method includes: acquiring second resolution information of at least one second display; combining the second resolution information of the at least one second display with first resolution information of the first display to generate modified resolution information; transmitting the modified resolution information to an image source device; receiving image frame data from the image source device; extracting first frame data from the image frame data and displaying the first frame data on the first display; and transmitting the image frame data to the at least one second display.

[0006] In one embodiment of the present invention, a circuit for a display is disclosed, wherein the display is a first display, and the circuit includes: a distribution and segmentation circuit and an image processing circuit. The distribution and segmentation circuit is used to obtain second resolution information of at least one second display, combine the second resolution information of the at least one second display with first resolution information of the first display to generate modified resolution information, transmit the modified resolution information to an image source device, receive image frame data from the image source device, extract first frame data from the image frame data, and transmit the image frame data to the at least one second display. The image processing circuit is used to transmit the first frame data to a display panel of the first display.

[0007] In one embodiment of the present invention, a method for controlling a display is disclosed, wherein the display is a second display, and the control method includes: acquiring third resolution information of a third display; transmitting the third resolution information of the third display and a second resolution information of the second display to a first display, so that the first display generates modified resolution information to an image source device; receiving image frame data from the first display, wherein the image frame data sequentially includes a first frame data, a second frame data, and a third frame data; extracting the second frame data from the image frame data and displaying the second frame data on the second display; and extracting the third frame data from the image frame data and transmitting the third frame data to the third display. Simple Explanation of the Diagram

[0008] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an extended screen architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the display frame data, which includes the first frame data, the second frame data, and the third frame data. Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an extended screen architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 is a flowchart of a display control method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 5 is a flowchart of a display control method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Implementation

[0009] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an extended screen architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1, displays 120_1 to 120_N are connected in a daisy-chain manner. For example, display 120_1 can be connected to display 120_2 via a connector, such as a DisplayPort (DP) connector or a USB-C connector, and a corresponding transmission cable. Display 120_2 can be connected to display 120_3 via a connector and a corresponding transmission cable, and so on. In addition, image source device 110 can be connected to the first display 120_1 via a DP connector or a USB-C connector to transmit image content from display 120_1 to each display. In this embodiment, image source device 110 can be a desktop computer, laptop computer, smartphone, tablet computer, or any other electronic device with a screen and supporting extended screen functionality. Image source device 110 can support only single-stream transmission mode or can support both single-stream transmission mode and multi-stream transmission mode simultaneously.

[0010] In this embodiment, display 120_1 includes a splitting and dividing circuit 122_1, an image processing circuit 124_1, and a display panel 126_1; display 120_2 includes a splitting and dividing circuit 122_2, an image processing circuit 124_2, and a display panel 126_2; and display 120_N includes a splitting and dividing circuit 122_N, an image processing circuit 124_N, and a display panel 126_N. In one embodiment, the splitting and dividing circuit 122_1 can be implemented by a hub with splitter circuit.

[0011] In one embodiment, the allocation and cutting circuit 122_1 and the image processing circuit 124_1 within the display 320_1 may be different chips, or the allocation and cutting circuit 122_1 and the image processing circuit 124_1 may be integrated into a single chip.

[0012] In the operation of the extended screen architecture shown in Figure 1, the first display 120_1 first obtains the resolution and related information of all other displays 120_2 to 120_N. Specifically, assuming the extended screen architecture has three displays 120_1 to 120_3, display 120_2 can obtain the DisplayPort Configuration Data (DPCD), Extended Display Identification Data (EDID), or any other data containing the resolution information of display 120_3 through the auxiliary channel defined in the DP specification; and display 120_1 can also obtain the DPCD, EDID, or any other data containing the resolution information of displays 120_2 and 120_3 through the auxiliary channel defined in the DP specification. Next, after obtaining the resolution information of all other displays 120_2 and 120_3, display 120_1 combines the resolutions of all connected displays to obtain a modified resolution information, and uses this modified resolution information as the resolution information of display 120_1 itself, for example, modifying the resolution information in its own DPCD or EDID. For example, assuming that the resolution of displays 120_1 to 120_3 is all Full High Definition (FHD), that is, 1920*1080, then display 120_1 can horizontally combine the three Full High Definition resolutions to obtain a modified resolution of 5760*1080. In another embodiment, assuming that the resolution of displays 120_1 to 120_3 is all Full High Definition, then display 120_1 can vertically combine the three Full High Definition resolutions to obtain a modified resolution of 1920*3240.

[0013] It should be noted that since the display orientation of monitors 120_1 to 120_3 can be changed, for example, the monitors can be placed vertically or horizontally, assuming that the resolution of monitors 120_1 to 120_3 is all ultra-high quality, but the way monitors 120_1 to 120_3 are placed so that the resolution is 1080*1920, then monitor 120_1 can combine the three ultra-high quality resolutions horizontally or vertically to obtain a modified resolution of 3240*1920 or 1080*5760.

[0014] In one embodiment, if the resolutions of displays 120_1 to 120_3 are not entirely the same—for example, displays 120_1 and 120_3 have a resolution of 1920*1080, but display 120_2 has a resolution of 2560*1440—then display 120_1 will use the lowest of these three resolutions as the resolution for all displays 120_1 to 120_3 to generate the modified resolution. That is, the resolution of display 120_2 will be considered 1920*1080, and the modified resolution will be 5760*1080.

[0015] In summary of the above embodiments, when the number of displays is N, and the minimum resolution information among the N resolution information of the N displays is A*B, then the modified resolution information is (N*A)*B or A*(N*B).

[0016] Next, the user controls the image source device 110 to start using the extended screen function. For example, the user can enable the extended screen function through the display settings function in the Windows operating system. The display settings will include two desktops, one of which is the internal desktop displayed on the display panel of the image source device 110, and the other is the extended desktop displayed on other monitors. At this time, the image source device 110 will obtain resolution information from the monitor 120_1. Since the resolution information of the monitor 120_1 has been modified to 5760*1080, the image source device 110 will regard this modified resolution of 5760*1080 as the resolution of a single monitor 120_1. That is, the resolution of the extended desktop in the display settings will also be set to 5760*1080.

[0017] The image source device 110 transmits the extended desktop as image frame data F1 to the display 120_1. Referring to Figure 2, the image frame data F1 includes first frame data F1_1, second frame data F1_2, and a third frame data F1_3. The resolution of the image frame data F1 is the same as the modified resolution provided by the display 120_1 to the image source device 110, which is 5760*1080. The first frame data F1_1, the second frame data F1_2, and the third frame data F1_3 are all 1920*1080. In this embodiment, the first frame data F1_1, the second frame data F1_2, and the third frame data F1_3 are different contents of one or more applications of the image source device 110, and the image source device 110 transmits the image frame data F1 to the display 120_1 through a single-stream transmission mode, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0018] After receiving image frame data F1 from image source device 110, the allocation and cropping circuit 122_1 in display 120_1 extracts first frame data F1_1 from the image frame data F1 and transmits the first frame data F1_1 to image processing circuit 124_1 for image processing, such as image scaling, brightness / color adjustment, sharpness adjustment, etc., before displaying it on display panel 126_1. In another embodiment, the image processing circuit 124_1 transmits the first frame data F1_1 to display panel 126_1 without performing image processing. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the user can configure the allocation and cropping circuit 122_1 through the on-screen display (OSD) function of display 120_1 so that the allocation and cropping circuit 122_1 automatically extracts the first frame data F1_1 located at the leftmost position of the image frame data F1. In addition, the distribution and cutting circuit 122_1 will completely transmit the image frame data F1 to the display 120_2.

[0019] After receiving image frame data F1 from display 120_1, the allocation and cropping circuit 122_2 in display 120_2 extracts second frame data F1_2 from the image frame data F1 and transmits the second frame data F1_2 to the image processing circuit 124_2 for some image processing before displaying it on the display panel 126_2. In another embodiment, the image processing circuit 124_2 transmits the second frame data F1_2 to the display panel 126_2 without performing any image processing. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the user can configure the allocation and cropping circuit 122_2 through the screen display function of display 120_2 so that the allocation and cropping circuit 122_2 automatically extracts the second frame data F1_2 located in the middle of the image frame data F1. In addition, the allocation and cropping circuit 122_2 transmits the image frame data F1 completely to display 120_3.

[0020] After receiving image frame data F1 from display 120_2, the allocation and cropping circuit 122_3 in display 120_3 extracts third frame data F1_3 from the image frame data F1 and transmits the third frame data F1_3 to the image processing circuit 124_3 for some image processing before displaying it on the display panel 126_3. In another embodiment, the image processing circuit 124_3 transmits the third frame data F1_3 to the display panel 126_3 for display without performing any image processing. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the user can configure the allocation and cropping circuit 122_3 through the screen display function of display 120_3 so that the allocation and cropping circuit 122_3 automatically extracts the third frame data F1_3 located on the far right of the image frame data F1.

[0021] As described above, by using the extended screen architecture shown in Figure 1, the image source device 110 can transmit extended desktop content to two or more displays in a single-stream transmission mode, thus solving the problem in the prior art where the single-stream transmission mode could only transmit an extended desktop for one display. Furthermore, since the extended screen architecture shown in Figure 1 can have multiple displays daisy-chained together, the problem of the number of streams supported by the image source device 110 in multi-stream transmission mode being limited by the system chip's capabilities can also be solved.

[0022] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an extended screen architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 3, multiple displays (e.g., displays 320_1 to 320_3) are daisy-chained together. For example, display 320_1 can be connected to display 320_2 via a connector, such as a DP connector or a USB-C connector, and display 320_2 can be connected to display 320_3 via a connector and a corresponding transmission line. Furthermore, image source device 310 can be connected to the first display 320_1 via a DP connector or a USB-C connector to transmit image content from display 320_1 to each display. In this embodiment, image source device 310 can be a desktop computer, laptop computer, smartphone, tablet computer, or any other electronic device with a screen and supporting extended screen functionality. Image source device 310 can support only single-stream transmission mode or can simultaneously support single-stream transmission mode and multi-stream transmission mode.

[0023] In this embodiment, display 320_1 includes a distribution and cutting circuit 322_1, an image processing circuit 324_1 and a display panel 326_1, display 320_2 includes a distribution and cutting circuit 322_2, an image processing circuit 324_2, a memory 328 and a display panel 326_2, and display 320_3 includes an image processing circuit 324_3 and a display panel 326_3.

[0024] Similar to the embodiment in Figure 1, in the operation of the extended screen architecture shown in Figure 3, firstly, the first display 320_1 obtains the resolution and related information of all other displays 320_2 and 320_3, combines the resolutions of all connected displays to obtain a modified resolution information, and uses this modified resolution information as the resolution information of display 320_1 itself. For example, assuming that the resolutions of displays 320_1 to 320_3 are all Full High Definition (FHD), then display 320_1 can combine the three FHD resolutions to obtain a modified resolution of 5760*1080.

[0025] Next, the user controls the image source device 310 to start using the extended screen function. At this time, the image source device 310 obtains resolution information from the display 320_1. Since the resolution information of the display 320_1 has been modified to 5760*1080, the image source device 310 will regard this modified resolution of 5760*1080 as the resolution of a single display 320_1. That is, the resolution of the extended desktop in the display settings will also be set to 5760*1080.

[0026] The image source device 310 transmits the extended desktop as image frame data F1 to the display 320_1. Referring to Figure 2, the image frame data F1 includes first frame data F1_1, second frame data F1_2, and a third frame data F1_3. The resolution of the image frame data F1 is the same as the modified resolution provided by the display 320_1 to the image source device 310, which is 5760*1080. The first frame data F1_1, the second frame data F1_2, and the third frame data F1_3 are all 1920*1080. In this embodiment, the first frame data F1_1, the second frame data F1_2, and the third frame data F1_3 are different contents of one or more applications of the image source device 310, and the image source device 310 transmits the image frame data F1 to the display 320_1 through a single-stream transmission mode, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0027] After receiving image frame data F1 from image source device 310, the allocation and cropping circuit 322_1 in display 320_1 extracts first frame data F1_1 from the image frame data F1 and transmits the first frame data F1_1 to image processing circuit 324_1 for some image processing before displaying it on display panel 326_1. In another embodiment, image processing circuit 324_1 transmits the first frame data F1_1 to display panel 326_1 without performing image processing. Furthermore, allocation and cropping circuit 322_1 transmits the complete image frame data F1 to display 320_2.

[0028] After receiving image frame data F1 from display 320_1, the allocation and cutting circuit 322_2 in display 320_2 extracts second frame data F1_2 from the image frame data F1 and transmits the second frame data F1_2 to the image processing circuit 324_2 for some image processing before displaying it on the display panel 326_2. In another embodiment, the image processing circuit 324_2 does not perform image processing on the second frame data F1_2 before transmitting it to the display panel 326_2 for display. In addition, since display 320_2 is the penultimate display, the allocation and cutting circuit 322_2 also extracts third frame data F1_3 from the image frame data F1 and temporarily stores the third frame data F1_3 in memory 328.

[0029] Next, display 320_2 transmits the third frame data F1_3 temporarily stored in memory 328 to display 320_3, and image processing circuit 324_3 performs some image processing on the third frame data F1_3 before displaying it on display panel 326_3. In another embodiment, image processing circuit 324_3 transmits the third frame data F1_3 to display panel 326_3 without performing image processing. Furthermore,

[0030] As described above, by using the extended screen architecture shown in Figure 3, the image source device 310 can transmit extended desktop content to two or more displays in a single-stream transmission mode, thus solving the problem in the prior art where the single-stream transmission mode could only transmit an extended desktop for one display. Furthermore, since the extended screen architecture shown in Figure 1 can have multiple displays daisy-chained together, the problem of the number of streams supported by the image source device 310 in multi-stream transmission mode being limited by the system chip's capabilities can also be solved. On the other hand, since the extended desktop content to be displayed by the last display 320_3 can be obtained by the allocation and splitting circuit 322_2 of the penultimate display 320_2, the last display 320_3 does not need to have an allocation and splitting circuit.

[0031] Figure 4 is a flowchart of a control method for a display according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the control method is executed by a first display. Referring to the above embodiments, the process is as follows:

[0032] Step 400: Process begins.

[0033] Step 402: Obtain second resolution information from at least one second display.

[0034] Step 404: Combine the second resolution information of the at least one second display with a first resolution information of the first display to generate a modified resolution information.

[0035] Step 406: Transmit the modified resolution information to an image source device.

[0036] Step 408: Receive an image frame data from the image source device.

[0037] Step 410: Extract a first frame data from the image frame data and display the first frame data on the first display screen.

[0038] Step 412: Transmit the image frame data to the at least one second display.

[0039] Figure 5 is a flowchart of a control method for a display according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the control method is executed by a second display. Referring to the above embodiments, the process is as follows:

[0040] Step 500: Process begins.

[0041] Step 502: Obtain third resolution information from a third display;

[0042] Step 504: Transmit the third resolution information of the third display and the second resolution information of the second display to a first display, so that the first display can generate modified resolution information for an image source device;

[0043] Step 506: Receive image frame data from the first display, wherein the image frame data sequentially includes a first frame data, a second frame data, and a third frame data;

[0044] Step 508: Extract the second frame data from the image frame data and display the second frame data on the second display; and

[0045] Step 510: Extract the third frame data from the image frame data and transmit the third frame data to the third display. The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention. All equivalent changes and modifications made in accordance with the claims of the present invention shall be covered by the present invention.

[0046] 110: Image Source Device

[0047] 120_1, 120_2, 120_N: Monitors

[0048] 122_1, 122_2, 122_N: Distribution and Cut-off Circuits

[0049] 124_1, 124_2, 124_N: Image processing circuits

[0050] 126_1, 126_2, 126_N: Display panel

[0051] 310: Image Source Device

[0052] 320_1, 320_2, 320_3: Monitors

[0053] 322_1, 322_2: Distribution and Cut-off Circuits

[0054] 324_1, 324_2, 324_3: Image processing circuits

[0055] 326_1, 326_2, 326_3: Display panel

[0056] 328: Memory

[0057] F1: Image frame data

[0058] F1_1: First frame data

[0059] F1_2: Second frame data

[0060] F1_3: Data for the third frame

Claims

1. A method for controlling a display, wherein the display is a first display, and the method includes: acquiring second resolution information of at least one second display; combining the second resolution information of the at least one second display with first resolution information of the first display to generate modified resolution information; transmitting the modified resolution information to an image source device; receiving image frame data from the image source device; extracting first frame data from the image frame data and displaying the first frame data on the first display; and transmitting the image frame data to the at least one second display.

2. The control method as described in claim 1, wherein the steps of obtaining the resolution information of the at least one second display and combining the second resolution information of the at least one second display with the first resolution information of the first display to generate the modified resolution information comprise: obtaining a plurality of second resolution information of a plurality of second displays, wherein the plurality of second displays and the first display are connected in a daisy chain manner; and combining the plurality of second resolution information with the first resolution information to generate the modified resolution information.

3. The control method as described in claim 1, wherein the number of the at least one second display is (N-1), where N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2, the first resolution information and the second resolution information are both A*B, and the modified resolution information is (N*A)*B or A*(N*B).

4. The control method as described in claim 1, wherein the number of the at least one second display is (N-1), where N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2, the minimum resolution information between the first resolution information and the second resolution information is A*B, and the modified resolution information is (N*A)*B or A*(N*B).

5. A circuit for a display, wherein the display is a first display, and the circuit includes: a distribution and cutting circuit for acquiring second resolution information of at least one second display, combining the second resolution information of the at least one second display with first resolution information of the first display to generate modified resolution information, transmitting the modified resolution information to an image source device, receiving image frame data from the image source device, extracting first frame data from the image frame data, and transmitting the image frame data to the at least one second display; and an image processing circuit for transmitting the first frame data to a display panel of the first display.

6. The circuit as described in claim 5, wherein the allocation and cutting circuit obtains multiple second resolution information of multiple second displays, wherein the multiple second displays and the first display are connected in a daisy chain manner; and the allocation and cutting circuit combines the multiple second resolution information with the first resolution information to generate the modified resolution information.

7. The circuit as described in claim 5, wherein the number of the at least one second display is (N-1), where N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2, the first resolution information and the second resolution information are both A*B, and the modified resolution information is (N*A)*B or A*(N*B).

8. The circuit as described in claim 5, wherein the number of the at least one second display is (N-1), where N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2, the minimum resolution information between the first resolution information and the second resolution information is A*B, and the modified resolution information is (N*A)*B or A*(N*B).

9. A method for controlling a display, wherein the display is a second display, and the method includes: acquiring third resolution information of a third display; transmitting the third resolution information of the third display and a second resolution information of the second display to a first display, so that the first display generates modified resolution information to an image source device; receiving image frame data from the first display, wherein the image frame data sequentially includes first frame data, second frame data, and third frame data; extracting the second frame data from the image frame data and displaying the second frame data on the second display; and extracting the third frame data from the image frame data and transmitting the third frame data to the third display.

10. The control method as described in claim 9, wherein the resolution of the first display, the second display and the third display are all A*B, and the resolution of the image frame data is (3*A)*B or A*(3*B).

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