Middle-out Scan Order for Display Latency Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional display technologies suffer from significant display latency, particularly in high-performance applications like gaming, due to the time-consuming process of scanning from the top of the image to the center or middle region, which negatively impacts user experience.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a middle-out scan order where the image is scanned from the center or middle of the display to the top and bottom, reducing display latency by scanning out one-half line or row of pixels, and using hardware architectures such as split panels or dual flip-flops to facilitate this process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a top-down scan order is used to scan out pixels from the top row to the bottom row, then the display can be updated in a conventional manner, but the display latency increases significantly because the center or middle region is scanned late in the sequence
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies inversion by reversing the conventional scan order. Instead of scanning from top to bottom, the system scans from the middle row outward to both the top and bottom rows. This reversal prioritizes scanning the center region first, significantly reducing the time latency for updating the middle portion of the display while maintaining complete pixel coverage.
2Loss of time
If video compression technologies are used to reduce bandwidth requirements, then transmission latency is reduced, but display latency remains unchanged because the image still needs to be reconstructed and scanned out pixel by pixel
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the display into multiple scan regions based on spatial distribution. By dividing the scan path into segments that prioritize the center region and then extend outward to top and bottom regions, the system optimizes the scanning sequence. This segmentation allows the display to refresh critical central pixels faster without requiring complete image reconstruction, thereby improving display refresh rate while maintaining compression benefits.
Data Source
AI summary
In various examples, images rendered by a processor—such as a graphics processing unit (GPU)—may be scanned out of memory in a middle-out scan order. Various architectures for liquid crystal displays (LCDs) may be implemented to support middle-out scanning, such as dual-panel architectures, ping-pong architectures, and architectures that support both top-down scan order and middle-out scan order. As a result, display latency within the system may be reduced, thereby increasing performance of the system—especially for high-performance applications such as gaming.