Vignetting Mask Control Circuitry for Display Border Smoothness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electronic devices with displays face challenges in implementing a vignetting effect that is aesthetically pleasing, as existing methods often result in jagged borders between light-emitting and non-light-emitting areas due to pixel limitations, leading to spatial aliasing artifacts and an irregular field-of-view when viewed through optical systems.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a vignetting mask using control circuitry that applies dimming factors to image data, with an initial array of dimming factors ranging from -0.5 to 1.5, followed by upsampling, clamping to reduce spatial aliasing, and remapping to ensure a desired visual appearance, allowing for a gradual fade from light-emitting to non-light-emitting areas, thereby controlling the size and shape of the light-emitting area.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If a vignetting mask is implemented using pixel-level control, then the size and shape of the light-emitting area can be controlled, but jagged borders and spatial aliasing artifacts appear due to discrete pixel limitations
Solution Approach 1:
The vignetting mask is segmented into multiple resolution levels, with a low-resolution version defining the overall shape and a high-resolution version providing smooth transitions. This multi-scale segmentation allows the system to achieve both shape control and border smoothness by combining information from different resolution levels.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a temporal dimension by generating multiple candidate vignetting masks at different orientations and combining them over time. This temporal integration smooths out the jagged borders that would be visible in any single static mask, as the artifacts appear at different positions across frames.
2Adaptability or versatility
If dimming factors are applied to all pixels in the display, then the vignetting effect can be implemented, but computational complexity and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The display pixels are segmented into a coarse grid for generating the initial vignetting mask, reducing the number of calculations needed. The low-resolution mask is then applied to all pixels, avoiding the need to compute individual dimming factors for every pixel while still achieving the desired vignetting effect.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of computing unique dimming factors for each pixel, the patent generates a single low-resolution vignetting mask that is then copied and applied across the entire display. This copying approach dramatically reduces computational complexity while maintaining the adaptability of the vignetting effect.
3Use of energy by moving object
If the light-emitting area is reduced to conserve power, then energy efficiency improves, but the field-of-view may become irregular when viewed through optical systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent intentionally uses asymmetric vignetting masks that are optimized for specific viewing angles and positions. By generating multiple asymmetric masks corresponding to different gaze directions, the system can reduce the light-emitting area for power savings while maintaining a regular field-of-view for each specific viewing condition.
Solution Approach 2:
The vignetting mask is made dynamic and adaptive, changing based on the viewer's gaze position and orientation. This allows the light-emitting area to be reduced when the viewer is at peripheral positions (saving power) while maintaining optimal display characteristics when the viewer is at the center position, thus balancing power consumption with field-of-view regularity.
Data Source
AI summary
It may be desirable to implement a vignetting effect in a display. The vignetting effect causes the display to have a light-emitting area that gradually fades to a black, non-light-emitting area. The vignetting effect allows for the size and shape of the light-emitting area to be controlled while still being aesthetically pleasing to a viewer. To implement a vignetting mask for the vignetting effect, control circuitry in the electronic device may apply dimming factors to image data for the display. To avoid artifacts caused by the vignetting mask, an initial array of dimming factors for implementing the vignetting mask may have a range between −0.5 and 1.5. After upsampling, clamping may be performed to reduce the range of the dimming factors to between 0 and 1. Ultimately, the dimming factors are applied to image data for each frame to implement the vignetting mask in each frame.