Method and apparatus for producing perception of high quality grayscale shading on digitally commanded displays

Claim 1

A system for controlling a digitally commanded multiple panel display unit having pixels arranged in rows and columns to produce the perception of an image having plural levels of brightness, comprising: row addressing means for designating the row number of a desired pixel; column addressing means for designating the column number of a desired pixel; image memory means for producing brightness data indicating a desired level of brightness to be produced at a pixel addressed by the row and column numbers of the row and column addressing means; waveform memory means, responsive to the brightness level produced by the image memory means, for storing a predetermined set of brightness-setting waveforms and selecting one of the stored waveforms in response to the brightness level value, the waveform memory means including bit position selecting means for selecting a first desired bit within the selected brightness setting waveform and outputting said selected first bit as a current display command bit and for selecting a look-ahead bit within the selected brightness setting waveform and outputting said look-ahead bit as a look-ahead display command bit; and phase-placement patterning means, responsive to the row and column numbers, for producing a bit position selecting value to be used by the waveform memory means, said bit position value being determined in accordance with a predetermined phase-placement pattern, the phase-placement patterning means including information corresponding to said predetermined phase-placement pattern, so that the waveform memory means provides a first output stream of current command bits and a second output stream of look-ahead command bits for use by the multiple panel display unit.

Claim 2

A system for controlling a digitally commanded multiple panel display unit having pixels arranged in rows and columns to produce the perception of an image having plural levels of brightness, comprising: row addressing means for designating the row number of a desired pixel; column addressing means for designating the column number of a desired pixel; image memory means for producing brightness data indicating a desired level of brightness to be produced at a pixel addressed by the row and column numbers of the row and column addressing means; waveform memory means, responsive to the brightness level produced by the image memory means, for storing a predetermined set of brightness-setting waveforms and selecting one of the stored waveforms in response to the brightness level value, the waveform memory means including bit position selecting means for selecting a first desired bit within the selected brightness setting waveform and outputting said selected first bit as a current display command bit and for selecting a look-ahead bit within the selected brightness setting waveform and outputting said look-ahead bit as a look-ahead display command bit; and phase-placement patterning means, responsive to the row and column numbers, for producing a bit position selecting value to be used by the waveform memory means, said bit position value being determined in accordance with a predetermined phase-placement pattern, the phase-placement patterning means including information corresponding to said predetermined phase-placement pattern, so that the waveform memory means provides a first output stream of current command bits and a second output stream of look-ahead command bits for use by the multiple panel display unit.

Claim 3

A system for controlling a digitally commanded display unit having pixels arranged in rows and columns to produce over a number of consecutive frames, an image formed from a plurality of adjacent pixels which is perceived to have a brightness level which is selectable from a plurality of different brightness levels, comprising: row addressing means for designating for each of the plurality of adjacent pixels the row in which each of the plurality of adjacent pixels is located; column addressing means for designating for each of the plurality of adjacent pixels the column in which each of the plurality of adjacent pixels is located; image memory means for indicating a selected brightness level to be produced by the plurality of adjacent pixels located at the designated rows and columns; and brightness waveform means, responsive to the indicated selected brightness level from the image memory means, for driving each of the plurality of adjacent pixels with a corresponding brightness-setting waveform over the number of consecutive frames, wherein the corresponding brightness-setting waveform is applied to each of the plurality of adjacent pixels with a non-consecutive phase which differs between adjacent pixels in accordance with a predetermined phase placement pattern.

Claim 4

A system for controlling a digitally commanded display unit having pixels arranged in rows and columns to produce over a number of consecutive frames, an image formed from a plurality of adjacent pixels which is perceived to have a brightness level which is selectable from a plurality of different brightness levels, comprising: row addressing means for designating for each of the plurality of adjacent pixels the row in which each of the plurality of adjacent pixels is located; column addressing means for designating for each of the plurality of adjacent pixels the column in which each of the plurality of adjacent pixels is located; image memory means for indicating a selected brightness level to be produced by the plurality of adjacent pixels located at the designated rows and columns; and brightness waveform means, responsive to the indicated selected brightness level from the image memory means, for driving each of the plurality of adjacent pixels with a corresponding brightness-setting waveform over the number of consecutive frames, wherein the corresponding brightness-setting waveform is applied to each of the plurality of adjacent pixels with a non-consecutive phase which differs between adjacent pixels in accordance with a predetermined phase placement pattern.