Subpixel Processing Patents (Class 345/613)
  • Patent number: 6766052
    Abstract: A character display apparatus includes: a display device having a plurality of pixels; and a control section for controlling the display device, wherein: each of the pixels includes a plurality of sub-pixels arranged along a predetermined direction; a corresponding one of a plurality of color elements is pre-assigned to each of the sub-pixels; an intensity of each of the color elements is represented stepwise through a plurality of color element levels; the control section executes tasks of: setting each of the sub-pixels to one of the color element levels; according to a relationship between the plurality of color element levels and a plurality of brightness levels, converting the color element level for each of the sub-pixels to a corresponding brightness level among the plurality of brightness levels; and changing the relationship according to at least one of character color information which defines a color of a character to be displayed on the display device and background color information which defines
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2004
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Satoshi Okada, Noriyuki Koyama, Yoshimi Asai
  • Patent number: 6766410
    Abstract: A system and method for reordering data fragments to facilitate reads from a DDR SDRAM where the fragments are placed into a first and second data fragment buffer such that the data fragments are in sequential addresses whereby the second data read on the trailing edge of the clock cycle will read the proper data fragment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2004
    Assignee: 3Dlabs, Inc., Ltd.
    Inventor: Stewart Carlton
  • Patent number: 6756992
    Abstract: In a display device, three light-emitting elements, which respectively emit light of the three primary colors of R, G, and B, are aligned in a fixed order in a first direction to form one pixel. A plurality of such pixels are aligned in a the direction to form one line. A plurality of such lines are aligned in a second direction, which is orthogonal to the first direction, to form a display screen. With this display device, a three-times magnified pattern, with which a target pixel in a raster image to be displayed currently is magnified by three in the first direction, is determined dynamically in accordance with a rectangular reference pattern of 3×3 pixels consisting of the target pixel and pixels surrounding the target pixel. Display is performed upon allocating this three-times magnified pattern to the three light-emitting elements that comprise one pixel. Character interval adjustment and color display of sub-pixel precision precision are enabled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2004
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Bunpei Toji, Tadanori Tezuka, Hiroyuki Yoshida
  • Patent number: 6753870
    Abstract: A graphics system comprising a programmable sample buffer and a sample buffer interface. The sample buffer interface is configured to (a) buffer N streams of samples in N corresponding input buffers, wherein N is greater than or equal to two, (b) store N sets of context values corresponding to the N input buffers respectively, (c) terminate transfer of samples from a first of the input buffers to the programmable sample buffer, (d) selectively update a subset of state registers in the programmable sample buffer with context values corresponding to a next input buffer of the input buffers, (e) initiate transfer of samples from the next input buffer to the programmable sample buffer. The context values stored in the state registers of the programmable sample buffer determine the operation of an arithmetic logic unit internal to the programmable sample buffer on samples data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2004
    Assignee: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael F. Deering, Nathaniel David Naegle, Michael G. Lavelle
  • Publication number: 20040113922
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for rendering a color image on a delta-structured display are provided. The method for rendering a color image on a display apparatus in which a pixel expressing an input image is formed with delta-structured sub-pixels, the method comprising: (a) forming a scaling filter which is used to make the resolution of the input image correspond to the resolution of the display apparatus; (b) obtaining a representative value of a sub-pixel of the display apparatus corresponding to a consideration area which is an area processed by the scaling filter in the input image; (c) obtaining the value of the sub-pixel based on the difference of pixels in the consideration area in the input image; (d) performing gamma correction of the sub-pixel value so that the sub-pixel is appropriate to the display apparatus; and (e) rendering the gamma-adjusted sub-pixel value on the display apparatus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 21, 2003
    Publication date: June 17, 2004
    Applicant: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Won-Hee Choe, Chang-Yeong Kim, Seong-Deok Lee
  • Patent number: 6750875
    Abstract: Display devices and image rendering processes increase the resolution of displayed images in the horizontal and vertical dimensions. The increased resolution is obtained on LCD display devices or other display devices having separately controllable pixel sub-components. Assuming the display devices have vertical stripes, much of the increased resolution in the horizontal direction is obtained by mapping spatially different sets of one or more samples to the individual pixel sub-components. In this way, the pixel sub-components are treated as separate luminous intensity sources. The improved resolution in the vertical dimension is achieved by increasing the pixel sub-component density in the vertical dimension. To accommodate the increased number of pixel sub-components, image data compression can be performed if bandwidth limitations are present. The image data compression involves controlling sets of vertically adjacent pixels using red, green, and blue luminous intensity values and a bias value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2004
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Leroy B. Keely, Jr., William Hill, Geraldine Wade, Gregory C. Hitchcock
  • Patent number: 6750869
    Abstract: A method and system thereof for processing data in a computer graphics system. More specifically, an anti-aliasing buffer architecture for processing fragments in a computer graphics system is described. When a new fragment for a particular pixel location is received, the fragment stack for that pixel location is read from fragment memory. The new fragment is appended to the fragment stack, and the resultant fragment stack is written back to fragment memory before it is processed in a computer graphics pipeline. Fragments stored in fragment memory are not sorted according to their distance from the view plane (the z-dimension); instead, z-ordered depth sorting is performed in the computer graphics pipeline. Using an occlude command, occluded (blocked) fragments can be deleted from the fragment stack before the fragment stack is passed to the computer graphics pipeline. The computer graphics pipeline calculates a pixel color for each pixel location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2004
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Electronics, Inc.
    Inventor: Thomas Patrick Dawson
  • Patent number: 6734870
    Abstract: An integer arithmetic graphic line scan-conversion procedure sub-divides a pixel grid into a 1/N sub-pixel grid, where N is a positive integer selected to provide a desired precision. A line segment is defined by a pair of vertices relative to the sub-pixel grid. The vertices are ordered such that the line segment is in one of the first and the second quadrants, depending upon the slope of the line segment. An integer estimate is made of the slope of the line segment relative to the sub-pixel grid. The scan progresses along a major axis at pixel intervals, while best-fit integer projections of the line segment are made along an orthogonal axis relative to the sub-pixel grid. A resulting array of integer line-scan points relative to the sub-pixel grid are used to adjust color and brightness attributes of display pixels, and the resulting adjusted pixels are output to a display device to create an image of the scanned line segment. In a preferred embodiment, N is a positive power of 2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2004
    Assignee: Cardio Logic, Inc.
    Inventor: D. David Kuo
  • Patent number: 6731300
    Abstract: A graphics system may be configured to render anti-aliased dots in terms of samples and to generate pixels by filtering the samples. The pixels are supplied to one or more display devices. The means used to generate the samples may perform the computation of radial distance at positions on a grid in a rendering coordinate space, and interpolate estimates for the radial distances of samples around the dot as needed based on the radii at the grid positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2004
    Assignee: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Inventors: Nandini Ramani, Michael A. Wasserman, Michael G. Lavelle, Mark E. Pascual, Kevin Tang, Daniel M. Chao
  • Patent number: 6731301
    Abstract: The present invention is related to a computer graphics rendering system, method and program product for drawing a plurality of pixels in parallel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2004
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Hidehiko Sato, Takashi Takemoto
  • Patent number: 6721446
    Abstract: A digital image that includes first and second regions is processed. An intrinsic color of a given pixel located in an area of interest that is adjacent to at least one of the first and second regions is estimated by extrapolating from colors of multiple pixels in one of the first and second regions and multiple pixels in the other of the two regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2004
    Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated
    Inventors: Gregg D. Wilensky, Martin E. Newell
  • Patent number: 6690826
    Abstract: A system and method for identifying whether sample values of pixel samples in a sample region have two or fewer different sample values represented, such as in graphics data representing text images. Identification is performed by hierarchically dividing the samples of the sample region into sample pairs and comparing the sample values of a first sample pair and a second sample pair to determine if two or fewer sample values are represented by the sample values of the first and second sample pairs. Where two or fewer levels are represented by the sample values of the samples, a tally value is generated and the first and second sample values are recorded. The recorded sample values are compared to the sample values of another sample pair to determine if two or fewer values are represented therein. If so, a new tally value is generated and the sample values are recorded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2004
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Keith R. Slavin
  • Patent number: 6683617
    Abstract: Disclosed are an antialiasing method and an image processing apparatus using the same, capable of high-quality image display without any significant reduction in processing speed and without any significant increase in the apparatus scale. Pixel data contains information on a subpixel mask indicative of region which a polygon occupies within a pixel. Based on data sets consisting of the subpixel masks and color data contained in the pixel data, display colors are determined on a pixel-by-pixel basis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2004
    Assignee: Sega Enterprises, Ltd.
    Inventors: Junichi Naoi, Seisuke Morioka
  • Patent number: 6664955
    Abstract: A method and computer graphics system capable of super-sampling and performing real-time convolution are disclosed. In one embodiment, the computer graphics system may comprise a graphics processor, a sample buffer, and a sample-to-pixel calculation unit. The graphics processor may be configured to generate a plurality of samples. The sample buffer, which is coupled to the graphics processor, may be configured to store the samples. The sample-to-pixel calculation unit is programmable to generate a first subset of pixels by filtering using the rendered samples and a second subset of the output pixels by interpolating using the first subset of pixels and/or the rendered samples. By interpolating a subset of the output pixels, the graphics system may be able to operate at higher resolutions and/or refresh rates since filtering of the samples is computationally intensive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2003
    Assignee: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Inventor: Michael F. Deering
  • Publication number: 20030227466
    Abstract: The present invention relates to dropout control in which one or more samples are added to adjacent samples that fall within an image outline. The samples are used in sub-pixel rendering to compensate for unnaturally thin or faint object stems. Horizontal dropout control operations are provided to add samples to sets of horizontally adjacent samples such that each set of samples comprises a minimum number of samples. Vertical dropout control operations are provided to position samples such that the weighted anti-aliasing filtering will take sufficient account of the samples. In one embodiment, an associative table is utilized to calculate alternative patterns of samples. In another embodiment, the baseline of an object is used in the dropout control operations to reduce artifacts that can be created by the addition of samples in the vertical direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 6, 2002
    Publication date: December 11, 2003
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Beat Stamm, Michael Duggan, Gregory Hitchcock, Paul Linnerud
  • Patent number: 6624823
    Abstract: A graphics system comprises a rendering unit, a sample buffer, and a sample-to-pixel calculation unit. The rendering unit receives vertices defining a triangle, and generates first and second octant identifier words for first and second edges of the triangle respectively. In most cases, the two octant identifier words determine the triangle orientation. However, in a few special cases (i.e. when the octant identifier words specify the same or opposite octants), the triangle orientation is resolved based on a comparison of the slopes of the first and second edge. Further rendering operations on the triangle may be conditioned on the value of the triangle orientation. The triangle orientation may be used to determine the interior side of each triangle edge. Sample positions falling on the interior side of all three edges are labeled as interior samples. Color values are computed for interior samples.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2003
    Assignee: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Inventor: Michael F. Deering
  • Patent number: 6625329
    Abstract: A method for improving the definition of a digital image whose pixels are memorized light intensity values which are arranged in rows and columns in the form of a starting matrix Axy. A matrix section Aij is enlarged by reflection and subjected to a fast Fourier transform. The transformed matrix Bij is converted by elementary multiplication with an aberration correction matrix Cij to give a correct transformed matrix B′ij. This is transformed back into an intensity matrix A′ij from which a core section is set to a corrected intensity matrix A′xy. Following this, one matrix section after another is stagger-processed until a completely corrected intensity matrix A′xy has been obtained. The correcting function can be determined in different ways, in particular from an MFT of the imaging lens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2003
    Inventors: Wilfried Donner, Christian Wöhler
  • Publication number: 20030174145
    Abstract: Hardware acceleration of the rendering and animation of characters that treat each pixel sub-component as a distinct luminance intensity source. A bit-map representation of the sub-component-oriented character is generated by using a single image sample to generate each pixel sub-component. This may be accomplished by, for example, overscaling a representation of the character, placing the overscaled representation of the character on a grid, and then assigning a luminance and possibly a transparency value to each grid position based on the properties of the overscaled character at that grid position. Then, the character is rendered by interfacing with a hardware graphics unit that performs the final rendering and animation of the character.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2002
    Publication date: September 18, 2003
    Inventors: Mikhail M. Lyapunov, Mikhail V. Leonov, Claude Betrisey, David Colin Wilson Brown, Mohammed Gaber El-Gammal
  • Publication number: 20030146920
    Abstract: A line image which comprises one line parallel to the juxtaposing direction of light-emitting elements is extracted from a three-time image, and a work region is determined, in which, in the juxtaposing direction, an M sub-pixel is added to the front side of the line image and an N sub-pixel is added to the rear side thereof. A background image of a region corresponding to the work region is read out from the frame memory. The read out background image whose precision is made the same as that of the three-time image in a pseudo state, and the line image are blended to obtain a blend image. Image data resulting from the blend image are written in a region corresponding to the work region of the frame memory. The above process is repeated for all lines of the three-time image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2002
    Publication date: August 7, 2003
    Inventors: Tadanori Tezuka, Hiroki Taoka, Bunpei Toji, Hiroyuki Yoshida
  • Publication number: 20030128223
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for remapping video images from a display processor, represented by a quad-subpixel digital data stream to a striped-subpixel color display using a processor including an intermediate pixel memory where the processor presents an intermediate digital data stream to a resizing engine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2001
    Publication date: July 10, 2003
    Applicant: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventor: Martin W. Feintuch
  • Publication number: 20030122846
    Abstract: A method for processing a digital signal to enhance the resolution is disclosed. An embodiment provides for a method of processing an image for display on a display having sub-pixel display capability. The method first maps a plurality sub-pixels of the display to corresponding regions of the image. Each sub-pixel may be mapped to a unique region of the image. Next, the method accesses the image, which was sampled to have a higher spatial resolution than the spatial resolution of the display. Then, for each sub-pixel of the display, the method calculates an intensity value for one color of a plurality of colors in the image. The calculation may be based on the intensity of that color alone. Finally, the method causes the sub-pixels on the output display to display the colors in proportion to the calculated intensities.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 31, 2001
    Publication date: July 3, 2003
    Inventor: Amnon Silverstein
  • Publication number: 20030095135
    Abstract: A bitmap of a shape, such as a font, can be subpixel optimized by producing for each of a display's subpixels a coverage value representing the percent of its area covered by the shape being represented and by distributing, to prevent color imbalance, an amount of a given subpixel's coverage value to nearby subpixels of different colors as a function of the percent of the given subpixel's coverage value that causes color imbalance. Web pages can be displayed with scaled-down and subpixel optimized images. A given layout of a Web page can be displayed at each of at least two different selected scale factors, with the font bitmaps used to represent characters in the display at each scale factor having their shape and pixel alignment selected to improve readability for the particular pixel size at which they are displayed at each such scale factor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 2, 2002
    Publication date: May 22, 2003
    Inventors: Sampo J. Kaasila, John S. Collins, Michael R. Dewsnap, Robert J. Eggers
  • Publication number: 20030085906
    Abstract: Processing data for a display including pixels, each pixel having color sub-pixels, comprises receiving pixel data. Once the pixel data is received, processing data for a display includes converting the pixel data to sub-pixel rendered data, the conversion generating the sub-pixel rendered data for a sub-pixel arrangement including alternating red and green sub-pixels on at least one of a horizontal and vertical axis. Next processing data for a display includes correcting the sub-pixel rendered data if a condition exists and outputting the sub-pixel rendered data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2002
    Publication date: May 8, 2003
    Applicant: ClairVoyante Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Candice Hellen Brown Elliott, Thomas Lloyd Credelle, Paul Higgins
  • Patent number: 6559858
    Abstract: A procedure is embodied as program code on a medium that is readable by a computer. The program code is used to direct operation of the computer to render lines corresponding to samples, from a digitizer tablet, that map onto a same pixel of a display screen. The program code includes a code segment for subdividing a display screen pixel into a plurality of sub-pixels; a code segment, responsive to each sample that maps onto a current pixel, for mapping the sample onto a sub-pixel center; a code segment for computing a bounding box that is centered on the sample; a code segment, responsive to a size and position of the bounding box, for determining those pixels in a neighborhood of the current pixel that are overlapped by the bounding box; and a code segment for varying an intensity of the overlapped pixels according to the amount of overlap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2003
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Bengt-Olaf Schneider, Yi-Min Chee
  • Patent number: 6542161
    Abstract: A character display apparatus of the present invention includes: a display device having a plurality of pixels; and a control section for controlling the display device. Each of the pixels includes a plurality of sub-pixels arranged along a predetermined direction. A corresponding one of a plurality of color elements is pre-assigned to each of the sub-pixels. The control section displays a character on the display device by independently controlling the color elements respectively corresponding to the sub-pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2003
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Noriyuki Koyama, Yoshimi Asai, Susumu Hasegawa, Yuka Yabuuchi, Satoshi Okada
  • Patent number: 6535221
    Abstract: A method for enhancing a digital image for printing or display on a high resolution device is described. The method includes receiving a digital source image and selecting a block of source pixels from the image. An edge array is generated from edges detected in the block of source pixels and processed with a set of logic operations to detect one of a set of edge patterns. The source coordinate system is transformed into a second coordinate system in response to the detected edge pattern and a transformed source location for the output pixel is determined. A modified transformed source location is determined by applying a modifier function. The modifier function is selected from a set of functions in response to the detected edge pattern. An effective source location is generated by applying a reverse transformation. The value of the output pixel is interpolated from the values of the block of source pixels based on the effective source location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2003
    Assignee: Oak Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel J. Allen, Vladimir Levantovsky
  • Publication number: 20030020729
    Abstract: A three-times magnified pattern of a central target pixel and horizontally contiguously adjacent sub-pixel patterns next thereto are determined on the basis of a reference pattern that has a rectangular profile and further that consist of eight-neighboring pixel about the target pixel. The determined three-times magnified pattern is allocated to three sub-pixels that form the target pixel. The determined sub-pixel patterns are allocated to horizontally adjacent sub-pixels next to the target pixel. As a result, a black area defined by the target pixel is displaced rightward by an amount of a sub-pixel without any change in black area size that corresponds to three sub-pixels. This feature inhibits a variation in output image density, which otherwise would conspicuously occurs as a result of a varied object line width.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 23, 2002
    Publication date: January 30, 2003
    Applicant: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Bunpei Toji, Tadanori Tezuka, Hiroyuki Yoshida
  • Patent number: 6509897
    Abstract: A method and system for providing antialiasing of a graphical image on a display from data describing at least one object is disclosed. The display includes a plurality of pixels. The method and system include providing a plurality of fragments for the at least one object. A portion of the plurality of fragments intersects a pixel of the plurality of pixels. Each of the plurality of fragments includes a depth value, a slope of the depth value, and an indication of a portion of a corresponding pixel that is intersected. The method and system include calculating a plurality of subpixel depth values for a fragment of the plurality of fragments. The plurality of subpixel depth values is calculated using the depth value and the slope of the depth value of the fragment. The method and system include determining whether to store a portion of the fragment based on the plurality of subpixel depth values for the fragment and the indication of the extent the corresponding pixel is intersected by the fragment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2003
    Assignee: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventor: Michael C. Lewis
  • Patent number: 6509904
    Abstract: A method and device for increasing the horizontal resolution of both a color flat panel display and a cathode ray tube (CRT) display. The method involves fine horizontal positioning of pixels according to information encoded in the color. Since pixel size is not changed, the display and processing bandwidth requirement is not increased. For the case of the color flat panel display, the fact that each pixel is constructed of a horizontal stripe of 3 primary color sub-pixels is utilized. Complex color information is spread across adjacent pixels to increase the apparent horizontal resolution by a factor of three. For the case of the CRT, a clock multiplier is used to multiply the video clock frequency by three. The apparent horizontal resolution of the CRT is increased by a factor of three by delaying pixels a varying multiple of this high clock speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2003
    Assignee: Datascope Investment Corp.
    Inventor: Siu Lam
  • Publication number: 20030011618
    Abstract: A method and computer graphics system capable of super-sampling and performing real-time convolution are disclosed. In one embodiment, the computer graphics system may comprise a graphics processor, a sample buffer, and a sample-to-pixel calculation unit. The graphics processor may be configured to generate a plurality of samples. The sample buffer, which is coupled to the graphics processor, may be configured to store the samples. The sample-to-pixel calculation unit is programmable to select a variable number of stored samples from the sample buffer to filter into an output pixel. The sample-to-pixel calculation unit performs the filter process in real-time, and may use a number of different filter types in a single frame. The sample buffer may be super-sampled, and the samples may be positioned according to a regular grid, a perturbed regular grid, or a stochastic grid.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2002
    Publication date: January 16, 2003
    Applicant: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Inventor: Michael F. Deering
  • Patent number: 6501483
    Abstract: The invention provides a method and apparatus for an anti-aliasing process that allows for super-sampling at a high subpixel resolution, but does not require the process and memory resources typically required for conventional super-sampling at this subpixel resolution. Each pixel is partitioned into an array that provides for a large number of subpixels, and a smaller set of super-samples from this set of subpixels are sampled and used to determine the resultant pixel values. Because the set of super-samples is substantially smaller in number (less than half) than the number of subpixels, the processing and memory requirements are substantially reduced. The set of super-samples are preferably determined so as to provide for a uniform sampling frequency in each of the major axes, and along each diagonal, even though the super-samples may not provide an uniform sampling of each pixel area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2002
    Assignee: ATI Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel Wong, Milivoje M. Aleksic
  • Patent number: 6489966
    Abstract: A superior graphic processing device is provided that performs parallel and fast edge function processing for coverage calculations during an anti-aliasing process. The edge function for each sub-pixel of a pixel can be described separately for the base edge function Bef concerning pixel coordinates, and the sub-edge function Sef concerning sub-pixel references, and when the sum of the values for the edge functions Bef and Sef is substituted as a variable for evaluation function LineIOcheck, whether a sub-pixel is located above, below, or on an edge line can be determined. &Dgr;x<<x and &Dgr;y<<y are established, the value of the sub-edge function Sef being considerably smaller than that of the base edge function Bef. When a plurality of relatively small Sef processing units are provided relative to one relatively large Bef processing unit, an LSI can be designed that integrates in a small area and that has the same coverage calculation capability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2002
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Eisuke Kanzaki, Shunichi Takagaki, Hiroaki Yasuda
  • Patent number: 6473525
    Abstract: A method for detecting an image edge within a dithered image. A pixel within a support region is selected for processing. The differences between pixel values in the region and the selected pixel are computed to form a current difference map. Whether the selected pixel in the region differ by no more than one resolution level from any other pixel of the region is determined from the current difference map. An edge is determined not to exist within the region if the difference map for a region contains no values differing by more than one resolution level. An edge is determined to exist within a region if the difference map for the selected pixel and region contain values differing by more than one resolution level. Alternatively, a difference map for the selected region of support is determined and compared to a table of all possible valid difference maps. If a corresponding difference map is found within the table then an edge does not exist within the presently processed region of support.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2002
    Assignee: Compaq Computer Corporation
    Inventors: Shiufun Cheung, Robert A. Ulichney, Robert MacNamara, Giridharan Iyengar
  • Publication number: 20020135598
    Abstract: When a sub-pixel of B having a small contribution to luminance emits light in isolation, a sub-pixel of R is caused to emit light or sub-pixels of B and R are caused to emit light. As a result, a sub-pixel of R having, a larger contribution to luminance than the sub-pixel of B, is caused to emit light. When an adjacent set of sub-pixels B and R having a small contribution to luminance emits light in isolation, a set of sub-pixels R and G is caused to emit light. As a result, a set of sub-pixels R and G having a higher degree of contribution to luminance than the set of sub-pixels B and R is caused to emit light. Therefore, contrast degradation from any allocation of light-emitting patterns to sub-pixels having poor luminance is eliminated and a high quality display is achieved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2002
    Publication date: September 26, 2002
    Inventors: Tadanori Tezuka, Hiroyuki Yoshida, Bunpei Toji
  • Patent number: 6429877
    Abstract: The present invention is generally directed to a system and method for anti-aliasing edges of adjacent primitives. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a method operates by determining whether a pixel is an edge pixel of a filled primitive, approximating a coverage area of the pixel, the coverage area being the area of the pixel interior to the primitive edge, determining a direction from the pixel center to an external edge of the primitive, and blending a first color of the primitive with a second color, the second color being a color of a pixel of a second primitive adjacent the external edge. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a system is provided having frame buffer circuitry uniquely configured for rendering an anti-aliased graphics scene.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2002
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventor: Howard D Stroyan
  • Patent number: 6396505
    Abstract: Display apparatus, and methods for displaying images, e.g., text, on gray scale and color monitors where each pixel includes multiple pixel sub-components are described. Filtering and/or displaced sampling is used to generate pixel sub-component luminous intensity values. As a result of treating pixel sub-components as distinct light emitters corresponding to different image portions, resolution is enhanced but color errors may be introduced into the image being displayed. Various techniques for detecting noticeable and/or distracting color errors are described. In addition, various techniques for correcting, compensating for, or reducing color errors are described. In one particular embodiment, red, green and blue pixel sub-component luminous intensity values are examined and compared to a range of luminous intensity values which is determined as a function of utilized foreground and background pixel colors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2002
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Charlton E. Lui, Leroy B. Keely, Jr., Gregory C. Hitchcock, Ryan E. Cukierman
  • Patent number: 6384839
    Abstract: An anti-aliasing method and apparatus for use with a stripe topology color display provides sub-pixel level smoothing in a manner which enhances the apparent resolution of the display, yielding enhanced object shape and positioning, while maintaining accurate foreground and background colors. The method or apparatus includes the steps or means of: generating a 1 bit per pixel super-sampled bitmap for the image, in which there is greater than or equal to 1 bit for each sub-pixel of the image; determining an average intensity I for each position of the image from the bitmap; determining a sub-pixel intensity S for each sub-pixel using the average intensity I, a foreground intensity F and a background intensity B; and setting a sub-pixel value V for each sub-pixel to produce the sub-pixel intensity on the display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2002
    Assignee: Agfa Monotype Corporation
    Inventor: Steven William Paul
  • Patent number: 6369828
    Abstract: A system and method for providing antialiasing of a graphical image on a display is disclosed. The graphical image is generated from data describing at least one object. The display includes a plurality of pixels. The at least one object includes a plurality of fragments. A portion of the plurality of fragments intersects a pixel of the plurality of pixels. Each of the plurality of fragments including an indication of a portion of a corresponding pixel that is intersected. The system and method include providing at least one active region for the pixel. The at least one active region intersects a first portion of the pixel. The method and system also include providing at least one new region. A first portion of the at least one new region indicates where in the pixel the at least one active region and the fragment intersect. A second portion of the at least one new region indicates where in the pixel the at least one active region and the fragment do not intersect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2002
    Assignee: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventor: Michael C. Lewis
  • Patent number: 6356278
    Abstract: Methods and systems are disclosed for utilizing an increased number of samples of image data, coupled with the separately controllable nature of RGB pixel sub-components, to generate images with increased resolution on a display device. such as a liquid crystal display. The methods include scaling, hinting, and scan conversion operations. The scaling operation involves scaling the image data by factors of one in the directions perpendicular and parallel to the RGB striping of the display device. Hinting includes placing the scaled image data on a grid that has grid points defined by the positions of the pixels of the display device, and rounding key points to the nearest full pixel boundary in the direction parallel to the striping and to the nearest fractional increment in the direction perpendicular to the striping. Scan conversion includes scaling the hinted image data by an overscaling factor in the direction perpendicular to the striping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2002
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Beat Stamm, Gregory C. Hitchcock, Claude Betrisey
  • Publication number: 20020015046
    Abstract: A graphic display apparatus for displaying a graphic which is represented by binary bit map data includes: a display device including a plurality of sub-pixels; and a control section for controlling the display device, wherein the plurality of sub-pixels form a plurality of groups, each of the plurality of groups includes a predetermined plural number of sub-pixels, and the control section assigns each of bits included in the bit map data to one of the plurality of groups and displays the graphic by controlling sub-pixels included in the one of the plurality of groups based on information about bits located in the vicinity of the bit assigned to the one of the plurality of groups.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2001
    Publication date: February 7, 2002
    Inventors: Satoshi Okada, Noriyuki Koyama, Yoshimi Asai
  • Patent number: 6317525
    Abstract: An anti-aliasing technique for sampling an image for display on a pixel based display is presented. The image, or set of objects forming an image, is sampled at a resolution higher than the pixel spatial resolution. The resultant multiple sampled values for each pixel are accumulated, and the accumulated value is used to determine an average pixel value that is used for the display of the pixel. To minimize memory requirements, the rendering plane is used to temporarily store a portion of the accumulated value for each pixel. To minimize processing, the multiple of samples per pixel is a power of 2, and the portion of the accumulated value that is stored in the rendering plane is the most significant bits (MSB) of the accumulated value. Because of the use of a power of 2 as the number of samples, the MSB of the accumulated value is equal to the average of the accumulated value, and therefore the need for an explicit computation of an average for each pixel is eliminated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2001
    Assignee: ATI Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Milivoje M. Aleksic, Indra Laksono, James Doyle
  • Publication number: 20010033287
    Abstract: A computer graphics system that utilizes a super-sampled sample buffer and a sample-to-pixel calculation unit for refreshing the display. The graphics system may have a graphics processor, a super-sampled sample buffer, and a sample-to-pixel calculation unit. The graphics processor renders samples into the sample buffer and may utilize a window ID that specifies attributes of pixels on a per object basis. The window ID may specify one or more of a sample mode, filter type, color attributes, or source attributes. The sample mode may include single sample per pixel mode and multiple samples per pixel mode. The graphics system may be further operable to generate a single sample per pixel for certain windows of the screen in order to provide backwards compatibility with legacy systems.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 29, 2000
    Publication date: October 25, 2001
    Applicant: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Inventors: N. David Naegle, Scott R. Nelson, Michael F. Deering
  • Patent number: 6307566
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for utilizing pixel sub-components which form a pixel element of an LCD display, e.g., as separate luminous intensity elements, are described. Each pixel of a color LCD display is comprised of three non-overlapping red, green and blue rectangular pixel sub-elements or sub-components. The invention takes advantage of the ability to control individual RGB pixel sub-elements to effectively increase a screen's resolution in the dimension perpendicular to the dimension in which the screen is striped, e.g., the RGB pixel sub-elements are arranged lengthwise. In order to utilize the effective resolution which can be obtained by treating RGB pixel sub-components separately, scaling or super sampling of digital representations of fonts is performed in one dimension at a rate that is greater than the scaling or sampling performed in the other dimension. In some embodiments where weighting is used in determining RGB pixel values, e.g.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2001
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: William Hill, Michael Duggan, Leroy B. Keely, Jr., Gregory C. Hitchcock, J. Turner Whitted
  • Publication number: 20010013872
    Abstract: A display device comprises a data zone expansion circuit 16R expanding a data zone of signal R and a data zone contraction circuit 18R contracting a data zone are provided at the proceeding and succeeding stages of an image processing circuit 20R performing an edge enhancement processing. The circuit 16R performs bit shift of the input signal R to the higher bit side and adds an offset value &bgr; to the bit-shifted signal, and the circuit 18R performs the inversion of this linear conversion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2000
    Publication date: August 16, 2001
    Inventor: Akira Genba