ES2361415T3 - UNDERSTANDING IMAGE DATA ASSOCIATED WITH TWO-DIMENSIONAL MATRICES OF SUBCOMPONENTS OF IMAGE ELEMENTS. - Google Patents

Abstract

LCD Display device (320) with increased horizontal and vertical resolution. The horizontal resolution is increased by mapping spatially different sets of one or more samples to individual pixel sub-components (302, 304, 306). The vertical resolution is increased by increasing the number of pixel sub-component density in the vertical dimension. Image data compression is performed by controlling sets of vertically adjacent pixels (C1, R1) using red, green, and blue luminous intensity values and a bias value of the pixel sub-components (302, 304, 306, 312, 314, 316).

Description

The present invention is about procedures and an apparatus for displaying images and, more particularly, on procedures and an apparatus for increasing the perceived resolution of the displayed images and compressing the image data to allow control signals to be transmitted with efficiency to display devices.

Color display devices have become the main preferred display devices for most computer users. Color display on a monitor is usually achieved by operating the display device to emit light, typically a combination of red, green and blue light, which results in a human observer perceiving one or more colors.

In cathode ray tube (CRT) display devices, different light colors are generated by phosphor coatings that are applied as points in a sequence on the CRT screen. Normally a different phosphor coating is used to generate each of the colors red, green and blue, which results in repeated patterns of phosphorus points. When they are excited by an electron beam, the phosphorus points generate the colors red, green and blue.

Normally the term pixel is used to refer to a point, for example, in a rectangular grid of thousands of such points. Many computer applications and other types of applications assume that each pixel corresponds to a square portion of a display screen. A computer uses the pixels individually to form an image on the display device. For a color CRT, in which a single triad of red, green and blue phosphorus points cannot be addressed, the smallest possible pixel size will depend on the focus, alignment and bandwidth of electron guns used to excite phosphorus points. Light emitted from one or more triads of red, green and blue phosphorus dots, in various known arrangements for CRT screens, tends to blend together giving, at a certain distance, the appearance of a single source of colored light that It represents a pixel.

Liquid crystal displays (LCD) and other flat display devices are commonly used in portable devices instead of CRT. This is because flat screens tend to be small and light compared to CRT screens. In addition, flat screens generally consume less power than CRT screens of comparable size, which makes them more suitable for battery-powered applications. As the quality of flat color display devices increases and their cost decreases, flat screens continue to replace CRT screens in desktop applications. Consequently, flat screens, and LCDs in particular, are becoming increasingly common.

Color LCD screens are examples of display devices that use multiple elements that can be addressed and controlled separately, referred to herein as "subcomponents of image elements" to represent each pixel of an image being displayed. On many known LCD screens, each pixel is a single square element that includes non-square subcomponents of red, green and blue (RGB) image elements. When combined, the RGB subcomponents of image elements form the square pixel.

Fig. 1 illustrates a portion of a known LCD device 100. The illustrated LCD device 100 includes four columns (C1-C4) and three rows (R1-R3) of pixels, each of which has a subcomponent 102 of red image elements, a subcomponent 104 of green image elements and a Subcomponent 106 of separate blue image elements. Each of the three subcomponents 102, 104, 106 of image elements has a height three times greater than its width. As a consequence of their 3: 1 aspect ratios, RGB subcomponents 102, 104, 106 of image elements produce a square pixel. The RGB subcomponents 102, 104, 106 of image elements are arranged to form bands throughout the LCD device. Normally, RGB bands run the entire length of the screen in one direction. Common LCD devices used for computer applications are wider than tall and tend to run the bands in a vertical direction. For convenience, the invention is described herein primarily in the context of LCD devices that have vertical bands, although the principles of the invention apply to display devices that have other subcomponent configurations of image elements.

In color screens, the intensity of the red, green and blue light emitted by the corresponding subcomponents 102, 104, 106 of image elements can be varied to generate the appearance of a pixel of almost any desired color. The lack of light emission of the subcomponents 102, 104, 106 of image elements produces a black pixel, while the emission of the three colors with an intensity of 100 percent results in a white pixel.

Although conventional screens have been shown to be satisfactory for many applications, there is a need for an improvement in resolution. The resolution of flat display devices, which is considerably lower than the resolution achieved by print media, makes it difficult to display high-quality Latin characters and similar alphanumeric characters in the small text sizes commonly used for reading. The problem of low resolution is even more pronounced when complex calligraphy languages are displayed, such as Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Indian languages. Ideographic languages, such as Japanese, use a large number of Kanji characters or other characters that often depend on both the vertical resolution and the horizontal resolution.

The more complex Kanji character has nine horizontal lines, so 17 pixels are required to represent the lines and the spaces between them. In the current display resolutions, close to 4 points per millimeter, a true representation with smaller font sizes of approximately 14-point types (4.94 millimeters) is not feasible. At 4 points per millimeter, the display devices simply do not have enough points to represent complex Kanji characters with text sizes that would be preferred for comfortable reading.

Japanese books are commonly printed with 9, 10 and 11 point typefaces, which are similar to those used in Western books. This is a desirable size for reading according to human physiology. Manga comics, hugely popular in Japan, use even smaller typographic sizes. Complicating matters further is the fact that, typically, Furigana characters are used to provide the Japanese with a pronunciation guide for less common Kanji characters using 3 or 4-point typography. The representation of characters of these sizes on computer screens, particularly LCD, presents enormous challenges.

A known technique to address the lack of availability of screen pixels to represent the full traces of complex characters has been to use, for small sizes, hand-calibrated bitmaps. Unfortunately, these hand-calibrated bitmaps, at best, are rough representations of the characters that cannot be accurately drawn in the desired display sizes, given the resolution of conventional screens. In such implementations, some strokes of the true character profiles have to join with others or be completely removed. Decisions as to what strokes can be edited in such a way require a broad knowledge of the specific language and involve a lot of time and effort. For example, it would not be unusual for it to take more than two years to produce a single typeface this way, because there are more than 7,000 characters involved in some languages. Embedded bitmap sources also have the disadvantage of requiring large amounts of memory for storage. Due to such limitations, Japanese operating systems tend to be distributed with few supported fonts. In fact, a common operating system of Microsoft Corporation, of Redmond, Washington, for Japanese personal computers currently includes only two Japanese typefaces: MS-Gothic and MS-Mincho. Although Kanji characters represent a particularly difficult typography to reproduce on LCD display devices, similar low resolution problems are encountered when any character is displayed.

Given the above, it is clear that there is a need for improved techniques to visualize images on display devices. It would be desirable for any such technique to improve the resolution in at least one dimension and, more preferably, two dimensions (i.e. horizontal and vertical dimensions). It would also be desirable, from the point of view of manufacturing, that at least some new display devices are manufactured using existing display technology and manufacturing equipment, thereby avoiding the expense that would be associated with the development or obtaining of the new equipment. of manufacturing the display device.

JP 9051548 deals with a method, a medium and a device for displaying color images using monochromatic light.

EP 346 621 deals with a method for visualizing a polychromatic image comprising displaying a first sub-pixel with an intensity that is a function of the intensities of at least two first image sub-pixels that have positions that extend in a first region. The first region has an area greater than the area of the viewing pixel, and is centered on the position of the viewing pixel. In addition, a second display pixel is displayed with an intensity that is the function of two second image subpixels that extend in a second region centered on the position of the second display subpixel.

Document US 5 113 274 deals with a liquid crystal display device that includes an array of color pixels in which a quartet is repeated comprising pixels arranged in the order GRGB or GBGR or RGBG or BGRG. As such, a display unit comprises a pixel G and pixels R and B on opposite sides of the pixel G.

EP 899 604, published on March 3, 1999, deals with a color display apparatus for performing polychromatic display by combining the activation / deactivation of neighboring subpixels.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved method for displaying an image with increased resolution in a display device, as well as a corresponding system.

This object is resolved by the subject of the independent claims.

Preferred embodiments are defined by the dependent claims.

The present invention relates to methods and systems for improving the resolution of images displayed in the horizontal and vertical dimensions of flat LCD or other display devices having subcomponents of separately controllable image elements. One factor that is responsible for at least part of the improved resolution is that subcomponents of separately controllable image elements, not full pixels, are treated as individual sources of light intensity. Each subcomponent of image elements represents a spatially different portion of the image. To obtain such results, spatially different sets of one or more samples of the image data are correlated to the individual subcomponents of image elements, not to full pixels.

Such displaced sampling is responsible for increasing the resolution of the display device in the direction perpendicular to the bands of the display device. The increased resolution in the orthogonal direction (ie, the direction parallel to the bands) is achieved by increasing the density of the subcomponents of image elements beyond conventional display devices. For example, each region of the display device that would ordinarily consist of a single pixel with three subcomponents of image elements is configured to include two or three complete pixels, each of which has three subcomponents of image elements. The subcomponents of image elements have heights 1.5 times greater than their width if the density of the subcomponents of image elements is doubled, or they are square if the density is tripled. The density of subcomponents of image elements can also be increased by other factors, although a factor of two or three has the advantage that the height dimension is not less than the width dimension and existing subcomponent manufacturing techniques. Image elements can be easily adapted to build such display devices.

Display devices that have the previous pixel configurations and subcomponents of image elements may allow images to be displayed with resolutions that are improved in both the vertical and horizontal dimensions with respect to conventional reproduction processes. The two-dimensional improvement in resolution can be particularly advantageous for displaying complex characters, such as Kanji characters, which depend heavily on character traits that have fine details in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions.

Many existing computers do not have the ability to transmit light intensity values in control signals to the display devices at a rate high enough to withstand the increased densities of subcomponents of image elements of the display devices disclosed in the present document To make use of the available bandwidth of such computers, the image data processing and image reproduction procedures of the invention are also extended to image data compression techniques.

The image data compression procedures are adapted to encode the light intensity values to be applied to a set of vertically adjacent pixels to what is called the control element of the display device. The control element includes a set of two vertically adjacent pixels when the density of the subcomponents of image elements is doubled and a set of three adjacent pixels vertically when the density of the subcomponents of image elements is tripled, such that the Control element occupies a substantially square portion of the display device.

The light intensity values applied to the subcomponents of image elements in a control element are encoded in a data structure that has a length, for example, of 8, 16 or 24 bits. The data structure includes a red light intensity value, a green light intensity value, a blue light intensity value and a polarization value. The red, green and blue light intensity values correspond to the global or average luminance that has to be generated in the subcomponents of the image elements of the control element. The polarization value indicates the relative luminance between the multiple pixels in the control element. For example, if the control element includes two vertically adjacent pixels, the polarization value indicates whether the luminance is to be polarized towards the upper pixel, towards the lower pixel or distributed equally.

The data compression techniques of the invention allow the control signal to be transmitted to the display device with substantially the same rate that would be experienced if the density of the subcomponents of image elements were not increased. In other words, if a particular display system operating on a computer transmits 16 bits of data per square pixel in the absence of an increased density of the subcomponents of image elements, the compressed control signal for the display device having the display Increased density of the subcomponents of image elements can also use 16 bits of data per control element (i.e., the square region of the display device). Of course, the cost of data compression is generally the loss of some resolution with respect to the resolution that would be obtained if each pixel were to be independently controlled without data compression.

The invention also extends to display devices that are further adapted to reduce chromatic aberrations that can be generated by treating each subcomponent of image elements as a separate source of luminance. In one implementation, the position of the subcomponents of red and blue image elements is transposed into alternate adjacent rows. This configuration of the subcomponents of image elements breaks the vertical bands of subcomponents of red and blue image elements of the same color that are present in many conventional display devices, thereby decreasing the marginal chromatic effects that can be experienced. In other implementations, successive rows of pixels have subcomponents of red, green and blue image elements that are offset by 1/3 or 2/3 of the full pixel's width, so that bands with subcomponents of image elements of the image are not formed. same color, but instead form subcomponents of red, green, blue and alternating image elements.

Additional advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description that follows, and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or can be learned by the practice of the invention. The advantages of the invention can be realized and obtained by means of instruments and combinations indicated particularly in the appended claims. These and other features of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and the appended claims or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinbelow.

Brief description of the drawings

About the manner in which the above advantages listed above and others are obtained, a more particular description of the invention will be presented briefly described above with reference to specific embodiments thereof that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Understanding that these drawings represent only typical embodiments of the invention and, therefore, should not be construed as limiting their scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a portion of a conventional liquid crystal display device.

Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary system that provides a suitable operating environment for embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 3 illustrates a display device in which the position of the subcomponents of red and blue image elements is transposed into alternate rows of the display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figures 4A and 4B represent portions of a display device having a density of the subcomponents of image elements in the vertical dimension that has been increased by a factor of two according to an embodiment of the invention.

Figures 4C and 4D represent portions of a display device that has a density of the subcomponents of image elements in the vertical dimension that has been increased by a factor of two and that also transposes the position of the subcomponents of image elements. red and blue in alternate rows according to an embodiment of the invention.

Figures 5A and 5B illustrate portions of a display device in which the density of the subcomponents of image elements in the vertical dimension has been increased by a factor of three.

Figures 6 and 7 illustrate qualitatively improvements in the readability of various Kanji characters that can be obtained by increasing the density of the subcomponents of image elements in the vertical dimension.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiments

The present invention relates to systems and methods for increasing the resolution of images displayed on flat LCD or other display devices that have subcomponents of separately controllable image elements. Assuming that the display device has vertical bands, much of the improved resolution in the horizontal dimension is achieved by carrying out shifted sampling in the image data and correlating the displaced samples with individual subcomponents of image elements instead of correlating the samples with full pixels. The improved resolution in the vertical dimension is achieved by increasing the density of the subcomponents of image elements in the vertical dimension. To accommodate the increased number of subcomponents of image elements, the invention also relates to image data compression techniques by which adjacent pixel sets are controlled vertically using a red light intensity value, a green light intensity value, a blue light intensity value and a polarization value. The red, green and blue light intensity values control the overall luminance from the sets of subcomponents of red, green, and blue image elements, while the polarization value indicates whether the luminance is to move to a particular pixel in the set of pixels, and to what degree.

I. Exemplary computer and physical support environments

The embodiments of the present invention may comprise a special-purpose or general-purpose computer that includes various computer hardware, as set forth in greater detail below. Embodiments within the scope of the present invention also include computer readable media for carrying or containing computer executable instructions or data structures stored therein. Such computer readable media may be any available media to which a general purpose or special purpose computer may have access. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other means that may used to carry or store desired program code media in the form of computer executable instructions or data structures that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

When information is transferred or provided on a network or other communications connection (whether wired, wireless or a combination of wired and wireless) to a computer, the computer contemplates the connection, quite rightly, as a computer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection is aptly called a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the above should be included in the scope of computer readable media. The computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions and data that cause a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer or a special purpose process device to perform a certain function or a group of functions.

It is contemplated that FIG. 2 and the following statement provide a brief general description of a suitable computing environment in which the present invention can be implemented. Although not required, the invention will be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules that run computers in network environments. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular types of abstract data. The computer executable instructions, the associated data structures and the program modules represent examples of the program code means for executing the steps of the procedures disclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executable instructions or associated data structures represents examples of corresponding actions to implement the functions described in such steps.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention can be practiced in networked computer environments with many types of computer system configurations, including personal computers, handheld devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, PC in network, minicomputers, central computers and the like. The invention can also be carried out in distributed computing environments in which the tasks are carried out by remote and local process devices that are linked (either by wired links, wireless links or by a combination of wired or wireless links) through a network of communications In a distributed computing environment, the program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

With reference to FIG. 2, an exemplary system for the implementation of the invention includes a general purpose computer device in the form of a conventional computer 20, which includes a process unit 21, a system memory 22 and a system bus 23 that couples various system components , including system memory 22, to process unit 21. The system bus 23 can be of any of several types of bus structures, including a memory bus or a memory controller, a peripheral bus and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The system memory includes read-only memory (ROM) 24 and direct access memory (RAM) 25. A basic input / output system (BIOS) 26, which contains basic routines that contribute to transfer information between items within the computer 20 , as during startup, it may be stored in ROM 24.

The computer 20 may also include a magnetic hard disk drive 27 for reading and writing on a magnetic hard drive 39, a magnetic disk drive 28 that reads or writes to a removable non-volatile magnetic disk 152, and an optical disk drive 155 for reading and writing on a removable magnetic disk 29, and an optical disk drive 30 for reading and writing on a removable optical disk 31, such as a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a CD-RW or other optical media. The magnetic hard disk drive 27, the magnetic disk drive 28 and the optical disk drive 30 are connected to the system bus 23 via an interface 32 of hard disk drives, an interface 33 of magnetic disk drives and an interface 34 of optical units, respectively. The units and their associated computer-readable media provide non-volatile storage of computer-executable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computer 20. Although the exemplary environment described herein employs a magnetic hard disk 39 , a removable magnetic disk 29 and a removable optical disk 31, other types of computer-readable media can be used to store data, including magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video discs, Bernoulli cartridges, RAM, ROM and the like.

Program code media comprising one or more program modules may be stored on the hard disk 39, the magnetic disk 29, the optical disk 31, the ROM 24 or the RAM 25, including an operating system 35, one

or more application programs 36, other program modules 37 and program data 38. A user can enter instructions and information in the computer 20 via the keyboard 40, the pointing device 42 or other input devices (not shown), such as a microphone, a game lever, a game controller, a satellite dish, A scanner or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the process unit 21 via a serial port interface 46 coupled to the system bus 23. Alternatively, the input devices may be connected to other interfaces, such as a parallel port, a game port or a universal serial bus (USB) port. A monitor 47 or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus 23 via an interface, such as a video adapter 48. In addition to the monitor, personal computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers and printers.

Computer 20 can operate in a network environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computers 49a and 49b. Each of the remote computers 49a and 49b may be another personal computer, a server, a routing device, a network PC, a cooperative device or another common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above with with respect to the computer 20, although in FIG. 2 only 50a and 50b memory storage devices and their associated application programs 36a and 36b have been illustrated. The logical connections represented in FIG. 2 include a local area network (LAN) 51 and a wide area network (WAN) 52, which are shown here by way of example only and not limitation. Such network environments are common in office-level computer networks or enterprise-level computer networks, intranets and the Internet.

When used in a LAN network environment, computer 20 is connected to the local network 51 via a network interface or adapter 53. When used in a WAN network environment, the computer 20 may include a modem 54, a wireless link or other means for establishing communications in the wide area network 52, such as the Internet. The modem 54, which can be internal or external, is connected to the system bus 23 via the interface 46 of the serial port. In a network environment, the program modules represented with respect to the computer 20, or portions thereof, can be stored in a remote memory storage device. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and that other means of establishing communications in the wide area network 52 may be used.

II. LCD display devices with increased densities of subcomponents of image elements

Computer display devices are two-dimensional devices. Since the display devices are normally oriented vertically, for convenience, the first and second dimensions of a display device are commonly referred to as vertical (y) and horizontal (x) dimensions, respectively. By rotating the physical display device, the horizontal and vertical dimensions can be interchanged. For the purposes of the explanation, the procedures and apparatus of the present invention will be explained in terms of vertical and horizontal dimensions. However, it should be understood that the exemplary display devices described can be rotated to achieve the resolution improvement described in the vertical direction in the horizontal direction, and the resolution improvement described in the horizontal direction in the vertical direction.

As discussed above, pixel elements commonly include subcomponents of red, green and blue image elements. The light intensity of each subcomponent of image elements can be controlled separately by selecting a control value of the light intensity associated with the particular subcomponent of image elements. In most of the known devices, each subcomponent of image elements R, G and B has a rectangular shape and its height is three times its width. The three rectangular subcomponents of image elements form a square pixel.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the light intensity values R, G, B are independently controlled to represent different portions of an image. This provides an increase in horizontal spatial resolution by up to three times compared to conventional reproduction techniques, which use the full pixel to represent a single portion of an image.

Unfortunately, in cases where the elements R, G, B are arranged in vertical bands, as in the case of the conventional LCD device illustrated in Fig. 1, treat the subcomponents of image elements as separate sources of light intensity It can result in some chromatic distortions. For example, unwanted vertical and / or green vertical bands or stripes may be visible in a displayed image. In an embodiment of the present invention, to decrease the visibility of chromatic aberrations introduced by the treatment of subcomponents of image elements as independent light sources, the common pattern of display in RGB bands is replaced with a pattern that transposes the position of the subcomponents of red and blue image elements in alternating lines, as illustrated in Fig. 3. Row R1 of the display device 200 includes a series of subcomponents of image elements having a pattern (R, G, B, R , G, B, ...). Instead, row R2 includes a series of subcomponents of image elements that have a pattern (B, G, R, B, G, R, ...). In other words, vertically adjacent subcomponents 202 and 212 of image elements have different colors (red and blue), vertically adjacent subcomponents 206 and 214 of image elements have the same green color and vertically adjacent subcomponents 208 and 216 of Image elements have different colors (blue and red).

Such configurations of the subcomponents of image elements can reduce the effect of chromatic aberrations by eliminating the adjacent vertical bands of subcomponents of red and blue image elements. These contiguous vertical bands of colors can produce red and blue marginal effects in an image that distracts attention. Instead of having vertical bands with subcomponents of red and blue image elements of the same color, the LCD device 200 has vertical bands of subcomponents of alternate red and blue image elements.

The preceding techniques of treating subcomponents of image elements as independent light sources can result in a significant increase in spatial resolution in the dimension perpendicular to the direction of the bands. When the display device has vertical bands, this method of increasing the image resolution is particularly useful for the reproduction of Latin characters or other characters that depend more on the vertical features of the characters than on the horizontal features of the characters. . However, as noted above, Kanji characters generally depend on the horizontal features of the characters as well as on the vertical features. Consequently, to increase the readability of Kanji characters, it is important to increase the vertical resolution as well as the horizontal resolution.

In various embodiments of the present invention, the resolution increases in the vertical dimension by increasing the number of subcomponents of image elements in this direction. For example, the number of subcomponents of image elements can be doubled by unit distance in the direction parallel to the bands with respect to the conventional display device illustrated in Figure 1. An example of such a display device is illustrated in Figures 4A and 4B. The portion of the LCD display device 320 illustrated in Figure 4B includes rows R1-R3 and columns C1-C4. Rows R1-R3 represent scan lines of the display device 320 that are oriented perpendicular to the vertical band. Instead, display devices that have a horizontal band have vertical scan lines. Each region of the LCD device 320 that would correspond to a single full pixel with three subcomponents of image elements in a conventional display device represents, instead, two pixels containing a total of six subcomponents of image elements. For example, Figure 4A illustrates such a region 300 of the display device 320, which includes subcomponents of separately controllable image elements R1, G1, B1, R2, G2 and B2, indicated by reference numbers 302, 304 , 306, 312, 314 and 316, respectively.

The pixel and subcomponent configuration of image elements in Figures 4A and 4B result in subcomponents of image elements having a height approximately 1.5 times greater than their width. In other words, the aspect ratio of subcomponents of image elements is approximately 1.5: 1. It is noted that aspect ratios can describe the size and relative position of subcomponents of image elements regardless of whether the display device has vertical or horizontal bands. The decrease in the aspect ratio of the subcomponents of image elements of Figures 4A and 4B has the effect of increasing the resolution in the vertical direction. The apparent factor in which the resolution increases depends largely on the way in which the subcomponents 302, 304, 306, 312, 314 and 316 of image elements are controlled, as will be described in greater detail in what follows. . When the configuration of the pixels and the subcomponents of image elements of Figures 4A and 4B is combined with the technique set forth above for increasing the perceived resolution in the horizontal dimension, characters with an increased vertical resolution can be displayed and an increased horizontal resolution.

Figures 4C and 4D represent a portion of an LCD device 350 having subcomponents of image elements having a height 1.5 times greater than its width, as in the example of Figures 4A and 4B, in combination with the transposition of the position of the subcomponents of red and green image elements in alternate rows, as described with reference to Figure 3. Each region of the display device 350 of Figure 4D that would correspond to a single complete pixel in the devices Conventional LCD represents, instead, two pixels that include a total of six subcomponents of image elements. For example, region 330 of Figure 4C includes the subcomponents of image elements R1, G1, B1, B2, G2, R2 indicated by reference numbers 332, 334, 336, 342, 344 and 346, respectively. The realization of Figures 4C and 4D can generate an increased resolution in the vertical and horizontal directions, as well as reduce some chromatic aberrations that could be experienced in another case.

In other embodiments, the resolution is increased by tripling the number of subcomponents of image elements in the vertical dimension. For example, in Figure 5B, each region of the display device 450 that would correspond to a single full pixel in conventional LCD devices represents, instead, three pixels, which include a total of nine subcomponents of image elements. For example, region 400 of Figure 5A includes subcomponents of image elements R1, G1, B1, R2, G2, B2, R3, G3, B3 indicated by reference numbers 402, 404, 406, 408, 410, 412 , 414, 416 and 418, respectively. The pixel and subcomponent configuration of image elements in Figures 5A and 5B result in subcomponent results of image elements that are square or approximately square, or have aspect ratios of approximately 1: 1.

Duplication or triplication of the resolution in the vertical dimension can be implemented using existing equipment for manufacturing display devices, since it does not require a finer gradation between subcomponents of image elements than what is already in the horizontal dimension.

Specific examples of increasing the number of subcomponents of image elements in the direction of the bandwidth of the display device by factors of two and three have been presented. Increasing the density of subcomponents of image elements by factors of two and three has certain advantages, such as maintaining generally square regions of the display device and preserving heights of subcomponents of image elements that are at least as large as their width. , which allows previously known manufacturing techniques to be adapted for the construction of these display devices. However, the invention also extends to increasing the density of subcomponents of image elements by other factors to improve resolution in the direction parallel to the bands.

Each set or triad of RGB subcomponents of image elements produced by increasing the number of subcomponents of image elements in the direction parallel to the band can be treated as a separate pixel. Such treatment, in the case where the density of the subcomponents of image elements increases by a factor of two, results in non-square pixels that are half as high as they are wide. To fully use all pixels, the display software generates and transmits a signal that contains twice the light intensity values associated with the subcomponents of image elements than would be required if the density of the subcomponents of image elements does not It would have increased by a factor of two. Similarly, when the density of the subcomponents of image elements increases by a factor of three, the number of light intensity values also triples if the subcomponents of image elements are to be used fully and independently to represent different portions. of image data.

III. Compression of image data

The large number of light intensity values to be transmitted in the control signal for display devices, such as those illustrated in Figures 4A-5B, can present bandwidth problems in some systems. That is, some systems may not be able to generate or transmit such a large number of independent light intensity values during the time available for each update of the display device. In addition, as discussed above, many existing image processing applications assume that the pixels are square. There may be some lack of efficiency and complexities associated with the use of non-square pixels with such applications.

To compensate for the limited bandwidth capabilities of many existing computer systems, the embodiments of the present invention relate to the compression of the light intensity values associated with the subcomponents of image elements of display devices having increased densities. of subcomponents of image elements. Data compression sacrifices some resolution in exchange for reducing data transmission requirements to reproduce images.

In systems capable of processing and transmitting double or triple the number of video control signals, what would be needed in other cases in the absence of increased densities of subcomponents of image elements, each set or triad of RGB subcomponents of elements of Image can be treated as an independent pixel without using the data compression techniques disclosed herein. However, when image data compression can be beneficial, pixel sets are grouped for control purposes.

For example, in Figures 4A-4D, in which the density of the subcomponents of image elements in the vertical dimension is doubled, two sets of RGB subcomponents of adjacent image elements can be grouped vertically to form a pair of adjacent pixels that It is referred to herein as "control element". For example, region 300 of Figure 4A and region 400 of Figure 5A are examples of control elements. In such an embodiment, each pair of pixels occupies a generally square region of the display device and corresponds in size to a single pixel of a conventional display device. Although the control element may consist of adjacent pixels, the control elements may generally consist of two pixels or more, regardless of whether the pixels are adjacent to each other.

For data compression purposes, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the luminance generated by the subcomponents of image elements in each control element is generated using a single value of red light intensity, a single value of green light intensity, a Unique blue light intensity value and a polarization value. The polarization value indicates the way in which the light energy specified by the R, G and B values of light intensity should be distributed or applied differentially between the upper pixel and the lower pixel of the control element. The polarization value indicates, for example, if the luminance should be distributed equally between the upper and lower pixels, or if it should be weighted at a specified factor to the upper pixel or the

5 lower.

The timing of polarization depends on the specified light intensity of each chromatic component. Consequently, in the case in which the different chromatic components are assigned different values of light intensity, the polarization opportunity will be different for each of the components R, G and B. The medium gray offers a great opportunity for polarization, since the R, G and B values of light intensity are each at the midpoint of their range. This allows a subcomponent of image elements in a control element that includes a pair of pixels, each of which has subcomponents R, G and B of image elements, to be fully activated and the corresponding subcomponents of elements of Image of the other pixel in the control element will be completely deactivated, if desired, without affecting the overall energy expenditure.

15 To optimize the use of available bandwidth to transmit light intensity values to the display device, the number of bits included in the red, green and blue light intensity values and the polarization value can be selected taking into account relative empirical observations to the perception of colors by human beings. In general, most human beings can perceive green light much better than red or blue light. Studies have shown that, in general, of the total perceived light intensity of a light source that produces red, green and blue light of the same light intensity, approximately 60% of the perceived light intensity is associated with green light, 30% with the red light and 10% with the blue light. For this reason, we humans tend to be able to distinguish different values of green light intensity much better than differences in values of red or blue light intensity.

In many conventional computer systems, the light intensity of subcomponents R, G and B of

25 image elements are controlled using a control signal that includes 8, 16 or 24 bits per pixel. Frequently, multiples of eight bits are used in the control signals to efficiently use the data capacity of the data words used to transmit such signals. Conventional systems that use a total of eight bits to specify the light intensity values of the subcomponents of single-pixel red, green, and blue image elements typically assign three bits to specify the value of red light intensity, three bits to specify the green light intensity value and two bits to specify the blue light intensity value. Conventional systems that use a total of sixteen bits to specify the light intensity values of the subcomponents of red, green and blue image elements typically allocate five bits to specify the value of red light intensity, six bits to specify the intensity value green light and five bits to specify the blue light intensity value.

35 To support the display of an extremely large number of different colors, some conventional computer systems, including many personal computers, use twenty-four bits to specify light intensity values of the subcomponents of red, green, and blue image elements that form a single pixel In such systems, eight of the twenty-four available bits are normally dedicated to specifying the light intensity value of each of the subcomponents of red, green and blue image elements.

Table 1 shows the bit allocation commonly used to specify the light intensity values of the subcomponents of image elements in conventional systems:

TABLE 1

Total bits per pixel

Bits for component R Bits for component G Bits for component B

8

3 3 2

16

5 6 5

24

8 8 8

Using fewer bits than are commonly used in the examples presented in Table 1 to represent the set of RGB values of light intensity, and dedicating the unused bits for use as a value of

In polarization, a display device having an increased density of the subcomponents of image elements can be controlled using control signals that do not require additional data transmission. Of course, the cost of carrying out such data compression is often the loss of some spatial or chromatic resolution in the reproduced image.

In the manner described above, a display device having two pixels in each control element can be controlled using an 8-bit signal in which two bits are used for the light intensity R value, two bits for the value G of light intensity, two bits for the value B of light intensity and two bits for the polarization value. In the case where 16 bits are available per control element, four bits can be used to specify the value of red light intensity, six to specify the value of green light intensity, four to specify the value of blue light intensity and two bits for Specify the polarization value.

In the case of a 24-bit interface, eight bits can be used to specify the value of red light intensity, eight to specify the value of green light intensity, six to specify the value of blue light intensity and two bits to specify the value of Polarization.

These proportions favor the reallocation of control bits of the blue and / or red light intensity for use as bits of the polarization value, since human beings are less sensitive to the different levels of intensity of these colors than to the different levels of intensity of green. However, alternative assignments of the control bits to the light intensity and polarization values are also possible. For example, other embodiments of the invention use three bits to support a wider range of light intensity polarization values. Other additional embodiments use six polarization bits to independently control the polarization of each pair of subcomponents of red, green and blue image elements. In one embodiment of the 6-bit polarization control signal, each pair of polarization bits represents a separate red, green and blue polarization signal.

A two-bit polarization value can indicate whether polarization is to be applied or not, and if the upper RGB set

or the lower one should be responsible for outputting most of the light energy of the pixel element. For example, in an exemplary embodiment, a value 00 of the polarization control signal indicates that the light energy should be distributed equally between the upper and lower pixels, a value 10 of the polarization control signal indicates that the light energy should polarize down, so that the lower pixel outputs more light than the upper pixel; and a value 01 of the polarization control signal indicates that the light energy should be polarized upwards, so that the upper pixel outputs more light than the lower pixel.

The light intensity control techniques of the present invention, which involve the use of separate light intensity R, G, B values in conjunction with a polarization value, can be used to control pixel elements comprising three or more sets of values. of light intensity R, G and B. Such a control procedure is particularly suitable for applications in which the density of the subcomponents of image elements in the vertical dimension has tripled so that the individual RGB subcomponents of image elements are square and have vertical and horizontal dimensions equal to 1/3 of the width of a pixel. In such embodiments, three vertically adjacent pixels can be grouped to form a single square control element.

In such an embodiment in which each control element includes three sets of RGB subcomponents of image elements, a 3-bit polarization control signal is used. The 3-bit polarization control signal supports a sufficiently large number of different energy distributions of the light intensity so that reasonable use of the available vertical resolution, corresponding to the three vertically adjacent pixels, can be obtained.

The values of the polarization bits can be derived by sampling the image data so that the vertical distance between vertically adjacent samples is equal to the height of the subcomponents of image elements. To select the polarization bits, the two (or three) desired RGB values of the light intensity, component by component, are averaged at the same time, and each color is quantified to the appropriate level for the display device. This average of the RGB values of the light intensity corresponds to the overall luminance desired for the control element. Next, the overall luminance that would be generated in the control element for each possible configuration of the polarization bits is calculated and compared with the desired average output for the control element. These outputs of the control element are patterns consisting of two by three emitters or three by three emitters, as disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the polarization bits are chosen to minimize the square of the Euclidean distance between the average output of the desired control element and the actual output of the control element. Other error measures may also be used, including those that will be obvious to persons skilled in the art when learning from the invention disclosed herein.

In an exemplary embodiment, the results of the resolution enhancement filtering can be quantified as a value of 8 bits per control element. In this embodiment, the vertical density of the subcomponents of image elements (and the corresponding sampling rate) is increased by a factor of two. Thus, two 8-bit RGB filtered values have to be converted into an 8-bit signal that includes the RGB values of light intensity and the polarization value. This conversion can be achieved by means of a query table, using techniques that will be understood by those skilled in the art, after learning from the invention disclosed herein. If the query table is translated into software through the operating system, a large amount of calculation is not required. Alternatively, the query table can be implemented in physical media on a video card.

IV. Character examples

Figures 6 and 7 illustrate qualitatively the increased resolution that can often be obtained by visualizing images according to the invention. The characters of Figures 6 and 7 are those that can be generated by independently controlling each pixel instead of using the compression techniques of the invention, with the polarization values. The characters illustrated in Figures 6 and 7 are presented by way of example, not limitation. The results of any reproduction procedure will depend on many factors, including the size of the subcomponents of image elements, the sampling and filtering procedures used, etc.

Figure 6 illustrates various representations of the Japanese character "Utsu", which has the reputation of being one of the most complex Kanji characters. The characters in Figure 7 illustrate how a bitmap reproduced only in contour can be reproduced with different font sizes and with different densities of subcomponents of image elements, both in the vertical and horizontal dimensions.

The character set 130 is displayed in 9-point typography and corresponds to an LCD display device that has 88 dpi (i.e., 88 full pixels per 2.54 cm). The character 130a is reproduced using a display device with subcomponents of image elements whose height is triple its width or, in other words, without any increase in the density of the subcomponents of image elements. Character 130b is displayed using the same display device, but with an increase in the density of subcomponents of image elements by a factor of two. Character 130c is displayed with an increase in the density of subcomponents of image elements by a factor of three with respect to that of character 130a.

The character set 132 is displayed in 9-point typography and corresponds to an LCD display device that has 106 dpi. Character 132a is reproduced using a display device with subcomponents of image elements whose height is triple its width. Character 132b is displayed using the same display device, but with an increase in the density of subcomponents of image elements by a factor of two. Character 132c is displayed with an increase in the density of subcomponents of image elements by a factor of three with respect to that of character 132a.

Character set 134 is displayed in 6-point typeface and corresponds to an LCD display device that has 88 dpi. Character 134a is reproduced using a display device with subcomponents of image elements whose height is triple its width. Character 134b is displayed using the same display device, but with an increase in the density of subcomponents of image elements by a factor of two. Character 134c is displayed with an increase in the density of subcomponents of image elements by a factor of three with respect to that of character 134a.

Character set 136 is displayed in 6-point typeface and corresponds to an LCD display device that has 106 dpi. Character 136a is reproduced using a display device with subcomponents of image elements whose height is three times their width. Character 136b is displayed using the same display device, but with an increase in the density of subcomponents of image elements by a factor of two. Character 136c is displayed with an increase in the density of subcomponents of image elements by a factor of three with respect to that of character 136a.

Figure 7 illustrates various Kanji characters as they appear when viewed according to the invention. Row 140 includes characters that correspond to an LCD display device having 88 dpi and in which the conventional density of the subcomponents of image elements has been increased by a factor of two. Row 142 includes characters that correspond to an LCD display device having 106 dpi and in which the conventional density of the subcomponents of image elements has been increased by a factor of two. Row 144 represents the characters of row 140 that have been displayed with a density of the subcomponents of image elements increased by a factor of three, not two. Similarly, row 146 represents the characters of row 142 that have been displayed with a density of the subcomponents of image elements increased by a factor of three, not two.

As can be seen from these examples of reproduced characters, the improvement in readability and resolution can be spectacular when the characters are complex and depend heavily on the horizontal features.

The following is a list of additional preferred embodiments of the invention:

Embodiment 1: In a computer system having a display device, the display device having a plurality of pixels, each of which having a plurality of subcomponents of image elements of different colors, a method of displaying an image in the display device with increased resolution, the procedure comprising the steps for:

get image data that represents the image;

based on the image data, generate a control signal to be applied to a control element of the display device, including the control element at least two pixels, the control signal including a light intensity value for each one of the different colors and a polarization value that indicates whether, and to what degree, if it is given, the light intensity values must be applied differentially to a particular pixel of at least two pixels; Y

display the image on the display device by applying the light intensity values and the polarization value to the subcomponents of image elements.

Embodiment 2: A procedure as enumerated in embodiment 1 in which the image data representing the image includes spatially different sets of one or more samples that correlate with individual subcomponents of image elements.

Embodiment 3: A procedure as enumerated in embodiment 1 in which the control signal to be applied to the control element comprises:

a single value of the red light intensity;

a single value of the green light intensity; Y

a single value of blue light intensity.

Embodiment 4: A procedure as enumerated in embodiment 3 in which the control signal to be applied to the control element further comprises a single polarization value that is applied to the red, green and blue light intensity values.

Embodiment 5: A procedure as enumerated in embodiment 3 in which the control signal to be applied to the control element further comprises three polarization values, each of the three polarization values being applied to one of the intensity values Red, green and blue light.

Embodiment 6: A procedure as enumerated in embodiment 1 in which the control element occupies a substantially square region of the display device and consists of two adjacent pixels, each of which has three subcomponents of image elements.

Embodiment 7: A procedure as enumerated in embodiment 1 in which the control element occupies a substantially square region of the display device and consists of three adjacent pixels, each of which has three subcomponents of image elements.

Embodiment 8: A procedure as enumerated in embodiment 1 in which the step to generate the control signal comprises the actions of:

generate a data structure for each of the at least two pixels included in the control element, each of the data structures having a length equal to the specified number of bits and indicating desired values of light intensity for the subcomponents of elements of image of the particular pixel; Y

Compress the data structures in the control signal, the control signal also having the length equal to the specified number of bits.

Embodiment 9: A procedure as enumerated in embodiment 8 in which the action of compressing the data structures comprises selecting the control signal from a query table based on the data structures.

Embodiment 10: A computer program product to implement, in a computer system having a display device, the display device having a plurality of pixels, each of which having a plurality of subcomponents of colored image elements different, a method of displaying an image on the display device with increased resolution, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium for carrying computer executable instructions to carry out the steps for:

get image data that represents the image;

based on the image data, generate a control signal to be applied to a control element of the display device, including the control element at least two pixels, the control signal including a light intensity value for each one of the different colors and a polarization value that indicates whether, and to what degree, if it is given, the light intensity values must be applied differentially to a particular pixel of at least two pixels; Y

display the image on the display device by applying the light intensity values and the polarization value to the subcomponents of image elements.

Embodiment 11: A computer program product as enumerated in embodiment 10 in which the image data representing the image includes spatially different sets of one or more samples that correlate with individual subcomponents of image elements.

Embodiment 12: A computer program product as enumerated in embodiment 10 in which the control element occupies a substantially square region of the display device and consists of two adjacent pixels, each of which has three subcomponents of elements of image.

Embodiment 13: A computer program product as enumerated in embodiment 10 in which the control element occupies a substantially square region of the display device and consists of three adjacent pixels, each of which has three subcomponents of elements of image.

Embodiment 14: A computer program product as listed in embodiment 10 in which the step to generate the control signal comprises the actions of:

generate a data structure for each of the at least two pixels included in the control element, each of the data structures having a length equal to the specified number of bits and indicating desired values of light intensity for the subcomponents of elements of image of the particular pixel; Y

Compress the data structures in the control signal, the control signal also having the length equal to the specified number of bits.

Embodiment 15: A computer program product as enumerated in embodiment 14 in which the action of compressing the data structures comprises selecting the control signal from a query table based on the data structures.

Embodiment 16: A computer system for displaying images with increased resolution comprising:

a process unit; Y

a display device capable of being controlled by the process unit, the display device having a plurality of pixels, each of which has a plurality of subcomponents of separately controllable image elements, of different colors, each having of the plurality of pixels a different form of a square.

Embodiment 17: A computer system as enumerated in embodiment 16 wherein the plurality of subcomponents of separately controllable image elements includes a subcomponent of red image elements, a subcomponent of green image elements and a subcomponent of image elements. blue image, the positions of the subcomponents of red image elements and the subcomponents of blue image elements being transposed within the pixels in alternate rows of pixels in the display device.

Embodiment 18: A computer system as listed in embodiment 16 in which the subcomponents of image elements have aspect ratios of approximately 1.5: 1.

Embodiment 19: A computer system as listed in embodiment 16 in which the subcomponents of image elements have aspect ratios of approximately 1: 1.

Embodiment 20: A computer system as enumerated in embodiment 16 in which the display device is a liquid crystal display device.

Embodiment 21: A computer system as listed in embodiment 16, further comprising a computer-readable medium for carrying computer executable instructions to display an image on the display device, carrying out the instructions executable by computer, when executed by the process unit, the steps to:

get image data that represents the image;

visualize a different portion of the image in each of the subcomponents of image elements of a particular pixel, as opposed to displaying a single portion of the image in the entire particular pixel.

Embodiment 22: A computer system as listed in embodiment 21 in which the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the process unit, further carry out the steps for:

based on the image data, generate a control signal to be applied to a control element of the display device, including the control element at least two pixels, the control signal including a light intensity value for each one of the different colors and a polarization value that indicates whether, and to what degree, if it is given, the light intensity values must be applied differentially to a particular pixel of at least two pixels; Y

display the image on the display device by applying the light intensity values and the polarization value to the subcomponents of image elements.

Embodiment 23: A display device for displaying images with an increased resolution comprising:

a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a plurality of subcomponents of separately controllable image elements including:

a subcomponent of red image elements;

a subcomponent of green image elements; Y

a subcomponent of blue image elements;

wherein the plurality of pixels is aligned on scan lines in the display device, which are rows or columns, and in which the position of the subcomponents of red image elements and the subcomponents of blue image elements in the Pixels are transposed in alternate scan lines.

Embodiment 24: A display device as enumerated in embodiment 23 in which the scan lines are rows and the pixels and subcomponents of image elements are arranged in the display device forming vertical bands of subcomponents of green image elements of the same color and vertical bands of subcomponents of red image elements and subcomponents of alternating blue image elements.

Embodiment 25: A display device as listed in embodiment 23 in which the scan lines are columns and the pixels and the subcomponents of image elements are arranged in the display device forming horizontal bands of subcomponents of green image elements of the same color and horizontal bands of subcomponents of red image elements and subcomponents of alternating blue image elements.

Embodiment 26: A display device as listed in embodiment 23 in which the subcomponents of image elements have aspect ratios of approximately 3: 1, such that the pixels have aspect coefficients of approximately 1: 1.

Embodiment 27: A display device as listed in embodiment 23 in which the subcomponents of image elements have aspect ratios of approximately 1.5: 1, such that two adjacent pixels occupy a region of the display device that have an aspect ratio of approximately 1: 1.

Embodiment 28: A display device as listed in embodiment 23 in which the subcomponents of image elements have aspect ratios of approximately 1: 1, such that three adjacent pixels occupy a region of the display device having a Aspect ratio of approximately 1: 1.

Embodiment 29: In a computer system having a display device, the display device having a plurality of pixels, each of which having a plurality of subcomponents of image elements of different colors, a method of displaying an image in the display device with increased resolution, the procedure comprising the steps for:

correlate samples of the image data representing the image with the individual subcomponents of pixel image elements, each of the pixel image element subcomponents having been correlated with a spatially different set of one or more of the samples, being arranged the subcomponents of image elements of the plurality of pixels to form in the display device bands of subcomponents of green image elements of the same color and alternating bands of subcomponents of red image elements and subcomponents of blue image elements;

generate a separate value of light intensity for each of the pixel image element subcomponents based on the different set of one or more samples correlated therewith; Y

display the image on the display device using the separate values of the light intensity, which results in each of the pixel image element subcomponents, not the entire pixels, representing a different portion of the image.

Embodiment 30: A procedure as enumerated in embodiment 29 which, in addition, comprises, after the step to generate the separated value of the light intensity for each subcomponent of image elements, the step to compress the separated values of the light intensity to generate a control signal used to control a control element of the display device that includes at least two pixels, including the control signal, at least:

a single subcomponent of red image elements;

a single subcomponent of green image elements;

5 a single subcomponent of blue image elements; Y

a polarization value that indicates whether, and to what degree, if it occurs, the light intensity values must be applied differentially to a particular pixel of at least two pixels.

Embodiment 31: A procedure as enumerated in embodiment 30 in which the subcomponents of image elements have aspect ratios of approximately 1.5: 1, such that the element of

The control occupies a substantially square region of the display device and consists of two adjacent subcomponents of image elements.

Embodiment 32: A method as enumerated in embodiment 30 in which the subcomponents of image elements have aspect ratios of approximately 1: 1, such that the control element occupies a substantially square region of the display device and consists of in three

15 adjacent subcomponents of image elements.

Claims (10)

1. A procedure for displaying an image with an increased resolution in a display system (320) of a computer system, the display device having a plurality of pixels, each of which has a plurality of subcomponents (332- 336, 342-346) of image elements of different colors, the procedure comprising: correlate samples of image data representing the image with subcomponents of individual pixel image elements, each of the subcomponents of pixel image elements correlated with a spatially different set of one or more of the samples, in which the samples represent different portions of the image, the subcomponents of image elements of the plurality of pixels that are being arranged to form in the display device bands of subcomponents of green image elements of the same color and bands of subcomponents of image elements reds and subcomponents of alternating blue image elements; generate a separate value of light intensity for each subcomponent of pixel image elements based on the different set of one or more samples correlated therewith; compress the separated values of light intensity to generate a control signal used to control a control element of the display device that includes at least two pixels, including the control signal at least: a single subcomponent of red image elements; a single subcomponent of green image elements; a single subcomponent of blue image elements; Y a polarization value that indicates whether, and to what degree, if it occurs, the light intensity values must be applied differentially to a particular pixel of at least two pixels; Y visualize the image on the display device using separate values of light intensity, resulting in each of the pixel image element subcomponents, not the entire pixels, representing a different portion of the image.

2.

The method according to claim 1 wherein the subcomponents of image elements have aspect ratios of approximately 1.5: 1, such that the control element occupies a substantially square area of the display device and consists of two adjacent subcomponents of image elements.

3.

The method according to claim 1 wherein the subcomponents of image elements have aspect ratios of approximately 1: 1, such that the control element occupies a substantially square area of the display device and consists of three adjacent subcomponents of elements of image.

Four.

A computer system for displaying images with an increased resolution comprising:

a process unit; a display device (320) capable of being controlled by the process unit, the display device having a plurality of subcomponents (332-336, 342-346) of image elements of different colors separately controllable, each having the plurality of pixels a different form of a square; Y a computer-readable medium carrying computer executable instructions that cause an image to be displayed on the display device, the computer executable instructions being adapted to obtain image data representing the image; and to visualize a different portion of the image in each of the subcomponents of image elements of a particular pixel, instead of displaying a single portion of the image throughout the particular pixel, when executed by the process unit, in that the instructions executable by computer are also adapted to: based on the image data, generate a control signal to be applied to a control element of the display device, including the control element at least two pixels, the control signal including a light intensity value for each of the different colors and a polarization value that indicates if, and to what degree, if so, the light intensity values have to be applied differentially to a particular pixel of at least two pixels; and to visualize the image on the display device by applying the light intensity values and the polarization value to the subcomponents of image elements.

5.

The computer system according to claim 4 wherein the plurality of subcomponents of separately controllable image elements includes a subcomponent of red image elements, a subcomponent of green image elements and a subcomponent of blue image elements, the positions being transposed of the subcomponents of red image elements and subcomponents of blue image elements within the pixels in alternate rows of pixels in the display device.

6.

The computer system as set forth in one of claims 4 or 5 wherein the subcomponents of image elements have aspect ratios of approximately 1.5: 1 or approximately 1: 1.

7.

The computer system as set forth in one of claims 4 to 6 wherein the display device is a liquid crystal display device.

8.

A display device (320) for displaying images with increased resolution comprising:

a plurality of pixels, each pixel having a plurality of subcomponents of separately controllable image elements (332-336, 342-346) that include: a subcomponent of red image elements; a subcomponent of green image elements; Y a subcomponent of blue image elements; in which the plurality of pixels is aligned on scan lines in the display device that are rows or columns, the position of the subcomponent of red image elements and the subcomponent of blue image elements in pixels is transposed into scan lines alternate; Y if the scan lines are rows, the pixels and subcomponents of image elements are arranged in the display device to form vertical bands of subcomponents of green image elements of the same color and vertical bands of subcomponents of red image elements and subcomponents of alternating blue image elements; if the scan lines are columns, the pixels and subcomponents of image elements are arranged in the display device to form horizontal bands of subcomponents of green image elements of the same color and horizontal bands of subcomponents of red image elements and subcomponents of alternating blue image elements; in which a control signal is applied to a control element of the display device, the control element including two pixels, the control signal including a light intensity value for each of the different colors and a polarization value that It indicates whether, and to what degree, if it occurs, the light intensity values must be applied differentially to a particular pixel of at least two pixels.

9.

The display device according to claim 8 wherein the subcomponents of image elements have aspect ratios of approximately 3: 1, such that the pixels have aspect coefficients of approximately 1: 1.

10.

The display device according to claim 8 wherein the subcomponents of image elements have aspect ratios of approximately 1: 1, such that the pixels have an aspect ratio of approximately 1: 1.