Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

J Turner Whitted

Gregory Carl Hitchcock

William Hill

Leroy Bertrand Keely, Jr

Michael J Duggan

John Carlton Platt

Bodin Dresevic

Eric J Horvitz

Michael Jack Sinclair

Leroy B Keely

James Thomas Kajiya

James Frederick Blinn

Donald P Mitchell

David W Williams

Jr Leroy B Keely

Described herein is a liquid crystal display apparatus that includes a liquid crystal display panel. The liquid crystal display panel includes a receiver component that receives a sensed parameter of a column line in the liquid crystal display apparatus, wherein electrical voltage is transmitted along the column line and directed at a particular sub-pixel. An output component outputs an indication that a member is in physical contact with the display panel based at least in part upon the received sensed parameter of the column line.

Touch sensitive LCD panel

Embodiments for cooling electronic modules are disclosed. In accordance with at least one embodiment, an electronic module is inserted into a cooling sled that is equipped with a bay. The bay of the cooling sled is equipped with a pair of sides to retain the electronic module. The electronic module contains a working fluid that is sealed inside the module with one or more electronic components. During the operation of the electronic module, the working fluid is vaporized by the heat generated by the one or more electronic components. The electronic module is then cooled via the cooling sled. The cooling of the electronic module condenses the working fluid that is vaporized by the heat generated by the one or more electronic components. The condensed cooling fluid is then returned to the one or more electronic components via a wick structure that is also sealed in the electronic module.

Electronic module cooling

Techniques and tools for rendering procedural graphics are described. For example, an architecture is provided which allows evaluation of geometric, transform, texture, and shading procedures locally for a given set of procedure parameter values. This evaluation is performed in parallel for different parameter values on a single-instruction, multiple-data array to allow parallel processing of a procedure set. In another example, a sampling controller is described which selects sets of parameter points for evaluation based on information in tag maps, rate maps, and parameter maps.

Adaptive sampling for procedural graphics

Procedural graphics architectures and techniques

The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for increasing the perceived quality of displayed images. This is achieved in a variety of ways including the use of a plurality of device specific display characteristics when preparing images for display. It is also achieved through the monitoring of display device and/or ambient light conditions, e.g., on a periodic basis, and using the obtained information when controlling display output. Another approach to improving the perceived quality of displayed images involves the use of information relating to a specific user's ability to perceive image characteristics such as color. By customizing display output to an individual user's own physical perception capabilities and/or viewing characteristics it is possible to enhance the image quality perceived by the individual viewer as compared to embodiments which do not take into consideration individual user characteristics.

Methods and apparatus for improving the quality of displayed images through the use of display device and display condition information

Quality of displayed images with user preference information

Energy efficient transmissive and transreflective display devices use ambient light from a natural or artificial source to supplement light supplied by a backlight. Ambient light passes through a transmissive diffuser to a rear surface of a transmissive display panel. Additional energy efficiency is achieved by using one or more photo-sensors to detect the amount of ambient light and automatically adjusting the backlight intensity as a function of photo-sensor output. As a result, backlight intensity and power usage can be minimized while maintaining the viewability of images shown on the display.

LCD with power saving features

Image data processing and image rendering methods and systems whereby images are displayed on display devices having pixels with separately controllable pixel sub-components. Image data, such as data encoded in a three-channel signal, is passed through a low-pass filter to remove frequencies higher than a selected cutoff frequency, which obtain samples from the color components of the signal that map spatially different image regions to individual pixel sub-components. It has been found that color aliasing effects can be significantly reduces at a cutoff frequency somewhat higher than the Nyquist frequency, while enhancing the spatial resolution of the image. The image data is then passed through sampling filters, A generalized set of filters includes nine filters, one for each combination of one color and one pixel sub-component. The filtering coefficients of the filters can be selected to optimize of approximate an optimization of an error metric, which represents the color and luminance errors perceived on the display device. In this manner, a desired balance between color accuracy and luminance accuracy can be obtained. The samples mapped to individual pixel sub-components are used to generate luminous intensity values for the displayed image.

Filtering image data to obtain samples mapped to pixel sub-components of a display device

Energy efficient transmissive and transreflective display devices are described. Ambient light from a natural or artificial source is used to replace and/or supplement light normally supplied by a backlight. This is done by directing ambient light to the rear of a transmissive display panel. A window, light tunnel, or a reflective surface located in the rear or top of a display device may be used to direct the ambient light to the back of the display panel. A translucent diffuser and/or diffuse reflector are used to diffuse the ambient light to reduce the chance of bright spots appearing on the display. Additional energy efficiency is achieved by using one or more photo-sensors to detect the amount of light, incident on the front and/or rear of a display panel and by automatically adjusting the backlight intensity as a function of photo-sensor output. In this manner, backlight intensity can be minimized while maintaining the viewability of images shown on the display. In such an embodiment, energy savings are achieved as compared to devices which use fixed backlight intensity settings in a variety of light conditions. Control of the power supplied to a display's backlight in accordance with the present invention can reduce electrical energy consumption and prolong the amount of time a portable device can be used before its batteries need to be recharged.

Methods and apparatus for implementing transmissive display devices

Image data processing and image rendering methods and systems whereby images are displayed on display devices having pixels with separately controllable pixel sub-components. Image data, such as data encoded in a three-channel signal, is passed through a low-pass filter to remove frequencies higher than a selected cutoff frequency, which obtain samples from the color components of the signal that map spatially different image regions to individual pixel sub-components. It has been found that color aliasing effects can be significantly reduces at a cutoff frequency somewhat higher than the Nyquist frequency, while enhancing the spatial resolution of the image. The image data is then pass through sampling filters, A generalized set of filters includes nine filters, one for each combination of one color and one pixel sub-component. The filtering coefficients of the filters can be selected to optimize of approximate an optimization of an error metric, which represents the color and luminance errors perceived on the display device. In this manner, a desired balance between color accuracy and luminance accuracy can be obtained. The samples mapped to individual pixel sub-components are used to generate luminous intensity values for the displayed image.

Displaying image data with sub-pixel precision on display devices having pixels with separately controllable pixel sub-components, such as those used in liquid crystal display devices. Samples of the image data are obtained, and spatially different sets of one or more of the samples are mapped to individual pixel sub-components as opposed to mapping sets of samples to entire pixels. Luminous intensity values based on the mapped sets of samples are generated and used to control the operation of the separately controllable pixel sub-components. The image is thereby displayed on the display device, with different portions of the image being represented by different pixel sub-components, resulting an image with sub-pixel resolution. The image data can represent a text character, in which case the stem width of a stem of the text character can have a value that is not an integer multiple of the width of a full pixel.

High resolution display of image data using pixel sub-components

Method and apparatus for improving the quality of displayed images through the use of user reference information

Display apparatus, and methods for displaying images, e.g., text, on gray scale and color monitors are described. Gray scale displays implemented in accordance with the present invention include displays having a resolution in a first dimension, e.g., the horizontal dimension, which is several time the resolution in a second dimension, e.g., the vertical dimension. Various other displays of the present invention are capable of operating as both gray scale and color display devices. In one such display, the color filter used to implement a color portion of the display is omitted from another, e.g., gray scale portion of the same display. In such an embodiment, text, e.g., captions, are displayed using the gray scale portion of the display while color images, e.g., graphics, are displayed on the color portion of the display. In another display of the present invention, a color filter with filter cells that can be switched between a color and a clear mode of operation are employed. When images, e.g., text, are to be displayed as gray scale images, the filter cells, corresponding to the portion of the display to be used to display the gray scale images, are switched to the clear mode of operation. In such an embodiment, the remaining portion or portions of the display may be used to display color images. Methods and apparatus for reducing and/or eliminating color distortions in images resulting from treating pixel sub-components as independent luminous intensity sources are also described.

Growing community of inventors

Carnation, WA, United States of America

J Turner Whitted