Texas Instruments Corporation

Stephen G Kalthoff

Robert J Gove

Donald B Doherty

Gregory James Hewlett

Jeffrey Scott Farris

Paul M Urbanus

A formatter (13) for formatting data for use by a spatial light modulator (15) in an image display system (10). The formatter (13) converts data from pixel format to bit-plane format. The formatter (13) has a square array of memory cells (41), which are connected so that they can shift data either across the array from column to column (vertically) or down the array from row to row (horizontally). The loading of data to the array is toggled between vertical and horizontal loading (FIGS. 6A-6D). While the array is loaded vertically from one side, data is shifted out of the array at the other side. While the array is loaded horizontally from the top, data is shifted out at the bottom. Because of the orthogonal input versus output, the output data is arranged by bit-weight rather than by pixel.

Single-buffer data formatter for spatial light modulator

An SLM-based digital display system (10) having a graphics display subsystem (13 and 18) for closed captioning, on-screen displays, and other graphics images that are overlaid on the video image. The graphics display subsystem (13 and 18) has a graphics processor (21) that prepares the graphics data, which is inserted into the video data path after video data processing and prior to a look-up table unit (27). A select logic unit (24) provides a control signal to a multiplexer (26) that selects between video data and graphics data for input to the look-up table unit (27). The look-up table unit (27) performs its mapping according to the type of data received, such as by linearizing video data or palletizing graphics data.

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Stephen G Kalthoff