Display controller with blending stage

Abstract

A display controller comprising a blending stage and a blending controller. The blending stage is provided for blending multiple image layers into one display output image and comprises a plurality of input channels for receiving pixel data for the multiple image layers. The blending stage further comprises multiple blenders for combining the pixel data received by at least two input channels of the plurality of input channels. The blending controller is coupled to the blending stage for controlling operation of the blending stage. The blending stage further comprises a controllable switch for coupling an output of at least one blender of the multiple blenders to a display output of the blending stage for regular on-the-fly blending or to an offline blending memory for storing a result of an offline blending task. The blending controller comprises an input for receiving layer data describing locations and/or properties of the multiple image layers and a predictor for, based on the layer data, predicting an availability of the at least one blender. The blending controller is further operative to control the blending stage to perform the offline blending task in dependence of the predicted availability.