KR20080087572A - Method and apparatus for controlling a plurality of display devices - Google Patents

Abstract

A plurality of display device control methods and apparatus are disclosed. An apparatus for controlling a plurality of display apparatuses may include a storage configured to store image data; A main controller for reproducing one or more image data corresponding to a schedule among the image data stored in the storage unit; And a screen controller for allowing one or more display devices according to a schedule to display an image corresponding to reproduction of image data, wherein the main controller is configured to display a resolution corresponding to the number of display devices according to a schedule. The video data can be played back so as to have. According to the present invention, one image may be enlarged and displayed on a plurality of display apparatuses without deterioration of image quality due to the fluid resolution setting of the output image.

Description

Method and device for controlling plural display device

1 is a view schematically showing a video display system using a plurality of display devices according to the prior art.

2 is a diagram illustrating a case in which one input image according to the prior art is enlarged and displayed using a plurality of display apparatuses.

3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image control device for controlling a plurality of display devices according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of some elements of an image control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a table showing a schedule for controlling video display according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a diagram illustrating a process of displaying an image using a plurality of display apparatuses by an image control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

7 to 9 illustrate examples of displaying one or more images through a plurality of display apparatuses according to embodiments of the present invention.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

300: video control device

310: storage unit

330: communication unit

350: screen control unit

370: main control unit

372: schedule processing unit

374: video playback unit

376: resolution setting unit

The present invention relates to display control, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for controlling a plurality of display devices.

With the development of imaging technology, various display devices such as plasma display panels (PDPs) and liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are being released.

In particular, recently, a plurality of display apparatuses are used to provide more diverse information to people in movie theaters and outdoor plazas where many people are concentrated.

That is, a plurality of images may be displayed on each display apparatus, or one image may be enlarged to display an enlarged image using the plurality of display apparatuses. Of course, in recent years, display devices having a large screen size have been released, but there is a disadvantage that the price is high, and it is difficult to display a plurality of images. Therefore, a video display method using a plurality of display devices is widely used.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating an image display system using a plurality of display apparatuses according to the prior art, and FIG. 2 illustrates a case in which one input image according to the prior art is enlarged and displayed using a plurality of display apparatuses. Drawing.

As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of display apparatuses according to the related art (for example, four display apparatuses 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, and 10-4 as shown in the drawing) are provided. The control device 30 that controls the control unit 30 functions to display each image display device. When four images (ie, first to fourth images) are input from the outside, the controller 30 controls each image corresponding to each display apparatus to be displayed.

If one input image is enlarged and displayed using all display devices, the control device enlarges the input image and divides the input image by the number of display devices so that each display device displays each divided image.

According to the conventional image enlargement method as described above, since the input raw image is enlarged without changing the resolution, the divided screen displayed on each display device has a problem of deterioration in image quality. For convenience of understanding, for example, when the resolution of the input image from the outside is 800 * 600, when the display is displayed on one display device, the resolution is displayed as the original resolution of 800 * 600. As described above, when the enlarged image is displayed, each display device displays each divided image divided into four 800x600 resolution magnified images, thereby displaying an image of degraded image quality. That is, when four display apparatuses are used in the form as shown in the drawing, the overall display may have a resolution of 1600 * 1200, but since the image of 800 * 600 resolution is simply enlarged, the overall image quality deteriorates.

Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention is to provide a plurality of display device control methods and devices capable of enlarging and displaying a single image on a plurality of display devices without degrading image quality.

Other objects of the present invention will become more apparent through the preferred embodiments described below.

According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, an apparatus for controlling a plurality of display devices, comprising: a storage unit for storing image data; A main controller for reproducing one or more image data corresponding to a schedule among the image data stored in the storage unit; And a screen controller configured to display at least one display apparatus according to the schedule, the image corresponding to the reproduction of the image data, from the plurality of display apparatuses, wherein the main controller is configured to display the displayed image according to the schedule. An image control apparatus is provided which reproduces the image data to have a resolution corresponding to the number of.

The apparatus may further include a communication unit for receiving the image data from the outside, and the schedule information for the schedule may be stored in the storage unit or input in real time through the communication unit.

In addition, when there is a plurality of video data corresponding to the schedule, the main controller may reproduce the video using a player corresponding to each video data.

In addition, the resolution may be set to correspond to the arrangement shape and position of the display device according to the schedule.

According to another aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, a method for controlling a plurality of display devices, the method comprising the steps of: reproducing at least one image corresponding to a schedule; And controlling one or more display devices according to the schedule to display an image corresponding to reproduction of the image data, wherein the displayed image corresponds to the number of display devices according to the schedule. A method of controlling a plurality of display apparatuses and a recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method are provided.

As the invention allows for various changes and numerous embodiments, particular embodiments will be illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the written description. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to specific embodiments, it should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Terms including ordinal numbers such as first and second may be used to describe various components, but the components are not limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the first component may be referred to as the second component, and similarly, the second component may also be referred to as the first component. The term and / or includes a combination of a plurality of related items or any item of a plurality of related items.

When a component is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another component, it may be directly connected to or connected to that other component, but it may be understood that other components may be present in between. Should be. On the other hand, when a component is said to be "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another component, it should be understood that there is no other component in between.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In this application, the terms "comprise" or "have" are intended to indicate that there is a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification, and one or more other features. It is to be understood that the present invention does not exclude the possibility of the presence or the addition of numbers, steps, operations, components, components, or a combination thereof.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Terms such as those defined in the commonly used dictionaries should be construed as having meanings consistent with the meanings in the context of the related art and shall not be construed in ideal or excessively formal meanings unless expressly defined in this application. Do not.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and in describing the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, the same or corresponding elements are denoted by the same reference numerals regardless of the reference numerals, and duplicates thereof. The description will be omitted.

3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image control apparatus for controlling a plurality of display apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of some elements of an image control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Drawing.

Referring to FIG. 3, the image control apparatus 300 according to the present exemplary embodiment includes a storage 310, a communicator 330, a screen controller 350, and a main controller 370.

The storage 310 stores image data to be displayed on the display device. The image data according to the present embodiment may be any type of multimedia data such as text, still images (images), moving images, images including sound sources (of course, sound sources may be output through the provided speaker), flash, and the like. Can be.

The communication unit 330 communicates with other external devices, and may be implemented as a wired interface for wired communication or a wireless communication interface (for example, Bluetooth, etc.) for wireless communication. In addition, the communication unit 330 may include a network communication module (for example, a TCP / IP communication module) to communicate with other devices through a communication network such as a local area network (LAN) or an internet network. For example, the image control device 300 may receive image data from another device through the communication unit 330 and store the image data in the storage unit 310.

The screen controller 350 may function to display an image of a plurality of connected display apparatuses 100-1, 100-2,..., 100-n, 100. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, it is assumed that there are four display apparatuses and that they are positioned in a line as illustrated in the drawings.

The image control apparatus 300 according to the present exemplary embodiment may provide respective images to the display apparatuses so that each display apparatus displays a different image, or one image is enlarged and displayed through a plurality of display apparatuses. It may also function as possible (see FIGS. 7 to 9).

The main controller 370 controls the storage 310 and the screen controller 350 to reproduce the image data stored in the storage 310 and display the corresponding image through each display device.

In particular, in reproducing any one or more of the plurality of image data stored in the storage 310, the main controller 370 may extract and reproduce the corresponding image data according to a preset schedule. Of course, the schedule information for the schedule may be stored in the storage 310 in advance or input in real time through the communication unit 330. If the storage unit 310 is stored in advance, the administrator may update the schedule information through the communication unit 330 using a specific device. That is, the main controller 370 extracts and plays back image data corresponding to a schedule through schedule information, thereby displaying an image through each display device. A detailed description of the schedule will be described later in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings (FIG. 5).

Here, a player corresponding to the format of the image data to be reproduced may be driven. For example, in the case of general video data having a format such as MOV, AVI, the video player is driven, in the case of flash data, the flash player is driven, so that the corresponding video data can be played by the corresponding player.

If four different images are individually displayed through the respective display apparatuses, the main controller 370 reproduces four image data, and the corresponding images are respectively displayed by the screen controller 350. Displayed via the display device.

Here, the display device may be a plasma display panel (PDP), a liquid crystal display (LCD), or the like, and the present invention is not limited thereto, and all devices capable of displaying an image may be equally applied. Will be. Hereinafter, each display device will be described on the assumption that it provides an optimal picture quality for displaying an image having a resolution of 1024 * 768.

According to the present embodiment, when four images are respectively displayed through separate display apparatuses, the image control apparatus 300 outputs an image having a resolution of 1024 * 768, which is a resolution suitable for the display apparatuses. If one image is displayed through four display devices, the image control device 300 outputs an image of 4096 * 768 resolution and divides it into four screens having 1024 * 768 resolution when the image data is reproduced. Then transmit to each display device. Of course, the above example is when one image is displayed using four display apparatuses. According to another example, when one image is displayed using two display apparatuses, the image has a resolution of 2048 * 768. Of course, the output may be divided into two and transmitted to each corresponding display device.

Therefore, each display device displays an image according to a resolution of 1024 * 768, which is suitable for itself even when displaying a divided image of one enlarged image, thereby preventing deterioration of image quality even when displaying an enlarged image as a whole. can do. That is, in the related art, the image quality is deteriorated by enlarging and dividing an image having the same resolution and displaying the same by each display device. However, according to the present embodiment, an image converted to a suitable resolution is displayed when displaying one image through a plurality of display devices. By outputting, the deterioration of image quality can be prevented.

In summary, the image control apparatus 300 according to the present exemplary embodiment has a function of reproducing image data by itself, and outputs an image having a resolution corresponding to the number of display apparatuses to be displayed, thereby improving image quality compared to the prior art. The image can be displayed.

Referring to FIG. 4, the main control unit 370 may include a schedule processing unit 372, an image reproducing unit 374, and a resolution setting unit 376. Of course, each component of the main control unit 370 may be included. It does not need to be implemented in hardware, but may be implemented in software such as a program.

As described above, the schedule processor 372 functions the image reproducing unit 374 to reproduce image data according to a preset schedule. In addition, the schedule may include display information about whether one image is displayed, two images are displayed, and which image is to be displayed through which display device. Accordingly, under the control of the schedule processor 372, the resolution setting unit 376 may control the image reproducing unit 374 to set the corresponding resolution of the image to be output and output the image having the corresponding resolution.

That is, the image reproducing unit 374 recognizes image data corresponding to the control of the schedule processor 372 among the image data stored in the storage 310, and recognizes the resolution of the image to which the image data is output. Therefore, the image reproducing unit 374 reproduces the image having the recognized resolution by using the player corresponding to the recognized image data. Of course, the schedule processor 372 may directly extract the image data according to the schedule from the storage unit 310 and provide the image data to the image reproducer 374 together with the resolution information.

5 is a table showing a schedule for controlling image display according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5, the schedule information may be stored in a table format, and the schedule table may include image data information to be reproduced, display information to be displayed, resolution information, and reproduction time information. Of course, the resolution information may be calculated through the displayed display information. For example, referring to FIGS. 7 to 9, one may be 1024 * 768 and two may be 2048 * 768. Of course, the resolution may vary depending on the shape and position of the display devices. For example, when four display devices are arranged in a rectangular shape, when one image is displayed through all the display devices, the corresponding resolution may be 2048 * 1536.

In addition, although not shown in the figure, player information corresponding to each piece of video data information may be further included in the schedule table.

6 is a view illustrating a process of displaying an image using a plurality of display devices by an image control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 7 to 9 are views illustrating a plurality of display devices according to embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows an example of displaying one or more images.

Referring to FIG. 6, the image control apparatus 300 extracts image data stored in advance or corresponding to a schedule (step 610), and executes a player corresponding to the extracted image data (step 620).

The image control apparatus 300 sets a corresponding resolution by recognizing how many display devices the image to be output is displayed according to a schedule (step 630), and applies the extracted image data to output an image having the set resolution. Play using the player (step 640). Of course, resolution information of each image data to be reproduced, such as the schedule table shown in FIG. 5, may be previously specified and stored, and may be used.

The reproduced and output image is transmitted to and displayed on the display device corresponding to the schedule.

7 to 9, the resolution of each image is preset and reproduced and output to correspond to the number of display apparatuses used for displaying an image.

That is, when each image is displayed on each display device as shown in FIG. 7, each image has a 1024 * 768 resolution, and when one image is displayed on all display devices as shown in FIG. 8. The image is output to have a resolution of 4096 * 768. As shown in FIG. 9, two images are displayed by using two display apparatuses.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to flexibly change the resolution corresponding to the number of display apparatuses used for image display, thereby providing more improved image quality.

The method of the present invention as described above may be implemented in a program and stored in a computer-readable recording medium (CD-ROM, RAM, ROM, floppy disk, hard disk, magneto-optical disk, etc.).

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and many variations are possible by those skilled in the art within the spirit of the present invention.

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a plurality of display apparatus control methods and apparatuses capable of enlarging and displaying one image to a plurality of display apparatuses without degrading the image quality due to the fluid resolution setting of the output image. can do.

Although described above with reference to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, those skilled in the art that various modifications of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention described in the claims below And can be changed.

Claims (9)

In the apparatus for controlling a plurality of display devices, A storage unit for storing image data; A main controller for reproducing one or more image data corresponding to a schedule among the image data stored in the storage unit; And A screen control unit for allowing one or more display devices of the plurality of display devices to display an image corresponding to reproduction of the image data; And the main controller reproduces the image data such that the displayed image has a resolution corresponding to the number of display apparatuses according to the schedule. The method of claim 1, And a communication unit for receiving the image data from an external source. The method of claim 2, The schedule information of the schedule is stored in the storage unit or the image control device, characterized in that input in real time through the communication unit. The method of claim 1, And the main controller plays back a plurality of video data corresponding to the schedule using a player corresponding to each video data. The method of claim 1, And the resolution is set to correspond to an arrangement shape and a position of the display device according to the schedule. In the method for controlling a plurality of display devices, Playing back one or more images corresponding to the schedule; And And controlling one or more display devices according to the schedule to display an image corresponding to the reproduction of the image data. And reproducing the image data such that the displayed image has a resolution corresponding to the number of display apparatuses according to the schedule. The method of claim 6, And a plurality of video data corresponding to the schedule, the player corresponding to each video data is played and reproduced respectively. The method of claim 6, And the resolution is set to correspond to an arrangement shape and a position of the display device according to the schedule. In order to control a plurality of display devices, instructions that can be executed by a digital reader are implemented, and a recording medium on which a program can be read by the digital reader is recorded. Playing back one or more images corresponding to the schedule; And Controlling at least one display device of the plurality of display devices according to the schedule to display an image corresponding to reproduction of the image data; And reproducing the image data such that the displayed image has a resolution corresponding to the number of display apparatuses according to the schedule.

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