Patent Description:
With the evolution of electronic technology, various electronic apparatuses have recently been developed. In particular, an electronic apparatus supporting a mirroring service has recently been developed.

The mirroring service refers to a service for displaying (or sharing) an image that is being displayed on a display of the electronic apparatus, on a display of another electronic apparatus. Thus, the mirroring service allows a user to watch an image that is being displayed on a display of an electronic apparatus such as a laptop computer, a tablet personal computer (PC), or a smartphone, through a display of a display apparatus such as a television or a monitor.

Meanwhile, the mirroring service has been provided according to a Miracast standard. In particular, a resolution or a ratio of a display for each manufacturer may vary. Thus, when the electronic apparatus transmits an image for mirroring to the display apparatus, resolution of the image that is being displayed on the electronic apparatus is converted according to the Miracast standard, and the image of which resolution is converted is transmitted to the display apparatus. For example, the electronic apparatus inserts blank regions into the top and bottom or the left and right of the image to convert the resolution of the image to correspond to the Miracast standard, and transmits the image of which resolution is converted to the display apparatus.

As a result, the blank regions may be included in the image displayed on the display apparatus. However, such blank regions may be a factor that hinders the user from watching the image comfortably.

<CIT> discloses a display apparatus and control method thereof.

Provided are a display apparatus capable of displaying an image of a remaining region excluding blank regions in an image for mirroring, and a control method thereof.

Features of the present invention are set out in the appended claims.

First, general terms in this specification and claims are used in consideration of functions, operations, and structures described in the disclosure. However, these terms may vary depending on an intention of those skilled in the art, legal or technical interpretation, the emergence of a new technology, and the like. In addition, some terms are terms arbitrarily selected by an applicant. These terms may be interpreted by the meanings defined herein, and/or may be interpreted based on a general content of the specification and usual technical knowledge in the art as long as they are not specifically defined.

It is understood that, hereinafter, expressions such as "at least one of," when preceding a list of elements (e.g., "at least one of A and B" or "at least one of A or B"), modify the entire list of elements (i.e., only A, only B, or both A and B) and do not modify the individual elements of the list.

Also, in describing embodiments, when a detailed description for known functions or configurations related to the disclosure may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the disclosure, the detailed description therefor will be abbreviated or omitted.

Furthermore, one or more embodiments will hereinafter be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and contents described in the accompanying drawings, but the disclosure is not limited or restricted by these embodiments.

Hereinafter, one or more embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<FIG> is a block diagram for describing a display apparatus <NUM> according to an embodiment.

A display apparatus <NUM> according to an embodiment may be a smart television (TV). However, this is only an example, and the display apparatus <NUM> may be various electronic apparatuses including a display, such as a computer, a laptop computer, a tablet personal computer (PC), a digital camera, a camcorder, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, and the like.

Referring to <FIG>, the display apparatus <NUM> according to an embodiment includes a display <NUM>, a communicator <NUM>, and a processor <NUM>.

The display <NUM> may display various screens (e.g., simultaneously display various screens on different areas of the display <NUM>). As an example, the display <NUM> may mirror and display an image that is being displayed on an electronic apparatus. The display <NUM> displays an image of a remaining region excluding blank regions in an image for mirroring.

In addition, the display <NUM> may display various images such as broadcasting contents, multimedia contents and the like, as well as various user interfaces (UIs) and icons.

The display <NUM> can be rotated. In detail, the display <NUM> may be disposed in a horizontal form or a vertical form according to a user command for rotation. To this end, the display apparatus <NUM> further includes a driver for rotating the display <NUM>.

The display <NUM> may be implemented in various manners, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, a light emitting diode (LED) display or backlit display, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, a liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) display, a digital light processing (DLP) display, and the like. In addition, the display <NUM> may also include a driving circuit, a backlight unit, and the like, and may be implemented in a form such as an a-Si thin film transistor (TFT), a low temperature poly silicon (LTPS) TFT, an organic TFT (OTFT), and the like.

In addition, the display <NUM> may be implemented by a touch screen by combining with a touch sensor.

The communicator <NUM> communicates with the electronic apparatus to transmit and receive various data. For example, the communicator <NUM> may not only perform communication with the electronic apparatus through a local area network (LAN), an Internet network, and a mobile communication network, but may also perform communication with the electronic apparatus through various communication manners such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Wireless Fidelity (WI-FI), Zigbee, Near Field Communication (NFC), and the like.

To this end, the communicator <NUM> may include various communication modules for performing network communication. For example, the communicator <NUM> may include at least one of a Bluetooth chip, a WI-FI chip, a wireless communication chip, and the like.

Particularly, the communicator <NUM> may perform the communication with the electronic apparatus to receive the image for mirroring from the electronic apparatus. Here, the electronic apparatus may be a smartphone, a computer, a laptop computer, or the like, but is not limited thereto. The electronic apparatus may be various electronic apparatuses that may transmit the image that is being displayed on or by the electronic apparatus to the display apparatus <NUM>.

Meanwhile, the communicator <NUM> may perform communication with an external apparatus to receive broadcasting contents (or broadcasting signals). Here, the broadcasting contents may include at least one of an image, an audio, or additional data (for example, an electronic program guide (EPG)). To this end, the communicator <NUM> may include a tuner, a demodulator, an equalizer, and the like.

The processor <NUM> (e.g., at least one processor) controls a general operation of the display apparatus <NUM>. To this end, the processor <NUM> may include one or more of a central processing unit (CPU), an application processor (AP), or a communication processor (CP).

The processor <NUM> may drive an operating system and/or an application program to control hardware and/or software components connected to the processor <NUM>, and may perform various types of data processing and calculation. In addition, the processor <NUM> may load and process commands or data received from at least one of other components in a volatile memory, and store various data in a non-volatile memory.

The processor <NUM> controls the communicator <NUM> to perform communication connection with the electronic apparatus. In detail, when a user command for the communication connection with the electronic apparatus is received, the processor <NUM> may search for a peripheral electronic apparatus through the communicator <NUM> and control the communicator <NUM> to perform communication connection with the searched for electronic apparatus. Alternatively, when a signal for requesting communication connection from the electronic apparatus is received in a state where the communicator <NUM> is activated, the processor <NUM> may control the communicator <NUM> to perform the communication connection.

In addition, the processor <NUM> receives the image for mirroring from the electronic apparatus. In detail, the processor <NUM> may transmit a signal for requesting image transmission to the electronic apparatus when a user command for mirroring is received, and display the received image on the display <NUM> when the image for mirroring is received from the electronic apparatus. Alternatively, the processor <NUM> may control the communicator <NUM> to receive the image for mirroring and display the image received from the electronic apparatus on the display <NUM>, when a signal for requesting image reception (or when the image itself and/or a control signal instructing image reception for mirroring) is received from the electronic apparatus in a state where the display apparatus is communication-connected to the electronic apparatus through the communicator <NUM>.

Here, the image for mirroring, which is an image including contents displayed on a display of the electronic apparatus, may be an image having a resolution according to a Miracast standard.

For example, in a case where the resolution according to the Miracast standard is <NUM> × <NUM>, the processor <NUM> may receive an image for mirroring of which resolution is <NUM> × <NUM> from the electronic apparatus.

Meanwhile, blank regions are included in the image for mirroring. In detail, blank regions added in a process of converting the resolution of the image according to the Miracast standard may be included in the image for mirroring.

In a case where an image having resolution of <NUM> × <NUM> is being displayed on the display of the electronic apparatus, blank regions can be included in a left area and a right area of the image for mirroring. The reason is that in this case, the electronic apparatus adds the blank regions to the left area and the right area of the image to convert the resolution of the image that is being displayed into the resolution according to the Miracast standard and transmits the image to which the blank regions are added as the image for mirroring to the display apparatus <NUM>.

Then, the processor <NUM> displays (i.e., control to display) the image received from the electronic apparatus on the display <NUM>.

In detail, the processor <NUM> may display the received image or an image in which the blank regions are excluded from the received image on the display <NUM> on the basis of a disposition state of the display <NUM> and whether or not the blank regions for mirroring are included in the image.

For example, in a case where the blank regions for mirroring are not included in the image received from the electronic apparatus, the processor <NUM> may display the images <NUM> and <NUM> for mirroring received from the electronic apparatus <NUM> on the display <NUM> regardless of whether the disposition state of the display <NUM> is horizontal or vertical, as illustrated in <FIG> and <FIG>.

The reason is that in a case where the image <NUM> in which the blank regions are not included is received in a state where the display <NUM> is horizontally disposed as illustrated in <FIG>, a content that is being displayed on the electronic apparatus <NUM> is displayed over an entire region of the display <NUM> and thus, the image need not be displayed in a state where resolution of the image is converted. Further, in a case where the image <NUM> in which the blank regions are not included is received in a state where the display <NUM> is vertically disposed as illustrated in <FIG>, when the image is displayed in a state in which resolution of the image is converted to correspond to resolution or a size of the display <NUM> (that is, when the image is displayed in a state where it is extended in a vertical direction), the image is unnaturally displayed.

Meanwhile, in a case where the blank regions for mirroring are included in the image received from the electronic apparatus <NUM>, the processor <NUM> may perform different operations depending on the disposition state of the display <NUM>.

In detail, when an image <NUM> for mirroring in which blank regions are included is received from the electronic apparatus <NUM> in a state where the display <NUM> is horizontally disposed as illustrated in <FIG>, the processor <NUM> may display the image <NUM> for mirroring on the display <NUM>.

The reason is that in a case where the image <NUM> for mirroring in which the blank regions are included is received in the state where the display <NUM> is horizontally disposed as illustrated in <FIG>, when the image is displayed in a state in which resolution of the image is converted to correspond to resolution or a size of the display <NUM> (that is, the image is displayed in a state where it is extended in a horizontal direction), the image is unnaturally displayed.

In addition, when an image <NUM> for mirroring in which blank regions are included is received from the electronic apparatus <NUM> in a state where the display <NUM> is vertically disposed as illustrated in <FIG>, the processor <NUM> may display an image of a remaining region excluding the blank regions on the display <NUM>, as illustrated in <FIG>. Alternatively, the processor <NUM> may display the image in which the blank regions are included on the display <NUM> and then display an image of a remaining region excluding the blank regions on the display <NUM> automatically or on the basis of a user command.

In a case where the image <NUM> in which the blank regions are included is received in the state where the display <NUM> is vertically disposed as illustrated in <FIG>, it is natural to display the image in a state in which resolution of the image is converted to correspond to the resolution or the size of the display <NUM>. When the image is displayed in this manner, a case where viewing of a user is hindered by the blank regions is prevented.

Hereinafter, an operation of the processor <NUM> in the case where the image <NUM> in which the blank regions are included is received in the state where the display <NUM> is vertically disposed as illustrated in <FIG> will be described.

<FIG> are views for describing an operation of the display apparatus <NUM> when an image in which blank regions are included is received in a state where a display according to an embodiment is vertically disposed.

When the image for mirroring is received from the electronic apparatus <NUM> through the communicator <NUM>, the processor <NUM> identifies whether or not the blank regions for mirroring are included in the received image. Here, the blank regions for mirroring may refer to blank regions added to the image for the image to have the resolution according to, by way of example, the Miracast standard.

For example, the processor <NUM> identifies black regions <NUM> and <NUM> in an image displayed through the display <NUM>, as illustrated in <FIG>, and identifies that regions corresponding to the black regions are blank regions. Here, the black regions <NUM> and <NUM> may be identified by analyzing a color value of the image displayed through the display <NUM>. However, this is only an example, and the processor <NUM> may identify the blank regions included in the image displayed (or to be displayed) through the display <NUM> via other methods, such as an edge detection algorithm.

In addition, the processor <NUM> crops the image of the remaining region excluding the blank regions in the image for mirroring. In this case, the processor <NUM> crops an image <NUM> of a remaining region excluding the blank regions in further consideration of information on a pre-stored image ratio for each electronic apparatus.

To this end, the processor <NUM> receives recognition information (e.g., identification information) of the electronic apparatus <NUM> from the electronic apparatus <NUM> through the communicator <NUM>. In addition, the processor <NUM> identifies an image ratio corresponding to the recognition information on the basis of information on a pre-stored image ratio for each electronic apparatus.

For example, referring to <FIG>, when it is identified that the electronic apparatus <NUM> is a third electronic apparatus on the basis of the recognition information of the electronic apparatus <NUM>, the processor <NUM> may identify <NUM>:<NUM>, which is an image ratio corresponding to the third electronic apparatus on the basis of the information on the pre-stored image ratio for each electronic apparatus. In addition, the processor <NUM> may crop an image of a region having an aspect ratio of <NUM>:<NUM> on the basis of a central region from the image for mirroring received from the electronic apparatus <NUM>.

As described above, the display apparatus <NUM> according to an embodiment may more accurately crop a region in which a content is included by cropping the image in further consideration of the information on the pre-stored image ratio.

Then, the processor <NUM> scales resolution of a cropped image <NUM> to correspond to the resolution of the display <NUM>, as illustrated in <FIG>. In addition, the processor <NUM> displays an image <NUM> of which resolution is scaled on the display <NUM>. Therefore, the disclosure can display the image of the remaining region excluding the blank regions over the entire region of the display <NUM> and prevent a case where watching of the image by the user is hindered due to the blank regions.

Meanwhile, the processor <NUM> may not only identify the disposition state of the display <NUM> on the basis of a ratio of the image that is being displayed on the display <NUM>, but may also identify the disposition state of the display <NUM> on the basis of state information received for the display <NUM>. Alternatively, the display apparatus <NUM> according to the disclosure may further include a sensor sensing rotation, such as a gyro sensor or the like, and the processor <NUM> may identify the disposition state of the display <NUM> on the basis of a state of the display <NUM> sensed by the sensor.

<FIG> is a view for describing a user interface (UI) for scaling of an image useful for understanding the present invention.

When it is identified that the image in which the blank regions are included is received in a state where the display <NUM> is disposed in the vertical direction, the processor <NUM> may display an image of a remaining region excluding the blank regions on the display <NUM> disposed in the vertical direction.

Meanwhile, such an operation may not only be performed automatically when it is identified that the image in which the blank regions are included is received, but may also be performed on the assumption that a user command selecting a UI for displaying the image of the remaining region excluding the blank regions is received.

For example, referring to <FIG>, when it is identified that the image in which the blank regions are included is received in the state where the display <NUM> is disposed in the vertical direction, the processor <NUM> may display a user interface (UI) <NUM> (e.g., graphical user interface item, icon, etc.) for displaying the image of the remaining region excluding the blank regions. When a user command for selecting the UI <NUM> through a button or the like provided in a remote control apparatus, the electronic apparatus <NUM>, or the display apparatus <NUM> is received, the processor <NUM> may display the image of the remaining region excluding the blank regions on the display <NUM> disposed in the vertical direction.

<FIG> is a view for describing an operation of the display apparatus <NUM> when an image in which blank regions are included is received in a state where a display is horizontally disposed, and <FIG> is a view for describing a UI for rotation of a display.

As described above, in a case where the image in which the blank regions are included is received in a state where the display <NUM> is horizontally disposed, the processor <NUM> may display the image for mirroring received from the electronic apparatus <NUM> on the display <NUM>.

In this case, the processor <NUM> may control the display <NUM> disposed in the horizontal direction (i.e., in which width is greater than height) to rotate to the vertical direction (i.e., in which height is greater than width) and display the image of the remaining region excluding the blank regions through the display <NUM> disposed in the vertical direction, as illustrated in <FIG>.

In detail, the processor <NUM> may identify the blank regions in the image received from the electronic apparatus <NUM>, crop the image of the remaining region excluding the blank regions, scale resolution of the cropped image to correspond to the resolution of the display disposed in the vertical direction, and then display the cropped image of which resolution is scaled.

Alternatively, the processor <NUM> may display a UI <NUM> for rotation of the display <NUM> on one region of the display <NUM> disposed in the horizontal direction, rotate the display <NUM> in the vertical direction based on a user command for selecting the UI <NUM> being received, and display the image of the remaining region excluding the blank regions from the image received from the electronic apparatus <NUM> on the display <NUM> disposed in the vertical direction, as illustrated in <FIG>.

Meanwhile, only the UI <NUM> for rotation is illustrated in <FIG>, but the processor <NUM> may further display a message for inducing, inquiring, or requesting feedback from the user to rotate the display, such as "rotate the display in the vertical direction. " Therefore, the user may watch the image from which the blank regions are excluded.

<FIG> is a view for describing an operation of the display apparatus <NUM> when an image in which blank regions are not included is received in a state where a display is vertically disposed, and <FIG> is a view for describing a UI for rotation of a display.

As described above, in a case where the blank regions for mirroring are not included in the image received from the electronic apparatus <NUM>, the processor <NUM> may display the images <NUM> and <NUM> for mirroring received from the electronic apparatus <NUM> regardless of whether or not the disposition state of the display <NUM> is horizontal or vertical.

Meanwhile, in a case where the image in which the blank regions are not included is received from the electronic apparatus <NUM> in a state where the display <NUM> is disposed in the vertical direction, as illustrated in <FIG>, the processor <NUM> may control the display <NUM> disposed in the vertical direction to rotate in the horizontal direction, and display the image received from the electronic apparatus <NUM> through the display <NUM> disposed in the horizontal direction.

Alternatively, the processor <NUM> may display a UI <NUM> for rotation of the display <NUM> on one region of the display <NUM> disposed in the vertical direction, rotate the display <NUM> in the horizontal direction based on a user command for selecting the UI <NUM> being received, and display the image received from the electronic apparatus <NUM> on the display <NUM> disposed in the horizontal direction, as illustrated in <FIG>.

Meanwhile, only the UI <NUM> for rotation is illustrated in <FIG>, but the processor <NUM> may further display a message for inducing, inquiring, or requesting feedback from the user to rotate the display, such as "rotate the display in the horizontal direction. " Accordingly, the user may watch the image through an entire screen of the display <NUM>.

<FIG> is a detailed block diagram for describing a display apparatus <NUM> useful for understanding the present invention.

Referring to <FIG>, the display apparatus <NUM> may include the display <NUM>, the communicator <NUM>, a storage <NUM>, a microphone <NUM>, a speaker <NUM>, an input <NUM> (e.g., input unit or inputter), a signal processor <NUM>, and the processor <NUM>. A description of portions overlapping or redundant with those described above will be omitted or abbreviated below.

The storage <NUM> may store an operating system (OS) for controlling a general operation of components of the display apparatus <NUM> and commands, instructions, or data related to the components of the display apparatus <NUM>.

Accordingly, the processor <NUM> may control a plurality of hardware and/or software components of the display apparatus <NUM> using various commands, instructions, data or the like stored in the storage <NUM>, load and process a command, an instruction, or data received from at least one of other components to a volatile memory, and store various data in a non-volatile memory.

Particularly, the storage <NUM> may store information on the image ratio and/or the resolution for each of plural electronic apparatuses.

The microphone <NUM> receives a user speech. Here, the user speech may be a speech for executing a specific function of the display apparatus <NUM>. When the user speech is received through the microphone <NUM>, the processor <NUM> may analyze the user speech through a speech to text (STT) algorithm, and perform a function corresponding to the user speech.

The speaker <NUM> may output various audio signals. For example, the speaker <NUM> may output an audio signal in a case of displaying the image of the remaining region excluding the blank regions in the image for mirroring or in a case of rotating the display <NUM>.

The input <NUM> may receive various user commands. The processor <NUM> may execute a function corresponding to a user command input through the input <NUM>.

For example, the input <NUM> may receive a user command for displaying the image of the remaining region excluding the blank regions in the image for mirroring, and the processor <NUM> may display the image of the remaining region excluding the blank regions on the display <NUM> according to a user input. In addition, the input <NUM> may receive a user command for performing turn-on, channel change, volume adjustment, or the like, and the processor <NUM> may turn on the display apparatus <NUM> or perform the channel change, the volume adjustment, or the like depending on the received user command.

To this end, the input <NUM> may be implemented by an input panel. The input panel may be implemented by a touch pad or a key pad including various functional keys, numeric keys, special keys, character keys, and the like, or in a touch screen manner.

The signal processor <NUM> may perform signal processing on a content received through the communicator <NUM>. In detail, the signal processor <NUM> may perform operations such as decoding, scaling, frame rate conversion, and the like, on an image configuring the content to make, render, or reproduce the image a form in which the image may be output from the display apparatus <NUM>. In addition, the signal processor <NUM> may perform signal processing such as decoding or the like on an audio signal configuring the content to make the audio signal in a form in which the audio signal may be output from the speaker <NUM>.

Accordingly, the display <NUM> may display the image or the like output from the signal processor <NUM>, and the speaker <NUM> may output the audio output from the signal processor <NUM>.

Meanwhile, the display apparatus <NUM> may further include a motor for rotating the display <NUM>. When (e.g., based on) a user command for rotation of the display <NUM> is received, the processor <NUM> may transmit a control signal to the motor to rotate the display <NUM>.

<FIG> is a flowchart for describing a control method of a display apparatus useful for understanding the present invention.

The display apparatus <NUM> may receive the image for mirroring from the electronic apparatus (S1410). Here, the content that is being displayed on the electronic apparatus <NUM> and the blank regions may be included in the image for mirroring. In detail, the electronic apparatus <NUM> may transmit an image in which the blank regions are inserted into the left and right of a region corresponding to the content that is being displayed on the electronic apparatus <NUM> on the basis of the Miracast standard to the display apparatus <NUM>.

In addition, the display apparatus <NUM> may identify whether or not the blank regions for mirroring are included in the image received from the electronic apparatus <NUM> (S1420). For example, the display apparatus <NUM> may confirm the black regions on the basis of pixel values of the display apparatus and identify that the regions corresponding to the black regions are the blank regions.

Furthermore, when it is identified that the image in which the blank regions are included is received in a state where the display <NUM> is disposed in a predetermined direction, the display apparatus <NUM> may display the image of the remaining region excluding the blank region in the received image on the display <NUM> disposed in the predetermined direction (S1430).

Therefore, the display apparatus <NUM> may display the content that is being displayed on the electronic apparatus <NUM> over the entire region of the display <NUM> to increase an immersion level of the watching of the image by the user.

Meanwhile, an example of a case where the blank regions are inserted into the left and right of the region corresponding to the content that is being displayed on the electronic apparatus <NUM> has been described hereinabove. It is understood, however, that one or more other embodiments are not limited thereto, and the technical spirit described above may also be applied to a case where the blank regions are inserted into the top and bottom or the top and bottom and the left and right of the region corresponding to the content that is being displayed on the electronic apparatus <NUM>.

Also, methods according to one or more embodiments described above may be implemented in a form of software and/or an application that may be installed in a display apparatus.

Furthermore, methods according to one or more embodiments described above may be implemented by software upgrade or hardware upgrade for a display apparatus.

In addition, one or more embodiments described above may also be performed through an embedded server provided in the display apparatus or a server disposed outside the display apparatus.

Meanwhile, a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program or instructions sequentially or at least partially simultaneously performing a control method of a display apparatus according to one or more embodiments may be provided.

The non-transitory computer readable medium may be a medium that semi-permanently stores data and is readable by an apparatus. In detail, various applications, programs, and/or processor-executable instructions described above may be stored and provided in the non-transitory computer readable medium such as a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a hard disk, a Blu-ray disk, a universal serial bus (USB), a memory card, a read only memory (ROM), or the like.

Claim 1:
A display apparatus (<NUM>) configured to rotate a display (<NUM>) between a horizontal landscape direction and a vertical portrait direction, the display apparatus comprises:
the display (<NUM>);
a driver for rotating the display (<NUM>) of the display apparatus (<NUM>) between the horizontal landscape direction and the vertical portrait direction;
a communicator (<NUM>) comprising circuitry connectable with an electronic apparatus (<NUM>);
a processor (<NUM>) configured to, when the electronic apparatus is connected to the display apparatus:
receive an image from the connected electronic apparatus, which received image includes blank regions;
identify black regions in the received image and determine that regions corresponding to the black regions are blank regions by analyzing a color value of the image or using an edge detection algorithm;
obtain, from the electronic apparatus (<NUM>), identification information of the electronic apparatus and identify an image ratio corresponding to the identification information based on pre-stored information on image ratios for each of plural external electronic apparatuses,
crop, based on the identified image ratio, a remaining region obtained from the received image by excluding the blank regions from the received image, and
scale a resolution of the cropped image to correspond to a resolution of the display.