Patent ID: 7495680

Claim:
A display apparatus, comprising: display means including a display screen of an aspect ratio that is different from an aspect ratio of an image corresponding to an input image signal; image signal generating means for generating an image signal corresponding to a no-picture region of a display region on the display screen, the no-picture region being a remaining portion of the display region in which a picture region of the image is excluded; composing means for generating a composite image signal in which an image signal for the no-picture region is combined with the input image signal; display brightness level setting means for setting a display brightness level for the composite image signal based on an average brightness level of the composite image signal from the means; display drive means for driving the display means to a brightness in accordance with the display brightness level set by said display brightness level setting means; average brightness level detecting means for detecting an average brightness level of the input image signal; and no-picture brightness level setting means for setting a brightness level of the image signal for the no-picture region prior to setting the display brightness level for the composite image signal, the setting of the brightness level of the image signal for the no-picture region being based on the average brightness level detected by the average brightness level detecting means such that the display brightness level of the no-picture region, after setting the display brightness level for the composite image signal, is substantially constant.