Patent ID: 8451212

Claim:
An image display device comprising: an image display unit with a structure including a plurality of light transmittance control elements mounted on a two-dimensional plane and capable of changing the light transmittance according to pixel values of the input image; a light source unit containing a plurality of light sources capable of independently controlling a light emission intensity corresponding to each area of a screen divided into a plurality of areas and installed so that light emitted by the plurality of light sources becomes transmitted light for the image display unit; a light source luminance decision unit to set a light emission luminance value of each light source in the light source unit according to the input image; a light source luminance control unit to control light emission luminance from each light source in the light source unit according to the light emission luminance value of each light source set by the light source luminance decision unit; and an image correction unit to correct the pixel values of the image input to the image display unit according to the light emission luminance value of each light source set by the light source luminance decision unit, wherein, when setting the light emission luminance value, the light source luminance decision unit divides the input image into a plurality of areas corresponding to the plurality of light sources, and calculates a flatness as an indicator expressing the flatness of the image contained in each area; and when an applicable area flatness is high and the area is judged a flat area, the light emission luminance value of the light source corresponding to the applicable area is set higher than when the applicable area flatness is low and the area is not judged a flat area, wherein the applicable area flatness is high when the pixel values within a certain luminance range are concentrated in the applicable area, and otherwise, the applicable area flatness is low.