Patent ID: 6911989

Claim:
An apparatus including circuitry for controlling and combining video image and on-screen-display (OSD) signals, comprising: first control circuitry that responds to reception of a first reference signal, a halftone control signal, a plurality of contrast control signals and a clamped video signal by providing a first controlled signal with a contrast-controlled video component, wherein said halftone control signal includes first and second signal statuses corresponding to first and second contrast ranges, respectively, for said clamped video signal, said plurality of contrast control signals includes a first portion corresponding to said first video signal contrast range and including, in successive adjacency, a first least significant bit (LSB) signal, at least one first intermediate significance bit (ISB) signal and a first most significant bit (MSB) signal, said contrast-controlled video component, responsive to said first and second halftone control signal statuses, corresponds to said first and second video signal contrast ranges, respectively, and said second video signal contrast range is less than said first video signal contrast range; first signal combining circuitry, coupled to said first control circuitry, that responds to a first combining control signal by receiving and selectively combining an OSD signal and said first controlled signal to provide a first combination signal with said contrast-controlled video component and an OSD component; second control circuitry, coupled to said first signal combining circuitry, that responds to reception of said first combination signal, said first reference signal and a gain control signal by providing a second controlled signal with a contrast-controlled and gain-controlled video component and a gain controlled OSD component; and second signal combining circuitry, coupled to said second control circuitry, that responds to a second combining control signal by receiving and selectively combining said second controlled signal and a second reference signal to provide a second combination signal with said contrast-controlled and gain controlled video component, said gain-controlled OSD component and a reference signal component.