Patent ID: 8031167

Claim:
A circuit for controlling a backlight, the circuit comprising: a backlight brightness selecting block measuring the brightness of ambient light, and selecting brightness information of the backlight based on the measured brightness of the ambient light; an image processing block performing image processing on a received image signal based on the measured brightness of the ambient light, and calculating an image processing gain of the received image signal based on the result of image processing and the received image signal; and a backlight adjusting unit controlling the brightness of the backlight based on the selected brightness information and the image processing gain, wherein the image processing block comprises: a plurality of image processors each performing image processing on the received image signal using a respective image enhancement algorithm; an image processing selector selecting one of the image processors based on the measured brightness of the ambient light, and outputting the result of image processing performed by the selected image processor, wherein an image processor of the plurality of image processors using a respective image enhancement algorithm providing a high degree of visibility is selected when the measured brightness of the ambient light is relatively high and wherein an image processor of the plurality of image processors using a respective image enhancement algorithm providing a low degree of image degradation is selected when the measured brightness of the ambient light is relatively low; and an image processing gain calculator calculating the image processing gain based on the received image signal and the result of image processing.