Sony patents TV lighting that adjusts room brightness for better contrast
Sony describes a system that controls the light around a TV screen to improve how content looks. It uses lights behind the screen to bounce off the wall, adjusting the brightness and color of the surrounding area to match what is on the display.
In the filing’s own words
An ambient light control system is provided to enable a display screen to display content in a light controlled environment by emitting light of a known quantity and/or color. In particular, light at the peripheral environment of the display is controlled in a manner that impacts the perceived quality of the content being displayed. In some implementations, sourced light is emitted by illuminators angled toward a rear surface behind the display screen for the light to be reflected back toward environmental areas at the outside edges of the display screen. Reflective parameters that characterize the rear surface may be used to define the brightness level and color of the sourced light to achieve a target ambient light at the edges of the display screen. Other environmental light may also be controlled, such as side lighting and remote controlled room lighting.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A computer-implemented method to control light proximally to a display screen to display content, the method comprising: receiving a request to display the content on the display screen; identifying a target ambient light for a peripheral area proximal to at least one edge of the display screen; receiving at least one reflective parameter of a rear surface behind the display screen; detecting a distance from at least one of the plurality of illuminators to the rear surface; directing a plurality of illuminators spaced on the display screen, to emit a defined brightness level and color of light angled toward the rear surface, such that reflection of the light illuminates the peripheral area at the target ambient light, wherein the defined brightness level and color of light is based, at least in part, on the at least one reflective parameter of the rear surface, and wherein the defined brightness level and color of light includes a correction for a distance that fails to meet an acceptable distance range; and adjusting display screen settings to display the content to correspond with the target ambient light.
Facts
- Company
- Sony (Sony Group Corporation)
- Official title
- Ambient light control for displaying content
- Patent number
- US12744019B1
- Application number
- 19188651
- Filed
- Apr 24, 2025
- Granted
- Sep 22, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 17
Classified under
G09G 5/10 Physics & computingG09G 2320/0233 Physics & computingG09G 2320/066 Physics & computingG09G 2320/0666 Physics & computingG09G 2354/00 Physics & computingG09G 2360/144 Physics & computingMore from Sony in AR, VR & displays
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.