Patent 7236645 was granted and assigned to Sony on June, 2007 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
An α value in a desired shape in a desired position can be rewritten to a desired value in a desired range. α value rewriting units for rewriting an α value showing an opaqueness degree of an image are provided. When the desired position comes, an area setting signal is outputted in a desired shape from an area setting signal generating unit. While the area setting signal is being outputted, in the α value rewriting unit, an α value of inputted image data is rewritten to a desired value. The rewriting of the α value can be dynamically realized independent of software. By preparing a quadrangular area calculating unit and a circular area calculating unit as an area setting signal generating unit, a quadrangular area and a circular area can be set by hardware.