The limits of the rights are defined by the independent claims of the patent application. The patent application is to my best knowledge the US2012190440 A1. There does not seem to be a patent application outside of the United States. Therefore, there does not exist protection outside the US (the time limit for subsequent international applications is to my best knowledge expired). You can find the patent application for example here:

http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=US&NR=2012190440A1&KC=A1&FT=D&ND=3&date=20120726&DB=worldwide.espacenet.com&locale=en_EP

The independent claims are claim 1 and 10:
Claim1:
" A display device for providing an upgraded graphical experience, the device comprising:
an input connector connectable to a video output port of an electronic device for receiving electronic graphical data suitable for an early generation display;
a processor capable of performing the following steps:
receiving the electronic graphical data through the video output port;
defining frames from the electronic graphical data;
generating a tag for each of the frames;
matching the generated tag to a set of preprogrammed tags; and
outputting an output graphical data based on the matched preprogrammed tags; and
a later generation display connected to the processor capable of receiving and displaying the output graphical data."

Claim 10:
" A method for providing upgraded graphics to an electronic device having an early generation display, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving electronic graphical data suitable for the early generation display from the electronic device;
defining frames from the electronic graphical data;
generating a tag for each of the frames;
matching the generated tag to a set of preprogrammed tags; and
outputting output graphical data based on the matched preprogrammed tags to the later generation display."

A technical solution will violate the patent application if it implements all of the properties described in claim 1 and/ or 10. It will not violate the patent application if only one property is missing.

The dependent claims are not important for this analysis because they add additional properties and therefore narrow the scope of protection. They are of high interest in the patent prosecution process. Very often the applicant has to integrate properties of the dependent claims in the independent claims in order to satisfy the requirements of novelty and inventiveness. Keep in mind that the US2012190440 A1 is not a granted patent so far.

To file a patent application that is novel and inventive compared to prior art it is pretty helpful to be first.

You are wrong: the priority date of the patent application is 2011-01-20

There is a misunderstanding. A patent application has to be novel and inventive compared to prior art. Prior art is all information publicly available prior to the filing date of the patent application. That means the filing date is important and not the date of the idea. Even your own prior publications are prior art and can deny novelty of your patent application.

I posted the claims. They will tell you whether the claims are broad.

At least in Germany and Europe this is true (to my best knowledge this is also true in US). Patent rights do not cover private non-commercial use (PatG §11).