Dynamic display refresh rate based on device motion

• US 10,055,009 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2014
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Oriol, Timothy R., Wang, Norman N., Porcino, Domenico P., Gasselin de Richebourg, Jacques P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Adediran, Abdul-Samad A
• Application Number:
  US14/291,464
• Publication Number:
  US 20150348511A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,544 Days
• Field of Search: 345212, 34820816, 348142, 348262, 348441, 348660, 3482084, 705 1416
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/01 Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer G06F3/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0261 in the context of movement of objects on the screen or movement of the observer relative to the screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/103 Detection of image changes, e.g. determination of an index representative of the image change
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/022 in absence of operation, e.g. no data being entered during a predetermined time
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0435 Change or adaptation of the frame rate of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2356/00 Detection of the display position w.r.t. other display screens
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/003 Details of a display terminal, the details relating to the control arrangement of the display terminal and to the interfaces thereto specific for a CRT G09G1/165; for a flat panel G09G3/2092
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/651 for reducing power consumption by affecting camera operations, e.g. sleep mode, hibernation mode or power off of selective parts of the camera
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

The refresh rate of a display of a portable display device is dependent on the degree of device motion detected by one or more motion sensors included in the portable display device, according to an embodiment of the invention. In an embodiment, when no device motion is detected by the one or more sensors, the display of the portable display device is refreshed at an initial refresh rate. When the one or more motion sensors detects a degree of device motion above a motion threshold, the refresh rate of the display is decreased to a motion-based refresh rate, according to an embodiment. In an embodiment, the degree of motion of moving content on the display is also taken into account when determining the display refresh rate.

Claims

1. A computing device, comprising:

a display device;

one or more motion sensors configured to detect movement of the display device; and

memory coupled to the display device and having instructions stored thereon to cause one or more processors to;

display visual content on the display device at an initial visual rate, the initial visual rate based on a first combined motion value of the displayed visual content and movement of the display device as indicated by the one or more motion sensors;

determine a motion direction and a degree of motion for one or more objects within the displayed visual content;

determine a movement direction and a degree of movement of the display device based on output from the one or more motion sensors;

generate a second combined motion value by adding the degree of motion and the degree of movement together based on a determination that the motion direction and the movement direction are along a same direction;

determine, based on the second combined motion value, an updated visual rate that is greater than a rate of zero and less than the initial visual rate, wherein the second combined motion value is greater than the first combined motion value; and

display the visual content on the display device at the updated visual rate.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the initial visual rate includes an initial refresh rate that is associated with a non-moving state of the display device.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the non-moving state corresponds to an initially measured motion of the display device that is less than a motion threshold.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein:

the initial visual rate includes an initial frame rate;

the updated visual rate includes an updated frame rate; and

the memory comprises instructions to cause the one or more processors to;

determine, based on the second combined motion value, the updated frame rate that is less than the initial frame rate for the display device; and

render graphical content on the display device at the updated frame rate.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein:

the initial visual rate includes an initial modeling rate that is indicative of a rate to update a graphic model that corresponds to the visual content;

the updated visual rate includes a second modeling rate that is indicative of a second rate to update the graphic model, and

the memory comprises instructions to cause the one or more processors to;

determine, based on the second combined motion value, the second modeling rate that is less than the initial modeling rate for the display device; and

model graphical content at the second modeling rate.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the memory further comprises instructions to cause the one or more processors to:

determine the second combined motion value by reducing the degree of movement by the degree of motion based on a determination that the motion direction and the movement direction are along opposite directions.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the second combined motion value is less than both the degree of motion and the degree of movement based on the determination that the motion direction and the movement direction are along opposite directions.

8. The device of claim 6, wherein the second combined motion is less than the degree of movement but greater than the degree of motion based on a determination that the motion direction and the movement direction are moving in different directions.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the first combined motion value is less than a second combined motion value of the displayed visual content and movement of the display device associated with the initial visual rate.

10. A method comprising:

displaying visual content on a display of a portable device at an initial visual rate, wherein the portable device comprises one or more motion sensors;

determining a motion direction and a degree of motion for one or more objects within the displayed visual content;

determining a movement direction and a degree of movement of the portable device based on output from the one or more motion sensors;

generating a combined motion value for the displayed visual content and movement of the portable device by adding the degree of motion and the degree of movement together based on a determination that the motion direction and the movement direction are along a same direction; and

reducing the initial visual rate of the display to a first visual rate that is greater than a rate of zero in response to determining the combined motion value satisfies a first motion threshold.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating the combined motion value by reducing the motion direction together with the degree of motion based on a determination that the motion direction and the movement direction are along opposite directions.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the combined motion value is less than both the degree of motion and the degree of movement based on a determination that the motion direction and the movement direction are along opposite directions.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising reducing the visual rate of the display to a second visual rate that is less than the first visual rate in response to the combined motion value being greater than the first motion threshold and a second motion threshold, wherein the second motion threshold is greater than the first motion threshold.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the degree of motion comprises calculating the degree of motion based on information from a graphical rendering system.

15. A non-transitory computer program storage device comprising a non-transitory tangible computer readable storage medium that stores instructions that when executed cause at least one processor to:

determine a motion direction and a degree of motion for one or more objects within visual content displayed at an initial visual rate on a display device;

determine a movement direction and a degree of movement of the display device based on output from one or more sensors;

generate a combined motion value for the displayed visual content and the movement of the display device by adding the degree of motion and the degree of movement together based on a determination that the motion direction and the movement direction are along a same direction;

determine, based on the combined motion value, a first reduced visual rate that is greater than a rate of zero and less than the initial visual rate for the display device; and

reduce a display rate of the display device from the initial visual rate to the first reduced visual rate.

16. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 15, wherein the instructions when executed:

causes the at least one processor to determine the combined motion value by reducing the degree of movement with the degree of motion based on a determination that the motion direction and the movement direction are along opposite directions.

17. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 16, wherein the combined motion value is less than both the degree of motion and the degree of movement based on the determination that the motion direction and the movement direction are along opposite directions.

18. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 16, wherein the combined motion value is less than the degree of movement but greater than the degree of motion based on the determination that the motion direction and the movement direction are along the opposite directions.

19. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 15, wherein the instructions to determine the degree of motion within the visual content further comprise instructions to cause the at least one processor to receive a rate of motion within a visual content instruction from a graphics rendering system.

20. The non-transitory computer program storage device of claim 15, wherein the instructions to reduce the display rate further comprise instructions to cause the at least one processor to reduce the display rate from the first reduced visual rate to a second reduced visual rate when the output from the one or more sensors indicates a further increase in a rate of movement of the display device, and wherein the second reduced visual rate is lower than the first reduced visual rate.