Luminescence shock avoidance in display devices

• US 10,354,617 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2017
• Issued: 07/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Pantfoerder, Kai Achim
• Primary Examiner(s): Caschera, Antonio A
• Application Number:
  US15/839,660
• Publication Number:
  US 20180102109A1
• Time in Patent Office: 581 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0606 Manual adjustment
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0626 for control of overall brightness
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0633 by amplitude modulation of the brightness of the illumination source
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0653 Controlling or limiting the speed of brightness adjustment of the illumination source
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/144 the light being ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/20 for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/2003 Display of colours specific for liquid crystal displays G09G3/3607
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/10 Intensity circuits

Abstract

A luminescence shock avoidance algorithm selectively limits the brightness level of a display device when the display device is activated in a dark environment to prevent the temporary vision impairment that can occur when a display device is activated in a dark environment. The algorithm receives the state of the display (e.g. on or in standby mode), and can optionally receive an ambient lighting value from an ambient light sensor and a user-selectable manual brightness adjustment setting to determine whether luminescence shock avoidance should even be triggered, and if it is triggered, how much should the brightness level of the display be limited.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a display;

an ambient light sensor that detects an ambient light level while the display is off, wherein the display is at a zero brightness level while the display is off; and

control circuitry that increases a brightness of the display from the zero brightness level based on the detected ambient light level when the display is turned on.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the control circuitry increases the brightness of the display from the zero brightness level to a first brightness level when the detected ambient light level is below a threshold.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 2, wherein the control circuitry increases the brightness of the display from the zero brightness level to a second brightness level when the detected ambient light level is above the threshold, and wherein the second brightness level is greater than the first brightness level.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3, wherein the control circuitry increases the brightness of the display based on a brightness adjustment function, and wherein the second brightness level is equal to a first normal brightness level determined by the brightness adjustment function for the detected ambient light level that is above the threshold.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 4, wherein the brightness adjustment function is selected by a user of the electronic device.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 4, wherein the second brightness level is less than a second normal brightness level determined by the brightness adjustment function for the detected ambient light level that is below the threshold and wherein the control circuitry increases the brightness of the display from the second brightness level to the second normal brightness level after a predetermined period of time.

7. A method of operating an electronic device having a display, the method comprising:

with an ambient light sensor, producing ambient light data while the display is powered-down; and

with control circuitry, activating the display by adjusting a brightness level of the display from a zero brightness level while the display is powered-down to a non-zero brightness level while the display is activated based on the ambient light data.

8. The method defined in claim 7, wherein the ambient light data is based on a detected ambient light level, activating the display further comprising:

increasing the brightness level of the display from the zero brightness level to the non-zero brightness level when the detected ambient light level is below a threshold.

9. The method defined in claim 8, wherein the non-zero brightness level is a first non-zero brightness level, activating the display further comprising:

increasing the brightness of the display from the zero brightness level to a second non-zero brightness level when the detected ambient light level is above the threshold, wherein the second non-zero brightness level is greater than the first non-zero brightness level.

10. The method defined in claim 9, activating the display further comprising:

increasing the brightness of the display based on a brightness adjustment function, wherein the second non-zero brightness level is equal to a first normal brightness level determined by the brightness adjustment function for the detected ambient light level that is above the threshold.

11. The method defined in claim 10, wherein the brightness adjustment function is selected by a user of the electronic device.

12. The method defined in claim 10, wherein the second non-zero brightness level is less than a second normal brightness level determined by the brightness adjustment function for the detected ambient light level that is below the threshold.

13. The method defined in claim 12, further comprising:

increasing the brightness of the display from the second non-zero brightness level to the second normal brightness level after a predetermined period of time.

14. An electronic device, comprising:

a display;

a sensor that produces sensor data while the display is turned off; and

control circuitry that measures an ambient light level based on the sensor data and turns the display on based on the ambient light level.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 14, wherein the sensor is an ambient light sensor and wherein the sensor data is ambient light sensor data.

16. The electronic device defined in claim 15, wherein when the measured ambient light level is above a threshold, the control circuitry turns the display on to a brightness level that is determined based on a user-selectable brightness setting and a brightness function.

17. The electronic device defined in claim 16, wherein the brightness level is a first brightness level, and wherein when the measured ambient light level is below the threshold, the control circuitry turns the display on to a second brightness level that is determined based on a reduced brightness function but not the user-selectable brightness setting.

18. The electronic device defined in claim 16, wherein the brightness level is a first brightness level, and wherein when the measured ambient light level is below a threshold, the control circuitry turns the display on to a second brightness level that is determined based on a reduced brightness function and the user-selectable brightness setting.

19. The electronic device defined in claim 16, wherein the brightness function is determined based on the user-selectable brightness setting.

20. An electronic device, comprising:

a display;

an ambient light sensor that detects an ambient light level; and

control circuitry that increases a brightness of the display from a zero brightness level based on a comparison between the detected ambient light level and a threshold.