Controlling display brightness based on image capture device data

• US 10,586,508 B2
• Filed: 07/07/2017
• Issued: 03/10/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Manufacturing Resources International, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Manufacturing Resources International, Inc.
• Inventors: Dunn, William
• Primary Examiner(s): Siddiqui, Md Saiful A
• Application Number:
  US15/644,707
• Publication Number:
  US 20180012565A1
• Time in Patent Office: 977 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0285 using tables for spatial correction of display data
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/064 by time modulation of the brightness of the illumination source
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0693 Calibration of display systems
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2356/00 Detection of the display position w.r.t. other display screens
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/144 the light being ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/16 Calculation or use of calculated indices related to luminance levels in display data
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3406 Control of illumination source illumination devices structurally associated with liquid crystal cells G02F1/1336
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/10 Intensity circuits

Abstract

A system and method for controlling the brightness level of an electronic display. An image capture device in proximity to the electronic display is used to capture images and/or video of the ambient environmental conditions local to the electronic display. The images and/or video is analyzed to determine the nature of the environmental conditions, and adjustments to the brightness level of the electronic display are made in consideration of said environmental conditions. In some embodiments, the images and/or video captured by the image capture device may be compared to stored images representative of different environmental conditions.

Claims

1. A system for controlling brightness of an electronic display, the system comprising:

an image capture device in proximity to the electronic display and configured to capture images and/or video containing attributes of local environment;

a controller in communication with the image capture device and the electronic display, the controller configured to;

determine environmental conditions local to the electronic display by directly analyzing attributes of the local environment that appear in the images and/or video captured by the image capture device;

translate the local environment condition analysis into a weather factor number, where the weather factor number includes a constant value multiplied by a sky clearness percentage as determined from the analysis of the images/video captured by the image capture device; and

adjust brightness level of the electronic display as necessary in response to the weather factor number.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to increase the brightness level of the electronic display if the weather factor number indicates local environmental conditions that would typically result in dim ambient light conditions, and to decrease the brightness level of the electronic display if the weather factor number indicates local environmental conditions that would typically result in bright ambient light conditions.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller includes a location detection device configured to determine geographic location of the electronic display and to communicate said location to the controller, and is further configured to determine a parameter selected from a group consisting of current date, current time, approximate sunrise and sunset times, and various combinations thereof.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic display is of a type selected from a group consisting of a liquid crystal display with a backlight, a plasma display, a light-emitting polymer display, and an organic light emitting diode display.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a lookup table/database of different environmental conditions and corresponding desired electronic display brightness levels, the lookup table/database accessible by the controller.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the attributes of the local environment are selected from a group consisting of rain, snow, hail, sleet, other types of precipitation, fog, haze, cloud cover, cloud ceiling, presence of large light blocking objects, and combinations thereof.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured, during a device setup procedure, to instruct the image capture device to periodically capture images of the environmental conditions local to the electronic display and to populate a database with said images.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a display light sensor for detecting the brightness level of the electronic display, the display light sensor in communication with the controller.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a backlight light sensor for detecting the brightness level of a backlight associated with the electronic display, the backlight light sensor in communication with the controller.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to directly analyze the attributes that appear in the images/video captured by the image capture device using a technique selected from a group consisting of shape recognition, histogram analysis, motion detection, and combinations thereof.