Method and apparatus to reduce power consumption of a computer system display screen

• US 20030146897A1
• Filed: 02/07/2002
• Published: 08/07/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Hunter, Robert J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,036,025 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/102
• 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 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2354/00 Aspects of interface with display user
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/22 using controlled light sources
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/342 using several illumination sources separately controlled corresponding to different display panel areas, e.g. along one dimension such as lines
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a computer system may determine focus areas and non-focus areas of the display screen. The brightness of non-focus areas may then be reduced with respect to focus areas, thereby reducing power consumption of the display screen and, hence, reducing power consumption of the computer system. For example, a focus area may be an active window of the display screen and a non-focus area may be an inactive window of the display screen. As another example, a focus area may be a region of the display screen within a vicinity of a cursor (i.e. data entry point), and a non-focus area may be the region outside this vicinity. The size of the vicinity may be measured in radius or in lines of data (e.g. in a word processing or spreadsheet program) surrounding the cursor. The size and shape of the vicinity may be determined by a user.

Claims

1. A computer system, comprising:

a display screen; and

a control device to select a first portion of the display screen to be brighter than a second portion of the display screen in accordance with a display power management protocol.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the display screen includes a plurality of backlights.

3. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the backlights are to be independently controlled in accordance with the protocol.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the display screen includes a plurality of light emitting pixels.

5. The computer system of claim 4, wherein the light emitting pixels are to be independently controlled in accordance with the protocol.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the display screen is to be brighter than the second portion by an amount to be defined according to a user preference.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the control device includes a pointer or cursor control.

8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the first portion is to include at least a portion of an active window, and the second portion is to include at least a portion of an inactive window.

9. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the first portion is to be within an active window within a vicinity of a cursor, and the second portion is to be within the active window beyond the vicinity of the cursor.

10. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the control device includes a camera.

11. The computer system of claim 10, further comprising a storage device storing focus detection code to be executed by the computer system, the focus detection code to determine the first portion of the display screen using input from the camera.

12. A method, comprising:

providing a computer system with a display screen; and

enabling a brightness of a first portion of the display screen to be adjusted with respect to a second portion of the display screen in accordance with a display power management protocol.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein enabling the brightness of the first portion of the display screen to be adjusted comprises enabling the brightness to be decreased to reduce power consumed by the display screen.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein enabling the brightness of the first portion of the display screen to be adjusted comprises enabling the brightness to be increased if the first portion is determined to be a focus area.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first portion is determined to be a focus area if the first portion includes an active window.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the first portion is determined to be a focus area if the first portion includes a cursor.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first and second portions are portions of a single window.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein enabling the brightness of the first portion of the display screen to be adjusted includes storing instructions in the computer system to adjust the brightness of the first portion of the display screen.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising providing the computer system with a camera to provide an image and enabling a focus area of the display screen to be determined using the image.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein enabling a focus area of the display screen to be determined using the image includes storing instructions in the computer system to analyze the image to determine where on the display screen a user may be looking.

21. A machine readable medium including machine readable instructions that, if executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method comprising:

determining a non-focus area of a display screen of the computer system; and

decreasing brightness of the non-focus area of the display screen in accordance with a power management protocol.

22. The medium of claim 21, wherein determining the non-focus area of the display screen includes determining a position of a cursor.

23. The medium of claim 21, wherein determining the non-focus area of the display screen includes determining if a window is inactive.

24. The medium of claim 21, wherein determining the non-focus area of the display screen includes analyzing an image from a camera of a face of a user and determining where on the display screen the user may be looking.

25. The medium of claim 21, wherein decreasing the brightness of the non-focus area of the display screen includes decreasing the brightness of the non-focus area of the display screen to approximately zero.

26. The medium of claim 21, wherein decreasing the brightness of the non-focus area of the display screen includes dimming the brightness of the non-focus area of the display screen.