Display brightness control method and apparatus for conserving battery power
First Claim
1. A method for conserving battery power in a portable computer, said computer being of the type operable on power supplied by a battery power source and an external power source, comprising the step of reducing display brightness gradually according to a rate limiting function so as to be substantially undetectable to a user when battery operation is selected.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for reducing display brightness on a portable computer when a user switches from an AC adapter to a battery power source provide battery power conservation. The reduction in display brightness is performed gradually so that a sudden brightness drop is not detected by the user. The display brightness reduction is preferably performed sufficiently gradually so that the reduction in brightness is virtually unnoticeable to the human eye.
67 Citations
52 Claims
- 1. A method for conserving battery power in a portable computer, said computer being of the type operable on power supplied by a battery power source and an external power source, comprising the step of reducing display brightness gradually according to a rate limiting function so as to be substantially undetectable to a user when battery operation is selected.
- 9. An apparatus for conserving battery power in a portable computer, said computer being of the type operable on power supplied by a battery power source and an external power source, said apparatus comprising means for reducing display brightness gradually according to a rate limiting function so as to be substantially undetectable to a user when battery operation is selected.
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17. An article of manufacture, comprising:
- a computer useable medium having a computer readable code means embodied in said medium for conserving battery power in a portable computer, said computer being of the type operable on power supplied by a battery power source and an external power source, the computer readable program code in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means to reduce display brightness gradually according to a rate limiting function so as to be substantially undetectable to a user when battery operation is selected.
- View Dependent Claims (18)
- 19. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform one or more method steps for conserving battery power in a portable computer, said computer being of the type operable on power supplied by a battery power source and an external power source, said one or more method steps comprising the step of reducing the display brightness gradually according to a rate limiting function so as to be substantially undetectable to a user when battery operation is selected.
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21. A method for conserving battery power in a portable computer, said computer being of the type operable on power supplied by a battery power source and an external power source, comprising the steps of:
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detecting a change from the external power source to the battery power source; and
reducing display brightness gradually according to a rate limiting function so as to be substantially undetectable to a user when battery operation is detected. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method for conserving battery power in a portable computer, said computer being of the type operable on power supplied by a battery power source and an external power source, comprising the steps of:
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detecting a change from the external power source to the battery power source;
reducing display brightness gradually from a user selected brightness level to a target brightness level if the target brightness level is less than the user selected brightness level; and
leaving the display brightness level unchanged if the target brightness level is not less than the user selected display brightness level, wherein the step of reducing the display brightness gradually occurs through use of a rate limiting function so as to be substantially undetectable to a user when battery operation is detected. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. An apparatus for conserving battery power in a portable computer, said computer being of the type operable on power supplied by a battery power source and an external power source, said apparatus comprising:
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means for detecting a change from the external power source to the battery power source; and
means for reducing display brightness gradually according to a rate limiting function so as to be substantially undetectable to a user when battery operation is selected. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. An apparatus for conserving battery power in a portable computer, said computer being of the type operable on power supplied by a battery power source and an external power source, said apparatus comprising:
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means for detecting a change from the external power source to the battery power source; and
means for reducing display brightness gradually from a user selected brightness level to a target brightness level if the target brightness level is less than the user selected brightness level; and
means for leaving the display brightness level unchanged if the target brightness level is not less than the user selected display brightness level, wherein the means for reducing the display brightness gradually occurs through use of a rate limiting function so as to be substantially undetectable to a user when battery operation is detected. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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Specification