Systems and methods for controlling a display

• US 20040207653A1
• Filed: 04/17/2003
• Published: 10/21/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Stavely, Donald J., Campbell, David K., Bianchi, Mark J., Battles, Amy E., Bean, Heather Noel
• Application Number:
  US10/417,656
• Publication Number:
  US 20040207653A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/698
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 1/00 Control arrangements or circuits, of interest only in connection with cathode-ray tube indicators; General aspects or details, e.g. selection emphasis on particular characters, dashed line or dotted line generation; Preprocessing of datacathode-ray oscilloscopes G01R13/20; radar display arrangements G01S7/04; display of digital non-picture data in television systems H04N7/0255
• 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 2340/0407 Resolution change, inclusive of the use of different resolutions for different screen areas
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/22 using controlled light sources
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3208 organic, e.g. using organic light-emitting diodes [OLED]

Abstract

Disclosed are systems and methods for controlling a display. In one embodiment, a system and a method pertain to monitoring the state of a computing device associated with the display, determining if pixel reduction is warranted in view of the monitoring, and, if pixel reduction is warranted, displaying a reduced-pixel, whole image that comprises fewer active pixels than an original, complete image previously presented in the display.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a display, comprising:

monitoring the state of a computing device associated with the display;

determining if pixel reduction is warranted in view of the monitoring; and

if pixel reduction is warranted, displaying a reduced-pixel, whole image that comprises fewer active pixels than an original, complete image previously presented in the display.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring comprises monitoring an estimated life of a battery of the computing device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein pixel reduction is warranted if the estimated life of the battery falls below a predetermined battery life threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring comprises monitoring the duration of time that has elapsed since a last input entered by a user.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein pixel reduction is warranted if the elapsed time exceeds a predetermined time threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a reduced-pixel, whole image comprises displaying a whole image having a reduced size.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a reduced-pixel, whole image comprises displaying a whole image having a reduced resolution.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising continuing to reduce the number of pixels used to display a whole image until a predetermined condition is satisfied.

9. A method for controlling a display, comprising:

determining an expected remaining life of a battery of a computing device in which the display is used;

determining whether the expected remaining life is below a battery life threshold; and

reducing the size of a complete, originally-displayed image so as to present in the display a whole image of the originally-displayed image using fewer display pixels, if it is determined that the expected remaining life is below -the battery life threshold.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining the duration of time that has elapsed since a last input entered by a user;

determining if the elapsed time exceeds a predetermined time threshold; and

reducing the size of the originally-displayed image so as to present in the display a whole image of the originally-displayed image using fewer display pixels, if it is determined that the expected remaining life is below the battery life threshold.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising continually reducing the number of pixels used to present the whole image until a predetermined condition is satisfied.

12. A display control system, comprising:

means for determining the state of a computing device associated with a display;

means for determining from a determined state whether pixel reduction is warranted; and

means for reducing the number of pixels that are used to display an original, complete image such that a whole, reduce-pixel image can be displayed.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the means for reducing comprise means for displaying a whole image having a reduced size.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the means for reducing comprise means for displaying a whole image having a reduced resolution.

15. A display controller stored on a computer-readable medium, comprising:

logic configured to reduce the number of pixels used to present a whole image of an original, complete image in response to a determined condition.

16. The controller of claim 15, further comprising logic configured to determine the remaining life of a battery used to power a display.

17. The controller of claim 15, further comprising logic configured to determine the duration of time that has elapsed since a last input entered by a user.

18. The controller of claim 15, wherein the logic configured to reduce the number of pixels is configured to facilitate display of a reduced-size, whole image of the original, complete image.

19. The controller of claim 15, wherein the logic configured to reduce the number of pixels is configured to facilitate display of a reduced-resolution, whole image of the original, complete image.

20. The controller of claim 15, wherein the logic configured to reduce is configured to continually reduce the number of pixels used to generate the whole image until a predetermined condition is satisfied.

21. A computing device, comprising:

a processing device;

an emissive display; and

a memory containing a display controller comprising logic configured to generate a whole, reduced-pixel image of an original, complete image in response to a determined condition.

22. The computing device of claim 21, wherein the logic configured to generate a whole, reduced-pixel image is configured to generate a reduced-size, whole image.

23. The computing device of claim 21, wherein the logic configured to generate a whole, reduced-pixel image is configured to generate a reduced-resolution, whole image.

24. The computing device of claim 21, wherein the display is an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display.