Apparatus and method for display power saving

• US 20060087502A1
• Filed: 10/21/2004
• Published: 04/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Karidis, John Peter, Pickover, Clifford Alan
• Granted Patent: US 7,614,011 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/211
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3218 of display devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0626 for control of overall brightness
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/02 Details of power systems and of start or stop of display operation
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/22 using controlled light sources
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A power saving method for self-luminous displays and an apparatus thereof, comprises determining active and inactive portions of a display screen. The inactive portions of the display screen are modified in accordance with criteria to save power by reducing energy consumption of the inactive portions while the active portions remain powered.

Claims

1. A power saving method for self-luminous displays, comprising the steps of:

determining active and inactive portions of a display screen;

modifying the inactive portions of the display screen in accordance with criteria to save power by reducing energy consumption of the inactive portions while the active portions remain powered.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of determining includes determining inactive regions based upon elapsed time of nonuse.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of modifying includes adjusting at least one of a size, shape, and location of active and inactive portions.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the active portions maintain default settings or user-specified display characteristics and the step of modifying the inactive regions includes reducing a number or brightness of illuminated pixels in the inactive portions.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the active regions includes at least one of an active window, a cognitive focus area as determined by one or more sensors, a center screen area, an area near a cursor-insertion point, an area near a pointing cursor location and the inactive portions include all other portions of the display screen.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the focus area is determined by any of a cursor location, biometrics, eye gaze, and brain waves.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of determining the active regions is dependent on a type of content being displayed.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of determining the active area includes determining an integral number of characters, words, sentences or text lines near a center of focus or cursor.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of determining active portions includes controlling an active portion that the user moves around the screen display and wherein the inactive portions are outside the active portion.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the active portions are brighter than the inactive portions.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of determining the active regions includes at least on of user satisfaction, user preference profile, biometrics, and survey information.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the active portions'"'"' size, shape, location, and brightness is dependent on remaining power.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of modifying includes modifying active portions by showing only edges to conserve power.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, where the step of determining includes determining inactive portions in areas distant from a center of the screen, areas distant from a center of user attention, areas with static image content that has not changed for a period of time.

15. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of modifying includes modifying graphical use interface (GUI) elements to save power.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the step of modifying graphical use interface elements includes one of fading, omission or size reduction of a title bar, frame, scroll bar, or icons.

17. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of modifying includes changing to a power-savings font to reduce power within the active portions or within the in active portions.

18. The method as recited in claim 17 wherein the power-savings font comprises at least one of reducing a brightness of selected text or background content in a given area, reducing intensity of illuminated pixels in a font, reducing line width of a font, eliminating features of a font, switching fonts, replacing fonts with outline fonts, applying a stipple pattern to turn off some fraction of the lit pixels.

19. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein overall brightness of image content is reduced.

20. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of modifying includes setting a threshold value based on image characteristics in which all values beneath the threshold are dimmed or not displayed.

21. The method as recited in claim 20 wherein the threshold is determined automatically based on current operating conditions of the display screen.

22. The method as recited in claim 20, wherein the threshold depends on one of information relevance, pixel brightness, and history of use.

23. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of modifying includes selectively dimming pixels for rendering a data stream as determined by importance as determined by an algorithm or by content providers.

24. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of modifying includes shrinking the active portions in accordance with battery power employed by the display screen.

25. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the shrinking step includes making the active portions porous where pore size and spacing are selectively determined.

26. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the active portions includes audio renderings and the method further comprises the step of modifying audio to save power.

27. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of modifying includes adjusting relative brightness of pixels based on importance such that more important material is rendered brighter.

28. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein importance is based on one or more of most recently used areas, most frequently used areas, most likely to be used areas, most used by others in a group of users, most used by people in a geography or demographic.

29. The method as recited in claim 28, wherein items rendered on the display screen that are popular within a demographic light up more brightly than other portions, with intensity changing through time.

30. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of modifying includes selecting an active region shape to enhance power savings.

31. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for power saving in self-luminous displays as recited in claim 1.

32. A display apparatus, comprising

a self-luminous display;

a determination module, which determines active regions and inactive regions based upon criteria;

a modification module which selectively modifies at least one of the active regions and the inactive regions of the display to save power by reducing energy consumption of the inactive portions while the active portions remain powered.

33. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein the modification module includes criteria for determining size, shape, and location of active and inactive regions.

34. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein active regions maintain default or user-specified display characteristics and wherein the inactive regions are modified to reduce power dissipation by reducing the number or brightness of illuminated pixels in the inactive regions.

35. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein the active regions include at least one of an active window, a cognitive focus area as determined by one or more sensors, a center area of the display;

an area near cursor-insertion point, an area near a pointing cursor location and the inactive regions are all other regions of the screen.

36. The apparatus as recited in claim 35, wherein the extent of the active regions is dependent on a type of content in the region.

37. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein the active area is an integral number of characters, words, sentences or text lines near a center of focus or cursor.

38. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein the active region is user controlled to move around the screen and wherein the inactive regions are outside the active region.

39. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein the active regions are brighter than the inactive regions

40. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, the active region'"'"'s size, shape, location, and brightness depend on remaining stored power of the display.

41. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein the active area is determined by at least one of cursor location, biometrics, eye gaze, and brain waves.

42. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein the active area shows edges of images.

43. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein the inactive area is determined by one of inactive windows, areas distant from a center of the screen, areas distant from a center of attention, areas with static image content that has not changed in a period of time.

44. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, further comprising graphical user interface elements, which are changed to save power.

45. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, further comprising a power-savings font used to reduce power within or outside of the active regions.

46. The apparatus as recited in claim 45, wherein the power-savings font comprises at least one of reduced brightness of selected text content in a given area, reduced intensity of illuminated pixels in a font, reduced line width of the font, eliminated features of the font, different fonts, replaced with outline fonts, a stipple pattern applied to turn off some fraction of the lit pixels.

47. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, further comprising a threshold value of pixel characteristics, which sets a point in which all values beneath the threshold are not displayed on the screen.

48. The apparatus as recited in claim 47, wherein the threshold depends on information relevance, pixel brightness, or history of use.

49. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein the active regions include a window, which slowly shrinks in accordance with battery power.

50. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein the active regions include a window that becomes porous, the pore spacing and size being set by the user or the apparatus.

51. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein active regions include audio rendering and the audio is modified to save power.

52. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein relative brightness between features on the screen in both active and inactive regions is based on one or more of:

importance, most recently used region, most frequently used region, most likely to be used region, region most used by a group of users, region most used by people in a geography or other demographic.

53. The apparatus as recited in claim 32, wherein the active regions include a shaped window to reduce active pixels and enhance power savings.