METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR REDUCING POWER CONSUMPTION IN A DISPLAY

• US 20090225069A1
• Filed: 05/11/2009
• Published: 09/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snaptrack Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: IDC, LLC
• Inventors: Sampsell, Jeffrey B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,243,014 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/212
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/001 based on interference in an adjustable optical cavity interference filters G02B5/28; devices or arrangements using multiple reflections in spectrometry or monochromators G01J3/26
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/04 Partial updating of the display screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0407 Resolution change, inclusive of the use of different resolutions for different screen areas
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3466 based on interferometric effect
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3607 for displaying colours or for displaying grey scales with a specific pixel layout, e.g. using sub-pixels display of colours in flat matrix panels other than liquid crystal displays G09G3/2003; grey scales specific for television H04N3/127

Abstract

A method and system for reducing power consumption in a display includes driving a display comprising a plurality of display elements characterized by a display state. In a first mode of operation, the display state of substantially all the display elements is periodically reset so as to display a first series of image frames. Upon changing to a second mode of operation, a second mode of operations comprises re-setting the display state of only a portion of the display elements so as to display a second series of image frames at a display element resolution which is less than said display element resolution used to display said first series of image frames.

Claims

1. A system for displaying image data, said system comprising:

a display device having a plurality of operational modes, at least some of said operational modes corresponding to reduced display element resolution when displaying image data on the display device; and

a source of image data configured to provide image data to said display device at a data rate that depends at least in part on the mode in which said display device is operating.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein in at least one of said operational modes, said display device displays a reduced color gamut as compared to said first mode of operation.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a communications network, wherein said source of image data is configured to provide said image data over said communications network.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said source of image data is configured to control said operational mode.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein said operational mode is selected based at least in part on a data rate of said communications network.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said operational mode is selected based at least in part on a data rate utilized by said communications network.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein said operational mode is selected based at least in part on power data of the display device.

8. The system of claim 3, wherein said operational mode is selected based at least in part on stored user preferences.

9. The system of claim 3, wherein said communications network comprises a wireless communications network.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein in at least one of said operational modes, said display device displays a reduced gray scale as compared to said first mode of operation.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein said display device comprises a plurality of display elements and at least one of the said operational modes comprises re-setting display states of less than all of the display elements.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the source of image data is further configured to provide a display state to re-set a remaining portion of the display elements.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein said less than all of the display elements comprise a first set of rows.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the source of image data is further configured to provide filtered image data so that image data for the display elements that are not re-set is not provided.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the source of image data is further configured to send the filtered image data the display device over a communications network.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein said image data comprises motion picture data.

17. A method for displaying image data, said method comprising:

re-setting a plurality of display elements in a first mode of operation to display image data,

re-setting less than all of the plurality of display elements in a second mode of operation to display image data, said second mode corresponding to a reduced display element resolution, and

receiving image data for display at a data rate that depends at least in part on the mode of operation being used.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the receiving comprises receiving image data over a communications network.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising receiving control data for selecting the mode of operation.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein in the second mode, the method comprises displaying a reduced gray scale or a reduced color gamut as compared to displaying image data in the first mode.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein in the second mode, the method further comprises maintaining at least a portion of the display elements that were not re-set in a selected state.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the selected state is selected based on an average brightness or color calculated over one or more image frame or frame portions for some or all display elements that are re-set in the first mode.

23. A method of providing image data for display, said method comprising:

receiving data describing a current display mode being used by a display device, wherein the current display mode comprises updating display states of less than all display elements in the display device;

filtering image data for display on the display device; and

sending the filtered image data over a communications network,

wherein the filtering comprises filtering the image data so that image data for non-updated display elements is not sent.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising sending control data over the communications network for selecting a display mode of the display device.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the communications network comprises a wireless network, and wherein the sending comprises sending the filtered image data using at least one protocol selected from a code division multiple access protocol, a time division multiple access protocol, a frequency division multiple access protocol, and a Global System for Mobile Communications protocol.

26. An apparatus for displaying image data, the apparatus comprising:

an array of display elements having a plurality of operational modes, at least some of said operational modes corresponding to reduced display element resolution when displaying image data using the array;

a network interface configured to receive information from a content server over a communications network; and

an array controller configured to provide data to the array based on the information received from the content server.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the information comprises image data for display using the array.

28. The apparatus of claims 27, wherein the network interface receives the image data at a data rate that depends at least in part on the mode in which said array is operating.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the information comprises data for selecting the operational mode of the array.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the network interface is further configured to communicate data describing the mode in which said array is operating to the content server.