Display Brightness Control Based on Location Data

• US 20160338182A1
• Filed: 02/12/2016
• Published: 11/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Manufacturing Resources International, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Manufacturing Resources International, Inc.
• Inventors: Safstrom, Dan, Schuch, John, Dunn, William, De Laet, Rick
• Granted Patent: US 10,321,549 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/1336 Illuminating devices
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0653 Controlling or limiting the speed of brightness adjustment of the illumination source
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/144 the light being ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/145 the light originating from the display screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3406 Control of illumination source illumination devices structurally associated with liquid crystal cells G02F1/1336
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/11 by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/16 by timing means
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

The exemplary embodiments herein provide a method for controlling the luminance of an electronic display, including the steps of determining the sunset and sunrise times for the day and determining whether the present time is between sunrise and sunset or between sunset and sunrise. The backlight may be driven at a daytime level if the present time is between sunrise and sunset, while the backlight may be driven at a nighttime level if the present time is between sunset and sunrise. In some embodiments, artificial ambient sensor (AAS) data is used to determine the desired backlight or display luminance. The AAS data may be adjusted for a sunset or sunrise transition time, as well as for an approximate percentage of cloud cover in the sky.

Claims

1. A method for controlling the luminance of an electronic display, comprising the steps of:

determining the sunset and sunrise times for the day;

determining whether the present time is between sunrise and sunset or between sunset and sunrise; and

driving the backlight based on whether the present time is between sunrise and sunset or between sunset and sunrise.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

driving the backlight at a daytime level if the present time is between sunrise and sunset;

driving the backlight at a nighttime level if the present time is between sunset and sunrise;

gradually increasing the backlight level when transitioning from the nighttime level to the daytime level; and

gradually decreasing the backlight level when transitioning from the daytime level to the nighttime level.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the step of driving the backlight is performed without any actual input from an ambient light sensor.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein:

the step of driving the backlight at a daytime level is performed by reading data from an ambient light sensor and selecting a desired backlight level based on the data from the ambient light sensor.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein:

the step of driving the backlight at a daytime level is performed by driving the backlight at a predetermined constant daytime level, without utilizing any input from an ambient light sensor.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein:

the step of driving the backlight at a daytime level is performed by calculating artificial ambient sensor data (AAS) for the present time and driving the backlight based on the AAS data.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

determining whether the present time is during a sunset or sunrise transition period; and

calculating artificial ambient sensor data (AAS) if during a sunset or sunrise transition period, and

driving the backlight based on the AAS data if during a sunset or sunrise transition period.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

determining local weather information and

calculating artificial ambient sensor data (AAS) based on the local weather information, and

driving the backlight based on the AAS data.

9. A method for controlling the luminance of an electronic display, comprising the steps of:

determining the sunset and sunrise times for the day, including the sunset transition period and the sunrise transition period,

determining if the present time is during a sunrise transition, daytime, a sunset transition, or nighttime,

calculating artificial ambient sensor data (AAS) for sunrise and driving the backlight based on the AAS data if the present time is during a sunrise transition period,

driving the backlight at a daytime level if the present time is daytime,

calculating AAS data for sunset and driving the backlight based on the AAS data if the present time is during a sunset transition period, and

driving the backlight at a nighttime level if the present time is nighttime.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of driving the backlight based on AAS data is performed by:

determining a desired display luminance based on ambient light sensor readings; and

driving the backlight to obtain the desired display luminance.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of driving the backlight based on AAS data is performed by:

retrieving a desired display luminance from a table of desired display luminance values based on ambient light sensor readings, by matching the AAS data to an ambient light sensor reading and corresponding desired display luminance; and

driving the backlight to obtain the desired display luminance.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of driving the backlight based on AAS data is performed by:

calculating a desired backlight luminance based on a mathematical relationship between ambient light sensor readings and backlight luminance where the AAS data is used as the ambient light sensor reading; and

driving the backlight to the desired backlight luminance.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of driving the backlight based on AAS data is performed by:

using a table of desired backlight luminance values based on ambient light sensor readings where the AAS data is used as the ambient light sensor readings to determine a desired backlight luminance value; and

driving the backlight to the desired backlight luminance value.

14. The method of claim 9 further comprising the step of:

determining local weather information and

wherein the step of calculating the AAS data is performed based on the determined local weather information.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein:

the step of determining the local weather information is performed by calculating a percentage of cloud cover.

16-20. -20. (canceled)

21. A method for controlling the luminance of an electronic display, comprising the steps of:

determine the location data for the electronic display through a GPS device; and

driving the luminance of the electronic display based on the location data from the GPS device.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein:

the step of driving the luminance of the display is performed without using any data from an ambient light sensor.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein:

the step of driving the luminance of the display is performed by

calculating the sunrise and sunset times based on the location data from the GPS device.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein:

the step of calculating the sunrise and sunset times is performed based on

the longitude and latitude coordinates of the electronic display.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein:

the step of calculating the sunrise and sunset times is performed by calculating the sunrise equation.