REDUCING THE POWER CONSUMPTION OF HIGH-DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR) DISPLAYS VIA BUCK-BOOST CONVERSION

• US 20190035340A1
• Filed: 07/25/2017
• Published: 01/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Sultenfuss, Andrew Thomas, Markow, Mitch Anthony
• Granted Patent: US 11,069,309 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/0291 Details of output amplifiers or buffers arranged for use in a driving circuit
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/064 by time modulation of the brightness of the illumination source
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0646 Modulation of illumination source brightness and image signal correlated to each other
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/023 using energy recovery or conservation
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/042 for monitor identification
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3406 Control of illumination source illumination devices structurally associated with liquid crystal cells G02F1/1336
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/36 using liquid crystals

Abstract

Systems and methods for reducing the power consumption of high-dynamic range (HDR) displays via buck-boost conversion are described. In some embodiments, an information handling system (IHS) may include an embedded controller (EC) and a memory coupled to the EC, the memory having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution, cause the EC to: determine a characteristic of a display having a backlight, and control a buck-boost converter to increase or decrease a voltage applied to the backlight based upon a frame rate of a video signal received by the display.

Claims

1. An Information Handling System (IHS), comprising:

an embedded controller (EC); and

a memory coupled to the EC, the memory having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution, cause the EC to;

determine a characteristic of a display having a backlight; and

control a buck-boost converter to increase or decrease a voltage applied to the backlight based upon a frame rate of a video signal received by the display.

2. The IHS of claim 1, wherein to determine the characteristic of the display, the program instructions, upon execution, cause the EC to identify the display or a component of the display.

3. The IHS of claim 2, wherein to identify the display, the program instructions, upon execution, cause the EC to retrieve an Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) from the display.

4. The IHS of claim 1, wherein to determine the characteristic of the display, the program instructions, upon execution, cause the EC to retrieve a power resource specification of the display from an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) table.

5. The IHS of claim 1, wherein to determine the characteristic of the display, the program instructions, upon execution, cause the EC to perform an electrical characterization of the display.

6. The IHS of claim 1, wherein to increase the voltage, the program instructions, upon execution, further cause the EC to increase a scalar value applied to the buck-boost converter, and wherein to decrease the voltage, the program instructions, upon execution, further cause the EC to decrease the scalar value.

7. The IHS of claim 1, wherein the program instructions, upon execution, further cause the EC to:

increase a scalar value applied to the buck-boost converter in response to the frame rate increasing, or decrease the scalar value in response to the frame rate decreasing.

8. The IHS of claim 1, wherein the program instructions, upon execution, further cause the EC to:

increase a scalar value applied to the buck-boost converter in response to the display entering a high-dynamic range (HDR) mode of operation, or decrease the scalar value in response to the display leaving the HDR mode of operation.

9. The IHS of claim 8, wherein the entering or leaving of the HDR mode of operation occurs without changes to the frame rate.

10. The IHS of claim 1, wherein the frame rate indicates whether the IHS has switched in or out of e-reader mode.

11. A hardware memory storage device having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by an embedded controller (EC) of an information handling system (IHS), cause the EC to:

determine a characteristic of a display having a backlight; and

control a buck-boost converter to change a voltage applied to the backlight based upon a frame rate of a video signal received by the display.

12. The hardware memory storage device of claim 11, wherein to determine the characteristic of the display, the program instructions, upon execution, cause the EC to retrieve an Extended Display Identification Data (EDID) from the display or to retrieve a power resource specification of the display from an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) table.

13. The hardware memory storage device of claim 11, wherein to change the voltage, the program instructions, upon execution, further cause the EC to increase or decrease a scalar value applied to the buck-boost converter.

14. The hardware memory storage device of claim 11, wherein the program instructions, upon execution, further cause the EC to:

increase a scalar value applied to the buck-boost converter in response to the frame rate increasing, or decrease the scalar value in response to the frame rate decreasing.

15. The hardware memory storage device of claim 11, wherein the program instructions, upon execution, further cause the EC to:

increase a scalar value applied to the buck-boost converter in response to the display entering a high-dynamic range (HDR) mode of operation, or decrease the scalar value in response to the display leaving the HDR mode of operation.

16. The hardware memory storage device of claim 15, wherein the entering or leaving of the HDR mode of operation occurs without changes to the frame rate.

17. The hardware memory storage device of claim 11, wherein the frame rate indicates whether the IHS has switched in or out of e-reader mode.

18. A method, comprising:

determining a characteristic of a display having a backlight; and

controlling a buck-boost converter to change a voltage applied to the backlight based upon a frame rate of a video signal received by the display.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein changing the voltage comprises increasing a scalar value applied to the buck-boost converter in response to the display entering a high-dynamic range (HDR) mode of operation, or decreasing the scalar value in response to the display leaving the HDR mode of operation.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein changing the voltage comprises increasing a scalar value applied to the buck-boost converter in response to the frame rate increasing, or decreasing the scalar value in response to the frame rate decreasing.