Display and keypad backlight management for portable electronic devices
First Claim
1. A portable electronic device comprising:
- a user interface;
a light sensor configured to determine ambient lighting conditions about the user interface and generate an ambient lighting signal based on the ambient lighting conditions;
a lighting circuit including a light source to illuminate the user interface; and
a control circuit coupled to the lighting circuit, the control circuit having a delayed operation mode wherein;
a first activation of the user interface clears or ignores a user entry so that it is not acknowledged by the user interface, illuminates the user interface, and activates a timer, the lighting circuit illuminating the user interface for variable time periods depending on the ambient lighting signal; and
a second activation of the user interface performs an operation of the device, acknowledged by the user interface, in response to determining that the timer is still activated.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
This invention is a portable electronic device (100) including a display (212), an input device (210), a lighting circuit (204), a light sensor (206) and a control circuit (208). The lighting circuit (204) includes a light source (214) to illuminate the display (212) and the input device (210). The light sensor (206) determines the ambient lighting conditions about the display (212) and/or the input device (210) and generates an ambient lighting signal based on the ambient lighting conditions. The control circuit (208) is coupled to the lighting circuit (204) and the light sensor (206) and has a delayed operation mode in which a first activation of the input device (210) illuminates the display (212) without performing any other operation of the device (100) and a second activation of the input device performs an operation of the device other than illuminating the display. The control circuit (208) of the portable electronic device (100) may receive a reverse bias signal generated by the lighting circuit (204) when incident with ambient lighting about the user interface (202) to supplement or eliminate the light sensor (206).
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A portable electronic device comprising:
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a user interface; a light sensor configured to determine ambient lighting conditions about the user interface and generate an ambient lighting signal based on the ambient lighting conditions; a lighting circuit including a light source to illuminate the user interface; and a control circuit coupled to the lighting circuit, the control circuit having a delayed operation mode wherein; a first activation of the user interface clears or ignores a user entry so that it is not acknowledged by the user interface, illuminates the user interface, and activates a timer, the lighting circuit illuminating the user interface for variable time periods depending on the ambient lighting signal; and a second activation of the user interface performs an operation of the device, acknowledged by the user interface, in response to determining that the timer is still activated. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of illuminating a user interface of a portable electronic device, the method comprising the steps of:
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determining ambient lighting conditions about the user interface; generating an ambient lighting signal based on the ambient lighting conditions; and detecting a first activation of the user interface; clearing or ignoring a user entry so that it is not acknowledged by the user interface, illuminating the user interface for variable time periods depending on the ambient lighting signal, and activating a timer in response to detecting the first activation; detecting a second activation of the user interface; determining whether the time is still activated in response to detecting the second activation of the user interface; and performing an operation of the device, acknowledged by the user interface, in response to determining that the timer is still activated. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification