Brightness controlling apparatus

• US 7,423,383 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2001
• Issued: 09/09/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kawano, Seiichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Owens; Douglas W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vu; Jimmy T
• Application Number:
  US09/938,221
• Publication Number:
  US 20020047590A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,574 Days
• Field of Search: 345/102, 345/150, 345/147, 345/204, 345/468, 345/589, 345/619, 345/625, 345/690, 345/698, 315/381, 315/383, 3151692-1694
• US Class Current: 315/169.4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0626 for control of overall brightness
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/14 Display of multiple viewports

Abstract

An apparatus and method for enabling screen brightness of a display unit to be adjusted automatically according to display brightness, thereby improving the visibility of the display screen to a viewing user. A brightness adjusting system including a gray scale gradation evaluator for calculating the display brightness in a certain window displayed on the screen of a display unit and a display controller for controlling the screen brightness of the display unit according to the display brightness in the certain window, calculated by the gray scale gradation evaluator, is provided for.

Claims

1. A brightness controlling apparatus, comprising:

an evaluator for detecting a feature of a certain window displayed on a screen of a display unit; and

a display controller for controlling the brightness of said screen of said display unit according to said feature of said window, detected by said evaluator,

wherein said display controller controls the brightness of said screen of said display unit according to whether a ratio of a size of said window to a size of said screen of said display unit is over a certain value.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said evaluator detects a type of application to be displayed in said window;

and

said display controller controls said brightness of said screen of said display unit according to said type of said application detected by said evaluator.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said type of application is selected from a group consisting of a word processor application, a spreadsheet application, and a motion picture playback application.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said evaluator detects whether a method by which data is displayed in said window uses a CPU;

and

said display controller controls the brightness of said screen of said display unit according to whether said method by which data is displayed in said window uses said CPU, detected by said evaluator.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said evaluator calculates the display brightness in said window according to a draw signal issued to said window displayed on said screen of said display unit;

and

said display controller controls the brightness of said screen of said display unit according to said display brightness in said window, calculated by said evaluator.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said evaluator detects a feature of a focused window on said screen, said focused window being selected from a plurality of windows displayed on said screen of said display unit.

7. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said focused window is an active window that is ready to accept an input.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said display unit is an LCD.

9. An apparatus comprising:

an evaluator that evaluates a display brightness of a window displayed on a screen of a display unit; and

a display controller that automatically adjusts a screen brightness of the screen of the display unit based on the evaluated display brightness of the window,

wherein the display controller further automatically adjusts the screen brightness of the screen of the display unit based on a type of application associated with the window,

wherein the display controller automatically decreases the screen brightness of the screen responsive to the type of application associated with the window being a word processor application or a spreadsheet application.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the display controller automatically decreases the screen brightness of the screen responsive to the evaluated display brightness of the window being high.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the display controller automatically increases the screen brightness of the screen responsive to the evaluated display brightness of the window being low.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the window is one of a plurality of windows displayed on the screen of the display unit and the window is an active window that is ready to accept an input.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the display controller automatically increases the screen brightness of the screen responsive to the type of application associated with the window being a motion picture playback application.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the display controller further automatically adjusts the screen brightness of the screen of the display unit based on whether a method by which data is displayed in the window uses a CPU.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the evaluator evaluates the display brightness of the window based on a draw signal issued to the window.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the display controller further automatically adjusts the screen brightness of the screen of the display unit based on whether a ratio of a size of the window to a size of the screen is over a certain value.

17. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the display unit is an LCD and the display controller adjusts the screen brightness of the screen by controlling a power to a back-light of the LCD.

18. An apparatus comprising:

an evaluator that evaluates a display brightness of a window displayed on a screen of a display unit; and

a display controller that automatically adjusts a screen brightness of the screen of the display unit based on the evaluated display brightness of the window,

wherein the display controller further automatically adjusts the screen brightness of the screen of the display unit based on a type of application associated with the window, the display controller automatically decreasing the screen brightness of the screen responsive to the type of application associated with the window being a word processor application or a spreadsheet application, and the display controller automatically increasing the screen brightness of the screen responsive to the type of application associated with the window being a motion picture playback application.

19. An apparatus comprising:

an evaluator that evaluates a display brightness of a window displayed on a screen of a display unit; and

a display controller that automatically adjusts a screen brightness of the screen of the display unit based on the evaluated display brightness of the window, wherein the display controller further automatically adjusts the screen brightness of the screen of the display unit based on a type of application associated with the window,

wherein the display controller automatically decreases the screen brightness of the screen responsive to the type of application associated with the window being a word processor application or a spreadsheet application,

wherein the display controller further automatically adjusts the screen brightness of the screen of the display unit based on whether a ratio of a size of the window to a size of the screen is over a certain value.