Controller and driver features for bi-stable display

• US 7,679,627 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2005
• Issued: 03/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Snaptrack Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm MEMS Technologies Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sampsell, Jeffrey B., Tyger, Karen, Mathew, Mithran
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Kevin M
• Application Number:
  US11/097,819
• Publication Number:
  US 20060077127A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,810 Days
• Field of Search: 345/89, 345/690, 345/94, 345/204, 348/430.1
• US Class Current: 345/690
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/0224 Details of interlacing
• 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 2340/0435 Change or adaptation of the frame rate of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3466 based on interferometric effect
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3688 suitable for active matrices only

Abstract

The invention comprises systems and methods for controller and driver features for displays, and in particular, controller and driver features that relate to displays with bi-stable display elements. In one embodiment, such a display includes at least one driving circuit and an array comprising a plurality of bi-stable display elements, where the array is configured to be driven by the driving circuit, and where the driving circuit is programmed to receive video data and provide a subset of the received video data to the array based on a frame skip count. In some embodiments, the frame skip count is programmable or dynamically determined. In another embodiment, a method of displaying data on an array having a plurality of bi-stable display elements comprises receiving video data comprising a plurality of frames, displaying selected frames based upon a frame skip count, measuring the change between each selected frame and a frame previous to the selected frame, and displaying non-selected frames if the measured change is greater than or equal to a threshold.

Claims

1. A display, comprising:

at least one driving circuit; and

an array comprising a plurality of bi-stable display elements, the array being configured to be driven by the driving circuit,

wherein the driving circuit is configured to receive video data and provide at least a subset of the received video data to the array based on a frame skip count, the frame skip count indicating a number of refresh periods to skip before refreshing any portion of the entire array, and

wherein determination of the frame skip count comprises selecting the frame skip count based on a calculated histogram of the video data.

2. The display of claim 1, wherein the frame skip count is programmable.

3. The display of claim 2, wherein the frame skip count is dynamically determined.

4. The display of claim 1, wherein the driving circuit is further configured to provide a subset of the video data to the array based on changes that occur in one or more portions of the video data during a time period.

5. The display of claim 4, wherein the driving circuit is further configured to evaluate the changes in the video data on a pixel-by-pixel basis.

6. The display of claim 1, wherein the driving circuit is further configured to provide the video data based on a display mode.

7. The display of claim 1, further comprising a user input device, wherein determination of the frame skip count further comprises a selection using the user input device.

8. The display of claim 1, wherein the frame skip count comprises a single value.

9. A method of displaying data on an array having a plurality of bi-stable display elements, the method comprising:

receiving video data comprising a plurality of frames;

displaying the received frames using a frame skip count, wherein the frame skip count indicates a number of refresh periods to skip before refreshing any portion of the entire array;

calculating a histogram using a selected frame of the plurality of frames and one or more frames received previous to the selected frame; and

changing the frame skip count based on the histogram.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining a measure of the change in video content between a selected frame of the plurality of frames and one or more frames received previous to the selected frame using the histogram.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein changing the frame skip count comprises increasing the frame skip count if the change in video content between the selected frame and one or more previous frames is small, and decreasing the frame skip count if the change in video content between the selected frame and the one or more previous frames is large.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the frame skip count comprises a single value.

13. A system for displaying data on an array having a plurality of bi-stable display elements, the system comprising:

means for receiving video data comprising a plurality of frames;

means for displaying frames using a frame skip count, wherein the frame skip count indicates a number of refresh periods to skip before refreshing any portion of the entire array;

means for calculating a histogram using a selected frame of the plurality of frames and one or more frames received previous to the selected frame; and

means for changing the frame skip count based on the histogram.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

means for determining a measure of the change in video content between a selected frame of the plurality of frames and one or more frames received previous to the selected frame using the histogram.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the means for changing the frame skip count comprises means for increasing the frame skip count if the change in video content between the selected frame and one or more previous frames is small, and means for decreasing the frame skip count if the change in video content between the selected frame and the one or more previous frames is large.

16. The system of claim 13 further comprising a user input means for receiving input from a user, wherein determination of the frame skip count comprises a selection using the user input means.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the frame skip count comprises a single value.