System and method for ambient-light adaptive intensity control for an electronic display

• US 8,169,450 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2007
• Issued: 05/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Polaris PowerLED Technologies, LLC (Microchip Technology Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Atmel Corporation (Microchip Technology Incorporated)
• Inventors: Santo, Hendrik, Thandi, Gurjit, Sangam, Dilip, Vi, Kien
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Nitin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Harris, Dorothy
• Application Number:
  US11/805,522
• Publication Number:
  US 20080290803A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,806 Days
• Field of Search: 345/690
• US Class Current: 345/690
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0242 Compensation of deficiencies in the appearance of colours
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0606 Manual adjustment
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0626 for control of overall brightness
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/144 the light being ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3413 Details of control of colour illumination sources
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/11 by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

The techniques of the present invention relate to automatically controlling display intensity. The present invention includes a calibration step in which the display intensity settings are correlated to the ambient light intensity conditions. The present invention also includes an automatic adjustment step in which the ambient light intensity is measured and the display intensity is automatically adjusted according to a correlation defined in the calibration step.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a display, the method comprising:

recording preferred display hue intensity level settings for a user at a plurality of different measured ambient light hue intensity conditions, wherein the preferred display hue intensity level settings specify hue intensity levels for a first hue, and wherein the different measured ambient light hue intensity conditions are measured for a second hue different from the first hue;

calculating a correlation curve that correlates the preferred display hue intensity level settings for the user and the plurality of different measured ambient light hue intensity conditions;

measuring a current ambient light hue intensity condition for the second hue, the current ambient light hue intensity condition being distinct from any of the plurality of different measured ambient light hue intensity conditions; and

automatically adjusting a display hue intensity level for the first hue by using the correlation curve and the current ambient light hue intensity condition for the second hue.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the measuring is performed by a sensor contained in the display.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the measuring is performed by a sensor external to the display.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically adjusting step further comprises the step of determining a current user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating step includes the step of selecting the correlation curve from the group consisting of a linear correlation curve and a non-linear correlation curve.

6. The method of claim 1, the first hue comprising red.

7. The method of claim 1, the first hue comprising green.

8. The method of claim 1, the first hue comprising blue.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating the user'"'"'s preferred display hue intensity level settings by adding at least one preferred display hue intensity level setting;

in response to updating the user'"'"'s preferred display hue intensity level settings, calculating a new correlation curve that correlates the updated user'"'"'s preferred display hue intensity level settings and an updated plurality of different ambient light hue intensity conditions; and

automatically adjusting the display intensity level for a new measured ambient light hue intensity condition by using the new correlation curve.

10. An apparatus for a display, the apparatus comprising:

means for recording a user'"'"'s preferred display hue intensity level settings for a plurality of different measured ambient light hue intensity conditions, wherein the preferred display hue intensity level settings specify hue intensity levels for a first hue, and wherein the different measured ambient light hue intensity conditions are measured for a second hue different from the first hue;

means for calculating a correlation curve that correlates the user'"'"'s preferred display hue intensity level settings and the plurality of different measured ambient light hue intensity conditions;

means for measuring a current ambient light hue intensity condition for the second hue, the current light hue intensity condition being distinct from any of the plurality of different measured ambient light hue intensity conditions; and

means for automatically adjusting a display hue intensity level for the first hue by using the correlation curve and the current ambient light hue intensity condition for the second hue.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the means for measuring the current ambient light hue intensity condition comprises a sensor contained in the display.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the means for measuring the current ambient light hue intensity condition comprises a sensor external to the display.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the means for automatically adjusting includes means for determining a current user.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the correlation curve includes a linear correlation curve.