Apparatus for and method of controlling digital image processing apparatus

• US 8,427,430 B2
• Filed: 03/03/2008
• Issued: 04/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Lee, Jong-hwan, Lee, Seok-goun
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kevin M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ghafari, Sepideh
• Application Number:
  US12/074,307
• Publication Number:
  US 20090058791A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,877 Days
• Field of Search: 345/102, 345/158, 345/169, 345/211, 348/42, 348/51, 348/155
• US Class Current: 345/169
• CPC Class Codes: G03B 7/26 Power supplies; Circuitry or arrangement to switch on the power source; Circuitry to check the power source voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/63 by using electronic viewfinders
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/651 for reducing power consumption by affecting camera operations, e.g. sleep mode, hibernation mode or power off of selective parts of the camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/144 Movement detection for video coding H04N19/503; analysis of motion in general G06T7/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

An apparatus for and method of controlling a digital image processing device in order to reduce power consumption by automatically recognizing a state in which power of a display device can be turned off or the display device can operate in a power saving mode, and in that case, turning off the display device or operating the display device in the power saving mode. The apparatus for controlling a digital image processing device includes: a motion sensing unit sensing a motion of the digital image processing device; and a control unit operating the digital image processing device in a power saving mode when it is determined that the digital image processing device moves.

Claims

1. An apparatus for controlling a digital image processing device that includes an image input unit for receiving an image for photographing and a display unit for displaying the image, the apparatus comprising:

a motion sensing unit in communication with the image input unit that determines whether the digital processing unit has moved or is moving by assessing whether the difference between an evaluation index of a current image frame and an evaluation index of a previous image frame is greater than a preset reference value and generates a motion sensing signal according to the determination; and

a control unit in communication with the motion sensing unit for receiving the motion sensing signal, the control unit operating the digital image processing device in a power saving mode,

wherein the display unit operates in a reduced power consumption mode when, according to the motion sensing signal, the control unit determines that the digital image processing device has moved or is moving.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit causes power for the display unit to be turned off in the power saving mode.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display unit includes a backlight, and wherein the control unit causes only power for the backlight to be turned off in the power saving mode.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display unit comprises a display panel on which the image is displayed, and a display panel driving unit that drives the display panel according to at least a power reduction signal from the control unit.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the motion sensing unit comprises:

a motion recognition sensor that senses the motion of the digital image processing device; and

a motion recognition sensor control unit in communication with the motion recognition sensor and the control unit, the motion recognition sensor control unit controlling the motion recognition sensor and generating a motion sensing signal when sensing the motion of the digital image processing device, wherein the control unit receives the motion sensing signal and determines whether or not the digital image processing device moves.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the motion recognition sensor and the motion recognition sensor control unit are a 3-axis motion sensing chip package mounted on a circuit board of the digital image processing device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein when the difference between the evaluation indexes in two continuous image frames is greater than a preset reference value, the motion sensing unit determines that the digital image processing device moves.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein in order to obtain the evaluation index, the apparatus performs the steps of:

dividing an image of each frame into a plurality of areas;

selecting at least some areas from among the plurality of areas to define patches;

obtaining image evaluation data of each patch; and

summing the image evaluation data.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the evaluation index is obtained based on at least one of luminance data, red data, green data, and blue data calculated from each image frame.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the motion sensing unit is included in the control unit.

11. A method for controlling a digital image processing device including an image input unit for receiving an image for photographing and a display unit for displaying the image, the method comprising:

sensing a motion of the digital image processing device by extracting evaluation indexes of a current image frame and a previous image frame and assessing whether the difference between evaluation indexes of the current and previous image frames is greater than a preset reference value;

generating a motion sensing signal if the difference is greater than the preset reference value; and

operating the digital image processing device in a power saving mode wherein the display unit of the digital image processing device operates in a reduced power consumption mode when, according to the motion sensing signal, it is determined that the digital image processing device moved or is moving.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the operating step further comprises:

calculating a probability that a display panel of the digital image processing device is being used by a user; and

according to the calculating step, if it is determined that the display panel is not being used, operating the display panel in a mode in which power consumption of the display panel is reduced.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of calculating an evaluation index comprises summing image data from each of the patches.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the comparing step comprises:

determining a difference between the evaluation index of the current image frame and the evaluation index of the previous image frame; and

determining if the difference is greater than a preset reference value, the preset reference value defining a movement threshold.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the image evaluation data is at least one of luminance data, red data, green data, and blue data calculated from each image frame.