Automatic user viewing preference

• US 8,508,553 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2009
• Issued: 08/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Dodge, Steven P., Wang, Zheng, Chen, Xu, Gear, Gavin
• Primary Examiner(s): Abdulselam, Abbas
• Assistant Examiner(s): STEPP JONES, SHAWNA T
• Application Number:
  US12/469,364
• Publication Number:
  US 20100295873A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,546 Days
• Field of Search: 345/690, 345/77, 345/84, 345/102, 345/207, 345/589, 345/590, 349/61, 349/62
• US Class Current: 345/690
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/02 Improving the quality of display appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0285 using tables for spatial correction of display data
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/144 the light being ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T

Abstract

A system may allow an initial viewing adjustment curve set at a factory to be adjusted by a user, and the adjustment may pull the viewing adjustment curve in a particular direction, but may not result in a multistep, jerky viewing adjustment curve. The curve of the viewing adjustment curve may remain a curve, but, through the use of regions and smoothing, the viewing adjustment curve may retain its curve design.

Claims

1. A method of adjusting a display brightness level of an electronic display in communication with a computing device comprising:

receiving sensed ambient light brightness values according to readings from an ambient light sensor in proximity to the electronic display;

setting the display brightness level to target display brightness values determined based on the sensed ambient light brightness values and based on a brightness adjustment curve, the brightness adjustment curve mapping a set of light brightness values to a set of display brightness values, including mapping the sensed ambient light brightness values to the target display brightness values, the set of display brightness values including default display brightness values, the default display brightness values comprising values that have not been set according to a user preference;

receiving an inputted display brightness value inputted by a user and in response;

storing the inputted display brightness value in a memory of the computing device and setting the current value to the inputted display brightness value;

obtaining a current ambient light brightness value according to a reading from the ambient light sensor; and

adjusting the brightness adjustment curve by;

determining target light brightness values in the adjustment curve according to the current ambient light brightness value and changing corresponding target display brightness values based on the inputted display brightness value, the target display brightness values comprising at least a first portion of the default display brightness values, the adjusted brightness adjustment curve mapping the target light brightness values to the target changed display brightness values, the adjusted brightness adjustment curve continuing to comprise at least a second portion of the default brightness values; and

storing the adjusted brightness adjustment curve and continuing using the updated brightness adjustment curve in the setting the display brightness level.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising using a smoothing algorithm on the adjusted brightness adjustment curve.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising using the current ambient light brightness value reading in the memory to create a regression used in calculating the updated brightness adjustment curve.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of display brightness values are computed by averaging display brightness values of the brightness adjustment curve.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising calculating a maximum value and a minimum value for the brightness adjustment curve in a region of the brightness adjustment curve based on surrounding regions wherein the maximum value and the minimum value for the viewing adjustment curve in the region are within a predetermined percentage of the surrounding regions.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing user identifiers and creating an updated brightness adjustment curve for each user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the brightness adjustment curve comprises n regions are different sizes.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the brightness adjustment curve with the n regions has n data points, one associated with each region and the updated brightness adjustment curve is made to fit each data point.

9. A computer storage device comprising computer executable instructions for adjusting brightness on an electronic display in communication with a computing device, the computer executable instructions comprising computer executable instructions for:

receiving an ambient light reading from an ambient light sensor in proximity to the electronic display;

storing the ambient light reading in a memory;

determining a viewing adjustment level based on the ambient light reading and a brightness adjustment curve, the brightness adjustment curve mapping a set of ambient light readings to a set of brightness values of the electronic display, the set of brightness values including default brightness values;

receiving a brightness adjustment input inputted by a user;

storing the brightness adjustment input in a memory;

responsive to receiving the brightness input adjustment, adjusting the brightness adjustment curve by;

separating the brightness adjustment curve into n regions based on the ambient light reading;

determining an appropriate region wherein the appropriate region comprises a region of the n regions in which the ambient light reading occurs;

adjusting the brightness adjustment curve in the appropriate region by changing some of the brightness values such that they move toward the brightness input, the changed brightness comprising a first portion of the default brightness values, and wherein a second portion of the default brightness values are not changed;

storing the updated brightness adjustment curve in a memory; and

adjusting brightness of the electronic display based on the updated brightness adjustment curve and another ambient light reading by, according to the updated brightness adjustment curve, mapping the other ambient light reading to one of the moved brightness values.

10. The computer storage device of claim 9, further comprising computer executable instructions comprising a smoothing algorithm that is used to move the some of the brightness values.

11. The computer storage device of claim 10, further comprising computer executable instructions create a regression used to move the some of the brightness values.

12. The computer storage device of claim 11, further comprising computer executable instructions that average the updated brightness adjustment curve and the brightness adjustment curve to create a new updated brightness adjustment curve and using the new updated brightness adjustment curve to adjust the brightness of the electronic display.

13. The computer storage device of claim 11, further comprising computer executable instructions that calculate a maximum value and a minimum value for the brightness adjustment curve in each region based on regions surrounding the appropriate region, wherein the maximum value and the minimum value for the brightness adjustment curve in the appropriate region are within a predetermined percentage of the surrounding regions.

14. The computer storage device of claim 9, further comprising computer executable instructions for storing a user identifier and creating the updated brightness adjustment curve for each user.

15. The computer storage device of claim 9, wherein the n regions are different sizes and wherein the brightness adjustment curve with the n regions has n data points, one associated with each region and the updated brightness adjustment curve is fitted to each data point.

16. A method, performed by a computing device, of adjusting a current display brightness level of a display, the computing device comprising a light sensor and storage, the method comprising:

accessing a brightness map in the storage, where the brightness map maps light brightness values to display brightness setting values, the light brightness values comprising values of brightness of light, the display brightness setting values initially comprising default values of brightness levels of the display;

monitoring ambient light readings from the light sensor and according thereto, when a new ambient light level is detected from the ambient light readings;

using the brightness map to map the new ambient light level to a target display brightness setting value, and setting the current display brightness value according to the target display brightness setting value;

responsive to a user manually setting the current display brightness level to a new value;

obtaining a current ambient light brightness value according to the light sensor, based on the obtained current ambient light brightness determining a target range of the light brightness values and updating the brightness map such that the brightness map maps the target range of the light brightness values to new display brightness level values that correspond to the target range of the light brightness values, the new display brightness level values including the display brightness level set by the user, wherein the adjusted brightness map continues to map a portion of the light brightness values to a portion of the default values of brightness levels of the display.

17. A method according to claim 16, further comprising smoothing the brightness map by recomputing brightness setting values of the brightness map in a local neighborhood of the new display brightness level value, the local neighborhood comprising the target range of the light brightness values.

18. A method according to claim 16, further comprising identifying the local neighborhood according to a predefined range.

19. A method according to claim 16, wherein prior to computing the new value, the brightness map maps the current ambient light brightness value to a default display brightness value.