Power savings for display panels

• US 9,520,105 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2009
• Issued: 12/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Shi, Jun, Takagi, Akihiro, Brennan, Robert J., Kwa, Seh W., Zhang, Yanli S.
• Primary Examiner(s): RABINDRANATH, ROY P
• Application Number:
  US12/459,424
• Publication Number:
  US 20100328333A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,723 Days
• Field of Search: 345/102
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/103 Detection of image changes, e.g. determination of an index representative of the image change
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/16 Calculation or use of calculated indices related to luminance levels in display data
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/342 using several illumination sources separately controlled corresponding to different display panel areas, e.g. along one dimension such as lines
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/10 Intensity circuits

Abstract

In some embodiments one or more areas of interest to a user of a display screen are determined. Portions of the display screen other than the one or more areas of interest are dimmed. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining one or more areas of interest to a user of a display screen in response to a size and a location of one or more windows opened by the user;

dimming portions of the display screen other than the one or more areas of interest by dimming a backlight segment of the display screen to reduce power consumption of the display screen; and

not performing frame updates in areas outside the area of interest.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the dimming includes dimming vertically segmented backlights of the display screen.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the dimming includes dimming individual pixels of the display screen.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the dimming is performed at a level in response to a defined amount of dimming.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining is performed in response to one or more functions being used by the user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining is performed in response to a video playback function to be used by the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining is responsive to a software application.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the dimming includes dimming all portions of the display screen other than the one or more areas of interest.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising inserting black pixels in an output sent to the display screen corresponding to the areas outside the area of interest.

10. An apparatus comprising:

a driver to determine one or more areas of interest to a user of a display screen in response to a size and a location of one or more windows opened by the user; and

a controller to dim portions of the display screen other than the one or more areas of interest by dimming a backlight segment of the display screen to reduce power consumption of the display screen;

wherein frame updates are not performed in areas outside the area of interest.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the dimming includes dimming vertically segmented backlights of the display screen.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the dimming includes dimming individual pixels of the display screen.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the determining is performed in response to one or more functions being used by the user.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a software application coupled to the driver.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, the controller to dim all portions of the display screen other than the one or more areas of interest.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, the apparatus to insert black pixels in an output sent to the display screen corresponding to the areas outside the area of interest.

17. An article comprising:

a readable storage medium having instructions thereon which when executed cause an electronic device to;

determine one or more areas of interest to a user of a display screen in response to a size and a location of one or more windows opened by the user; and

dim portions of the display screen other than the one or more areas of interest by dimming a backlight segment of the display screen to reduce power consumption of the display screen; and

not perform frame updates in areas outside the area of interest.

18. The article of claim 17, the instructions further causing the electronic device to dim individual pixels of the display screen.

19. The article of claim 17, the instructions further causing the electronic device to determine the one or more areas in response to a video playback function to be used by the user.

20. The article of claim 17, the instructions further causing the electronic device to determine the one or more areas of interest in response to a software application.

21. The article of claim 17, the instructions further causing the electronic device to dim all portions of the display screen other than the one or more areas of interest.

22. The article of claim 17, the instructions further causing the electronic device to insert black pixels in an output sent to the display screen corresponding to the areas outside the area of interest.