Display method and electronic device

• US 9,639,113 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2014
• Issued: 05/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo (Beijing) Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo (Beijing) Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Peng, Gang
• Primary Examiner(s): Sternbane, Larry
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kohlman, Christopher
• Application Number:
  US14/227,873
• Publication Number:
  US 20150042633A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,132 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/00 Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00 architectures of general purpose stored program computers G06F15/76
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1647 including at least an additional display G06F1/1692 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1677 for detecting open or closed state or particular intermediate positions assumed by movable parts of the enclosure, e.g. detection of display lid position with respect to main body in a laptop, detection of opening of the cover of battery compartment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 Monitoring of peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3231 Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1423 controlling a plurality of local displays, e.g. CRT and flat panel display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1446 display composed of modules, e.g. video walls
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2354/00 Aspects of interface with display user
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2356/00 Detection of the display position w.r.t. other display screens
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

The present invention relates to communication technology and provides a display method and an electronic device capable of solving the problem associated with limited operation space due to a small screen of an electronic device. In particular, the method comprises: detecting a trigger event when the first display unit displays a first content and the second display unit is in a first power consumption state; determining whether the trigger event satisfies a predetermined condition to obtain a determination result; generating a switching instruction when the determination result indicates that the trigger event satisfies the predetermined condition; and switching the second display unit from the first power consumption state to a second power consumption state and displaying the first content on the second display unit in response to the switching instruction. The first power consumption state has a lower power consumption than the second power consumption state. The present invention can be applied in a display of an electronic device.

Claims

1. A display method, applied in an electronic device comprising or being connected with a first display unit and further comprising or being connected with a second display unit, the method comprising:

detecting a trigger event when the first display unit displays a first content and the second display unit is in a first power consumption state;

determining whether the trigger event satisfies a predetermined condition to obtain a determination result;

generating a switching instruction when the determination result indicates that the trigger event satisfies the predetermined condition; and

switching the second display unit from the first power consumption state to a second power consumption state and displaying the first content on the second display unit in response to the switching instruction, wherein the first power consumption state has a lower power consumption than the second power consumption state;

wherein the electronic device further comprises a distance sensor,

said detecting the trigger event comprises detecting a distance between the first display unit and a nearby object using the distance sensor, and

the method further comprises, in response to determining the distance is shorter than a predetermined distance so that the first content cannot be viewed clearly by a user, switching a display of the first content from the first display unit to the second display unit.

2. The display method of claim 1, wherein the switching instruction comprises a first sub-instruction for instructing the second display unit to be switched from the first power consumption state to the second power consumption state and a second sub-instruction for instructing the second display unit to display the first content, and said switching the second display unit from the first power consumption state to the second power consumption state and displaying the first content on the second display unit in response to the switching instruction comprises:

obtaining the first content;

transmitting the first content and the switching instruction to the second display unit to enable the second display unit to display the first content in response to the first and second sub-instructions.

3. The display method of claim 2, wherein the second display unit displays the first content in response to the first and second sub-instructions by:

receiving a part of the first content and displaying it immediately;

or

receiving the first content completely and then displaying it.

4. The display method of claim 1, wherein the first display unit is in a third power consumption state before the switching instruction is generated, and the method further comprises, after the switching instruction is generated:

switching the first display unit from the third power consumption state to a fourth power consumption state having a lower power consumption than the third power consumption state in response to the switching instruction.

5. The display method of claim 4, wherein the switching instruction comprises a third sub-instruction for instructing the first display unit to be switched from the third power consumption state to the fourth power consumption state and a fourth sub-instruction for instructing the first display unit to stop displaying the first content.

6. The display method of claim 1, wherein said displaying the first content on the second display unit comprises:

obtaining a direction corresponding to an operation performed by a user;

determining a display position of the first content based on the direction to obtain position information; and

displaying the first content at a position corresponding to the position information based on the position information.

7. The display method of claim 6, wherein the second display unit is a display, and said displaying the first content at a position corresponding to the position information based on the position information comprises:

obtaining an identifier of the display corresponding to the position information; and

displaying the first content on the display based on the identifier of the display.

8. The display method of claim 6, wherein the second display unit is a projector, and said displaying the first content at a position corresponding to the position information based on the position information comprises:

determining a projection direction of the projector based on the position information, the position information containing a direction parameter representing the projection direction of the projector; and

projecting the first content to a position corresponding to the direction parameter for displaying using the projector based on the direction parameter.

9. The display method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device further comprises an image capture device,

wherein detecting the trigger event comprises obtaining an instruction image using the image capture device, and

wherein determining whether the trigger event satisfies the predetermined condition to obtain a determination result comprises determining whether the instruction image is predetermined image, wherein the predetermined condition is satisfied when the instruction image is a predetermined image.

10. The display method of claim 1, wherein said detecting a trigger event comprises detecting an application corresponding to the first content, and

said determining whether the trigger event satisfies a predetermined condition to obtain a determination result comprises determining whether the application is a predetermined application to obtain the determination result, wherein the predetermined condition is satisfied when the application is the predetermined application.

11. An electronic device comprising or being connected with a first display unit and further comprising or being connected with a second display unit, the electronic device further comprising:

a distance sensor;

a processor configured to;

detect a trigger event when the first display unit displays a first content and the second display unit is in a first power consumption state;

determine whether the trigger event satisfies a predetermined condition to obtain a determination result;

generate a switching instruction when the determination result indicates that the trigger event satisfies the predetermined condition; and

switch the second display unit from the first power consumption state to a second power consumption state and display the first content on the second display unit in response to the switching instruction, wherein the first power consumption state has a lower power consumption than the second power consumption state;

wherein the distance sensor is configured to detect a distance between the first display unit and a nearby object, and

the processor is further configured to, in response to determining the distance detected by the distance sensor is shorter than a predetermined distance so that the first content can'"'"'t be viewed clearly by a user, switch the display of the first content from the first display unit to the second display unit.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the switching instruction comprises a first sub-instruction for instructing the second display unit to be switched from the first power consumption state to the second power consumption state and a second sub-instruction for instructing the second display unit to display the first content, and

the processor is further configured to:

obtain the first content; and

transmit the first content and the switching instruction to the second display unit to enable the second display unit to display the first content in response to the first and second sub-instructions.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the second display unit is configured to receive a part of the first content and display it immediately, or receive the first content completely and then display it.

14. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the first display unit is in a third power consumption state before the switching instruction is generated, and

the processor is further configured to switch, after the switching instruction is generated the first display unit from the third power consumption state to a fourth power consumption state having a lower power consumption than the third power consumption state in response to the switching instruction;

the switching instruction comprises a third sub-instruction for instructing the first display unit to be switched from the third power consumption state to the fourth power consumption state and a fourth sub-instruction for instructing the first display unit to stop displaying the first content.

15. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to:

obtain a direction corresponding to an operation performed by a user;

determine a display position of the first content based on the direction to obtain position information; and

display the first content at a position corresponding to the position information based on the position information.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the second display unit is a display, and the display module is configured to obtain an identifier of the display corresponding to the position information;

and display the first content on the display based on the identifier of the display.

17. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the second display unit is a projector, and is further configured to:

determine a projection direction of the projector based on the position information, the position information containing a direction parameter representing the projection direction of the projector; and

project the first content to a position corresponding to the direction parameter for displaying using the projector based on the direction parameter.