Portable terminal and display control method

• US 9,686,749 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2013
• Issued: 06/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Original Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Inventors: Nade, Toshiaki, Miki, Yasuhiro, Nakaya, Keisuke, Wakisaka, Kenji, Takahashi, Tooru
• Primary Examiner(s): Trinh, Tan H
• Application Number:
  US14/431,160
• Publication Number:
  US 20150282071A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,364 Days
• Field of Search: 455566, 4555561, 4551542, 4551584, 455220, 345207, 345211, 345690, 345629, 345764, 345634, 345589, 382162, 382264, 382263, 348687, 715810
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3212 Monitoring battery levels, e.g. power saving mode being initiated when battery voltage goes below a certain level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0646 Modulation of illumination source brightness and image signal correlated to each other
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/145 related to small screens
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3406 Control of illumination source illumination devices structurally associated with liquid crystal cells G02F1/1336
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/22 Illumination; Arrangements for improving the visibility of characters on dials
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/027 by controlling a display operation or backlight unit
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A mobile phone 10 comprises a display 14 provided with an LED (46) that functions as a backlight, a display driver (42), etc. The display driver has a CABC (Content Adaptive Brightness Control) function to adjust illuminance of the backlight, an image quality of an image to be displayed, etc. based on the image that is displayed on the display 14. If a residual battery quantity of a secondary battery (58) becomes equal to or less that a first threshold value, for example, the CABC function is rendered in an enabled state. Furthermore, if the residual battery quantity becomes equal to or less that a second threshold value, an image parameter such as brightness, contrast, a gamma value, chroma saturation, etc. is changed such that the image that is output to the display driver becomes darker.

Claims

1. A portable terminal, comprising:

a display;

a backlight that illuminates the display; and

at least one processor that,

when a residual battery quantity of the portable terminal becomes equal to or less than a first threshold value, begins adjusting illuminance of the backlight based on an image that is displayed on the display, and,

when the residual battery quantity of the portable terminal becomes equal to or less than a second threshold value which is less than the first threshold value, determines an image parameter to be changed based on an application being executed on the portable terminal, and changes the determined image parameter so as to darken the image that is displayed on the display by at least performing a grayscale transform on the image to increase an amount of black in the image so as to reduce power consumption by the portable terminal.

2. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the image that is displayed comprises a composite of a first layer and a second layer, and wherein changing the image parameter comprises changing the image parameter of the second layer so as to darken the second layer.

3. The portable terminal according to claim 2, wherein changing the image parameter comprises, when the first layer corresponds to an application, changing the image parameter of the second layer so as to darken the second layer, while not changing the image parameter of the first layer corresponding to the application.

4. The portable terminal according to claim 3, wherein the first layer comprises an image of at least one of a moving image and a photograph.

5. The portable terminal according to claim 3, wherein the second layer comprises at least one of a status display area including an icon indicating a residual battery quantity, and an operation button area including a play button.

6. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the image that is displayed comprises a composite of a first layer and a second layer, and wherein changing the image parameter comprises changing an image parameter of both the first layer and the second layer.

7. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the image parameter includes at least brightness.

8. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the image parameter includes at least contrast.

9. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the image parameter includes at least a gamma value.

10. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the image parameter includes at least a chroma saturation.

11. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the image parameter includes at least a color tone.

12. A display control method in a portable terminal that comprises a display and a backlight that illuminates the display, the method comprising a processor:

when a residual battery quantity of the portable terminal becomes equal to or less than a first threshold value, beginning adjustment of illuminance of the backlight based on an image that is displayed on the display; and

,

when the residual battery quantity of the portable terminal becomes equal to or less than a second threshold value, determining an image parameter to be changed based on an application being executed on the portable terminal, and changing the determined image parameter so as to darken the image that is displayed on the display by at least performing a grayscale transform on the image to increase an amount of black in the image so as to reduce power consumption by the portable terminal.