Method and system for reducing power consumption in a display

• US 8,878,771 B2
• Filed: 08/13/2012
• Issued: 11/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snaptrack Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm MEMS Technologies Incorporated (Qualcomm, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sampsell, Jeffrey B.
• Primary Examiner(s): SHERMAN, STEPHEN G
• Application Number:
  US13/584,515
• Publication Number:
  US 20120320108A1
• Time in Patent Office: 813 Days
• Field of Search: 345/108, 345/698, 345/699, 345/204, 345/87, 345/76, 359/245
• US Class Current: 345/108
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 26/001 based on interference in an adjustable optical cavity interference filters G02B5/28; devices or arrangements using multiple reflections in spectrometry or monochromators G01J3/26
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2310/04 Partial updating of the display screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0407 Resolution change, inclusive of the use of different resolutions for different screen areas
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3466 based on interferometric effect
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3607 for displaying colours or for displaying grey scales with a specific pixel layout, e.g. using sub-pixels display of colours in flat matrix panels other than liquid crystal displays G09G3/2003; grey scales specific for television H04N3/127

Abstract

A method and system for reducing power consumption in a display includes driving a display comprising a plurality of display elements having selectable resolution, wherein the display device is configured to operate at a plurality of selectable operational modes. In a first operational mode, data at a first resolution is provided to the display at a first data rate, and in a second operational mode, data at a second resolution is provided to the display at a second data rate.

Claims

1. A system for displaying image data, the system comprising:

a display device comprising a plurality of display elements arranged as a plurality of rows of pixels of the display device, wherein the display device is configured to operate at a plurality of selectable operational modes; and

an array controller capable of receiving image data from an image data source, the array controller configured to provide image data to the display device such that in a first operational mode corresponding to a first display frame rate, a first and second subset of rows of display elements are updated at a first rate, and in a second operational mode corresponding to the same or lower display frame rate than the first display frame rate, the first subset of rows of display elements are updated at the first rate and the second subset of rows of display elements are updated at a second rate that is less than the first rate, wherein the first operational mode includes displaying image data in a display region of the display device, and wherein the second operational mode includes displaying image data at a lower update rate without changing a size of the display region.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein in at least one of said operational modes, said display device displays a reduced color gamut as compared to said first operational mode.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said array controller is configured to provide said image data over a communications network.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said array controller is capable of selecting an operational mode.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the operational modes are selectable based at least in part on a data rate of said communications network.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the operational modes are selectable based at least in part on a data rate utilized by said communications network.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the operational modes are selectable based at least in part on power data of the display device.

8. The system of claim 3, wherein the operational modes are selectable based at least in part on stored user preferences.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein in at least one of said operational modes, said display device displays a reduced gray scale as compared to the first operational mode.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the operational modes comprises re-setting display states of less than all of the display elements.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the array controller is further configured to provide a display state to re-set a remaining portion of the display elements.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein said less than all of the display elements comprise a first set of rows.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the array controller is further configured to provide filtered image data so that image data for the display elements that are not re-set is not provided.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein said image data comprises motion picture data.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the second operational mode corresponds to reduced display element resolution as compared with the first operational mode, wherein the first operational mode includes displaying image data in a display region of the display device, and wherein the second operational mode includes displaying image data at a reduced display element resolution without changing the size of the display region.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the operational mode of the display device is selected before the image data is received by an array controller configured to update display elements.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the operational mode of the display device is controlled by a content server configured to send image data to the device.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the second update rate is non-constant and depends on the image data.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the second update rate comprises updating once a second.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the number of rows of display elements updated at the second rate in the display device are more than the number of rows of display elements updated at the first rate when the display device is in a low power condition.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the display device operates in the first operational mode when the display is initialized or in between mode changes.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the display device comprises a liquid crystal display.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the display device comprises an organic light emitting display.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising selecting operational mode of the display device by a content server configured to send image data to the device.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein the first rate is equal to the second rate.

26. A method of displaying image data, said method comprising:

selecting an operational mode for a display device, the display device comprising a plurality of display elements arranged as a plurality of rows of pixels of the display device, wherein the display device is configured to operate at a plurality of selectable operational modes; and

providing image data to the display device;

such that in a first operational mode corresponding to a first display frame rate, a first set of rows of display elements and a second set of rows of display elements are updated at a first rate, and in a second operational mode corresponding to the same or lower display frame rate than the first display frame rate, the first set of rows of display elements are updated at the first rate and the second subset of rows of display elements are updated at a second rate that is lower than the first rate, wherein the first operational mode includes displaying image data in a display region of the display device, and wherein the second operational mode includes displaying image data at a lower update rate without changing a size of the display region.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein in at least one of said operational modes, said display device displays a reduced color gamut as compared to said first operational mode.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the image data is configured to control the operational mode.

29. The method of claim 26, further comprising selecting an operational mode based at least in part on a data rate of a communications network.

30. The method of claim 26, further comprising selecting an operational mode based at least in part on a data rate utilized by a communications network.

31. The method of claim 26, further comprising selecting an operational mode based at least in part on power data of the display device.

32. The method of claim 26, further comprising selecting an operational mode based at least in part on stored user preferences.

33. The method of claim 26, wherein the second operational mode corresponds to reduced display element resolution as compared with the first operational mode, wherein the first operational mode includes displaying image data in a display region of the display device, and wherein the second operational mode includes displaying image data at a reduced display element resolution without changing the size of the display region.

34. The method of claim 26, further comprising selecting an operational mode of the display device before the image data is received by an array controller configured to update display elements.

35. The method of claim 26, wherein the second update rate is non-constant and depends on the image data.

36. The method of claim 26, wherein the second update rate comprises updating once a second.

37. The method of claim 26, further comprising updating more rows of display elements at the second rate than updating the number of rows of display elements at the first rate when the display device is in a low power condition.

38. The method of claim 26, further comprising operating the display device in the first operational mode when the display is initialized or in between mode changes.

39. The method of claim 26, wherein the display device comprises a liquid crystal display.

40. The method of claim 26, wherein the display device comprises an organic light emitting display.

41. The method of claim 26, wherein the first rate is equal to the second rate.

42. An apparatus for displaying image data, the apparatus comprising:

means for selecting an operational mode for a display device, the display device comprising a plurality of display elements arranged as a plurality of rows of pixels of the display device, wherein the display device is configured to operate at a plurality of selectable operational modes; and

means for providing image data to the display device such that in a first operational mode corresponding to a first display frame rate, a first set of rows of display elements and a second set of rows of display elements are updated at a first rate, and in a second operational mode corresponding to the same or lower display frame rate than the first display frame rate, the first set of rows of display elements are updated at the first rate and the second subset of rows of display elements are updated at a second rate that is lower than the first rate, wherein the first operational mode includes displaying image data in a display region of the display device, and wherein the second operational mode includes displaying image data at a lower update rate without changing a size of the display region.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein in at least one of said operational modes, said display device displays a reduced color gamut as compared to said first operational mode.

44. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the image data is configured to control the operational mode.

45. The apparatus of claim 42, further comprising means for selecting an operational mode based at least in part on a data rate of a communications network.

46. The apparatus of claim 42, further comprising means for selecting an operational mode based at least in part on a data rate utilized by a communications network.

47. The apparatus of claim 42, further comprising means for selecting an operational mode based at least in part on power data of the display device.

48. The apparatus of claim 42, further comprising means for selecting an operational mode based at least in part on stored user preferences.

49. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the second operational mode corresponds to reduced display element resolution as compared with the first operational mode, wherein the first operational mode includes displaying image data in a display region of the display device, and wherein the second operational mode includes displaying image data at a reduced display element resolution without changing the size of the display region.

50. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the first rate is equal to the second rate.

51. A system for displaying image data, said system comprising:

an image data source comprising a server configured to provide image data to a display device operable in a plurality of operational modes such that in a first operational mode corresponding to a first display frame rate, a first set of rows of display elements in the display device and a second set of rows of display elements in the display device are updated at a first rate and in a second operational mode corresponding to the same or lower display frame rate than the first display frame rate, the first set of rows of display elements are updated at the first rate and the second subset of rows of display elements are updated at a second rate that is lower than the first rate, wherein the server is capable of selecting the operational mode of the display device.

52. The system of claim 51, wherein the second rate comprises once per second.

53. The system of claim 51, wherein the number of rows of display elements updated at the second rate in the display device are more than the number of rows of display elements updated at the first rate when the display device is in a low power condition.

54. The system of claim 51, wherein the display device is configured to operate in the first operational mode when the display is initialized or in between mode changes.

55. The system of claim 51, wherein the display device comprises a liquid crystal display.

56. The system of claim 51, wherein the display device comprises an organic light emitting display.

57. The system of claim 51, wherein the display device is configured to operate in the first operational mode at least partially based on whether the image data comprises reference frames.

58. A system for displaying image data, said system comprising:

a display device comprising two or more rows of display elements, said display device configured to operate at a plurality of operational modes;

an array controller capable of receiving image data from an image data source, the array controller configured to provide image data to the display device such that in a first operational mode corresponding to a first display frame rate, a first set of rows of display elements and a second set of rows of display elements are updated at a first rate and in a second operational mode corresponding to the same or lower display frame rate than the first display frame rate, the first set of rows of display elements are updated at the first rate and the second subset of rows of display elements are updated at a second rate that is lower than the first rate, wherein the second rate is variable and at least partially depends on the image data.

59. The system of claim 58, wherein the second rate comprises once per second.

60. The system of claim 58, wherein the number of rows of display elements updated at the second rate in the display device are more than the number of rows of display elements updated at the first rate when the display device is in a low power condition.

61. The system of claim 58, wherein the display device is configured to operate in the first operational mode when the display is initialized or in between mode changes.

62. The system of claim 58, wherein the display device comprises a liquid crystal display.

63. The system of claim 58, wherein the display device comprises an organic light emitting diode display.

64. The system of claim 58, wherein the display device is configured to operate in the first operational mode at least partially based on whether the image data comprises reference frames.

65. A method for displaying image data, said method comprising:

operating, with one or more processors, a display device at a plurality of operational modes, said display device comprising two or more rows of display elements;

receiving image data at the display device from an image data source comprising a server; and

selecting operational mode of the display device with the processor or based on instruction from the server such that in a first operational mode corresponding to a first display frame rate a first set of rows of display elements and a second set of rows of display elements are updated at a first rate and in a second operational mode, corresponding to the same or lower display frame rate than the first display frame rate, the first set of rows of display elements is updated at the first rate and the second subset of rows of display elements is updated at a second rate that is lower than the first rate.

66. The method of claim 65, wherein the second rate comprises once per second.

67. The method of claim 65, further comprising updating more rows of display elements at the second rate than at the first rate when the display device is in a low power condition.

68. The method of claim 65, further comprising operating the display device in the first operational mode when the display is initialized or in between mode changes.

69. The method of claim 65, wherein the display device comprises a liquid crystal display.

70. The method of claim 65, wherein the display device comprises an organic light emitting diode display.

71. The method of claim 65, operating the display device in the first operational mode at least partially based on whether the image data comprises reference frames.

72. A method for displaying image data, said method comprising:

operating, with one or more processors, a display device at a plurality of operational modes, said display device comprising two or more rows of display elements;

receiving image data at the display device from an image data source; and

updating a first set of rows of display elements and a second set of rows of display elements at a first rate in a first operational mode corresponding to a first display frame rate and in a second operational mode corresponding to the same or lower display frame rate than the first display frame rate, updating the first set of rows of display elements at the first rate and the second subset of rows of display elements at a second rate that is lower than the first rate, wherein the second rate is variable and at least partially depends on the image data.

73. The method of claim 72, wherein the second rate comprises once per second.

74. The method of claim 72, wherein the first rate comprises once per second.

75. The method of claim 72, further comprising updating more rows of display elements at the second rate than at the first rate when the display device is in a low power condition.

76. The method of claim 72, further comprising operating the display device in the first operational mode when the display is initialized or in between mode changes.

77. The method of claim 72, wherein the display device comprises a liquid crystal display.

78. The method of claim 72, wherein the display device comprises an organic light emitting display.

79. The method of claim 72, operating the display device in the first operational mode at least partially based on whether the image data comprises reference frames.