Power monitoring for correcting ambient temperature measurement by electronic devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12198640-B2
Application number	US-202318470821-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 20, 2023
Priority date	Aug 25, 2020
Publication date	Jan 14, 2025
Grant date	Jan 14, 2025

Abstract

This application is directed to a method for correct temperature measurement. An electronic device includes a temperature sensor that measures an ambient temperature of an environment and a display that is driven by a display driver. The electronic device determines a brightness setting of the display, estimates a display driver current based on the brightness setting, estimates a driver efficiency of the display driver based on the display driver current, and combines a predetermined display driver voltage, the display driver current, and the driver efficiency to determine a power consumption of the display driver. An ambient temperature correction is determined in accordance with the determined power consumption of the display driver, and the measured ambient temperature is thereby corrected using the ambient temperature correction. In some implementations, a power consumption of a distinct heat-generating electronic component is also monitored for adjusting the ambient temperature correction.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. A method for correcting temperature measurement, the method comprising:
measuring an ambient temperature of an environment by a temperature sensor of an electronic device, wherein the electronic device includes a first electronic component driven by a second electronic component;
determining a first setting of the first electronic component;
estimating a second electronic component current based on a linear relationship between the first setting and the second electronic component current, where the first setting corresponds to an energy level to which the first electronic component has been adjusted;
identifying a first driver efficiency value corresponding to a predetermined efficiency value and adjusting the first driver efficiency value based on the estimated second electronic component current to determine a second driver efficiency value of the second electronic component; and
determining a power consumption of the second electronic component based on a predetermined second electronic component voltage, the estimated second electronic component current, and the determined second driver efficiency value;
in accordance with the determined power consumption of the second electronic component, determining an ambient temperature correction; and
correcting the measured ambient temperature using the ambient temperature correction.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the electronic device includes a housing and a plurality of additional heat-generating components enclosed within the housing;
the temperature sensor is disposed at a location that is immediately adjacent to the housing and corresponds to an average distance away from the second electronic component and the plurality of additional heat-generating components, the location being selected in the housing to maximize the average distance; and
the temperature sensor is at least partially insulated thermally from the second electronic component and additional heat-generating components.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the identified driver efficiency value of the second electronic component is established based on the estimated second electronic component current using a predefined display efficiency lookup table that correlates a plurality of efficiency levels with a plurality of predefined drive current levels of the second electronic component.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the identifying the identified driver efficiency value of the second electronic component further comprises:
identifying the second electronic component current in a plurality of predefined drive current levels;
determining a first efficiency level from a display efficiency lookup table based on the identified second electronic component current; and
associating a driver efficiency of the second electronic component with the first efficiency level.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 , wherein the plurality of predefined drive current levels is ordered in magnitude to an ordered sequence, and the identifying the driver efficiency value of the second electronic component further comprises:
identifying a second driver current level and a third driver current level that are next to each other in the ordered sequence of the predefined drive current levels, where the estimated second electronic component current has a magnitude in a range defined by the second driver current level and the third driver current level; and
based on the magnitude of the estimated second electronic component current, determining the driver efficiency value from a second driver efficiency level and a third driver efficiency level, the second driver efficiency level and the third driver efficiency level corresponding to the second driver current level and the third driver current level in the display efficiency lookup table, respectively.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the ambient temperature correction is determined based on the determined power consumption of the second electronic component using a temperature correction lookup table that correlates a plurality of correction values with a plurality of second electronic component power levels.

7. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the temperature correction lookup table is based on a particular device type and a location of the temperature sensor within the electronic device.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first electronic component uses light emitting diode (LED) backlighting.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the electronic device includes a voice-activated display assistant device having a microphone and a touch-sensitive display surface.

10. An electronic device comprising:
a temperature sensor;
a first electronic component driven by a second electronic component;
one or more processing devices; and
memory communicatively coupled with and readable by the one or more processing devices and having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processing devices, cause the one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:
measuring an ambient temperature of an environment by the temperature sensor;
determining a first setting of the first electronic component;
estimating a second electronic component current based on a linear relationship between the first setting and the second electronic component current, where the first setting corresponds to an energy level to which the first electronic component has been adjusted;
identifying a first driver efficiency value corresponding to a predetermined efficiency value and adjusting the first driver efficiency value based on the estimated second electronic component current to determine a second_driver efficiency value of the second electronic component; and
determining a power consumption of the second electronic component based on a predetermined second electronic component voltage, the estimated second electronic component current, and the determined second driver efficiency value;
in accordance with the determined power consumption of the second electronic component, determining an ambient temperature correction; and
correcting a measured ambient temperature using the ambient temperature correction.

11. The electronic device as recited in claim 10 , further comprising:
a housing;
a plurality of additional heat-generating components enclosed within the housing;
wherein the temperature sensor is disposed at a location that is immediately adjacent to the housing and corresponds to an average distance away from the second electronic component and the plurality of additional heat-generating components, the location being selected in the housing to maximize the average distance; and
wherein the temperature sensor is at least partially insulated thermally from the second electronic component and additional heat-generating components.

12. The electronic device as recited in claim 10 , wherein the identified driver efficiency value of the second electronic component is established based on the estimated second electronic component current using a predefined display efficiency lookup table that correlates a plurality of efficiency levels with a plurality of predefined drive current levels of the second electronic component.

13. The electronic device as recited in claim 10 , wherein the ambient temperature correction is determined based on the determined power consumption of the second electronic component using a temperature correction lookup table that correlates a plurality of correction values with a plurality of second electronic component power levels.

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Tu Jeffrey Kevin
• Pownell Kristen Rebecca
• Boothby Philip Hobson
• Raghupathy Arun Prakash
• Rahim Emil
• Trehan Chintan

Classifications

• G09G2330/021

  Power management, e.g. power saving · CPC title

• G09G2320/0626

  for control of overall brightness · CPC title

• G09G2330/045

  Protection against panel overheating · CPC title

• G05F1/70 Primary

  Regulating power factor; Regulating reactive current or power · CPC title

• G09G3/3406

  Control of illumination source (illumination devices structurally associated with liquid crystal cells G02F1/1336) · CPC title