Electronic device and control method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9265124-B2
Application number	US-201313742327-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 15, 2013
Priority date	Sep 18, 2012
Publication date	Feb 16, 2016
Grant date	Feb 16, 2016

Abstract

An electronic device including a solar cell, an energy storage unit, a control unit, and a controlled unit is provided. The solar cell converts light energy to electric energy. The energy storage unit performs charging by the electric energy. The control unit determines the intensity of the light energy according to an energy value of the electric energy and generates a correction signal accordingly, wherein the energy value is a current value or a voltage value. The controlled unit controls a characteristic parameter according to the correction signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
a solar cell, converting light energy to electric energy;
an energy storage unit, connected to the solar cell to perform charging by using the electric energy;
a control unit, connected to the solar cell to determine the intensity of the light energy according to an energy value of the electric energy and to generate a correction signal, wherein the control unit comprises:
a reference signal generator, electrically connected to the solar cell and generating a reference signal according to the energy value of the electric energy; and
a corrector, electrically connected to the reference signal generator and generating the correction signal according to the reference signal; and

a controlled unit, connected to the control unit and controlling a characteristic parameter based on the correction signal.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the energy storage unit comprises:
a power controller, electrically connected to the solar cell; and
a battery, electrically connected to the power controller,
wherein the power controller performs charging on the battery by using the electric energy in a charging mode.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the controlled unit is a display, and the characteristic parameter comprises a contrast, a grayscale, a brightness of an image or a brightness of a backlight source.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the controlled unit is a keyboard, and the characteristic parameter comprises a brightness of a keyboard light.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the controlled unit comprises a display and a keyboard.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the energy value is a voltage value or a current value.

7. A control method applicable to an electronic device, wherein the electronic device comprises a solar cell, a controlled unit, a reference signal generator and a corrector, and the control method comprises:
converting light energy to electric energy by utilizing the solar cell;
performing charging by utilizing the electric energy;
determining the intensity of the light according to an energy value of the electric energy;
generating a reference signal according to the energy value of the electric energy by utilizing the reference signal generator;
generating a correction signal according to the reference signal by utilizing the corrector; and
controlling a characteristic parameter based on the correction signal by utilizing the controlled unit.

8. The control method of claim 7 , wherein the controlled unit is a display, and wherein the characteristic parameter comprises a contrast, a grayscale, and a brightness of an image, or a brightness of a backlight source.

9. The control method of claim 7 , wherein the controlled unit is a keyboard, and the characteristic parameter comprises a brightness of a keyboard light.

10. The control method of claim 7 , wherein the controlled unit comprises a display and a keyboard.

11. The control method of claim 7 , wherein the energy value is a voltage value or a current value.

Assignees

• Lin Yi-Hsun
• Fu Feng-Wen
• Compal Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Lin Yi-Hsun
• Fu Feng-Wen

Classifications

• Y02E10/50

  Photovoltaic [PV] energy · CPC title

• H02J7/35

  with light sensitive cells · CPC title

• H10F77/90 Primary

  Energy storage means directly associated or integrated with photovoltaic cells, e.g. capacitors integrated with photovoltaic cells · CPC title

• H05B37/02 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H05B37/00

  Electricity · mapped topic