Reducing energy consumption of a display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9721535-B2
Application number	US-201514922242-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 26, 2015
Priority date	Oct 26, 2015
Publication date	Aug 1, 2017
Grant date	Aug 1, 2017

Abstract

Embodiments disclosed herein provide systems, methods, and computer program product for managing power consumption of a display. An illumination area of the display may be adjusted to limit or increase a number of activated light emitting devices, and thus, adjust power consumption of the display. A device may receive an input to adjust the first illumination area to the second illumination area. In response, a device may, for example, disable a portion of the first illumination area not included in the second illumination area. In another example, a device may enable a portion of the second illumination area not included in the first illumination area. An amount of operation time and/or energy storage may be calculated, based at least in part on a resize of an illumination area of the display.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer program product for reducing energy consumption by a display of an electronic device, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, wherein the computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause a computer to perform a method comprising:
enabling, by a computer, a first illumination area of a display, the display comprising a first illumination control chip controlling a first set of light emitting devices in at least a portion of the first illumination area, and a second illumination control chip controlling a second set of light emitting devices in at least a portion of the second illumination area;
receiving, by a computer, an input to adjust a second illumination area of the display, wherein adjusting comprises performing one or both of the following:
disabling, by a computer, a portion of the first illumination area not included in the second illumination area; and
enabling, by a computer, a portion of the second illumination area not included in the first illumination area.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , further comprising displaying an image on one or more of:
the first illumination area on the display; and
the second illumination area on the display.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the display comprises:
a first set of one or more light emitting diodes in the first illumination area; and
a second set of one or more light emitting diodes in the second illumination area.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein receiving the input to adjust the first illumination area comprises:
receiving an input via a user input indicating a size of the second illumination area on the display.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein receiving the input to adjust the first illumination area comprises:
receiving an input via a user input indicating a location of the second illumination area on the display.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein receiving the input to adjust the first illumination area comprises:
receiving an input from a display adjustment application when energy storage drops below a threshold.

7. An electronic device, comprising:
a display configured to display a first illumination area and a second illumination area the display comprising a first illumination control chip controlling a first set of light emitting devices in at least a portion of the first illumination area, and a second illumination control chip controlling a second set of light emitting devices in at least a portion of the second illumination area;
one or more computer processors;
one or more computer-readable storage media;
program instructions stored on a computer-readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, the program instructions comprising:
instructions to enable the first illumination area of the display;
instructions to receive an input to adjust the second illumination area of the display, wherein adjusting comprises performing one or both of the following:
disabling a portion of the first illumination area not included in the second illumination area; and
enabling a portion of the second illumination area not included in the first illumination area.

8. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the instructions to receive the input to adjust the first illumination area comprises one or more of:
instructions to receive an input from a display adjustment application when energy storage drops below a threshold; and
instructions to receive a user input selecting the second illumination area on the display.

9. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the program instructions comprise instructions to scale an image to fit the second illumination area, wherein prior to the scaling, the image is sized to fit the first illumination area.

10. An electronic display device, comprising:
a display element, wherein the display element comprises:
a first set of a plurality of light emitting devices configured to illuminate a first light guide plate; and a second set of a plurality of light emitting devices configured to illuminate a second light guide plate;
a plurality of light emitting devices configured to illuminate at least a portion of the display element, wherein the plurality of light emitting devices are controlled by one or more illumination control chips;
one or more computer processors;
one or more computer-readable storage media;
program instructions stored on the computer-readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, the program instructions comprising instructions to: activate a first set of the plurality of light emitting devices, by at least one illumination control chip, to display an image on a first illumination area of the display element;
receive an input to adjust a second illumination area of the display, wherein adjusting comprises performing one or both of the following: disabling, by at least one illumination control chip, light emitting devices in the first set within the first illumination area; and
enabling, by at least one illumination control chip, light emitting devices within the second illumination area.

11. The device of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of light emitting devices comprise one or more of:
light emitting diodes; and
fluorescent lamps.

12. The device of claim 10 , wherein the display element comprises:
one or more light guide plates in the first illumination area; and
one or more light guide plates in the second illumination area.

13. The device of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of light emitting devices is an array of light emitting diodes, wherein each light emitting diode represents a pixel.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Chen Jing
• Lu Fang
• Rao Juan
• Ying Xue Ting

Classifications

• G06T3/40

  Scaling of whole images or parts thereof, e.g. expanding or contracting · CPC title

• G09G2330/021

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

• G09G2354/00

  Aspects of interface with display user · CPC title

• G09G5/10 Primary

  Intensity circuits · CPC title

• G02B6/0075

  Arrangements of multiple light guides (G02B6/0028 takes precedence) · CPC title