Patent Grant
11783786
This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202110336345.4, filed on Mar. 29, 2021, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure generally relates to the apparatus control technical field and, more particularly, to a first apparatus.
The screen size of tablet computers is getting bigger and bigger, and even close to the screen size of portable monitors. For example, the screen of some tablet computers has reached 13 or 14 inches. Based on this feature, some current product designs combine the functions of tablet computers and monitors, so that the tablet computer may support the display mode. However, the current tablet computer that supports the display mode has high power consumption when running in the tablet mode (that is, the host mode) with a bright screen, which is difficult to meet the low power consumption requirements of the product.
Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an apparatus. The apparatus includes a display device, a switch assembly configured to switch a signal source of a display signal for the display device, a processor connected to the switch assembly and configured to provide the signal to the display device through the switch assembly in a first mode, and a controller connected to the switch assembly and configured to provide display signal to the display device through the switch assembly in a second mode.
The technical solutions of the present disclosure are described clearly according to the accompanying drawings. The described embodiments are only some embodiments not all the embodiments of the present disclosure. Based on the embodiments of the disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without any creative work are within the scope of the present disclosure.
Some tablet computers have combined the functions of the computer and the monitor to achieve a two-in-one function. The combination not only can operate in a tablet mode (that is, host mode) but also support a monitor mode. A main control chip (Scalar Chip) of the monitor/display screen can be configured as the screen control chip of an entire system, and the display screen of the tablet computer can be controlled in a serial manner. As shown in
To solve the above-described problem, the present disclosure provides a first apparatus. The first apparatus can be, but is not limited to, a tablet computer, an all-in-one computer, or a note book that not only can support the regular host mode, but also can support the display mode.
In some embodiments, the display device 21 may include but is not limited to a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), or any other types of monitor/display screen, which may include or not include a touch control function, which is not limited here.
In an implementation, the display device 21 may be implemented as including a touch function.
The first switch assembly 22 is configured to switch a signal source of a display signal for the display device 21.
The processor 23 is connected to the first switch assembly 22. The processor 23 is configured to provide the display signal to the display device 21 through the first switch assembly 22 in a first mode.
The controller 24 is connected to the first switch assembly 22. The controller 24 is configured to provide the display signal to the display device 21 through the first switch assembly 22 in a second mode.
In some embodiments, the controller 24 provides a display signal to the display device 21 by obtaining a display signal of an externally connected second apparatus in the second mode. The power consumption of the controller 24 in the first mode is lower than that in the second mode, and the power consumption of the processor 23 in the first mode is higher than the power consumption in the second mode.
In some embodiments, when the first apparatus is running in different modes, the signal source of the display signal of the display device 21 is different. When the first apparatus is running in the first mode, the processor 23 of the first apparatus is configured as the signal source of the display signal for the display device 21. When the first apparatus is running in the second mode, the controller 24 of the first apparatus is configured as the signal source of the display signal for the display device 21 (further, in this scenario, the signal source of the display signal of the display device 21 is essentially an external second apparatus connected to the controller 24, such as an external notebook).
In some embodiments, the above-described first mode is the host mode of the first apparatus, which, when the first apparatus is a tablet computer, is also referred to as a tablet mode. The second mode is a display mode. In the display mode, the first apparatus may be configured as an extended display of the second apparatus (such as a notebook, etc.) by connecting the first apparatus to the second apparatus.
In some embodiments, the processor 23 may be the CPU of the first apparatus, and the controller 24 may be the Scalar chip of the display device 21.
To solve the above technical problems and reduce the operation power consumption of the apparatus, the present disclosure provides a parallel manner for display control of the display screen of the apparatus. The first switch assembly 22 is connected to the display device 21, the processor 23 and the controller 24 are added to the first apparatus, respectively. The processor 23 and the controller 24 are connected to the first switch assembly 22 in a parallel manner, so as to perform a display control on the display device 21 through the first switch assembly 22. When the first apparatus is in different modes, the first switch assembly 22 realize the selection of a display signal source (processor or controller) of the display device 21 by switching.
The first switch assembly 22 can be, but is not limit to, an embedded display port (eDP) MUX switch chip.
Further, in some embodiments, the first apparatus also includes a display drive assembly 25 for driving the display device 21 to display information. In some embodiments, the first switch assembly 22 being connected to the display device 21 refers to that the first switch assembly 22 is connected to the display drive assembly 25 of and the display device 21. In addition, to support the first apparatus to operate in the display mode, the first apparatus further includes a multimedia data interface 26, as shown in
When the second apparatus is connected to the first apparatus through the multimedia data interface 26, the processor 23 of the first apparatus detects access information indicating that the second apparatus is connected to the multimedia data interface 26, for example, the 5V power signal at the HDMI interface (generated based on the power supplied by the second apparatus to the HDMI interface when the second apparatus is connected to the HDMI interface of the first apparatus) is detected, and, based on the access information, the first apparatus is controlled to switch to the display mode as the second mode. At the same time, in response to the first apparatus switching into the display mode, the first switch assembly 22 turns on the electrical connection between the controller 24 and the display drive assembly 25 of the display device 21, and disconnects electrical connection between the processor 23 and the display drive assembly 25. At this time, the controller 24 is configured as the display signal source of the display device 21 of the first apparatus. In some embodiments, the controller 24 obtains the display signal of the external second apparatus through the multimedia data interface 26 and converts the display signal to a signal format of the display device 21 based on a protocol, and then the converted display signal is transmitted to the display drive assembly 25 to drive the display device 21 for information display.
In some embodiments, the display signal of the second apparatus obtained by the controller 24 may be a display signal of images, characters, etc., or a video signal separated from the audio and video signals transmitted by the second apparatus through the multimedia data interface 26.
When the first apparatus switches into the display mode, the processor 23 switches from a normal high power consumption state to a low power consumption state to save power consumption of the apparatus. In some embodiments, the low power consumption state may be but not limited to a sleep or hibernation state.
In some embodiments, take the multimedia data interface 26 being an HDMI and the first apparatus being a tablet computer as an example, as shown in
On the other hand, when the processor 23 detects the disconnection information indicating that the second apparatus is disconnected from the multimedia data interface 26, for example, when the HDMI signal line is unplugged, the 5V power signal of the HDMI interface disappears and an interrupt is triggered. After the processor 23 detects the interrupt, the first apparatus is controlled to switch from the display mode (second mode) to the host mode (first mode). At this time, the processor 23 wakes up from the low power consumption state and enters the regular high power consumption state. In addition, in response to the first apparatus entering the host mode, the first switch assembly 22 turns on the electrical connection between the processor 23 and the display drive assembly 25 and disconnects the electrical connection between the controller 24 and the display drive assembly 25. At this time, the processor 23 is configured as the display signal source of the display device 21 of the first apparatus to provide the display signal to the display driving assembly 25 of the display device 21 through the first switch assembly 22.
In some embodiments, as shown in
In the host mode, since the controller 24 does not need to participate in the display control of the display device 21, the controller 24, such as the Scalar Chip shown in
The power consumption of the first switch assembly 22 such as the eDP MUX switch chip is relatively small, and the power consumption of the eDP MUX is generally less than or equal to 0.4 W, while the power consumption of the controller 24 such as the Scalar Chip is generally above 2 W. In the present disclosure, a first switch assembly such as eDP MUX is added to the first apparatus, and the controller 24 is switched into a low power consumption state or even completely powered off in the host mode, as such, the power consumption when the apparatus runs in the host mode can be significantly reduced.
In some embodiments, the first apparatus provided by the present disclosure may be configured to work in the first mode (such as the host mode) and the second mode (such as the display mode). For the first apparatus capable of working in the above-described two modes, the first switch assembly for switching the display signal source of the display device of the first apparatus is added to the first apparatus, so that the display control path of the display device of the first apparatus in the first mode and the second mode is isolated into two independent systems, thus, in any mode, the display signal source assembly in the other mode may be controlled to switch to a low power consumption state or even completely powered off to save power consumption. For example, when the first apparatus is working in the first mode, the controller is turned off for providing display signals to the display device of the first apparatus in the second mode, leaving only the processor in working state, etc., which may effectively reduce the brightness of electronic apparatus that support the display mode, thereby meeting the low power consumption requirements of the product better.
In some embodiments, as shown in
The audio playback device 27 may include a speaker, and the second switch assembly may be, but is not limited to, an I2S (Inter-IC Sound, integrated circuit built-in audio bus) MUX switch chip.
The second switch assembly 28 is connected to the audio playback device 27, the processor 23, and the controller 24. In some embodiments, the processor 23 and the controller 24 are connected to the second switch assembly 28 in the parallel manner and perform audio playback control on the audio playback device through the second switch assembly 28.
In some embodiments, the second switch assembly 28 may be configured to, in response to the first apparatus entering the first mode, turn on the electrical connection between the processor 23 and the audio playback device 27, and disconnect the electrical connection between the controller 24 and the audio playback device 27.
The second switch assembly 28 may further be configured to, in response to the first apparatus entering the second mode, turn on the electrical connection between the controller 24 and the audio playback device 27, and disconnect the electrical connection between the processor 23 and the audio playback device 27.
Similar to the display control of the display device, the second switch assembly 28 is configured to switch the signal source of the audio signal of the audio playback device 27 when the first apparatus performs mode switching. In some embodiments, in the first mode, that is, the host mode, the processor 23, such as a CPU, serves as the audio signal source of the audio playback device 27. In the second mode, that is, the display mode, the second switch assembly 28 switches the audio signal source of the audio playback device 27 to the controller 24, such as a Scalar Chip, is switched as the audio signal source of the audio playback device 27 through the second switch assembly 28.
In some embodiments, as shown in
The power amplifier assembly 29 is configured to perform digital-to-analog conversion and power amplification processing on the obtained digital audio signal and transmit the amplified analog audio signal to the audio playback device 27 for playback.
In some embodiments, the processor 23 may be further configured to obtain a digital audio signal in the first mode, that is, the host mode, and transmit the digital audio signal to the power amplifier assembly 29 through the second switch assembly 28.
The controller 24 may be further configured to obtain a digital audio signal in the second mode and transmit the digital audio signal to the power amplifier assembly 29 through the second switch assembly 28. In some embodiments, in the display mode, the controller 24 obtains the multimedia data signal transmitted by the external second apparatus through the multimedia data interface 26, separates the display signal and the digital audio signal from the multimedia data signal, and converts the separated display signal to the format required by the display device. Then, the converted display signal is provided to the display drive assembly 25 to drive the display device 21 for information display. At the same time, the separated digital audio signal is provided to the power amplifier assembly 29 for digital-to-analog conversion and amplification, so as to perform audio playback at the audio playback device 27.
For example, as shown in
In some embodiments, a second switch assembly is added to the first apparatus, and the processor and the controller are connected to the second switch assembly in parallel, so that the processor and the controller may play audio independently in different modes, as such, the controller may be switch to a low power consumption state or even completely power off in the host mode. Since the power consumption of the processor is much lower than the power consumption of the controller, therefore, the purpose for effectively reducing the device power consumption of the first apparatus in host mode may be achieved.
In some embodiments, the backlight control assembly 210 may include the backlight control circuit of the display device 21 of the first apparatus, which is configured to control a backlight brightness of the display device 21.
The third switch assembly 211 is connected to the backlight control assembly 210, the processor 23, and the controller 24, but is not limited to an IO MUX switch chip.
In some embodiments, the third switch assembly 211 is configured to, in response to the first apparatus entering the first mode, turn on the electrical connection between the processor 23 and the backlight control assembly 210, and disconnect the connection between the controller 24 and the backlight control assembly 210.
The third switch assembly 211 is further configured to, in response to the first apparatus entering the second mode, turn on the electrical connection between the controller 24 and the backlight control assembly 210, and disconnect the electrical connection between the processor 23 and the backlight control assembly 210.
In some embodiments, the processor 23 and the controller 24 are connected to the third switch assembly 211 in a parallel manner, and respectively send control signals to the backlight control assembly 210 through the third switch assembly 211, so as to enable the backlight control assembly 210 to control the brightness of the display device 11 in response to the signals.
In some embodiments, the processor 23 may be further configured to detect the backlight control information based on the high power consumption state in the first mode, that is, the host mode. The processor 23 may also be configured to provide the backlight control signal to the backlight control assembly 210 based on the detected backlight control information.
In the host mode, the user may, but is not limited to, operate at the components of the first apparatus configured to trigger the backlight brightness adjustment (such as operating the corresponding brightness adjustment assembly at the touch screen, or the backlight brightness adjustment button of the first apparatus), so that the backlight brightness adjustment signal of the display device 21 is triggered. The processor 23 detects the signal and transmits the adjustment signal to the backlight control assembly 210 through the third switch assembly 211 based on the PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) signal form (for example, based on the PWM signal instructing to increase or decrease the brightness of the backlight by one gear). The backlight control component 210 adjusts its current based on the received PWM signal to achieve the purpose of adjusting the brightness of the backlight of the display device 21.
For example, as shown in
The processor 23 may also be configured to, in response to the backlight adjustment operation, switch from the low power consumption state to the high power consumption state in the second mode, that is, the display mode. The processor 23 may be configured to identify the corresponding backlight control information based on the high power consumption state and transmit the identified backlight control information the controller 24.
To match the above-described function of the processor 23, the controller 24 may also be configured to obtain the backlight control information transmitted by the processor 23 in the display mode and provide the backlight control signal to the backlight control assembly 210 based on the obtained.
In the display mode, the processor 23 is in the low power consumption state. When the user operates the assembly for triggering the backlight brightness adjustment of the first apparatus to trigger the backlight brightness adjustment, the assembly will generate an interrupt and notify the processor 23, as such, the processor 23 is awakened and enters the working state (CPU switches from low power consumption to high power consumption state, but still in the display mode). The CPU recognizes the corresponding brightness adjustment information and notifies the brightness adjustment information to the controller 24, and then the processor 23 automatically switches back to the low power consumption state. The controller 24 generates a corresponding PWM signal based on the brightness adjustment information transmitted by the processor 23 and transmits the PWM signal to the backlight control assembly 210 through the third switch assembly 211. The backlight control assembly 210 adjusts its current level based on the received PWM signal to achieve the purpose for adjusting the brightness of the backlight of the display device 21.
As shown in
In some embodiments, a third switch assembly is added to the first apparatus, and the processor and the controller are connected to the third switch assembly in parallel, as such, the processor and the controller are in different modes and independently perform the backlight brightness control on the first apparatus, which can support switching the controller to a low power consumption state or even completely power off in the host mode. Since the power consumption of the processor is much lower than the power consumption of the controller, therefore, the purpose for effectively reducing the device power consumption of the first apparatus in the host mode may be achieved.
In current technology, when an apparatus such as a tablet computer is running in the display mode, display parameters of its display may not be adjusted on the apparatus side. Since the multimedia data interface such as the HDMI interface or DP interface of the apparatus may only transmit multimedia signals (such as audio and video signals), and may not transmit display parameter signals (such as backlight brightness) of the display device, the display screen brightness of the apparatus as an extended display may not be adjusted on the external second apparatus. That is, the brightness of the display screen cannot be adjusted when the apparatus is running in display mode.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, when the first apparatus is running in the display mode, an interrupt is triggered based on a backlight brightness adjustment operation, and the processor CPU is temporarily awakened based on the interrupt to identify and transmit the brightness adjustment information (transmit to the controller Scalar chip for display backlight brightness adjustment), which effectively solves the above problems and realizes the adjustment of the brightness of the display screen of the first apparatus configured as an extended display in the display mode. In addition, the processor CPU automatically switches to a low power consumption state after being awakened to recognize and transmit the brightness adjustment information, thereby reducing power consumption as much as possible at the same time.
Various embodiments of the present disclosure are described progressively, and each embodiment focuses on differences from other embodiments. The same or similar parts between the various embodiments may be referred to each other.
To facilitate the description of embodiments, the above-described system or devices are divided into various modules or units by function to be described separately. When implementing the disclosure, the functions of each unit may be implemented in the same or a plurality of software and/or hardware.
From the description of the above-described implementation manners, those skilled in the art may clearly understand that the present disclosure may be implemented by manners of software plus a necessary general hardware platform. As such, the technical solution of the present disclosure essentially or the part that contributes to the existing technology may be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product may be stored in a storage medium, such as ROM/RAM, magnetic disk, CD-ROM, etc., including several instructions to make a computer device (such as a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) execute the methods described in the various embodiments or some parts of the embodiments of the present disclosure.
Finally, the terms such as first, second, third, and fourth are used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and should not be understood to indicate or imply relative importance or implicitly indicate any actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms “including,” “containing” or any other variants are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, a method, an article, or a device that includes a series of the element includes not only those elements, but also those elements that are not explicitly listed, or also include elements inherent to the process, the method, the article or the device. If there are no more restrictions, the element defined by the sentence “including a . . . ” does not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, the method, the article, or the device that includes the element.
The described embodiments are only some embodiments not all the embodiments of the present disclosure. Those of ordinary skill in the art can make various modifications or improvements to embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202110336345.4 | Mar 2021 | CN | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20180336846 | Lee et al. | Nov 2018 | A1 |
| 20210271302 | Hsia | Sep 2021 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 111459435 | Jul 2020 | CN |
| 212364819 | Jan 2021 | CN |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20220310024 A1 | Sep 2022 | US |
