The present principles generally relate to energy/power usage and, more specifically, to determining power consumption of a playback device during presentation of content and rendering a representation of content reflective of an amount of power consumed during a presentation of the content.
Different media assets such as movies and television shows consume a large amount of power (watts) when such programs are watched using a display device and outputted with an audio system. The power consumption for playback of media assets is even larger with the use of high dynamic range (HDR) display devices because of the dynamic backlighting required by HDR display devices. The same may be true with high resolution programming such as 4K or 8K based video media which require more pixels on the screen than a typical standard definition or high definition display device where the display of such pixels may require more power than used for standard or high definition.
Currently there does not exist a device and/or a method for efficiently and effectively rendering a representation of content reflective of an amount of power consumed during a presentation of the content.
Embodiments of the present principles are directed at least in part to addressing the deficiencies of the prior art by providing a method, apparatus and system for the rendering of content representations.
In one embodiment of the present principles, a method for generating content representations includes determining respective power consumption information for content and rendering, for display, representations for the content at relative luminance levels based on the respective power consumption information.
In an alternate embodiment of the present principles, an apparatus for generating content representations includes a memory for storing at least one of program routines, software, data, and power consumption information and a processor for executing the program routines. The apparatus is configured to determine respective power consumption information for content and render, for display, representations for the content at relative luminance levels based on the respective power consumption information.
In an alternate embodiment of the present principles, a system for generating content representations includes at least one communication interface for receiving at least one of video, audio and user inputs, a video processor processing received video, an audio processor processing received audio, a user input processor processing user input data and an apparatus comprising a memory for storing at least one of program routines, software, data, and power consumption information and a processor for executing the program routines. The apparatus is configured to determine respective power consumption information for content and render, for display, representations for the content at relative luminance levels based on the respective power consumption information.
These and other aspects, features and advantages of the present principles will be described or become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:
It should be understood that the drawing(s) is for purposes of illustrating the concepts of the disclosure and is not necessarily the only possible configuration for illustrating the disclosure. To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures.
Embodiments of the present principles advantageously provide a method, apparatus and system for determining power consumption of a playback device during the presentation of content and rendering respective representations of the content which reflect an amount of power consumed during a presentation of the content. Although the present principles will be described primarily within respect to the presentation of content on a display and for rendering representations of the content for display in an electronic program guide (EPG), the specific embodiments of the present principles should not be treated as limiting the scope of the invention. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art and informed by the teachings of the present principles that the concepts of the present principles can be applied to the playback of audio, video and/or audio/video content on substantially any playback device for determining energy usage of the playback device during the presentation of the content and rendering respective representations of the content which reflect an amount of power consumed during a presentation of the content for display in substantially any format, including an EPG.
The functions of the various elements shown in the figures may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware as well as hardware capable of executing software in association with appropriate software. When provided by a processor, the functions may be provided by a single dedicated processor, by a single shared processor, or by a plurality of individual processors, some of which may be shared. Moreover, explicit use of the term “processor” or “controller” should not be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executing software, and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (“DSP”) hardware, read only memory (“ROM”) for storing software, random access memory (“RAM”), and nonvolatile storage.
Thus, for example, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the block diagrams presented herein represent conceptual views of illustrative circuitry embodying the principles of the disclosure. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudocode, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable media and so executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.
In accordance with embodiments of the present principles, provided in each cell are indicia indicating an amount of measured or expected power that each listed program will or is expected to consume when presented on a playback/presentation device such as a display device. In the embodiment of
For purposes of the following description, measured or expected power consumption is identified by indicia indicating low, medium or high, as relative terms. Low represents a low amount of power consumption, medium represents a medium amount of power consumption, and high represents a high amount of power consumption, respectively, for a display device. The ranges of values representing these levels can be determined by a content provider, broadcaster, user, or the device itself. For example, there can be a service at a head end that rates the power consumption of a program in reference to a standard 5,000 nits or 10,000 nits display. In various embodiments of the present principles, this rating can be transmitted as metadata as part of the media asset with a broadcast of the media asset. For example a metadata field called “Power” can be defined as the expected power consumption used for a particular display, program, and the like.
It should be noted that in various embodiments of the present principles, the power consumption analysis described above can include audio properties of content as well video properties of content. For example, a 5.1 version of a content program using a 100 Watt Rated Receiver can use X watts during presentation while a stereo version of a program using a 100 Watt Rated Receiver can use Y watts. These numbers could be scaled up or down based on criteria provided by a manufacturer, actual usage of a device, and the like. The indicia depicted in the figure to identify measured or expected power consumption is for purposes of example only. In practice, any indicia or combination of indicia including but not limited to numerical values, icons, colored cells, brightness levels, etc. can be used to indicate particular levels of measured or expected power consumption in accordance with various embodiments of the present principles. Additionally, the described exemplary embodiment discusses the power consumption of a program provided on a channel and provided by a particular program source. However, the present principles can apply to any audio, video and/or audio/video content being reproduced thereby including recordings, Video on Demand (VOD), internet videos, etc. Note, alternative representations of program listings can be implemented in accordance with embodiments of the present principles. In addition, for purposes of the following description of the present principles, the terms energy and power and energy usage, power usage and power consumption can be used interchangeably throughout the teachings of the present principles.
In one embodiment of the present principles, the apparatus 100 of
In an alternate embodiment of the present principles, the apparatus 100 can determine/monitor power consumption information which can be used to render respective representations of the content which reflect an amount of power consumed during a presentation of the content for use in, for example, the EPG as shown in
In an alternate embodiment of the present principles, the apparatus 100 of
In various embodiments of the present principles, representations of content are generated by an apparatus of the present principles using, for example, a frame or frames of received content. The luminance levels of the content representations are then adjusted for display based on respective power consumption information determined. In alternate embodiments, the power consumption module 102 of the present principles adjusts luminance levels of already existing representations of the content based on the determined power consumption information as described above. Such representations can be stored in a memory accessible to the power consumption module 102.
In alternate embodiments of the present principles, the power consumption module 102 of an apparatus of the present principles is configured to determine power consumption of devices by querying another device, such as a smart home apparatus or display. For example in one embodiment, a playback device with which the apparatus 100 is in communication can be plugged into a “smart” outlet or energy monitor that keeps track of power consumption. The power consumption module 102 can be configured to query the “smart” outlet for power consumption information related to particular content of interest. An apparatus of the described embodiment can be used in a “smart home” using smart appliances and monitoring techniques. The described apparatus of the present principles can also query the playback device itself for such information in embodiments in which the playback device determines its own power consumption.
In various embodiments of the present principles as described above, a set of commands can be used to enable an apparatus of the present principles to query another device for the information regarding power consumed for at least a particular time period during the display of a program content of interest. For example, a sample command “Power Consumed from 12:00-13:00-03/14/2014” can be a command sent by the power consumption module 102 to a connected device to inquire as to the amount of power consumed during the desired period of time. In one embodiment, the format of the command can include:
In an alternate embodiment of the present principles, the power consumption module 102 can make an estimation of the power consumption of content. For example, the power consumption module 102 can estimate the expected power consumption of a program in a series including numerous episodes by analyzing an power consumption of other episodes within the same series. The power consumption module 102 then uses such information for rendering respective representations of the content which reflect an amount of power consumed during a presentation of the content for use in, for example, the EPG as shown in
Although the power consumption module 102 of
It should be understood that the elements set forth in
In the embodiment of
In any of the embodiments described above, an apparatus/system of the present principles is capable of rendering at least one of a user interface, EPG, program listing, and the like for providing power consumption information to a user. As describe above, in determining the power consumption, embodiments exist in which power consumption information will be provided and alternate embodiments in which an amount of power to be consumed during the playback of particular content is not known. That is, in various embodiments, an apparatus/system of the present principles will have to determine how much power will be consumed during the playback of a program on a specific display. As such, in one embodiment, an apparatus/system of the present principles determines whether or not information related to the power consumption of a program to be presented on a playback device is available.
If the apparatus/system determines that the power consumption information is available (e.g., has been received), the apparatus/system using for example a power consumption module 102 of
It should be noted that the term content and program content used throughout the teachings of the present principles can be interpreted to include audio, video and/or audio video content. That is, in an various embodiments of the present principles a determination can be made, using for example the power consumption module 102 of
As such, it should be noted that a representation generated for content at relative luminance levels based on respective power consumption information can represent power consumption of content which includes, audio, video and/or audio and video in accordance with various embodiments of the present principles.
In further embodiments of the present principles, an apparatus/system of the present principles as described above can provide suggestions for reducing an amount of power expected to be consumed during presentation of content. For example, in one embodiment of the present principles when an apparatus of the present principles determines an amount of power that is expected to be consumed by particular content, the apparatus/system can suggest reducing power consumption by suggesting that content be watched without a backlight if the power to be consumed during the presentation of the content exceeds a threshold that in various embodiments can be determined or preset by a user or limited by a device. That is, a device can limit an amount of power that can be consumed when presenting content on the device at least because of the power limitations (i.e., battery life) of the device.
At optional step 503, suggestions for reducing an amount of power to be consumed during presentation of a program on a playback device such as a display are provided. For example and as described above, in one embodiment, an apparatus of the present principles can provide suggestions for reducing power consumption such as by watching the program without a backlight if the energy to be consumed during the presentation of the content exceeds a threshold that in various embodiments can be determined or preset by a user or limited by a playback device. Such suggestion can be presented to a user via a display or other user interface. The method 500 can then proceed to step 504.
At step 504, representations for the content are rendered at relative luminance levels based on the determined power consumption information. That is, as described above, in one embodiment of the present principles an EPG, such as the EPG of
Although embodiments which incorporate the teachings of the present disclosure have been shown and described in detail herein, those skilled in the art can readily devise many other varied embodiments that still incorporate these teachings. Having described preferred embodiments of a method, apparatus and system for determining energy usage of a playback device during the presentation of content and rendering respective representations of the content which reflect an amount of energy consumed during a presentation of the content (which are intended to be illustrative and not limiting), it is noted that modifications and variations can be made by persons skilled in the art in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that changes may be made in the particular embodiments of the disclosure disclosed which are within the scope of the disclosure as outlined by the appended claims.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US2016/033060 | 5/18/2016 | WO | 00 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62173012 | Jun 2015 | US |