This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-045896, filed Feb. 26, 2007, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to a portable display device including a display section having a backlight section. The invention relates to the portable display device which turns off the backlight section at the time of reproducing a specified video file and a display method of the portable display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is publicly known, digital video technology is generalized very widely, and portable video display devices which display video files using the technology are being produced and being widely used. In such portable video display devices, since batteries or the like are used as power sources, techniques which save electricity of backlights in order to provide long use are known.
Patent Document 1 (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2006-254185) discloses a technique which assumes that a user halts viewing on a video display device in the case where the user does not perform an operation for a certain time, for example, and turns off backlight so as to save electricity.
In the conventional technique in Patent Document 1, however, the following usage pattern is not taken into consideration. Namely, when a video file specialized in music such as recent video clips or music clips, for example, is reproduced, a mobile information terminal is put into a bag and only music is listened. That is to say, as to such a music-centered video file, only music is repeatedly listened without viewing video pictures in some occasions, and thus the backlight does not have to be ON for such a music-centered video file. Therefore, excess power consumption can be reduced by turning off the backlight, so that long-time reproduction is enabled. In the conventional technique in Patent Document 1, the power consumption of the backlight for a music-centered video file is not repressed.
A general architecture that implements the various feature of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention.
Various embodiments according to the invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. In general, according to one embodiment of the invention, there are provided a portable display device which turns off a backlight at the time of reproducing a specified video file and represses power consumption, and a display method of the portable display device.
One embodiment for achieving the above object is a portable display device comprising:
a recording section (15) which records a video file;
a decoder section (16) which decodes the video file and outputs a video/audio signal;
a display section (18) which displays a video picture on a screen based on the video/audio signal from the decoder section;
a backlight section (18-2) which irradiates a back side of the display section; and
a control section (13) which determines the video file to be reproduced based on attribute information and turns off the irradiation of the backlight section based on a determined result.
As a result, the backlight section is turned off for a music-centered video file or the like by specifying of a memory area, utilizing of a file list, detection of parameters and the like so that the power consumption can be repressed.
The embodiment of the present invention is described in detail below with reference to the drawings.
<Portable Display Device According to One Embodiment of the Present Invention>
(Constitution)
One example of the portable display device according to one embodiment of the present invention is described in detail below with reference to
Further, the portable display device 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention has an internal memory section 15 such as SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), an external memory section 14 such as a detachable memory, and a DA converter 19 in
Further, in
The illuminance sensor 22 and the distance measuring sensor 23 are provided below the LCD 18-1 or the like, for example as shown in
(Basic Operation)
In the portable display device 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention having such a constitution, a stream signal is supplied from the tuner section 11 which receives terrestrial digital broadcasting to the stream processing section 12 or the like, for example, under the control of the CPU section 13. A packet signal or the like of MPEG according to the stream signal is decoded by the decoder section 16, and a video/audio signal according to the packet signal is supplied to the LCD 18-1 via the graphic controller section 17. As a result, a video picture according to the terrestrial digital broadcasting is displayed on the LCD 18-1. Similarly, the audio signal according to the terrestrial digital broadcasting is supplied to the speaker or the headphone via the DA converter 19, the audio output section 20 and the like.
A video file is supplied from an external PC or the like via the I/F section 26 such as the USB and is stored in the external memory section 14 such as a detachable memory, the internal memory section 15 or the like. Similarly, the video file is decoded by the decoder section 16 under the control of the CPU section 13, and is supplied to the LCD 18-1 via the graphic controller section 17. As a result, a video picture according to the video file is displayed on the LCD 18-1. Similarly, an audio signal according to the video file is supplied to the speaker or the headphone via the DA converter 19, the audio output section 20 and the like.
<One Example of the Turning-Off Process in the Backlight Section>
The portable display device according to one embodiment of the present invention which executes such a reproducing process turns off the backlight section as described in detail below with reference to the flowchart. As a result, for example, when a video file specific to music such as recent video clip or music clip is reproduced and a user puts a mobile information terminal into a bag so as to listen to only the sound, the backlight section is turned off so that power consumption can be efficiently repressed.
The following respective steps in the flowchart of
In the portable display device according to one embodiment of the present invention, in the flowchart in
That is to say, the backlight is on during normal video reproduction. However, a determination is made whether the backlight should be on or off during reproduction of moving image. When the backlight may be turned off, the backlight is turned off even during the reproduction of the moving image. However, when a user performs the key operation, the backlight is turned on at the time of receiving the key operation because the screen cannot be seen with the backlight being off.
As to the time for which the backlight is on, as shown in
In such backlight setting, simultaneously “on/off of the backlight setting based on the memory area”, “on/off of the backlight by means of off list”, “on/off of the backlight setting based on parameter (genre or the like)”, and “on/off of the backlight setting based on sensor” are set as the setting of the backlight off process according to one embodiment of the present invention. When “on” is selected in these settings, these menus are enabled, and when “off” is selected, these menus are disabled.
When the power of the portable display device 10 is turned on, the backlight is basically turned on. As shown in the flowchart of
When the answer is YES, the backlight off control section of the CPU section 13 specifies a predetermined area of the internal memory section 15 shown in
When a video file to be reproduced is present in a specific memory area, the sequence goes to step S19, and the backlight section 18-2 is turned off by the operation of the backlight off control section of the CPU section 13 (step S19). As a result, the video picture on the LCD 18-1 cannot be practically viewed, but since an audio output is not changed, when a user listens to only sound, the power consumption of the battery section 25 can be effectively repressed.
At step S11, a determination is made whether the specifying of a specific memory area is set, and when a video file which is being reproduced is not present in the specific memory area even if the specifying is set, the sequence goes to step S13. The backlight off control section of the CPU section 13 determines whether “the backlight setting based on off list” is on the setting screen of
That is to say, in the case where a video file is recorded in a specific hierarchy so that the backlight control is made, the video file can be stored in a hierarchy for the backlight control only when the video file is transferred to the portable display device 10 or the portable display device 10 is connected to PC or the like to which the video file is supplied. For this reason, this case is inconvenient.
Therefore, a logical list such as “backlight off list” is created in a memory area of the internal memory section 15 or the CPU section 13, and a video file for turning off the backlight during the reproduction of a moving image is recorded in the list, so that the backlight control is suitably made as to a desired video file.
The backlight off control section of the CPU section 13 determines whether the setting is made by means of the off list (step S13). When the setting based on the off list is made, the backlight off control section determines whether a file having the file name shown in
When the backlight off control section of the CPU section 13 determines that the setting based on the off list is not made, or that a video file which is being reproduced is not present in the off list even if the setting is made, the sequence goes to step S15.
The backlight off control section of the CPU section 13 determines whether “the backlight setting based on parameter (genre or the like)” is made (step S15). That is to say, the backlight is controlled by using information which can be owned by video contents.
When the backlight off control section of the CPU section 13 determines that “the backlight setting based on parameter (genre information and the like)” is on, it determines whether the parameters of the video file to be reproduced contain specific information (step S16). For example, the backlight off control section determines whether the “genre” information contains a specific word such as “music” or “Music Clip” as shown in
When the backlight off control section of the CPU section 13 determines that such a specific parameter is present, the sequence goes to step S19, and the backlight section 18-2 is turned off by the operation of the backlight off control section of the CPU section 13 (step S19). As a result, the power consumption of the battery section 25 can be repressed.
When the backlight off control section of the CPU section 13 determines that a parameter is not set or when a specific parameter cannot be detected from the video file even if the parameter is set, the sequence goes to step S17. The backlight turning-off process is executed based on detected signals from a sensor group provided to the portable display device 10.
The backlight off control section of the CPU section 13 determines whether “the backlight setting based on sensors” is made (step S17). When the setting is made, for example as shown in
That is to say, in
In
In
In
On a portion of “-” on the backlight, an obstacle is near the screen, but the circumference is bright. In this case, priority is suitably given to another backlight setting.
When the backlight off control section of the CPU section 13 determines that constant conditions shown in
After the backlight is turned off, the key operation is always monitored during the reproduction of moving image, and when the operating section 21 is operated, the backlight is turned on (step S21). As a result, the backlight section 18-2 is turned on by a user's operation on the portable display device 10, so that the video picture can be watched.
According to the above embodiment, a person skilled in the art can realize the present invention, and further easily arrives at various modified examples of the embodiment, and thus can apply the present invention to various embodiments without inventive ability. The present invention, therefore, covers a wide range where the invention is consistent with the disclosed principle and new feature, and thus is not limited to the above embodiment.
While certain embodiments of the inventions have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2007-045896 | Feb 2007 | JP | national |