Patent Application
20090015580
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable display device. More specifically, the present invention relates to a portable display device capable of having a selectable run-time and a method of reducing power consumption of a portable display device.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In general, portable display devices are operated using batteries, and therefore, have a limited run-time. Although many different techniques have been developed to extend the run-time of the portable display device, most techniques usually degrade the image quality produced by the display device in order to extend the run-time of the display device. For example, by reducing the brightness of a display device, the battery life may be extended, thereby providing more run-time of the display device.
Commonly, a portable display device is configured having a power-conserving mode when operated from battery power. However, the power-conserving mode is fixed and does not allow a user to preselect a run-time of the portable display device. Accordingly, the user has no convenient way to know when the portable display device will cease operating, and must simply wait until the display device stops working. Thus, a system is required that provides the user the freedom to select a run-time of a portable display device.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a portable display device and a method of operating a portable display device that substantially obviates one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a portable display device that allows a user to select a run-time for display images.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for operating a portable display device to allow a user to select a run-time for display images.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of reducing power consumption of a portable display device.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, a portable display device includes at least one power input port, a battery power supply, an image display region powered by one of the at least one power input port and the battery power supply, a control system for determining receipt of external power by the at least one power input port and for determining current capacity of the battery power supply, and a selection system for selecting a run-time period for displaying images within the image display region, wherein the control system provides a first control signal to the selection system for the selection system to provide a user with a maximum available run-time period based upon the determined receipt of the external power and the determined current capacity of the battery power supply.
In another aspect, a method of operating a portable display device includes powering an image display region by one of at least one power input port and a battery power supply, determining one of receipt of external power by the at least one power input port and current capacity of the battery power supply, and selecting a run-time period for displaying images within the image display region, wherein a user is provided with a display showing a maximum available run-time period based upon the determining one of receipt of external power and current capacity of the battery power supply.
In another aspect, a method of reducing power consumption of portable display device includes powering an image display panel with a battery power supply, determining current capacity of the battery power supply, and selecting a run-time period for displaying images within the image display region based upon the determined current capacity of the battery power supply.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:
Reference will now be made in detail to the illustrated embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
In
However, when the display device 100 is operated from an external battery power supply via one of the power supply inputs IN1 and IN2, or by an internal rechargeable battery (not shown), the display device 100 may function in a partial-power mode. Specifically, since the battery power supply provides a limited amount of power to operate the display device 100, a user may determine and select a desired run-time of the display device 100 using a selection system 120. Here, the selection system 120 may include an on-screen display for a user to provide an input of the desired run-time of the display device 100. For example, the user may select a maximum run-time of the display device 100, wherein a control system 130 may determine (and show) a maximum available run-time based upon a current capacity of the battery power supply and/or a lowest possible energy consuming mode available to operate the display device 100. Accordingly, once the desired run-time is selected by the user, the control system 130 may determine the current capacity of the battery power supply, and then supply appropriate control signals to the display device 100 to ensure that the battery power supply may provide sufficient power to the display device 100 during the selected run-time.
In addition, the control system 130 may control the selection system based upon the determined current capacity of the battery power supply in order to limit the selectability of run-time ranges from the selection system 120. Here, the selection system 120 may not provide the user with certain selectable ranges of run-time if the control system 130 determines that the current capacity of the battery power supply is below certain run-time ranges. For example, if the current capacity of the battery power supply is determined to be 45 minutes by the system 130, then the control system 130 would not provide the user with any selectable ranges greater than 45 minutes.
The control signals provided by the control system 130 may control various operational parameters of the display device 100. Here, the control signals may control any one or more of brightness, volume, color, tint, contrast, etc. For example, if the control system 130 determines that during the user selected run-time of 30 minutes, the current capacity of the battery power supply may not be sufficient, then the control system 130 may send signals to reduce the brightness or volume in order to continuously display images on the image display region 110 during the selected run-time.
In
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the user selectable run-time for display devices and method of reducing power consumption for display devices of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the inventions. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
