Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus to reduce power consumption of a computer system display screen

US7036025B2 · kind B2 · utility

67Cited by
11References
22Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 7, 2002
Grant dateApr 25, 2006
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 8, 2023

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG09G2354/00
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a computer system may determine focus areas and non-focus areas of the display screen. The brightness of non-focus areas may then be reduced with respect to focus areas, thereby reducing power consumption of the display screen and, hence, reducing power consumption of the computer system. For example, a focus area may be an active window of the display screen and a non-focus area may be an inactive window of the display screen. As another example, a focus area may be a region of the display screen within a vicinity of a cursor (i.e. data entry point), and a non-focus area may be the region outside this vicinity. The size of the vicinity may be measured in radius or in lines of data (e.g. in a word processing or spreadsheet program) surrounding the cursor. The size and shape of the vicinity may be determined by a user.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.