Memory compression systems and methods

#The present disclosure relates generally to electronic displays and, more particularly, to the compression of data and use thereof of in rendering images on electronic displays. This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present techniques, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.

#Numerous electronic devices are coupled to or include electronic displays to display images that provide visual representations of information. Such electronic devices may include computers, mobile phones, portable media devices, tablets, televisions, watches, virtual-reality headsets, and vehicle dashboards, among many others. The display may provide an interface (e.g., a visual and/or a visual and tactile interface) that may allow for user interaction with the electronic device.

#During operation, the images displayed on the electronic display may be relatively dynamic (e.g., frequently changing) or relatively static (e.g., change infrequently). For example, a home screen, a representation of a page of a book or a website, a picture being displayed, or the like may require relatively few (or even no) changes in the generated image to be displayed for a period of time (e.g., for multiple generated image frames). However, if the electronic device and/or the display generate images in a similar manner, regardless of the static or dynamic properties of the image to be generated (e.g., whether the image is to change from one frame to the next), excess processing, power usage, and the like may be unnecessarily exerted.

#Various aspects of this disclosure may be better understood upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in which:

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic device used to display image frames, in accordance with an embodiment;

#FIG. 2 is an example of the electronic device of FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment;

#One or more specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below. These described embodiments are only examples of the presently disclosed techniques. Additionally, in an effort to provide a concise description of these embodiments, all features of an actual implementation may not be described in the specification. It should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time consuming, but may nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.

#When introducing elements of various embodiments of the present disclosure, the articles “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements. Additionally, it should be understood that references to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” of the present disclosure are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features.

#The present disclosure generally relates to electronic displays, which may be used to present visual representations of information, for example, as one or more images. Redundant (e.g., non-changing) image frames may provide an opportunity to reduce power consumption and/or reduce processing of an image frame to be displayed on a display. For example, compression of image frames during times when there has been an idle screen (e.g., non-changing image frames) may be provided. However, to insure that the power saving and/or processing saving advantages of the compression, as well as benefits related to reduced space requirements for storage of the compressed image frames, do not come with a loss of image quality, it may be advantageous to implement lossless compression techniques to the compression of the image frame. The techniques outlined herein have the advantage of being lossless (thus, maintaining the same level of visual accuracy as if non-compressed image frames were used as a source image), while also eliminating the use of line buffers that are typically utilized to implement lossless compression (e.g., thereby reducing the overall footprint and size of the display pipeline).