Always-on display signal generator
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsPeter F Holland, Christopher P Tann, Ramana V Rachakonda
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electronic device may include a display panel. When content of an image frame is expected to consume relatively higher amounts of power, a controller of the electronic device may operate a switch to change a power supply of the display panel to be a power management integrated circuit of the electronic device. However, when content of an image frame is expected to consume relatively less amounts of power, the controller may operate the switch to change the power supply of the display panel to be a power supply of an electronic display, such as a power supply used to power driver circuitry of the electronic display.
Claims20
An electronic device, comprising:
- an electronic display configured to display image data based at least in part on a timing signal from a timing generator while image processing circuitry is operating in a higher-power mode than a reduced-power mode;
- and
- an always-on timing generator configured to generate and transmit the timing signal to the electronic display while the image processing circuitry is operating in the reduced-power mode, wherein the reduced-power mode corresponds to a first power supply being decoupled from a first power domain.
A system, comprising:
- a first power supply for a first power domain and a second power supply for a second power domain;
- a controller configured to:
- determine that image processing circuitry is operated in a reduced-power mode after being idle;
- and
- generate one or more control signals in response to determining that the image processing circuitry is operated in the reduced-power mode;
- and
- an always-on timing generator disposed in the second power domain, wherein the always-on timing generator is configured to:
- determine that the image processing circuitry is operating in the reduced-power mode based on an indication that the first power supply is decoupled from the first power domain;
- generate timing signals while the first power supply is decoupled from the first power domain;
- and
- adjust routing circuitry based on the one or more control signals to transmit the timing signals generated by the always-on timing generator to a display driver integrated circuit disposed in an electronic display.
A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium, comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause an always-on timing generator to perform operations comprising:
- determining that a first power supply associated with an electronic display is decoupled from a first power domain;
- generating a first timing signal based on a clock signal while the first power supply is decoupled from the first power domain and image processing circuitry is operated in a reduced-power mode, wherein an additional timing generator is configured to generate a second timing signal based on the clock signal while the first power supply is coupled to the first power domain;
- and
- transmitting a control signal to routing circuitry, wherein the control signal is configured to trigger output of the first timing signal to a display driver integrated circuit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.