Method, apparatus and article for display unit power management
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsRandy P. Stanley, Siripong Sritanyaratana
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method to manage the power consumption of a display unit is provided. The method determines if a graphics-intensive event is occurring, uses a first refresh rate if the graphics-intensive event is occurring, and uses a second refresh rate different than the first refresh rate if the graphics-intensive event is not occurring. An apparatus for performing the method, and an article including a machine-accessible medium that provides instructions that, if executed by a processor, will cause the processor to perform the method are also provided.
Claims9
A method to manage the power consumption of a display unit, the method comprising:
- determining if a processor is in an idle state;
- determining a level of graphics-intensive activity from a plurality of levels of graphics-intensive activity if the processor is not in an idle state;
- using a first non-zero refresh rate if a first level of graphics-intensive activity is determined and the processor is not in an idle state;
- using a second non-zero refresh rate different than the first refresh rate if a second level of graphics-intensive activity is determined and the processor is not in an idle state;
- and
- using a third non-zero refresh rate different than the first and the second refresh rates if the processor is in an idle state.
A computing device comprising:
- a display unit capable of operating at first, second and third non-zero refresh rates, the first refresh rate being different than the second refresh rate and the third refresh rate being different than the first and the second refresh rates;
- and
- a processor operatively coupled to the display unit and having a set of instructions operating therein:
- to determine if a processor is in an idle state;
- to determine a level of graphics-intensive activity from a plurality of levels of graphics intensive activity if the processor is not in an idle state;
- to cause the display unit to operate at the first refresh rate if a first level of graphics-intensive activity is determined and the processor is not in an idle state;
- to cause the display unit to operate at the second refresh rate if a second level of graphics-intensive activity is determined and the processor is not in an idle state;
- and
- to cause the display unit to operate at the third refresh rate if the processor is in an idle state.
An article of manufacture comprising:
- a machine-accessible medium that provides instructions that, if executed by a processor, will cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
- determining if a processor is in an idle state;
- determining a level of graphics-intensive activity from a plurality of levels of graphics intensive activity if the processor is not in an idle state;
- causing the display unit to operate at a first non-zero refresh rate if a first level of graphics-intensive activity is determined and the processor is not in an idle state;
- causing the display unit to operate at a second non-zero refresh rate different than the first refresh rate if a second level of graphics-intensive activity is determined and the processor is not in an idle state;
- and
- causing the display unit to operate at a third non-zero refresh rate if the processor is in an idle state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.