TWI396849B - Multimedia display apparatus and controlling method thereof - Google Patents

Description

Multimedia playing device and control method thereof

The present invention is related to multimedia playback devices and, in particular, to multimedia playback devices capable of computing their own power consumption.

In recent years, due to the increasing global warming problem, energy conservation and carbon reduction have gradually transformed from the previous propaganda slogan into practical actions implemented in life. Power saving, environmental protection, and green manufacturing have become the new main axes for developing home appliances. On the other hand, under the impact of the financial tsunami, the structure of consumer behavior has changed dramatically, and most consumers are eager to spend their money and try to reduce unnecessary expenses in their daily lives.

However, most home appliances do not provide an interface for consumers to understand their actual power consumption during use. Since consumers can't immediately know how much energy consumption they will use when they use these home appliances, or if they choose different parameter settings, it will often be difficult to judge different operating settings from the energy level. Pros and cons.

As far as technical practice is concerned, it is difficult to measure the power consumption of home appliances by prior art. Taking a multimedia system such as a home theater as an example, in order to know the power consumption of the liquid crystal display therein, there are two ways in which the prior art may adopt. The first is to measure the voltage/current of the power line connected to the mains supply outside the display by a power meter. The disadvantage of this approach is that the hardware configuration is complicated and the equipment is expensive, so it is more suitable for system developers to develop tests, and is not suitable for general consumer home appliances.

The second method of power consumption measurement is to build a power measurement chip on the circuit board of the display to measure the voltage/current of the power supply module in the display. After data conversion using the digital analog conversion circuit, the power measurement chip transmits the measurement results to the control wafer of the display. Although the result of this method can be directly presented on the display for consumer reference through on-screen display (OSD), the increase in hardware cost caused by the power measurement chip will also be reflected in the overall sale of the display. In the price, therefore, consumers' willingness to accept is usually not high.

From the above description, it can be understood why most of the current home appliance products do not have an instantaneous power consumption display device. If consumers have this demand, they can only know the maximum power consumption range specified in the product manual, but they cannot know the current power consumption of the home appliance.

In order to solve the problems in the prior art, the present invention provides a multimedia playback device and a control method thereof. According to the present invention, the power consumption of the multimedia playback device can be calculated instantaneously using a simple hardware circuit or a software operation, so that power consumption information can be provided to the consumer with little increase in hardware cost. Adding the concept according to the present invention to the multimedia playback device not only allows the user to know the effect of adjusting the playback setting of the multimedia playback device on the power consumption, but is more likely to increase the user's willingness to adopt the energy saving setting.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a multimedia playback device includes a receiving module, a control module, and a power computing module. The receiving module is configured to receive one of the playback setting parameters associated with the multimedia playback device. The control module is configured to control the multimedia playback device according to the play setting parameter. The power calculation module is configured to estimate an instantaneous power of the multimedia playback device according to the play setting parameter. The instantaneous power is a sum of a fixed power and a varying power associated with the playback setting parameter.

Another embodiment of the present invention is a control method suitable for use in a multimedia playback device. The method first performs a receiving step of receiving a play setting parameter associated with the multimedia playback device. Next, the method performs a control step of controlling the multimedia playback device based on the playback setting parameters. The method also performs a calculation step of estimating an instantaneous power of the one of the multimedia playback devices based on the playback setting parameters. The instantaneous power is a sum of a fixed power and a varying power associated with the playback setting parameter.

The advantages and spirit of the present invention will be further understood from the following detailed description of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 1(A), FIG. 1(A) is a schematic diagram of a multimedia playing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1(A), the multimedia playback device 10 of the present embodiment includes a display 11A, a speaker 11B, a control module 12, a receiving module 13, and a power calculation module 14. For example, in the home theater generally set in the living room, the display 11A may be a liquid crystal display or a plasma display, and the speaker 11B may be a stereo or other type of speaker device, but not limited thereto. In practice, the display 11A and the speaker 11B can also be integrated in a single hardware.

The receiving module 13 is configured to receive one of the playback setting parameters associated with the multimedia playback device 10. In practice, the receiving module 13 may be an infrared receiver for receiving playback setting parameters sent by the user through an infrared remote controller, but not limited thereto. For example, the play setting parameter may include a backlight brightness setting parameter of the display 11A itself, or a color setting parameter, a brightness setting parameter, a contrast setting parameter, a sharpness setting parameter, or a combination thereof for a screen presented by the display 11A. In addition, the play setting parameter may also include a treble setting parameter, a bass setting parameter, a volume setting parameter, or a combination thereof of the speaker 11B. In other words, the play setting parameter may include setting values that are open to the user by the various multimedia playback devices 10.

The control module 12 controls the multimedia playback device 10 according to the playback setting parameters received by the receiving module 13. In this embodiment, the power calculation module 14 receives the playback setting parameters associated with the multimedia playback device 10 from the control module 12, and estimates the instantaneous power of the multimedia playback device 10 based on the playback configuration parameters. In practice, the power calculation module 14 can also receive the playback setting parameters directly from the receiving module 13. According to the present invention, the instantaneous power can be regarded as the sum of one of the fixed power of the multimedia playback device 10 and one of the varying powers associated with the playback setting parameter. More specifically, the fixed power is the basic power required to maintain the operation of the multimedia playback device 10, and the fixed power is substantially constant regardless of the playback setting parameters. The varying power is changed by the playback setting parameters of the multimedia playback device 10, and the varying power is generated accordingly. For example, reducing the brightness of the image displayed by the display 11A or the volume of the sound played by the speaker 11B reduces the power of the variation, that is, reduces the power consumption of the entire multimedia playback device 10.

The power calculation module 14 in this embodiment calculates the instantaneous power by using a preset calculation formula. For example, the user can adjust only the brightness setting parameter of the display 11A and the volume setting parameter of the speaker 11B, and the preset calculation formula can be expressed as: P _TOTAL = P _FIX + A ₁ * P ₁ + A ₂ * P ₂ . P _TOTAL represents the above instantaneous power, and P _FIX represents the fixed power consumption. A ₁ and A ₂ are the brightness setting parameters of the display 11A and the volume setting parameters of the speaker 11B, respectively; these two values may vary depending on the settings of the user. P ₁ and P ₂ are unit power consumptions corresponding to the two settings, respectively. The values of P _FIX , P ₁ and P ₂ are all known values built in, and can be estimated and stored in the power calculation module 14 before the multimedia playback device 10 is shipped from the factory. According to the play setting parameters provided by the control module 12, the power calculation module 14 can know the values of A ₁ and A ₂ and calculate P _TOTAL according to the calculation formula. In practical applications, the instantaneous power P _TOTAL can be related to more settings of the multimedia playback device 10, and is not limited to the brightness setting parameter and the volume setting parameter, and can also include other adjustable parameters, such as color setting parameters and contrast. Set parameters, sharpness setting parameters, backlight setting parameters, treble setting parameters, bass setting parameters, or a combination thereof.

In addition, the power calculation module 14 can also generate the instantaneous power P _TOTAL by means of a look-up table. Referring to FIG. 1(B), FIG. 1(B) is a schematic diagram of a multimedia playing device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the multimedia playback device 10 further includes a lookup table 15. The lookup table 15 stores the plurality of preset data associated with the play setting parameters. For example, the instantaneous power P _TOTAL corresponding to the various possible combinations of A ₁ and A ₂ can be estimated and stored in the lookup table 15 before the multimedia playback device 10 is shipped from the factory. According to A ₁ and A ₂ provided by the control module 12 , the power calculation module 14 can find the corresponding instantaneous power P _TOTAL from the lookup table 15 . In practical applications, the instantaneous power P _TOTAL that can be found in the lookup table 15 can be related to more types of settings of the multimedia playback device 10, and is not limited to the brightness setting parameter and the volume setting parameter.

The direct use of a preset calculus or lookup table in accordance with the present invention can be implemented in a simple circuit or software operation, with little need to increase the hardware cost of the multimedia playback device 10. Thus, the practice in accordance with the present invention is a convenient and more consumer acceptable solution as compared to prior art techniques employing external power meters or power measurement wafers. In addition, the preset calculation formula built in the power calculation module 14 or the preset data stored in the lookup table 15 can be modified or updated without changing the hardware circuit, providing a considerable application. elasticity. For example, the multimedia playback device 10 can download the latest version of the preset calculation formula or preset data from the remotely located database through the Internet.

According to the present invention, the instantaneous power can be transmitted to the display 11A through the control module 12 and displayed on the display 11A in the form of an on screen display (OSD) for the user's reference. In practice, the multimedia playback device 10 can be designed to automatically display the instantaneous power on the display 11A after each user adjusts its playback settings, or can be designed to present only when the user requests it through the remote control. Instant power.

According to the present invention, if the multimedia playback device 10 is provided with a sensor that automatically senses the ambient brightness (not shown), the control module 12 can also automatically adjust the backlight brightness setting for the display 11A based on the sensing result of the sensor. The power calculation module 14 can take into account the power variation caused by the automatic adjustment when calculating the instantaneous power of the multimedia playback device 10.

A third embodiment of the present invention is a control method suitable for use in a multimedia playback device. Figure 2 (A) is a flow chart of the method. The method first performs step S21, and receives one of the playback setting parameters associated with the multimedia playback device. Step S22 is to control the multimedia playback device according to the play setting parameter. Step S23 is to estimate the instantaneous power of one of the multimedia playback devices according to the play setting parameter.

Similar to the previous two embodiments, the play setting parameter may include a color setting parameter, a brightness setting parameter, a contrast setting parameter, a sharpness setting parameter, a backlight setting parameter, a treble setting parameter, a bass setting parameter, and the brightness setting parameter of the multimedia playing device. Volume setting parameters or a combination thereof.

Please refer to FIG. 2(B). FIG. 2(B) illustrates one of the examples in which the above method further includes other steps. In this example, the method continues to perform step S24 after step S23 to present the instantaneous power. In addition, the method may further include an updating step of updating the preset calculation/preset data for calculating the instantaneous power; the updating step may be arranged before step S21.

As described above, the present invention provides a multimedia playback device and a control method therefor. According to the present invention, the power consumption of the multimedia playback device can be estimated instantaneously using a simple hardware circuit or a software operation, so that power consumption information can be provided to the consumer with little increase in hardware cost. Adding the concept according to the present invention to the multimedia playback device not only serves as a reference for the user to decide how to adjust the playback settings of the multimedia playback device, but is more likely to increase the user's willingness to adopt the energy saving setting.

The features and spirit of the present invention will be more apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiments. On the contrary, the intention is to cover various modifications and equivalents within the scope of the invention as claimed.

10. . . Multimedia player

11A. . . Display device

11B. . . speaker

12. . . Control module

13. . . Receiving module

14. . . Power calculation module

15. . . Lookup table

S21~S24. . . Process step

Figure 1 (A) is a schematic diagram of a multimedia playback device in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 1 (B) is a schematic diagram of a multimedia playback device in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention.

2(A) to 2(B) are flowcharts of a control method in a third embodiment of the present invention.

10. . . Multimedia player

11A. . . monitor

11B. . . speaker

12. . . Control module

13. . . Receiving module

14. . . Power calculation module

Claims (8)

A multimedia playback device includes: a receiving module for receiving a playback setting parameter associated with the multimedia playback device; a control module for controlling the multimedia playback device according to the playback setting parameter; and a power calculation module a group, configured to estimate an instantaneous power of the multimedia playback device according to the play setting parameter, wherein the instantaneous power is a sum of a fixed power and a variable power related to the play setting parameter; wherein the play setting parameter includes the multimedia One of the playback device backlight setting parameters, a treble setting parameter, a bass setting parameter, a volume setting parameter, or a combination thereof. The multimedia playback device of claim 1, wherein the control module controls the multimedia playback device to present the instantaneous power in response to the receiving module receiving a user request. The multimedia playback device of claim 1, wherein the power calculation module calculates the instantaneous power using a predetermined calculation formula. The multimedia playback device of claim 1, further comprising: a lookup table, wherein the plurality of preset data associated with the play setting parameter are stored, and the power calculation module is configured according to the preset data. Estimate the instantaneous power. A control method suitable for a multimedia playing device, comprising the steps of: (a) receiving one of playing setting parameters associated with the multimedia playing device; (b) controlling the multimedia playback device according to the playback setting parameter; and (c) estimating an instantaneous power of the multimedia playback device according to the playback setting parameter, wherein the instantaneous power is a fixed power and one of the playback setting parameters The sum of the varying powers; wherein the play setting parameter includes one of the multimedia playback device backlight setting parameters, a treble setting parameter, a bass setting parameter, a volume setting parameter, or a combination thereof. The control method of claim 5, further comprising the step of presenting the instantaneous power. The control method according to claim 5, wherein the step (c) calculates the instantaneous power by using a predetermined calculation formula. The control method of claim 5, wherein the step (c) comprises estimating the instantaneous power according to the plurality of preset data stored in a lookup table, the preset data being related to the play setting parameter.