CN117666983A

CN117666983A - Method and communication device for controlling display screen refresh rate change

Info

Publication number: CN117666983A
Application number: CN202211008741.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 何翔
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-08-22
Filing date: 2022-08-22
Publication date: 2024-03-08

Abstract

The application provides a method and a communication device for controlling a display screen refresh rate change. When the refresh rate change sequence is up-conversion, the screen IC stops sending TE signals to the AP chip in a time period corresponding to the gradient value in the refresh rate change sequence according to the refresh rate change sequence, so that the frequency or the time point of sending images to the screen IC by the AP chip is changed, and the refresh rate is ensured not to be higher than the requirement of the gradient in the refresh rate change sequence in the switching process; when the refresh rate change sequence is down-conversion, the image frames received before are refreshed in a forced self-refresh mode at critical time points corresponding to gradients in the refresh rate change sequence, so that the refresh rate is ensured not to be lower than the requirement of the gradients in the refresh rate change sequence in the switching process, and the phenomenon of screen flashing caused by overlarge change amplitude of the refresh rate is avoided. The method can meet the requirements of different refresh rate change sequences, and has lower requirements on the hardware capability of the AP chip.

Description

Method and communication device for controlling display screen refresh rate change

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of screen display, and more particularly, to a method and a communication device for controlling a change in refresh rate of a display screen.

Background

With the gradual popularization of the display screen with high refresh rate, the increase of power consumption caused by the increase of the user interaction experience is not ignored. At present, in the process of greatly changing the refresh rate of some display screens, for example, in the process of changing the refresh rate in a large range from 1Hz to 120Hz, because the refresh rate is excessively large in change range, a screen flashing phenomenon exists, and the phenomenon is particularly obvious under low brightness, the display quality of the display screen is reduced, and the user experience is affected.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and a communication device for controlling the change of the refresh rate of a display screen, which ensure that the refresh rate of the display screen meets the requirements of different refresh rate change sequences, avoid the phenomenon of screen flashing caused by overlarge change amplitude of the refresh rate, and improve the flexibility. And, the hardware capability requirement of the AP chip is low.

In a first aspect, a method for controlling a change in refresh rate of a display screen is provided, the method being applied to an electronic device having a display screen, the electronic device including a screen IC and an AP chip, the method comprising: refreshing and displaying the image frames by the screen IC according to the ith refresh rate in a refresh rate change sequence, wherein the refresh rate change sequence comprises N refresh rates, the refresh rate change sequence is an up-conversion sequence, and the value of N is an integer greater than or equal to 3; the screen IC starts to update any image frame with the ith refresh rate as a time starting point, and stops sending TE signals to the AP chip in a first time period, wherein the time length of the first time period is the time length corresponding to the (i+1) th refresh rate in the refresh rate change sequence, and the (i+1) th refresh rate is larger than the ith refresh rate; the AP chip stops transmitting image frames to the screen IC for a first period of time.

According to the method for controlling the refresh rate change of the display screen, under the condition that the refresh rate change sequence is up-conversion, the screen IC side controls the time for sending the TE signal to the AP chip, namely, the screen IC stops sending the TE signal to the AP chip in the time period corresponding to the gradient value (i.e. the (i+1) th refresh rate) in the refresh rate change sequence according to the requirement of the refresh rate change sequence, so that the frequency or the time point of sending an image to the screen IC by the AP chip is changed, the screen IC refreshes according to the received image to change the refresh rate, the refresh rate of the display screen can be ensured to meet the requirements of different refresh rate change sequences, the refresh rate is ensured not to be higher than the gradient (i.e. the (i+1) th refresh rate) requirement in the refresh rate change sequence in the switching process, and the phenomenon of flashing caused by overlarge refresh rate change amplitude is avoided. And the method has higher flexibility, can meet the requirements of different refresh rate change sequences, has lower requirements on the hardware capability of the AP chip, and can be suitable for the AP chip with strong refresh rate control capability and the AP chip with weak refresh rate control capability.

An up-sequence may be understood as a sequence of refresh rate changes comprising a plurality of refresh rate values, the latter value being greater than the former value, e.g. the sequence of refresh rate changes being: r is R ₁ Hz→R ₂ Hz→···R _N Hz, where R _i+1 Hz is greater than R _i The value of the Hz, i ranges from 1 to N-1, and the value of N is an integer greater than or equal to 3.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: after the first period of time is over, the screen IC sends TE signals to the AP chip; the screen IC receives an image frame which is sent by the AP chip and responds to the TE signal; the screen IC refreshes and displays the image frame at less than or equal to the (i+1) th refresh rate. In the implementation mode, the requirement that the refresh rate is higher than the gradient in the refresh rate change sequence in the switching process can be guaranteed, and the phenomenon of screen flashing caused by overlarge change amplitude of the refresh rate is avoided.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the ith refresh rate brush is the minimum refresh rate in the refresh rate variation sequence.

The (i+1) th refresh rate brush is less than or equal to the (N-1) th refresh rate of the sequence of refresh rate changes.

The refresh rate variation sequence includes: r is R ₁ Hz→R ₂ Hz→···R _N Hz，R _i+1 Hz is greater than R _i The value range of the Hz, i is 1 to N-1. For example, the refresh rate change sequence is: 10Hz, 30Hz and 120H.

Illustratively, if the (i+1) th refresh rate is RHz, the (i+1) th refresh rate corresponds to a time period of 1/R (1/R represents 1 divided by R) seconds.

For example: if the (i+1) th refresh rate is 30Hz, the (i+1) th refresh rate corresponds to a time length of 1/30 (1/30 means 1 divided by 30) seconds.

In a second aspect, a method for controlling a change in refresh rate of a display screen is provided, the method being applied to an electronic device having a display screen, the electronic device including a screen IC and an AP chip, the method comprising: refreshing and displaying the image frames by the screen IC according to the ith refresh rate in a refresh rate change sequence, wherein the refresh rate change sequence comprises N refresh rates, the refresh rate change sequence is a down-conversion sequence, and the value of N is an integer greater than or equal to 3; and when the screen IC starts to refresh any image frame with the ith refresh rate as a time starting point and does not receive the image frame sent by the AP chip in a second time period, forcible self-refresh is carried out with the (i+1) th refresh rate at the cut-off time of the second time period, wherein the time length of the second time period is the time length corresponding to the (i+1) th refresh rate in the refresh rate change sequence, and the (i+1) th refresh rate is smaller than the (i) th refresh rate.

In the method for controlling the refresh rate change of the display screen provided in the second aspect, for the case that the refresh rate change sequence is down-converted, at a critical time point (or critical moment) corresponding to a gradient (i.e. the i+1th refresh rate) in the refresh rate change sequence, the screen IC refreshes the image frames received before the time point in a forced self-refresh manner, so that the refresh rate is ensured not to be lower than the gradient (i.e. the i+1th refresh rate) in the refresh rate change sequence in the switching process, and the phenomenon of screen flashing caused by overlarge change amplitude of the refresh rate is avoided. And the method has higher flexibility, can meet the requirements of different refresh rate change sequences, has lower requirements on the hardware capability of the AP chip, and can be suitable for the AP chip with strong refresh rate control capability and the AP chip with weak refresh rate control capability.

In this embodiment, the down-conversion sequence may be understood as that, among a plurality of refresh rate values included in the refresh rate change sequence, a previous value is greater than a next value, for example, the refresh rate change sequence is: r is R ₁ Hz→R ₂ Hz→···R _N Hz, where R _i+ ₁ Hz is less than R _i The value of the Hz, i ranges from 1 to N-1, and the value of N is an integer greater than or equal to 3.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a case that an image frame sent by the AP chip is received in the second period, the screen IC refreshes the image frame at a refresh rate greater than the i+1th refresh rate. In this implementation, it can be ensured that the refresh rate does not appear to be lower than the i+1th refresh rate in the sequence of refresh rate changes during the switching.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, at the expiration time of the second period, the screen IC forces self-refresh at the i+1th refresh rate using the image frames received before.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a case where a frequency of the screen IC sending the TE signal to the AP chip is greater than the ith refresh rate, the method further includes: the screen IC adjusts the frequency of transmitting the TE signal to the AP chip so that the transmission frequency of the TE signal is equal to the ith refresh rate. In the implementation manner, the refresh rate of the display screen and the transmission frequency of the TE signal can be kept matched, so that the screen IC is prevented from receiving the image frames transmitted by the AP chip during the refreshing period, and data disorder is generated.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the ith refresh rate is brushed to be the largest refresh rate in the refresh rate variation sequence.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the (i+1) th refresh rate brush is larger than the (N-1) th refresh rate of the refresh rate variation sequence.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the refresh rate change sequence includes: r is R ₁ Hz→R ₂ Hz→···R _N Hz，R _i+1 Hz is less than R _i The value range of the Hz, i is 1 to N-1.

For example, the refresh rate change sequence is: 120 Hz-60 Hz-10 Hz.

For example: if the (i+1) th refresh rate is 60Hz, the (i+1) th refresh rate corresponds to a time length of 1/60 (1/60 means 1 divided by 60) second.

In a third aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, the apparatus comprising means or units for performing the steps of the above first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect. The module or unit may be a hardware circuit, or may be software, or may be implemented by combining a hardware circuit with software. The communication means may be for the terminal device of the first aspect, or may be means (e.g. a chip, or a system on a chip, or a circuit) in the terminal device, or may be means that can be used in match with the terminal device.

In one possible implementation, the communication device includes a transceiver unit and a processing unit. The processing unit is used for controlling the transceiver unit to perform signal transceiving. The receiving and transmitting unit is used for transmitting the expected switching information and the measurement result determined by the terminal equipment to the first network equipment; and the first information is used for accessing the terminal equipment to the second network equipment.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a communication device comprising means or units for performing the steps of the second aspect above or any possible implementation of the second aspect. The module or unit may be a hardware circuit, or may be software, or may be implemented by combining a hardware circuit with software. The communication means may be for the network device of the second aspect, or may be means (e.g. a chip, or a system on a chip, or a circuit) in the network device, or may be means capable of being used in cooperation with the network device.

In one possible implementation, the communication device includes a transceiver unit and a processing unit. The processing unit is used for controlling the transceiver unit to perform signal transceiving. The receiving and transmitting unit is used for receiving the measurement report sent by the terminal equipment and the expected switching information determined by the terminal equipment; the processing unit is used for determining to access the terminal equipment to the second network equipment according to the measurement report and the expected switching information; the receiving and transmitting unit is further used for sending first information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first information is used for accessing the terminal equipment to the second network equipment.

In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, the device comprising at least one processor for performing the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect above.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor executes instructions stored in the memory to implement the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect. Optionally, the communication device further comprises a memory storing the instructions. In the alternative, the memory and processor may be integrated or provided separately.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor implements, through its logic circuit, the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a possible implementation, the communication device further includes a transceiver for transceiving signals.

In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, the device comprising at least one processor for performing the method of the second aspect above or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

In a possible implementation, the processor implements the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect by executing instructions stored in a memory. Optionally, the communication device further comprises a memory storing the instructions. In the alternative, the memory and processor may be integrated or provided separately.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor implements, through its logic circuit, the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, the device comprising at least one processor and interface circuitry for outputting and/or inputting signals, the at least one processor being adapted to perform the method of the above first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided, the device comprising at least one processor and interface circuitry for outputting and/or inputting signals, the at least one processor being adapted to perform the method of the second aspect above or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

A ninth aspect provides an electronic device comprising the communication apparatus provided in the third aspect, or the terminal device comprising the communication apparatus provided in the fifth aspect, or the terminal device comprising the communication apparatus provided in the seventh aspect.

In a possible implementation, the electronic device further includes a display screen for refreshing and displaying the image.

In one possible implementation, the electronic device further includes an AP chip and a screen IC.

In a tenth aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer program for performing the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or for performing the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, when being executed by a processor.

An eleventh aspect provides a computer readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program for performing the method of the first aspect or any of the possible implementations of the first aspect or performing the method of the second aspect or any of the possible implementations of the second aspect when the computer program is executed.

In a twelfth aspect, there is provided a chip comprising: a processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory, such that a communication device on which the chip is mounted performs the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or performs the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example of an electronic device structure according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a process of changing a display refresh rate by a user in a manner of polishing and sliding a finger touch screen in a certain application program according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 3 is a schematic interaction diagram of an example of a method for controlling a display screen refresh rate change according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of TE signal and image frame transmission timing in the case where the refresh rate change sequence is 10Hz to 30Hz to 120H according to the embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of TE signal and image frame transmission timing in the case where another refresh rate variation sequence provided in the embodiment of the present application is 10hz→30hz→120H.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of another example method for controlling display screen refresh rate variation provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of an example of TE signal and image frame transmission timing provided in the embodiment of the present application when the refresh rate variation sequence provided in the embodiment of the present application is 120hz→60hz→10 Hz.

Fig. 8 is a schematic block diagram of an example communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 is a schematic block diagram of another example communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 is a schematic block diagram of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise indicated, "/" means or, for example, a/B may represent a or B; "and/or" herein is merely an association relationship describing an association object, and means that three relationships may exist, for example, a and/or B may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In addition, in the description of the embodiments of the present application, "plurality" means two or more than two.

The terms "first" and "second" are used below for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defining "a first" or "a second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more such feature. In the description of the present embodiment, unless otherwise specified, the meaning of "plurality" is two or more.

First, a simple explanation is given to the structure of the electronic device provided in the embodiment of the present application.

The method for controlling the change of the refresh rate of the display screen, which is provided by the embodiment of the application, can be applied to electronic equipment, and the electronic equipment can comprise electronic equipment with a larger display screen. For example: the electronic device in the embodiment of the application can be an intelligent television, a large-screen device, a projection device capable of projecting on a wall, a computer, various portable notebooks, various tablet computers, other electronic devices with display screens and the like. Optionally, the electronic device may also be a personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA) with a larger display screen, a handheld device with a larger display screen, a computing device, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, an electronic device in a 5G network or an electronic device in an evolved public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN), etc., which the embodiments of the present application are not limited to.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application, where, as shown in fig. 1, the electronic device mainly includes: an application processor (application processor, AP) chip and a display screen, the display screen comprising: integrated circuits (integrated circuit, IC), liquid crystal modules and random access memories (random access memory, RAM) in the display. The display screen is driven by a screen IC (or may be called a screen chip) to display images, the screen IC (or may be called a screen chip) is a main control of the display screen, and the AP chip is a system-on-a-chip (SOC) on a main board, which is a main control of the whole electronic device. The AP chip generates an image frame to be displayed, after receiving a Tearing Effect (TE) signal sent by the screen IC, the AP chip sends the image frame to be displayed to the screen IC at a certain frequency through a communication connection (for example, a mobile industry processor interface (mobile industry processor interface, MIPI)) with the screen IC, and the screen IC firstly stores the received image frame in the RAM and reads the image frame in the RAM, so that the liquid crystal module is driven to display the image frame.

It should be understood that the structure shown in fig. 1 should not impose any limitation on the structure of the electronic device provided in the present application, and in other implementations of the present application, the structure of the electronic device may also be different from that shown in fig. 1, for example, include more components, etc., and embodiments of the present application are not limited herein.

To facilitate an understanding of the aspects of the present application, the terms referred to in this application are first briefly described.

TE signal: a signal generated by a screen IC is used for preventing tearing problems during refreshing of a picture during image display. Typically, the screen IC sends TE signals at a fixed frequency (e.g., 120 Hz) to the AP chip in the electronic device. The AP chip can send the image frame to be displayed to the screen IC only after receiving the TE signal, and the screen IC refreshes the screen to display the image frame. For example, the AP chip may send a frame of image to the screen IC after receiving each TE signal, and assuming that the frequency of sending TE signals to the AP chip by the screen IC is 120Hz, i.e., 120 TE signals to the AP chip per second, the frequency of sending image frames to the screen IC by the AP chip may be 120Hz or less, i.e., less than or equal to 120 frames of image may be sent to the screen IC per second. After the screen IC receives the image frames, the screen is refreshed to display the image frames. For example, if the AP chip sends 120 frames of images per second to the screen IC, the time interval between two adjacent image frames is 1/120 (1/120 represents 1 divided by 120) seconds, and after the screen IC receives the 120 frames of images, the 120 frames of images need to be refreshed 120 times in one second to be displayed on the screen, that is, the pictures on the display screen are refreshed 120 times per second, and the refresh rate of the display screen is 120Hz. Alternatively, a refresh rate of 120Hz for a display screen can also be understood as: the display screen is refreshed once every 1/120 (1 is expressed by dividing by 120) second and displays a frame of image; or may also be understood as: the time interval between two adjacent image frames sent by the AP chip to the screen IC is 1/120 second. The frequency of sending image frames to the screen IC by the AP chip is the same as the refresh rate of the display screen. In other words, the frequency at which the screen IC sends TE signals to the AP chip determines the upper limit of the display screen refresh rate, and the frequency at which the AP chip sends image frames to the screen IC determines the display screen refresh rate. In practice, the frequency at which the AP chip sends image frames to the screen IC may also be less than the frequency at which the screen IC sends TE signals to the AP chip.

Refresh rate for a certain image frame: for example, the refresh rate of the nth frame image can be understood as: the screen IC reads the nth frame image and refreshes the reciprocal of the length of time between the start time of the display and the start time of reading the n+1th frame image and refreshes the display. For example, the length of time between the start time of reading the 2 nd frame image and refreshing the display and the start time of reading the 3 rd frame image and refreshing the display is 1/80 seconds, and the refresh rate of the 2 nd frame image is 80Hz.

Refresh rate change sequence: and each gradient sequence in the process of changing the refresh rate of the display screen is predefined, so that the too large range of the change of the refresh rate of the display screen is avoided. For example: for a refresh rate variation sequence of 120Hz to 60Hz to 30Hz to 10Hz, it can be understood that in the process of reducing the refresh rate of the display screen from 120Hz to 10Hz, the refresh rate needs to be reduced to 60Hz (or may be greater than 60Hz but not less than 60 Hz), then reduced to 30Hz (or may be greater than 30Hz but not less than 30 Hz) from 60Hz, then reduced to 10Hz from 30Hz, and finally, the refresh rate of 10Hz is maintained. Also for example: for a refresh rate change sequence of 10hz→30hz→80hz→120Hz, it can be understood that in the process of increasing the refresh rate of the display screen from 10Hz to 120Hz, the refresh rate needs to be increased from 10Hz to 30Hz (or may be smaller than 30Hz but not larger than 30 Hz), then the refresh rate is increased from 30Hz to 80Hz (or may be smaller than 80Hz but not larger than 80 Hz), then the refresh rate is increased from 80Hz to 120Hz, and finally the refresh rate of 120Hz is maintained. That is, for a refresh rate change sequence, whether the refresh rate change sequence is up-conversion (for example, 10hz→30hz→80hz→120 Hz) or down-conversion (for example, 120hz→60hz→30hz→10 Hz), essentially a plurality of refresh rates of different gradients are set, so that the display screen does not have too large change amplitude in the process of changing the refresh rate, but changes sequentially according to the gradients included in the refresh rate change sequence.

With the gradual popularization of the display screen with high refresh rate, the increase of power consumption caused by the increase of the user interaction experience is not ignored. Therefore, how to reasonably and dynamically adjust the refresh rate of the display screen is an important direction of current research. Particularly, compared with a low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (low temperature polycrystalline oxide, LTPO) screen which is formed in recent years, the low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (low temperature poly silicon, LTPS) screen greatly increases the time interval for keeping the screen content without refreshing, so that the switching of the dynamic refresh rate in a large range from 1Hz to 120Hz can be realized, and the system power consumption can be greatly reduced while the user is more smoothly experienced.

However, due to the constraint on screen devices, for some display screens, especially LTPO which is not fully mature in technology, there is a certain constraint on refresh rate switching, and when the change amplitude of the refresh rate is too large, for example, the refresh rate is reduced from 120Hz to 10Hz or increased from 1Hz to 120Hz, a screen flashing phenomenon exists, which is particularly obvious under low brightness, and can reduce the display quality of the display screen, and affect the user experience.

Currently, in order to make the magnitude of the refresh rate change of the display screen not too large, as a possible implementation manner, a sequence of constraint control refresh rate switching may be implemented through the screen IC, so as to avoid occurrence of a significant refresh rate change. For example, when the AP chip in the display screen controls the display screen to switch from the 120Hz refresh rate to the 10Hz refresh rate, the screen IC (or may also be called the screen chip) does not directly switch to the 10Hz refresh rate when the AP chip transmitting data (image frame) is not continuously received, but instead, the forced control refresh rate switches to 60Hz refresh for one frame, then to 30Hz refresh for one frame, and finally to 10Hz refresh and hold. By the method, the change of the refresh rate of the display screen can be prevented from being too large. However, in this manner, the refresh rate variation expected by the AP chip may not coincide with the refresh rate variation of the display screen in practice, and thus, in a moving scene with a high requirement for drawing and displaying synchronization, the display screen may have a problem of jam caused by the asynchronous refresh rate. Moreover, the lack of flexibility in the pre-cured set refresh rate change sequence (e.g., 120hz→60hz→30hz→10 Hz) of the screen IC may limit the use of a better refresh rate change sequence for the actual refresh rate change process, resulting in reduced performance of the display screen in certain scenarios.

In addition to the above manner, in another possible implementation, the screen IC does not make any refresh rate constraint, and changes the refresh rate completely according to the requirements of the AP chip, that is, the AP chip completely controls the change of the refresh rate, so as to ensure that the various changes of the refresh rate satisfy the refresh rate change sequence of the display screen. For example, when the refresh rate is reduced from 120Hz to 10Hz, the AP chip will actively reduce the refresh rate to 60Hz to refresh one or more frames (i.e., the time interval between two adjacent image frames of the screen IC to be transmitted by the AP chip is 1/60 of a second), reduce the refresh rate to 30Hz to refresh one or more frames (i.e., the time interval between two adjacent image frames of the screen IC to be transmitted by the AP chip is 1/30 of a second), and finally switch to 10Hz to refresh and hold (i.e., the time interval between two adjacent image frames of the screen IC to be transmitted by the AP chip is 1/10 of a second). However, in this way, the timing control capability of the AP chip is required to be very high, and the timing of sending the image frames to the screen IC needs to be precisely controlled by the AP chip according to the sequence constraint of the refresh rate variation of different display screens, for example, the AP chip needs to send the image frames to the screen IC at a frequency of 120Hz, and then send the image frames to the screen IC at frequencies of 60Hz, 30Hz and 10Hz, respectively, so that the screen IC can refresh the image frames sent by the AP chip with a suitable refresh rate. The AP chip cannot send image frames to the screen IC early or late. Moreover, in this way, the requirements on the software and hardware capabilities of the AP chip are very high, and many common AP chips without special designs cannot meet such accurate control requirements.

In view of this, the present application provides a method for controlling a display screen refresh rate change, for the case that the refresh rate change sequence is up-conversion, by controlling the timing of sending a TE signal to an AP chip at the screen IC side, that is, the screen IC stops sending the TE signal to the AP chip in a period corresponding to a gradient value in the refresh rate change sequence according to the requirement of the refresh rate change sequence, thereby changing the frequency or time point of sending an image to the screen IC by the AP chip, and the screen IC performs refresh according to a received image, thereby changing the refresh rate, so as to ensure that the refresh rate of the display screen meets the requirements of different refresh rate change sequences, and improve flexibility. And, the hardware capability requirement of the AP chip is low.

In some possible implementations, the method for controlling the change of the refresh rate of the display screen provided in the present application may be applied in the scenario shown in fig. 2. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a process of changing a refresh rate of a display screen by a user using a finger touch screen to throw and slide at an application program (i.e., APP).

The finger touch screen polishing and sliding can be understood as follows: after the finger is quickly moved a distance while keeping pressing the screen, the finger is lifted off the screen.

Before the user touches the screen with his finger, the screen is kept at the lowest refresh rate of 10Hz, as shown in fig. 2, because the display screen is displaying still pictures. After the user's finger touches the display screen to begin sliding, the screen motion device does not immediately switch the refresh rate of the display screen to the highest 120Hz, but goes through some transitional refresh rate, such as 60Hz shown in fig. 2, and eventually rises to 120Hz. After the user's finger leaves the screen, the change of the content displayed on the screen does not stop immediately, i.e., the still picture is not displayed immediately, but the picture change speed is slowly reduced, gradually stopped, until the still picture is finally displayed. I.e. the refresh rate of the display screen does not immediately decrease from 120Hz to the lowest 10Hz, but slowly decreases. For example, gradually reducing from 120Hz to 90Hz, reducing from 90Hz to 60Hz, reducing from 60Hz to 30Hz, and finally, recovering to the minimum refresh rate of 10Hz after the picture is still for self-refreshing.

As can be seen from fig. 2, in the process of changing the refresh rate of the display screen by polishing the finger touch screen, the refresh rate is changed according to the refresh rate change sequence, namely, the refresh rate change sequence of 10Hz, 60Hz, 120H, and 120Hz, 90Hz, 60Hz, 30Hz, 10Hz, instead of directly switching from 10Hz to 120Hz or from 120Hz to 10Hz, so that the excessive range of the refresh rate change of the display screen is avoided.

It will be appreciated that the method for controlling the refresh rate change of the display screen provided in the present application may be applied to other scenes where the refresh rate of the display screen needs to be changed or adjusted according to a certain refresh rate change sequence, besides being applied to the scene shown in fig. 2, and fig. 2 is merely exemplary, and should not be construed as limiting the application scene in any way.

The method for changing the refresh rate of the display screen provided by the application is described below with reference to specific examples.

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart of an example method for controlling display screen refresh rate variation provided in the present application. In the example shown in fig. 3, assume that: the refresh rate change sequence is 10 Hz-30 Hz-120H, i.e. the up-conversion sequence, and it must be ensured that there is at least 30Hz refresh rate in the middle of switching from 10Hz refresh rate to 120Hz refresh rate. Also, assume that the frequency at which the screen IC transmits TE signals to the AP chip is 120Hz.

In this embodiment, the up-conversion sequence may be understood as that, among a plurality of refresh rate values included in the refresh rate change sequence, a later value is greater than a previous value, for example, the refresh rate change sequence is: r is R ₁ Hz→R ₂ Hz→···R _N Hz, where R _i+ ₁ Hz is greater than R _i The value of the Hz, i ranges from 1 to N-1, and the value of N is an integer greater than or equal to 3.

As shown in fig. 3, the method 300 includes:

s310, the screen IC refreshes the image frames at a refresh rate of 10 Hz.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of TE signal and image frame transmission timing provided in the embodiment of the present application in the case where the refresh rate variation sequence is 10hz→30hz→120H. As shown in fig. 4, for each image frame to be transmitted, the AP chip needs to sequentially perform drawing, interface synthesis (surface Flinger), vertical synchronization (vertical synchronization, vsync), image frame preparation by the AP chip, image frame transmission by the AP chip, and the like. For the screen IC, it is required to read the image frames sent by each AP chip and refresh the image frames displayed on the display screen, and the reciprocal of the time interval between reading two adjacent image frames and refreshing the display screen can be understood as the refresh rate of the display screen, or the refresh rate of the frame preceding the two adjacent image frames. In addition, the display screen has its own refresh rate (i.e. the self-refresh frequency of the display screen), for example, the display screen can keep a minimum refresh rate to continuously refresh, whether or not the image frames sent by the AP chip are received, so that the normal display of the display screen is ensured. In the example shown in fig. 3, the frequency at which the screen IC sends TE signals to the AP chip is 120Hz.

For example, as shown in fig. 4, the frequency of the TE signal sent by the screen IC to the AP chip is 120Hz, in one possible implementation, after the AP chip receives the TE signal sent by the screen IC, the AP chip may send image frames to the screen IC at a frequency of 10Hz, that is, send 10 frames of images to the screen IC per second, and the time interval between two adjacent image frames (for example, image frames 1 and 2 in fig. 4) is 1/10 (representing 1 divided by 10) seconds, so that the screen IC may read the image frames at a refresh rate of 10Hz, refresh and display on the display screen.

In another possible implementation, the refresh rate of 10Hz may be the lowest refresh rate of the display screen, in which case the screen IC may maintain the lowest refresh rate of 10Hz for refresh even if the AP chip does not send image frames to the screen IC, thereby ensuring proper display of the display screen.

It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the minimum refresh rate of the display screen may also be less than 10Hz, such as 1Hz or other values, etc., and embodiments of the present application are not limited herein.

S320, when the screen IC starts refreshing any frame of image with a refresh rate of 10Hz as a time starting point, and stops sending TE signals to the AP chip in a period corresponding to the refresh rate of 30 Hz.

When the screen IC starts refreshing any one frame of image at a refresh rate of 10Hz, for example, starts refreshing and displays image frame 1 or image frame 2 in fig. 4, the refresh start of image frame 2 is illustrated in fig. 4, and since the refresh rate change sequence is 10hz→30hz→120Hz, that is, the refresh rate of the display screen needs to refresh the image frame transmitted by the AP chip at a refresh rate of less than or equal to 30Hz and a refresh rate of less than or equal to 30Hz in the process of increasing to 120Hz, this means that the time interval between two adjacent image frames (for example, image frame 2 and image frame 3 in fig. 4) transmitted by the AP chip received by the screen IC needs to be greater than or equal to 1/30 (1/30 represents 1 divided by 30) seconds. For example, if the time interval between two adjacent image frames (e.g., image frame 2 and image frame 3 in fig. 4) sent by the AP chip is received by the screen IC is equal to 1/30 seconds, the screen IC needs to refresh the screen and display image frame 3 in 1/30 seconds, i.e., the refresh rate is 30Hz; if the screen IC receives the time interval between two adjacent image frames (e.g., image frame 2 and image frame 3 in fig. 4) sent by the AP chip to be less than 1/30 second, for example, 1/35 second, the screen IC needs to refresh the screen and display image frame 3 in 1/35 second, i.e., the refresh rate is 35Hz; if the screen IC receives the interval between two adjacent image frames (e.g., image frame 2 and image frame 3 in fig. 4) sent by the AP chip for more than 1/30 second, e.g., 1/25 second, then the screen IC needs to refresh the screen and display image frame 3 in 1/25 second, i.e., the refresh rate is 25Hz.

As can be seen from the above analysis, if the display screen needs to refresh the image frames sent by the AP chip at a refresh rate of less than or equal to 30Hz, the time interval between the AP chip sending two adjacent image frames to the screen IC is required to be greater than or equal to 1/30 seconds, about 0.03 seconds, or, in other words, the screen IC starts to refresh any one image frame at a refresh rate of 10Hz as a time starting point, and in a period of 0.03 seconds, the AP chip cannot send an image frame to the screen IC, so that, as shown in fig. 4, in the period of time when the screen IC starts to refresh any one image frame at a refresh rate of 10Hz, the screen IC stops sending the TE signal to the AP chip (for example, in the period of time when the screen IC starts to refresh the image frame 2 as a start time) and in the period corresponding to a refresh rate of 30Hz, that is, in the period of 1/30 seconds.

Since the AP chip cannot receive the TE signal during this period, even if the AP chip prepares an image frame of new content for transmission earlier, for example, the AP chip prepares image frame 3 in fig. 4 to be transmitted to the screen IC, the transmission of image frame 3 is delayed due to the lack of receiving the TE signal transmitted by the screen IC. It should be appreciated that the interface synthesis (surface Flinger) time for image frame 4, image frame 5, and image frame 6 shown in fig. 4 is all later than: since the screen IC starts refreshing and displays the image frame (for example, image frame 2) at the refresh rate of 10Hz, and a time point of 1/30 second time elapses from the start time, the AP chip transmits the image frame 4, the image frame 5, and the image frame 6 to the screen IC at a time itself later than the time point.

Therefore, when the screen IC starts refreshing any one of the image frames at a refresh rate of 10Hz, the screen IC stops transmitting the TE signal to the AP chip within a time period of 1/30 second, the AP chip does not transmit the image frames to the screen IC, and the screen IC does not receive the image frames. In other words, since the time interval between the AP chip transmitting two adjacent image frames (for example, image frame 2 and image frame 3 in fig. 4) to the screen IC is greater than or equal to 1/30 second, since the screen IC starts to refresh the image frame (for example, image frame 2) at a refresh rate of 10Hz, the earliest time that the screen IC receives the next frame image (for example, image frame 3) is required to elapse 1/30 second before the screen IC can refresh and display the next frame image after receiving image frame 3. That is, the refresh rate of the display screen can only be switched from 10Hz to 30Hz at maximum, so that the refresh rate of the display screen is ensured not to be switched from 10Hz to refresh rate higher than 30Hz, and therefore, the refresh rate of the display screen can be ensured to refresh image frames sent by the AP chip with refresh rate smaller than or equal to 30Hz in the process of increasing from 10Hz to 120Hz, and the too large change amplitude of the refresh rate of the display screen is avoided.

In some possible implementations, if the time interval between the next image frames sent by the AP chip to the screen IC is greater than 1/30 seconds per se, starting with the screen IC starting with a refresh rate of 10Hz (e.g., image frame 2), for example, as shown in fig. 5, since the time interval between the AP chip sending two adjacent image frames to the screen IC (e.g., image frame 2 and image frame 3 in fig. 5) is 1/24 seconds, greater than 1/30 seconds, i.e., whether the screen IC stops sending TE signals to the AP chip in a period of time corresponding to a refresh rate of 30Hz, the earliest time that the screen IC receives the next image frame (e.g., image frame 3) will need to pass 1/24 seconds, starting with a refresh rate of 10Hz (e.g., image frame 2). In other words, the time interval between the AP chip sending the next frame of image (for example, image frame 3) to the screen IC is greater than 1/30 second, for example, 1/24 second, i.e., when the screen IC starts to refresh any frame of image at a refresh rate of 10Hz, and the screen IC refreshes and displays the image frame 3 at a refresh rate of 24Hz after receiving the image frame 3, so that it is ensured that the refresh rate of the display screen does not switch from 10Hz to a refresh rate higher than 30 Hz. In this case, the screen IC may switch the refresh rate according to the frequency at which the AP chip actually transmits the image frames, for example, if the time interval between two adjacent image frames transmitted to the screen IC by the AP chip is greater than 1/20 seconds, the refresh rate of the display screen is 20Hz, and is less than the gradient requirement of 30 Hz.

S330, after the corresponding time period with the refresh rate of 30Hz is over, the screen IC resumes sending TE signals to the AP chip.

For example, as shown in fig. 4 and 5, after the 1/30 second period has elapsed, the screen IC resumes sending TE signals to the AP chip. Alternatively, the frequency at which the screen IC sends TE signals to the AP chip is 120Hz.

S340, after receiving the TE signal sent by the screen IC, the AP chip sends an image frame to the screen IC.

After the AP chip receives the TE signal sent by the screen IC, the AP chip receives the TE signal, so that the image frame can be sent to the screen IC. For example, the AP chip may transmit the frequencies of image frame 3, image frame 4, image frame 5, and image frame 6, which have been prepared before, to the screen IC.

S350, after the screen IC receives the image frame, refreshing and displaying the image frame at a new refresh rate of less than or equal to 30Hz.

As shown in fig. 4, since the screen IC receives the image frame 3 after 1/30 second from the start of refreshing the image frame 2 at a refresh rate of 10Hz as a start time, the refresh rate of the display screen is 30Hz. As shown in fig. 5, since the screen IC receives the image frame 3 after 1/24 second from the start of refreshing the image frame 2 at a refresh rate of 10Hz as a start time, the refresh rate of the display screen is 24Hz.

As shown in fig. 4 and 5, when the screen IC receives the image frame 4 after 1/120 second from the start of refreshing the image frame 3 as the start time, the refresh rate of the display screen is 120Hz. The refresh rate of the display screen is 120Hz when the screen IC receives the image frame 5 after 1/120 second from the start of the refresh rate of the screen IC to refresh the image frame 4. The refresh rate of the display screen is 120Hz when the screen IC receives the image frame 6 after 1/120 seconds from the start of the refresh rate of the screen IC to start refreshing the image frame 5. I.e. the refresh rate of the display screen can be switched from 30Hz to 120Hz, refreshing and displaying the image frame. Alternatively, if the frequency at which the AP chip sends image frames to the screen IC is less than 120Hz, for example 110Hz, the refresh rate of the display screen may be switched from 30Hz to 110Hz, and the image frames refreshed and displayed.

By the method, the refresh rate of the display screen can meet the requirements of different refresh rate change sequences, the refresh rate is ensured not to be higher than the gradient requirement in the refresh rate change sequences in the switching process, and the phenomenon of screen flashing caused by overlarge change amplitude of the refresh rate is avoided. And the method has higher flexibility, can meet the requirements of different refresh rate change sequences, has lower requirements on the hardware capability of the AP chip, and can be suitable for the AP chip with strong refresh rate control capability and the AP chip with weak refresh rate control capability.

Alternatively, in the above example, if the refresh rate change sequence is 10hz→30hz→80hz→120H, that is, the refresh rate cannot be switched directly from 30Hz to 120Hz after being switched to 30Hz, but needs to be lifted up to 80Hz again, in this case, the TE signal is stopped from being sent to the AP chip in a period corresponding to the refresh rate of 80Hz, that is, in a time length of 1/80 seconds, at a point in time when the screen IC starts to refresh any one frame of image at the refresh rate of 30Hz or less than 30 Hz. Because the AP chip cannot receive the TE signal in the period, even if the AP chip is ready for sending the image frame of the new content earlier, the sending is delayed because the TE signal sent by the screen IC is not received, so that the image frame cannot be sent to the screen IC in the period of 1/80 second, and the screen IC cannot receive the image frame. In other words, since the AP chip transmits the next frame image to the screen IC with a time interval of 1/80 seconds or more from the point in time when the screen IC starts refreshing any one frame image at a refresh rate of 30Hz or less as a start time, the earliest time when the screen IC receives the next frame image is also required to elapse after 1/80 seconds since the screen IC starts refreshing at a refresh rate of 30Hz or less as a start time, and the screen IC performs refreshing after receiving the image frame. That is, the refresh rate of the display screen can only be switched from 30Hz to 80Hz at maximum, so that the refresh rate of the display screen can be ensured not to be switched from 30Hz to refresh rate higher than 80Hz, and therefore, the refresh rate of the display screen can be ensured to refresh image frames sent by the AP chip with refresh rate smaller than or equal to 80Hz in the process of increasing from 30Hz to 120Hz, and the too large change amplitude of the refresh rate of the display screen is avoided.

Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of another method for controlling display screen refresh rate variation provided in the present application. Assume that: the refresh rate change sequence is 120 Hz-60 Hz-10 Hz, namely the down-conversion sequence, and at least 60Hz refresh rate must be ensured in the middle of switching from 120Hz refresh rate to 10Hz refresh rate. Also, assume that the frequency at which the screen IC transmits TE signals to the AP chip is 360Hz.

As shown in fig. 6, the method 600 includes:

s610, the screen IC reduces the transmission frequency of the TE signal from 360Hz to 120Hz in a period of refreshing at a refresh rate of 120Hz.

It should be appreciated that the time beginning of the period of time that the screen IC is refreshed at a refresh rate of 120Hz is: the screen IC starts refreshing any frame of image as a time starting point, and the end point of the time period is as follows: a time of 1/120 second passes from the start of the period.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an example of TE signal and image frame transmission timing provided in the embodiment of the present application in the case where the refresh rate variation sequence is 120hz→60hz→10 Hz. As shown in fig. 7, for each image frame to be transmitted, the AP chip needs to sequentially perform drawing, interface compositing (Vsync), image frame preparation by the AP chip, image frame transmission by the AP chip, and the like. For a screen IC, it is necessary to read the image frames transmitted from each AP chip and refresh the display on the display screen. In addition, the display screen has its own refresh rate (i.e. self-refresh rate of the display screen), for example, the display screen can keep a minimum refresh rate to continuously refresh, whether or not the image frames sent by the AP chip are received, so that the normal display of the display screen is ensured. In the example shown in fig. 7, the frequency at which the screen IC sends TE signals to the AP chip is 360Hz, and the numbers following each image frame represent the refresh rate of that image frame.

For example, as shown in fig. 7, the frequency of the TE signal sent by the screen IC to the AP chip is 360Hz, in which case the AP chip may send image frames to the screen IC at a frequency of 360Hz or less, and the frequency of the image frames sent by the AP chip to the screen IC determines the refresh rate of the display screen, and since the actual refresh rate of the display screen is 120Hz, it proves that the sending frequency of the TE signal is too fast, which may cause the screen IC to receive the image frames sent by the AP chip again during the period in which the image frames are being refreshed, thereby generating data confusion. Therefore, the frequency of the image frames sent by the AP chip to the screen IC needs to be reduced, i.e. the frequency of the TE signal needs to be reduced to 120Hz, and the frequency of the TE signal is reduced from 360Hz to 120Hz. In other words, the slave screen IC stops sending the TE signal to the AP chip in a period of time of 1/120 second from the start of refreshing any one frame of image as a time start point. For example, as shown in fig. 7, the screen IC stops sending TE signals to the AP chip in a period of time of 1/120 seconds at the start of refreshing the image frame 1, the image frame 2, and the image frame 3 as time start points, respectively. In other words, according to the case where the frequency of the TE signal is 360Hz, 3 TE signals can be transmitted in a period of 1/120 seconds, and by decreasing the transmission frequency of the TE signal from 360Hz to 120Hz, 1 TE signal can be transmitted in a period of 1/120 seconds, i.e., two TE signals are shielded by the screen IC in each period of 1/120 seconds, i.e., the transmission of the TE signal to the AP chip is stopped. In this way, the refresh rate of the display screen and the transmission frequency of the TE signal can be kept matched, so that the screen IC is prevented from receiving the image frames transmitted by the AP chip during the refresh period, and thus, data disorder is generated, and the display screen can maintain the current actual refresh rate, for example, 120Hz.

For example, as shown in fig. 7, after reducing the frequency of the TE signal transmitted from the screen IC to the AP chip to 120Hz, in one possible implementation, after the AP chip receives the TE signal transmitted from the screen IC, the AP chip may transmit image frames to the screen IC at a frequency of 120Hz, that is, transmit 120 frames of images to the screen IC per second, and the time interval between two adjacent image frames (for example, image frames 1 and 2, image frames 2 and 3, and image frames 3 and 4 in fig. 7) is 1/120 seconds, so that the screen IC may read image frame 1, image frame 2, and image frame 3 at a refresh rate of 120Hz and display the images on the display screen.

It will be appreciated that the refresh rates of image frame 1, image frame 2, and image frame 3 shown in fig. 7 are all 120Hz. For example, from the time when the screen IC starts refreshing image frame 1, image frame 2 is received at the time when 1/120 seconds elapses, the screen IC may display image frame 1 at a refresh rate of 120Hz, i.e., the refresh rate of image frame 1 is 120Hz. During this period, i.e., from the time when the image frame 1 starts to be refreshed (i.e., the time start), the transmission of the TE signal to the AP chip is stopped during the period of 1/120 seconds, so that the transmission frequency of the TE signal can be reduced from 360Hz to 120Hz.

Similarly, when image frame 3 is received at a time of 1/120 second from the time when the refresh of image frame 2 is started, the screen IC can display image frame 3 at a refresh rate of 120Hz, i.e., the refresh rate of image frame 2 is 120Hz. From the time when the image frame 3 starts to be refreshed, the screen IC can display the image frame 4 at a refresh rate of 120Hz, i.e. the refresh rate of the image frame 3 is 120Hz, when the image frame 4 is received at a time of 1/120 seconds.

In another possible implementation, after receiving the TE signal sent by the screen IC, the AP chip may also send the image frames to the screen IC at a frequency less than 120Hz, that is, the time interval between two adjacent image frames is less than 1/120 seconds, so that the screen IC may read the image frames at a refresh rate less than 120Hz, refresh, and display the image frames on the display screen.

In some possible implementations, if the frequency of the TE signal transmitted by the screen IC to the AP chip is greater than 120Hz, S610 may also be performed to reduce the transmission frequency of the TE signal from 360Hz to 120Hz.

In other possible implementations, S610 may not be performed if the frequency at which the screen IC sends TE signals to the AP chip is 120Hz. In other words, S610 is an optional step.

S620, when the screen IC starts to refresh any frame of image as a time starting point and the image frame sent by the AP chip is not received at the expiration time of the time period corresponding to the refresh rate of 60Hz, the screen IC forces to self-refresh one frame at the refresh rate of 60 Hz.

As shown in fig. 7, after reducing the transmission frequency of the TE signal to 120Hz, the refresh rate of the display screen is kept consistent, in which case, after the AP chip receives the TE signal transmitted by the screen IC, the frequency of transmitting the image frame to the screen IC may be 120Hz or less. In other words, the refresh rate of the display screen may be 120Hz or less than 120Hz. Since the refresh rate change sequence is 120Hz to 60Hz to 10Hz, that is, the refresh rate of the display screen needs to refresh one or more frames at a refresh rate greater than or equal to 60Hz in the process of decreasing from 120Hz (or less than 120 Hz) to 10Hz, the refresh rate greater than or equal to 60Hz means that the time interval between the screen IC receiving two adjacent image frames (for example, image frame 4 and image frame 5 in fig. 7) transmitted by the AP chip is less than or equal to 1/60 second. For example, if the time interval between two adjacent image frames (e.g., image frame 4 and image frame 5 in fig. 7) sent by the AP chip is received by the screen IC is equal to 1/60 second, the screen IC needs to refresh the screen and display image frame 5 in 1/60 second, i.e., the refresh rate of image frame 4 is 60Hz; if the screen IC receives the time interval between two adjacent image frames (e.g., image frame 4 and image frame 5 in fig. 7) sent by the AP chip to be less than 1/60 second, for example, 1/70 second, the screen IC needs to refresh the screen and display the image frame 5 in 1/70 second, i.e., the refresh rate of the image frame 4 is 70Hz; if the screen IC receives the interval between two adjacent image frames (e.g., image frame 4 and image frame 5 in fig. 7) sent by the AP chip to be greater than 1/60 second, e.g., 1/50 second, the screen IC needs to refresh the screen and display image frame 5 in 1/50 second, i.e., the refresh rate of image frame 4 is 50Hz. From the above analysis, it can be seen that if the display screen needs to refresh the image frames sent by the AP chip at a refresh rate greater than or equal to 60Hz, the time interval between sending two adjacent image frames by the AP chip to the screen IC is less than or equal to 1/60 seconds, which is about 0.016 seconds. Or, when the screen IC starts refreshing any frame as a starting time (for example, a time point when the screen IC starts refreshing the image frame 4), the next image frame sent by the AP chip needs to be received (or the next frame image needs to be refreshed) in a time period of 0.016 seconds, otherwise, in a process that the refresh rate is reduced from 120Hz to 10Hz, a refresh rate smaller than 60Hz occurs, and the requirement of the refresh rate change sequence is not satisfied.

Therefore, when the screen IC does not receive the image frames sent by the AP chip at the expiration time of the period corresponding to the refresh rate of 60Hz, for example, as shown in fig. 7, when the screen IC starts refreshing any one of the image frames at the time point of the start time (for example, the time point of the screen IC starting to refresh the image frame 4), and when the image frame 5 sent by the AP chip is not received yet in the period of 0.016 seconds (i.e., the length of the period, the expiration time of the period of 0.016 seconds is the expiration time of the period), the screen IC forces to self-refresh at the refresh rate of 60Hz for one frame, for example, the image frame 4 is forced to self-refresh at the refresh rate of 60Hz by using the image frame 4 received before, i.e., the refresh rate of 60Hz, so that the refresh rate of less than 60Hz does not occur in the process of decreasing the refresh rate from 120Hz to 10Hz is ensured, thereby meeting the requirement of the refresh rate change sequence.

As shown in fig. 7, when the screen IC forcibly starts refreshing the image frame 4 at a refresh rate of 60Hz as a start timing, that is, when the image frame 5 is received at a lapse of 1/120 second from the timing at which the forced start of refreshing the image frame 4, the screen IC may display the image frame 5 at a refresh rate of 120Hz and display the image frame 5 at a refresh rate of 120Hz, that is, the forced-refreshed image frame 4. From the moment when the refreshing of image frame 5 starts, image frame 6 is received at the moment of 1/120 seconds elapsed, the screen IC may display image frame 6 at a refresh rate of 120Hz, i.e. the refresh rate of image frame 5 is 120Hz. From the moment when the image frame 6 starts to be refreshed, the screen IC may display the image frame 7 at a refresh rate of 120Hz, i.e. the refresh rate of the image frame 6 is 120Hz, when the image frame 7 is received at a moment of 1/60 seconds.

Similarly, if the refresh rate change sequence is 120Hz to 60Hz to 30Hz to 10Hz, that is, there is a constraint that the refresh rate of 60Hz decreases, the refresh rate of 30Hz may be reduced to a lower frame rate only by one or more frames at the lowest, in this case, when the screen IC starts to refresh any frame of image as a time starting point, and when the image frame sent by the AP chip is not received at the expiration time of the period corresponding to the refresh rate of 30Hz, the screen IC forces to self-refresh at the refresh rate of 30Hz, for example, the screen IC may receive the previous frame of image at the expiration time of the period corresponding to the refresh rate of 30Hz, and forcedly refresh a frame by using the previous frame of image, so that the refresh rate less than 30Hz does not occur in the process of decreasing the refresh rate from 60Hz to 10Hz, thereby meeting the requirement of the refresh rate change sequence.

By the method, under the condition that the refresh rate change sequence is in down-conversion, at a critical time point (or critical moment) corresponding to the gradient in the refresh rate change sequence, the screen IC refreshes the image frames received before the time point in a forced self-refresh mode, so that the refresh rate is ensured not to be lower than the requirement of the gradient in the refresh rate change sequence in the switching process, and the screen flashing phenomenon caused by overlarge change amplitude is avoided. And the method has higher flexibility, can meet the requirements of different refresh rate change sequences, has lower requirements on the hardware capability of the AP chip, and can be suitable for the AP chip with strong refresh rate control capability and the AP chip with weak refresh rate control capability.

It should be understood that the foregoing is only intended to assist those skilled in the art in better understanding the embodiments of the present application and is not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing examples that various equivalent modifications or variations may be made, for example, some steps may not be necessary in the embodiments of the methods described above, or some steps may be newly added, etc. Or a combination of any two or more of the above. Such modifications, variations, or combinations are also within the scope of embodiments of the present application.

It should also be understood that the various manners, cases, categories and divisions of the embodiments in the embodiments of the present application are for descriptive convenience only and should not be construed as being particularly limiting, and that the various manners, categories, circumstances and features of the embodiments may be combined without contradiction.

It should also be understood that the various numbers referred to in the embodiments of the present application are merely descriptive convenience and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the sequence of execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its functions and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

It should also be understood that the foregoing description of embodiments of the present application focuses on highlighting differences between the various embodiments and that the same or similar elements not mentioned may be referred to each other and are not described in detail herein for brevity.

The method for controlling the change of the refresh rate of the display screen according to the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 1 to 7. The following describes the communication device according to the embodiment of the present application in detail with reference to fig. 8 to 10.

The embodiment can divide the functional modules of the communication device according to the method. For example, each function may be divided into each functional module, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated modules described above may be implemented in hardware. It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the division of the modules is schematic, only one logic function is divided, and another division manner may be implemented in actual implementation.

It should be noted that, the relevant content of each step related to the above method embodiment may be cited to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, which is not described herein.

The communication device provided by the embodiment of the application is used for executing any one of the methods for controlling the change of the refresh rate of the display screen provided by the embodiment of the method, so that the same effect as that of the implementation method can be achieved. In case an integrated unit is employed, the communication means may comprise a processing module, and optionally a memory module and a communication module. The processing module can be used for controlling and managing the actions of the final electronic equipment or the screen IC. For example, may be used to support the communication device in performing the steps performed by the processing unit. The memory module may be used to support the storage of program code and data, for example, image frames sent by the AP chip, etc. A communication module, which may be used to support communication of the communication device with other devices (e.g., AP chips).

Wherein the processing module may be a processor or a controller. Which may implement or perform the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with this disclosure. A processor may also be a combination that performs computing functions, e.g., including one or more microprocessors, digital signal processing (digital signal processing, DSP) and microprocessor combinations, and the like. The memory module may be a memory. The communication module can be a radio frequency circuit, a Bluetooth chip, a Wi-Fi chip and other equipment which interact with other electronic equipment.

By way of example, fig. 8 shows a schematic block diagram of a communication apparatus 800 according to an embodiment of the present application, which communication apparatus 800 may correspond to a screen IC described in the above-described method 300 or method 600, or may also correspond to an electronic device, which electronic device comprises: the screen IC, AP, and display screen, or a chip or a component applied to the electronic device, and each module or unit in the communication apparatus 800 is used to perform each action or process performed in any one of the methods 300 or 600.

As shown in fig. 8, the communication device 800 includes a transceiver unit 810 and a processing unit 820. The transceiver unit 810 is used for performing specific signal transceiving under the control of the processing unit 820.

In some embodiments: the processing unit 820 is configured to: refreshing and displaying an image frame according to an ith refresh rate in a refresh rate change sequence, wherein the refresh rate change sequence comprises N refresh rates, the refresh rate change sequence is an up-conversion sequence, and the value of N is an integer greater than or equal to 3;

the processing unit 820 is further configured to: in a first time period, stopping sending TE signals to the AP chip, wherein the time length of the first time period is the time length corresponding to the (i+1) th refresh rate in the refresh rate change sequence, and the (i+1) th refresh rate is larger than the (i) th refresh rate;

the transceiver unit 810 is configured to: and stopping sending the image frames to the screen IC in the first time period.

According to the communication device, under the condition that the refresh rate change sequence is up-conversion, the TE signal is sent to the AP chip in a control mode, namely according to the requirement of the refresh rate change sequence, the TE signal is stopped to be sent to the AP chip in a time period corresponding to the gradient value in the refresh rate change sequence, so that the frequency or the time point of the AP chip for sending images to the screen IC is changed, further, the refresh rate is changed according to the received images sent by the AP chip, and therefore the refresh rate of the display screen is guaranteed to meet the requirements of different refresh rate change sequences, and the flexibility is improved. And, the hardware capability requirement of the AP chip is low.

In some possible implementations: the transceiver unit 810 is further configured to: after the first period of time is over, the screen IC sends TE signals to the AP chip; receiving an image frame which is sent by the AP chip and responds to the TE signal; the processing unit 820 is further configured to: the image frame is refreshed and displayed at less than or equal to the i+1th refresh rate.

In some possible implementations: the ith refresh rate brush is the smallest refresh rate in the sequence of refresh rate changes.

In some possible implementations: the (i+1) th refresh rate brush is less than or equal to the (N-1) th refresh rate of the sequence of refresh rate changes.

In some possible implementations: the refresh rate variation sequence includes: r is R ₁ Hz→R ₂ Hz→···R _N Hz，R _i+ ₁ Hz is greater than R _i The value range of the Hz, i is 1 to N-1.

For example, the refresh rate variation sequence is 10Hz to 30Hz to 80Hz to 120Hz.

In other embodiments: the processing unit 820 is configured to: refreshing and displaying the image frames according to the ith refresh rate in a refresh rate change sequence, wherein the refresh rate change sequence comprises N refresh rates, the refresh rate change sequence is a down-conversion sequence, and the value of N is an integer greater than or equal to 3; the processing unit 820 is further configured to: and when any image frame is started to be refreshed at the ith refresh rate as a time starting point and the image frame sent by the AP chip is not received in a second time period, forced self-refresh is carried out at the (i+1) th refresh rate at the cut-off time of the second time period, wherein the time length of the first time period is the time length corresponding to the (i+1) th refresh rate in the refresh rate change sequence, and the (i+1) th refresh rate is smaller than the (i) th refresh rate.

According to the communication device provided by the application, under the condition that the refresh rate change sequence is in the down-conversion mode, the image frames received before being refreshed in the forced self-refresh mode at the critical time point (or critical moment) corresponding to the gradient in the refresh rate change sequence are to be violated, so that the refresh rate is ensured not to be lower than the requirement of the gradient in the refresh rate change sequence in the switching process, and the phenomenon of screen flashing caused by overlarge change amplitude of the refresh rate is avoided. And the method has higher flexibility, can meet the requirements of different refresh rate change sequences, and can be suitable for AP chips with strong refresh rate control capability and AP chips with weak refresh rate control capability.

In some possible implementations: in the second period, when receiving the image frame sent by the AP chip, the processing unit 820 is further configured to: the image frame is refreshed at a refresh rate greater than i+1th refresh rate.

In some possible implementations: at the expiration of the second period of time, processing unit 820 forces a self-refresh at the i+1st refresh rate using the previously received image frames.

In some possible implementations: in the case where the frequency at which the screen IC sends TE signals to the AP chip is greater than the ith refresh rate, the processing unit 820 is further configured to: the frequency of sending the TE signal to the AP chip is adjusted so that the sending frequency of the TE signal is equal to the ith refresh rate.

In some possible implementations: the ith refresh rate brush is the largest refresh rate in the sequence of refresh rate changes.

In some possible implementations: the (i+1) th refresh rate brush is greater than the (N-1) th refresh rate of the sequence of refresh rate changes.

In some possible implementations: the refresh rate variation sequence includes: r is R ₁ Hz→R ₂ Hz→···R _N Hz，R _i+ ₁ Hz is less than R _i The value range of the Hz, i is 1 to N-1.

For example, the refresh rate variation sequence is 120 Hz- & gt60 Hz- & gt30 Hz- & gt10 Hz.

Further, the communication device 800 may also be the storage unit, and the transceiver unit 810 may be a transceiver, an input/output interface, or an interface circuit. The storage unit is used for storing instructions executed by the transceiver unit 810 and the processing unit 820. The transceiver unit 810, the processing unit 820, and the storage unit are coupled to each other, the storage unit stores instructions, the processing unit 820 is configured to execute the instructions stored in the storage unit, and the transceiver unit 810 is configured to perform specific signal transceiving under the control of the processing unit 820.

It should be appreciated that, for brevity, the specific process of each unit in the communication apparatus 800 performing the above corresponding steps is referred to in the foregoing description in connection with the related embodiments of the methods 300 and 600, and will not be repeated herein.

It should be appreciated that the transceiver unit 810 may be a transceiver, an input/output interface, or an interface circuit. The memory unit may be a memory. The processing unit 820 may be implemented by a processor.

As shown in fig. 9, communication device 900 may include a processor 910, a memory 920, a transceiver 930, and a bus system 940. The various components of the communications device 900 are coupled together by a bus system 940, where the bus system 940 may include a power bus, a control bus, a status signal bus, and the like, in addition to a data bus. The various buses are labeled as bus system 940 in fig. 9 for clarity of illustration. For ease of illustration, fig. 9 is only schematically drawn.

The communications device 800 shown in fig. 8 or the communications device 900 shown in fig. 9 can implement the steps performed by the screen IC and/or the AP chip in any of the methods 300 or 600 described above. Similar descriptions can be made with reference to the descriptions in the corresponding methods previously described. In order to avoid repetition, a description thereof is omitted.

It should also be appreciated that the communications apparatus 800 shown in fig. 8 or the communications apparatus 900 shown in fig. 9 may be a screen IC, or an electronic device comprising a screen IC and an AP chip, or an electronic device comprising the communications apparatus 800 and/or the communications apparatus 900.

The embodiment of the application also provides electronic equipment, which comprises: the electronic device includes: screen IC, AP and display screen. According to the method, the functional modules of the electronic equipment can be divided. For example, each function may be divided into each functional module, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated modules described above may be implemented in hardware. It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the division of the modules is schematic, only one logic function is divided, and another division manner may be implemented in actual implementation. It should be noted that, the relevant content of each step related to the above method embodiment may be cited to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, which is not described herein.

The electronic device provided in this embodiment is configured to execute the method for controlling the change of the refresh rate of the display screen, so that the same effect as that of the implementation method can be achieved. In case an integrated unit is employed, the electronic device may comprise a processing module, a storage module and a communication module. The processing module can be used for controlling and managing the actions of the electronic equipment. For example, may be used to support an electronic device in performing steps performed by a processing unit. Memory modules may be used to support the execution of stored program code, data, and the like. And the communication module can be used for communicating the electronic equipment with other equipment.

Wherein the processing module may be a processor or a controller. Which may implement or perform the various exemplary logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the present disclosure. A processor may also be a combination that performs computing functions, e.g., including one or more microprocessors, digital signal processing (digital signal processing, DSP) and microprocessor combinations, and the like. The memory module may be a memory. The communication module can be a radio frequency circuit, a Bluetooth chip, a Wi-Fi chip and other equipment which interact with other electronic equipment.

Fig. 10 illustrates an exemplary hardware architecture of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 10, the electronic device 1000 may include a processor 1010, an external memory interface 1020, an internal memory 1030, a universal serial bus (universal serial bus, USB) interface 1040, a charge management module 1050, a power management module 1051, a battery 1052, an antenna 1, an antenna 2 (optional), a wireless communication module 1060, a sensor module 1070, a display screen 1080, and the like.

It is to be understood that the structure illustrated in the embodiments of the present application does not constitute a specific limitation on the electronic device 1000. In other embodiments of the present application, electronic device 1000 may include more or fewer components than shown, or certain components may be combined, or certain components may be split, or different arrangements of components. The illustrated components may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

The processor 1010 may include one or more processing units. For example: the processor 1010 may include an application processor (application processor, AP), a modem processor, a graphics processor (graphics processing unit, GPU), an image signal processor (image signal processor, ISP), a controller, a video codec, a digital signal processor (digital signal processor, DSP), a baseband processor, and/or a neural network processor (neural-network processing unit, NPU), etc. Wherein the different processing units may be separate components or may be integrated in one or more processors. In some embodiments, the electronic device 1000 may also include one or more processors 1010. The controller can generate operation control signals according to the instruction operation codes and the time sequence signals to finish the control of instruction fetching and instruction execution.

In some embodiments, the processor 1010 may include one or more interfaces. The interfaces may include inter-integrated circuit (inter-integrated circuit, I2C) interfaces, inter-integrated circuit audio (integrated circuit sound, I2S) interfaces, pulse code modulation (pulse code modulation, PCM) interfaces, universal asynchronous receiver transmitter (universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter, UART) interfaces, mobile industry processor interfaces (mobile industry processor interface, MIPI), general-purpose input/output (GPIO) interfaces, SIM card interfaces, and/or USB interfaces, among others. The USB interface 10100 is an interface conforming to the USB standard, and specifically may be a Mini USB interface, a Micro USB interface, a USB Type C interface, or the like. USB interface 1040 may be used to transfer data between electronic device 1000 and peripheral devices.

It should be understood that the interfacing relationship between the modules illustrated in the embodiments of the present application is only illustrative, and does not limit the structure of the electronic device 1000. In other embodiments of the present application, the electronic device 1000 may also employ different interfacing manners in the foregoing embodiments, or a combination of multiple interfacing manners.

The wireless communication function of the electronic device 1000 can be realized by the antenna 1, the antenna 2, the wireless communication module 1060, and the like.

The wireless communication module 1060 may provide a solution for wireless communication including Wi-Fi (including Wi-Fi aware and Wi-Fi AP), bluetooth (BT), wireless data transfer module (e.g., 1033mhz,868mhz,915 mhz), etc. as applied on the electronic device 1000. The wireless communication module 1060 may be one or more devices that integrate at least one communication processing module. The wireless communication module 1060 receives electromagnetic waves via the antenna 1 or the antenna 2 (or the antennas 1 and 2), filters and frequency-modulates the electromagnetic wave signals, and transmits the processed signals to the processor 1010. The wireless communication module 1060 can also receive the signal to be transmitted from the processor 1010, frequency modulate it, amplify it, and convert it to electromagnetic waves for radiation via the antenna 1 or the antenna 2.

External memory interface 1020 may be used to connect external memory cards, such as Micro SD cards, to enable expansion of the memory capabilities of electronic device 2600. The external memory card communicates with the processor 1010 through an external memory interface 1020 to implement data storage functions. For example, files such as music, video, etc. are stored in an external memory card.

Internal memory 1030 may be used to store one or more computer programs, including instructions. The processor 1010 may cause the electronic device 1000 to perform methods provided in some embodiments of the present application, as well as various applications, data processing, and the like, by executing the above-described instructions stored in the internal memory 1030. Internal memory 1030 may include a code storage area and a data storage area. Wherein the code storage area may store an operating system. The data storage area may store data created during use of the electronic device 1000 (e.g., store image frames), etc. In addition, internal memory 1030 may include high-speed random access memory, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as one or more disk storage units, flash memory units, universal flash memory (universal flash storage, UFS), and the like. In some embodiments, the processor 1010 may cause the electronic device 1000 to perform methods provided in embodiments of the present application, as well as other applications and data processing, by executing instructions stored in the internal memory 1030, and/or instructions stored in a memory provided in the processor 1010.

It should be understood that the division of the units in the above apparatus is merely a division of a logic function, and may be fully or partially integrated into a physical entity or may be physically separated when actually implemented. And the units in the device can be all realized in the form of software calls through the processing element; or can be realized in hardware; it is also possible that part of the units are implemented in the form of software, which is called by the processing element, and part of the units are implemented in the form of hardware. For example, each unit may be a processing element that is set up separately, may be implemented as integrated in a certain chip of the apparatus, or may be stored in a memory in the form of a program, and the functions of the unit may be called and executed by a certain processing element of the apparatus. The processing element, which may also be referred to herein as a processor, may be an integrated circuit with signal processing capabilities. In implementation, each step of the above method or each unit above may be implemented by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in a processor element or in the form of software called by a processing element.

In one example, the unit in any of the above apparatuses may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, for example: one or more application specific integrated circuits (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), or one or more DSPs, or one or more field programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate array, FPGA), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. For another example, when the units in the apparatus may be implemented in the form of a scheduler of processing elements, the processing elements may be general-purpose processors, such as a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU) or other processor that may invoke the program. For another example, the units may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

It should also be appreciated that the memory in embodiments of the present application may be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an EPROM, an electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (random access memory, RAM) which acts as an external cache. By way of example, and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static RAM (SRAM), dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct memory bus RAM (DR RAM).

The above embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any other combination. When implemented in software, the above-described embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions or computer programs. When the computer instructions or computer program are loaded or executed on a computer, the processes or functions in accordance with the embodiments of the present application are produced in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center by wired (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer readable medium storing computer program code, where the computer program includes instructions for executing any one of the methods for controlling a change in a refresh rate of a display screen provided in the embodiments of the present application. The readable medium may be the memory of the above example, which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

The present application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed, cause an electronic device to perform operations corresponding to the above-described method.

The embodiment of the application also provides a system chip, which comprises: a processing unit, which may be, for example, a processor, and a communication unit, which may be, for example, an input/output interface, pins or circuitry, etc. The processing unit may execute computer instructions to cause a chip within the communication device to perform any of the methods of controlling a change in a refresh rate of a display screen provided in the embodiments of the present application described above.

Alternatively, any one of the communication devices provided in the embodiments of the present application may include the system chip.

Optionally, the computer instructions are stored in a storage unit.

Alternatively, the storage unit is a storage unit in the chip, such as a register, a cache, etc., and the storage unit may also be a storage unit in the terminal located outside the chip, such as a ROM or other type of static storage device, a RAM, etc., that can store static information and instructions. The processor mentioned in any of the above may be a CPU, microprocessor, ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the above-mentioned method for transmitting main system information. The processing unit and the storage unit may be decoupled and respectively disposed on different physical devices, and the respective functions of the processing unit and the storage unit are implemented by wired or wireless connection, so as to support the system chip to implement the various functions in the foregoing embodiments. Alternatively, the processing unit and the memory may be coupled to the same device.

Various objects such as various messages/information/devices/systems/devices/actions/operations/processes may be named in the present application, and it should be understood that these specific names do not constitute limitations on related objects, and that the named names may be changed according to the scenario, context, usage habit, or other factors, and understanding of technical meaning of technical terms in the present application should be mainly determined from functions and technical effects that are embodied/performed in the technical solution.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not repeated herein.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the units is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit.

The foregoing is merely specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and the changes and substitutions are intended to be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a change in refresh rate of a display screen, the method being applied to an electronic device having a display screen, the electronic device including a screen IC and an AP chip, the method comprising:

refreshing and displaying an image frame by a screen IC according to the ith refresh rate in a refresh rate change sequence, wherein the refresh rate change sequence comprises N refresh rates, the refresh rate change sequence is an up-conversion sequence, and the value of N is an integer greater than or equal to 3;

the screen IC starts to update any image frame with the ith refresh rate as a time starting point, and stops sending TE signals to the AP chip in a first time period, wherein the time length of the first time period is the time length corresponding to the (i+1) th refresh rate in the refresh rate change sequence, and the (i+1) th refresh rate is larger than the (i) th refresh rate;

And the AP chip stops sending the image frames to the screen IC in the first time period.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

after the first period of time is over, the screen IC sends TE signals to the AP chip;

the screen IC receives an image frame which is sent by the AP chip and responds to the TE signal;

the screen IC refreshes and displays the image frame at less than or equal to the (i+1) th refresh rate.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the ith refresh rate brush is the smallest refresh rate in the sequence of refresh rate changes.

4. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the i+1th refresh rate brush is less than or equal to the nth-1 refresh rate of the sequence of refresh rate changes.

5. The method of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the sequence of refresh rate changes comprises:

R ₁ Hz→R ₂ Hz→···R _N Hz，R _i+1 hz is greater than R _i The value range of the Hz, i is 1 to N-1.

6. A method of controlling a change in refresh rate of a display screen, the method being applied to an electronic device having a display screen, the electronic device including a screen IC and an AP chip, the method comprising:

Refreshing and displaying an image frame by a screen IC according to the ith refresh rate in a refresh rate change sequence, wherein the refresh rate change sequence comprises N refresh rates, the refresh rate change sequence is a down-conversion sequence, and the value of N is an integer greater than or equal to 3;

and under the condition that the screen IC starts to refresh any image frame with the ith refresh rate as a time starting point and does not receive the image frame sent by the AP chip in a second time period, forcible self-refresh is carried out with the (i+1) th refresh rate at the cut-off time of the second time period, wherein the time length of the second time period is the time length corresponding to the (i+1) th refresh rate in the refresh rate change sequence, and the (i+1) th refresh rate is smaller than the (i) th refresh rate.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein in the second period of time, the screen IC refreshes the image frame at a refresh rate greater than the i+1th refresh rate if the image frame sent by the AP chip is received.

8. The method of claim 6 or 7, wherein at an expiration of the second period of time, the screen IC forces self-refresh at an i+1th refresh rate using previously received image frames.

9. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein in case the frequency at which the screen IC sends TE signals to the AP chip is greater than the i-th refresh rate, the method further comprises:

the screen IC adjusts the frequency of sending TE signals to the AP chip so that the sending frequency of the TE signals is equal to the ith refresh rate.

10. The method of any of claims 6 to 9, wherein the ith refresh rate brush is the largest refresh rate in the sequence of refresh rate variations.

11. The method of any of claims 6 to 10, wherein the i+1th refresh rate brush is greater than the nth-1 refresh rate of the sequence of refresh rate changes.

12. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 11, wherein the refresh rate change sequence comprises:

R ₁ Hz→R ₂ Hz→···R _N Hz，R _i+1 hz is less than R _i The value range of the Hz, i is 1 to N-1.

13. A communication device comprising means for performing the steps of the method according to any of claims 1 to 5 or the steps of the method according to any of claims 6 to 12.

14. A communication device comprising at least one processor and interface circuitry for inputting and/or outputting signals, the at least one processor being configured to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 5 or the method of any of claims 6 to 12.

15. An electronic device comprising a display screen for refreshing and displaying an image under control of the communication means as claimed in claim 13 or 14.

16. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that a computer program or instructions is stored in the computer readable storage medium, which when read and executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 or any one of claims 6 to 12.

17. A chip, comprising: a processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory, causing a communication device on which the chip is mounted to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 5, or any one of claims 6 to 12.