JP2009134014A - Electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic equipment capable of performing, in a unified manner, a power-saving control adjusted in accordance with display contents, regardless of application without adding complicated control to the application. <P>SOLUTION: An application platform 43 of a portable telephone 1 is configured to display on a display 21 in reply to a command from the application 44, then to obtain a display significance value set for the application 44, and then, based on the obtained significance value, to perform the power-saving control on displaying on the display 21 in reply to the command from the application 44. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device that performs application display processing.

  Conventionally, in an electronic device, it is desirable to keep power consumption low. In particular, in a portable electronic device such as a mobile phone, it has been required to make the usable time as long as possible with a limited battery capacity.

  In such a situation, in order to reduce the power consumption for display processing in the electronic device, the OS or application platform uniformly controls power saving in conjunction with the user's no-operation state, or by a command from the application. A method of performing power saving control is known. Specifically, control is performed such as turning off the display, reducing the brightness, displaying a screen saver, and suppressing the frequency of display.

In addition, application to a system that displays on a plurality of displays has also been proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a low power consumption mode for each display based on the position of a mouse pointer or the position of an active window. It is shown to make a transition to.
JP 2000-163035 A

  However, when the OS or application platform performs power saving control uniformly, the power saving operation cannot be controlled in accordance with the display content of the application, so that it is difficult to achieve an appropriate display state. In other words, there is a difference in the importance of display depending on the type of application and the display scene, but because it is a uniform power saving control regardless of the display content, it is difficult to see despite being important display content. There was also a risk of it.

  This also applies to the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, and the power saving operation for the display is uniform. Therefore, the power saving operation cannot be controlled according to the display content of the application.

  Further, when power saving control is performed according to a command from the application, it takes time and effort to install the power saving control for each application, and the control operation varies depending on the application.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic device that can perform power saving control adjusted in accordance with display contents in a unified manner regardless of the application without adding complicated control to the application. .

  The electronic apparatus of the present invention includes a display unit that displays on a display unit according to a command from the application, an acquisition unit that acquires the importance level of the display set for the application, and the importance level acquired by the acquisition unit And a power saving means for performing a power saving operation on the display on the display unit based on a command from the application.

  Further, in the electronic device of the present invention, the display means enables display based on a command from a plurality of applications by a multi-window, and the acquisition is performed according to an active or inactive state of each window for the plurality of applications. It is preferable to further comprise adjusting means for adjusting the importance acquired by the means.

  In the electronic apparatus of the present invention, it is preferable that the power saving unit controls the frequency of display processing by the display unit.

  In the electronic apparatus of the present invention, it is preferable that the display unit is an organic EL display, and the power saving unit controls the brightness of the display unit based on the importance.

  According to the present invention, power saving control adjusted according to display contents can be performed in a unified manner regardless of the application.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a mobile phone 1 which is an example of an electronic apparatus according to the present invention. In the following, the mobile phone 1 will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, a PHS (Personal Handy Phone System), a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a portable navigation device, a notebook computer, a game It may be a machine.

  The mobile phone 1 includes an operation unit side body 2 and a display unit side body 3. The operation unit side body 2 includes an operation key group 11 and a microphone 12 to which a voice uttered by a user of the mobile phone 1 is input on the surface unit 10. The operation key group 11 includes a function setting operation button 13 for operating various functions such as various settings, a phone book function, a mail function, and the like, and an input operation button 14 for inputting a phone number, mail characters, and the like. , And a determination operation button 15 for performing determination and scrolling in various operations.

  The display unit side body 3 includes a display 21 for displaying various types of information on the surface unit 20 and a voice output unit 22 for outputting the voice of the other party on the call.

  Further, the upper end portion of the operation unit side body 2 and the lower end portion of the display unit side body 3 are connected via a hinge mechanism 4. In addition, the mobile phone 1 relatively rotates the operation unit side body 2 and the display unit side body 3 which are connected via the hinge mechanism 4, so that the operation unit side body 2 and the display unit side body 3 are rotated. The body 3 can be in an open state (open state), or the operation unit side body 2 and the display unit side body 3 can be folded (folded state).

  1 shows a form of a so-called foldable mobile phone, the form of the mobile phone according to the present invention is not particularly limited to this, and the operation unit side body 2 and the display unit side body 3 One housing is slid in one direction from the stacked state, and one housing is centered on the axis line along the overlapping direction of the operation unit side body 2 and the display unit side body 3. Such as a rotating type (turn type) that rotates the body, a type in which the operation unit side body 2 and the display unit side body 3 are arranged in one casing and does not have a connecting part (straight type). May be.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing functions of the mobile phone 1 according to the present invention. The cellular phone 1 includes an operation key group 11, a display 21, a CPU 31, a ROM 32, a RAM 33, and a display memory (VRAM: Video RAM) 34 as a hardware configuration.

  The CPU 31 controls the entire mobile phone 1, reads various software programs stored in the ROM 32 to the RAM 33 as appropriate, and executes them, thereby realizing various functions according to the present invention in cooperation with the hardware described above. ing.

  Here, the ROM 32 stores various software programs to be described later, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it may be read from an external memory to the RAM 33 or downloaded via a network. The VRAM 34 is a memory that holds data to be displayed on the display 21.

  The mobile phone 1 includes a device driver 41, middleware 42, an application platform 43, and an application 44 as software configurations.

  The device driver 41 controls the hardware. In the present embodiment, writing to the VRAM 34 is performed in accordance with a command from the middleware 42. Further, the data stored in the VRAM 34 is output to the display 21 for display.

  The middleware 42 serves as a bridge between the application platform 43 and hardware, and the same kind of application platform 43 can be used for devices having different hardware.

  The application platform 43 serves as an interface with the user and other software. For example, the application platform 43 controls activation and termination of the application in accordance with an operation input from the user, and exchanges parameters and the like.

  In the present embodiment, power saving control is performed by the application platform 43. Specifically, for the display update request to the device driver 41 via the middleware 42, the frequency of this request is adjusted. That is, if display update is normally performed following writing of display data to the VRAM 34, for example, display update is not performed for 10 seconds, and display is maintained during that time. Thereby, the power consumption accompanying display update can be suppressed.

  In the present embodiment, the application 44 is software accompanying display on the display 21 and is programmed to output a setting value indicating the importance of the display content for each scene. As a result, the application platform performs power saving control according to the importance set by the application.

  FIG. 3 shows a power saving operation defined in advance in the application platform 43. The application platform 43 adjusts the display update frequency according to the importance of the display content set by the application based on the specified data. Here, the importance of the display content is classified into three levels of “high”, “medium”, and “low”.

  The application 44 outputs a setting value “1” when the importance is set to “high” for the current display content. At this time, the application platform 43 does not perform a power saving operation, and outputs to the display 21 via the middleware 42 and the device driver 41 as requested by the application 44.

  The application 44 outputs a setting value “2” when the importance is set to “medium” for the current display content. At this time, the application platform 43 controls the display 21 to be updated once every 5 seconds. That is, even when the application 44 requests a plurality of display updates in 5 seconds, the output to the display is limited to once every 5 seconds, thereby suppressing power consumption due to the display update.

  The application 44 outputs a setting value “3” when the importance is set to “low” for the current display content. At this time, the application platform 43 controls the display 21 to be updated once every 10 seconds. That is, even when the application 44 requests to update the display several times in 10 seconds, the output to the display is limited to once every 10 seconds, and the power consumption due to the display update is further increased compared to the case where the importance is “medium”. Can be suppressed.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a flow of power saving control associated with the display process of the application 44 in the mobile phone 1. Here, as an example, a case where the importance of the display scene of the application 44 is changed from “high” to “low” by a user operation is shown.

  The application platform 43 receives an operation input from the user (step S101), and inputs user operation data to the application 44 (step S102). Then, the application 44 changes the display scene according to the user operation. At this time, it is assumed that the importance of the display content has changed from “high” to “low”.

  The application 44 notifies the application platform 43 of the importance “low” (setting value = 3) of the changed display content (step S103). Then, the application platform 43 stores the notified importance (setting value = 3) in the RAM 33 (step S104).

  Here, the application 44 requests the application platform 43 to update the display in order to update the display on the display 21 (step S105). In response to this request, the application platform 43 commands the device driver 41 to write display data to the VRAM 34 via the middleware 42 (step S106), and then commands display update (step S107). Then, the device driver 41 updates the display on the display 21 in response to the display update command (step S108).

  The application platform 43 starts a timer for detecting the passage of time in response to a display update command (step S107).

  Thereafter, in the application 44, an event due to a user operation, a timer interruption, or the like occurs, and when the display update is requested to the application platform 43 (step S109), the application platform 43 receives the device driver 41 via the middleware 42. Is instructed to write display data to the VRAM 34 (step S110).

  Here, when the power saving operation is not performed, the display is updated in the same manner as in step S107. However, since the importance is set to “low” in step S104, the display is not updated. That is, only the update of the VRAM 34 is performed, and the previous display continues on the display 21.

  Further, in the application 44, an event for requesting display update is repeated, and a display update request to the application platform 43 (steps S111 and S113) and writing to the VRAM 34 (steps S112 and S114) are performed.

  When the application platform 43 detects that a predetermined time (time specified in FIG. 3 as the power saving operation: 10 seconds) has elapsed since the previous display update on the display 21, that is, the timer activation in step S107. The display update is instructed (step S115). Then, the device driver 41 updates the display on the display 21 in response to the display update command (step S116).

  The display update after the elapse of 10 seconds does not involve writing to the VRAM 34, but performs display processing using the data written last time (step S114) in response to the occurrence of an event in the application 44. As a result, the data in the VRAM 34 that has not been displayed due to the reduced display update frequency is displayed after 10 seconds. Therefore, for example, even when a display update event does not occur thereafter, the last display data written in the VRAM 34 can be displayed on the display 21.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing power saving control of the CPU 31 executed in accordance with the application platform 43. The following processing is executed by the CPU 31 cooperating with each software shown in FIG.

  In step S <b> 201, the CPU 31 determines whether the importance level of the display content has been set by the application 44. If this determination is YES, the process proceeds to step S202, and if the determination is NO, the process proceeds to step S203.

  In step S <b> 202, the CPU 31 stores the importance of the display content set by the application 44 in the RAM 33. The CPU 31 performs power saving control defined in advance according to this importance level until the stored importance level is next changed.

  In step S <b> 203, the CPU 31 determines whether a display update is requested by the application 44. If this determination is YES, the process proceeds to step S204, and if the determination is NO, the process proceeds to step S206.

  In step S <b> 204, the CPU 31 writes the display data requested to be updated in the VRAM 34. This is performed as a common process regardless of the set importance.

  In step S205, the CPU 31 confirms the importance of the display content stored in step S202 and determines a power saving operation. Specifically, the display update frequency is determined as the power saving operation corresponding to the importance level of the display shown in FIG.

  Here, when the display control by the CPU 31 corresponds to the multi-window, a plurality of applications 44 can be activated and simultaneously displayed on the display 21. In this case, the importance of the display content may be adjusted from the value stored in step S202.

  Specifically, the degree of importance is adjusted depending on whether each window is in a valid state (active) or an invalid state (inactive). Here, an active window is a window that is a target of input or operation by a user in a multi-window environment in which a plurality of windows can be displayed on the display unit at the same time. A window that is not subject to input or operation. For example, the importance level of the application 44 displayed in the window that is active in the foreground is set higher than the importance level of the application 44 displayed in the window that is inactive on the back side. Thus, there is a possibility that the power saving operation can be effectively performed for each window.

  Further, the importance level of the display for the window located at the front side may be set higher than the importance level of the display for the window located at the back side, regardless of the active / inactive distinction. Thereby, for example, even when inactive, the importance in the case of a display requiring attention in the foreground can be increased, and the possibility that the user may miss necessary information may be reduced.

  In step S206, the CPU 31 determines whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the previous display update. That is, based on the display update frequency determined in step S205, for example, according to FIG. 3, if the importance is “low”, it is determined whether 10 seconds have elapsed. If this determination is YES, the process proceeds to step S207, and if the determination is NO, the process proceeds to step S208.

  In step S207, the CPU 31 requests the middleware 42 to update the display. As a result, the display 21 updates the display with the display data stored in the VRAM 34 via the device driver 41.

  In step S <b> 208, the CPU 31 determines whether to end the application 44. Specifically, for example, the termination of the application 44 is determined when a termination request is input by a user operation. If this determination is YES, the process ends. If the determination is NO, the process returns to step S201 to continue the process.

  Here, the CPU 31 writes the display data to the VRAM 34 (step S204) even during the period in which the display update is suppressed, but is not limited thereto. When writing to the VRAM 34 is also omitted, for example, in FIG. 4, steps S110, S112, and S114 are omitted, and a further power saving effect can be expected. In this case, the application platform 43 requests the latest display data from the application 44 in step S207 after a predetermined time has elapsed (after 10 seconds when the importance is “low”), and this latest display. After the data is written in the VRAM 34, the display is updated.

  In the present embodiment, the frequency of display update is adjusted as the power saving operation, but is not limited thereto. For example, the same effect can be expected by adjusting the luminance of the backlight. Further, when the display 21 is an organic EL display, a power saving effect can be obtained by adjusting the shade and brightness of the display color. Further, the power saving operation may be a combination of both adjustment of display update frequency and adjustment of backlight luminance.

  Thus, by prescribing the power saving control depending on the configuration of the mobile phone 1, the power consumption can be effectively suppressed.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce the power consumption required for display on the display 21 without adding complicated control to the application 44. As a result, even when developing a plurality of applications 44, power saving control can be realized by a common operation of setting the importance of display contents, so that development efficiency can be improved.

  Further, by performing power saving control by the application platform 43, it is possible to unify power saving operations of the plurality of applications 44 operating on the mobile phone 1.

  Furthermore, even when the same application 44 is ported to another electronic device, it is possible to perform a power saving operation according to the ported electronic device without modifying the application 44 regarding power saving control.

  Furthermore, when displaying multiple windows, power saving control can be performed for each window. As a result, a power saving effect can be obtained while maintaining a display useful for the user.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not restricted to embodiment mentioned above. The effects described in the embodiments of the present invention are only the most preferable effects resulting from the present invention, and the effects of the present invention are limited to those described in the embodiments of the present invention. is not.

1 is an external perspective view of a mobile phone 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function of the mobile telephone 1 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the list of power-saving operation | movement prescribed | regulated previously by the application platform 43 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flow of the power saving control accompanying the display process of the application 44 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the power saving control of CPU31 performed according to the application platform 43 which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Cellular phone 11 Operation key group 21 Display (display unit)
31 CPU (display means, acquisition means, power saving means, adjustment means)
32 ROM
33 RAM
34 VRAM
41 Device Driver 42 Middleware 43 Application Platform 44 Application

Claims (4)

Display means for displaying on the display unit according to a command from the application;
Acquisition means for acquiring the importance of display set for the application;
Based on the importance obtained by the obtaining means, a power saving means for performing a power saving operation on the display on the display unit based on a command from the application;
Electronic equipment comprising. The display means enables display based on commands from a plurality of applications by a multi-window,
The electronic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an adjusting unit that adjusts the importance acquired by the acquiring unit according to an active or inactive state of each window for the plurality of applications.   The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the power saving unit controls a frequency of display processing by the display unit. The display unit is an organic EL display,
The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the power saving unit controls brightness of the display unit based on the importance.

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