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Google patents display tech that skips blank screen areas to save power

This patent describes a display system that analyzes an image to find sections with no visible content. It then turns off the pixel drivers for those empty sections, only powering the parts of the screen that actually show color or detail.

Why it mattersThis could help make screens on phones, laptops, or TVs more energy-efficient by reducing the work the hardware has to do for blank spaces.

In the filing’s own words

A display system may include a segment analyzer, a segment buffer, and a set of pixel drivers. The segment analyzer may perform an analysis of image data representing an image to be displayed. The analysis distinguishes a first portion of the image data that corresponds to an active segment of the image containing non-zero content from a second portion of the image data that corresponds to an empty segment of the image without non-zero content. The segment buffer stores the first portion of the image data in accordance with a segment map based on the analysis. The pixel drivers then use the segment map and the image data to cause a set of pixels to display the image by driving a first subset of pixels associated with the active segment without driving a second subset of pixels associated with the empty segment.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A display system, comprising: circuitry configured to perform an analysis of image data representing an image that includes a first component corresponding to a first color and a second component corresponding to a second color, the analysis including distinguishing: a first portion of the image data that corresponds to a first segment of the first component of the image, from a second portion of the image data that corresponds to a second segment of the first component of the image, the first segment containing content of the first color and the second segment without content of the first color; a buffer configured to store the first portion of the image data; and a set of pixel drivers configured, based on the analysis and the first portion of the image data stored in the buffer, to cause a set of pixels to display the first component of the image by driving a first subset of the set of pixels, the first subset associated with the first segment, and without driving a second subset of the set of pixels, the second subset associated with the second segment.

Facts

Company
Google (Google LLC)
Official title
Image display using a segmented backplane
Patent number
US12738198B2
Application number
18859641
Filed
Oct 30, 2023
Granted
Sep 15, 2026
Inventors
5
Claims
21

Classified under

G09G 3/32 Physics & computingG09G 3/003 Physics & computingH04N 13/398 Electricity & electronicsG09G 2310/04 Physics & computingG09G 2330/022 Physics & computingG09G 2330/023 Physics & computing
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.