Method and system for reducing power consumption in a display

Abstract

A method and system for reducing power consumption in a display includes driving a display comprising a plurality of display elements having selectable resolution, wherein the display device is configured to operate at a plurality of selectable operational modes. In a first operational mode, data at a first resolution is provided to the display at a first data rate, and in a second operational mode, data at a second resolution is provided to the display at a second data rate.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for displaying image data, the apparatus comprising:
 a display device comprising a plurality of display elements having selectable resolution, wherein the display device is configured to operate at a plurality of selectable operational modes; and   an image data source configured to provide image data to the display device such that in a first operational mode, data at a first resolution is provided at a first data rate, and in a second operational mode, data at a second resolution is provided at a second data rate, wherein the first and second resolutions are different.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein in at least one of said operational modes, said display device displays a reduced color gamut as compared to said first operational mode. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a communications network, wherein said image data source is configured to provide said image data over said communications network. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein said image data source is configured to control said operational mode. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the operational modes are selectable based at least in part on a data rate of said communications network. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , wherein the operational modes are selectable based at least in part on a data rate utilized by said communications network. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the operational modes are selectable based at least in part on power data of the display device. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the operational modes are selectable based at least in part on stored user preferences. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein in at least one of said operational modes, said display device displays a reduced gray scale as compared to the first operational mode. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the operational modes comprises re-setting display states of less than all of the display elements. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the image data source is further configured to provide a display state to re-set a remaining portion of the display elements. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein said less than all of the display elements comprise a first set of rows. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the image data source is further configured to provide filtered image data so that image data for the display elements that are not re-set is not provided. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein said image data comprises motion picture data. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the second operational mode corresponds to reduced display element resolution as compared with the first operational mode, wherein the first operational mode includes displaying image data in a display region of the display device, and wherein the second operational mode includes displaying image data at a reduced display element resolution without changing the size of the display region. 
     
     
         16 . A method of displaying image data, said method comprising:
 selecting an operational mode for a display device, the display device comprising a plurality of display elements having selectable resolution, wherein the display device is configured to operate at a plurality of selectable operational modes; and   providing image data to the display device such that in a first operational mode, data at a first resolution is provided at a first data rate, and in a second operational mode, data at a second resolution is provided at a second data rate, wherein the first and second resolutions are different.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein in at least one of said operational modes, said display device displays a reduced color gamut as compared to said first operational mode. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising selecting an operational mode based at least in part on a data rate of said communications network. 
     
     
         19 . An apparatus for displaying image data, the apparatus comprising:
 means for selecting an operational mode for a display device, the display device comprising a plurality of display elements having selectable resolution, wherein the display device is configured to operate at a plurality of selectable operational modes; and   means for providing image data to the display device such that in a first operational mode, data at a first resolution is provided at a first data rate, and in a second operational mode, data at a second resolution is provided at a second data rate, wherein the first and second resolutions are different.   
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein in at least one of said operational modes, said display device displays a reduced color gamut as compared to said first operational mode.