Patent ID: 6411306
Filing Date: 2002-06-25
Classification: B60K,G09G

Abstract:
An apparatus for automatically controlling a display luminance and contrast of a display device, the apparatus comprising:a) an illumination measuring mechanism for measuring a display illumination of a display device; b) a surround luminance measuring mechanism for measuring a surround luminance of the display device; c) a calculating mechanism for calculating a current display luminance and a current contrast setting for the display device; d) a determining mechanism for determining a change in the display illumination and a change in the surround luminance based on measurements performed by the illumination measuring mechanism and the surround luminance measuring mechanism, respectively; e) a luminance adjustment mechanism for calculating an updated display luminance when the determining mechanism determines that a change in the display illumination has occurred, and for adjusting the display luminance of the display device based on the updated display luminance to display an image; and f) a contrast adjustment mechanism for calculating an updated image contrast when the determining mechanism determines that a change in the surround luminance has occurred, and for adjusting the image contrast on the display device based on the updated contrast setting to display the image; wherein: the current display luminance is replaced with the updated display luminance and the current contrast setting is replaced with the updated contrast setting; the luminance adjustment mechanism calculates the updated display luminance based on the change in display illumination, and further performs a progressive time dependent adjustment of the display luminance based on whether the updated display luminance is higher or lower than the current display luminance; the luminance adjustment mechanism performs the progressive time dependent adjustment based on a degree of light adaptation when the updated luminance is higher than the current display luminance; and the luminance adjustment mechanism performs the progressive time dependent adjustment based on a degree of dark adaptation when the updated luminance is lower than the current display luminance.