Patent ID: 7692642

Claim:
A method comprising: accessing a policy; detecting display content activity; if a display is regularly refreshed, dynamically selecting a refresh rate in response to the detected display content activity and a preference indicated by the policy, wherein a change to a higher refresh rate is indicated if the detected display content activity exceeds a first threshold and a change to a lower refresh rate is indicated if the detected display content activity drops below a second threshold, and if the display is one of a bi-stable and a self-refreshing display, determining whether to refresh the display based on detected display content activity and a preference indicated by the policy; determining a padding time; generating a reprogramming interrupt within the padding time prior to a next vertical blank; in response to the reprogramming interrupt, reprogramming mode timing registers to the selected refresh rate; determining a number of transitions between each refresh state, a refresh state including a specific refresh rate and mode, computing a weight associated with each refresh state based on a proportional time spent in the refresh state, and if a rate of transitions between refresh states exceeds a third threshold value, delaying a transition from a refresh state associated with a highest weight until the state of transitions drops below a fourth threshold.