Patent ID: 8738945

Claim:
A method of reducing power dissipation comprising: with a graphics processor: monitoring user activity; if a first duration passes without user activity occurring, then reading a plurality of pixels from an external memory; reducing a color fidelity of the plurality of pixels; storing the plurality of pixels having the reduced color fidelity in the external memory; and displaying the plurality of pixels having the reduced color fidelity; then reading the plurality of pixels having the reduced color fidelity from the external memory; and displaying the plurality of pixels having the reduced color fidelity; and if a second duration passes without user activity, the second duration longer than the first duration, then further reducing the color fidelity of the plurality of pixels; storing the plurality of pixels having the further reduced color fidelity in a memory on the graphics processor; and displaying the plurality of pixels having the further reduced color fidelity; otherwise, not reducing the color fidelity of the plurality of pixels; and displaying the plurality of pixels.