Patent ID: 8527910

Claim:
A display apparatus for providing an advance screen saver warning, the apparatus comprising: a parameter set unit configured to predetermine a screen saver standby time and an advance screen saver warning time, wherein the screen saver standby time and the advance screen saver warning time are manually set by a user, and wherein the advance screen saver warning time is less than the screen saver standby time; a counter configured to count a current system idle time during which no system input activity is detected; a controller, coupled to the parameter set unit and the counter, configured to activate an advance screen saver warning before activating a screen saver if the current system idle time is greater than or equal to a time difference between the screen saver standby time and the advance screen saver warning time, and configured to continuously execute the activated advance screen saver warning by the display apparatus until a detection of system activity or activation of the screen saver; and a sync detector coupled to the controller configured to detect at least one of a horizontal synchronization signal and a vertical synchronization signal, wherein the system input activity comprises receiving the at least one of horizontal and vertical synchronization signals by the sync detector, wherein the screen saver is activated when the current system idle time is greater than or equal to the screen saver standby time, wherein, during the continuous execution of the advance screen saver warning, the display apparatus is controlled by said controller to output at least one of a specified sound and a visual warning message window indicative of the time difference between the screen saver standby time and the current system idle time, and wherein a level of detection of system activity measured by the sync detector is different before executing the advance screen saver warning than after executing the advance screen saver warning such that a level of detection of system activity before the executing the advance screen saver warning is higher than the level of detection of system activity after the executing the advance screen saver warning detected by the sync detector.