PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-10170080-B2
Application Number: US-201715479477-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Electronic device having ancillary display with color control

Abstract:
An electronic device may have a main display and an ancillary display. The device may also have a backlit keyboard with glyphs. An ambient light sensor may measure ambient light levels. Control circuitry in the laptop computer may adjust the color cast of content on the ancillary display depending on whether the content contains glyphs or other input display content or whether the content contains images, color gradients, or other output display content. Input display content may be matched in color cast to the color cast of the glyphs, which may be determined based on backlight status and/or measured ambient light information. Output content may be color matched to the main display.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electronic device, comprising:
 a first display with a first color cast; 
 a keyboard having keyboard keys with glyphs with a second color cast that is warmer or cooler than the first color cast; and 
 a second display having a third color cast; and 
 control circuitry configured to:
 automatically adjust the third color cast to match the first color cast and display first content on the second display during a first time period; and 
 automatically adjust the third color cast to match the second color cast and display second content on the second display during a second time period that is at least partially different from the first time period. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the electronic device comprises a base housing and a display housing that are coupled by a hinge and wherein the first display is mounted in the display housing. 
     
     
       3. The electronic device defined in  claim 2  wherein the keyboard is in the base housing and the second display is in the base housing. 
     
     
       4. The electronic device defined in  claim 3  wherein the second display is adjacent to the keyboard and the first display and includes a touch sensor. 
     
     
       5. The electronic device defined in  claim 4  wherein the second content comprises glyphs. 
     
     
       6. The electronic device defined in  claim 5  wherein the glyphs comprise media control icons. 
     
     
       7. The electronic device defined in  claim 4  wherein the first content comprises a selectable option containing at least one image. 
     
     
       8. The electronic device defined in  claim 4  wherein the first content comprises a color picker option having a color gradient. 
     
     
       9. A laptop computer, comprising:
 a display housing; 
 a first display mounted in the display housing; 
 a base housing that is rotatably coupled to the display housing; 
 an ambient light sensor in the base housing that measures an ambient light level; 
 a keyboard in the base housing having a plurality of keyboard keys with keyboard glyphs, wherein the keyboard glyphs are characterized by a color cast and wherein the keyboard glyphs are illuminated by a keyboard backlight to a keyboard illumination level; 
 a second display adjacent to the keyboard, wherein content is displayed on the second display having an associated color cast that is warmer or cooler than the color cast of the keyboard glyphs; and 
 control circuitry configured to:
 dynamically determine the color cast of the keyboard glyphs based on the ambient light level and the keyboard illumination level; and 
 automatically adjust the color cast of the content displayed on the second display to match the determined color cast of the keyboard glyphs. 
 
 
     
     
       10. The laptop computer defined in  claim 9  wherein the keyboard backlight comprises light-emitting diodes and wherein the control circuitry is configured to dynamically determine the color cast of the keyboard glyphs at least partly by determining whether the light-emitting diodes are on. 
     
     
       11. The laptop computer defined in  claim 9  wherein the ambient light sensor is a color ambient light sensor, wherein the control circuitry is configured to dynamically determine the color cast of the keyboard glyphs based at least partly on color ambient light information from the color ambient light sensor. 
     
     
       12. The laptop computer defined in  claim 9  wherein the first display has an associated white point and wherein the control circuitry is further configured to display content on the second display with a color cast that matches the white point. 
     
     
       13. The laptop computer defined in  claim 12  wherein the white point corresponds to a color temperature of at least 6500 K. 
     
     
       14. The laptop computer defined in  claim 13  wherein the content on the second display with the color cast that matches the white point includes at least one image. 
     
     
       15. The laptop computer defined in  claim 9  wherein the content is displayed on the second display has a color temperature of less than 5000 K. 
     
     
       16. The laptop computer defined in  claim 15  wherein the content includes at least glyph. 
     
     
       17. The laptop computer defined in  claim 16  wherein the glyph includes at least one media control icon. 
     
     
       18. An electronic device, comprising:
 a first display on which first content is displayed with a first color cast; 
 at least one key having a glyph with a second color cast that is warmer or cooler than the first color cast; 
 a second display on which second content is displayed with third color cast and on which third content is displayed with a fourth color cast; 
 an ambient light sensor that measures an ambient light level; and 
 control circuitry configured to:
 automatically adjust the third color cast to match the second color cast and the fourth color cast to match the first color cast when the ambient light level is at a first level; and 
 automatically adjust the third color cast to be warmer than the first color cast in response to determining that the ambient light level is at a second level that is less than the first level. 
 
 
     
     
       19. The electronic device defined in  claim 18  wherein the second content includes reconfigurable glyphs and wherein the third content comprises at least one image.

Description:
This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application No. 62/383,898, filed Sep. 6, 2016, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     This relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, to electronic devices with displays. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Electronic devices often include displays. For example, a laptop computer may have a color display for displaying images for a user. Laptop computers may also have keyboard keys and other input-output devices. 
     During operation, the intensity and color of ambient lighting may change. If care is not taken, ambient light changes and changes in the operating settings of components in the laptop computer may cause the appearance of keyboard keys, displays, and other input-output devices to vary in ways that are not aesthetically appealing. 
     SUMMARY 
     An electronic device such as a laptop computer may have a main display on which images are displayed for a user. The main display may be mounted in a display housing. A keyboard and an ancillary display may be mounted in a base housing that is rotatably coupled to the display housing. The keyboard may have backlight keyboard keys with glyphs. The ancillary display may be a touch sensitive display such as a touch sensitive organic light-emitting diode display that is used to display dynamically reconfigurable icons and other content. 
     An ambient light sensor may make measurements of ambient light intensity and/or color. Control circuitry in the laptop computer may adjust the color cast of content on the ancillary display depending on whether the content contains glyphs or other input display content or whether the content contains images, color gradients, or other output display content. Input display content may be matched to the color cast of the glyphs, which may be determined based on backlight status and/or measured ambient light information. Output content may be color matched to the main display. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device such as a laptop computer in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of an illustrative electronic device in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of an illustrative keyboard key with a glyph in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIGS. 4, 5, 6, and 7  are diagrams of an illustrative ancillary display with different types of content in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 8  is a flow chart of illustrative operations involved in adjusting ancillary display content in accordance with an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Electronic devices such as cellular telephones, laptop computers, tablet computers, electronic devices in embedded systems such as systems in homes and vehicles or other embedded system equipment, and other devices may have input-output devices for gathering input and providing a user with output. The input-output devices may include displays, touch screen displays, keyboards, and other input-output components. 
     Aspects of the appearance of input-output components such as these may be adjusted during device operation to ensure that an electronic devices is aesthetically appealing to a user. For example, the color cast of one or more displays and/or portions of the content on the displays may be adjusted depending on changes in ambient lighting conditions and other variables. 
     An illustrative electronic device in which the color cast of displayed content can be adjusted is shown in  FIG. 1 . Device  10  of  FIG. 1  is a laptop computer. If desired, device  10  may be a computer monitor containing an embedded computer, a tablet computer, a cellular telephone, a media player, or other handheld or portable electronic device, a smaller device such as a wrist-watch device, a pendant device, a headphone or earpiece device, a device embedded in eyeglasses or other equipment worn on a user&#39;s head, or other wearable or miniature device, a display, a computer display that contains an embedded computer, a computer display that does not contain an embedded computer, a gaming device, a navigation device, an embedded system such as a system in which electronic equipment with a display is mounted in a kiosk or automobile, or other electronic equipment. The laptop computer of  FIG. 1  is merely illustrative. 
     As shown in the example of  FIG. 1 , device  10  may have a housing such as housing  12 . Housing  12  may be formed from plastic, metal (e.g., aluminum), fiber composites such as carbon fiber, glass, ceramic, other materials, and combinations of these materials. Housing  12  or parts of housing  12  may be formed using a unibody construction in which housing structures are formed from an integrated piece of material. Multipart housing constructions may also be used in which housing  12  or parts of housing  12  are formed from frame structures, housing walls, and other components that are attached to each other using fasteners, adhesive, and other attachment mechanisms. 
     Device  10  may have a one-piece housing or a multi-piece housing. As shown in  FIG. 1 , for example, electronic device  10  may be a device such as a portable computer or other device that has a two-part housing formed from an upper housing portion such as upper housing  12 A and lower housing portion such as lower housing  12 B. Upper housing  12 A may include a display such as display  14  and may sometimes be referred to as a display housing or lid. Lower housing  12 B may sometimes be referred to as a base housing or main housing. 
     Housings  12 A and  12 B may be rotatably coupled to each other using hinges  26  along the upper edge of lower housing  12 B and the lower edge of upper housing  12 A. Hinges  26  may be located at opposing left and right sides of housing  12  along hinge axis  22 . Hinges  26  may allow upper housing  12 A to rotate about axis  22  in directions  24  relative to lower housing  12 B. The plane of lid (upper housing)  12 A and the plane of lower housing  12 B may be separated by an angle that varies between 0° when the lid is closed to 90°, 140°, or more when the lid is fully opened. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , device  10  may have input-output devices such as track pad  18  and keyboard  16 . Track pad  18  may be formed from a touch sensor that gathers touch input from a user&#39;s fingers. Keyboard  16  may have an array of keys  16 K that protrude through openings in the upper wall of housing  12 B. 
     Display  14  may serve as a primary display for device  10  and may sometimes be referred to as a main display. Device  10  may also have one or more additional displays such as ancillary display  20 . In the example of  FIG. 1 , ancillary display  20  has an elongated shape (e.g., a long thin rectangular shape) that allows ancillary display  20  to be mounted to base housing  12 B adjacent to the uppermost row of keyboard keys  16 K in keyboard  16 . In this location, ancillary display  20  lies between the upper edge of keyboard  16  and the lower edge of main display  14  and is therefore adjacent to both keyboard  16  and main display  14 . There is a single ancillary display  20  in the illustrative configuration for device  10  that is shown in  FIG. 1 . Additional ancillary displays may be included in device  10 , if desired. 
     Display  14  and/or display  20  may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display, an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, an electrophoretic display, or a display implemented using other display technologies. A touch sensor may be incorporated into displays  14  and/or  20  (i.e., display  14  may be a touch screen display and/or display  20  may be a touch screen display). With one illustrative configuration, which may sometimes be described herein as an example, main display  14  may be liquid crystal display or organic light-emitting diode display that is insensitive to touch and ancillary display  20  may be an elongated touch sensitive display such as a touch sensitive organic light-emitting diode display (e.g., a display that includes a two dimensional touch sensor that overlaps an array of pixels in display  20 ). Other configurations may be used, if desired. 
     Touch sensors for a touch sensitive display such as ancillary display  20  may be resistive touch sensors, capacitive touch sensors, acoustic touch sensors, light-based touch sensors, force sensors, or touch sensors implemented using other touch technologies. With one illustrative configuration, ancillary display  20  may include an array of capacitive touch sensor electrodes that form a capacitive touch sensor for display  20 . 
     If desired, device  10  may also have components such as a camera, microphones, speakers, buttons, status indicator lights, sensors, and other input-output devices. These devices may be used to gather input for device  10  and may be used to supply a user of device  10  with output. Ports in device  10  may receive mating connectors (e.g., an audio plug, a connector associated with a data cable such as a Universal Serial Bus cable, a data cable that handles video and audio data such as a cable that connects device  10  to a computer display, television, or other monitor, etc.). 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , device  10  may include light sensing components such as one or more ambient light sensors  30 . An ambient light sensor  30  may, for example, be mounted behind a portion of display  14  or may be mounted in base housing  12 B or other parts of device  10 . Ambient light sensor(s)  30  may be used in gathering information on ambient lighting conditions. For example, a monochrome ambient light sensor (or sensors) may be used in gathering ambient light intensity information. If desired, device  10  may have color ambient light sensors (e.g., light sensors that measure color and intensity). Color measurements may produce color data such as color coordinates (e.g., CIE x and y) and color temperature information (e.g., correlated color temperatures). During operation, device  10  can make adjustments to the color of content on display  14  and/or display  20  and may make adjustments to keyboard backlighting for keys  16 K based on light intensity and/or color information from sensors  30  and based on user input (e.g., keypress input or other user input that raises or lowers screen brightness or that adjusts automatic keyboard backlight brightness adjustment functions, etc.). 
     To ensure that color and brightness adjustments made to display  20  appear aesthetically pleasing to a user, device  10  may consider the apparent color of keyboard glyphs (key symbols) on keyboard  16  and the color cast (sometimes referred to as the white point, color temperature, or color) of display  14  when making adjustments to display  20 . 
     A schematic diagram showing illustrative components that may be used in device  10  is shown in  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , device  10  may include control circuitry  40 . Control circuitry  40  may include storage such as hard disk drive storage, nonvolatile memory (e.g., flash memory or other electrically-programmable-read-only memory configured to form a solid state drive), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic random-access-memory), etc. Processing circuitry in circuitry  40  may be used to control the operation of device  10 . This processing circuitry may be based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, application specific integrated circuits, etc. 
     Circuitry  40  may be used to run software on device  10 , such as internet browsing applications, voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) telephone call applications, email applications, media playback applications, an operating system or other software that controls display operations associated with adjusting the color cast (white point) for displayed content, software associated with adjusting display brightness, software for controlling adjustments to keyboard backlighting brightness, etc. To support interactions with external equipment, circuitry  40  may be used in implementing communications protocols. The software (code) for implementing these functions may be stored in a non-transitory storage medium (e.g., non-volatile memory, etc.). When configured appropriately by software code, circuitry  40  can ensure that displayed content such as content displayed on ancillary display  20  will have a color cast that is aesthetically appealing in view of surrounding output being produced by device  10  (e.g., in view of the color cast of main display  14 , the color of glyphs on keyboard keys  16 K, etc.). 
     Electronic device  10  may include input-output devices  42 . Input-output devices  42  may be used by a user to supply data to device  10  and/or may be used to gather data from the environment surrounding device  10 . Input-output devices  42  may also be used to provide data from device  10  to external devices and/or to supply output to a user. Input-output devices  42  may include ambient light sensor(s)  30 , keyboard keys  18 K, displays such as main display  14  and ancillary touch screen display  20 , and may include other components  44 . Components  44  may include user interface devices, data port devices, and other input-output components. For example, components  44  may include touch screens, displays without touch sensor capabilities, buttons, scrolling wheels, touch pads, key pads, keyboards, microphones, cameras, buttons, speakers, status indicators, light sources, audio jacks and other audio port components, digital data port devices, light sensors, light-emitting diodes, motion sensors (accelerometers), capacitance sensors, proximity sensors, magnetic sensors, force sensors (e.g., force sensors coupled to a display to detect pressure applied to the display), wireless circuitry, etc. 
     A perspective view of an illustrative keyboard key in keyboard  16  is shown in  FIG. 3 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , keyboard key  16 K may have a key member (sometimes referred to as a key cap) such as key member  52 . Surface  52 B of key member  52  may have a dark color (e.g., black) or other suitable color. A glyph such as glyph  52 G may be present on the face of key member  52 . Glyph  52 G (e.g., an alphanumeric character or other keyboard key symbol) may serve as a label for key  16 K and may be formed from white ink or other material that is visible against the background presented by the dark color on surface  52 . If desired, keyboard keys such as key  16 K may have other configurations (e.g., configurations in which glyphs are formed by printing black labels surrounded by white backgrounds). The configuration of  FIG. 3  in which surface  52 B is dark (e.g., black) and in which glyph  52 G has a lighter color such as white may sometimes be described herein as an example. 
     Keyboard key  16 K may be backlit. For example, a light source such as light-emitting diode  58  (e.g., a white light-emitting diode) may emit light  60  that is blocked by surface  52 B and allowed to pass through glyph  52 G, which is translucent. Light transmitted through glyph  52 G (e.g., transmitted light  62 ) may be viewed by a user such as user  54  who is viewing keyboard key  16 K in direction  56 . 
     Light-emitting diode  58  may produce backlight illumination with a relatively cold appearance. For example, light  60  and light  62  may have a correlated color temperature (CCT) of 6500K (e.g., light  60  and  62  may correspond to the CIE standard illuminant D65, which represents common daylight conditions) or light  60  and  62  may have a colder appearance (e.g., a CCT of 7500 K or 8000 K, etc.). 
     Ambient illumination source  64  may produce cold light (e.g., when source  64  is the sun and device  10  is being used in a shaded outdoors environment) or may produce warm light (e.g., when source  64  is a dimmer warm indoor light source). As shown in  FIG. 3 , some of the light viewed by user  54  when viewing keyboard key  16 K in direction  56  may originate from diode  58  (e.g., light  62 , which has passed through glyph  52 G) and some of this light may originate from ambient light source  64  (e.g., light  66  from light source  64  may reflect from the surface of glyph  52 G and may be viewed by user  54  as reflected light  68 ). 
     During operation, device  10  (e.g., control circuitry  40 ) may adjust the magnitude of the backlight illumination  60  produced by light-emitting diode  58 . For example, automatic adjustments to light-emitting diode  58  may be made in response to ambient light sensor measurements of ambient light intensity levels (e.g., if a user has previously directed device  10  to automatically illuminate keyboard  16  in low light). Ambient light levels may also change (e.g., as a user carries device  10  between bright and dim environments and environments with different color temperatures). Because both backlight  62  and ambient light  68  affect the appearance of glyph  52 G to user  54 , there is a potential for the appearance of glyph  52 G (e.g., the color temperature of glyph  52 G) to vary significantly during use of device  10 . 
     Consider, as an example, a scenario in which device  10  is being used outdoors in bright cold light. In this situation, light  68  will be dominant and glyph  52 G will appear to have a cold white appearance (e.g., D65), regardless of the state of light-emitting diode  58 . As another example, consider a scenario in which device  10  is being used indoors in dim warm light. In this situation, reflected ambient light  68  may have a warm color. If light-emitting diode  58  is off, the appearance of glyph  52 G will be determined by the warm reflected ambient light and will be warm. If light-emitting diode  58  is on, transmitted backlight illumination  62  will be brighter than warm reflected ambient light  68 . As a result, the backlight illumination will dominate the reflected ambient light and the appearance of glyph  52 G will be cold (e.g., D65 in situations in which light  60  has a CCT value of about 6500 K). 
     The color temperature of main display  14  (sometime referred to as the white point or color cast of display  14 ) may be fixed or may vary. In fixed scenarios, the color temperature of display  14  does not change after being calibrated in a factory during manufacturing. For example, the white point of display  14  may be set to D65 or other suitable white point value. In varying scenarios, the white point of display  14  may be adjusted in real time based on measured ambient light color (e.g., to warm display  14  in warm ambient light environments and to cool display  14  in cold ambient light environments). The color cast of content on main display  14  may also be adjusted as a function of time of day (e.g., to warm the content of display  14  at night so as to avoid emitting too much blue light at night, which could affect a user&#39;s sleep). 
     The color cast of content displayed on ancillary display  20  may also be varied. For example, the some or all of the content on display  20  may be displayed with a color that is matched to the color of display  20  and/or some or all of the content on display  20  may be displayed with a color that is matched to keyboard glyphs  52 G. 
     In some scenarios, the content on display  20  may be categorized as being similar to a keyboard glyph. For example, display  20  may display selectable media playback control symbols. These symbols may sometimes be referred to as reconfigurable glyphs, because control circuitry  40  can adjust the shape and size of the symbols on display  20  dynamically (e.g., to accommodate different user input schemes for different software applications, etc.). Because display  20  is touch sensitive (in the present example), a user may select a desired media playback function by pressing a finger against a corresponding selectable media playback control symbol. 
     The displayed reconfigurable glyphs may be white symbols presented on a black background. In these situations, the reconfigurable glyphs are white, have symbol shapes of the same type as glyphs  52 G in keyboard  16 , and are being pressed by a user in the same way that a user may press a desired keyboard key  16 K to make a selection. Because the reconfigurable glyphs share at least these attributes with keyboard glyphs  52 G, a user will generally expect that the reconfigurable glyphs will have a whitish appearance with the same color cast as glyphs  52 G. For example, if ambient lighting conditions are bright and reflected light  68  has a color temperature of 6500 K, user  54  will expect adjacent glyphs in display  20  to have a white point of D65. Content on display  20  that has the appearance of a glyph (e.g., symbols for key-like function controls, etc.) may sometimes be referred to herein as “input display contents.” 
     The user&#39;s expectations of color matching may also extend to non-glyph content on display  20 . Non-glyph content (which may sometimes be referred to as “output display contents”) may include images (e.g., multiple small photograph thumbnail icons over which a user may slide a finger back or forth to move back or forth through a photo album, color gradients and grayscale gradients in color picker touch screen options, etc.). Output display content is more similar to the rich static and moving image content that is displayed on main display  14  than to glyphs  52 G on keyboard  16 , so a user will generally expect that output display content will match appearance of the content on display  14 . In particular, a user will expect that an image or other output display content on display  20  will have the same color temperature (color cast) as the color temperature of display  14 . If, as an example, main display  14  has a color temperature of 6500 K, image-based selectable options and other output display content on display  20  will be expected to have a similar color temperature (e.g., 6500 K). 
     These expectations can be met adjusting the color cast of content on display  20  to match the current color cast of display  14  and/or the current color cast of glyphs  52 G as appropriate. Illustrative examples showing how the color cast of content being displayed on display  20  can be adjusted in this way are shown in  FIGS. 4, 5, 6, and 7 . 
     In the example of  FIG. 4 , the content on display  20  includes input display content  70  such as an “ESC” symbol (glyph), and glyphs that serve as labels for media playback options and other options. The symbols of input display content  70  may include, for example, a fast forward symbol, fast reverse symbol, a forward symbol, a reverse symbol, a pause symbol, a stop symbol, a volume symbol, a mute symbol, a search option symbol, alphanumeric text symbols, function key symbols (e.g., F1, F2, F3 . . . ), special character symbols, and other reconfigurable glyphs. The color cast of input display content  70  of display  20  of  FIG. 4  may be matched to the color cast of glyphs  52 G to meet a user&#39;s expectation that these similar items will have similar appearances. 
     In the example of  FIG. 5 , the content on display  20  includes output display content  72  such as a color picker option CP (e.g., a continuous gradient of different colors that a user can use to select a desired color when using an image editing program) and an associated selectable option GD with a monochrome gradient. Output display content  72  may be displayed with a color that matches that of display  14  to meet a user&#39;s expectation that rich colorful content of this type (whether as part of a selectable option on display  20  or as part of a non-selectable content on display  14 ) will have similar appearances. The illustrative reconfigurable glyph of  FIG. 5  (e.g., the “ESC” option”) is a type of input display content  70  and may therefore be displayed with a color temperature that matches the current color temperature of glyphs  52 G. Icon  74  may have a bright color and may be used in controlling the same application that is controlled by output display content  72 , so icon  74  may be displayed with a color cast matching that of display  14  (as an example). 
       FIG. 6  shows how the content on display  20  may include output display content  72  such as an option with numerous small images  72 ′ (e.g., thumbnails corresponding to actual full-size images in a photo album). The user may slide a finger back and forth over content  72  to navigate back and forth through photo album images (as an example). Because output display content  72  of  FIG. 6  includes images  72 ′, output display content  72  may be displayed with a color that matches that of display  14  to meet a user&#39;s expectation that image-based content (whether as part of a selectable option on display  20  or as part of a non-selectable content on display  14 ) will appear similarly. The illustrative reconfigurable glyph of  FIG. 6  (e.g., the “ESC” option”) is a type of input display content  70  and may therefore be displayed with a color temperature that matches the current color temperature of glyphs  52 G. Icon  74  be a brightly colored and textured symbol that is used in controlling the same application that is controlled by output display content  72 , so icon  74  may be displayed with a color cast matching that of display  14  (as an example). 
     The example of  FIG. 7  shows how display  20  may include input display content  70  (e.g., an ESC symbol or other reconfigurable glyph, media controls, other selectable icons, etc.) and output display content  72  (e.g., an image). Icon  74  may be displayed with colorful content with the expectation of using colors matching those displayed on display  14  and may therefore be appropriate for matching to the color temperature of display  14 . 
     The amount of color matching that is used when matching the white point of content on display  20  to that of display  14  or glyphs  52 G may be selected by a user or may be defined in a default setting. As an example, color may be said to be color matched (white point matched, color cast matched, matched in correlated color temperature, etc.) when their CIE x values are within 0.0035 of each other, are within 0.01 of each other, are within between 0.0001 and 0.1 of each other, are within less than 0.1 of each other, or have any other suitable amount of matching and when their CIE y values are within 0.004 of each other, are within 0.01 of each other, are within between 0.0001 and 0.1 of each other, are within less than 0.1 of each other, or have any other suitable amount of matching. 
     Illustrative operations involved in adjusting the color cast of content on display  20  during operation of device  10  are shown in  FIG. 8 . 
     At step  80 , device  10  may determine the color casts of glyphs  52 G and main display  14 . With one illustrative approach, the color cast of glyphs  52 G may be determined by evaluating the state of backlight light-emitting diodes  58  and the current ambient light level (intensity) obtained using an ambient light sensor  30 . If diodes  58  are on, light  60  may have a cold temperature (e.g., D65) and it can be assumed that the appearance of glyphs  52 G will be cold (e.g., D65). If diodes  58  are off and if ambient light levels are low, it can be assumed that the appearance of glyphs  52 G will be warm (e.g., 4400 K, less than 5000 K, or other warm color cast). With another illustrative approach, the color cast of glyphs  52 G may be determined using information on the status of backlight light-emitting diodes  58  and color and intensity ambient light sensor measurements from a color ambient light sensor. In this situation, it can be assumed that glyphs  52 G will be at D65 when the keyboard backlight is on. When the keyboard backlight is off, the color of glyphs  52 G may be assumed to match the measured color from the color ambient light sensor. 
     The color cast (white point) of display  14  may be fixed or may be dynamically adjusted (e.g., if a color cast is being applied based on time of day and/or if device  10  is configured to adjust the white point of display  14  based on ambient light color measurements). The current white point (color cast) of display  14  in either situation is known to control circuitry  40 . 
     At step  82 , after determining the color cast of display  14  and the color cast of glyphs  52 G, control circuitry  40  can analyze the content to be displayed on display  20  to determine whether that content is input display content  70  (e.g., reconfigurable glyphs) or is output display content  72  (e.g., options with tiles of thumbnail images, color picker gradients, etc.). Control circuitry  40  can then display the input display content with a color cast that matches the color cast of glyphs  52  and can display the output display content with a color cast that matches the color cast of main display  14 . 
     If desired, processing resources can be conserved by using the ambient light sensor measurements of step  80  to determine whether device  10  is indoors (e.g., the measured ambient light level is less than 550 lux) or outdoors (e.g., the measured ambient light level is more than 550 lux). In response to determining that device  10  is outdoors (in this scenario), both input and output display content in display  20  may be displayed with a cold color temperature (e.g., D65). In response to determining that device  10  is indoors, both input and output display content may be displayed with a warm color cast (e.g., 4400 K, less than 5000 K, or other suitable warm color cast). Glyphs  52 G will tend to appear yellowish indoors, so displaying the content on display  20  with a warm color cast will avoid potential mismatch between the glyphs of display  20  and the glyphs of keyboard  16 . 
     Other operating modes may be used in controlling the color temperature of all or a portion of display  20  in coordination with the color of glyphs  52 G and display  14 . The foregoing examples are merely illustrative. 
     The foregoing is merely illustrative and various modifications can be made to the described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may be implemented individually or in any combination.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20170405
Publication Date: 20190101
Grant Date: 20190101
Priority Date: 20160906
Inventors: KIM, BYOUNGSUK
QI, JUN
OZER, ALI T.
LEE, BONGSUN
VAN VECHTEN, KEVIN J.
HEYNEN, PATRICK O.
LOUCH, JOHN O.
Assignee: APPLE INC
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Family ID: 61280734