METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMICALLY ADJUSTING RESOLUTION OF DISPLAY DEVICE IN MOBILE COMPUTING DEVICES

1 . A method of dynamically selecting one of a plurality of resolutions to be used as a display resolution to display visual content from a visual media file on a screen of a mobile computing device, comprising:

determining at least one of a media type of the visual media file and an image height and an image width of the visual media file;

determining whether an energy level of the mobile computing device is a normal energy level or a low energy level;

selecting a first one of the plurality of resolutions as the display resolution for display of the visual content file, the first one of the plurality of display resolutions being selected based on the determined at least one of the media type of the visual media file and the image height and the image width of the visual media file, if the energy level is determined to be the normal energy level; and

selecting a second one of the plurality of resolutions as the display resolution for display of the visual content file, if the energy level is determined to be the low energy level,

wherein the first one of the plurality of resolutions is a higher resolution than the second one of the plurality of resolutions.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining at least one of the media type of the visual media file and the image height and the image width of the visual media file comprises reading metadata attached to the visual media file.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the first one of the plurality of display resolutions further comprises scaling the determined image height and image width of the visual media file to match a screen height and a screen width of the screen of the mobile computing device.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first one of the plurality of resolutions and the second one of the plurality of resolutions are further selected based on user-defined display criteria.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the user-defined display criteria includes a desired display resolution for each of a plurality of different visual media file types.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the desired display resolution may be a different resolution for each of the plurality of different visual media file types.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile computing device is one of a mobile telephone, a cellular telephone, a wireless radio, a portable computer, a laptop computer, an MP3 player, and a satellite radio.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the desired display resolution is further selected based on an active application software controlling the display or the status of a communication or data link of the mobile computing device.

9 . An apparatus for dynamically selecting one of a plurality of resolutions for display in a mobile computing device, comprising:

a memory that stores a plurality of instructions, the instructions being usable for dynamically selecting the one of a plurality of resolutions to be used as a display resolution to display a visual media file on a screen of the mobile computing device; and

a processor that executes the instructions to:

determine at least one of a media type of the visual media file and an image height and an image width of the visual media file;

determine whether an energy level of the mobile computing device is a normal energy level or a low energy level;

select a first one of the plurality of resolutions as the display resolution for display of the visual media file, the first one of the plurality of display resolutions being selected based on the determined at least one of the media type and the image height and the image width of the visual media file, if the energy level is determined to be the normal energy level; and

select a second one of the plurality of resolutions as the display resolution for display of the visual media file, if the energy level is determined to be the low energy level,

wherein the first one of the plurality of resolutions is a higher resolution than the second one of the plurality of resolutions.

10 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor determines the visual media type and the image height and the image width of the visual media file by reading metadata attached to the visual media file.

11 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor selects the first one of the plurality of display resolutions by scaling the first one of the plurality of display resolutions from the determined image height and image width of the visual media file to match a screen height and a screen width of the screen of the mobile computing device.

12 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor further selects the first one of the plurality of resolutions and the second one of the plurality of resolutions based on user-defined display criteria.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the user-defined display criteria includes a desired display resolution for each of a plurality of different visual content file types.

14 . The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the desired display resolution may be a different resolution for each of the plurality of different visual media file types.

15 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the mobile computing device is one of a mobile telephone, a cellular telephone, a wireless radio, a portable computer, a laptop computer, an MP3 player, and a satellite radio.

16 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the desired display resolution is further selected based on an active application software controlling the display or the status of a communication or data link of the mobile computing device.

17 . A mobile computing device, comprising:

a memory that stores a plurality of instructions, the instructions being usable for dynamically selecting one of a plurality of resolutions to be used as a display resolution to display a visual media file on a screen of the mobile computing device; and

a processor that executes the instructions to:

determine at least one of a media type of the visual media file and an image height and an image width of the visual media file;

determine whether an energy level of the mobile computing device is a normal energy level or a low energy level;

select a first one of the plurality of resolutions as the display resolution for display of the visual media file, the first one of the plurality of display resolutions being selected based on the image height and image width of the visual media file, if the energy level is determined to be the normal energy level; and

select a second one of the plurality of resolutions as the display resolution for display of the visual content file, if the energy level is determined to be the low energy level,

wherein the first one of the plurality of resolutions is a higher resolution than the second one of the plurality of resolutions.

18 . The mobile computing device of claim 17 , wherein the processor determines an image height and image width of the visual media file by reading metadata attached to the visual media file.

19 . The mobile computing device of claim 17 , wherein the processor selects the first one of the plurality of display resolutions by scaling the first one of the plurality of display resolutions from the determined image height and image width of the visual media file to match a screen height and a screen width of the screen of the mobile computing device.

20 . The mobile computing device of claim 17 , wherein the processor further selects the first one of the plurality of resolutions and the second one of the plurality of resolutions based on user-defined display criteria.

21 . The mobile computing device of claim 20 , wherein the user-defined display criteria includes a desired display resolution for each of a plurality of different visual content file types.

22 . The mobile computing device of claim 17 , wherein the mobile computing device is one of a mobile telephone, a cellular telephone, a wireless radio, a portable computer, a laptop computer, an MP3 player, and a satellite radio.