Method and system for providing a screen saver in a mobile electronic device
View Patent ↗A system and method for providing a screen saver for a display panel in a mobile electronic device are provided. After a time period of inactivity has been sensed, a screen saver image is retrieved from memory and transmitted to a display panel. The method and system also preferably provide means for controlling the color of the screen saver image to balance the aging of the primary colors within the display panel.
1. A screen saver system in a mobile electronic device comprising:
memory for storing a screen saver image;
display controlling apparatus (DCA) configured to retrieve said screen saver image from said memory and to transmit said screen saver image to a display panel, said display panel having a set of red, green, blue (RGB) colors;
a screen saver controlling apparatus (SSCA) comprising a central processing unit (CPU) interface designed to interface with a CPU within the mobile electronic device to receive display data, the CPU interface further designed to interface with a plurality of timers, where each of said plurality of timers is associated with one of said set of RGB colors, and further where said timers are operably disposed in said SSCA such that each timer counts a determined amount of time that each RGB color is to be used while said screen saver image is being displayed, and
wherein said SSCA and said DCA are further configured such that said determined amount of time that each RGB color is to be used to individually set one RGB color to one of on or off, independent of whether the other RGB colors are individually on or off, to balance life across the set of RGB colors.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein said display controlling apparatus comprises:
a display controller;
a segment driver; and
a common driver.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein said screen saver controlling apparatus further comprises:
a move icon timer configured to determine a move icon time; and
a command generator configured to generating a new display location for said screen saver image using said determined move icon time.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein said screen saver image comprises at least one of time data, system status data or number of un-read email data.
5. A method of providing a screen saver for a display panel in a mobile electronic device comprising:
receiving display image data from a central processing unit (CPU) of the mobile device through a CPU interface;
displaying a screen saver image on said display panel, said display panel having a plurality of red, green, blue (RGB) colors, said screen saver image comprising use of at least one of said set of RGB colors;
using a timer to count a determined amount of time that one of said RGB colors currently in use on said display panel is to be turned on while said screen saver image is displayed, the timer associated with the one RGB color;
turning off said RGB color on said display panel when the time has counted down the determined amount of time; and
wherein each RGB color has a timer associated with it, and, is controllable for turning on or off, independently of whether the other RGB colors are individually on or off, based on input from the associated timer to balance life across the set of RGB colors.
6. The method of claim 5 comprising:
displaying said screen saver image on only a portion of said display panel;
moving said screen saver image from one portion of said display panel to another portion of said display panel, based on a move icon timer and a newly determined display location.
7. The method of claim 5 wherein said screen saver image comprises at least one of time data, system status data or number of un-read email data.