Display control device, display control method, and computer-readable recording medium

1. A display control device, which controls a display panel to display image data by switching between at least two frame rates, the display control device comprising:

image data update determining circuitry that determines, for each preset image data update period, whether externally-supplied image data is updated;

first frame rate setting circuitry that sets a frame rate in accordance with a determination result determined by the image data update determining circuitry; and

second frame rate setting circuitry via which a user sets an upper limit of the frame rate, wherein

if it is determined that no image data is updated, the frame rate is set based on whether the image data was displayed in a previous frame,

the first frame rate setting circuitry sets the frame rate to have the upper limit which the user has set via the second frame rate setting circuitry, and

in a case where the image data update determining circuitry determines that the image data is not updated, the first frame rate setting circuitry reduces the frame rate by suspending a transmission of the image data to the display panel by securing an idle period, during which none of the image data is transmitted, by thinning out a given number of frames from a data transmission interval of a frame rate which was set in a previous image data update determination.

2. The display control device as set forth in claim 1 , wherein:

the image data update determining circuitry determines whether image data stored in an image data storage is updated, and

the image data storage stores image data which (i) is externally supplied and (ii) is to be transmitted to the display panel.

3. The display control device as set forth in claim 1 , wherein:

in a case where the image data update determining circuitry determines that the image data is not updated, the first frame rate setting circuitry sets the frame rate to be lower than a frame rate which was set in a previous image data update determination.

4. A method of controlling a display panel to display image data by switching between at least two frame rates, the method comprising:

(a) determining, for each preset image data update period, whether externally-supplied image data is updated;

(b) setting a frame rate in accordance with a determination result determined in the step (a); and

(c) setting an upper limit of the frame rate in response to a user input, wherein

if it is determined that no image data is updated, the frame rate is set based on whether the image data was displayed in a previous frame, and

in a case where it is determined that the image data is not updated, the frame rate is reduced by suspending a transmission of the image data to the display panel by securing an idle period, during which none of the image data is transmitted, by thinning out a given number of frames from a data transmission interval of a frame rate which was set in a previous image data update determination.

5. The method of controlling a display panel as set forth in claim 4 , the method further comprising:

(d) updating the frame rate to match a frame rate of the display panel; and

(e) reducing the frame rate by half when no image data is updated.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium in which a display control program causes a computer to perform:

(a) determining, for each preset image data update period, whether externally-supplied image data is updated;

(b) setting a frame rate in accordance with a determination result determined in the step (a); and

(c) setting an upper limit of the frame rate in response to a user input, wherein

if it is determined that no image data is updated, the frame rate is set based on whether the image data was displayed in a previous frame, and

in a case where it is determined that the image data is not updated, the frame rate is reduced by suspending a transmission of the image data to the display panel by securing an idle period, during which none of the image data is transmitted, by thinning out a given number of frames from a data transmission interval of a frame rate which was set in a previous image data update determination.

7. The display control device as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising display image creating circuitry that sets the frame rate to match a frame rate of the display panel when the image data is updated, and reduces the frame rate by half when no image data is updated.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium of claim 6 , causing a computer to further perform:

(d) updating the frame rate to match a frame rate of the display panel; and

(e) reducing the frame rate by half when no image data is updated.