Motorola Corporation

Harvey H Wong

Hing Leung Yiu

Wendy Reed

Vincent W Chan

A method and apparatus for reducing power consumption in a portable electronic device (100) with an LCD screen (104) and operating with a CPU (114) switchable between a high power mode and a low power mode. When input commences on a surface of the LCD screen (104), an interrupt signaler (108) generates a first interrupt signal to an interrupt controller (112). Upon receiving the first interrupt signal, the interrupt controller (112) switches the CPU (114) from the low power mode to the high power mode, turning on at least one detection panel (106) coupled to the LCD screen (104) and to an ADC (110). When input ceases on the surface, the interrupt signaler (108) generates a second interrupt signal to switch the CPU (114) from the high power mode to the low power mode, turning off the at least one detection panel (106) and the ADC (110).

Method for reducing power consumption in a portable electronic device

A fast, highly efficient method for storing computer display information (13) which contains both text and graphics (26, 27). The method separates text (26) from graphics (27) compressing, storing each separately to optimize compression. The method allows use of multiple text fonts (21) on the same display (13) and is simple enough for an 8-bit microcomputer.

Compact memory for mixed text in graphics

A LCD vertical scrolling mechanism automatically tracks addresses of information scrolled on a LCD. A counter is initialized to a value latched in a vector register when a frame signal is received. Subsequent BPCLK signals step the adder through a series of values. These values are relayed through two bus selectors to segment drivers for the LCD. One of the bus selectors is coupled to the counter in parallel with a subtracter. When a value from the counter exceeds a predetermined value equal to the MUX of the LCD, the subtracter takes the difference between the predetermined MUX value and the value received from the counter and directs the parallel bus selector to relay the difference to the RAM of a segment driver. An adder is coupled to the other bus selector and to the vector register. When the MCU needs to fetch information from the segment drivers, the MCU relays a LCD address where the information is displayed, to the adder. The adder adds the address (a value) to the value latched in the vector register. The MCU directs the second bus selector to select the value determined in the adder and relay this address to the segment driver.

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Hong Kong, China

Harvey H Wong