Wearable Display Image Cache for Energy-Efficient Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wearable devices like smartwatches face limitations in battery life due to energy consumption, particularly in refreshing displays, which hinders delivering rich functionality and a pleasant user experience.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a hardware processor with an image cache that computes and combines pixel-wise logical operations on cached images to efficiently update the display, reducing unnecessary calculations and energy usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the display is refreshed continuously to deliver rich functionality and pleasant user experience, then the display quality and responsiveness are improved, but the energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The display image is segmented into multiple layers (static background layer and dynamic foreground layer). The static background is rendered once and stored in the image cache, while only the dynamic foreground elements are recomputed and combined with the cached background. This segmentation allows the display to maintain rich functionality and responsiveness while significantly reducing the computational energy required for each refresh cycle.
Solution Approach 2:
The static background image is pre-computed and stored in the image cache before needed. When a display refresh is required, the system retrieves the pre-computed background from cache and combines it with the newly computed dynamic elements, rather than recomputing the entire image. This preliminary action eliminates redundant calculations and reduces energy consumption.
2Manufacturing precision
If the entire image is recomputed on each display update, then the display accuracy and completeness are improved, but the computational cost and energy usage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The static background portion of the image is extracted and separated from the dynamic foreground elements. This extracted background is stored in the image cache and reused across multiple display updates. Only the necessary dynamic elements are recomputed, ensuring display accuracy is maintained while eliminating redundant computation of static portions.
Solution Approach 2:
The static background image is copied into the image cache for efficient retrieval. Instead of recomputing the background each time, the system retrieves a copy from cache and combines it with updated dynamic elements using pixel-wise logical operations, maintaining display accuracy with minimal computational energy.
3Speed
If the display is updated frequently to respond to user actions, then the responsiveness is improved, but the battery life decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The display system dynamically adapts its update strategy based on the type of change required. For static elements, the system uses cached versions and simple combination operations, while only dynamically recomputing the portions that have actually changed. This dynamic approach maintains high responsiveness to user actions while minimizing the energy cost of each update.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the computational parameters of display updates by switching from full image recomputation to selective combination of cached and newly computed elements. This parameter change in the update strategy maintains responsiveness to user actions while reducing the energy consumption per update, thereby extending battery life.
Data Source
AI summary
Described systems and methods allow minimizing energy use and increasing battery life of a wearable device such as a smartwatch, by optimizing the way an image displayed to the user is updated in response to an event. In some embodiments, an image of each display object (e.g., clock hand, text, weather symbol, fitness icon) is individually stored in an image cache, such as a processor register or a separate section of memory. A new, updated on-screen image is computed dynamically, by combining cached images of the respective display objects. When the appearance of a current display object must change in response to the event, an updated image of the respective object is cached for future use.