984results about How to "Suppress power consumption" patented technology

In a system for data communication between an information terminal to be operated by a user and remote communication nodes, the present invention intends to suppress the power consumption of the information terminal. For that purpose, communication nodes 2, 3 and 4 each emit diffuse light carrying a pilot signal blinking at a low frequency to notify the presence of the communication node and an ID signal belonging to a higher frequency range, the ID signal containing inherent address etc. for identifying each communication node. A mobile phone 1 as the information terminal captures an image and processes the image data to detect the pilot signal of each communication node. Then, determining the position of each node and setting a limited range for reading the pixels around that position, the mobile phone 1 reads the detection signals of the pixels within the limited range at high speed and obtains identification information. This information is used to identify each node and eliminate influences of any other light source that apparently resembles the pilot signal.

It is an object to provide a semiconductor device in which power consumption can be reduced. It is another object to provide a highly reliable semiconductor device using a programming cell, such as a programmable logic device (PLD). In accordance with a change in a configuration of connections between basic blocks, power supply voltage furnishing to the basic blocks is changed. That is, when the structure of connections between the basic blocks is such that a basic block does not contribute to a circuit, the supply of the power supply voltage to this basic block is stopped. Further, the supply of the power supply voltage to the basic blocks is controlled using a programming cell formed using a field effect transistor whose channel formation region is formed using an oxide semiconductor, the field effect transistor having extremely low off-state current or extremely low leakage current.

To provide an active matrix display device in which power consumption of a signal line driver circuit can be suppressed, so that power consumption of the entire memory can be suppressed. A plurality of memory circuits which can write data of a video signal input to a pixel in one line period and can hold the data are provided in a signal line driver circuit of a display device. Then, the data held in each memory circuit is input to a pixel of a corresponding line as a video signal. By providing two or more memory circuits in a driver circuit, pieces of data of video signals corresponding to two or more line periods can be concurrently held in the memory circuits.

Only when a wall side and the vicinity of an obstacle are cleaned, a side brush is operated and the cleaning is carried out, and when any other place than the wall side and the vicinity of the obstacle is cleaned, the side brush is maintained in a stoppage state. When a place such as the wall side or the vicinity of the obstacle in which dust is easy to accumulate is cleaned, the side brush is operated to enhance the dust collecting property. When any other place than the wall side or the vicinity of the obstacle is cleaned, the side brush is stopped to suppress power consumption and generation of a noise. A judgment processing portion detects based on a detection signal from an obstacle detecting portion that a cleaner is approaching a wall or an obstacle. In response to such detection, the judgment processing portion instructs a travel steering portion to carry out immediate rotation and change of a travel direction, or travel along a wall side. Also, the judgment processing portion instructs a side brush driving portion to drive a side brush only in the rotation and in the wall side travel, and to stop the side brush in straight advance travel.

A power-saving network management server, which is coupled to a network system including a network device and manages a state of power to the network device, wherein the power-saving network management server is configured to: store network configuration information and task allocation information; determine starting or stopping of the power supply to the port of the network device based on the updated network configuration information and task allocation information; store a determination result of the starting or stopping of the power supply to the port as a port determination result; and control the power supply to the port of the network device based on the port determination result.

A display device with a touch screen having display pixels and optical sensors each arranged in a matrix. In the display device, a backlight controller controls a backlight unit to be turned ON in a data display duration and controls the backlight unit to be turned OFF in a sensor detection duration other than the data display duration. Consequently, the influence of backlight on a touch part when the shade of the touch part is to be detected, can be reduced and an accuracy in the detection of an optical sensor can be increased

A game controller includes at least four load sensors for detecting a load applied on a support board on which player's legs are ridden, and the game controller transmits a load value detected as manipulation data by the four load sensors to a game machine. The game machine determines a necessary quantity of load values, and the game machine computes the necessary quantity of load values based on the detected load value from the game controller. Then, game processing is performed based on the necessary quantity of computed load values.

Each pixel cell (12) of an image sensor (10) is made of a 4-Tr structure, in which only one Tr for resetting a column (X) is so added to an ordinary 3-Tr APS as to reset only an arbitrary pixel selectively, thereby to confine the pixel size. When a pixel signal is to be read, the period, for which the pixel signals composing an ordinary image of one frame are read, is finely divided so that the pixel signals of the pixels receiving an ID light for the period are read out bit by bit and repeatedly. At this time, for only the column being read, an electric current is fed to a read amplifier in the pixel cell (12) or a variable gain amplifier in an output unit (14), thereby to suppress the power consumption. As a result, a lower power consumption and a higher pixel formation can be attained in an image pickup device for picking up an image and for acquiring the ID information of a light beacon existing in the image pickup range.

A system for performing telemetry of multi-channel biological signals obtained from electrodes attached to a subject, is provided with a transmitter and a receiver. In the transmitter, a converter converts the multi-channel biological signals to digital data, and a storage stores the digital data. In the transmitter, a first transceiver is operable to transmit a prescribed amount of the digital data stored in the storage, and a battery is operable to supply a battery voltage to the first transceiver. In the transmitter, a switch places the battery in either a first state where the battery voltage is supplied to the first transceiver or a second state where the battery voltage is not supplied to the first transceiver, so that the first transceiver intermittently transmits the digital data. In the receiver, a second transceiver is operable to receive the digital data transmitted from the first transceiver. The received digital data is to be reproduced multi-channel biological signals at an output device.

A semiconductor device for high power application in which a novel semiconductor material having high mass productivity is provided. An oxide semiconductor film is formed, and then, first heat treatment is performed on the exposed oxide semiconductor film in order to reduce impurities such as moisture or hydrogen in the oxide semiconductor film. Next, in order to further reduce impurities such as moisture or hydrogen in the oxide semiconductor film, oxygen is added to the oxide semiconductor film by an ion implantation method, an ion doping method, or the like, and after that, second heat treatment is performed on the exposed oxide semiconductor film.

To provide a display device in which a viewing angle characteristic is improved by providing a plurality of sub-pixels to one pixel. Alternatively, to provide a display device in which an aperture ratio is suppressed even when a plurality of sub-pixels is provided. A pixel including first sub-pixel, a second sub-pixel, and a third sub-pixel, a scanning line, a signal line, a first capacitor wiring, a second capacitor wiring and a third capacitor wiring are provided. Pixel electrodes each electrically connected to one electrode of the first to third capacitor elements, and the first to third capacitor wirings, respectively, are provided to the first to third sub-pixels electrodes, respectively. Potentials of the first capacitor wiring and the second capacitor wiring are changed and a potential of the third capacitor wiring is kept almost constant.

In an electromagnetic switching device including a cylindrical part made of a magnetic material with a closed bottom for housing a movable iron core having a movable contact and so constructed as to render the movable contact movable toward and away from a fixed contact, a joint member made of a metallic material with an insertion hole formed substantially in the center thereof for movably receiving a movable shaft fixedly attached to the movable iron core, and a metal plate made of a non-magnetic material with a hole formed substantially in the center thereof with the inner diameter substantially the same as the inner diameter of the cylindrical part, the cylindrical part and the joint member are air-tightly jointed to each other with the metal plate provided therebetween, and the movable iron core is housed in the cylindrical part with a clearance defined between the movable iron core and the joint member corresponding to a required stroke within which the movable contact contacts the fixed contact. This arrangement provides improvement in magnetic efficiency of electromagnet of the device. Accordingly, improved energy saving performance is accomplished as compared with a case of a conventional electromagnetic switching device.

The electromagnetic actuator includes an electromagnetic coil configured to provide actuation force in accordance with a solenoid current to be supplied, to a clutch and configured to actuate the clutch to control relative rotation between first and second members. The electromagnetic actuator includes a detector configured to detect the clutch actuated to produce a detection signal. The electromagnetic actuator includes a controller configured to respond to the detection signal from the detector to control the solenoid current.

Provided is a method for transferring data of a sensor network system in which communication is made with multiple sensor nodes SN1s connected via a wireless network to transmit sensing data measured by the sensor nodes SN1s to a server SNS connected via a wired network. The method includes: receiving the sensing data from each of the sensor nodes SN1s (S1); adding meaning information that corresponds to a measurement value contained in the sensing data to the sensing data (S2, S5); and transmitting the sensing data to which the meaning information is added to the server SNS (S6). Accordingly, data of the sensor nodes are efficiently used by multiple applications while effectively using a reduced resource for wireless communication.

A photoelectrochemical cell (1) includes an electrolyte container (3) containing an ionic liquid (2), and a partitioning membrane (4) dividing an interior of the electrolyte container (3) into two being a CO2 capturing chamber (7) and a CO2 releasing chamber (8), having side walls opposing each other, with the partitioning membrane (4) in between, either as a carbon electrode (5) and the other as a photoelectrode (6). A redox mediator (B) has different bonding forces to carbon dioxide, as it appears as an oxidant Box and a reductant Bred, of which that one which has a greater bonding force serves as an intermediary chemical species carrying carbon dioxide to one of the paired electrodes (5, 6). Over the CO2 releasing chamber (10), an upper wall portion (10) is formed, which has a CO2 take-out port (10A) formed therein, for making use of oxidation and reduction of the redox mediator to achieve separation and concentration of carbon dioxide, converting photo energy of sunlight into electric power.

A headlight can form a light distribution pattern that prevents uneven brightness when the headlight is set to a high beam mode, and also minimizes power consumption when the headlight is set to the high beam mode. The vehicle light can include a multi-focal lens that has a mid-level lens portion, an upper-level lens portion, and lower-level lens portion. A separator plate can have a front edge positioned at or near the focal point of the mid-level lens portion. Light emitting elements can be mounted on top and bottom of the separator plate, respectively. A first elliptical reflecting surface whose first focal point is set at or near the first light emitting element and whose second focal point is set at or near the focal point of the mid-level lens portion can be provided. A second elliptical reflecting surface can also be provided whose first focal point is set at or near the second light emitting element and whose second focal point is set at or near the focal point of the upper-level lens portion. A hyperbolic reflecting surface can be located adjacent the second elliptical reflecting surface and can have an inner focal point set at or near the second light emitting element and an outer focal point set at or near the focal point of the lower-level lens portion. The vehicle light can be configured such that the first light emitting element and the second light emitting element can selectively emit light beams.

An image processing apparatus executes the processing of updating control information kept in the controlling units included in it without suspending an on-going processing and delaying the execution of a new processing request with less power consumption. When the controlling units are in a sleep mode or in non-energized state, NIC determines whether or not updating of firmware kept in each controlling unit is necessary by communicating with the information delivery server. The NIC controls an energization switching circuit to start up exclusively the controlling unit keeping the firmware determined necessary to be updated and replaces the firmware kept in the started controlling unit with the latest version of firmware obtained from the information delivery server.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a lighting device realizing reduction in cost and suppression of power consumption and suppressing generation of a lamp image. A lighting device 12 of the present invention includes a plurality of point light sources 80; a chassis 14 housing the point light sources 80 and having an opening 14b through which light from the point light sources 80 exits; and an optical member 15 (15a) facing the point light sources 80 and provided to cover the opening 14b. The point light sources 80 are arranged such that a light source high-density area LH where an arrangement interval thereof is relatively small and a light source low-density area LL where an arrangement interval thereof is relatively large are provided. Light reflection portions 50 reflecting lights from the point light sources 80 are formed in at least a region overlapping with the light source low-density area LL in the optical member 15 (15a).

A signal processing circuit whose power consumption can be suppressed is provided. In a period during which a power supply voltage is not supplied to a storage element, data stored in a first storage circuit corresponding to a nonvolatile memory can be held by a first capacitor provided in a second storage circuit. With the use of a transistor in which a channel is formed in an oxide semiconductor layer, a signal held in the first capacitor is held for a long time. The storage element can accordingly hold the stored content (data) also in a period during which the supply of the power supply voltage is stopped. A signal held by the first capacitor can be converted into the one corresponding to the state (the on state or off state) of the second transistor and read from the second storage circuit. Consequently, an original signal can be accurately read.

An image display apparatus includes a display having data holding function, a vertical drive circuit sequentially and selectively scanning matrix form display elements, and a horizontal drive circuit writing a voltage among binary voltage preliminarily assigned depending upon the digital data of the image signal. The horizontal drive circuit and the vertical drive circuit are operated for performing selective scan of respective display element for at least m times in one frame period. The vertical drive circuit is constituted of n number of sequence circuits and logic operation circuits for outputs of the sequence circuits, where n is smaller than m, a period from inputting to the sequence circuit to outputting from the final stage being less than or equal to half of one frame period, and at least one of the sequence circuits being used with selectively inputting a plurality of inputs.

A contactless semiconductor device is provided where a low power consumption is achieved and wireless communication is carried out stably. A power supply level of a reader / writer and the operating state of internal blocks of an ID chip are monitored. In accordance with such conditions, a clock signal of an optimal frequency and a power supply potential of an optimal level are selected to be supplied. By setting the operating mode in accordance with the power supply level or the power saving mode in accordance with the operating state of each block, a low power consumption ID chip and stable wireless communication can be provided.

An object is to provide a display device with low power consumption and good display quality. A first substrate is provided with a terminal portion, a pixel electrode, a switching transistor including an oxide semiconductor, a first optical sensor having high optical sensitivity to visible light, and a second optical sensor having optical sensitivity to infrared light and having lower optical sensitivity to visible light than the first optical sensor. The illuminance or color temperature around a display device is detected using the first and second optical sensors, and the luminance or color tone of a display image is adjusted. A second substrate is provided so as to face the first substrate, and is provided with a counter electrode. In a period for displaying a still image, the switching transistor is turned off so that the counter electrode is brought into a floating state.

A sensing device includes: a sensor module that includes a group of sensors, at least one of which is set as a motion sensor, and can switch an operation mode to an overall operation mode in which all of the group of sensors operate and a partial operation mode in which a part of the sensors including the at least one sensor set as the motion sensor operate; and a control unit that controls the switching of the operation mode of the sensor module on the basis of an output from the motion sensor.

Power is taken out from radio waves through an antenna and a power receiving unit. A signal receiver, a comparator, and an ID signal holder are operated with the taken-out power to compare an ID contained in a received signal with an ID read out from the ID signal holder. When both the ID's are matched with each other, a switch for a main power source is turned on. In trying to remotely operate household electrical appliances by utilizing the Internet that has become increasingly popular, standby power is consumed if the electrical appliances are kept in a standby state at all times. Since power is taken out from radio waves, the invention is able to cut the standby power in an environment where the radio waves are transferred via radio communication that is expected to be more and more prevalent in future.

Objects are to provide a display device the power consumption of which is reduced, to provide a self-luminous display device the power consumption of which is reduced and which is capable of long-term use in a dark place. A circuit is formed using a thin film transistor in which a highly-purified oxide semiconductor is used and a pixel can keep a certain state (a state in which a video signal has been written). As a result, even in the case of displaying a still image, stable operation is easily performed. In addition, an operation interval of a driver circuit can be extended, which results in a reduction in power consumption of a display device. Moreover, a light-storing material is used in a pixel portion of a self-luminous display device to store light, whereby the display device can be used in a dark place for a long time.

The information terminal body may be designed to foldably pivot a pair of flat cases each having a display unit through a hinge which is equipped with a photographing optical system for the camera function unit of which optical axis of lens is perpendicular to an axial center of the hinge. The display units display information from communication channels and images taken in by the camera. The cases may have the display units such that the display units face outside in a folded state. At least one of the two display units may be a finder for photographers, while the other may be a finder for the subject persons. The terminal is equipped with a shutter button and a terminal operation button. The terminal operation button works also as a shutter button. The information terminal is also equipped with a viewfinder for the camera lens system.