Displayport organization demonstrates displays ‘without cable’

The Displayport organization demonstrated the Panel Self Refresh technology at CES in Las Vegas. Displays are equipped with a memory chip that buffers static images. A cable is only needed when the picture changes.

Intel already announced the Panel Self Refresh technology during IDF last fall, but we have not yet seen a working demonstration. However, the DisplayPort organization had a booth at CES where it demonstrated the energy-saving technique. A stripped-down LCD panel equipped with additional hardware for PSR was connected to a PC with a displayport cable.

With static images, the image is stored locally in the display on a 5MB memory chip, sufficient for an HD image. The GPU of the system does not have to do any work at those times to send an image at 60Hz to the display. Only when the image needs to be refreshed, the GPU is put back to work. This could result in energy savings of about ten percent for ultraportables or tablets, especially if the contrast and brightness are actively controlled in the future.

The demonstration of PSR was simple; while the Windows desktop was displayed, a led showed the activity of the PSR technique. When it was on, the GPU was inactive, while a turned off LED indicated an active GPU. When PSR was active, the displayport cable could be pulled out of the display without any problems; the image was preserved.