Apple Bags Another Patent, This Time Related To Power Consumption Display Brightness

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today officially granted Apple a patent (via AppleInsider) describing methods for automatically adjusting screen brightness to suit the content being displayed. The patent, which was originally filed for in mid-2006 and can actually be traced back to a separate 2002 application, addresses techniques for saving battery life on portable devices.

The improved techniques reduce power consumption by lowering display intensity at appropriate times. In one embodiment, the display intensity can be controlled depending on the type of content being displayed. For example, when displaying certain types of content, the display intensity can be lowered from its otherwise high, constant intensity level. In another embodiment, the display intensity can be controlled depending on the characteristics of the content being displayed. For example, when displaying images that are light, the display intensity can be lowered from its otherwise high, constant intensity level. In still another embodiment, the display intensity can be controlled depending on the type and characteristics of content being displayed.

Apple's battery-powered devices have long had the capability to automatically dim displays based on such criteria as power source (battery vs. wall power), ambient light levels and usage (dimming the display of a device that hasn't been used for a particular time interval). Dimming the screen based on content, such as when a particularly bright image is displayed, requires a more sophisticated approach, something that Apple has clearly been working on for some time.

Apple actually now uses a variation on this invention for its Passbook application in iOS 6 for the iPhone, automatically boosting the display's brightness to maximum when the app is launched in order to make it easier for scanners to read the 2D barcodes used on passes within the app.

The patent suggests that Apple's plans for content-sensitive automatic brightness adjustment could even extend as far as frame-by-frame or scene-by-scene adjustments when viewing videos, with users also being able to configure their own preferences for content-based brightness. [MacRumors]

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US Power Plants Hit By USB Virus

Two power plants in the US were affected by malware attacks in 2012, a security authority has said.

In its latest quarterly newsletter, the US Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) said "common and sophisticated" attacks had taken place.

Malware had infected each plant's system after being inadvertently brought in on a USB stick, it said.

The ICS-CERT said it expected a rise in the number of similar attacks.

Malware can typically used by cyber-attackers to gain remote access to systems, or to steal data.

In the newsletter, authorities said: "The malware was discovered when an employee asked company IT staff to inspect his USB drive after experiencing intermittent issues with the drive's operation.

"The employee routinely used this USB drive for backing up control systems configurations within the control environment."

And at a separate facility, more malware was found.

"A third-party technician used a USB-drive to upload software updates during a scheduled outage for equipment upgrades," the report said.

"Unknown to the technician, the USB-drive was infected with crimeware.

"The infection resulted in downtime for the impacted systems and delayed the plant restart by approximately three weeks."

Physical effects

The authority did not go into explicit details regarding the malware itself, but did stress that the use of removable media had to be reviewed and tightened.

"Such practices will mitigate many issues that could lead to extended system downtime," it said.

"Defence-in-depth strategies are also essential in planning control system networks and in providing protections to reduce the risk of impacts from cyber-events."

In recent years, power plants have been the target of increasingly destructive malware and viruses - a bridge between damage in a digital sense, such as data loss of theft, and actual physical infrastructure.

In 2010, the Stuxnet virus was said to have damaged critical parts of Iran's nuclear infrastructure.

Security firm Symantec research said it believed Stuxnet had been designed to hit motors controlling centrifuges and thus disrupt the creation of uranium fuel pellets.

A UN weapons inspector later said he believed the attack had set back Iran's nuclear programme.

No country has claimed responsibility for the attack, but a New York Times report last year, written by the author of a book on the attacks, pointed the finger at the US.

Journalist David E Sanger wrote that the US had acted with the co-operation of Israel. [BBC Tech]

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