Using video technology for reducing TV energy

In this paper we present a new approach to lower energy consumption of television set. Unlike existing methods, which "sense" a TV viewer through motion sensor or remote controller, our approach "monitors" the viewer through a video camera. The proposed method keeps TV screen active only if there is someone looking at the screen. When no viewer is present in front of the camera, the TV screen is dimmed to save power while the TV audio system is kept ON. Experiments show that such energy management can reduce the TV power consumption significantly especially when TV is left ON unwatched.