A new BlackBerry patent application published last night appears to enable automatic adjustment of BlackBerry device backlighting to time of day and weather conditions.

In other words, if it nighttime, or it is cloudy, the BlackBerry will be able to detect these conditions and adjust backlighting accordingly.

The patent application is 20060172745 and is entitled, "Mobile electronic device having a geographical position dependent light and method and system for achieving the same."

The Abstract is pretty clear about what this technology attempts to achieve:

"The present invention provides a method and system for controlling an illuminating device on a mobile electronic device comprising determining in a global position of the device in real-time, determining a state of at least one light condition currently affecting ambient light at the global position and adjusting the intensity of the illuminating device in response to the state of the at least one light condition. Light conditions include weather conditions and a position of the sun at a particular global position. A mobile electronic device having a geographically dependent illuminating device is also provided. "

Let me show you the patent application drawing that best depicts what is going on here. Then I will provide you details from the application that relate to that drawing.

In Figure 3,operations 300 according to a preferred embodiment of the invention are provided. At step 310, a range of ambient light values are predefined depending on a state of various light conditions, and more particularly, various weather conditions and a position of the sun relative to various global positions at particular times of the day. In respect of weather conditions, it is anticipated that the ambient light value will change depending on states of the weather, such as those described above, namely, the amount of cloud cover, rain conditions and/or snow conditions at that global position.

In respect of sun position, it is similarly anticipated that the ambient light value will change depending on states such as the particular time of day and the altitude of the sun at that time, sun rise and sun set times. As discussed above, this is more accurate than merely calculating an ambient light value based on only the time of day since the altitude and path of the sun differ depending on the global position and the time of year.

[The predefined range of ambient light values represents the ambient light at the global position and is therefore preferably dependent on the combination of both weather condition and the position of the sun. For example, when the sun has already set for several hours, typically the middle of the night, there will be little ambient light (for the purposes of viewing a display) despite the sky being relatively clear and this would be reflected in a low ambient light value.

A person skilled in the art would understand that incorporating other light conditions is also possible. For example, the fullness and position of the moon at a given global position on a clear night may also affect the amount of ambient light at a given geographical location. Therefore, information regarding the lunar cycle and the position of the moon can also be incorporated into the predefined range of ambient light values.

At step 320, a range of backlight intensities are predefined based on the range of ambient light values.

Once the global position of the device is determined, at step 340, actual current weather conditions at the global position are retrieved. At step 350, actual current position of the sun data is retrieved based on the global position of the device. Weather condition data and position of the sun data may be stored and retrieved from a resident memory or downloaded in real-time from a network that is preferably wireless.

At step 360, an ambient light value is calculated based on actual weather conditions and position of the sun data at the global position at the current time and according to the ranges of ambient light values predefined at step 310.

At step 370, backlight intensity is adjusted based on the ambient light value and according to the ranges of backlight intensity predefined at step 320.

Since light conditions, such as weather and the position of the sun, tend to have a greater effect on the ambient light at a global position if the user is actually outdoors, operations ... may depend on an initial decision step (not shown) of turning the device into "outdoor" mode before proceeding to the remainder of the steps of the invention.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the device can automatically predict whether the device is outdoors or indoors. For example, such a prediction may be based on the global position and comparing the outdoor temperature conditions at the global position to the actual temperature as measured by a temperature sensor on the device.

Pretty cool, eh?