VESA Display Power Management Signaling (or DPMS) is a standard from the VESA consortium for managing the power supply of video monitors for computers through the graphics card. Example usage includes shutting off the monitor after a period of idle time to save power. Some commercial displays also incorporate this technology.
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History
VESA issued DPMS 1.0 in 1993, basing their work on the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) earlier Energy Star power management specifications. Subsequent revisions were included in future VESA BIOS Extensions.
Design
The standard defines how to signal the H-sync and V-sync pins in a standard SVGA monitor to trigger the monitor's power saving capabilities.
DPMS defines four modes; normal, standby, suspended and off. When in the "off" state some power may still be drawn in order to power indicator lights.
The standard is: