Increased time in a suspended state during network transmissions

• US 10,045,297 B1
• Filed: 01/24/2017
• Issued: 08/07/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Shmidt, Dmitry
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US15/414,554
• Time in Patent Office: 560 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0254 detecting a user operation or a tactile contact or a motion of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/028 switching on or off only a part of the equipment circuit blocks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for increasing time a computing device remains in a suspended state during network transmissions. On a first network packet of a plurality of network packets being received while the device is in a suspended state, a wake reference count is incremented and components of the device are temporarily switched from the suspended state to a powered-on state for consumption of the network packet. The wake reference count is incremented for each of the other network packets, and decremented each time each of the packets is consumed by the components of the computing device. In response to the wake reference count being fully decremented, the components are automatically returned from the powered-on state to the suspended state.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a computing device in a suspended state, a first network packet transmitted to the computing device over a network;

in response to the first network packet being received, incrementing a wake reference count and switching one or more components of the computing device from the suspended state to a powered-on state for consumption of the first network packet;

decrementing the wake reference count in response to the first network packet being consumed by the one or more components of the computing device; and

in response to the wake reference count being fully decremented, automatically returning the components of the computing device from the powered-on state to the suspended state.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the computing device before the wake reference count is fully decremented, a plurality of second network packets;

incrementing the wake reference count for each of the plurality of second network packets received by the computing device; and

decrementing the wake reference count each time a packet of the received plurality of second network packets is consumed by the one or more components of the computing device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

maintaining a list of respective packets that have not been consumed by the components of the computing device; and

removing the respective packets from the list as they are consumed by the components of the computing device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining that an unconsumed packet in the list was not consumed within a predetermined period of time; and

in response to the unconsumed packet not being consumed within a predetermined period of time, releasing the unconsumed packet so that the unconsumed packet will not be consumed by the components of the computing device, removing the unconsumed packet from the list, and decrementing the wake reference count for the unconsumed packet.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

placing each packet on the list with a timestamp indicating when the packet was received,

wherein determining that the unconsumed packet in the list was not consumed within a predetermined period of time comprises determining that a predetermined period of time since the unconsumed packet was received has elapsed.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

placing each packet on the list with a release function for initiating the decrementing of the wake reference count for the packet; and

calling the release function of a consumed packet to decrement the wake reference count when the consumed packet is consumed by the components of the computing device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein calling the release function of a consumed packet comprises:

identifying, from the list, a release function pointer associated with the consumed packet; and

calling the release function using the release function pointer.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein, on the first network packet being received, a wake up function is initiated to power on the components of the computing device for consumption of the first network packet, wherein the wake reference count is incremented in connection with the initiating of the wake up function.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

switching the computing device from a normal state to the suspended state in response to the computing device being idle for a predetermined period of time;

powering on the components of the computing device to execute one or more applications for consumption of the first network packet while in the suspended state, the components being powered on while other components remain powered off;

detecting user interaction with the computing device while in the suspended state; and

in response to detecting the user interaction, placing the computing device in the normal state.

10. A system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory comprising instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

on a first network packet of a plurality of network packets being received, incrementing a wake reference count and switching one or more components of a computing device from the suspended state to a powered-on state for consumption of the first network packet;

incrementing, after the components are switched to the powered-on state, the wake reference count for each other packet of the plurality of network packets;

decrementing the wake reference count each time a packet of the received plurality of packets is consumed by the components of the computing device; and

in response to the wake reference count being fully decremented, automatically returning the components of the computing device from the powered-on state to the suspended state.

11. The system of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

maintaining a list of respective packets of the plurality of packets that have not been consumed by the components of the computing device; and

removing the respective packets from the list as they are consumed by the components of the computing device.

12. The method of claim 11, the operations further comprising:

determining that an unconsumed packet in the list was not consumed within a predetermined period of time; and

in response to the unconsumed packet not being consumed within a predetermined period of time, initiating a release of the unconsumed packet so that the unconsumed packet will not be consumed by the components of the computing device, removing the unconsumed packet from the list, and decrementing the wake reference count for the unconsumed packet.

13. The system of claim 12, the operations further comprising:

placing each packet on the list with a timestamp indicating when the packet was received,

wherein determining that the unconsumed packet in the list was not consumed within a predetermined period of time comprises determining that a predetermined period of time since the unconsumed packet was received has elapsed.

14. The system of claim 11, the operations further comprising:

placing each packet on the list with a release function for initiating the decrementing of the wake reference count for the packet; and

calling the release function of a consumed packet to decrement the wake reference count when the consumed packet is consumed by the components of the computing device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein calling the release function of a consumed packet comprises:

identifying, from the list, a release function pointer associated with the consumed packet; and

calling the release function using the release function pointer.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein, on the first network packet being received, a wake up function is initiated to power on the components of the computing device for consumption of the first network packet, wherein the wake reference count is incremented in connection with the initiating of the wake up function.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the wake up function is called in response to each network packet of the plurality of network packets being received, and wherein incrementing the wake reference count is performed by the wake up function when the wake up function is called.

18. The system of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

switching the computing device from a normal state to the suspended state in response to the computing device being idle for a predetermined period of time;

powering on the components of the computing device to execute one or more applications that consume the plurality of network packets while in the suspended state, the components being powered on while other components remain powered off;

detecting interaction with the computing device while in the suspended state; and

in response to detecting the user interaction, placing the computing device in the normal state.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a computing device to perform a method, comprising:

receiving, while the computing device is in a suspended state, a plurality of network packets transmitted to the computing device over a network;

on the first network packet being received, powering on one or more first components of the computing device to consume the first network packet while one or more second components of the computing device remain powered off;

maintaining a list of respective packets of the plurality of packets that have not been consumed by the components of the computing device;

removing the respective packets from the list as they are consumed by the components of the computing device;

providing power to the one or more first components of the computing device while the list is not empty; and

powering down the one or more first components in response to the list being empty.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the computing device is switched from a normal state to the suspended state in response to the computing device being idle for a predetermined period of time, the method further comprising:

powering on the components of the computing device to execute one or more applications that consume the plurality of network packets while in the suspended state,

wherein the computing device is placed back in the normal state in response to the computing device detecting user interaction with the computing device while in the suspended state.