Communication of processor state information

• US 10,085,211 B2
• Filed: 07/01/2015
• Issued: 09/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Prats, Augustin
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Parth
• Application Number:
  US14/789,680
• Publication Number:
  US 20160066273A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,182 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/27 Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A first device and a second device, having established a communications link with each other, can manage intra-device communication and inter-device communication using hardware and/or software state information (e.g. on/off) of the devices. The first device can record a change in state of a first processor of the first device. The first device can use the stored state information to determine whether to perform operations that involve processing by the first processor, e.g., delivering a message from the second device to the first processor. The first device can also send the change in the state of the first processor to the second device. The second device can record the change in the state of the first processor. The second device can use the stored state information to determine whether to perform operations that involve processing by the first processor, e.g., sending a message over the communications link.

Claims

1. A method of managing communications between mobile user devices, the method comprising:

at a first mobile user device having a display, a first processor configured to execute client applications stored on the first mobile user device and to communicate with the display to provide a user interface for the client applications, and a first memory that stores a remote state of a second processor of a second device;

determining, by a communications link manager, a change of a local state of the first processor to a first power state;

transmitting, by the communications link manager to the second device via a communications link, a message indicating the first power state of the first processor;

obtaining the remote state of the second processor from the first memory, wherein the remote state of the second processor was obtained from the second device;

determining whether to send data of a client application to the second device via the communications link based at least on the remote state of the second processor, wherein when the remote state of the second processor is indicative of a sleep mode, the determining comprises evaluating one or more criteria, including determining whether a priority of the data is higher than a threshold; and

sending the data of the client application to the second device via the communications link when the remote state of the second processor is indicative of the sleep mode and the priority of the data is higher than the threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the remote state of the second processor is a first power state, determining whether to send the data to the second device via the communications link based at least on the remote state of the second processor comprises:

determining to send the data to the second device when the first power state represents a non-sleep mode of the second processor or when the first power state exceeds a threshold.

3. The method of claim 1,

wherein the one or more criteria further include at least one selected from a message attribute of a data message including the data, a type of the data message, a protocol associated with the data message, or a content of the data message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more criteria further include one or more criteria selected from a group of:

a type of the data or content of the data.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, at the first mobile user device:

queuing the data for later delivery to the second device when the remote state of the second processor indicates a sleep mode of the second processor.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, at the first mobile user device:

determining, by the communications link manager, that the first processor is in a sleep state;

receiving, by the communications link manager, a message from the second device;

determining, by the communications link manager, whether to wake up the first processor from the sleep state based at least on the message and one or more delivery criteria;

delaying, by the communications link manager, delivery of the message to the first processor when the message fails to satisfy the one or more delivery criteria; and

delivering, by the communications link manager, the message to the first processor at a later time.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the message indicating the first power state of the first processor to the second device is in response to determining the change of the local state of the first processor.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote state of the second processor is obtained from the first memory before transmitting the message indicating the first power state of the first processor to the second device, the method further comprising:

determining, by the communications link manager, that the second processor is in a sleep state based at least on the remote state obtained from the first memory; and

determining, by the communications link manager, to transmit the message indicating the first power state of the first processor to the second device such that a communications link manager of the second device is notified of the first power state of the first processor for use when the second processor of the second device awakens.

9. A mobile device comprising:

a first processor;

a first memory storing a remote state of a second processor of another device; and

a first communications interface configured to;

establish a communications link between the mobile device and the other device;

determine a change of a local state of the first processor to a new power state;

transmit, to the other device, a message indicating the new power state of the first processor; and

obtain the remote state of the second processor from the first memory, the remote state of the second processor having been obtained from the other device, wherein when the new power state is a sleep state, and wherein the first communications interface is configured to maintain the communications link with the other device for continued communication of messages with the other device;

the first processor configured to;

query the first communications interface for the remote state of the second processor;

determine to send data to the other device via the first communications interface when the remote state of the second processor is indicative of a first power state;

determine whether to send or to queue the data for later delivery to the other device based at least on the remote state of the second processor being indicative of a second power state, including determining to send the data to the other device by;

determining that the second power state represents a sleep mode of the second processor; and

determining that the data satisfies one or more criteria, wherein the one or more criteria include one or more selected from a group of;

a priority of the data, a type of the data, or content of the data.

10. The mobile device of claim 9, wherein to determine to send the data to the other device, the first processor is configured to:

determine that the first power state represents a data processing mode of the second processor.

11. The mobile device of claim 9, wherein to determine to queue the data for later delivery to the other device, the first processor is configured to:

determine that the second power state represents a sleep mode of the second processor and that the data does not satisfy the one or more criteria.

12. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the first processor is further configured to:

send the queued data to the other device responsive to a change in the remote state of the second processor obtained from the other device.

13. The mobile device of claim 9, the first communications interface further configured to:

record the change in the local state of the first processor.

14. A computer product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that when executed control a first device having a communications link with a second device, the first device having a first processor and a first memory storing a remote state of a second processor of the second device, the instructions causing the first device to perform:

establishing, by a communications interface, the communications link between the first device and the second device;

determining, by the communications interface, a change of a local state of the first processor to a new power state;

transmitting, to the second device via the communications link, a message indicating the new power state of the first processor;

obtaining, by the communications interface, the remote state of the second processor from the first memory, the remote state of the second processor having been obtained from the other device, wherein when the new power state is a sleep state, and wherein the communications interface is configured to maintain the communications link with the other device for continued communication of messages with the other device;

querying, by the first processor, the communications interface to obtain the remote state of the second processor from the first memory;

determining whether to send data to the second device based at least part on the remote state of the second processor stored in the first memory;

sending the data to the second device when the remote state of the second processor comprises a non-sleep state;

queuing the data in the first memory for later delivery to the second device when the remote state of the second processor comprises a sleep state;

receiving a change in the remote state of the second processor, wherein receiving the change in the remote state of the second processor comprises receiving one or more flags indicative of a mode of operation of the second processor; and

recording the change in the remote state of the second processor in the first memory.

15. The computer product of claim 14, wherein determining whether to send the data to the second device based at least part on the remote state of the second processor in the first memory further comprises:

determining whether the data satisfies one or more criteria.

16. The computer product of claim 14, the instructions further causing the first device to perform:

determining, by a communications link manager, the first processor to be in a sleep state;

receiving, by the communications link manager, a message from the second device; and

determining, by the communications link manager, whether to wake up the first processor from the sleep state based at least on the message.