Windows-driven power management for peripheral devices in a computer system
First Claim
1. An apparatus for dynamically managing the power consumption of peripheral devices in a computer, comprising:
- at least one peripheral device;
a memory unit; and
a power management unit comprising a device idle time table for recording the average idle time of each peripheral device with respect to each application program in the computer, and a daemon program being launched and loaded in the memory unit for carrying out a first criterion by determining whether the power supplied to a peripheral device is associated with an active application program running on said computer based on the statistical data of said device idle time table, and carrying out a second criterion by determining whether the power supplied to said peripheral device is associated with the inactive application programs running on said computer based on the statistical data of said device idle time table, and, wherein a power-saving signal is sent to an operating system of the computer when both of said first criterion and said second criterion are satisfied, and in response to said power-saving signal, said operating system powers off said peripheral device.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for dynamically managing the power consumption of peripheral devices in a computer includes at least one peripheral device, a power management unit, and a memory unit. The power management unit includes a daemon program and a device idle time table. The daemon program is used for carrying out a first criterion by determining whether the power supplied to the device is associated with an active application program of the computer based on the device idle time table, and carrying out a second criterion by determining whether the power supplied to the device is associated with the inactive application programs of the computer based on the device idle time table. A power-saving signal is sent to an operating system of the computer when both criteria are satisfied, and the operating system activates an embedded power management utility to turn off the peripheral device in response to the power-saving signal.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. An apparatus for dynamically managing the power consumption of peripheral devices in a computer, comprising:
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at least one peripheral device;
a memory unit; and
a power management unit comprising a device idle time table for recording the average idle time of each peripheral device with respect to each application program in the computer, and a daemon program being launched and loaded in the memory unit for carrying out a first criterion by determining whether the power supplied to a peripheral device is associated with an active application program running on said computer based on the statistical data of said device idle time table, and carrying out a second criterion by determining whether the power supplied to said peripheral device is associated with the inactive application programs running on said computer based on the statistical data of said device idle time table, and, wherein a power-saving signal is sent to an operating system of the computer when both of said first criterion and said second criterion are satisfied, and in response to said power-saving signal, said operating system powers off said peripheral device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for dynamically managing the power consumption of peripheral devices in a computer, comprising steps of:
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carrying out a first criterion by determining whether the power supplied to a peripheral device is associated with an active application program running in said computer;
carrying out a second criterion by determining whether the power supplied to said peripheral device is associated with the inactive application programs running in said computer;
sending a power-saving signal to an operating system of said computer unit when both of said first criterion and said second criterion are satisfied; and
in response to said power-saving signal, powering off said peripheral device. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification