Systems and methods that provide enhanced state machine power management

• US 20050239518A1
• Filed: 04/21/2004
• Published: 10/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: D'Agostino, Anthony, Bolen, Charles S., Schaefer, Donald
• Application Number:
  US10/828,787
• Publication Number:
  US 20050239518A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/574
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1615 Switching on; Switching off, e.g. remotely battery saving circuits associated with selective call operation H04W52/00; details of power consumption reduction in a PLL, H03L7/0802, H03L7/14, H03L2207/08, H03L2207/18; muting amplifiers by gain control see H03G3/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/028 switching on or off only a part of the equipment circuit blocks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/00 Reducing energy consumption in communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The present invention manages power for state machines. The system and methods selectively apply, remove and/or reduce power to portions of the state machine, based on power management schemes, intelligence, a user, an application, etc. Such novel systems and methods provide for sustaining a CPU and/or a network radio in an “on” state, while lowering and/or removing power to other portions of the state machine to reduce power consumption. The foregoing enables a wireless mobile terminal to maintain network connectivity and be able to wake to service events such as a link status change, a network keep alive, a proxy-ARP packets, a re-authentication packets, etc. Such power management can execute in the background and return the wireless mobile terminal to a “run” state via invocation from a wake source such as a power control, a key, a trigger, a touch screen, a wake up timer, a wake-on-LAN, etc.

Claims

1. A power management system for a wireless mobile terminal, comprising:

a configuration bank that stores power management schemes; and

a power management component that utilizes at least one power management scheme to selectively control power to one or more portions of the wireless mobile terminal.

2. The system of claim 1, the at least one power management scheme maintains power to a CPU and a network radio of the wireless mobile terminal to ensure reliable network communication while removing power from other portions of the wireless mobile terminal to reduce power consumption.

3. The system of claim 1, the power management component is activated to remove power via one of:

a time lapse;

a period of inactivity;

an interrupt;

an event;

a user request;

a programmatic application program interface (API);

network data;

an application, the wireless mobile terminal, and another wireless mobile terminal.

4. The system of claim 1, the power management component is activated to resume power via one of:

pressing a button;

turning a key;

touching an active touch screen area;

a programmatic control;

voice;

expiration of a timeout;

a date;

an electrical current;

a request;

a signal;

motion;

a trigger;

a link status change;

a network keep alive;

a proxy-ARP packet;

a re-authentication packet;

a directed packet;

wake-on-LAN request; and

reception of network data.

5. The system of claim 4, the power management component executes as a background application.

6. The system of claim 1, the power management component automatically executes the power management scheme to reduce power consumption or waits for user confirmation.

7. The system of claim 1, the power management component executes in one of wireless mobile terminal BIOS, an application, an external device, and a wireless mobile terminal operating system.

8. The system of claim 1, the power management component utilizes one of intermittent and continuous polling of the wireless mobile terminal to automatically determine when power should be reduced and dynamically applies the power management scheme to reduce power.

9. The system of claim 1, the power management scheme is based on at least one of a wireless mobile terminal characteristic, a state of one or more portions of the wireless mobile terminal, a user identified configuration, and a user attribute.

10. The system of claim 1, the power management scheme extends battery life by reducing the power applied to the wireless mobile terminal.

11. The system of claim 1, the power management scheme is one of a default, a user defined, an application generated and an intelligence created configuration.

12. The system of claim 11, the intelligence created configuration is generated based on at least one of machine learning, a statistic, a probability, an inferences and/or a classifier.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising an API that is utilized for at least one of invoking the power management component and providing a power management scheme.

14. A method that manages power for a portable terminal, comprising:

receiving indicia indicating power should be removed from a portion of the portable terminal;

removing power from the portion of the portable terminal to reduce battery power consumption; and

maintaining portable terminal network connectivity.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising obtaining a power management configuration that defines a power removal scheme.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising sustaining power to a CPU and a network radio of the portable terminal to ensure reliable network communication.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising activating a power management utility via one of:

a time lapse;

a period of inactivity;

an interrupt;

an event;

a user request;

a programmatic application program interface (API);

network data;

an application, the wireless mobile terminal, another wireless mobile terminal;

pressing a button;

turning a key;

touching an active touch screen area;

a programmatic control;

voice;

expiration of a timeout;

a date;

an electrical current;

a request;

a signal;

motion; and

network data, the power management utility removes the power from the portion of the portable terminal.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising returning power to the portion of the portable terminal upon receiving a signal from a wake event comprising one of a link status change, a network keep alive, a proxy-ARP packet, and a re-authentication packet.

19. A power management method that facilitate distribution of power to portions of a wireless computing device, comprising:

detecting that power should be removed from at least a portion of the wireless computing device;

retrieving an associated power management scheme; and

employing the power management scheme to remove power from the portion of the wireless computing device while sustaining power to the wireless computing device'"'"'s CPU and network radio.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising employing one of intermittent and continuous polling of the wireless computing device to automatically detect when power should be reduced.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising dynamically adjusting the power applied to the at least one portion of the wireless computing device.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising drawing less power from a battery utilized to power the wireless computing device.

23. The method of claim 19, the power management scheme is one of a default, a user defined, an application generated and/or an intelligence created configuration.

24. The method of claim 19, further comprising employing intelligence to facilitate managing the power applied to the at least one portion of the wireless computing device.

25. The method of claim 24, the intelligence is based on at least one of machine learning, a statistic, a probability, an inferences and/or a classifier.

26. A system that facilitates terminal power management, comprising:

means for determining when to activate power management;

means for acquiring a selective power management configuration; and

means for applying the power management configuration to selectively lower power applied to portions of the terminal to mitigate power consumption while maintain desired functionality.