Apparatus and method for adjusting a duty cycle to save power in a computing system

• US 20060140218A1
• Filed: 12/23/2004
• Published: 06/29/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Winterton, Richard R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,787,403 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/476
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0007 by modifying the frame length
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0017 where the mode-switching is based on Quality of Service requirement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/365 Dynamic adaptation of the packet size
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0245 according to signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method and system for adjusting a duty cycle to save power in a computing system is described. The system includes a network interface card (NIC) that has an active mode and a sleep mode. The NIC is coupled to an adjusting element that adjusts a duty cycle of the active time to the sleep time based at least in part on minimizing power consumption.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a signal strength for a mobile device; and

determining a packet size for packet transfers to the mobile device based at least in part on the determined signal strength.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a packet size based at least in part on the determined signal strength comprises checking a lookup table to determine which packet size is a best match for the determined signal strength.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting a duty cycle for the mobile device based at least in part on the packet size.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a type of content to be received by the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising determining a consumption rate based at least in part on the type of content to be received by the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining a data rate based at least in part on the determined consumption rate.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a data rate based at least in part on the packet size.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a network interface card (NIC) to communicatively couple the apparatus to a network, the NIC including an active mode and a sleep mode; and

a device coupled to the NIC to adjust a duty cycle of the NIC based at least in part on minimizing power consumption.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the device to adjust the duty cycle based at least in part on minimizing power consumption comprises the device to adjust a data rate of data transfers to the apparatus to minimize power consumption.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the NIC to communicatively couple the apparatus to a network comprises the NIC to communicatively couple the apparatus to a wireless network.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the NIC including an active mode and a sleep mode comprises the NIC including an active mode and a sleep mode according to the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 specification.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the apparatus is a mobile apparatus.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the mobile apparatus is a laptop.

14. An article of manufacture comprising:

a machine accessible medium including content that when accessed by a machine causes the machine to perform operations comprising;

determining whether a computing device is communicatively coupled to a wireless network; and

adjusting a duty cycle of the computing device based at least in part on whether the computing device is communicatively coupled to a wireless network.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes content that causes the machine to perform operations comprising adjusting the duty cycle based at least in part on minimizing power consumption.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes content that causes the machine to perform operations comprising determining a signal strength for the computing device.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes content that causes the machine to perform operations comprising determining a packet size for data transfers to the computing device based at least in part on the determined signal strength.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes content that causes the machine to perform operations comprising determining a type of content to be received by the computing device.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes content that causes the machine to perform operations comprising determining a consumption rate based at least in part on the type of content to be received by the computing device.

20. A system comprising:

a flash memory;

a network interface card (NIC) coupled to the flash memory; and

an adjusting element coupled to the NIC to adjust a duty cycle of the NIC based at least in part on minimizing power consumption.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the adjusting element to adjust the duty cycle based at least in part on minimizing power consumption comprises the adjusting element to adjust a data rate of data transfers to the system to minimize power consumption.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the system is a wireless system.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the NIC includes an active mode and a sleep mode.