Reducing Power Consumption by Offloading Applications

• US 20100023788A1
• Filed: 07/28/2008
• Published: 01/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bahl, Paramvir, Chandra, Ranveer, Hodges, Stephen E., Scott, James W., Agarwal, Yuvraj
• Granted Patent: US 8,510,577 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/320
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections

Abstract

Methods of reducing power consumption in a computing device are described in which file sharing applications which are running in the background are offloaded onto a lower power subsystem and the rest of the computing device can be put into a low power state. The lower power subsystem runs application stubs which autonomously execute a subset of the operations performed by a file sharing application which was previously running on the computing device. Before the rest of the computing device goes into the low power state, application state information is passed to the lower power subsystem for use by the application stubs. In an example, the application stub may continue to download files whilst the rest of the computing device is in standby or is shutdown and the application state information may include details of the files that are to be downloaded.

Claims

1. A method of power control comprising:

detecting a main processor in a first power domain of a computing device entering a low power state; and

executing a file sharing application stub in the second power domain, the second power domain having a lower average power consumption in operation than the first power domain and the application stub being arranged to autonomously perform a subset of operations of a corresponding file sharing application when run in the first power domain.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising, prior to executing the file sharing application stub:

transferring application state information between the first power domain and the second power domain of the computing device,

and wherein executing a file sharing application stub in the second power domain comprises;

executing a file sharing application stub in the second power domain based on the application state information.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein said application state information comprises an index file, the index file comprising details of at least one portion of a file to be downloaded.

4. A method according to claim 2, further comprising:

transferring network state information between the first power domain and a second power domain of the computing device.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the corresponding file sharing application comprises one of a peer to peer file sharing application, a content distribution application and an application for downloading software patches.

6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

triggering the main processor to exit the low power state when trigger conditions are satisfied; and

transferring application state information between the second power domain and the first power domain.

7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

detecting the main processor exiting the low power state; and

transferring application state information between the second power domain and the first power domain.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the application state comprises data downloaded whilst the first power domain is in the low power state.

9. A computing device comprising a first power domain, the first power domain comprising:

a network interface;

an interface to a second power domain, the second power domain having a higher operational power consumption than the first power domain;

a secondary processor; and

memory comprising a secondary storage element and computer executable instructions, which when executed cause the secondary processor to;

detect the second power domain entering a low power state; and

autonomously perform a subset of operations of a file sharing application whilst the second power domain is in the low power state, said file sharing application comprising a file sharing application that was running in the second power domain prior to entry into the low power state.

10. A computing device according to claim 9, wherein said memory further comprises computer executable instructions which when executed cause the secondary processor to:

transfer application state information between the second and first power domains, the application state information identifying said file sharing application running in the second power domain.

11. A computing device according to claim 10, wherein said application state information comprises an index file, the index file comprising details of at least one portion of a file to be downloaded.

12. A computing device according to claim 9, wherein the computer executable instructions further comprise instructions, which when executed cause the secondary processor to:

transfer application state between the first and second power domains when the second power domain exits the low power state.

13. A computing device according to claim 12, wherein the application state comprises data downloaded whilst the second power domain is in the low power state.

14. A computing device according to claim 9, further comprising the second power domain, the second power domain comprising:

a main processor;

memory comprising a main storage element and application software.

15. A computing device according to claim 14, wherein the memory in the second power domain further comprises computer executable instructions, which when executed cause the main processor to:

transfer application state information between the second and first power domains, the application state information identifying a file sharing application running in the second power domain; and

enter a low power state.

16. A computing device according to claim 15, wherein the memory in the second power domain further comprises computer executable instructions, which when executed cause the main processor to:

transfer application state information between the first and second power domains on exit of the low power state.

17. A power control system comprising a first power domain and a second power domain, the first power domain having a higher operational power consumption than the second power domain, and wherein the first power domain comprises:

a main processor; and

main memory comprising a main data store and a file sharing application,

and wherein the second power domain comprises;

a secondary processor;

a network interface;

secondary memory comprising a secondary data store and an application stub arranged to autonomously perform a subset of the operations of the file sharing application when the first power domain is in a low power state.

18. A power control system according to claim 17, wherein at least one of the main memory and the secondary memory comprise computer executable instructions for performing steps comprising:

transferring state information associated with the file sharing application between the first and second power domains prior to the first power domain entering a low power state; and

transferring state information associated with the file sharing application between the second and first power domains when the first power domain exits said low power state.

19. A power control system according to claim 17, wherein said second power domain comprises a removable computing device.

20. A power control system according to claim 17, wherein said second power domain comprises a subset of the first power domain.