SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DYNAMICALLY CONFIGURING PROCESSING SPEEDS IN A WIRELESS MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS DEVICE

• US 20120030454A1
• Filed: 07/27/2010
• Published: 02/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Research In Motion Limited (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: BOOK, Christopher Simon, MAO, Mingxian
• Granted Patent: US 8,700,934 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3212 Monitoring battery levels, e.g. power saving mode being initiated when battery voltage goes below a certain level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/324 by lowering clock frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4081 Live connection to bus, e.g. hot-plugging current or voltage limitation during live insertion H02H9/004
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2213/0042 Universal serial bus [USB]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

There is disclosed a system and method executable in a wireless mobile communication device for dynamically configuring processing speed for a main processor in the device during device initialization. In an embodiment, the method comprises: initiating a boot-rom procedure; determining whether a battery is present in the device, and in response to the presence of the battery, determining whether the battery charge level is above a predetermined threshold; determining whether a USB connection to the device is present, and in response to the presence of a USB connection, enumerating the USB connection; and wherein, in response to the presence of the battery and the battery charge level being above a predetermined threshold, or in response to the USB connection being enumerated at a higher current, the processing speed of the main processor is increased.

Claims

1. A method executable in a wireless mobile communication device for dynamically configuring processing speed for a main processor in the device during device initialization, comprising:

initiating a boot-rom procedure;

determining whether a battery is present in the device, and in response to the presence of the battery, determining whether the battery charge level is above a predetermined threshold;

determining whether a USB connection to the device is present, and in response to the presence of a USB connection, enumerating the USB connection; and

wherein, in response to the presence of the battery and the battery charge level being above a predetermined threshold, or in response to the USB connection being enumerated at a higher current, the processing speed of the main processor is increased.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the USB connection to the device is a connection to a USB host computer or a direct connection to an AC or DC power outlet; and

wherein in response to a determination that the USB connection to the device is a direct connection to an AC or DC power outlet, the processor speed is increased.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the main processor of the device includes a plurality of processing cores, and wherein the method further comprises:

in response to the presence of the battery and the battery charge level being above a predetermined threshold, or in response to the USB connection being enumerated at a higher current, the number of processing cores is increased.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the absence of a battery or if the battery charge level is below a predetermined threshold, and the USB connection not being enumerated at a higher current, the processing speed of the main processor is decreased.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the USB connection is defined by one of the USB 1.1, USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 specification.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the processor speed is initially set such that the device draws no more than 100 mA of current from the USB connection;

and wherein the processor speed is increased such that the device draws no more than 500 mA of current from the USB connection.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after completion of the boot-rom procedure, starting the operating system with the increased processing speed of the main processor.

8. A system for dynamically configuring processing speed for a main processor in the device during device initialization, comprising:

means for initiating a boot-rom procedure;

means for determining whether a battery is present in the device, and in response to the presence of the battery, determining whether the battery charge level is above a predetermined threshold;

means for determining whether a USB connection to the device is present, and in response to the presence of a USB connection, enumerating the USB connection; and

means for increasing the processing speed of the main processor in response to the presence of the battery and the battery charge level being above a predetermined threshold, or in response to the USB connection being enumerated at a higher current.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

means for determining whether the USB connection to the device is a connection to a USB host computer or a direct connection to an AC or DC power outlet; and

means for increasing the processor speed in response to a determination that the USB connection to the device is a direct connection to an AC or DC power outlet.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the main processor of the device includes a plurality of processing cores, and wherein the system further comprises:

means for increasing the number of processing cores in response to the presence of the battery and the battery charge level being above a predetermined threshold, or in response to the USB connection being enumerated at a higher current.

11. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

means for decreasing the processing speed of the main processor in response to the absence of a battery or if the battery charge level is below a predetermined threshold, and the USB connection not being enumerated at a higher current.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the USB connection is defined by one of the USB 1.1, USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 specification.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor speed is initially set such that the device draws no more than 100 mA of current from the USB connection;

and wherein the processor speed is increased such that the device draws no more than 500 mA of current from the USB connection.

14. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

means for starting the operating system with the increased processing speed of the main processor after completion of the boot-rom procedure.

15. A computer readable media storing computer readable code that when loaded into a wireless mobile communication device adapts the device to dynamically configure processing speed for a main processor in the device during device initialization, the computer readable medium comprising:

code for initiating a boot-rom procedure;

code for determining whether a battery is present in the device, and in response to the presence of the battery, determining whether the battery charge level is above a predetermined threshold;

code for determining whether a USB connection to the device is present, and in response to the presence of a USB connection, enumerating the USB connection; and

code for increasing the processing speed of the main processor in response to the presence of the battery and the battery charge level being above a predetermined threshold, or in response to the USB connection being enumerated at a higher current.

16. The computer readable media of claim 15, further comprising:

code for determining whether the USB connection to the device is a connection to a USB host computer or a direct connection to an AC or DC power outlet; and

code for increasing the processing speed in response to a determination that the USB connection to the device is a direct connection to an AC or DC power outlet.

17. The computer readable media of claim 15, wherein the main processor of the device includes a plurality of processing cores, and wherein the computer readable media further comprises:

code for increasing the number of processing cores in response to the presence of the battery and the battery charge level being above a predetermined threshold, or in response to the USB connection being enumerated a higher current.

18. The computer readable media of claim 15, further comprising:

code for decreasing the processing speed of the main processor in response to the absence of a battery or if the battery charge level is below a predetermined threshold, and the USB connection not being enumerated at a higher current.

19. The computer readable media of claim 15, wherein the USB connection is defined by one of the USB 1.1, USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 specification.

20. The computer readable media of claim 15, wherein the processor speed is initially set such that the device draws no more than 100 mA of current from the USB connection;

and wherein the processor speed is increased such that the device draws no more than 500 mA of current from the USB connection.