POWER SAVING APPLICATION UPDATE IN A PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE

• US 20120272230A1
• Filed: 04/19/2011
• Published: 10/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: LEE, JAE HAN
• Granted Patent: US 9,727,124 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/329 by task scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/67 by electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72451 according to schedules, e.g. using calendar applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0258 controlling an operation mode according to history or models of usage information, e.g. activity schedule or time of day
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/027 by controlling a display operation or backlight unit
• 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

A power savings mode for data updates is provided. The power savings mode prevents data updates to occur while a screen of a portable electronic device is turned off and the device is in a sleep state. The power savings mode waits until the screen is turned on and the portable electronic device is in a wake state before allowing applications and widgets to update data from network repositories. By preventing applications and widgets from updating data while the portable electronic device is in a sleep state, the power savings mode conserves battery life and network bandwidth by limiting possibly unnecessary data transmissions.

Claims

1. A method for updating data in an application running on a portable electronic device, comprising:

determining whether the application is scheduled to update data from an external source;

determining whether the portable electronic device is in a sleep state; and

in response to determining that the portable electronic device is not in the sleep state, updating said data from the external source.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sleep state is defined in part by a display screen of the portable electronic device being off.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein updating data from the external source comprises:

establishing a network connection between the portable electronic device and the external source; and

downloading data from the external source using the established network connection.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a database of applications running on the portable electronic device and each of their associated next scheduled update times.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the external source is an Internet data repository.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the application is visible on a lock screen application that locks and unlocks the user interface of the portable electronic device and shows said data from the external source.

7. The method of updating the active application of claim 6, wherein the application is a widget that operates within a framework of the lock screen application.

8. The method of updating the active application of claim 6, wherein the lock screen application includes widgets that show one or more of time, date, and battery charge status in addition to data from the external source.

9. An article of manufacture comprising:

a machine readable computer storage medium having stored instructions that program a portable electronic device to;

determine whether a visible application is due to update data from an Internet source in relation to the current time;

determine whether a screen of the device is turned on; and

in response to determining that the screen of the device is turned on, updating data of the visible applications from the Internet source.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 9, further comprising:

creating a database of visible applications and each of their associated next scheduled update times.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein determining whether the one or more visible applications are due to update data comprises:

querying the database for visible applications that have a next scheduled update time that is at or before the current time; and

creating a list of visible applications that have a next scheduled update time that is at or before the current time.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein updating data of the one or more visible applications from the one or more Internet sources comprises:

sending a trigger message to the visible applications on the list of visible applications that have a next scheduled update time that is at or before the current time.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 9, wherein the visible applications are visible on the screen of the portable electronic device.

14. A computer system that is to run a lock screen application which displays dynamic content to a user, wherein the system can be configured into a mode that allows an update of the dynamic content, from a remote server over the Internet, when the system transitions from a sleep mode to a wake mode and not before while the system is still in the sleep mode.

15. A computer system that is to run an unlock application which prompts a user to enter a code before unlocking a user interface of the system, wherein the unlock application displays dynamic content to the user on a display screen of the system prior to unlocking the user interface, and wherein the system can be configured into a mode that allows an update of the dynamic content, from a remote server over the Internet, when the display screen transitions from a screen off state to a screen on state and not before while the system is still in the screen off state.

16. A computer system that is to run an unlock application which prompts a user to enter a code before unlocking a user interface of the system, wherein the unlock application displays dynamic content to the user on a display screen of the system prior to unlocking the user interface, and wherein the system can be configured into a mode of operation that allows update of the dynamic content, from a remote server over the Internet, while the display screen is in a screen off state and the system is in a sleep state, only in response to receiving a command from the user.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the command from the user is a result of the user'"'"'s actuation of a physical switch of the system.