Managing Power Consumption in Mobile Devices

• US 20140052774A1
• Filed: 09/28/2012
• Published: 02/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Pollack, Daniel B., Wood, Justin, Chang, Ray L., Vyas, Amit K., Klahn, Matthew Scott, Parker, Steve
• Granted Patent: US 9,363,754 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0241 where no transmission is received, e.g. out of range of the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Computer-implemented methods, computer-readable media, and computer systems for managing power consumption in mobile devices are described. A mobile computer system executes a first computer application configured to receive data from a server system over a network, and a second computer application configured to periodically search for a connection to the network at a first time interval. In response to executing the second computer application, the mobile computer system determines that a strength of the connection is below a threshold strength. In response to determining that the strength of the connection is below the threshold strength, the mobile computer system executes the first computer application to delay requesting data from the server system until the connection to the network is detected.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

executing, by a mobile computer system, a first computer application configured to receive data from a server system over a network;

executing, by the mobile computer system, a second computer application configured to periodically search for a connection to the network at a first time interval;

in response to executing the second computer application, determining, by the mobile computer system, that the connection to the network is unavailable; and

in response to determining that the connection to the network is unavailable, executing the first computer application to delay requesting data from the server system until the connection to the network is detected.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing the second computer application to periodically search for the connection to the network at a second time interval that is greater than the first time interval.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

executing the second computer application at a time instant after the second time interval to search for the connection to the network;

in response to executing the second computer application at the time instant, detecting the connection to the network; and

in response to detecting the connection to the network, decreasing a time interval to search for the connection to the network from the second time interval to the first time interval.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising, in response to detecting the connection to the network, transmitting a notification to the first computer system to request the data from the server system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first computer application is an electronic mail application, the server system is an electronic mail server system that stores electronic mail.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second computer application is an automatic power save delivery application.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the connection to the network is unavailable comprises determining that a strength of the connection is below a threshold strength.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

executing a plurality of computer applications, each configured to request data from a respective server system over the network; and

in response to determining that the strength of the connection is below the threshold strength, transmitting a respective notification to each of the plurality of computer applications to delay requesting the data from the respective server system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the first computer application to delay requesting data from the server system comprises executing the first computer application to not transmit a request for the data from the server system.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting, by a mobile computer system, a request for a connection to a network, wherein the request is transmitted periodically at a first time interval;

determining, by the mobile computer system, an absence of a response from the network to the request for the connection;

determining, by the mobile computer system, an unavailability of a connection to the network based on the absence of the response; and

in response to determining that the connection to the network is unavailable, transmitting subsequent requests for the connection to the network periodically at a second time interval that is greater than the first time interval.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the mobile computer system executes a plurality of computer applications, wherein the request for data is transmitted by executing a first computer application.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of computer applications are executed to select the first computer application to transmit the request for data.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the unavailability of the connection to the network comprises determining that a strength of the connection to the network is below a threshold strength.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

executing the first computer application to detect the connection at a time instance after the second time interval has expired;

determining that the strength of the connection has increased to at or above the threshold strength; and

transmitting, by the mobile computer system, a notification of the increase in the strength of the connection to remaining computer applications of the plurality of computer applications.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

executing the first computer application to detect the connection at a time instance before the second time interval has expired;

determining that the strength of the connection has increased to at or above the threshold strength; and

transmitting a notification of the increase in the strength of the connection to remaining computer applications of the plurality of computer applications.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising, in response to determining that the strength of the connection is below the threshold strength, executing a second computer application to transmit requests for a respective connection to the network periodically at the second time interval.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein determining that the strength of the connection to the network is below the threshold strength comprises:

searching for the connection to the network for a duration of time; and

determining an absence of the connection to the network within the duration of time.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the duration of time is substantially one-third the first time interval.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the request for the connection is transmitted by a first computer application executing on the mobile computer system and a subsequent request for a respective connection to the network by a second computer application executing on the mobile computer system.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the first computer application is an electronic mail computer application.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

executing a first computer application to search for a first connection to a network periodically at a first time interval;

determining an absence of a response from the network to the search for the first connection within a first threshold time;

determining an unavailability of the first connection to the network based on the absence of the response;

executing the first computer application to search for the first connection to the network at a second time interval that is greater than the first time interval; and

executing a second computer application to transmit requests for data over the network periodically at the second time interval.

22. The medium of claim 21, the operations further comprising:

executing the first computer application to determine that the strength of the first connection has increased to at or above the threshold strength at a time instance before the second time interval has expired; and

transmitting a notification of the increase in the strength of the first connection to the second computer application.

23. The medium of claim 21, wherein the first computer application is an automatic power save delivery application and the second computer application is an electronic mail application executed to receive electronic mail.

24. The medium of claim 21, wherein the network is a cellular telephone network.

25. The medium of claim 21, wherein determining the unavailability of the first connection comprises determining that the strength of the first connection is below a threshold strength.

26. The medium of claim 25, wherein determining that the strength of the first connection is below the threshold strength comprises:

executing the first computer application to search for the first connection to the network for a duration of time; and

determining an absence of the first connection to the network within the duration of time.

27. The medium of claim 26, wherein the duration of time is substantially one-third the first time interval.

28. The medium of claim 21, the operations further comprising:

executing the first computer application to search for the first connection at a time instance after the second time interval has expired;

determining that the strength of the first connection to the network has increased to at or above the threshold strength; and

executing the first computer application to search for the first connection for data over the network periodically at the first time interval.

29. The medium of claim 28, the operations further comprising transmitting a notification to the second computer application to transmit requests for data over the network periodically at the first time interval.

30. A system comprising:

data processing apparatus; and

a computer-readable medium storing instructions executable by the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising;

executing a first computer application to periodically transmit requests for a connection to a network at a respective first plurality of instances separated by a first time interval;

in response to the first computer application transmitting a request for the connection to the network at a first instance, determining an absence of a response;

in response to determining the absence of the response, determining that the connection to the network is unavailable; and

executing the first computer application to periodically transmit subsequent requests for connection to the network at a respective second plurality of instances separated by a second time interval that is greater than the first time interval.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein determining that the connection to the network is unavailable comprises determining that a strength of the connection to the network is below a threshold strength.

32. The system of claim 31, the operations further comprising:

executing the first computer application to determine that the strength of the connection to the network has increased to at or above the threshold strength within the second time interval; and

transmitting a notification of the increase in the strength of the connection to a plurality of other computer applications, each of which is configured to transmit a respective request for the connection to the network.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein determining the absence of the response comprises determining the absence within a pre-defined duration of time from when a request for the connection is transmitted.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the pre-defined duration of time is substantially one-third the first time interval.

35. The system of claim 30, wherein the network is a cellular telephone network.

36. The system of claim 30, wherein the second time interval is substantially twice the first time interval.